It Seems I Must Go to Work Even After Falling into a Horror Story 037

Saint Yu’s peek-a-boo.

According to middle school students, this would be the final group activity album of a famous girl idol who made a grand comeback after several years of hiatus.

The addictive, bright, and cheerful pre-released song reportedly lingered on the music charts for quite some time.

Now, that very song echoes through the foggy, eerie forest with synchronized claps.

Clap.

“My dazzling gaze will capture you in an instant, but I don’t intend to approach first…”

“I’ll pretend to wait until you come near, oh so comfortably.”

Cuz Predators never move first… Even the adults struggled to follow along with that song.

Clap.

“Come on, prepare yourself. I’m an elegant tiger who’ll say peek-a-boo the moment you approach!”

The lively and exciting melody carries on.

Perhaps because many are singing together, the children’s expressions gradually become relaxed, and their voices gain strength.

“Peek-a-boo! I’m here, get ready! I’m a tiger. Even in darkness, my eyes shine bright!”

-‘As you walk the path of the melody, position the sacrifice to be offered at the very end.’

But at the end of the line, instead of a person, a thumb-sized violet ginseng dangles like a bundle swaying back and forth.

The Security Team Leader carries the stick with the ginseng hanging from it over his shoulder, following at the back like he’s holding a trash bag.

Ko Seon-ha is glancing at it suspiciously from the side, but the party in question is humming the song quite happily.

“Peek-a-boo! I’ll enchant you until you lose your senses. Peek-a-boo! Yeah, get ready.”

Clap.

I gestured for everyone to stop.

‘Thirty…’

The people clumsily bowed and then straightened up.

And the song continues.

“Peek-a-boo!”

The path becomes increasingly smooth and easier to walk on.

-‘When the melody ends, the path ends. If you find a small snake hole in a place without grass, thank the mountain lord’s mercy and reach your hand in.’

-‘Your hand must be coated in saltwater from a well.’

As we finish the second verse, the surroundings change.

The trees thicken to the point where they can cover your face, but slowly they begin to thin out, and the fog thickens even more.

Instinctively, everyone realizes it.

‘We’re almost there…!’

The expressions of the crowd are tinged with tension, anticipation, and alertness.

But staying as calm as possible, we sing to the end.

“Peek-a-boo, yeah, get ready…”

Clap.

To the very last line.

“Now I’ll come closer.”

The footsteps came to a halt.

“…”

“…”

The path has ended.

In front of the blocked trail is an open clearing.

“I, there are no trees.”

People’s footsteps quicken. In such thick fog, the result of the ritual finally appears before our eyes.

“Now, the snake hole…!”

A gigantic reservoir.

“…”

“…”

‘What is this?’

Fog endlessly spilling out, a dark, vast shoreline.

People stopped, their faces filled with confusion and fear.

“What’s happening? Why…”

“U-uh, the snake hole should appear, uh…”

What’s going on?

What went wrong?

I looked at the ginseng that the Security Team Leader was holding.

…It looked fine.

‘It should have disappeared…?’

Ko Seon-ha opened her mouth, her face pale.

“…Water ghost.”

“…!”

The words I had heard just hours before came rushing back.

‘And… be careful of the water. The term “Chang-gwi” originally meant water ghost back in the day…”

“It was a trap! The ritual, the ritual itself was a trap!! We got enchanted by the water ghost…!”

“Ahhhh!!”

“We’ve all been dragged to the reservoir…!!”

Manager Lee Byeong-jin screamed as he tried to run back but fell. The children cried and screamed, clinging to each other.

I nearly collapsed from the chill running down my spine.

It felt like we had stepped into a horror movie scene where all the characters were about to die.

“…”

‘We’re going to die like this…’

…No.

No!!

I needed to at least understand the reason behind this.

As I thought about it, I couldn’t find any mistakes within the information given. Including all the expedition records from [Dark Exploration Records] I had read!

The irrationality of the situation, more than the horror, began to dominate my mind.

The terrified voice of Ko Seon-ha buzzed in my ears.

“L-l-l-l-l-l-let’s turn around and run to the abandoned house…!”

…Huh?

Wait a minute.

I turned to Ko Seon-ha.

“…Do you know?”

“Yes?”

