Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work-Chapter 176

The resort must open.

Even if someone died three hours ago.

Even if that person was a close colleague of mine.

Even if the person came back to life as something inhuman, with blood and guts spilling back into the road.

"Welcome, guest! What room would you like?"

We stand side by side at the front desk.

...Next to me, the resort employee wearing a yellow mascot mask is kindly greeting guests.

It’s Jang Heowoon.

Or...

‘I don’t know.’

Cold sweat ran down my back. I mechanically handed the guest the room key, my mind racing...

What exactly is going on?

‘Did I save Jang Heowoon?’

But can I even call that thing Jang Heowoon?

My mascot instincts identify the employee standing next to me as the being I contracted.

However, the one who starts working with a wide smile is certainly not someone who has been pierced through the spine, died, and returned to life.

It’s a ghost story.

But the resort must operate, and Jang Heowoon must work diligently to meet the conditions for his employee status to stamp his boarding ticket. So here I stand.

But now, the escape itself seems questionable.

Can a ghost story truly escape by human rules?

And even if they do escape... is it safe?

"Wow... thank you!"

Now, he doesn’t seem overly tense.

He’s truly acting like a hotelier, treating all the strange guests with professionalism.

No matter how bizarre the requests, he doesn’t break a sweat or seem flustered.

Who is that?

Even at lunchtime, instead of heading to the employee dining hall I prepared with the other staff, he works between the standard mascots.

He doesn’t even look at the ladybug employee, who’s muttering and cleaning alone in the corner, driven mad by what he’s seen.

No resentment, no forgiveness, no interest.

Nothing.

‘He’s not human.’

The strange discomfort makes my stomach churn and my spine tingle.

Thankfully, the mascot costume hides everything.

Next.

I sent off a guest and looked around as the next guest approached with their mouth open.

But then...

"Excuse me..."

A modern-day person wearing a hoodie and jeans, looking excited while glancing around.

‘A human...’

Did they get caught in a theme park board game? I just hoped they'd fill their boarding pass and leave quickly.

But...

"This is the resort from that magazine, right? It looks great..."

...A magazine?

‘Wait a minute.’

I checked the guest’s wrists.

...No boarding pass band.

A theme park guest?

"Mm? There’s a theme park here? I saw an ad in a review... Huh, but how did I end up here? I thought I wanted to go, but why am I here?"

The guest’s face went blank.

And a chill ran down my spine.

...It’s not a board game; a human is being drawn in another way.

For just this resort?

"I... don’t know how I got here. How do I leave this place?"

"Over there, sir!"

Jang Heowoon cheerfully pointed to the lobby door.

But the resort’s exit... Wait.

Shouldn’t they just leave that way...!

A legitimate theme park guest would safely return to the place they entered. But a simple visitor... Wouldn’t they likely just leave the theme park’s bounds?

And who knows what lies beyond the theme park...

Think of the Death Alley or the Mansion of the Blind!

‘They’ll disappear.’

I urgently grabbed the guest.

Wait!

"U-uh, yes?"

I randomly gave them one of the room keys hanging behind the desk.

Take it.

"Yes? Oh, no, it’s fine..."

I lowered my head.

And I gave the last chance to the guest who wasn’t even a real

★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★

guest, the sightseer who came into the resort.

The mascot’s gaze fixed on the sightseer.

Take it.

"Yes, yes..."

The guest trembled, holding out their hand to receive the room key.

It was almost forced.

But there was no other choice.

‘Let them stay for now.’

At that moment.

"How would you like to pay?"

...!

"Pay? Card..."

The yellow mascot, with Jang Heowoon’s body, smiled as he returned the card.

"You can’t use the payment method here, sir! Please use the Joy Coin!"

"Uh... uh, where can I get that?"

No.

"It’s simple! You can exchange it at the theme park ■■ for your ■■■■■."

"Ah, that’s how it works!"

"Yes! Simple!"

"I’ll go exchange it now! It’s so reasonable, I can kill humans!"

