Chapter 254
Chapter 254
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 254
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work
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Let's summarize.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon is trapped in a boarding school ghost story conducting mad groom lessons.
He's been selected as a groom candidate, no less.
And as preparation for the wedding ceremony, he's having a full bottle of blood drawn every night, scheduled to collapse in four days.
Finally...
-...The wedding is also in four days?
"That's correct."
This is insane.
'Why are you so calm about this!'
He knows full well that in ghost stories like this, weddings are the censored ending!
I suppressed the prickling at the back of my neck.
Actually, no need to suppress it. Right now, I'm just existing as a consciousness linked to Section Chief Lee Jaheon's mind, without a body of my own. ...Not that his body is even human to begin with.
Anyway, first things first.
Blood.
-Can't you get items from the Cosmic Mall—that is, from 'us'—to replenish the blood loss?
"Yes."
Why!
...Of course, true to form as the lizard section chief, there was a rational explanation.
"If the current bloodletting method proves insufficient, the likelihood increases of being ordered to perform even more lethal procedures."
In other words, from the ghost story's perspective, it'll think, 'Why isn't this working? Time for something else,' and suddenly drain all your blood in one go or worse...
'Makes sense.'
I sighed anyway.
......?
'Brown!?'
Why are you here... Wait. Even back in Greater Seogwang City, Brown was recognized as part of my consciousness system and tagged along for Cosmic Mall VIP shopping.
And this time too, I'm in Section Chief Lee Jaheon's body via an item from those alien Cosmic Mall operators.
Probably the same mechanism.
Which means... he got the same classification?
Y-Yeah.
The problem is...
"Mr. Deer."
Section Chief Lee Jaheon knows Brown all too well...
He was the alien reptile who half-destroyed Brown's studio in response to my item use.
"Is that remark from the Late-Night Talk Show host of darkness?"
-It... is.
"I see. Do you require advice?"
-...Uh, well. Would your advice be to detach him?
"Yes."
My stomach's churning...
'This is the mad ghost story where they're trying to insert soundproofing into students' split-open soles because footsteps are too loud, and we're dealing with this...'
-......For now, Section Chief Lee Jaheon's current situation is more urgent, so let's talk about that later.
"Yes."
You literally might die in four days at most.
This is maddening...
I soothed Brown's mood, swallowed a groan, and thought.
'Section Chief Lee Jaheon has no intention of handing over body control at all.'
The situation doesn't match what I'd prepared anyway.
I came to take the proxy exam for the groom lessons to pass the experience course, but he's not just passed—he's a full groom candidate, so now he needs to become an official student to escape.
'That changes everything.'
Instead of picking the correct answer for this groom lessons ghost story, exploiting structural loopholes in the answer sheet itself might have a higher escape probability.
I checked immediately.
First... the [Darkness Exploration Records] only mentioned that boarding school policy prohibits leaving the dorm room at night.
-Is it difficult to leave the dorm at night? If so, please explain why.
"Yes. At night, structural anomalies manifest in the building, and non-anomalous areas have supervisors on patrol."
In short, the boarding school at night is a twisting labyrinth with patrolling dorm supervisors. A nightmare.
-Have you tried leaving yourself? If so, tell me the purpose and destination.
"Yes."
And Section Chief Lee Jaheon didn't open his mouth.
'...What?'
But the next moment.
Lee Jaheon 'informed' me.
'...!'
Sharing a lump of information.
No... memories, sensations perhaps. Raw visual, olfactory, tactile, auditory... sensory data inputted into the thought system.
Just like my own memories.
I'm moving silently through the dark hallways of the boarding school.
A curtain shifts, and as a patrolling supervisor is about to appear, my body hangs upside down from the ceiling to avoid sight.
Controlling physical strength to avoid damaging ceiling lights, I wedge hands into brick grooves and move again.
Destination: the front gate.
I know.
During the experience lessons of this boarding school ghost story, if failure seems imminent, escaping through the front gate is a last resort.
Rarely successful cases wake up near the address... as noted in the [Darkness Exploration Records].
The Daydream Corporation database has the same info, so contextually, Section Chief Lee Jaheon must have tried it based on that.
But actually.
It wasn't necessary.
'...I just knew.'
