Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work [Novel] Chapter 36 - Chapter 36 is available as a full text chapter. Published May 16, 2026 and updated May 16, 2026.
Translator: Nox
Chapter 36
Even if you fall into a ghost story, you still have to go to work.
Even if you fall into a ghost story, you still have to go to work. Episode 36.
Even if you fall into a ghost story, you still have to go to work. Episode 036.
My foot crosses the golden rope and touches the ground.
If this were a game, it felt as if I had entered a special field.
As if by magic, the mist vanished, and the landscape revealed itself clearly.
But…
‘…It’s huge.’
The mountain field under the full moon was far larger than I had expected.
A massive field that seemed to cover the entire ridge.
Quiet, dark greenery swayed under the dark blue moonlight.
However, it didn’t feel particularly peaceful or pleasant.
It felt ominous and eerie.
-It has a peculiar fragrance.
It was just as Roe Deer said.
Moreover, those clusters of small red berries visible between the swaying green leaves… wait, a second.
‘…Ginseng?’
It is.
Is this a ginseng field?
Wait, ginseng is technically what you call it when it’s cultivated by humans, but this doesn’t exactly look like it was grown by human hands…
‘…Wild ginseng?’
All of this is wild ginseng??
‘No, wait…’
I hurriedly scanned the field and saw a signpost stuck at the edge.
[Millennium]
“…….”
I immediately tried to turn around and cross back over the golden rope.
-Mr. Roe Deer?
‘Let’s bail.’
Thousand-year-old wild ginseng?
It felt like opening a friend’s pencil case to borrow a pen, only to find it filled with gold bars instead.
Just as I was about to step back over the line.
[Noble guest!]
“…!”
[Ah, noble guest. Please, do not leave…]
A slender, sobbing voice echoed from behind me.
I turned my head very slowly, only halfway.
[The ghost attached to the tiger is coming to poach me! The day approaches when the terrifying tiger will sever my limbs, chew them up, and spit them onto the ground! Save me, please save me…!]
A single cluster of berries rising from the field was swaying gently.
Then, as if noticing that I was looking at it, its leaves drooped sadly.
[Alas, it is my turn now. I shall be ruthlessly torn apart, with not even a shred of flesh remaining…]
“…….”
I turned my body fully to face the ginseng in question.
The cluster of berries swayed enthusiastically under my gaze.
[Rather than being taken by the wicked tiger, I would rather be eaten by a noble guest! Take me, simmer me thoroughly in a great iron pot, and all your ailments will be cured, and your aged parents will rise with the strength of young men!]
Come to think of it… hasn’t wild ginseng always been depicted as a benevolent and mystical being in folklore?
A reward given to the virtuous.
I bent my knees toward the swaying ginseng.
[Noble gueeeeeest!]
And I reached out my hand toward the ginseng…
Then stood back up.
[…?]
“Liar.”
The berries froze.
Then, as if the earth itself were vibrating, a thick, sinister, cracked voice erupted forth.
[You noticed! You little insect!]
Yeah.
‘You said this was the Mountain Lord’s burial ground.’
Have you ever heard that ghosts do everything in reverse?
And this place was reached by being possessed by a ghost, not to mention it’s named a graveyard?
‘There’s no way the ginseng growing here is normal.’
It wouldn’t be strange if its attributes were completely inverted. I knew it would be like this.
[Hehehehe, hehehehe!]
The ginseng began to writhe and surge out of the ground.
Hieeeeek!!
The half-emerged figure was a ghastly deep purple; it looked like a miniature zombie.
It was even retching up some kind of dark red fluid!
‘I prepared myself, but it’s still terrifying!’
[You get buried too! You be buried here and become ginseng too! Let your hands and feet be severed and rot so you cannot flee! Feel the pain of dying while alive!]
Even the surrounding leaves twisted like tentacles, wriggling their roots out of the soil. Aaaagh!
Without hesitation, I pulled something from my waist.
‘The, the Snow White Apple!’
It was a strange item with the effect: ‘If eaten, one falls into a death-like sleep.’
But what was I going to do with it?
‘I figured it would be hard to chew an apple in an emergency…’
So I ground it all up into juice!
Splat.
I pulled out a sealed pack containing the juice made from the Snow White Apple and drenched the field in front of me with it.
The ginseng…
[Keehehe! It won’t work! It won’t—! You fool! I’ll rip your limbs—]
Zzz.
It fell into a dead faint.
“…….”
The Snow White Apple… the effect is certainly reliable.
I moved my feet cautiously.
The hideous ginseng, half-emerged from the soil, remained motionless on the ground, completely unconscious.
It was a bizarre sight, somewhere between a cockroach sprawled out after being hit by pesticide and a cat or dog sleeping soundly with its belly exposed.
-Oh! It was quite an entertaining fellow, albeit rude. How about taking it as a souvenir?
Normally, I would have asked if he was crazy.
But I peered cautiously at the ginseng.
