Even if I fall into a ghost story, I still have to go to work
Chapter 46
The 2nd floor.
Go Young-eun, now accustomed to the process, questioned the guidance machine.
“Did the guests who finished their viewing and went home go from this 2nd floor to a lower floor?”
A nod.
“…!”
It was over.
With this, the answer sheet had effectively been drawn up.
‘If the exit is on one of the above-ground floors, and it’s below the 2nd floor…’
The only floor left was the 1st floor.
“Then, if we just go to the 1st floor and ask for the exit…!”
“Let’s go, hurry!”
“Yes!”
For the first time, Baek Sa-heon and Go Young-eun were in total agreement.
‘To think the exit was on the 1st floor all along, just like modern common sense. It’s a stroke of luck that it matches up like this.’
I felt a bit hollow, as if I’d taken the long way around for nothing, but the sense of anticipation was greater, so I quickened my pace as well.
Now, all I had to do was find the exit and tell the supervisors waiting on the terrace, and everything would be ready.
-My, is the exhibition viewing over? What a shame. It feels like you haven’t even properly toured five halls yet…
Heh. If we tour any more, your friend’s eyes, nose, and mouth might disappear.
Or he might faint before that!
‘Even now, three people are sticking together with a light just to hold on.’
I gave the pocket holding Brown a soothing pat and moved on.
Go Young-eun’s footsteps, as she held the candle, became vigorous.
That momentum didn’t falter even when she met the guidance machine on the 1st floor. It seemed the desire to leave quickly had overwhelmed all her fear.
“Hello!”
The machine responded politely again under the influence of the candle, and Go Young-eun took a deep breath before making a forceful request.
“Please guide us to the exit!”
However.
…….
Silence.
The machine stood perfectly still.
“……?”
There was no response.
“N-no way.”
Go Young-eun’s face went pale as she peered at the candle flame. She seemed worried that the candle might not be working.
The flame was burning perfectly fine.
After glancing down several more times to check, Go Young-eun spoke again in a trembling voice.
“Please… guide us to the exit.”
Silence again.
“…….”
“…….”
The atmosphere froze over.
‘Damn it.’
I opened my mouth.
“……Ms. Sanyang.”
“Ye-yes….”
“Ask it this way.”
I spoke a familiar sentence, and as she repeated it, the light in Go Young-eun’s eyes died out into a hollow black.
“Did the guests who finished their viewing and went home… go down from this 1st floor? …If so, please nod your head.”
A nod.
“…!!”
The testimonies of the guidance machines conflicted.
“Why….”
Go Young-eun swallowed hard.
“The machine on the B1 floor clearly said the people leaving went up…!”
“That’s right.”
A chill ran down my spine.
‘What on earth is going on?’
It didn’t make sense.
In the basement, it told us to go up, and on the ground floor, it told us to go down.
Even if there were two or more exits nearby, this was nonsensical. The signals were in total contradiction.
‘No wonder there were so few survivors despite the exit being so obviously on the 1st floor.’
“Instead of wasting time saying the same thing over and over, why don’t we go to the basement and ask ourselves? We still have candle left, so let’s not waste it.”
“……Ah.”
At Baek Sa-heon’s urging, we moved toward the stairs leading to the basement.
The path down felt somehow long and heavy…….
And the result was.
A nod.
“Go up? Ha…….”
The same response I had received before came back.
According to the guidance machine, the visitors who finished their viewing on B1 definitely went up.
“…….”
“…….”
Now even Baek Sa-heon fell silent.
It was the moment everyone’s head became a mess.
“Um.”
Go Young-eun hung her head low.
“Actually… maybe there’s no such thing as an exit.”
“…!”
“There are plenty of ghost stories like that, right? Places that just trick and torment you, giving you false hope only to make the suffering worse….”
True.
But not this time.
“The exit definitely exists.”
I wasn’t saying this just because I’d read <The Guide for New Employees>.
“Do you remember? Didn’t you receive a makeshift manual before coming in here?”
Even if the information had been corrupted into an exhibition invitation.
“The fact that a survival record exists means someone successfully escaped through the exit, and it was registered as a Dark Zone by Baekilmong Corporation.”
“Ah…!”
Go Young-eun lifted her head.
“You’re right. That’s true.”
She took a deep breath, and continued in a much clearer voice.
“Whew! I’m sorry. At times like this, I shouldn’t let myself get swept up in emotion. There must be an answer.”
