It Seems I Must Go to Work Even After Falling into a Horror Story 028

…Let’s figure out what I need to keep in mind since I’m being sent into the horror story with Team A.

Conditions

1. I must not get caught being a coward.

2. I must not get caught knowing the strategies beforehand.

3. I have to survive the bullying of an uncooperative team leader.

‘Just kill me already.’

I seem to say this to myself the most since I joined the company.

But there’s no helping it.

It’s my first time entering a horror story with a superior who wants me to fail!

‘Every day feels like a new hell….’

And the last one is the type of team leader who would throw me into the finishing team the moment they realize I’m a coward…

In other words, I’m stuck in a horror story with only those who will hinder my survival.

‘As expected, the only solution is to gather points desperately and use a wish ticket to escape from here.’

Moreover, the horror story I just entered was making me sweat profusely and was quite confusing.

“How’s the space looking?”

“…It seems to be an abandoned factory.”

The dark, oil-smelling abandoned factory.

Do you have any idea how many horror stories that feature abandoned factories are in [Dark Exploration Records]? At least dozens!

Plus, there are even more horror stories where the space randomly changes, and an abandoned factory appears!

As soon as I got separated from the two A team members, I tried to quickly input the identification code for [Dark Exploration Records], but they weren’t giving me a moment alone.

‘They are watching me like hawks.’

It felt like they were waiting for me to make a mistake, with both A team superiors glancing at me while taking their time walking around…

Cold sweat started to trickle down.

‘I have no cooperative companions at all….’

–Friend?

“…!”

-Oh! We’re in another location now. Hmmm, it doesn’t seem very fitting for a filming site! This filthy, donkey-like mess! Would you agree?

I quickly lowered my head.

The keyring I had in my pocket, “Good Friend,” was speaking.

Brown!

‘There’s a cooperative partner!’

Wait a minute. But if you speak out like that right next to the two A team leaders…

-Oh dear, are you worried our precious friendship might be interrupted? No problem! Those who are not friends don’t qualify to hear me!

Phew.

That means my words can’t be heard by others.

‘Come to think of it, there was indeed a record mentioning that I only talked with the owner among the ‘Good Friends.’’

And it said that I could keenly read the feelings and outer thoughts of the counterpart.

Feeling somewhat relieved, I patted my pocket.

-Haha, that tickles a bit!

Tears are welling up.

This situation where the monster in the horror story is my sanctuary…

“Team Leader. I see a door over there.”

“Indeed. Shall Sol-eum take a look?”

“……”

“Sol-eum?”

“Yes.”

I swallowed a scream as I walked straight towards the rusty door.

To point me out without even giving me a manual, they clearly have no intention of hiding their harassment!

-Oh dear… Doe seems to be struggling. Is it a stamina issue?

I shook my head slightly to avoid detection.

-Then is it the filthy environment?

I shook my head again.

-Aha, then it seems your companions don’t match you very well!

That’s right.

It’s really tough. This dirty horror story world and the workplace bullying…

-Bad people who bully friends?

I shook my head repeatedly.

-Oh, I understand. Sometimes, you just don’t get along like opposing poles of a magnet! Let’s encourage ourselves and move forward, Friend!

My stomach started to ache.

‘They say I have to balance so the plush doll doesn’t go wild.’

Is this right?

Suffering between fear and nausea, I barely managed to grip the handle of the iron door without trembling.

Creeeak.

As the rusty iron door opened, what lay inside was… the factory’s workspace.

It seemed to have stopped operating, filled with dusty cans and boxes. Rotten contents oozed out between broken beef cans.

But there was something even more intense.

The smell of iron infiltrating my nose.

And… a corpse lying on the floor.

“……”

Hold on a minute.

“Did you see? There’s a corpse over there.”

“…Yes.”

“Sol-eum, go check it out.”

“Yes.”

Aaaahhh!!

The reason I didn’t collapse on the floor and scream was that the warmth of the keyring doll gave me comfort.

‘Abandoned factory… corpse, abandoned factory, corpse….’

I dug through the [Dark Exploration Records] wiki in my head, barely approaching the corpse without letting out a scream.

The corpse was face down with a suit on.

A male adult bleeding from the occipital region.

Because he was wearing a suit similar to mine, he looked somehow familiar.

‘I’m going crazy.’

I absolutely can’t touch it directly…! I held my breath and immediately summoned the specialized equipment, hovering my hand in the air to examine the corpse.

Thank goodness that only pain is conveyed and I can’t feel touch.