“The abandoned house is also a trick.”

“…What?”

“Doesn’t it seem strange when you think about it?”

I spoke slowly.

The intended contradiction of this horror story.

“It’s a space we’ve entered enchanted by the water ghost, yet we can regain consciousness in an abandoned house that’s warded against the water ghost.”

“…”

“And conveniently, there’s a ritual written to escape from that abandoned house.”

Thus, the comments section on the [Dark Exploration Records] wiki also had conflicting interpretations about this abandoned house, but I was nearly certain.

‘This is a horror story designed to slowly torment people from the start.’

If so, the intended coherence is this.

“They’re deliberately keeping us in the abandoned house for fifteen days to drain our mental and physical strength.”

Easing us with the hope of a ritual, they push us into an extreme state to break our psychological barriers.

“Then it would be easy to lure us out.”

Decisively…

“If they induce a mistake while we carry out the ritual, it would be the ideal scenario, and it wouldn’t matter even if it didn’t work.”

I looked at the ginseng.

“During the process of determining the sacrifice, there will inevitably be conflict, and someone will get left behind. A single sacrifice can surely be ‘taken away’.”

“…”

“Of course, the ritual is real. That’s how they can cling on more desperately.”

And this is [Dark Exploration Records] after all.

Stories shouldn’t be filled with too many convenient false settings. That would break immersion and drain tension, so the ritual has to be genuine.

For that reason, I confidently proceeded with the ritual, but…

“That’s why it’s even more puzzling.”

I had read quite a lot of horror stories.

At least all the ones recorded in [Dark Exploration Records].

Some were tough to read, yet I had them in my routine at the company, so I read them multiple times.

Throughout that process, I learned some trivial knowledge I hadn’t known before…

Like this.

“Peach tree branches are commonly known to ward off ghosts.”

“And plums are fruits favored by the water ghost. That’s probably why these two prepared items were needed.”

“…Ah.”

“To lure the water ghost to the shrine while the person performing the ritual escapes with the incense that wards off ghosts.”

I raised my head.

“But, coincidentally, standing right here, there’s someone who’s been uncomfortable with the smell of the incense made from peach tree branches, and reacted sharply to the plums.”

“…”

Out of seven people, one walked next to the Security Team Leader at the very back.

As if wanting to stay as far away from the incense made of peach tree branches as possible.

“Ko Seon-ha.”

I looked at the person in question.

“Are you speaking on your own will right now?”

“…What do you mean,”

Maybe.

The real Ko Seon-ha had already failed the ritual before meeting us at the shrine and already…

“Right now, it’s not Ko Seon-ha speaking; it’s the water ghost, isn’t it?”

Suddenly.

Her feet stopped moving.

“Caught you.”

Ko Seon-ha’s mouth split wide.

But it’s too late! Too late!

Her arms stretched grotesquely and reached out, intending to grab me…

‘Aah!’

I rolled on the ground to escape her grasp.

From behind, the screams of the manager and children echoed like a chorus.

“Ahhh!!”

“G-g-ghost!”

Instinctively, I drew a knife from my front pocket. That’s not purely the water ghost! It’s a human possessed by the water ghost, so if I can overpower her somehow…

But then I realized.

‘N-no, I can’t charge at that thing!’

To use this short reach weapon, I’d have to get up close to the possessed human! I feel like I’m going to faint right now!

Still, my burning brain immediately selected a target!

“Leader!”

I threw the weapon to the figure standing behind me.

“Please take care of this!”

Whoosh.

The blood-sucking knife sliced through the air.

“…Ah.”

The Security Team Leader snagged the blood-sucking knife, eyed it, and immediately lunged at the water ghost.

Heeheehaak!!

Ko Seon-ha’s face and arms twisted grotesquely, and bizarre forms erupted haphazardly.

Countless arms, faces, hair, and eyes of various ages looked around in all directions.

Hey! Hey!

“Yikes!”

“Step back and close your eyes!”

Manager Lee Byeong-jin curled up like a ball and retreated up the mountain path with the children, rolling along.

Can you hear me? Someone help!

At that moment, the Security Team Leader’s form began to warp as well.

A grotesque manifestation.

His formerly slender upper body began to swell like it might burst, growing enormous, and his mouth split into a beak-like shape with his tongue sticking out.

