Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Arrogance Stop
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“…Sorry.”
“So why! Why are you rejecting me! You total loser!”
“…….”
Why, you ask!
Would you want to date a ghost?!
And she just shows up out of nowhere, mocking me as a total virgin loser who’s never even dated once.
Strutting around like she’s doing me a favor by deigning to go out with me.
If you’re a ghost, date another ghost!
Nothing about her, from one to ten, appeals to me even a little.
I just wished that old guy would sit down already.
Then the bus would depart.
Then I could get off at my next stop, ‘Arrogance Stop,’ and be done with it.
“Hey! Are you even listening to me?!”
“…….”
“You bastard! Just tell me why you hate me! Say it!!”
I was finally tired of even pretending to listen.
So I shut my ears.
And closed my eyes.
The best way to deal with annoying peddlers or cultists is to ignore them.
But to the blonde ghost, who had been watching Park Yeon-jeong declare he wouldn’t listen to her anymore with eyes wide open…
That only fueled her anger further.
“…W-What about me… do you hate so much! You bastard!!”
“…….”
For a moment, I almost mistook the world I’d entered—one swarming with countless ghost stories—for not cosmic horror or urban fantasy,
but some
pure romance ghost story.
And there was a slight problem with what the blonde ghost had just said.
First off.
We’d only met a few hours ago, time-wise.
Second.
The word ‘what about me’ was all wrong. It wasn’t like she was asking me to point out a specific flaw.
I hate you, blonde ghost. You as a whole.
And do you really think it makes sense to say what you like or hate about someone you met less than a day ago?
If she’d just give me permission, I wanted to seriously express my rejection.
Dead seriously.
“…Shall I be honest?”
“Yeah! Go ahead! Tell me! What about me do you hate so much!”
I’d just gotten permission.
So now, facts are fair game.
“For starters, your speech. The rough language, the curses that pop out like a vending machine at the slightest touch. It’s exactly the type I hate.”
“……….”
“And sorry, but I don’t want to date a ghost who’s already died once, and probably no one else would want to date you either!”
“…………….”
Honestly, I think this was the bare minimum politeness after heavy filtering.
Of course, it depends on how the recipient takes it.
But I thought I’d conveyed my intent sufficiently.
.
Right on cue, the bus started up.
“……….”
After hearing my honest rejection, the blonde ghost went dead silent, like a mouse.
…She’s not actually dead, is she?
She’d already died once, but I checked just in case she hadn’t died a second time.
.
From the tiny sniffling sound,
it seemed she hadn’t died twice yet.
…….
It was quiet.
Even the guy who’d sat in the very back, shouting ‘High up is the best!’—no more of that.
This silence wasn’t bad.
‘…Did I go too far?’
Remembering how I’d let my anger boil over without filter, regret hit me late.
The blonde ghost, still silent, finally resembled the ghost I’d expected.
Long straight hair hanging limp.
A gloomy voice like sobbing over something.
Chilling!
Suddenly, Park Yeon-jeong’s danger sense triggered.
A bad feeling that I shouldn’t leave it like this.
I cautiously tried to call out to the woman still sitting beside me.
“…Hey.”
.
【This stop is ‘Arrogance.’】
【Passengers getting off, please check your manifest and exit at the corresponding stop.】
The bus had arrived at Park Yeon-jeong’s stop before he knew it.
The back door opened, and he stared blankly at it.
He didn’t get off right away.
Park Yeon-jeong just gazed steadily at the back door. Even though it was his stop, for some reason, he didn’t stand up.
No way.
Did he still feel sorry toward the blonde woman?
No.
I wouldn’t.
I’m not the sentimental type to stay here over failing to apologize to one ghost when I might get dragged to hell.
.
The back door closed.
.
Only then did Park Yeon-jeong stand and move. But not toward the closed back door.
Toward the front door of the bus.
.
The front door soon opened.
And the man calmly stepped out through it.
Not under a blood-red sky.
Not on ground littered with pools of red blood.
Just ordinary blue moonlight softly illuminating the man named Park Yeon-jeong.
And that was the way to exit Arrogance Stop.
If you’d seen the previous stops, you’d think Arrogance Stop was the same—get off through the back door.
That would be the normal assumption.
But everyone who reached Arrogance Stop like Park Yeon-jeong would have grown arrogant from excessive dopamine and such while breaking the gimmicks of prior stops.
-I can escape.
Deluded by that arrogance into thinking they could exit just like everyone else through the back door.
Memories flashed of countless exploration records where people who boldly walked out the back door at prior Arrogance Stops had fallen to hell.
=======
Who could have known.
That the door leading out from Arrogance Stop… was the ‘front door.’
=======
“…Haa.”
Breathing in the cool night air filling his lungs,
it finally sank in.
I made it back alive.
Now he could finally take off the Top Student Glasses he’d been wearing all this time.
.
He grabbed the frames and slowly lowered them halfway.
!
!
……Ugh!
The moment he lowered the frames slightly, nausea surged in.
He barely covered his mouth with one hand to stifle the vomit threatening to erupt.
Also, with his other hand, he barely shoved his eyes back in before they could pop out.
Through Park Yeon-jeong’s bloodshot eyes, his dilated black pupils stared at the bus that hadn’t departed yet.
“…W-What…”
The bus hadn’t left yet.
But I knew that didn’t matter.
Because I knew…
The word ‘fear’ began to tighten around Park Yeon-jeong’s throat.
Fortunately, he quickly pushed the glasses back up, still slightly perched on his nose bridge.
The nausea he’d felt moments ago gradually faded.
Now he could finally breathe properly.