“…Male approximately between 170 and 180 centimeters tall, wearing a suit, with bleeding only from the occipital region. It seems to have been hit by something with a diameter of over 10 cm.”

“Hm. Not bad. Now let’s turn him over.”

“Yes.”

Kim Sol-eum will remember this…

I glared at the A team leader with all my might and barely suppressed my nausea as I quickly flipped the corpse over.

The face revealed as I opened his eyes was…

Mine covered in blood.

“……”

Damn it, damn it!!

Oh, these damned horror stories for real!!

“Oh, he looks just like Sol-eum. Could it be a trap?”

“Leader, could you at least tell us some basic manual…?”

“Oh, right. It certainly feels that way, doesn’t it?”

The A team leader looked at me like he was judging me, then slowly opened his mouth like he was throwing me a bone.

“Sol-eum, we are in a story.”

“……”

“Think of it as stepping into a novel or a movie.”

I already knew that.

I realized it the moment I saw my corpse.

What kind of darkness it is.

———————=

Dark Exploration Records / Horror Story

[The Day I Died]

: The identification code for the horror story featured in Dark Exploration Records is Qterw-C-406.

A horror story where you get dragged into a thriller and mystery tale that failed to make it big, becoming a victim.

The first witness must discover their dead body.

There are 25 exploration records in total.

———————=

This horror story really drives you to mental collapse.

‘This is… a potato, a potato.’

I tried to brainwash myself as best I could while detaching my gaze from something resembling a corpse….

“Don’t use specialized equipment; check it personally, while examining closely….”

Are you kidding me?

“Absolutely not.”

I answered without taking a breath.

The eyes behind the duck mask narrowed.

“…Huh?”

Ah, oops.

Did I just talk back to my uncooperative superior in the middle of being bullied?

‘I need to, need to recover!’

I naturally added on instinct again.

……Using a repertoire that was already validated once.

“There’s a faster way to escape.”

Not again.

Are we going this way again…!

An additional work condition was added.

Conditions

1. I must not get caught being a coward.

2. I must not get caught knowing the strategies beforehand.

3. I have to survive the bullying of an uncooperative team leader.

4. I must perform a time attack. (new!)

…Nonetheless, the silver lining is that thanks to seeing my corpse, I’ve figured out exactly what kind of horror story this is.

‘And the standard strategy for this horror story is… this.’

———————=

Reconstruct the story in a way that the victim does not die to succeed.

———————=

This horror story rewinds time as we explore the space.

So ideally, I should have investigated this entire factory, piecing together and analyzing the reason why ‘my corpse’ died step by step.

———————=

If the story is not altered within the time limit, the victim’s death is confirmed.

———————=

So, while being pressed for time, I should have been doing a desperate investigation to avoid the confirmed fate of one victim for half a day…

‘Hmm. But before all that, my stomach might rupture.’

My digestive system won’t hold out.

If there’s no shortcut, I need to create one. Help me, Exploration Records!

If 25 records have been documented, surely the creators would have written some weird and unconventional records to escape their writing rut. That could serve as hints!

I flipped through the records in my mind.

‘Let’s see, unique stories that are noteworthy…….’

———————=

Exploration Record #21

Assistant Manager Han So-eun and 2 others deployed.

As soon as the employees entered the darkness of the abandoned lodge, they immediately recognized what kind of work it was.

Despite failing to make it big at the box office, it became famous as a meme and joke online, resembling a certain poorly received movie.

Derisive laughs, meme imitations, belly laughs, and dismissive spoilers followed.

Result: The space suddenly collapsed, transporting them to a different work (Subsequent Record: Exploration Record #22). There were testimonies of crying sounds being heard.

Oh dear, is there a ghost of some failed director?

Even the weak mental is definitely inherited.

-Researcher Gwak Je-gang

———————=

Oh.

“…Manager, Assistant Manager, could you please give me just 10 minutes?”

“Hmmm, very well.”

First, let’s not give my superiors any chance to intervene.

I don’t know what kind of disruption could happen due to workplace bullying, so no matter how petty or dirty it is, I need to handle it…

‘……I need to hurry before I throw up and scream.’

I quickly checked the collapsed area on the back of the corpse using specialized equipment (Aaaahhh!), confirming the shape and features of it, and checked the footsteps and surrounding bloodstains….

“Why bother using specialized equipment when you could just use your hands?”

“Because if I touch it directly with my hands, the evidence might get damaged. I thought it would be wise to do this for scene preservation.”

