Got Dropped Into A Ghost Story Still Gotta Work Chapter 234

[ … words ]

Let us serve Name-nim.

Let us serve Name-nim.

Let us serve Name-nim.

Let us serve Name-nim.

Let us serve Name-nim…

Even though my ears are still buried in flesh, the chant echoes.

The fanatical tongue of a Happy Ending Sect believer—a faction of the Mimicker Sect—resonates through the space and shakes the elevator itself…

……

Suddenly—

The elevator I’m in has arrived in a different space.

Plip.

A droplet falls.

A dark, shadowy room. A basement.

A space filled with unfamiliar and ominous air. Damp chill, moldy wood, a musty scent, and—

A corpse.

Kim Heowoon’s severed body.

Now somehow neatly arranged and displayed in the darkness of this basement. In a coffin filled with dozens of dried chrysanthemums, sunflowers, and children’s origami cranes.

I’m happy now.

Blood drips down the chrysanthemums.

Do you want to be happy too?

The corpse in the coffin moves closer.

Terror. The screams of those forgotten and fading. Resignation. The only escape. The final mercy one human can offer another. Death without pain. The end of a narrative…

Do you want to be at peace?

But—

You are afraid. The ending of a story. The primal fear of death. Ah, how you wish you hadn’t learned.

How peaceful it would have been—had it been death in ignorance.

But now you know.

Once chosen, death loses its meaning as happiness.

And so, for you, there is only one salvation…

Name-nim!

Sparkle.

The ceiling door of the basement opens.

A radiant, majestic light pours in from above.

Name-nim knows all your stories.

Name-nim is the only answer to the truth of this world.

Only His will has meaning in this universe.

Let us be watched ■■by Him.

Let us fully understand and follow His will.

Let us become stories worthy of Him.

Then perhaps, He may take pity on what lies within us.

Perhaps He may grow fond of us.

And thus, perhaps—at last—

The rest we’ve waited for

The happiness we seek

A happy ending

That survives even the end of the world—

May finally be granted…

Happy Ending!

As the basement grows even darker and more sinister, beneath the beam of light descending from the ceiling, I see a glimmering scrap of parchment…

Something I’ve seen before.

A sacred scripture fragment of the Mimicker Sect.

Scripture of Happy Ending, Chapter ■

■■■■■■■

That blank ritual parchment calls out to you.

As if begging you to swallow it whole.

As if commanding you to conduct the ritual.

Turn your existence into scripture.

Let your strangeness, your mystery, your unease—

Your cruelty and fear—

Be transformed into power.

The light tugs at you.

Calling you.

The basement grows darker, more oppressive, more unstable. That single radiant beam of light—like a lamp attracting a moth—glistens with temptation.

And then—

Hm.

I just stood still.

So this is how it is.

[Hoooh, they’re pretty skilled at cult-style gaslighting for potential converts. The use of light, scent, auditory stimulation—classic, but rather impressive!]

Yeah, I guess so.

Had I still been in a state where I felt emotions the way I used to, I probably would’ve been seriously shaken.

This really is a near-perfect case of hallucination-induced brainwashing—stabbing right at the root of human fear and inducing compulsive anxiety through psychological pressure.

But most of all, I already know the truth.

Name-nim isn’t like that.

It’s no different from the centipede I faced in Jisan Village.

In the end, I was just standing here in this clearly conjured basement, looking at a piece of scripture someone had dragged me into.

I could have used my “reading” ability to escape right away…

But I don’t think I’ll need to.

Because the person who dragged me here—

Must still be nearby.

“Huh? You’re not going to write?”

Sure enough, something suddenly pops out from behind the coffin that held the corpse.

The person responsible for all of this—a figure who clearly seems to be a Happy Ending Sect executive—casually turns around, brushing the dust off their basement-stained school uniform skirt.

The “light of Name-nim” illuminates the dust particles drifting in the air.

Speaking with their back to me, they say—

“This is a really good opportunity… so why won’t you write? Why not…?”

And then—

Still.

From the figure standing straight and tall,

Only the head turns.

And looks at me.

Come with us…

Roll…

The head, still attached by a few strands, falls from their back and rolls toward me.

Thud—it bumps against my foot.

And in the next instant—

I was back in the underground corridor of the Baekilmong Corporation’s main building.

But this time, the basement looked… warped.

A corridor made of throbbing, pulsing red flesh.

Veins from the severed head stretched all the way down the hall.

That thing was sucking me in—like it had its own gravitational pull.

Come with us…

There’s something inside the head.

A dream?

I know it instinctively. This is the kind of tale where, the moment you respond, you get pulled in.

…It seems that the Mimicker Sect has now marked both me and Director Ho Yu-won as new candidates for conversion—or containment.