Things I shouldn’t be hearing! Things I shouldn’t know! I deliberately placed a human employee, not a mascot, at the front desk, and I didn’t want to think about this!

No...

Stay calm.

The employee shut his mouth.

The human guest, drooling, stared at me.

Take it.

"Uhhh, but... payment..."

Forget it.

"Yes."

The guest staggered back to their room.

A sigh of relief escaped from their twisted lips.

"......"

I was certain of one thing.

The employee next to me, the one in the Jang Heowoon mask, just did something Jang Heowoon would never do.

"Mascot, should I welcome the next guest?"

I couldn’t hold it in.

Who are you?

"Yes? Oh, I’m one of the employees you hired, working here at the resort..."

Who are you?

The employee, noticing the mascot’s glare, quickly answered in a cheerful voice, as expected from an employee of Joy Theme Park.

"I’m the Human Resources Manager of this resort!"

What’s your name?

"Um... Ah. My name is Bison!"

......

The nickname I signed on the contract.

Who am I?

"You’re the mascot!"

My name...

"Golden!"

The name of my employer, signed on the contract.

I stared at the figure that resembled Jang Heowoon, but whose true identity was impossible to discern.

And finally, I asked.

Do you know?

"...Do you mean the deer?"

The employee in the yellow mascot stopped for a moment.

"Colleague."

...!

"He was a colleague from the company I worked at before I got a job at this resort. He was a really kind person. I also remember you, Mascot-nim, as one of the security team employees there...."

……

Could it be.

Why

Did he work there.

The reason he was with Daydream.

A wish-granting right.

The most desperate goal of his life.

If I remind him of the core of who Jang Heoun is, maybe…

"Ah… I wanted to save my precious family."

…!

"I was an orphan and grew up in a facility, but three years ago, there was a massive fire accident. Everyone I lived with died inside. Somehow, I ended up surviving alone."

……

"I even tried to die, but I was told I shouldn't. So I tried to save others instead. If I did that…."

Stop.

"Yes? Understood, Mascot-nim!"

I can't listen anymore.

This is driving me crazy.

"But in the end, it was all a meaningless obsession. I find working at this resort fulfilling and truly enjoyable!"

……

Why

"...Excuse me?"

Why are you happy?

"Because it's the wonderful resort run by Mascot-nim…."

What does that have to do with you?

"I-I'm sorry…. I was out of line. I'll work even harder for Mascot-nim and the resort……."

Damn it.

I’m sorry.

"No! Mascot-nim can do anything. This resort operates entirely under your judgment and will. It is an honor to work in such a place."

……

No.

With that, I turned back to the front desk and resumed receiving guests.

The employee wearing Jang Heoun’s face hesitated for a moment but, as soon as the guests approached, responded again with the cheerful manner of a theme park resort staff member.

That only made my head go cold.

‘I don't think I was supposed to hear that like this.’

That unpleasant rejection when you hear someone's deeply personal, desperate circumstances too lightly, too casually, as if they were nothing.

I felt nauseous.

I was relieved that I had cut it off midway before hearing even more details.

……

Is there really, truly no way…?

I pulled out the documents I had been using as guidelines for resort management and picked up a pen.

One staff member had been repaired. It took effort, but in the process, they seemed to have become an even more excellent employee. Very satisfactory.

Goosebumps ran up my spine.

I forcibly twisted the pen.

Very satisfactory—however, an excellent employee is not necessarily a good employee. I am considering ways to return them to their original state.

But my pen did not stop.

There was no such way.

……!

I should only be thinking about how to run the resort better.

I will exist solely as the mascot of this resort.

I picked up the pen and barely managed to erase all the writing.

My breath grew ragged inside the mascot suit, but the mascot does not waver. This is not right.

‘I need to get out of here quickly.’

Something is going very wrong.

But… before that, I had to successfully expand the resort once more.

As quickly as possible.

