It Seems I Must Go to Work Even After Falling into a Horror Story 027

Baek Sa-heon.

-You idiots! If you can escape with just one eye, you should hurry and do it!

That was a colleague from the underground chaos in the subway.

That guy, who was a named employee from [Dark Exploration Records], would eventually get promoted to manager and continue to make a mark…

“Dying, huh?”

Suddenly, the horror story stuffed doll declared a death sentence to Baek Sa-heon.

This question couldn’t help but come out reflexively.

“Why?”

I know that guy’s future where he becomes a manager!

-Ah, that’s very typical. So typical… Doe, have you ever seen such a movie?

“…Movie?”

-Yeah, the one with a serial killer.

Oh please.

-In popular art, there are typical targets that fall victim. Blondes, college students, hitchhikers, or someone wearing red shoes—those eye-catching symbols.

-Do you know what the most typical and clearly sequenced target is?

The shadow of the stuffed doll whispered.

-It’s picking up the killer’s item.

“……”

The huge black shadow reflected on the wall points beyond it.

-Your ‘work colleague’ picked up an item, and now they’re about to die horrifically!

“……”

Oh come on…

“Anyway, thanks for the heads up.”

-You’re welcome!

I said, “I need to sleep since I have to go to work tomorrow,” as gently as possible, and fortunately, my ‘Good Friend’ understood my situation readily.

-Oh dear, you must have had a tiring day. I hope you sleep well and have sweet dreams!

That seems doomed.

‘And your share in that downfall too…’

-Adios!

The smartphone flashlight turned off on its own.

The huge shadow on the wall also vanished.

I hesitated, then made a decent, soft sleeping place on the desk with a clean towel and placed the stuffed doll on it.

‘With this level of treatment, it shouldn’t come after me with a knife in my dreams, right?’

Of course, I was more worried about whether I could even fall asleep and dream.

“Hmm.”

I turned on the mood light to the maximum brightness and lay down in bed.

Baek Sa-heon.

He’s probably sleeping in the next room now…

‘What the hell did I get myself into?’

What kind of heinous horror story material did I pick up that even the doll beyond the wall sensed it?

A butterfly effect? Or was it always there, and it’s just that I overcame it?

Recalling what Baek Sa-heon did in [Dark Exploration Records], and even searching it on the wiki yielded no results.

Perhaps that’s to be expected. If it’s a personal incident and not during work…

Sigh.

“……”

‘If I knock on his door at this late hour, wouldn’t he have a fit?’

Moreover, I really didn’t want to voluntarily approach a horror story that’s scary enough to be a target for a serial killer…

To be honest, my roommate isn’t someone whose character I’d stake my life on either.

‘But still, since I know, giving a warning is the least I could do.’

A way to approach indirectly…

‘There is.’

It just so happens that it’s related to what I need to do next.

I lay in bed and checked my smartphone messenger.

[Jang Heo-woon: This is the Newbie group chat. You can join through this link. Thank you! (link)]

It was sent by a colleague from Group Y.

With a sigh, I clicked the link.

[Group 17 Field Exploration Team Chat Room]

It was an open chat room.

I wondered why they chose this format, but it seemed they wanted to minimize the shock when news of a death reached them by not linking contacts.

Anyway, since everyone has their names set as profiles, there shouldn’t be any trouble differentiating.

‘I should set my name too.’

[Kim Sol-eum has joined.]

And while I was typing a greeting…

[Wow]

[Oh my gosh]

[Are you Kim Sol-eum?]

[Nice to meet you^^]

[Is this real? Who invited you?]

“…??”

Before I even finished typing, an intense reaction poured in.

‘Please tell me nobody invited that human without thinking.’

Looking at it positively, since my recent performance has been decent, maybe they’re just curious or rumors have circulated.

I simply wrote a greeting.

[Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you.]

As if they were waiting, someone asked.

[Kang Lee-hak: Is it true you received 40,000 points? Haha]

Hmm.

[Yes.]

[Kang Lee-hak: I envy you! I’m curious how you got that! Haha]

[I did my best.]

I didn’t elaborate further and just sent an emoji of me bowing my head.

‘This is like a jungle.’

I thought this group chat would be a warm place where colleagues share tips and info and enjoy hobbies, but it definitely doesn’t seem like that.

‘This feels like a group for interns where only 10% get converted to full-time employees.’

It’s a vibe of trying to scrape benefits by pretending not to know each other.

‘Right. With people dying left and right, it’s no wonder the wish-granting power seems far and desired.’

I felt a bit bitter but it was understandable.

[Ko Yeong-eun: (Fighting emoji)]

[Ko Yeong-eun: (Clapping emoji)]

At least there seem to be friendly colleagues.

‘Looks like they’re doing alright…’

I nodded at the clean emoji from my med-school escapee colleague who fully supported my opinion during the subway death incident.

‘So, shall I do what I need to?’

Following the voice of my conscience.

I searched for Baek Sa-heon’s profile in this group chat and initiated a one-on-one open chat.

And I said.

[Be careful of the serial killer.]

One second later, my message disappeared.

But there was no reply.

Hmm, maybe he’s feeling guilty?

‘If he feels guilty, he’ll be cautious.’

I thought that was a decent enough warning.

“I should send him that every morning from now on.”

I figured about a week of this before the impact would wear off.

I gave myself a passing grade and turned off my smartphone.