It spoke, expressed emotion, tried to deceive me, and calculated the situation. It even seemed to have fluid like blood flowing inside it.
In that case, this…
‘It’s an intelligent being… right?’
Found it. A substitute for a sacrifice.
“…So, you’ve gathered all the materials, finished the ritual preparations, and as for the sacrifice, we can just use this strange wild ginseng… is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
“…….”
The faces of the people in the haunted house turned blank as they heard the summary of ‘What Kim Sol-eum (currently impersonating Security) went through outside.’
Maybe I summarized it too much.
But I couldn’t help it. Since I couldn’t explain exactly how I did it, it just became ‘Anyway, I got it.’
‘It bothers me a bit that I dug up wild ginseng… but it’s better for my mental health than killing a random person.’
I don’t know whose field it belongs to, but I figure if there was a really big problem, Brown would have sounded an alarm.
Regardless, I looked at the people with the most nonchalant face possible.
Their mouths were still agape as they looked back and forth between me, the supplies, and the ginseng.
But it roughly worked.
“As, as expected of the Security Team… to even do something like this!”
I’m not.
Feeling a pang of guilt, I looked at the real Security Team member, but the Section Chief was just lying among the middle schoolers with an expression that said everything was a bother.
The kids were huddled around him, chatting away, wondering when they had become so friendly.
“Hyung, you don’t look that strong.”
“No… I’m really strong.”
The kids were laughing. Having more people around seemed to have eased their tension a bit.
Section Chief Lee Byung-jin checked the supplies, looked at Go Seon-ha—whose face had brightened—and then at me with an anxious expression. He swallowed hard and spoke.
“Th-then, are we all going to the shrine now? To perform the ritual…?”
“Yes.”
“…The shrine is nearby, so we should be able to move there safely. Nothing happened while I was at the shrine either…”
Go Seon-ha turned to me with a grim face.
“By any chance, did you visit the shrine when you went out?”
“Yes.”
While Brown was masking my presence, I had gone and burned the peach branches.
I was so nervous I almost cried about three times.
“…Then it’ll be easier. Just be quiet, don’t make a sound, and walk quickly. We’re in the mist, so as long as we don’t make a mistake, we’ll be fine.”
“Understood.”
“…Then, let’s go to the shrine together.”
The time had come.
After taking a moment to catch our breath and prepare ourselves, we stood in a line in front of the closed door.
“Kids. You must never stop. Just keep walking.”
“Yes…”
The children nodded with terrified faces at Go Seon-ha’s words, but soon, comforted by the adults, they shut their mouths tight and squeezed into the line.
“…….”
But why am I the one standing at the very front…?
Everyone, why are you naturally moving to the back?
‘Did I skip too much of the process of getting the supplies…!’
Everyone seemed to think of me as some kind of legendary man of steel or a highly capable individual full of inquisitiveness. Oh, please…
‘They wouldn’t believe me even if I said I was scared now, right?’
…Still, I suppose it’s better than being at the very back.
Resigned, I opened the door again.
Creeeeeak.
The mountainside, once again shrouded in darkness and mist, revealed itself.
Gasp.
“Ugh,”
“Shh.”
The kids shut their mouths tight, faces pale with fear.
We moved our feet slowly, as quietly as possible.
Thud, thud.
Every time a small sound echoed, our footsteps quickened.
I could feel a sense of pressure enveloping the entire group, as if the Window Ghost would start talking to us and chasing us from behind at any moment.
-Friend! There is no need to rush so much. Do not forget that even in the worst-case scenario, this Brown is always here…
And fortunately, that ‘worst-case scenario’ did not happen.
Beyond the darkness and mist, old roof tiles came into view.
An old house in red and blue, warped at strange angles.
The shrine.
Thump.
“Phew.”
“Ev-everyone’s inside, right?”
The people who had safely entered the shrine caught their breath.
The Section Chief of the Security Team, who had meandered in last, closed the green paper-screen door and locked it.
Section Chief Lee Byung-jin hurriedly tried to paste the talismans he had picked up from the floor of the haunted house onto the door, but Go Seon-ha stopped him.
“It might interfere with the ritual. Let’s just leave it. We just need to do it quickly and get out!”
“R-right.”
In the meantime, I looked around the shrine.
My eyes, adjusted to the darkness, saw silhouettes in the shadows.
The inside was strangely clean, yet very old.
Between two headless, rusted Maitreya statues was a completely broken incense burner.
And above them, I saw a moth-eaten wooden tablet.
-That must be the wooden tablet where the ritual is written. It has quite an atmosphere…
I followed along as Brown read the contents of the wooden tablet to me.
“…The human with the most courageous mind and body shall step forward and conduct the ritual.”
Well, for starters, it’s not me.
“…….”
No, you two, seriously, don’t look at me.
I naturally turned my gaze toward the Security Section Chief. The other two followed my gaze, but…
“I can’t do it.”
“…Pardon??”
