Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work-Chapter 184

I moved forward slowly.

Magic Bunny’s Fantasy Land.

Everything had come to a stop, and it was dark.

A silent amusement park was already frightening enough just in concept to stir all kinds of dreadful thoughts.

Especially when I was the one walking at the very front.

Huuuu….

Was this what it felt like to be dressed as a ghost, hiding in a haunted house?

I couldn’t tell whether I should laugh or cry at the fact that I was wearing a Security Team disguise.

What was certain was that the strange sense of comfort the mascot costume had given me was gone.

…It had its pros and cons, but the rising tension was unavoidable.

[Ah, a midnight infiltration. Truly a thrilling and delightful scenario!]

[And I simply must say this one more time—what a spectacle earlier! A colossal trap hunting a colossal monster! Destruction really is one of the most primal joys. What an entertaining show it was!]

Hmm.

I heard Brown’s voice over the receiver with his usual cheer, and I felt a faint sense of relief.

‘Should I be glad at least he’s enjoying himself?’

If I’d promised the host of a ghost story that things would be fun and he ended up calling it boring, I’d be breaking out in cold sweat by now.

Even aside from that, this was a situation that warranted both relief and satisfaction.

It was going according to plan.

Squelch.

Behind me, the Blue Mascot.

No, someone who had taken off the Blue Mascot costume.

Thinking of him made a chill run down my spine, but at the same time, something within me sighed in relief.

Terrifying, but also like a divine ally at my side.

‘I’m just glad we agreed before the big ceremony.’

At first, I’d wanted to ask him to launch an attack on the Magic Bunny zone the moment the theme park closed.

Strike the Red Zone while my resort was under attack—have him devour it too.

But the timing might’ve gone wrong… and if the Blue Mascot had been overwhelmed, it would’ve been a disaster.

‘Their power seems pretty evenly matched.’

The Blue Mascot probably thought Magic Bunny was just as strong as he was, which is why they maintained mutual avoidance.

Touching the balance could mean mutual destruction.

‘Judging from the fact that crazy Red Mascot never invaded the Blue Zone, there must be some power equilibrium going on.’

That’s why I had to set the stage so he could devour Magic Bunny safely.

‘Step by step.’

And so, the most conservative course, statistically speaking, led to this moment now.

I and the employees hid in the shelter, then bombarded the resort itself.

And now, we’re invading the Magic Bunny’s zone with the formidable Blue Mascot in tow.

Of course—

There was a condition.

DO NOT

LOOK

‘…….’

Even so, I couldn’t help but listen.

Squelch.

The sound of water splashing behind me. The sound of a tail dragging across the ground. The sound of something massive pulling itself forward with belly and feet.

I heard it.

It sounded like a tidal wave, or a serpent sliding, or perhaps like wings or whiskers brushing the floor. Maybe something oozing, melted into the ground.

Following behind—something that had removed the Blue Mascot costume.

Squelch.

My nerves were on edge, instinctively alert.

Maybe… unlike Magic Bunny, the Blue Mascot hadn’t been completely devoured by the park and stripped of its outer form.

It still retained a semblance of shape.

Of course, I couldn’t turn around to confirm it.

‘There’s a reason for that.’

I left the smoke-script “Do Not Look Back” floating overhead without erasing it. Oh yeah, I’d somehow been able to start using this recently. Maybe the costume affected me in reverse?

In any case, we continued to advance.

Our destination was the center of the Red Zone.

Magic Bunny’s Fantasy Castle.

"……."

"……."

Even though I hadn’t told anyone to keep quiet, even the civilian rescue targets from the Bureau held their tongues, stepping carefully.

‘Not that it’s really necessary…’

But maybe out of anxiety, our steps gradually turned into something close to a jog.

The brightly colored amusement park palace loomed rapidly out of the darkness.

The largest, central facility in this zone.

‘…There’s definitely something left behind.’

Even if Magic Bunny’s main body and minions had attacked the Yellow Zone, been struck by lightning, and buried under rubble, there were still scraps left in the Red Zone.

