Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: Even If Dropped Into a Ghost Story, I Have to Go to Work
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Both the public servant and I pressed our backs against the wall, staring down the hallway ahead.
The end of that hallway we'd escaped from, leading to Class 5 of the first-years.
Finally, I got to see it for myself.
Flicker.
A mannequin-like figure appeared at the far end of the hallway.
'...Three of them?'
One more had joined.
Two male students and one female.
The two who had come from the classroom were covered in blood, grinning at us, while the remaining one stood still in a pristine uniform.
When the lights came on, they just looked like eerie, lifelike wax figures—or people preserved in a photograph.
But every time the lights went out...
Flicker.
They appeared closer.
Again and again.
Even as we backed away further.
Flicker.
Exactly as far as the emergency flashlight's beam reached.
They stopped right there, revealed in the light, drawing closer once more.
They never retreated.
Flicker.
"......"
If the flashlight's battery just ran out...
I could imagine this standoff ending right then.
'Ha.'
Even as I carefully, slowly shuffled my feet backward, the thought clawed at the back of my neck.
In the end, we only stopped when we reached the dead end of the hallway.
And that's when it happened.
"......"
Fuck.
"Prepare yourselves."
I gripped the flashlight tight and pressed my back against the wall behind me.
[5]
I quickly swung the flashlight to shine on all three.
With every pass of the light, they drew closer.
[4]
The public servant and I both shone on two of them simultaneously.
...And the other one?
[3]
The other one—
Where'd it go?
No matter how I swung the flashlight side to side, even into the blind spots, nothing.
[2]
Anxiety accelerated time itself.
Where, exactly where, where...
Ah.
Whoosh.
I lowered the flashlight.
[1]
The beam shone brightly on my feet... and the bloodstained white hand just about to grab my ankle.
A hand in a school uniform.
"......"
A Se-gwang Industrial High School student sprawled on the floor looked up at me with a grin.
"......"
Slowly, I pulled my foot back.
'Ha.'
Crazy, insane!!
If my reflexes had been even a fraction slower, I'd be dead.
'I've never even played a VR horror game in my life...!'
I never thought I'd experience something like this for real.
To avoid blinking both eyes at once, I blinked them alternately, very slowly, while backing away step by step.
My limbs trembled.
Staring piercingly at the remaining two student entities, the public servant spoke.
"Once we leave the floor, the students from that grade usually don't pursue aggressively."
I knew that.
As long as prey remained on that floor, the odds were they'd go there instead...
"Let's head up the stairs."
"...Not down to the first floor?"
"No. This mission is to reach the fifth floor—ideally, enter the auditorium."
The first school announcement I'd heard immediately came to mind.
-Students of Se-gwang Industrial High School! Graduation ceremony begins shortly. Please gather in the auditorium.
"...What's in the auditorium?"
"No intel yet. That's why we need to investigate."
Of course.
'The exploration records accumulated so far are still only mid-early game by Darkness Exploration Records standards.'
No one in their right mind would head straight to a place announced as "gather here" in a nightmare school.
A few who tried probably got caught by the students and died.
The higher we went, the bolder, more unpredictable, and intelligent the students' hunting tactics would become...
And the bigger problem was what happened after reaching the fifth floor unscathed.
Never come up to the 5th floor!! Better to die down there, never go up
-Final recording from the 12th Exploration Record
...That.
'Ha, I really don't wanna go...'
But the most heartbreaking part was that I had to go anyway.
At least I could take some comfort in having company.
Still, we couldn't go like this—we needed thorough preparation, so let's tweak things a bit.
"If it's alright, could we make brief stops to check out the third and fourth floors too?"
"Any particular reason?"
"This feels structured like a horror game."
"...!"
"Games usually require picking up key items to progress."
I spoke as I slowly ascended the stairs backward.
"Not sure, but if it were me, I'd search special classrooms first—like the music room, science lab, or staff room. Check graduation albums or student records too."
"......"
"Feels like hints or keys might be in props or objects."
We kept climbing the stairs.
As the distance grew from the 'students' encircling us, the flashlight beam alone could cover them in our field of view.
Only then did the public servant speak.
"Our analysis team came to a similar conclusion. ...Said it resembles a game-based ghost story."
Oh.
"The fictional high school name, the structure of fleeing from monsters—it matches."
"Yeah, I thought the same."
"But this kind of suggestion is new. Investigating objects over monsters or people..."
For some reason, the public servant's eyes seemed to sparkle.
Without dark circles from his high school days, it didn't look weird.
"Excellent. Let's examine the rooms as much as possible. Relay it once more agents join..."
More agents... Pass.
But the public servant, seemingly excited, added more.
"Now that you're a temporary agent, better to use code names. Any preference?"
Oh god.
"We usually draw from historical materials. Non-everyday terms make distinction easier."
'They're even giving me a code name?'
Seemed like they indulged every possible fantasy.
......Ah. If I made a named Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau agent in Darkness Exploration Records, did I have a code name I wanted to use?
Yes.
But I had enough shame not to bring it up now...
"...Grape."
