Chapter 176
Chapter 176
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 176
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall into a Ghost Story, I Have to Go to Work
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The resort must open its doors.
Even if someone died three hours ago.
Even if that person was a close colleague of mine.
Even if that person came back to life as something not human, with blood and entrails sucked back into their body.
"Welcome, guest! What room would you like?"
We stood side by side at the front desk.
...The resort employee in the yellow mascot mask next to me was greeting guests with utmost courtesy.
It was Jang Heo-un.
No....
'I have no idea.'
Cold sweat trickled inside my mask. I mechanically handed a room key to the guest while lost in thought....
What the hell is this?
'Did I revive Jang Heo-un?'
But could that thing even be called Jang Heo-un?
My senses as a mascot identified the employee standing next to me as the being I had pawned through contract.
However, the sight of it starting work with a wide grin was absolutely not the reaction of a human who had been impaled through the spine, died, and come back to life.
This was a ghost story.
But the resort had to operate, and Jang Heo-un had to diligently perform his duties as an employee to fulfill the conditions and get a stamp on his boarding pass, so here I was.
However, escape itself was now in question.
Could something that had already become a ghost story escape into reality according to human laws?
And even if it could escape... would that be okay...?
"Wow... thank you!"
He no longer showed excessive tension.
He was treating guests of all grotesque appearances like a true hotelier.
He didn't break a sweat or panic at their bizarre demands.
Who the hell was that?
Instead of heading to the staff cafeteria I had prepared during lunch with the other employees, he worked sandwiched among the basic mascots.
He didn't even glance at the ladybug employee—the one who killed him—muttering to herself in a corner, out of her mind, while cleaning.
No resentment. No forgiveness. No interest.
'Not human.'
That overwhelming sense of wrongness made my stomach churn and chills run down my spine.
Thankfully, the mascot mask hid it all.
I sent off one guest and scanned the surroundings.
I spotted the next guest approaching with mouth agape.
But....
"Um, excuse me...."
A modern person in a hoodie and jeans, flushed with excitement, looking around everywhere.
'A normal human.'
Maybe caught up in the theme park board game? I hoped they filled their boarding pass quickly and got out safe.
But....
"This is the resort from that magazine, right? So cool...."
...Magazine?
'Hold on.'
I checked both wrists of the guest.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Theme
Park
Came?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
"Huh? There's a theme park here too? I saw an ad in a review... Huh? But how did I even get here? I thought I wanted to come, but why here?"
The guest's face went blank.
And a chill ran down my spine.
...Not from the board game. A human pulled in by some other method.
For this resort specifically?
"Um, but I don't know how I got here. How do I leave?"
"That way, sir!"
Jang Heo-un cheerfully pointed to the lobby door.
But this resort's exit... hold on.
Something told me they couldn't just leave that way...!
Legitimate theme park guests would safely return through their entry point. But a casual visitor like this... probably had a high chance of just exiting the theme park 'normally'?
And no one knew what lay beyond the theme park....
Think of Death Row Alley or Blind Man's Mansion!
'They'll go missing.'
I urgently grabbed the guest.
Hold
on
"Huh... yes?"
I grabbed a random room key from behind the desk and handed it over.
Take
it
"Yes? Oh, no, it's fine...."
I bowed my head.
And gave this spectator—who wasn't even a guest but had wandered into the resort—the last chance to become my customer.
The mascot's pupils stared at the spectator.
Take
it
"Y-yes...."
The guest tremblingly extended a hand and took the room key.
It was practically a forced sale.
But there was no choice.
'Let him stay for now.'
At that moment.
"How would you like to make payment?"
...!
"P-payment? Card...."
The body of Jang Heo-un in the yellow mascot mask smiled as it returned the card.
"This is not valid currency for use in Jolly Theme Park, sir! Jolly coins, please."
"Uh... uh, where do I get those?"
"Simple! In Theme Park ■■'s ■■■■■, your ■■■ ■■ will ■■■■■."
"Aaaah! Ah, that's how!"
"Yes! Simple, right?"
"I'll go exchange right now! So reasonable—humans can be killed too!"
Conversations I shouldn't hear were spilling out! Knowledge I shouldn't have was emerging! That's why I deliberately assigned a human—not mascot—to front desk assistant guide duty. And there's a reason I deliberately didn't think about it. Of course, as a mascot, I already knew. No, I won't think it! No....
The employee shut their mouth.
The drooling human guest looked at me.
"Uh uh but payment...."
"Yes."
The guest staggered up to their room.
A sigh of relief escaped through my twisted lips.
"......"
One thing was certain.
The employee next to me had just done something Jang Heo-un would never have.
"Mascot sir, shall I serve the next guest?"
I couldn't hold back.
You
Who
Are
You
"Pardon? Oh, I'm the employee you hired, Mascot sir, working at this resort...."
Who
Are
You
The employee glanced at the mascot but soon responded in the cheerful voice befitting a Jolly Theme Park staffer.
"I'm the HR manager of this resort!"
Name
What
Is
It
"Um... ah. My name is Buffalo!"
......
The nickname signed on the contract.
I
Am
Who
"You're the Mascot, sir!"
My
Name
"You're Golden, sir!"
The employer's name signed on the contract.
I looked at the unfathomable employee wearing Jang Heo-un's form with a sense of despair.
And finally asked.
Deer
Know?
"...Deer?"
The employee in the yellow mascot mask paused briefly.
"A colleague."
...!
"A coworker from the company I worked at before joining this resort. A truly grateful person. I remember you were also on the security team there, Mascot sir...."
......
Maybe.