And any of those scraps could become Magic Bunny again.

I know now. That’s what kind of species mascots are.

And if left alone long enough, those scraps could become a fully functional main body.

We had to catch them before that happened.

"…We’ve arrived."

I heard Assistant Manager Lee Seong-hae whisper behind me, and I came to a halt.

We could see the rear of Fantasy Castle.

Right. We had approached from behind, and the exaggerated fairy tale-style palace, like a proper theme park structure, had a cleverly disguised modern maintenance door at the back.

"……."

I didn’t stop Assistant Manager Lee Jaheon as he forced it open with brute strength.

Crack, creeeeeeak.

The door opened to reveal a bright, colorful, and eerily silent interior.

Something horrific, disguised as amusement park set pieces, appeared out of the shadows only to vanish again once my lantern light flickered out.

Gulp.

Someone behind me swallowed hard.

[Well then, search to your heart’s content, my friend…]

I thoroughly investigated every inch of the walls, moving toward the gate where the Red Bunny mascot would have stood to greet visitors.

And there, what I was looking for revealed itself.

AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY

"This is…"

"…Like a staff-only area?"

Correct.

The resort had a similar staff-only operations office.

Given I’d found operational documents and stamps there, I figured the Red Zone would have a similar space.

If there was anywhere to claim official control over the Red Zone—

‘This would be it.’

"Is this our destination?"

I nodded.

Without hesitation, Assistant Manager Lee Jaheon forced open the locked door once more.

A staircase leading downward appeared—modern architecture, rusted as if corroded by blood in various places.

"……."

I used smoke-script to present the others with a choice.

Choose freely

▶ Wait here

▶ Go down

"Uh…?"

Then I stepped forward alone to the stairs marked “NO ENTRY – MAGIC BUNNY ONLY.”

‘Please, let just a few strong ones come with me.’

The idea of going alone, unable to turn around, while something formerly known as the Blue Mascot silently followed behind… made me break out in a sweat.

But what was surprising was that everyone followed me.

"I-I was going to wait, but what if I accidentally looked back?!"

"In these situations, falling behind is always fatal."

"……."

Mm. A sound enough reason.

Anyway, we began exploring the darkness again.

As we descended, we passed odd doors labeled “Supply Room,” “Freezer,” and “Magic Storage,” but I didn’t touch any of them—I just kept going down.

I could sense it.

[Oh, is this the instinct of one who was once a mascot?]

Close enough.

The others followed me, careful not even to glance at the glass windows in those doors.

And finally, we reached the bottom.

A rusted plaque came into view.

Mascot Development Room

A half-opened door.

Found it.

"Excuse me, sir. Just a second—what does ‘Mascot Development’ even…"

I grabbed the doorknob and flung it wide.

"…!!"

I heard the staff stifle their own screams by clamping their hands over their mouths.

Of course they did. Because what was in front of them was…

[My, how avant-garde!]

In the center of the massive development room, a huge red body filled halfway with stuffing loomed before us.

Its hind legs had sharp claws, grand and menacing membranous wings, a severed tail—only the lower half of something massive remained.

"Hiiip."

Everyone froze in fear.

Then, from beside me, a bright voice chimed in.

"Oh, it’s a mascot suit!"

"…!"

"But it looks unfinished? Like, it’s only half there."

Correct.

If you looked closely at the exposed lower half, you’d see it was hollow, and clumps of severed human hair were stuffed into it like makeshift filling.

Clear signs that they had tried to create a mascot suit from scratch.

Hoo.

Using the enhanced vision from my eye-light, I inspected the lower half of that bizarre beast more closely.

It was covered in dense scales.

Human fingernails.

‘…Ha.’

And that wasn’t all.

All around the vast “development room” were parts that had been left unfinished, unable to be connected.

A yellow vertical-slit eyeball. Small fin-like membranes. Gigantic talons like a bird’s. A tongue. Flesh from a snout.

All leftovers from mascot development. The origins of the raw materials were all too easy to guess, and made my stomach churn.

