It Seems I Must Go to Work Even After Falling into a Horror Story 009

It was a rainy Monday afternoon.

The employees of the Field Exploration Team Group D were hastily writing situation reports at a speed never seen before, finishing it all with a team leader’s expense payment!

The reason was simple.

A newbie who ignored the horror story with a time limit and cleared it!

“Wasn’t the time limit three days?”

“That’s correct.”

Snacks from the break room were laid out in front of the newbie, who was sitting on the couch, while the assistant manager and the employee sat across from them.

They exchanged glances and nodded.

It was finally time to ask the right question.

“But how did you come out so quickly?”

“Ah.”

The newbie seemed to ponder for a moment but soon replied with a knowing expression.

“I turned back time quickly.”

‘You’re answering like it’s no big deal as if you just had lunch…!’

Before they could even utter those words, the newbie slowly explained the method they used.

“Since there’s a time limitation, I figured there would be an incident that would clearly indicate ‘time has passed.’ I focused on that part….”

They even used the expiration date to pull a ‘time alarm.’

The superiors listening quietly thought to themselves.

“A genius.”

“Absolutely must not let them quit.”

An instinctive and logical grasp of the essence of horror stories?

This was talent born for the Field Exploration Team. They absolutely couldn’t let them escape… no, they must help them adapt well!

“I’m not the one who should be giving you a welcoming speech, Ms. Doe.”

“You’ll probably be surpassing me and becoming assistant manager soon.”

“…!?”

Such a newbie, you won’t be able to find again…!

“If you get promoted, don’t forget us… and come back to brag when you win a wish card….”

The newbie looked a bit flustered.

“No, um… actually,”

“Hmm?”

The newbie added as if confessing something big.

“I was scared, so I wanted to get out quickly.”

“…….”

Is it possible to escape quickly because urban legends are scary…?

It’s as if an awareness contamination was about to occur, likening it to an escape room.

‘Too much humility…!’

But the newbie stood firm.

“I would like it if you could at least give me a heads-up next time. I nearly fainted from fear.”

“Is that something someone who cleared in an hour should be saying…?”

The newbie, with a mysterious expression, spoke.

“I thought I was going to die.”

‘Liar!’

How can someone who thought they were going to die achieve a record-breaking clear time? That’s pure madness that not even seasoned employees do!

But the feeling of betrayal was understandable.

“Honestly, it’s a harsh situation.”

No matter how safe it is, falling into a horror phenomenon alone is no small matter.

And they also knew well how to soothe this dispirited heart.

The remedy for office workers!

The assistant manager asked while sipping coffee.

“Ms. Doe, how much did you get?”

“Eh?”

“The money that comes out when you clear.”

“Oh, yes. I got ten million won.”

That’s right. This F-grade darkness offers a reward upon clearance.

And it was clearly stated in the manual.

– When clearing a Shade (F) grade darkness with a complete manual, 50% of the additional revenue generated will be rewarded to the employee.

Conversely, this means that 50% of the money earned by the employee from the completed manual goes to the company.

Moreover, the first darkness assigned to a newbie is not subject to this clause!

The company claimed that assigning a firmly established horror story that has been blasted through dozens or hundreds of times doesn’t entail hazard pay.

The newbie had already read this manual.

But, you see.

“It’s originally supposed to be all taken by the company… but just take it with you.”

“…Eh?”

When you accumulate experience and knowledge, there are always ways to handle things!

With the wonderful regulatory exception of “it doesn’t apply since you cleared it using a new escape method,” everything could be settled. Seriously.

If you receive a huge sum on your first day, it’s like everything becomes rosy!

The assistant manager and the chief showed the newbie the techniques they themselves had been through, all with warm smiles.

“Hey, just keep it, just keep it. There’s always a way to handle it.”

“…….”

‘The truth is, it was twenty million won.’

Kim Sol-eum, who was going to eat half of it, started sweating profusely.

Unexpectedly receiving an extra ten million that cannot be explained was a mixed joy and a guilty conscience, and for a moment, they stood up alongside their superiors.

“Now that we successfully explored the darkness, we need to go accumulate the most important thing.”

“Accumulate… what do you mean?”

“Yeah.”

The chief smiled broadly.

“Employee welfare mall points!”

“Phew.”

How can being in the middle of a bustling city center during bright daylight feel this good?

Even the future, where I might not be able to sleep all night with the lights on, doesn’t concern me for now.

‘Having twenty million won in my pocket brings peace of mind….’

Even after falling into a horror story, this is the 21st-century Korea, a capitalist society.

I finally sat at the desk I was assigned to and turned on the computer to access the intranet.

Sitting in a posture-correcting office chair in the bright fluorescent-lit office, the absurdity of having just faced a ghost felt like a lie.

Moreover, on the desk, there were cute stationery items and a wide-eyed lizard plushie.

‘…Doesn’t it seem like it’s been used a bit?’

Well, hopefully, the previous user had to leave immediately due to winning the lottery, hence not cleaning the desk.

