Got Dropped Into A Ghost Story Still Gotta Work Chapter 237

[ … words ]

The underground bunker of the cult.

Evening mealtime, where all the initiates gathered together.

A voice rang out through the silence.

“Wow.”

……

“Wow, this is amazing.”

A horror story of the Nameless Brilliance Sect was staring right at me.

“Only the Dragon showed up?”

Beaming, they turned their gaze toward the two empty seats beside me.

“The Fox and Granny Kim Bokja aren’t here, but the Dragon came.”

……

“Say, why do you think those two couldn’t make it?”

Hypothesis: Minor forgetfulness

Reason: Natural aging due to advanced age

“Are you dissing the Fox for being older than you? Hahahaha!”

Hahahaha…

Laughter rippled across the dining hall.

“Don’t worry! They’re both doing fine. Looked like they wanted to go sightseeing, so we made accommodations.”

Sightseeing.

[Oh dear, it seems we’ve been found out.]

Probably.

I did my best to avoid letting my imagination spiral in a particularly vivid direction about what was happening to them.

But—

“Hey, do you want to keep eating, or go check on them?”

…Ha.

Rule: Breakfast and dinner must be eaten together.

“That’s right! But you’re not an initiate, are you? So you’re an exception.”

……

“Come on, follow us! We’ll show you. Everyone else will keep eating.”

“That’s right.”

The others smiled and nodded, cheerfully returning to their meals with lines like, “Let’s share happiness.”

I stood from my seat, reeling in the black smoke around me, and followed the twins down the corridor…

Preparing myself for the worst-case scenarios, numbered in my head.

As long as the Deputy isn’t dead…

And as long as Ho Yuwon didn’t abandon him and run.

As long as it’s not that—I can accept anything else.

That possibility was low. I reminded myself again.

The twins exited the dining hall on the east side and walked down a dim cement corridor, leading exactly where I expected—

The massive central chamber.

Where the ritual had taken place.

And then—

“They’re in here.”

Of the many coffins, they pointed to one leaned up against the wall.

“Wanna go in?”

The older sister, grinning from ear to ear; the younger, expressionless.

That clichéd but off-putting contrast.

I exhaled a thick plume of smoke and sent it drifting into the space behind the coffin.

Inside—

“Ah. You’ve arrived.”

…stood Ho Yuwon and Deputy Eunhaje, still in his granny disguise, leaning calmly against the wall.

Both of them appeared unharmed.

Phew.

I caught the subtle look from Deputy Eunhaje and slowly stepped fully into the space.

And what I saw was—

…Industrial equipment?

It resembled some kind of facility.

Not as massive as the main chamber, but definitely larger than the dining hall—ample room throughout, filled with pipes and machines humming quietly.

Like a compressed, miniature version of an old factory.

[My, my! A bunker equipped with production infrastructure!]

[Preppers sometimes build bunkers not just for hiding, but for long-term habitation! This may be one such case.]

Steam hissed from installed pipes.

I caught the faint, clinging scent in the air—disinfectant?

“Cool, right?”

I turned my head.

The twins had somehow entered the space too, standing there side by side—

Both smiling, now.

“Aren’t you curious what we’re making?”

……

“Ask us. Go on. The Fox already got the tour, you know.”

I looked at Ho Yuwon.

He glanced at the equipment, then replied with a calm smile.

“It’s where they brew alcohol.”

……

…!!

“Correct! Ta-da~!”

The twins stepped aside, revealing what had been blocked from view—

A massive container.

As tall as two adults, and just as wide.

But not ceramic. It looked cheap—like a giant plastic water tank.

And suddenly, I realized.

The scent in the air wasn’t disinfectant.

It was ethanol. Alcohol vapor.

Coming from that tank.

“Well? Isn’t it awesome?”

In the exact location where the old shrine used to be beneath Jisan Village—

They had reconstructed the brewing site for the Shinsanju, the sacred liquor once fermented with the Centipede Relic.

Exactly.

“Right in this very spot, you know?

Back then, there was a festival where the Mock Master brewed centipede liquor for the sect.

Everyone drank it and heard the Name’s voice, and saw their Happy Ending.”

……

“But someone stole it all. Even took the centipede.

So now someone has to make more, right? That’s why we’re doing it!”

Wait.

If they don’t have a centipede, then what the hell are they using instead…?

“We thought about brewing Dragon or Fox liquor, but…”

…!