It seemed they hadn’t been able to officially present or launch this thing as a mascot.

After all, this was the Red Bunny—Magic Bunny’s—zone.

That majestic and imposing form didn’t suit a brightly colored, cheerful amusement park.

The cheerful theme park surely wouldn’t have allowed it.

"Maybe they wanted to replace the bunny and use this as the new mascot?"

"……Hard to say."

I heard the agents whisper.

[A new brand image! Predictable, but classic thinking. What’s your take, Mr. Nohru?]

Hmm.

‘…What if it’s the opposite?’

[Oh?]

‘Maybe… they were trying to recreate their original form using that suit.’

Magic Bunny had completely lost the shape it once had, swallowed by the mascot costume.

‘So maybe it tried to remake the suit to match its true self.’

Whether out of instinct or calculation.

In the end, it had failed.

‘And judging by the pieces we saw earlier, Magic Bunny’s original form was…’

Just as I reached that thought—

Something moved.

“Aaack!”

I immediately grabbed the civilian by the nape and threw them toward the agents.

Chiiirrr…

What the civilian had been staring at so intently—the tail covered in scales—was twitching, dripping with fluid.

“Haa…”

A leftover of Magic Bunny.

It had latched onto the inner wall of a tail-shaped mascot suit and was squirming.

No limbs.

None of the organs or limbs it had pieced together from missing people and park visitors.

Just the remnants of the interior—the gutted contents of a mascot suit that had lost all form.

But its cunning and aggression were still intact.

And then—

Creak creak creak creak.

The sound began echoing from all around.

All the mascot parts in the development room were vibrating.

And the huge central piece began twisting its joints, following the tail.

From beneath the red suit, deeper crimson things bulged and twitched.

“Aaaagh!”

Some screamed. Others stumbled at the base of the stairs, unable to flee because they couldn't risk turning around. The agents moved to shield the civilians—

“Should we destroy it?”

“Feels like it’s weak enough to fight now?”

No, no, that’s not it!

I shook my head rapidly and reshaped the black smoke.

I directed it toward the enormous figure that had quietly stood in a corner of the development room, following behind us all this time.

The true form of the Blue Mascot.

“…!”

The creature that had shed the Blue Mascot suit became enveloped in my black smoke, blocking it from everyone's sight for a moment.

Now!

I pointed toward the stairs, signaling everyone to evacuate.

The staff rushed toward the staircase in a flurry. I followed, positioning myself at the end, back to the door of the development room.

Standing just like the others, drenched in cold sweat, I reshaped the smoke around us once more into words:

Do not look back

And then—

Squelch.

A sound echoed from the development room.

The being inside the Blue Mascot stirred.

To fulfill its promised task.

A slow, powerful step echoed like a tidal wave. The master of the deep. A scraping sound, as if it surveyed the broken mascot suits and their contents with solemn regret.

At last, the moment had arrived.

O seed of corruption, foreign to this realm

I devour you.

“…!!”

The leftover scraps of Magic Bunny’s inner contents were crushed, drawn in as though sucked into a massive whirlpool.

Like the “bad child” who had been swallowed up at the water park.

It was consumed.

A grotesque scream. A grotesque silence.

“Huuhuhuhk…”

“Ugh!”

Everyone instinctively plugged their ears, ducking their heads—desperate not to witness something they couldn't unsee, resisting it with every fiber.

But—

I made eye contact with someone.

The figure wearing the yellow mascot mask.

Jang Heo-un was smiling faintly.

As if he had already completely submitted to something else, as if there wasn’t even a trace of self left to tremble in fear.

As if to say he’d gladly look back and witness it all, if I wanted him to.

A different kind of chill crawled over my body.

But behind us, the overwhelming presence had reached its peak.

The sound of a massive torrent battering every wall of the development room like a whip, like a tail—and then…

It disappeared.

“…….”

“…….”

The people who had been covering their ears slowly lowered their hands.

From behind us, a voice filled with an attempt at gentleness came through.

It is done

“…….”

And then—

The stairs began to move.