Anyway, the welfare mall was already bookmarked on the PC, so I could access it easily.

[Daydream Corporation Employee Welfare Mall]

I entered my employee number to quickly sign up and, as my superiors instructed, clicked on the ‘Point Registration’ tab.

– Select the darkness grade you cleared, write your name, and attach a PDF to submit.

I did just that.

And five minutes later.

[Employee Kim Sol-eum / Accumulated Points: 100p]

“…!”

The review was miraculously quick and was completed.

‘So, clearing an F-grade alone earns you 100 points.’

Well, regardless of my painful efforts, since it’s an F-grade, it probably won’t be a lot of money…. Let’s not get my hopes up.

Still, since I got points, I wanted to check if there was anything I could buy for 100p.

And I was startled right from the first page.

“…A robot vacuum?”

The selection was surprisingly decent.

Most of the items offered at special prices were 100p, and the upscale large appliances typically sold for about 500p.

Furthermore, the unreleased potions from Daydream Corporation were also being sold for around 1000p, including super-tech items like cornea regeneration potions.

Oh, by the way, hair loss medicine usually costs about 500,000 won without insurance in the market, but here it was available for 100p.

‘Not bad at all.’

I moved the mouse with a bit of anticipation.

Now was the moment to check the most important thing.

Sorting by ‘high price’ in the ‘Company Products’ tab brings up that glorious name.

‘Wish Card.’

The amazing potion introduced as a representative benefit right after the death survival ended was priced at…

Wish Card: 500,000p

“…….”

You’ve got to be kidding?

‘Five hundred thousand?’

I just cleared a horror story and earned 100 points… .

500,000 points?

‘In theory… if I assume I clear the F-grade every day alone, it would take 15 years.’

But it couldn’t be that easy.

‘If things go according to my plan, it’s the company’s business.’

There’s no way to consistently clear only the F-grade darkness every day, and surely numerous anomalies would arise.

‘There will certainly be many occasions where we are forced into high-grade darkness with companions.’

Wait, do they get divided into N as well?

I rummaged through the point registration tab of the welfare mall to find out the basic points awarded for darkness grades.

F-grade: 100p

D-grade: 1000p

C-grade: 2500p

B-grade: 10000p

A-grade: 100000p

S-grade: Subject to separate review

Moreover, additional bonuses would be added based on the specific characteristics determined internally.

Like if clearance is urgent, if there’s still no information, or if there are additional risks.

‘Since we are a team of three, if three people clear it as a base….’

……B-grade would require clearing 150 times to get it?

‘Are you out of your mind?’

Even for a B-grade, the survival rate for civilians drops to about 2%.

From there, whatever choice you make among the options provided, you’ll end up in a situation where it’s better to die than to live!

If one has to enter that 150 times, a regular employee will just be considered dead.

It’s a crazy situation where you’d have to beg not to be put on that!

This means that to even slightly increase the survival rate, one would have to invest over 10 years.

This isn’t some saint’s revenge… .

But if the Field Exploration Team is the fastest among the departments, then other department members are even less likely to earn a wish card during their tenure.

With so many various products in the welfare mall, many from other departments likely have resigned themselves to that.

But I can’t accept that.

Because my goal is surreal and clear.

Returning to my original world.

But you want me to live here for 15 years? I’ll probably have a heart attack and die before that!

‘No way!’

I needed a plan, a plan.

‘I need to properly analyze which horror stories I must enter and what to avoid.’

So I had to collect 500,000 points in the shortest time possible while maintaining a golden balance of safety.

Just before I sank into serious contemplation, the chief patted my back and asked.

“Doe, did you register? Is the computer working well?”

“Yes. Oh, what about the personal items here….”

“Oh, that’s the team leader’s desk.”

“…….”

So that’s why it seemed to have been used!

“Just don’t break the monitor. Feel free to use it today, comfortably.”

This company… is it really okay?

Is it sane to let a newbie temporarily use a superior’s desk?

‘Thinking about it, it can’t be good.’

Isn’t it a company that absorbs people to spit out potions? If you apply the reasonable common sense of a kind-hearted 21st-century Korean office worker, wouldn’t absurd situations keep occurring?

……Perhaps it’s best to resort to some shady methods.

“Oh, are you a smoker, Doe?”

“I’m fine.”

I didn’t follow along during the smoking time of my superiors.

Instead, I looked down at the desk I was using, took a deep breath, and flipped the keyboard over.

Sure enough, a sticky note was attached.

[Team Leader Lee Ja-heon / 105105301]

ID: yongj1111

PW: dydajflgodks!111

It wasn’t fair to blame the company for lacking security awareness when I had seen this scene too many times.

‘If he’s a team leader… he must be a manager.’

And it just so happens that there’s a specific site you can access from the manager’s level in this company…

That would be quite helpful when clearing higher-grade darkness.

“…….”

Once I saw that insane target number of 500,000 points, I really didn’t want to let it slip away.

Alright.

‘Let’s do this.’

I steeled myself and accessed the welfare mall again.

But this time, not with my own ID.