"Fruit. Clean and good."
I briefly imagined what Brown would've said.
'Kinda miss 'em.'
Shaking off the absence of my 'good friend,' I continued the conversation.
"What should I call you, agent?"
"My code name is Bronze."
"Got it, Agent Bronze."
The agent—code name Bronze—nodded contentedly with a faint smile.
Like he was looking at an intern.
'Feels like I've been welcomed as a newbie a lot lately... Nah, just my imagination.'
Anyway, we kept leaning down to check the stairs below obsessively until we fully escaped them, ensuring no students followed.
Of course, one of us kept watch on the upper floors the whole time.
And finally, we arrived.
The third floor.
The floor where the second-years resided.
"......Quiet."
The students from below had naturally slipped from our view, but none appeared from above. Seemed they'd spotted someone else and gone that way...
Still, just in case, we kept glancing at the stairs as we entered the third-floor hallway.
Under the bright lights, it was surprisingly pristine.
No blood, filth, corpses, or people desperately staring at students while frozen in tear-streaked terror.
"......"
No student entities either.
And I could guess why.
'They've barricaded all the doors.'
Someone had already locked every classroom door.
Even padlocked them with chains.
'...! Gotta be Daydream employees.'
It matched our manual.
Students in Se-gwang Industrial High School uniforms show aversion to damaging school facilities.
Observed cases where quietly closing and locking doors returns them to inactive state, sitting at desks.
Plus, locks like that would make noise if anything tried to exit.
We could react to the sound right away.
'Primary safety measure.'
With plenty of people around limiting the dolls' movements, it was feasible if done stealthily.
"......"
But as quiet as the hallway was, we had to stay silent.
Those students aggroed on sound.
'Second-year staff room is around the corner.'
'Crawl there?'
Nod.
With tiny whispers and nods, we finished talking, then quietly hugged the wall, crawling low to avoid notice.
Even then, we never stopped staring at potential spots like hallway ends or stairwells where someone could appear silently.
Cold sweat soaked my back.
'Just a bit more, just a little further.'
Slowly.
No rushing, just pass through.
When we'd covered more than half,
Aaaagh!
......
From beyond the hallway, someone screamed.
'No.'
If there's sound...
Clack.
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack.
I couldn't even lift my head.
Every padlocked door—doorknobs rattling.
...The students had heard it too.
Clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack-clack.
The public servant and I crawled like mad, escaping the hallway flat on our stomachs.
And looked back.
Clack...
"......"
"......"
Whew.
Luckily, the scream ended after one burst, so the rattling stopped.
Though shadowy figures peering out from behind doors were visible...
"......"
Scary as hell.
Only a blessing they weren't looking our way.
I swallowed hard.
Still, a relief—we'd reached our first destination.
Rounding the corner, there it was.
But this staff room also had every door padlocked, windows papered over from inside—impossible to see in.
Unsettling in a creepy way, but I couldn't have been happier to see it.
"Keep watch on the four directions for a moment."
The agent slipped a thimble-like item onto his finger, then poked the staff room padlock's keyhole.
The thimble—wrong size for the hole—slid in, and the lock clicked open smoothly.
'Whoa.'
Bureau-issued gear really was the dream.
"There might be students inside, so enter carefully."
And when he opened the door.
"...!"
"...?!"
A totally unexpected scene unfolded.
"Close the door quietly."
"......"
"Hurry."
I shut the door behind me.
No students inside.
Instead, about seven people were glaring at each other in a standoff.
Suspicious high schoolers in animal masks and suspicious high schoolers with translucent pistols.
Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau agents and Daydream Corporation employees.
'They're fighting!'
And on the table between the opposing factions sat a single fountain pen.
'...An item.'
I knew it.
Seemed they were checking each other over possession of it.
'Aren't you supposed to be exploring the ghost story, not wasting manpower like this...!'
They even noticed us entering late.
"Agent Bronze."
A few who looked like agents finally lit up, eyeing code name Bronze beside me.
But a rational person like the agent next to me probably wouldn't sympathize...
"Let's join them."
"...??"
Wait a sec.
But the agent was already striding over to stand in front of the agent group.
And I was...
"......"
Receiving fervent stares from our company's animal-masked folks.
Especially from the two colleagues who knew my face.
"??"
"??!"
The day I'd see Baek Saheon and Jang Heo-un wearing identical expressions had arrived.
Their eyes flicked between my Bureau iron badge and translucent pistol, as if saying:
'Why are you coming out of there...?'
Meanwhile, the public servant called me again.
"Agent Grape."
"Gra, Grape?"
The public servant replied coolly.
"Mocking code names too? So on-brand for that company."
"...??"
I'm losing it.
"Come over here. Better to step away from the door."
"......"
'What to do.'
I weighed the situation intensely.
And decided.
'Can't betray them.'
I walked over and stood by my acquaintance's side.
"Yes, agent."
Right next to Agent Bronze.
"What is this, what...!"
"......"
Yeah. Can't betray.
'Can't betray my own safety...!'
Sorry, colleagues.