I naturally understood that Section Chief Lee Jaheon—'we'—had judged based on similar background knowledge.
Because it was shared.
An astonishing sense of unity.
-...Do 'we' share information like this?
"Yes."
Is this constant for those reptilian aliens?
Definitely not a modern human way of info transfer. More like merging experiences...
Meanwhile, my memories reconsolidate.
Long, suffocating hide-and-seek combined with judicious force, and finally...
I reached the front gate.
2 hours, 48 minutes, 14 seconds from dorm to there. Possible to retry by forgoing sleep.
But we knew it wasn't necessary.
Because where the front gate should be,
I held back a curse.
Was just a wall.
Night exploration ended. Return to dorm.
This damn boarding school had all official entrances sealed off.
No one in or out.
'Like the final chapter of a horror game.'
Probably because all groom candidates have been selected, entering some ritual phase.
'Preparing for the "wedding."'
'Experience lessons ended due to this too, huh.'
Plus, even breaking doors or fleeing windows...
The boarding school's surroundings are fog, cliffs, and a forest with distant ocean sounds, and all explorers who fled there went missing.
This is the ending.
In short, a high-grade ghost story with poor synergy against Section Chief Lee Jaheon's forte of physical exorcism.
But here's a bigger issue.
'...This wasn't supposed to happen originally.'
Section Chief Lee Jaheon—Employee D—ending up like this isn't in any [Darkness Exploration Records] I've read.
Butterfly effect?
Me entering changed D Squad's composition, creating this new death risk for him?
...Doesn't feel good.
So, gotta cooperate more on escaping the ghost story.
-Thank you for the info.
"Yes."
Then Lee Jaheon began the blood draw.
Better to do it now than morning and get some sleep, but still anxious.
'Too much volume.'
...Seriously, his visible hand looked paler.
Crisis sense of survival.
Sharing the body makes it hit harder.
'Need to find an exit fast.'
As I merged with the sleeping Lee Jaheon and my mind faded, I vowed to gather info tomorrow...
And the next day.
At breakfast, served were silver bells, apples, and... boiled brains.
The intact brain drenched in apricot-colored sauce was fully visible.
'Please no.'
Fortunately, smaller than human size. Ha...
I tried to ignore the brain's taste, feeling like tears were streaming. At least I'm not slicing and eating it myself...
'Focus...'
I tried collecting other info caught in Section Chief Lee Jaheon's vision.
First priority... the students.
The figures around the long table numbered over twenty, distinguishable by clothing.
Not the clean, simple uniforms of groom candidates, but about a dozen in tougher, plainer shirts and pants.
'Those are the experience students.'
The ones caught in the ghost story.
No new students, so probably failures from the previous round repeating experience life.
...Over seven had torture-level physical damage, some self-inflicted.
In the serene boarding school breakfast, grotesque scenes casually interspersed.
'...Whew.'
Eerily calm, making it even creepier.
'......'
Stay calm.
Imagining deep breaths, I shifted focus to other visual info.
Now the other side.
'Groom candidates.'
Those in the same uniform as Section Chief Lee Jaheon sat at the head table, conversing softly...
...Their faces oddly blurry.
Not just faces—anything beyond uniforms rejected by the brain, unparsable.
Like filtered.
Trait?
Wait.
So the Cosmic Mall reptilian aliens... don't perceive unnecessary sensory info?
'Isn't that a contamination filter?'
Filtering out harm before accepting it.
Come to think, I've never seen Section Chief Lee Jaheon suffer contamination or ghost story influence.
Seems like 'our' trait.
'That explains it!'
Feeling a question resolved, I looked away from the groom candidates first.
'They're not human...'
Sure, many facility ghost stories aren't run for humans. Like 'Mansion of the Blind' or that exhibition one.
'...So no one passed experience learning, let alone got selected as official groom candidates.'
Maybe Section Chief Lee Jaheon passed selection because he's not fundamentally human, but a reptilian alien.
'......'
Okay for now. Remember that.
Next, the tall, slender figure at the absolute head of the table.
Dorm supervisor.
The educator of this boarding school.
-Section Chief, is asking the education supervisor wedding-related questions at a non-intrusive level relatively safe? Blink once for yes, twice for no.
