Chapter 256
Chapter 256
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 256
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Have to Go to Work
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Eun Ha-je nearly spat out the ice cream she was eating.
A formal yet cheerful voice emanated from the TV, hosting a matchmaking program.
On screen, accompanied by lo-fi, low-quality orchestra band sounds, young men in crisp white suits passed by within heart-shaped effects.
They all had tall, neat, and polished looks fitting for a dating TV show.
That is, if her workplace superior hadn't been among them...
He was even smiling dashingly at the camera.
"What the fuck."
A reflexive curse slipped out, but it wasn't so much disgust as sheer, insane bewilderment.
'That guy...'
Has he been corrupted?
A wave of intense absurdity passed, replaced by a chilling sensation creeping in.
Eun Ha-je swallowed her double curse, tossed aside her ice cream, and began grabbing her gear.
All while keeping her eyes glued to the screen.
The more she focused on the screen, the more eerie details stood out.
Like the profiles of the participants, introduced in a breezy tempo, flashing by in an instant.
Name: ■■■■ ■■■
Height: 37cm
Weight: 4kg
Hobbies: Cello, recitation, asphyxiation death
One Word of Resolve: I'm sorry, please stop. The groom who kisses the bride is me!
The bizarre numbers in height and weight, the endless apologies and pleas in the notes, the unfocused faces in the profile photos.
Yeah.
Easy to overlook at a glance, but noticeable upon focus. They looked just like photos of corpses dressed up...
The fleeting shots of what seemed like cheering audience members or participants' acquaintances revealed figures far from normal.
Traces of mutilation, torture, and modification hidden under makeup, their painted smiles cheering wildly.
But it all flowed by seamlessly in the bright, cheerful atmosphere, bringing the program intro to its close.
The staple of entertainment shows.
Introducing the professional celebrity host.
A shot of the groom candidates entering the venue, with a handsome man trailing at the back turning to wink at the camera.
It was Lee Jaheon.
"Khk! Gkh!"
As Eun Ha-je frantically cleared her choked throat...
The screen showed the grooms striking cool poses to cap off the opening...
And in the center, Lee Jaheon in his white suit, gracefully raising both arms in greeting.
"This is insane."
Corrupted.
Eun Ha-je immediately grabbed her smartphone.
Her fingers swiftly and precisely dialed the direct line from the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau agents.
Kim Sol-eum had made excuses to the Bureau about entering a defenseless state while connecting to the space mall, and requested monitoring from the two agents just in case.
The call connected after two rings, and she cut straight to it.
"Is Sol-eum okay?"
-Pardon?
"Check now. Immediately."
There was a brief silence from the other end, as if confirming the protected space where Kim Sol-eum was staying.
And then.
-Heart rate, breathing, and temperature are all normal. What's going on?
"......"
No, it's just...
Eun Ha-je tried to explain but locked eyes with a groom candidate on the TV screen.
Candidate number 3, nameless, was playing the violin with a flower in his mouth, acting pitiful in some dogshit performance...
"......"
-Citizen?
"Fine as long as he's unharmed."
Eun Ha-je ended the call with instructions to ring her if anything happened.
...It was a ghost story, sure.
But maybe not as extreme or serious as she'd thought.
'Is this... Sol-eum pulling some outlandish stunt to escape again?'
She couldn't tell if the situation was truly dangerous or if Sol-eum had twisted it into something bizarre.
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je picked up her ice cream again and watched the TV with a troubled expression.
For now, Section Chief Lee Jaheon's safety seemed... completely fine.
The program was stimulating.
It spotlighted each candidate, making viewers mock or cheer them.
Cute, funny background music played for two who made absurdly hilarious poems, earning sympathetic reactions.
Conversely, cheers went to one who crafted a brilliantly cool poem with a clever idea despite finding few bookmarks.
And finally... the two who utterly failed to make a proper poem.
They were hung side by side from the boarding school's tower window.
Eliminated by the 'viewers'' decision.
"......"
Eun Ha-je picked up the remote and stared at the screen.
Whenever she hovered her finger over a number button on the remote, the corresponding candidate's profile photo enlarged on screen.
'Ha...'
A physically impossible situation.
And real-time viewer voting percentages reflected on screen...
The percentages vanished in the final 10 seconds of voting.
Then the countdown.
10, 9, 8, 7...
Applause, regretful sound effects, then close-up on the loser's profile.
The eliminated one took a book to the head from the boarding school tower and was shoved off in a comical pose.
Cymbal crashes, exaggerated effects, and giggling laughter inserted.
Some 'experience trainees' in the audience seats were also flung out, their spotlights vanishing.
Loud crashing sounds echoed from outside the window.
The mood then shifted to encouragement and relief as it panned to the remaining grooms.
The creepiest part?
Was how fun it all was.
It was captivating.
Even cruel punishments, laced with cheerful sound effects and playful visuals, weren't tragedies anymore.
The elimination scenes inside the TV, distanced from viewers, became pure comedy—gripping tension or hollow laughs, nothing more.
Seasoned with emotions.
Regret when a likable participant fell, satisfaction when an unremarkable survivor finally dropped.
The joy of judgment.
Hollow laughs and cheer from absurd eliminations.
Dopamine numbing ethical and moral sensors naturally.
"......"
Eun Ha-je glanced at her empty ice cream container and felt a brief chill.
She'd naturally picked it back up at some point, watching like it was truly entertaining TV.
A thrilling sense of danger prickled her nape.
'High-grade Darkness.'
But nothing went wrong. The program flowed smoothly like a river, without bursting into reality or the section chief dying cruelly.
Eventually, five groom candidates 'eliminated' in various ways, along with their cheering experience trainees vanishing from the audience...
Leading to the finale.
The finals.
Now seemingly immersed, the screen showed the two finalists eagerly waving at the camera.
The venue was fully prepared for the wedding, soft lighting and piano music gently filling the hall...
And the final round event, fitting a climactic showdown.
Eun Ha-je unwittingly leaned toward the TV.
The camera turned.
From the end of the white velvet wedding road where the grooms stood, to the officiant stand ahead.
No one was there yet.
The camera captured the grooms' full bodies—joy, anticipation, tension, worry mixed—before shifting angles.
A long side shot of the wedding road.
The grooms' profiles at the right edge of the screen, framing the overall venue.
Perfect mise-en-scène to capture the bride's grand entrance down the road.
And.
Cheerful sounds and a drumroll echoed.
Viewers watched in anticipation, imagining the bride.
But...
"......"
Nothing happened.
'What?'
Eun Ha-je leaned closer to the TV. Still nothing appeared on screen, but she heard noise. And from the far end of the wedding road, something emerged.