Even if I fall into a ghost story, I still have to go to work
Chapter 80
I Guess You Still Have to Go to Work Even if You Fall into an Urban Legend
I Guess You Still Have to Go to Work Even if You Fall into an Urban Legend Chapter 80
I Guess You Still Have to Go to Work Even if You Fall into an Urban Legend Chapter 080
Alright. Let’s get a handle on this.
The monster in front of me… or rather, that person whose pixels were so crushed they looked horrific, was definitely my colleague, Go Young-eun.
Because the Mountain Goat mask was perfectly clear.
‘Now I feel bad for blasting her in the face with a high-output flashlight….’
I grit my teeth, trying to focus on the mask instead of the revulsion.
The problem was that normal communication was impossible!
I couldn’t speak, and I couldn’t properly hear what the other person was saying….
‘Ugh.’
It felt like the glitches were filling up my own head. This was driving me crazy.
Ultimately, while pondering a way to communicate, I pulled a pen from my pocket and wrote on the floor, doing my best not to look at her.
<Goat-ssi?>
Then I waited in silence.
The moment “Go Young-eun” stared at me again and I froze.
A reply came back on an A4 sheet of paper on the floor.
<Roe Deer-ssi?? Do you have your sense of self right now? Are you able to move independently?>
‘Phew.’
It worked.
I looked at the monster—no, “Go Young-eun"—who had turned her head away, and wrote my reply.
<Yes. I can.>
<I haven’t been corrupted, so don’t worry. I’m a bit concerned about how this sounds, since I’m sure a corrupted person would say the same thing… but…>
<I’m utilizing a gimmick within the urban legend.>
<A gimmick?>
<Yes.>
How should I explain this?
‘In this case… is the direct answer the right way to go?’
My colleague in front of me was clearly intelligent. After some thought, I decided to stop beating around the bush and wrote it down directly.
The answer to this urban legend that all the world-building clues pointed toward.
<This school is a horror game that has become reality.>
<In the Black Shadow.>
That was the name registered in the wiki entry for this urban legend, and the title of the game that caused every event occurring within this nightmare version of Segwang Industrial High School.
The hints were in the exploration logs that had uncovered world-building lore in the faculty offices and specific classrooms.
■Month ■■ Day: List of Confiscated Items: Game Console
When said game console is obtained from the 1st-grade faculty office and turned on, a pixelated image of the school at midnight briefly appears on the screen before turning off.
Memo in the right corner of the blackboard in Class 3-2:
<That’s the teacher?>
A notebook found on the floor of the music room:
There is a small scribble in the corner.
—I just woke up, why am I at school? (Scribble of a startled puppy) Preparing for graduation? What are they talking about? It’s only May.
Other various notes and items.
If you even managed to find the class and seat of the student whose game console was confiscated and searched their bag, you could see the empty game case and the plot summary written on the back…….
The day before graduation.
Students who volunteered to help prepare for the graduation ceremony at ■■■■ High School spend the night at the school.
Of course, the preparation was mostly an excuse, and the students were enjoying the fun of a midnight camping atmosphere.
New couples are formed, best friends fight, and someone’s secrets are exposed….
Suddenly, a school-wide broadcast begins.
[The graduation ceremony has begun.]
[To give demerit points to students who do not attend, the Teacher is now departing from the auditorium.]
The bloody graduation ceremony has begun.
Will they be able to safely escape the nightmare school in the middle of the night??
That was how it naturally revealed itself.
This urban legend was a nightmare where the horror game in question had swallowed a real school, causing the gameplay to repeat itself.
That was why the students didn’t speak.
‘Because it’s a game without voice acting.’
That was why the 3rd-year students on the 4th floor couldn’t leave their seats.
‘Because the main game hasn’t started yet.’
That was why… the students couldn’t move when the explorers looked at them.
‘…Because it’s a bug that wasn’t originally in the game.’
Exactly.
Furthermore, the explorers hadn’t even entered this game as participants.
‘It means we aren’t even playing the game.’
We were just pulled in while trying to peek at the game’s story through a text file downloaded via unofficial channels….
‘Phew.’
Of course, I didn’t explain all of this to my colleague in a long-winded way; I just summarized the things that could serve as clues and conveyed the logic.
The main point was this.
<I obtained a student uniform through a rather unique method and tried to become a participant in this horror game.>
<And for now, it seems I’ve succeeded.>
<A game? Ah, that sounds like those horror games where you get trapped in school the night before White Day!>
<But wouldn’t becoming a game participant within the urban legend be more dangerous? Besides, you don’t know what might happen if you wear that uniform for too long.>
Go Young-eun’s handwriting, which started out looking a bit excited, became more hurried and scribbled toward the end.
It was a rational concern.
<You’re right. I plan to stop immediately if it gets dangerous.>
I also intended to run away as fast as my legs could carry me if things didn’t go as expected.
But so far, everything had gone according to plan….
<Still, this could be the clearest clear route that can be recorded in the manual.>
<I’m going to give it a try.>
After a brief silence.
<Um, alright for now. Since you’re so strong against urban legends, Roe Deer-ssi….>
“…….”
It’s really a misunderstanding….