Why
Joined
The reason he joined Daydream.
Wish Grant.
His most desperate life goal.
Recalling the core of the person named Jang Heo-un might reveal something....
"Ah... to save my precious family."
...!
"I'm an orphan who grew up in a facility, but three years ago, there was a huge fire, and the family I lived with all died in it. I barely survived by some fluke."
......
"I wanted to die too, but they said I couldn't. So I tried to save others instead. That way...."
"Pardon? Understood, Mascot sir!"
I couldn't hear any more.
I'm going insane.
"But it was all meaningless obsession. Working at this resort is truly fulfilling and happy for me!"
......
"...Pardon?"
Why
Happy?
"Because it's a resort run by the wonderful Mascot sir...."
What
Does
That
Have
To
Do
With
You
"S-sorry.... That was overstepping. I'll work even harder for you and the resort, Mascot sir......"
Damn it.
"No! You can do anything, Mascot sir. This resort operates entirely under your judgment and will. It's an honor to work here."
......
With those words, I resumed receiving guests at the front desk.
The employee in Jang Heo-un's form seemed fidgety for a moment but perked up cheerfully as a guest approached, true to a Jolly Theme Park resort staffer.
My mind cooled even further.
'This is something I shouldn't have heard.'
The revulsion of hearing someone's intimate, desperate personal story treated so absurdly lightly and casually.
My stomach turned.
To the point where I felt relieved for cutting it off midway without hearing more details.
......
Really, truly, is there no way...?
I pulled out the document I'd been using as the resort operation guideline and picked up the pen.
Chills ran down my spine.
I forcibly twisted the pen.
But the pen wouldn't stop.
......!
I just needed to worry about ways to operate the resort better. I decided not to dwell on meaningless concerns.
Exist solely as this resort's mascot.
I lifted the pen and barely erased everything.
My breathing grew ragged inside the doll mask, but the mascot showed no agitation. This wouldn't do.
'I need to get out fast.'
Something was going wrong.
But... to do that, I needed to successfully expand this resort once more first.
As quickly as possible.
For now... satisfied guests would hit 300 soon at this rate. No, honestly, seeing the influx today, it'd be done by tomorrow at latest.
A staggering achievement.
'Who knew social distancing concept would work even in a ghost story.'
I might have been annoyed and amused before, but now it didn't matter. The issues were above and below.
Staff and ceremony ritual.
'......'
Three additional staff.
One way was to lure civilians like the one earlier with lodging as bait and recruit them for staff duty.
Problem was how many I could convince, and who takes responsibility if they die on duty.
'They don't even have basic gear like masks.'
Whether my sanity could hold was also an issue.
And the next method was...
Grotesque, but a method learned from this incident.
'......'
I summoned basic mascots.
And inquired about the location of items they had disposed of somewhere.
Specifically... the whereabouts of the two corpses brought with Lee Seong-hae Junior Staff.
Yes.
I wanted to see if corpses could be revived as staff.
The basic mascots guided me behind the resort building.
A space avoided by human staff and off-limits to guests, worked only by basic mascots.
Specifically, to the freezer section of the room service warehouse.
Two mascots stood guard in front.
'Ha.'
I imagined the corpses inside and reached to open the door to check... but...
'......'
I realized.
The mascot me recognized it.
You
All
The corpses weren't in the freezer warehouse.
Because the two basic mascots guarding the freezer warehouse entrance were the staff corpses!
'Fuck!'
The corpses had turned into those basic mascots...!
Just like Jang Heo-un's corpse turning into staff...!
The basic mascots looked at me.
I nearly staggered back, but my sense of self as the resort operator held me steady.
Then the basic mascots—things I had thought were other bodies of mine—approached to support me.
Chills.
Then the true nature of all the basic mascots here now...
'Damn it.'
There must have been corpses from people who died wandering the resort ruins.
Raising people of unknown death time as staff!
This insanely eerie resort... no, wait.
Thinking about it, the resort wasn't at fault.
'Corpses get buried and become natural fertilizer anyway.'
But becoming fertilizer for this wonderful resort was better than futile decomposition for ordinary nature and lowly creatures, right?
Yes. For dead people anyway, using them well seemed right.
'Phew.'
I finally sorted my mind and sighed in relief.
...Anyway, using dead corpses as staff was a failure.
'Maybe because no separate contract, not recognized as individuals.'
Still, one hope: Jang Heo-un counted as staff, not basic mascot.
Meaning, unlike these mascots without ego, he was recognized as an individual entity.
...Even if it was just because I allowed staff to maintain human appearances instead of mascot exteriors.
"......"
I squeezed my eyes shut. No, I wanted to, but the doll mask blocked it.
The situation... was spiraling out of control.
'Confusing.'
The ghost story's bizarreness was blatantly emerging.
I'd been too focused on operations, but now it felt like bigger trouble was brewing.
The ladybug staff was under strict watch by two strong employees—Assistant Manager Lee Jaheon and Junior Staff Lee Seong-hae—but I couldn't erase their burden entirely.
'Need to get out of this insane resort fast.'
No matter how ecstatic this resort or how much I tended it, this was unavoidable.
'Need more info.'
Paradoxically, Jang Heo-un was now a perfect resort employee, so I could leave the front desk to him briefly and move about.
He executed any orders I gave precisely.
I had some freedom of movement.
So on day 4, tonight's schedule was... this.
I stepped out of the resort building entirely and walked along the path.
And...
I went directly to the gate leading to Blue Dream Waterpark.
And so...
To meet the blue mascot.
I'm
Here
The blue mascot standing beyond the gate tossed the book it held and ran over.