Requirements for Resort Expansion

3 Additional Staff Members300 Satisfied GuestsMascot Ceremony Ritual

At this rate, the 300 satisfied guests requirement would be fulfilled soon. No, to be honest, seeing how guests were flooding in today, it would probably be done by tomorrow or the day after at the latest.

A staggering success.

‘Why is the "social distancing" concept working even in a ghost story?’

Before, I might have laughed in disbelief, maybe even gotten a little angry, but at this point, it didn’t matter anymore. The problem was the other two requirements.

The staff and the ceremony ritual.

‘…….’

Three additional employees.

One method, as before, was to lure in visiting civilians by offering free accommodation in exchange for employment.

The issue was whether I could persuade them, and if they died while working here, who would take responsibility?

‘They don’t even have minimal protective gear like the mascot masks.’

Would my mind be able to endure this?

The next method was…

Disgusting, but something I realized through this recent incident.

‘…….’

I summoned the standard mascot units.

And I inquired about the whereabouts of a certain item they had stored away.

The two corpses that Chief Lee Seonghae had brought with him.

Yes.

I was going to see if I could revive the corpses and use them as staff.

The standard mascots led me to the back of the resort building.

A place where human staff members avoided entry and where guests were strictly prohibited—an area worked only by the standard mascots.

They guided me to the freezer section of the room service storage.

Two mascots were standing guard in front of it.

[Mandatory Freezer Seal Check]

‘Ha.’

I pictured the corpses inside and was about to open the door to confirm—

‘…….’

And then I realized it.

As the mascot, I recognized it.

You guys.

The corpses weren’t inside the freezer.

The two standard mascots standing guard in front of it were the corpses of the staff!

"Fuck!"

The corpses had transformed into those standard mascots…!

Just like how Jang Heoun’s corpse had turned into an employee….

The standard mascots looked at me.

I nearly staggered backward, but my identity as the resort’s operator kept me steady.

Then, the standard mascots—those other versions of myself—approached as if to support me.

Chills ran down my spine.

So that meant all the standard mascots here…

‘Damn it.’

There must have been bodies from people who had died wandering the ruins of the resort.

They had been raised from who-knows-how-long ago and repurposed as employees!

This nightmarish resort… No, wait.

If I think about it, this isn’t really the resort’s fault.

‘Corpses get buried and become nutrients for nature anyway.’

So if they became nutrients for this magnificent resort instead, wasn’t that better than simply rotting away for no reason?

Yeah. If they were already dead, it seemed reasonable to put them to good use.

‘Hoo.’

I barely managed to compose myself and let out a breath of relief.

…At any rate, using corpses as employees was a failure.

‘Since they weren’t recruited through a formal contract, they don’t count as individual entities.’

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The only hope was that Jang Heoun was registered as an actual employee, not just another standard mascot.

Meaning, he was acknowledged as an entity—unlike these mindless mascots.

…Even if the only reason he didn’t look like a mascot was because I had allowed the employees to maintain their human appearance.

"……."

I shut my eyes tightly. Or, at least, I tried to—but the mascot head blocked me.

This situation… was spiraling out of control.

‘This is confusing.’

The bizarre nature of the ghost story was becoming blatantly obvious.

I had been so focused on running the resort that I didn’t realize how disastrous this could become.

The ladybug employee was being watched by the two strongest staff members—Manager Lee Jaheon and Chief Lee Seonghae—but I couldn’t keep burdening them forever.

‘I need to get out of this insane resort.’

No matter how dazzling this place was, no matter how much effort I had put into maintaining it—this was inevitable.

‘I need more information.’

Ironically, now that Jang Heoun had become the perfect resort employee, I could leave the front desk to him for a while.

He would follow any order I gave him with exact precision.

This gave me some freedom of movement.

So on the fourth day, my evening plan was this.

I walked out of the resort building and followed the road.

And then…

Hello.

I arrived at the gate leading to Blue Dream Water Park.

So…

I had come to meet the Blue Mascot.

I’m here.

The blue mascot, standing beyond the gate, threw aside its booklet and ran toward me.