“I can’t, so don’t ask me to…”
“U-understood.”
Section Chief Lee Byung-jin cowered and then looked at me.
I stared blankly at the Section Chief.
“…….”
“…Th,”
“Please do it.”
“Ye-yes…”
Even if you’re suffering from a nervous breakdown, you’re probably less of a coward than I am…
Section Chief Lee Byung-jin stepped forward with trembling feet, but then turned back to Go Seon-ha and me with a look of horror.
“Wa-wait a minute! The Mountain Lord’s Song!”
Go Seon-ha was also horrified.
“Right! ‘The melody to offer to the Mountain Lord’!”
“Yeah, that! We don’t have anything to replace that tiger nursery rhyme or folk song! No matter how many supplies we have, without that…”
Ah.
“I have it.”
“…??”
“One moment.”
I called the middle schoolers over.
And I asked very politely.
“Kids. You said you were on a field trip, right?”
“Yes…”
“Was there anyone who kept listening to music in the car on the way down? Or anyone who knows a lot about celebrities?”
The kids glanced at each other, then gestured toward a student without bangs.
I quickly asked that student.
“What’s your name?”
“L-Lee Na-yeon.”
“Okay, Na-yeon. I have something to ask you.”
I tried my best to put on a benevolent expression. Question marks appeared on the adults’ faces simultaneously.
“…?? Excuse me, what are you doing right now…”
“Among famous idol songs, are there any with the word ‘tiger’ in the lyrics?”
“…!!”
I turned back to the adults.
They had stunned expressions.
“B-but, can we w-write a pop song? An idol song…”
“It will work.”
I held up the ritual note Go Seon-ha had written for me.
“If you look here, it just says ‘melody.’ It doesn’t say we have to use a folk song or a nursery rhyme at all.”
“…!”
This isn’t a Ghost Story Wiki entry; there’s no reason or need to select a song that fits the ‘ghost story atmosphere.’
Human prejudice had narrowed the scope.
“Ah…”
I turned my attention back to the child.
“Na-yeon. So, is there a song you remember? ‘Mountain Lord,’ ‘Tiger,’ things like that are fine too.”
“Ah!”
And Na-yeon immediately answered with a brightened face.
“There is! SaintU’s ‘Peek-a-boo’!”
Jackpot.
“Also, there’s a VTIC song…”
“Is there one you know all the lyrics to? And one that’s famous at the same time.”
“Yes! SaintU’s ‘Peek-a-boo’!”
Okay.
I turned to the adults and made a solemn declaration.
“We will use SaintU’s ‘Peek-a-boo’ as the melody to offer to the Mountain Lord.”
Accept the idol song, Tiger!
Inside the silent shrine.
Stepping forward in the darkness, Section Chief Lee Byung-jin emptied ashes into the incense burner with trembling hands.
They were the ashes from burning the peach branches.
-First.
-‘The one conducting the ritual shall step forward, burn peach branches in the incense burner, and inhale the scent.’
-‘Carefully close the lid of the incense burner, and once the scent has dissipated, open it again.’
With trembling hands, the Section Chief covered the broken old incense burner with its equally old lid. After waiting a few seconds, he removed it.
Surprisingly, the pile of ash had vanished.
In its place, a single, intact incense stick was burning.
A fragrant scent mixed with peach wafted from the small, branch-shaped incense.
“…!!”
-‘If the incense is burning, the Mountain Lord has recognized your sincerity’… Oh, it’s falling into place exactly as planned. Splendid!
“Ugh.”
Perhaps the scent of the incense was too strong, as Go Seon-ha covered her nose and stepped back.
The Section Chief hurriedly performed the next action.
-Second.
-‘Open the paper-screen door.’
Rattle.
Beyond the opened door, the dark forest came into view. The children hid behind the adults.
-‘Crush three plums in a brass cup and sprinkle them on the soil below the porch. Throw the remaining cup to the east and never look back at it.’
I handed the three plums to Section Chief Lee Byung-jin. He crushed them into the bronze cup with his fingers and scattered them onto the soil.
A scent as sweet and sour as a role rose up.
Go Seon-ha, who had been standing back, came forward, her complexion improving as she sniffed the air.
She then gestured to Section Chief Lee Byung-jin.
It was time to proceed with the third step.
-Third.
-‘Prepare the melody to offer to the Mountain Lord. The more widely known it is, the better the effect.’
Section Chief Lee Byung-jin took the lyric sheet he had written earlier, carefully rolled it up, and placed it in the drawer beneath the incense altar.
-‘Write down the lyrics and place them in the altar, then sing with all your might, clapping at every step and bowing at every thirty steps.’
One by one, the people stepped out through the open door.
Section Chief Lee Byung-jin began to sing the lyrics that the student named Lee Na-yeon had taught him.
“…Peek-a-boo. Here I come.”
The middle schoolers sang along in harmony.
The melody offered to the Mountain Lord.
