Even if I fall into a ghost story, I still have to go to work
Chapter 75
The civil servant and I pressed our backs against the wall and looked down the hallway.
Toward the end of that corridor we had just escaped—Class 1-5.
That was when I finally saw it too.
Flicker.
A mannequin-like figure appeared at the far end of the hall.
‘…Three?’
The number had increased by one.
Two male students, one female student.
The two who had emerged from the classroom were drenched in blood, grinning in our direction, while the remaining one stood perfectly still, wearing a clean school uniform.
When the light was on, they looked like grotesque, realistic wax dolls, or people preserved forever in a photograph.
But every time the light went out.
Flicker.
They appeared further forward.
Continuously.
Even as we moved further back.
Flicker.
Only as far as the beam of the emergency flashlight could reach.
Revealed under the light again, closer now, frozen in place.
They wouldn’t let us get away.
Flicker.
“…….”
I could already imagine it… This standoff would end the moment the flashlight batteries ran dry.
‘Ha.’
Even as I moved my feet cautiously and slowly, the mental image gripped the back of my neck.
Eventually, we reached the very end of the hallway, a dead end, and came to a halt.
And then.
[Ding-dong-dang-dong]
“…….”
[A fatal accident has occurred in Class 3-2.]
Fuck.
[The deceased student is Park Chae-ah from the 3rd year.]
[Let us all observe five seconds of silence.]
“Get ready.”
I gripped the flashlight tight and pressed myself against the wall behind me.
[5]
I swung the flashlight rapidly, illuminating all three of them.
Every time the light swept past and returned, they were closer.
[4]
The civil servant and I shone our lights on two of the entities simultaneously.
…Where was the other one?
[3]
The other one,
Where did it go?
No matter how I swung the flashlight from side to side, even checking the blind spots, it wasn’t there.
[2]
Time accelerated with anxiety.
Where, where on earth, where could it be—
Ah.
Swish.
I lowered the flashlight.
[1]
The light brightly illuminated my feet and…
A blood-stained white hand, just inches away from grabbing my ankle.
A hand wearing a school uniform sleeve.
“…….”
A student from Segwang Industrial High School, lying flat on the floor, was looking up at me with a wide grin.
[The moment of silence has ended. We offer our deepest condolences to the deceased.]
“…….”
Slowly, I pulled my foot back.
‘Ha.’
Crazy, this is insane!!
If my reflexes had been even a second slower, I would have died.
‘I’ve never even played a VR horror game in my life…!’
I never imagined I’d experience something like this for real.
I moved backward, alternating my blinks very slowly to ensure I never had both eyes closed at the same time.
My limbs were trembling.
Staring intently at the other two student entities, the civil servant spoke.
“Once you leave the floor, it seems the students of that particular grade don’t actively pursue you.”
I knew that.
If there was still prey left on that floor, they were highly likely to head that way….
“Let’s go up the stairs.”
“…Are we going up, not to the 1st floor?”
“Yes. This mission is to enter the 5th floor, specifically the Auditorium if possible.”
The school announcement I heard at the very beginning immediately came to mind.
—Students of Segwang Industrial High School! The graduation ceremony is about to begin. Please gather in the Auditorium.
“…What’s in the Auditorium?”
“We have zero information yet. That’s why we have to investigate.”
Of course.
‘The exploration records accumulated up to this point are still only in the early-to-mid stages.’
There’s no way many people would have obediently followed instructions to ‘gather here’ in a school within a nightmare.
Even those who tried to go up probably got caught by the students and died.
Because the higher we went, the more bold, unpredictable, and intelligent the students would become in their attempts to hunt us down….
And the bigger problem was:
Never come up to the 5th floor!! Better to die down there, just don’t come up—
-The final recording of the 12th Exploration Record.
…What happens when you bypass all that and actually reach the 5th floor.
‘Ha, I really don’t want to go…’
But the most tear-inducing part was that I had to go anyway.
Should I take comfort in the fact that I at least have a companion?