Standing up on both feet again,
as Park Yeon-jeong sensed he needed to investigate this anomaly,
“Me…”
?
A voice?
I whipped my head toward where it came from.
There,
a woman in white mourning clothes, with exotic golden long hair cascading down,
stood weeping pitifully, tears welling in her eyes.
“M-Me… do you hate me… so much you wanna puke! You trash… bastard…”
“…Why are you…”
The blonde ghost who should’ve been on the bus.
Was now standing at the stop with me.
Why?
The moment I sensed something was wrong, one detail flashed through my mind.
=======
/Ghost Story Log.
[Destination is Hell, Hell.]
Identification Code: Cd-F-4444
.
.
.
*Additional Notes.
A few survivors from this ghost story reportedly suffered various symptoms for a while.
The same symptoms appeared only in employees with high mental damage resistance.
=======
No way…
Park Yeon-jeong belatedly realized he’d botched this ghost story from the very start.
But it was too late.
Far too late to gather evidence of his past actions.
“Me… (sniff) how much… (sniff) courage… did I muster… to s-say it…”
“…….”
The definition of the current situation was this:
Park Yeon-jeong was now
possessed by a ghost.
A particularly clingy crybaby blonde ghost at that.
I alternated glances between the blonde ghost sobbing so pitifully and the bus that hadn’t left yet.
There was still a chance.
Before this bus departed.
If I could just get this blonde ghost back on the bus.
Passengers who boarded at Jealousy Stop just needed someone to hear their grievances—it was that simple.
So if I just listened to this blonde ghost’s grievances right now, I could shake her off.
“…Why… why…”
Sniff.
I slowly approached the still-pitifully-weeping blonde ghost, soothing her like a crying child.
“…S-Sorry. Truth is, what I said back then wasn’t how I really felt.”
…….
The sniffling subsided.
It stopped so abruptly that I wondered if she’d been faking it.
But now wasn’t the time to nitpick details.
“Truth is… I was e-embarrassed.”
“…Embarrassed?”
“…Yeah. Getting a confession from the opposite sex for the first time and all. That’s probably why that nonsense came out. Didn’t you say it yourself earlier? That I’m a ‘total virgin loser hikikomori solo forever’… right?”
“…….”
…Huh, why are my eyes tearing up?
It felt like tears were flowing from my own eyes.
I never thought trash-talking myself would stab my heart like this.
Saying all those words out loud made me feel like I really was that person.
When we were kids, teachers said if you declare what you want to be, it comes true.
Park Yeon-jeong is a total virgin loser hikikomori solo forever.
…Well, ‘solo forever’ isn’t wrong, so I won’t correct that.
But.
Calling a fool a fool is basically an insult.
And for me, ‘solo’ is a straight-up insult.
So let’s drop it now.
“…S-So, what you said on the bus… it wasn’t true?”
Her voice still sounded stuffy, but the intense emotions toward me were mostly gone.
Now, the remaining task:
Get this blonde ghost back on the bus.
“…Sorry for making a loser like me cry.”
As gently as possible.
“…Oh! But the bus is about to leave soon.”
And as naturally as possible.
.
Right on cue, the bus engine roared to life, as if it had been listening to my words.
Nice timing, bus driver!
“Hope we meet again sometime.”
“…….”
“…Hey, the bus is about to go?”
“…….”
!
!!
D-Driver! This person… no, this ghost hasn’t boarded yet!
The mood had been good just moments ago, but the blonde ghost showed no reaction at all, frustratingly.
I had no choice but to force her on.
I reached out toward her wrist.
!
!!
But the blonde ghost grabbed my outstretched hand.
!
She yanked me toward her, our faces so close our lips nearly touched.
Her blue eyes sparkled.
“You like me.”
“…Pardon?”
“Do you like me?”
.
!!!
No time to waste now.
“Y-Yes! I like you! Truth is, from the moment I saw you on the bus, it was love at first sight!”
“…….”
So please, get on the damn bus!
The other passengers on the bus were now openly watching this public confession.
After hearing my words, a faint smile gradually spread across the blonde ghost’s tear-streaked face.
“…Then we both escaped solo life.”
…Pardon? You were solo too?
A twinge of betrayal.
But soon, a soft blue light began slowly enveloping her entire body.
“Y-Your body?”
“Huh? What’s with my body?”
No way.
Is this that ‘ascension’ thing I’ve heard about?
Park Yeon-jeong, who never expected to witness ascension with his own eyes, forgot he’d been trying to get her on the bus moments ago.
He watched the process with keen interest.
Too bad he didn’t have sweet caramel popcorn for this moment.
“Hey! What are you staring at! Grab me quick!”
“Huh? Why should I…”
“Your girlfriend’s ascending to heaven! If you don’t, it’s goodbye forever!”
“Yes! No way!”
“So hurry and take my hand…”
“There’s this method too, huh?”
“…What?”
Exploration records hadn’t mentioned that resolving her grudge could lead to ascension—not just boarding the bus.
I’d set a good precedent.
If I could report this to the GRA Agency, I’d get a huge reward.
Obviously, if a civilian like me marched in and declared,
-I discovered a new anomaly in that ghost story! So pay me the bounty!
I’d end up designated for isolation and observation.
Obvious.
“You crazy bastard! Grab me quick!!”
“…….”
While I’d zoned out, the blonde ghost had already floated beyond my reach.
I looked up at her and
.
Clasped my palms together.
Paying her minimal respects.
‘Let’s never meet again.’
“You son of a…”
And so Park Yeon-jeong helped a poor wandering soul ascend.
A truly meaningful day.
“……….”
Now, time for me to head home.