Phew.

So, what should I do?

Strange visuals like these no longer shake me too deeply.

But maybe I should just wait until the security team arrives.

Though really, staying out of anything involving the Mimicker Sect is always safest.

As for that Happy Ending Sect member in the school uniform… I feel like I might’ve read something about them in one of the older exploration records.

Although the Mimicker Sect is so full of deranged, chaotic characters that just the school uniform alone doesn’t narrow it down, I should be able to handle it.

And also—

…They just straight-up killed someone right in front of us.

……

I’ve made my decision.

Subdue them.

Even if it fries my brain a little—I’ll deal with it.

I reached out my hand.

That was the moment.

“Sure.”

Something grabs my arm.

I turned my head.

Ho Yu-won, who’d been riding the elevator with me, was smiling as he answered—

To the disembodied head of the Mimicker Sect.

“Let’s go together.”

…!

Wait—you…

You answered?!

A tongue slides out from the head.

Haha, don’t look, haha!!!

The head swells, swallowing the elevator whole.

What’s been answered cannot be taken back.

I tried to tear free from the one gripping my arm, but my body was already being devoured—everything around me growing distant as I felt myself being transported…

……

[Oh dear, seems it’s too late to ask for help now!]

[And—oh, tragic news indeed… my friend always said my judgment couldn’t be trusted! Very well. Let’s see what happens, shall we?]

Darkness.

***

To begin with—

I never particularly liked the Mimicker Sect stories in the Dark Exploration Records.

Of course, they were popular.

Their introduction had clearly marked the turning point when Dark Exploration Records exploded in fame and became a full-fledged IP franchise.

But still… I don’t know.

“Too… primitive,” maybe?

They always felt… unrestrained.

Their “fun” was mainly built around amplifying the elements that produced victims or deeply unsettled people.

And that kind of primal discomfort—what it would feel like to face it in real life…

……

Real life, huh?

“Noru-nim?”

I opened my eyes.

Interior. Darkness. Metal.

And Ho Yu-won.

“You’re awake! Thank goodness. You probably couldn’t even sleep in that body, and you lost consciousness…”

He reached for my chin.

“He crossed the line.”

As I clenched his jaw in my grip with increasing pressure—

“Noru-nim.”

Ho Yu-won continued speaking.

“Don’t you want to escape Baekilmong?”

……

“Director Cheong really treats you poorly, doesn’t he? But locked up in the isolation chamber, there’s no way you’ll find a solution.”

I tightened my grip. I could hear the bones in his jaw creaking, but Ho Yu-won’s smile didn’t waver in the slightest.

And then—

“Sorry I didn’t ask you beforehand! The security team was almost here, and my mouth just moved on its own… As an apology—”

He made a proposal.

“How about I grant you temporary freedom of movement, Noru-nim?”

“…!”

“I have intel I need to investigate here. So we can split up—I’ll gather information, and you can look for a way to break your contract. And if you feel like it, I’d be grateful for any help…”

Intel to investigate.

Must be about Saegwang Special City.

A reasonable motive.

And his words weren’t done yet.

“Most important of all—none of this violates your employment contract. You’re currently accompanying a company director, after all, Noru-nim.”

Ah.

“So this all counts as company work. Consider it a kind of overtime.”

……

“What do you say?”

I let go of Ho Yu-won’s jaw.

Overtime:

A separate compensation claim will be submitted.

“Of course I’ll make sure you’re properly compensated.”

The tension between us dissolved like an informal ceasefire. I exhaled and stood up.

Feels like walking around with a live grenade.

Still, at least now I could mentally file him under “troll” instead of “threat.” That was something.

And only then did Ho Yu-won and I finally look around properly, assessing the situation.

“This place…”

A corridor with sparse lighting from flickering bulbs.

Its most distinct feature: the structure resembled a bisected cylinder—arched, like a tunnel.

And it was sealed off.

This gray space, with no windows, was finished in bare concrete…

“Doesn’t it look like an underground bomb shelter to you?”

Exactly.

The exposed rusted walls made it feel like a disaster shelter built for evacuation.

They just dumped us here after converting us?

As I tried to piece together what was happening—

“Let us spread happiness.”

…!

From the far end of the corridor, beyond a corner, came a voice.

Footsteps. A crowd.

Roughly a hundred people moving at once.

And voices—

“Ah, are they here to welcome new believers?”

Soon, a line of people rounded the corner.

And they were…

“Let us share happiness.”

Ordinary.

Smiling, whispering to each other as they walked—so mundane they looked like people you’d see at a weekend park outing.

Men and women, young and old—like a casual group outing.

But they were carrying something.