‘…Now let’s sleep.’

I don’t know if I’ll be able to, but I’ll give it a try since I have to go to work tomorrow… sniffle.

‘How I wish the company would blow up.’

I bitterly chewed on the unfortunate truth that I still had to go to work due to the company’s nature, staying up all night with wide-open eyes…

When I doze off briefly in the early morning, I dreamt of being chased by theme park mascots wielding entrails while offering churros to the stuffed doll.

‘Help me.’

A night filled with trauma for an ordinary office worker.

The news I heard the next day was anything but ordinary.

“Doe, you hit the jackpot.”

“……?”

“You… won 20,000 points.”

Huh?

I looked up to see today’s earned points.

[Kim Sol-eum Employee / Earned Points: 20,000p]

It’s real.

‘I clearly heard I’d only get 10,000 points yesterday…?’

The Chief patted my shoulder vigorously.

“It seems Team Leader Jin from Group A reported that you definitely need to receive additional points!”

Team Leader Jin…!

Even though my hand is torn, my efforts to save my superiors were acknowledged!

I raised the internal evaluation of the butterfly mask-wearing assistant manager by three levels.

From now on, that individual will be a competent manager who works diligently, is perceptive, and maintains a clear prize and penalty system.

“Originally, our Team Leader was also supposed to be a key contributor but Group A’s Team Leader is throwing a fit…”

Ah.

That’s… to be honest, it makes sense from their perspective to throw a fit…

‘Did I gain something undeservedly?’

I’m not sure whether I should be happy about this, but I’ll be grateful as I take it.

“Anyway, it’s amazing, Doe. Now you’re not just talking about setting a record for the shortest time to join the company?? Insane.”

“Thank you.”

However, I might have to give up on not standing out at work…

‘Still, points are sweet.’

But that wasn’t the end.

Before the morning ended, I received a call.

“…Team Leader Jin?”

-Oh.

Since I had just finished a B-class dark exploration yesterday, I was supposed to have a laid-back day handling paperwork.

But a call came from Team Leader A through the internal network.

I immediately expressed my gratitude.

“Thank you for recommending me as a key contributor for clearing the theme park darkness…”

-What’s the point of thanking me for that? The one who does well deserves more points, right?

Ah, yes.

-Anyway, come up here.

“……?”

-Our team is going into the darkness today, but we’re short on personnel. Come help us.

“……”

-You don’t want to?

Yes!

It’s a day after almost dying, and now they want to let me take it easy?!

“Please wait a moment. …Um, Assistant Manager Eun, I have a call for you.”

“Uh, why?”

Help me, fellow team leader!

I called over my team leaders and handed them the call, trying to fumble my way through it.

But it didn’t work.

“Did you say you’re short on personnel in Team A? Was that a summons for an A team vacancy?”

“…!”

Crap.

The Manager who had his head on the desk shot up and started taking notes.

“Hold on, did Team A just call for Doe to fill a vacancy?”

I don’t know, Chief. My shoulders are hurting so don’t shake me.

“I understand. Yes.”

In the meantime, the manager hung up the call.

And with gleaming eyes, he shook his fist at me.

“Hey. Go.”

…Huh?

“Absolutely! With Team A now, it’s a boon! Safer and you can earn even more, you can’t miss this!”

“Everything is points. Points, Doe.”

“……”

So, what they’re saying is.

‘First off, additional points per item will be given to Team A, the elite team.’

That sounds pretty sweet.

But since there’s no “finishing team summon” like Group Y, it seems they don’t need a sacrificial lamb for the darkness.

Plus, they called a rookie like me to help, so it doesn’t seem like a particularly tough dark exploration.

In other words, it’s additional work that yields good pay and an easy ride!

“They have to send someone to take care of the vacancy, and they seem to want to take you along since they viewed you positively yesterday. Go ahead!”

“……”

‘I have no excuses…’

Saying I can’t sleep because I was scared and I want to take it easy isn’t something I can say anymore.

‘If I can just not get caught being a coward…’

As long as I know where the horror story we’ll be entering is, I can at least prepare mentally.

The Group A team leader holding the manual turned to me.

“Oh, Sol-eum, you haven’t read the manual, right?”

“Yes.”

I tried to think positively, extending my hands politely to the team leader to receive the manual paper for the darkness we’d be entering.

Just before I was about to receive it.

The Group A team leader’s hand stopped.

……?

“Right. How about you go in without this and experience it firsthand instead?”

Huh?

“I’ve heard your specialty is deducing things without the manual.”

I quickly raised my head.

I could see Team Leader A’s jaw smiling beneath the duck mask.

“It’ll be handed to you immediately if it seems dangerous. Got it?”

“……”

That’s… not that if I ask for it, I’ll get it.

‘It means he’ll decide whether it’s dangerous or not.’

He might not give it to me until I die.

“……”

You all know everything, and you want me to enter the horror story while I don’t know anything?

“Well then, shall we go in? Oh, I’ll have fun working again~”

Wait a minute. Is this…

‘Workplace bullying?’

It’s so typical it feels like a joke. My head is spinning.

But the reason for our team manager, whom I just met yesterday, acting like this…

Oh.

‘…Lee Ja-heon!!’

Don’t tell me our team’s Lizard Manager is really ticked off at me, a rookie from that team, and is dragging me along!

Am I being dragged down with him too!