<Still, I hope you don’t do anything too dangerous.>
<I hope so too, but things in life don’t always go the way you want them to….>
<Ah, then since staying with me like this might make the other students suspicious of you, I’ll be going now.>
Wait, wait, wait?
<You really have to be careful!>
That was the last of the writing.
The moment my paralysis broke, I saw Go Young-eun already walking slowly away toward the end of the hallway.
“Wa-Wait a second, Young-eun-ssi…!”
‘I still have things I want to ask!’
Please, help me out!
I quickly gave chase, tapped Go Young-eun lightly on the back, and hurriedly wrote a new message.
<Wait a moment, there’s something I want to ask you, Goat-ssi.>
<It’s professional knowledge that probably only you can answer here.>
<Yes, yes! Feel free to ask!>
Fortunately, Go Young-eun turned around and answered kindly.
Phew!
With a grateful heart, I quickly wrote down the question.
<Please tell me where each organ is located in the human body.>
<Excuse me??>
Ah, oops.
Fortunately, Go Young-eun didn’t cut ties with me….
She simply asked me several questions about realistic details like company life and accounting to calmly and strictly verify if I was sane.
And after she was convinced that I wasn’t some science room student who had become so corrupted that I’d developed a unique hobby for dissection, she became kind again.
<Understood! I’ll answer to the best of my knowledge! lol>
<Thank you… sob.>
And so, I spent the remaining time in a fierce Q&A session with Go Young-eun.
Thanks to that, the ‘preparation for the clear’ was finished in a way that was safer and more certain than I had expected.
<Good luck.>
<Same to you. Thank you!>
…Hmm.
Just in case, I added this.
<If you plan on staying in this dream longer, it would be best to stay on the 1st floor if possible.>
Because soon, “In the Black Shadow” would begin in the truest sense.
“…….”
And so,
A few minutes after I saw Go Young-eun off.
[Ding- Dong- Dang- Dong-]
[The graduation ceremony has begun.]
A new broadcast plays.
…Just like the thirteenth exploration log I had written.
Exploration Log #13
2 hours and 13 minutes have passed while staying in the school wearing the Segwang Industrial High School uniform.
A new school-wide broadcast, which was not described in previous records, is heard. Its content matches the plot summary on the back of the game title “In the Black Shadow.”
I went up to the 4th floor.
The numerous 3rd-year students who had been crowding the hallway of that floor….
Had all vanished.
“…….”
The broadcast echoes through the empty 4th-floor hallway.
[To give demerit points to students who do not attend, the Teacher is now departing from the auditorium.]
Exactly as the exploration log I wrote stated.
The development of the horror game’s main story has begun.
It was becoming a reality.
“…….”
I swallowed hard.
First of all, the atmosphere within the school changed completely.
The school, which had been perfectly comfortable as a student, was suddenly filled with an ominous and uncomfortable vibe.
No….
I could actually hear the BGM…!
Classic 8-bit game music began to descend upon my ears in a sinister and sharp minor key.
And a pop-up, too.
<I feel strange for some reason.>
<Let’s find the other students before it’s too late.>
‘No.’
I wasn’t going to do that.
Since I knew a faster route, I would steel my heart and first….
‘Hide.’
I ran toward the 3rd-year faculty office.
The standard move was to hide in a locker inside there….
<Wh->
<at i->
<s th->
<is f->
<ucki->
<ng th->
<ing?>
“…!!”
It happened again.
‘A monster!’
Blocking out the ear-splitting, insane noise, I quickly ducked into a locker in the faculty office.
The problem was that there was a monster in one of the 4th-floor classrooms, right next to the faculty office.
That monster came shuffling out of the door and stared right at me.
At my face, shrouded in shadow behind the locker slats.
‘……It looks like they’re wearing a mask.’
Since I couldn’t move my face due to being frozen, I couldn’t distinguish what kind of mask it was from my limited field of vision.
‘In any case, it’s definitely an employee of our company.’
However, I could barely tell it was a glitch because of the light emanating from the sheer number of name tags they had.
‘…Wait a minute.’
Light?
If it’s that noticeable.
Step.
“…….”
There.
I could hear sounds, both small and large, coming from the floor above.
That is to say, it was the sound of something large walking with small footsteps.
Stomp, stomp.
Stomp, stomp.
Stompstompstompstompstomp.
Stompstompstompstompstomp.
Stomp, stomp.
It’s coming down, coming down, it’s coming!!
…The ‘Teacher’!!
‘Damn it.’
I was terrified beyond belief. I held my breath.
However, the glitch was also aiming for my name tag, and it quickly approached my frozen form….
‘Can’t they hear that??’
No, of course they couldn’t. That side wasn’t a game player!
‘To begin with, glitches can’t even perceive the Teacher, nor can they be attacked…!’
The setting was that they didn’t even realize the game had started.
However….
A point of caution.
In this game.
One of the ways the ‘Anomaly,’ the Teacher, recognizes students while pursuing the player is through their name tags.
But since explorers were essentially glitches, they weren’t easily recognized as players just by having one or two name tags.
In other words, unless an explorer was particularly greedy, they wouldn’t get caught.
……For instance.
By collecting a massive amount of name tags, the symbol of a player.
Step.
I held my breath while frozen.
The glitch that had approached grabbed the door of the locker where I was hiding.
And pulled the door open—