ID: yongj1111

Password: dydajflgodks!111

Attempting to log into the welfare mall with Group D’s team leader’s ID.

The password does not match.

“Hmm….”

It’s okay. I anticipated this kind of obstacle.

Let’s see. If I click on sign up, I can check the password requirements.

‘A capital letter is needed.’

In that case, I’ll just change the first character of the password written underneath the keyboard to uppercase and try logging in with ‘Dydajflgodks!111’….

Ding.

[Welcome, Manager Lee Ja-heon]

‘Got it!’

I clenched my fists under the desk. This is the ceremony I can perform in the office without drawing attention. Even though I’m alone in the office right now.

In any case, now what I need to look for on this page… is a kind of bait link.

Known as the ‘Alien Shop.’

[Dark Exploration Records] has quite a few alien horror stories among them, including some trying to sell items to humans with awkward communication methods.

‘There’s no malice, but from a human perspective, some of the products can be chilling or dangerous.’

Well, even so, they were almost comedic in nature, making for a rare warm aura in horror stories.

And they seemed to be commercially minded too. Hoping to target people who had demands for their products…

Even ransomware was injected into the Daydream Corporation intranet.

‘The advertisement bait link for the shopping mall was only visible to those at the manager level and above.’

I remembered well how to view that bait link.

‘If I just randomly click around on the welfare mall and hit the back button five times in a row….’

Clack, clack, clack….

Beep.

Suddenly, a small green hand appeared in the corner of the welfare mall screen.

A pixelated left hand waving as if to greet and draw attention.

A speech bubble popped up above it.

‘Lame.’

It looked like an old-school internet banner ad.

But surprisingly, if you click on this clumsy thing!

The external internet opens up from the intranet, and you get kidnapped to the alien site.

I wanted to click it right away but!

‘No, hold on.’

Instead, I right-clicked to copy the link, then pasted the link address into Excel to capture it on my smartphone.

‘Access records remain on the company PC.’

There’s no benefit in leaving a record that I clicked on an alien ransomware. Especially not with someone else’s account.

A moment later, as my superiors returned from their smoke break, I greeted them as if nothing had happened.

“Doe~ Let’s have a welcoming party once the team leader gets back from the field. On the company card.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Then I waited until it was time to clock out.

The monumental first day of work came to a close in the evening.

But my work wasn’t done yet.

“Let’s do this.”

I deposited twenty million won and headed home.

And now, I was in my bedroom, copying the captured ‘Alien Shop’ bait link from my smartphone gallery using image analysis.

After correcting a few unreadable parts, I opened an internet window and pasted the address into the address bar.

“Phew.”

Taking a deep breath… and hit enter.

Clack.

Following the complex link address written in the address bar, the page transitions.

Then, just like the Daydream Corporation’s welfare mall page pops up, a similar formatted screen appears… before glitching out.

And then a new page surfaces.

Just like the early 2000s internet, displaying raw underlines and fonts.

Bloop, bloop, bloop. A green spaceship was spinning in the corner.

‘Really lame.’

But I mustn’t let my guard down by the tackiness.

If I click on ‘product’ here, I’ll be able to view bizarre and supernatural selling items.

…The problem being, the prices are just as bizarre.

Starting from at least one million won.

……‘I should use something more expensive!’ This was the inflation resulting from the ego inflation of horror creators.

If it was just yesterday, I wouldn’t have been able to purchase any of these items…

‘But now I have twenty million won.’

My heart raced a bit. The fact that I could directly purchase items from a fictional world was indeed a dopamine-inducing experience.

“Phew.”

Finally, I clicked on the ‘product’ tab.

The screen lit up.

Products

Vampire Tableware – ₩14,999,999

Wider Walkie-Talkie – ₩4,999,999

Alice Picnic Set – ₩11,999,999

We Can Help! – ₩66,666,666

※Discount!※ Silver Snake – ₩4,999,999

₩19,999,999

“…!”

I recognized more than half of the items.

Is my luck finally turning!

‘Alright.’

In a rush of excitement, I quickly recalled memories.

Vampire Tableware.

It was a set consisting of a small fork and knife, weapons that evolve into larger and sharper blades by sucking the blood of their victims.

A truly growth-type weapon.

Wider Walkie-Talkie.

A toy walkie-talkie that allows remote communication with others even in horror stories.

It could be very useful when there are companions around.

Alice Picnic Set.

It’s exactly what you’d think from just the name, a food set inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

It would probably be a drink that temporarily doubles the effects of items, and a cookie that reduces the effects by half.

These were the only items I recognized.

As for the remaining two, I have no idea, but ‘We Can Help!’ is a fascinating title which, regardless, surpassed my budget, so I’ll skip it.

‘The silver snake is on sale.’

Buying something on discount always feels like a gain.

“……Hmm.”

I crossed my arms.

Weapon, communication device, buff potion, and the discounted item… maybe.

My budget is twenty million won.

Within this, I wondered what would be the most advantageous purchase.

“Alright.”

I made up my mind and clicked.