Still, I couldn’t just go like this. Let’s try to tweak things slightly for thorough preparation.
“If you don’t mind, could we stop briefly on the 3rd and 4th floors to look around?”
“Is there a reason?”
“I have a feeling this place is structured like a horror game.”
“…!”
“In games, the process of obtaining key items is essential for progression.”
I spoke as I slowly backed up the stairs.
“I’m not entirely sure, but if it were me, I’d check the special classrooms first… like the Music Room, Science Lab, or the Faculty Office. I’d check the yearbooks and student records too.”
“…….”
“I think there might be hints or keys hidden in the props and items.”
We continued up the stairs.
As we distanced ourselves from the ‘students’ surrounding us, the distance became manageable enough for a single flashlight beam to cover them.
Only then did the civil servant speak.
“Our analysis team reached a similar conclusion. …That this feels like a ghost story based on a game.”
Oh.
“They said the name of a fictional high school and this structure of running away from monsters are strikingly similar.”
“Ah, I thought the same.”
“But this is the first time I’ve heard such a suggestion. An investigation focused on items rather than monsters or people….”
For some reason, the civil servant’s eyes seemed to sparkle.
Since he was in his high school form, he didn’t have dark circles, so it didn’t look too bizarre.
“Fine. Let’s check the rooms as much as possible. I’ll relay this to the other agents as they join us….”
More agents… I’d like to pass on that.
But the civil servant, as if getting excited, went a step further.
“Now that I think about it, since you’ve become a temporary Agent, it would be better to call each other by codenames. Is there a codename you’d like?”
Good lord.
“Ah, we usually use historical materials. It’s easier to distinguish if we use terms that aren’t part of everyday language.”
‘He’s letting me use a codename too?’
It felt like he was letting me fulfill every fantasy possible.
……Ah. Did I have a codename I wanted to use if I ever made a named Agent for the Disaster Management Bureau in the game?
I did.
But I had enough shame not to bring it up now….
“…I’ll go with Grape.”
“A fruit. Clean and nice.”
I briefly imagined what Brown would have commented.
‘I miss him a little.’
I pushed aside the void left by ‘Good Friend’ and continued the conversation.
“What should I call you, Agent?”
“My codename is Bronze.”
“Yes. Agent Bronze.”
The agent, codename Bronze, gave a faint smile and nodded with considerable satisfaction.
It was as if he were looking at an intern.
‘I feel like I’ve been getting a lot of “newbie welcomes” lately. Is it just my imagination…?’
Regardless, until we completely cleared the stairwell, we persistently leaned over the railing to check if the students were following us.
Of course, during that time, one of us was constantly keeping an eye on the floor above.
And finally, we arrived.
[3F]
3rd Floor.
The floor for the 2nd-year students.
“……It’s quiet.”
The students from the floor below had naturally faded from our view, and none appeared from the stairs above. It seemed they had found someone else and headed that way…….
Still, just in case, we kept glancing back at the stairs as we entered the 3rd-floor hallway.
Under the bright lights, it was surprisingly clean.
No blood, no filth, no corpses, and no people frozen in place, staring desperately at students while streaming tears.
“…….”
Not even a single student entity was in sight.
And I thought I knew why.
‘They’ve sealed all the doors.’
Someone had already locked every single classroom door.
They had even wrapped chain locks around them.
‘…! This is definitely the work of the Baekilmong employees.’
It was straight out of our manual.
Students wearing the Segwang Industrial High School uniform show a certain level of reluctance toward damaging school facilities.
If a door is quietly closed and locked without provoking them, they have been observed returning to an inactive state, sitting at their desks.
Furthermore, if the doors were secured like that, they would inevitably make noise when trying to come out.
One could recognize the sound and turn around immediately.
‘It’s a primary safety measure.’
When there were still quite a few people around and the dolls’ movements were restricted, it was a fairly viable task if done stealthily.
“…….”
But as quiet as the hallway was, we had to be just as quiet.
Those students were aggroed by sound.