“Yes.”
It looked like a contradiction, but there had to be something we hadn’t thought of….
It was while I was lost in thought.
“Hey.”
Baek Sa-heon asked me with a peculiar expression.
“Your doll.”
“Brown?”
“Yeah. Brown… what does he say?”
-I am waiting for my friend’s wonderful answer!
Of course, he wasn’t asking because he thought Brown actually spoke, but because he thought I was a lunatic who talked to dolls….
‘I know he wants to hear some fresh ideas, though.’
I stared pointedly at Baek Sa-heon before speaking.
“How can a doll talk?”
“…….”
“Think before you speak.”
Baek Sa-heon clenched his fists!
“But the idea of throwing out suggestions is a good one.”
“…!”
“Ms. Sanyang, do you have any thoughts?”
“Ah, um…….”
“Be as positive as possible. Assume there is definitely an exit nearby.”
“Then… a secret space.”
Go Young-eun furrowed her brows.
“Like how there’s an attic above the top floor, maybe there’s another space somewhere between the basement and the ground floor? Like a parking garage….”
I hadn’t seen any records of that kind of secret space in this exhibition hall.
Of course, it was possible. There’s a clear difference between experiencing something firsthand and reading it described in text.
Sometimes you know something but fail to make the connection.
‘I didn’t even realize the windows were actually doors leading to the terrace, after all.’
But… I felt the exit would be in a more obvious location.
‘Conceptually speaking, it’s strange for a formal entrance to be in a secret space.’
In other words, the exit was right where it should be, but we were failing to notice it.
Prejudice, way of thinking, cultural factors…….
“…!”
Wait a minute.
“Roe… Roe Deer-ssi?”
I stood up abruptly.
I looked down at Baek Sa-heon, who was staring at me with surprised eyes, and Go Young-eun, who couldn’t bring herself to look back because of the candle’s effect.
“Do you have enough physical strength left to go up and down the stairs a few more times?”
“What?”
“I-I do, but.”
“Then let’s move.”
“Pardon?”
I stood up.
“We need to go up to the top floor.”
“…??”
Back to the stairs.
“…We just have to go up, right?”
“Yes.”
I started walking.
But instead of mindlessly climbing until the next floor appeared, I counted.
One floor.
Two floors.
Three floors…….
Until no more stairs appeared.
“Huff.”
“Whew.”
I looked up.
“This is the end.”
We had reached the very top floor of this massive mansion.
On the way up, we met the guidance machine about three times, and each time my colleagues questioned it, the result was the same.
They were probably thinking this:
‘It told us to go down, so why on earth did we come up?’
The answer to that question lay within this top floor itself.
“Ms. Sanyang. How many floors do you think we’ve climbed?”
“Pardon? I mean……. Huh?”
“…….”
“Wait a minute. If my count isn’t wrong…….”
“6th floor.”
Baek Sa-heon said.
“It’s the 6th floor, not the 7th! Here!”
Exactly.
“You said this mansion had seven floors!”
-Also, this historic mansion is said to consist of 7 floors above ground and 7,221 floors below ground.
This time, it contradicted Brown’s explanation.
But because Brown was a ‘Good Friend,’ he didn’t lie.
So… if everything was the truth.
“…….”
Just as I thought.
“You lied about it being the 7th floor on purp—”
“Ms. Sanyang, do you know about this?”
“Hey!”
There are many ghost stories like that.
Situations where a rational answer is derived for some, but for others, an answer never appears, no matter how irrational it seems.
Due to cultural and environmental differences.
Ghost stories that enjoy the chills coming from that.
Though the type was different, it was like the previous Dark Zone where I found the pierrot painting because I knew the difference between a clown and a pierrot.
Environmental knowledge.
“The way building floors are counted varies by culture.”
“……Eh?”
“In the United States, and in East Asian countries including Korea where we live, the floor count starts from the 1st floor.”
However.
“Other cultures use a slightly different method.”
The reason why the stairs from the 1st floor down to the B1 floor felt exceptionally long.
It wasn’t just a trick of perception.
“They start from the 0th floor.”
“…!”
The floor often called the Ground Floor.
“It’s likely true that this mansion consists of 7 floors above ground. …From the 0th floor to the 6th floor.”
I looked down the stairs.
“Now, we just need to go to the 1st floor and ask to be shown the way to the 0th floor.”