“Aww, but you two haven’t officially joined the sect, have you?

That won’t do.”

That means—

“For the liquor to help people realize the Name,

it has to be infused with the genuine, spiritual Authority of the Nameless Brilliance Sect.”

Authority.

The sacred language that evokes horror in the Nameless Brilliance Sect.

“So we prepared Authority.

Ah—here come the guests.”

Footsteps echoed behind me.

Dozens of people.

Dozens of footsteps resounding through the massive chamber.

“Congratulations on completing your initiation!”

……

I turned my head.

Beyond the entrance—

The initiates who had finished dinner were now standing.

Standing before the coffin.

Each one lined up in silence.

Not a single sound, yet all of them wore the same gentle smile as they looked inside.

A strange sense of unity.

I looked closely at their faces—

……

Wait.

Question:

“Hm? Mr. Roe Deer, I told you several times it’s not your turn to ask questions…”

Question: Has Prohibition on Facial Recognition Distortion (ID 130666 Mosaic) Been Lifted?

“…That’s a strange thing to say.”

Ho Yuwon spoke up.

“I haven’t touched your Prohibition, Mr. Roe Deer…”

……

Then—

Why can I see everyone’s faces so clearly?

From the very first day in this underground bunker, I hadn’t seen a single face as a blur or a pixelated mass.

Everyone had looked normal.

So I’d just accepted it.

Because I’d briefly left the Baekilmong dream-state.

Because Ho had said, “Go gain your moment of freedom.”

I accepted it without question.

And now, I was face to face with it.

The truth I had overlooked.

“Let’s share happiness!”

As if on cue, the initiates opened their mouths.

Like a rehearsed line.

And I saw inside—

Their mouths.

The shapes wriggling as they formed the words—

They weren’t tongues.

“Let’s share happiness.”

Worms.

Tongue-shaped, red fleshy worms like earthworms twisted where their tongues should be. The movement was natural and fluid, almost human-like in articulation, but the tip split open to reveal tiny teeth.

“Oh! You saw it, didn’t you? Cool, right?

That Authority came from a fish parasite, originally.

It latches onto the base of the tongue, slowly eats it away, and replaces it.”

And then—

The Happy Ending Sect whispered its truth:

“It spreads fast.

…Even just talking during a shared meal.”

And at last, I understood.

The sarcastic remark I’d once thrown out with a detached, mocking tone—

What, how do they even establish unity of thought like that?

How arrogant that question had been.

This isn’t a wiki page.

Just because the wiki’s listed “backstory” is shallow doesn’t mean the in-world system lacks coherence.

I had underestimated everything.

In reality, every phenomenon has a reason—has structure.

It’s just that—

I didn’t know it.

—The implausible situation was enabled by hidden detail.

—Small symbols shared only among themselves.

They existed.

Urban legends.

Every initiate had been infected by the same horror tale.

And that’s why I could see their faces clearly.

And that horror story…

“Isn’t it amazing?”

…was one I didn’t know.

I barely knew anything about what horror tales the Happy Ending Sect used as Authority.

Only the powerful, flashy ones had ever made it onto the wiki.

So even now—

Could I still decipher it?

Would it matter?

Could understanding help me regain control?

When all their tongues had been replaced by parasites—

When their minds and cognition were already under control—

[Oh, my friend. You’ve overlooked something rather obvious.]

What?

[If we’re talking about every initiate—

there’s still one you haven’t verified.]

…!

I stiffly turned my head.

Deputy Eunhaje.

The deputy’s face, looking straight at me, was perfectly intact.

Not a single mosaic blur. Not a single melting smear—just like on the first day.

……

Smoke rose.

Recommendation: Confirm the tongue.

But then—

“Ah. No need. Mr. Peregrine’s tongue is intact.”

Ah.

“Because Mr. Peregrine is already infected.

No other parasite can take hold.”

Wait.

I locked eyes with Ho Yuwon—but didn’t have time to ask anything.

Because—

“Okay, that’s enough talking.

The initiation is over now—time to get to work.”

The twins raised their arms.

“Everyone, return to your places!”

The people began to move.

Still in neat rows, the initiates marched smoothly into the facility. And then—

They passed by me without pause and proceeded confidently inside.

As if on a conveyor belt, they ascended the pipes of the industrial structure—methodically—

And threw themselves in.

Splash. Splash. Splash.

Bodies plunged into the potent liquor.