‘The 2nd-year Faculty Office is around the corner.’
‘Should we crawl there?’
A nod.
Ending our conversation with the tiniest whispers and gestures, we moved silently, staying low against the wall to avoid notice.
Even then, we didn’t stop watching the corners—like the ends of the hallway or the stairs—where someone could appear without a sound.
Cold sweat soaked my back.
‘Just a little, just a little more.’
Slowly.
As long as we pass through without overextending.
When we had covered more than half the distance,
AAAAAAH!
…….
From beyond the hallway, someone screamed.
‘No.’
If there’s a sound….
Click.
Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack-click-clack.
I couldn’t bring myself to look up.
From every locked door, the sound of door handles being rattled erupted.
…The students had heard it too.
Click-clack-click-clack-click-clack-click-clack.
The civil servant and I crawled like mad, staying low, and scrambled out of the hallway.
Then we looked back.
Click….
“…….”
“…….”
Phew.
Fortunately, because the scream had ended after just once, the rattling sounds died down.
However, I could see several shadowed figures peering out through the door windows…….
“…….”
This is terrifyingly scary.
It was a godsend that they weren’t looking in our direction.
I swallowed hard.
The one comforting thing was that we had reached our first destination.
[2nd Year Faculty Office]
It appeared immediately after we turned the corner.
However, every door to this office also had a padlock, and the windows were covered from the inside with something like newspaper so the interior wasn’t visible.
It was eerily unsettling, but I couldn’t have been happier to see it.
“Please keep a lookout for a moment.”
The agent equipped an item that looked like a thimble on his finger and poked it into the keyhole of the padlock.
Then, the thimble slid into the hole that shouldn’t have fit, and the padlock clicked open smoothly.
‘Wow.’
The items issued by the Disaster Management Bureau really do have that special charm.
“There might be students inside the Faculty Office, so let’s enter cautiously.”
And when the door opened.
“…!”
“…?!”
A completely unexpected scene unfolded.
“Close the door quietly.”
“….”
“Hurry.”
I closed the door behind me.
There were no students inside.
Instead, about seven people were confronting each other, glares locked.
Suspicious high schoolers wearing animal masks versus suspicious high schoolers holding transparent pistols.
It was the Disaster Management Bureau agents and the Baekilmong Corporation employees.
‘They’re fighting!’
And on the table in the center of the two confronting factions lay a single fountain pen.
‘…It’s an item.’
It was something I recognized.
[The Fountain Pen of 2nd Year ■■■]
It seemed they were posturing and warning each other to back off to claim it.
‘Instead of investigating the ghost story, they’re wasting manpower on this…!’
They didn’t even seem to notice we had entered until a moment later.
“Agent Bronze.”
A few people who looked like agents finally brightened up as they saw the man beside me.
But a rational person like the agent beside me probably wouldn’t sympathize with this situation….
“Let’s join them.”
“…??”
Wait a minute.
But the agent had already stepped forward and stood at the front of the agent group.
And I….
“…….”
I was receiving intense stares from my coworkers wearing animal masks.
Especially from the two peers who knew my face.
“??”
“??!”
To think I’d see the day Baek Sa-heon and Jang Heo-un made the exact same expression.
Their eyes, darting between the steel Disaster Management Bureau badge I wore and the semi-transparent pistol, seemed to say:
Why the hell are you coming out from there…?
In the midst of that, the civil servant called out to me again.
“Agent Grape.”
“Gr-Grape?”
The civil servant replied coldly.
“Having the personality to mock a codename is truly fitting for that company.”
“……??”
I’m going crazy.
“Come this way. It’s better to move away from the door.”
“…….”
‘What do I do?’
I intensely weighed the situation in my mind.
And I made my judgment.
‘I can’t betray them.’
I eventually walked forward and stood beside my acquaintance.
“Yes, Agent.”
Right next to Agent Bronze.
“What, what is this…!”
“…….”
Yeah. I can’t betray them.
‘I can’t betray my own safety…!’
That’s how it is, guys.