And that’s what we did.
-Please guide us to the path to the 0th floor.
Following the path the 1st-floor guidance machine kindly led us through, we surprisingly found a different type of staircase on the opposite side of the main exhibition hall.
A grand spiral double staircase.
And if you walked down either side of that spiral… of course, you could go to the B1 exhibition hall where the brass color turned to bronze, just like before.
But you could also choose to stop in the middle and open a massive door.
And I opened that door and stepped out.
Creeeak.
A grand and elegant space filled with silver light unfolded.
It wasn’t an exhibition hall.
It was… the lobby.
“…!!”
The 0th floor, which functioned as a lobby without any exhibits, so no passage was made for it from the general stairs used to traverse the exhibition halls.
Finally, we had entered that floor through the most standard passage.
And the stained-glass style glass door visible right in front of us….
“…The main entrance.”
The outside wasn’t visible because it was flooded with light, but it was certain.
We had finally found the exit.
“We’re saved!!”
“Haaaa….”
Shouts and sighs of relief echoed through the lobby.
And cheers of joy.
“Roe Deer-ssi! Roe Deer-ssi, your reasoning was right! You were right again! Waaaaaah!! Let’s get out of here right now!”
Really. I truly wanted to scream and cheer and run out immediately, but….
“I have to find the supervisors and leave with them.”
“A-ah!! In that case… you’ll need the candle.”
Go Young-eun, looking as if she were measuring the small amount of candle left, soon shouted vigorously.
“…Let’s go together quickly!”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Truly, thank you so, so much…….
I’ve already exhausted my energy just finding my colleagues while wandering around here alone….
Thus, Go Young-eun made a choice befitting her character.
Of course, Baek Sa-heon did too.
Meaning he headed straight for the door without any hesitation.
“Do whatever you want. I’m leaving!”
Fine then.
I stared at Baek Sa-heon.
‘I should check what kind of effect or reaction happens at the door when someone leaves.’
However, Baek Sa-heon faltered.
“…….”
“…….”
And he subtly backed away from the entrance.
‘…?’
Why.
“I thought you were leaving?”
“…I’ll wait for someone else to go out first.”
Good grief.
‘It would be much more convenient if you just went out.’
Feeling a bit disappointed, I glanced at Baek Sa-heon and looked away.
-Hahaha… This is quite an interesting situation, Roe Deer-ssi!
I wasn’t having much fun, but I suppose it’s a comfort that someone is….
-So now you have to go tell your mediocre supervisors the location of the exit?
That’s right.
‘They aren’t exactly mediocre people, though….’
I don’t know how many times I’ve scoured this mansion now……. My legs were about to fall off, but let’s go quickly.
-Wait a moment. Do your legs hurt, my friend?
-Oh, then it seems the time has come to introduce my new ability.
…Eh?
‘New ability?’
-That’s right! I shall show you my power, rejuvenated thanks to the wonderful bathtub and bath my dear friend gifted me….
-Now, please take me out of your pocket.
His tone was a bit pretentious and boastful, but strangely, I could also sense a hint of gratitude.
Anyway, I took the stuffed doll out of my pocket as instructed.
“Roe Deer-ssi?”
“Please wait a moment.”
-That’s right. No need to wait long! A true host is always prepared…… like this!
Snap!
The sound of a finger snapping echoed dully from the doll’s fingerless hand.
And I…….
For some reason, I felt as if something had ‘opened up’ in my chest and mouth.
A sense of resonance.
A strange feeling as if a massive space had been created….
[Ah.]
“…!!”
“Y-your voice….”
I shut my mouth.
The vibration coming through my vocal cords echoed throughout the entire lobby.
-It’s decent enough.
-In my show, no guest needs to raise their voice to deliver their words clearly and comfortably to the audience and viewers.
That was…….
‘A microphone?’
-Ah, what a popular expression!
-Roe Deer-ssi, the words of my dear friend will be delivered clearly to everyone…. As long as they are in the same studio.
-In terms of this space, yes. As long as they are on the ‘same floor’!
My god.
He really had become more useful.
-You flatter me.
I was impressed.
‘But unfortunately, I don’t think this ability is suitable for the current situation.’
-Pardon?
I only wanted to call the supervisors in the terrace room, but if everyone on that floor hears it…….
“…….”
-Friend?
Wait a minute.
Wouldn’t that be a good thing?