…!!

The sound was clear, crisp, even refreshing—as each person vanished into the cheap white plastic tank. They sank. One after another, the pleasant splashes echoed without end.

“I think it’s going to be an amazing brew.”

They had tainted these people with horror stories.

Turned them into something no longer human—and were now fermenting them into alcohol.

Replacing the centipede with dozens of humans—initiates—as ingredients.

This was the purpose of the initiation.

This was why the underground bunker was located here.

“Isn’t it awesome?”

……

A chill scraped up my spine.

“Once it’s ready, you should drink it too.

Drink it, and come to know the Name.”

And that’s when I realized—one more emotion had returned to me.

It was…

Known entity: The Name

Emotion: Disgust

“Hmm?”

Doctrine of the Nameless Brilliance Sect:

This world belongs to the Name.

Only the Name’s will and choices carry meaning.

“That’s right! Exactly!”

Exactly?

But the truth is—they don’t know.

Do they understand the absurd reality behind this doctrine?

Because in truth…

The Name

A being worshiped by the Nameless Brilliance Sect, a cult from [Records of the Deep Dark].

Said to be the sole force of meaning and choice in the world.

But in truth…

A [spoiler].

Clicking the spoiler on the wiki reveals:

Author of the Wiki.

It’s simple.

Records of the Deep Dark was originally formatted just like a regular website.

When submitting entries to the wiki, users had to fill in the “Author” field.

But since the default rule was anonymity, most users left the name field blank.

And so when someone posted an urban legend entry without touching the name field…

This happened:

Author: Name

Exactly like that.

And thus, every wiki page was marked:

“Author: Name.”

The Nameless Brilliance Sect began as a small meta horror story riffing off that.

A chilling concept: that entities within the legends had become aware of their “author.”

But as more people added to it, the idea took on a life of its own, spiraling out of control.

It became a ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) massive religious movement.

The Nameless Brilliance Sect mistook “Author: Name”

for a divine being—and began worshipping it.

Like a real cult.

And this—this means something fundamental:

The Happy Ending Sect,

a branch derived from the Nameless Brilliance Sect,

is built on a foundational contradiction.

It means their very premise is flawed.

“…Huh?”

Do you remember what I said to the people of Jisan Village,

in front of the Centipede Relic?

“The weak who fail to accept this truth flee from the world through death—

but that is not an escape.”

That’s right.

Death is not an escape.

You cannot flee from the Name.

“Th-that…”

Therefore:

▶ Death cannot be happiness.

▶ Death cannot be an ending.

There is no such thing as a “Happy Ending.”

And to go around killing people in the name of that…

Doctrinal contradiction.

Meaningless action.

“……”

The cult executive of the Happy Ending Sect went silent.

The smiling expression vanished.

What remained was a still face beneath a red headband, above a worn school uniform.

An empty, lifeless face.

And I realized—their face looked… younger than I’d thought.

Then—

“Does it matter?”

…!!

“Isn’t it horror enough already?

People die for no reason, it’s all just a misunderstanding…

Wouldn’t that catch the Name’s attention?

Aren’t we doing well, then?”

Splash. Splash.

“Right? If a hundred people just leapt into a tank to ferment into alcohol,

and it turned out to all be pointless—

if the Happy Ending Sect itself is a joke—

that’d be hilarious.”

Something was wrong.

That wasn’t performed creepiness.

This wasn’t the kind of exaggerated madness you see in horror fiction, where a character breaks down and screams “I’m scary, right?!”

No.

This was real.

“It’s unique, it’s fun, it’s got a twist.

It’s entertaining.”

Fear.

I stared at the twin with the refined face of a schoolgirl in uniform.

That overly deliberate appearance.

That desperate—obnoxiously performative—individuality.

“The Name would enjoy this, right?”

……

“The Name would enjoy it so much,

They’d want to watch even longer!”

And then I understood.

I knew already.

It wasn’t ignorance.

Even though the wiki only showed fragmented, disturbing shock content and grotesque character quirks—reality was different.

For these people…

“Then it’s enough.”

The Name was fear itself.

A world ruled by urban legends exists because the Name wills it.

They know that.

So what must they do?

They have to entertain the Name.

Do senseless things.

Create shocking scenarios.

Commit violence.

Stage grotesque, bizarre events.

In order to keep the Name entertained.

“Then it’s enough.”

This was the true identity of the Happy Ending Sect.