“W-What?”

Like something being renovated in real time, the steps surged like waves and gently pushed everyone upward.

“W-What the hell is this?”

At last, the door marked “Authorized Personnel Only” swung open, and those who burst through…

…witnessed something astounding.

“Whoa?”

The red rabbits in Magic Castle were completely gone!

All the grotesque symbols it had left behind remained, but the once-overflowing rabbit mascots that filled Magic Castle had vanished without a trace.

In their place, new illustrations were appearing.

Blue Dream.

Cute, chibi-style blue dragons were now decorating the walls.

As if someone were hastily redecorating before the park opened.

“…!”

“I-It’s done?”

Some of the employees glanced back at me, and I nodded.

The Magic Bunny Zone had been taken over by a new mascot.

Completely!

Now

Safe

“Ah!!”

“It’s over!”

Seeing my smoke-script, the staff let out sighs of relief. A few burst into grins or even laughed—but since they couldn’t look back, they instinctively turned their voices toward it instead.

“Thank you.”

“Thank you!”

Directed at the Blue Mascot.

Its shadow, outlined in the yellow glow of my lantern, swayed ever so slightly—as if happy.

That shadow was…

“…A dragon?”

“Team Leader?”

“Maybe a dragon or an imugi… never mind.”

The team leader had started to say something but let it go.

“…….”

A thought came to me.

‘I was forcibly made into a mascot too.’

If the being behind me was once something else before it became the Blue Mascot—

And if that mascot suit earlier really was Magic Bunny’s original, now-lost form—

Then maybe. Just maybe…

This cheerful theme park had contracted powerful entities from other ghost stories or folklore, and turned them into mascots.

“…….”

Didn’t the board game that brought us here also come from the Yukhoe Research Lab?

‘What a bizarre feeling.’

But that wasn’t something to worry about now.

The important thing now was—

Magic Bunny was gone.

Even if someone had been left behind in the resort, they no longer had to worry about being killed by Magic Bunny.

‘It’s done.’

That thought lightened my heart.

[Mr. Nohru, you’re the one who did all the hard work!]

[Though, thanks to you giving all the credit away, that drama-queen mascot probably thinks he’s the protagonist of this story now.]

Oh, please.

‘Still… it’s fine.’

I led the employees as we walked out of Magic Castle.

Dawn was beginning to break.

***

Yukhwe Theme Park was about to open for business.

We had returned to the Yellow Zone’s connecting gate—but the path we’d used was no longer leading to Blue Dream Waterland.

It had once been a gate set up by Magic Bunny.

But now, a new sign was posted there.

[Blue Dream Fantasyland Gate]

The Blue Mascot, who had once again donned his costume, waved from what was now his zone.

Some staff members awkwardly returned the wave.

[My word, it looks like Stockholm syndrome.]

...Or so Brown probably would’ve said.

But at sunrise, the receiver had lost function, and my connection with Brown was already severed.

Still, I’d see him again soon enough.

I hung the receiver near my thigh.

That’s when Assistant Manager Lee Seong-hae approached me.

"Um, so… does this mean you have to go back into the mascot suit too?"

I looked at her silently.

If I had no other plan, then yes.

And I’d have to remain here in this theme park forever, as a mascot… unable to leave with the others.

Because if I stopped being a mascot, there would be nothing left of me. …I’d vanish.

However—

Yukhwe Theme Park is now open for business!

At that moment, with cheerful music blaring, the park’s operations began.

A staff uniform began to appear over my Security Team gear.

But it wasn’t a mascot costume.

"Uh—what?!"

A crisp uniform, a yellow bow tie.

"A-Are you… staff?"

Correct.

And strictly speaking—

I was no longer a mascot.

This body was now a staff member.

When did that happen?

Right before the illumination ceremony!

Because I signed an employment contract!

Employer: GOLDEN

Employee: Nohru

That’s right.

I had dragged my original body—still lying near the Blue Gate—and made it sign the employment contract.

To separate myself from the mascot.

‘As long as it’s a living being, it can be hired as staff.’