Grouped in clusters of five or six, they were carefully holding something rather large.

And that was—

“Let us spread happiness.”

“Let us share happiness.”

Corpses.

Dozens of dead bodies being carried in their arms.

The ones bearing the dead walked right past us, heading down the corridor—seemingly unaware of our presence, obscured by what they # Nоvеlight # were holding.

And at the very end of the procession—

A familiar face.

“Let us share happiness.”

…!

The one who “converted” us.

Still dressed in a school uniform, the delicate-looking youth was walking side-by-side with another boy in identical uniform, like a twin—together carrying Kim Heowoon’s corpse.

He locked eyes with us, flashed a gentle smile—

And kept walking.

“Shall we follow?”

Ho Yu-won and I trailed them quietly. As we followed that eerie procession to the corridor’s end—

“Let us spread happiness.”

We emerged into a vast open space.

It could only be described as an underground bunker square.

The space was already filled with coffins.

“Let us share happiness.”

The crowd placed the corpses into the empty coffins.

When finished, the group gathered in a circle, and an elderly man—seemingly the most senior—stepped forward and raised both hands to cradle his head.

Then he shouted—

“Let us pray for happiness!”

Everyone copied the gesture.

“Be happy. Be happy. Be happy…”

In a room filled with coffins, countless people lifted their hands above their heads, praying with heartfelt devotion.

“Let those born into misfortune find peace through death. Let them be happy.”

……

And with that, I understood.

Where we were.

Final Ritual Site

A sanctuary of the Mimicker Sect. Structured like an old underground bunker. As it is itself a living ghost story, it has no fixed location in reality. It moves from place to place to conduct rituals and often triggers various anomalous phenomena. For detailed records, refer to the archives.

Some say the site is actually inside a massive living being, but its true nature remains unknown.

Its form and capacity differ depending on the sect. Some can host only a handful of believers, while others accommodate tens of thousands.

There are even ritual sites meant for only one.

In short, this was one of the Final Ritual Sites operated by the Happy Ending Sect.

We really landed in the heart of the Mimicker Sect.

And I’m sure of it now:

These people are all completely insane.

The Mimicker Sect isn’t like the SDRA, trying to maintain reason and emotion—trying to stay human.

Even this somber ritual, which at a glance looked like a sincere memorial, was no different.

They killed them all themselves.

And… likely their own relatives.

To be accepted as a lay member of the Happy Ending Sect, one must commit at least one murder.

The victim must be someone the candidate genuinely wishes happiness for.

So this must be the Happy Ending Sect’s initiation ritual.

Unbelievable.

That I’m seeing this with my own eyes.

Totally unnecessary…

Now people are stepping forward, sharing who they killed, how wonderful those people were—laughing and crying about it.

If I had food in my stomach, I’d have thrown up.

[My goodness. I expected more from something calling itself a cult.]

…??

[Not even a proper cliché! Where are the sacrificial altars, fire, goats, and pentagrams? So tame and boring. How do they plan to exploit followers with this kind of showmanship?]

…Apparently, it wasn’t stimulating enough for our horror-saturated Talk Show host.

Classic Brown commentary. Haa…

Come to think of it—

Didn’t he say something earlier before I passed out…?

[Oh yes, I asked if you needed help, friend!]

[But since you blacked out too suddenly to answer, I’ve simply been observing for now.]

Hmm… Fair enough.

In any case, I didn’t have the mental energy to engage more with this cult freakshow.

Because things were about to get worse.

“Be happy!”

Now the testimonials were over, and the corpses were being pushed into strange black boxes.

Looks like the ritual was ending.

They just keep sliding in…

Must be some supernatural mechanism. I figured they might be trying to recycle the corpses.

So—

I stopped them.

Right before the coffin holding Kim Heowoon could be added.

“Happin—”

At that moment—

Everyone conducting the ritual turned to look at me.

A bizarre creature, spewing black smoke, with horns.

But instead of screaming and fleeing, they simply stared in silence.

And then—someone whispered.

“Authority…?”

The whisper spreads.

“It’s an Authority.”

“Who is that…?”

One of them steps forward.

The one who converted me.

He blinked at me—

Then nodded, casually.

“You want to keep him personally? Got it. That’s fine!”

Sigh…

I unzipped my wrist and placed Kim Heowoon’s corpse into the tattoo drawn across the amorphous flesh.

Just to be clear—I did not feel good about that.

If I were still my old self, my hands would’ve been trembling by now.

That Happy Ending Sect executive, who’d been watching me with sparkling eyes, beamed at me.

“Anyway… you saw it, right? The Love Paradise orphan you rejected is happy now too!”

……

“Welcome to the Happy Ending Sect.”