That tongue mercilessly pulls and twists the long arms of the water ghost.

Aaaah!

No, it’s an illusion. The Security Team Leader looks like a normal human being.

No, not really—he’s changing into a monster-like form…

‘Wow, this is insane.’

I barely shifted my focus.

I started to understand why the Security Team is adept at subduing horror stories.

Yet they weren’t the Field Exploration Team.

It was appearing right in front of me.

———————=

[Security Team]

: One of the sub-teams under the security department of the Daydream Corporation, a giant force that appears in [Dark Exploration Records].

A team of personnel who can no longer be classified as human due to their absorption into certain horror stories.

It’s a lifetime position, and resignation is impossible.

———————=

Did you know?

If you are no longer classified as human, even if you clear the horror story, the extract doesn’t accumulate in the Collector.

It has no value for field exploration.

Thus, people who have become nearly monsters through merging with horror stories are assigned to the security team.

Especially… those tainted by certain violent and territorial horror stories,

It hurts! It hurts!

To the Security Team.

When a serious problem arises with a corporation-managed horror story, they respond accordingly.

‘…And to be a leader there, that man is the same.’

In short, a staff member specialized in facing monsters within horror stories.

Kyahhh!

Countless arms of the water ghost burst forth from the leader’s mouth and wrapped around with claws and teeth.

The face of the Security Team Leader, with the blood-sucking knife clamped between his teeth, still swirled with that strange manifestation.

‘…A wolf?’

The hallucination overlapped where countless teeth were visible as his beak opened wide, dripping with saliva and blood.

Dizziness and nausea crashed over me like waves, and I hurriedly looked down at the ground.

‘…Feels like a nightmare.’

I began to vaguely understand why the Security Team pulls back all personnel when subduing horror stories in [Dark Exploration Records]…

Yet, considering the adventure, things were progressing successfully.

“Keep your eyes closed!”

I too maintained my silence while looking down at the ground.

And the next moment.

-Oh, Doe! The strange guest you brought has won!

The situation came to an end.

As I raised my head, I saw the water ghost lying there with a blood-sucking knife embedded in its right hand.

And amidst that distorted, mutated figure, the Security Team Leader was gripping its head tightly…

-Urgh, what a lowly sight. If it had come to my show as a guest, it wouldn’t have dared to appear!

When I felt so relieved that Brown’s voice reached only me, I desperately mustered a calm voice toward the Security Team Leader who was tightly holding Ko Seon-ha’s head.

“Leader, thank you.”

“Uurgh…”

-Feeling tired, it seems. What a rude guest!

That horrid voice is more terrifying since you can translate it…

At that moment.

A crushed sound emerged from beneath the Security Team Leader’s hand.

A human voice.

“W-wait a second…”

“…!”

Soon enough, the now-normal-faced Ko Seon-ha, with a terrified expression, desperately groaned.

“P-please save me! S-save me…”

Leave her behind…

“U-urgh…, ”

Her eyes rolled back as the voice of the water ghost filled the air.

Only she should die… Okay? You can die. You killed a person. You tried to kill the children. I know everything? You can die.

Ko Seon-ha struggled.

“Don’t, don’t… ”

Leave her behind. Just leave her. Okay? Ugh?!

“Please save me, save me!! Aaaah!”

At that moment.

“Right now.”

The Security Team Leader asked in a human voice.

“You’re requesting emergency assistance from [Daydream Corporation], right…?”

The monstrous form obscured his face.

But that distinct voice was clearly questioning Ko Seon-ha directly.

“This is an official request that would require signing a contract… right?”

…There was something strange about the feeling.

Ko Seon-ha, looking dazed, gazed up and soon regained her sober voice to answer desperately.

“Y-yes…”

Wait.

“No, it’s not.”

I interjected with clenched teeth.

“This is neither a facility owned by the corporation’s darkness nor are we civilians entering for rescue, and most importantly, there was already mutual assistance involved.”

“Uh… that’s strange…”

His growling voice dropped dangerously low.

“She tried to stop us from getting out, didn’t she…?”

Huhhh.

“…It doesn’t matter. In the end, it was helpful, so.”

I declared.

“Then this is cooperation.”