Lee Jaheon's eyes slowly closed once and opened.
Affirmative.
-Then please ask this question.
The education supervisor looks at me kindly.
I filter bombs from the question.
No direct bride questions first.
-Sounds rude... Someone who asked got their mouth sewn shut with a nose needle... As discipline...
No probing school operation questions.
-Yeah, someone got expelled for prying who runs the school. Processed as missing in the forest... Rumors they got paid extra by the research team to ask.
So, picked a more personal question fitting a student.
-Is it possible for groom candidates to drop out and not stand at the wedding?
Lee Jaheon voices my question.
And the education supervisor answers kindly yet sternly.
But I can't describe it colloquially.
Clearly auditory response, yet thoughts and depiction manifest as lengthy classical diary entries.
A bizarre compulsion, like when I struggled with proper sentences while communicating via smoke acting.
Yet fitting the groom lessons theme, the supervisor's words enter my mind elegantly and fluidly.
It was...
A gentle explanation that all groom candidates except one will drop out.
'...!'
-Then what happens to dropped groom candidates?
The supervisor answers kindly. Soothing a student's anxiety about failing to become groom, reiterating Sanctus Anticus Boarding School's lenient motto.
Encouragement and aid.
Even to non-official experience applicants, teaching groom virtues with utmost effort.
Even with full groom candidate seats, waiting for experience completers.
They'll all attend the wedding.
Dropped candidates too.
No, the supervisor said dropped candidates would have even more important, honorable roles at the wedding.
-May I ask what that is?
The supervisor describes gladly.
They become wedding souvenirs.
Beautiful artworks symbolizing the groom's growth, part of the ceremony, staying throughout.
After, distributed as favors to guests.
Eternal mementos of the wedding.
......
......
-Thank you.
The supervisor praises my politeness, asks groom candidates to offer blessings.
Amid the elegant blessings from the just-finished-breakfast groom candidates, I thought.
'We're screwed.'
Drop out: souvenir. Pass: groom.
Better to be groom, but no doubt it'd end with 'Better off as a souvenir, less painful.'
No, either way it's hell...
'Damn!'
During break after morning class, urgently asked Section Chief Lee Jaheon to go to bathroom alone, then.
-If you can't escape by wedding day, no plans for holy fire bombardment?
Seemed the clearest answer.
Everyone's dying anyway. Holy barrage for chaos, maybe some survive.
'Then safe house?'
But...
"Yes."
...?!
-Besides casualty risk, other reasons?
"Yes."
-Please explain.
"Yes. Abandoning the Lee Jaheon instance is more economical for us."
-......
Wait.
-What do you mean by economical?
"The location isolating current Section Chief Lee Jaheon has severed reality connections, making energy input difficult."
......
"Tracking and holy fire bombardment here would cost more than the section chief's status and body, we predict."
So.
This place has no entry methods left, costing more than my Late-Night Talk Show escape...
But then,
-Doesn't Section Chief Lee Jaheon earn plenty at Daydream? Considering future value.
"Can replace with cheaper than holy fire."
-......
Eerie judgment.
Those 'us' reptilians treat Lee Jaheon—like their group member—as a small part...
Even he himself.
Like a single honeybee in a huge hive or a cell in a giant organism.
Because they share all experiences and info?
......
I don't know.
But.
-Section Chief.
I want to rescue D Squad's Section Chief Lee Jaheon.
-You want to live, right? Not 'us'—you specifically.
Brief silence.
Then.
"Yes."
Good.
-Then let's do our best.
I racked my brain desperately.
Combine today's info. Students, groom candidates, supervisor, questions, wedding, us...
Us.
Filtered vision on groom candidates.
-...Section Chief. You're resistant to contamination, right? More than average Daydream Field Exploration Team members.
"Yes."
...Then.
'Something comes to mind.'
This sounds crazy, but...
-If handing body control to me is unappealing, can you perform as requested?
"Yes."
-Thank you.
-Stop the blood draws starting tonight. And...
And...
I continued, feeling like swallowing hard.
-Would you consider temporarily handing body control to someone else besides me?
"Who is this 'someone else'?"
Um.
Well.
-...Late-Night Talk Show host, Brown.
Sounds insane, but it's the best option.