The mascot ceremony hadn’t been completed yet, so not all of my consciousness and body had been fully absorbed into the mascot form.

But the mascot’s selfhood was strong enough to use a basic version like a real body, so the split was possible—barely.

That’s how my original body was successfully separated and registered as a staff member!

Which is why, even while buried in the shelter, Magic Bunny hadn’t noticed me.

Because I wasn’t a mascot—I was a staff member.

"Uhhh…"

I felt slightly guilty that I couldn’t even manage a Security Team-style smile at the bewildered staff members looking at me.

‘Still… I have a job to do.’

…Of course, there was a downside to all this.

My consciousness had been split in two.

Experiencing the death of “me” trapped in the basic mascot unit hadn’t exactly been pleasant.

But I endured it.

No—I had to endure it.

For this outcome!

‘I can leave now.’

All the Yellow Mascots were

# Nоvеlight #

dead except for a few basic ones, and the resort had collapsed.

With the mascot’s power weakened like this, I—as a staff member—just had to resign and leave the theme park.

Even if my mind, torn apart as a mascot, would remain as part of the ghost story… creepy as that was, I had to accept it.

If I’d done as Brown said and dumped the whole thing on a staff member, Magic Bunny would’ve torn us both apart.

‘…My already fragile sense of self wouldn’t have survived that.’

Besides, this whole Yukhwe Theme Park expedition had been organized separately by Director Ho at my request.

Even if everyone had joined voluntarily… someone like Jang Heo-un? No doubt Ho had specifically assigned him.

So if someone had to take responsibility, it might as well be me.

I took a deep breath.

And then, from the ruins of the resort, I allowed the “me” inside the basic mascot to fade and release….

‘Let’s rebuild the resort after everyone’s resigned first.’

If I dump the Yukhwe Coins we got from conquering the Red Zone, it should be doable quickly.

That way the remaining staff will still have jobs, and we can all escape faster.

It’ll be fine.

That’s what I was thinking—

Good child

The Blue Mascot beyond the gate was staring at me quietly.

Then it raised a hand toward the air… and pointed at the zone it now stood in—the one pioneered by Magic Bunny.

Huh?

Here

Good child

Take it

‘…?!’

W-Wait a second.

But it had already begun.

The color of the zone the Blue Dragon had “transferred” began to shift.

The path, which had turned blue, was turning gold once again.

And the golden light began to climb halfway up the trail… spreading into Fantasy Land.

‘Oh no.’

One-third of the facilities in Fantasy Land—specifically the resort-style vacation areas—were now soaked in gold.

And everywhere, decorations of a cat mascot wearing flower branches on its head began to appear.

Good child

Did it

No.

New novel chapters are published on freewёbn૦νeɭ.com.

No!!

I had absolutely no intention of expanding the Yellow Zone even a fraction of an inch…!

‘I just wanted some coins to rebuild the damn resort! That was it!’

I bit back a scream as I saw the Blue Mascot’s face—brimming with expectation as it looked my way.

There were now five—no, seven—Yellow Zone facilities.

‘I’m gonna lose it.’

I could feel it.

The mascot’s consciousness was swelling too much.

Wait—if this keeps going, I won’t be able to resign…!

‘The mascot is becoming too powerful!’

Compared to when I only held the resort, the sheer intensity now pouring into my mind was overwhelming—pushing out my identity as a staff member, trying to pull my focus toward the basic mascot unit instead. No!

‘If I resign now… will I even be left?’

That terrifying thought clawed at me—right as the mascot’s elation surged into my mind, threatening to drown me.

A light shone through my Security Team uniform.

“…!”

I looked down.

The light was seeping out through my wrist, in the shape of letters.

: 恩主 :

The tattoo that had acted as an inventory marker.

And the light, peeling off from my skin, began to take form.

That shape was…

‘The employment contract!’

And the blurred-out text began to come back to life.

A being of innate, existential nobility.

The strikethrough that had slashed through those words before—

A being of innate, existential nobility...

Was gone.