“…”

The Security Team Leader stared at me intently.

Then he glanced at Ko Seon-ha and said…

“Ah… Is that so…?”

“…”

“Sounds correct too…”

Swoosh.

The strength in the Security Team Leader’s voice faded, returning to a demeanor that seemed to find everything bothersome as it originally was.

‘Phew.’

Feeling something strange led me to interject, and it seems this is the correct move.

‘It’s best to stay clear of Daydream Corporation…’

Do I even want to owe that company? I felt a bad premonition just thinking about it.

“Um… then what should we do…?”

“Just a moment.”

I approached Manager Lee Byeong-jin, who had been standing back with his eyes closed, gripping the children.

The manager jumped at the sound of my footsteps.

“Yikes! Don’t tell me you’re going to…!”

“Incense burner.”

“Huh…?”

“Hand it over.”

I snatched the incense burner that Manager Lee Byeong-jin still held.

The incense made from peach tree branches had already burned, but the ash remained intact within the burner.

‘He hated the peach tree branches.’

In that case…

I poured the ash from the incense burner onto Ko Seon-ha’s shoulder area.

Kyaaaaaaaaaa!!

Fizz.

Even though it shouldn’t be overly hot, a burning smell and salty scent wafted up from her shoulder.

I won’t go! I won’t go! I can just grab on again! I can just grab on again… Aaaah!

I dumped it all over her head.

The body possessed by the water ghost twitched and thrashed wildly…

“Hurgh,”

Her eyes flew open.

The clarity and relief surged within her gaze.

It was Ko Seon-ha.

“I-I’m okay! I think I’m feeling better…”

“Not really.”

“W-what?”

“You’re in a space that’s originally enchanted by the water ghost, so it can return at any time.”

“W-what if…?”

“So, let’s not allow Ko Seon-ha to come here at all.”

“…?”

I had brought along a sealed pack of apple juice.

I held it out toward Ko Seon-ha.

“Y-you…?”

“Just gulp it down.”

Reluctantly, Ko Seon-ha, clueless about the situation, ultimately began to gulp down the apple juice while still pinned down.

And shortly after.

Thud.

Like ginseng, she fell into a deep sleep.

Phew.

‘We’ve resolved this for now…’

“You can let go now.”

“…”

The Security Team Leader obediently released his grip and asked in a quiet voice.

“Maybe a department change…?”

“Not happening.”

Please, stop.

I thanked the now normal human-shaped Security Team Leader once more, then gathered Manager Lee Byeong-jin and the children who were still tightly closing their eyes.

“You can open your eyes now.”

“Ah…!”

Relief crossed Manager Lee Byeong-jin’s face.

But soon he glanced at the children, expressing a look of despair as he whispered to me.

“But what do we do now?? How are we going to find a way out…?”

“…”

“It seems like morning is about to break!”

I looked up at the sky.

Beyond the thick fog, it seemed there was a dim light appearing somewhere…

…The full moon night was coming to an end.

‘There’s no time to perform the ritual again.’

But…

“It’ll be fine.”

“…Yes?”

“Probably half of the ritual was successful.”

I recalled how the path shifted every time we sang and how the incense burned properly.

‘Everything we prepared was correct.’

This ritual serves two main purposes.

To avoid the water ghost.

And to plead with the mountain lord for an escape route.

“And I think the latter probably worked well.”

Because someone possessed by the water ghost mixed into our group, the former failed, bringing us right to the edge of the water…

“Perhaps, there might be an exit nearby.”

“…!”

We began to gather closely in the thick fog and started searching for a spot near the water that was a bit further from the mountains.

Specifically, around the area where the path ended.

-‘If you find a small snake hole in a place without grass, thank the mountain lord’s mercy and reach your hand in. Your hand must be coated in saltwater from a well.’

‘In a place without grass… a place without grass.’

Then moments later.

“F-found it!!”

“…!!”

One of the middle school students discovered a small hole under a tree.

Moonlight pierced through the fog and shone below, illuminating what looked like a pool of black ink.

“…”

A snake hole.

I urged the people to quickly dip their hands into the saltwater. In my haste, fear became secondary, and I acted first.

‘Quickly, quickly.’

Just before dawn.

We plunged our hands into the snake hole.