I didn’t realize I had talent in rapid-fire wrapping.

“Evidence? You speak like a detective novel.”

“It’s not quite a mystery; it’s just a simple deduction. And….”

I stood up.

“I found an answer.”

“Uh?”

“An answer.”

I immediately searched the area. Of course, using specialized equipment from a distance.

Let’s see.

Though it was cleverly hidden in the shadows, it wasn’t entirely obscured, and it was a spot that was easy to overlook…

‘Found it.’

I pulled out a cylindrical object from underneath the shelf in a dank corner.

“That’s… a can, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, there are cans strewn all over the place here, right?”

Right. This looks like a canned food factory.

But there’s one difference.

The can I lifted had bloodstains on its slightly crumpled edge.

‘The darkness is right under the lamp’ cliché.

-Oh, Doe! If this were a mystery play, it would be the decisive evidence. The wound on the head matches the shape perfectly.

That’s right.

“This is similar in size and shape to the dent on the occipital wound.”

-Oh, classic. An ordinary object from the background that we missed is the weapon!

That’s story-appropriate…

Sure, sure.

Anyway, A team’s assistant nodded knowingly, as if he understood immediately.

“So that must be the weapon, huh….”

Tap.

I dropped the ‘weapon’ candidate can onto the floor.

And kicked it harshly.

“…??”

“…????”

-?!??!

“Ah.”

I tilted my head.

“With this level of force, a human skull should not shatter… Hmmm, this is odd. Things aren’t adding up.”

Clunk.

Suddenly, the space shook slightly.

-But no matter how you look at it, it appears to have been struck with a can!

Exactly what I was saying.

I nodded as if I was realizing something.

“Ah… this can is aluminum.”

“Why does that matter?”

“Usually, canned food cans are made of steel.”

I frowned.

“Why would they use aluminum for canned food that’s more suited for beverage cans… Hmmm, could it be….”

-Interesting…

I deliberately paused and spoke.

“An oversight in material authenticity?”

Crack.

At that moment, the cans around me started to tremble lightly.

But I ignored it and continued talking to myself.

“Well, that could be possible. Since we encounter beverage cans more often than canned food cans, it’s easy to mistakenly note the material as aluminum instead…”

-Oh…

But.

I stopped speaking and let out a hollow laugh.

“Come on, no way.”

“…Sol-eum?”

“If anyone just does a quick search, it shows up right away, but they wouldn’t have just thrown together a half-baked story. The most crucial part of the mystery genre is the trick, after all; they wouldn’t be idiots.”

-Hahaha!

“Thinking about it, it’s so obvious to have a murder occur within a canned food factory that it’s almost too cliché, isn’t it?”

This felt quite sincere.

“There’s no freshness or twists at all… The author wouldn’t have written something they considered to be a trick. Especially if they’re a sensibly creative person.”

-Oh, I agree!

The space started to tremble slightly.

“Honestly, it’s so poor that….”

I finished in a nonchalant tone.

“Even amateur writers nowadays wouldn’t write this badly.”

Thud.

After a brief silence.

Puffpuffpuffpuff!!

The cans began bursting from all directions.

“What, what’s happening?!”

The space soaked with tears began to cry out as if it were melting.

And then it vanished.

Just before everything disappeared, someone’s scream echoed out, blending with a sobbing sound…

And in the next moment,

We stood in the luxurious reception room on the 15th floor of the company.

Covered in the contents of the cans.

“……”

“……”

“We’re out….”

Team A’s leader was the first to lose his composure, fumbling.

“The darkness let us go, …why?”

As I wiped the remnants of the broken canned beef off my face, I silently replied.

“My mental state has shattered.”

After escaping from the horror story featuring my corpse.

After cleaning myself in the shower attached to the office, washing off the beef can contents that had covered my body, we gathered back in the reception room.

“Really… so you did claim to clear it quickly without a manual, just as the rumors said.”

“You flatter me.”

“Isn’t this the time to be humble, Sol-eum?”

The A team leader, having checked that the yellow liquid in the dream collection device was rising normally, turned to me.

I could see admiration in their eyes.

“How did you reach this result?”

Yes. I anticipated that question.

I put my hands behind my back and assumed a posed stance like a presenter.

It’s a defense against potential workplace bullying from my superior.

“I went through a proper reasoning process.”

“Hm.”

“First… seeing you guys constantly encouraging me to observe the corpse and check the surroundings made me suspect that the corpse might be the key to escaping.”

Of course, it was likely just a way to mess with me.

“But since you said it’s a story, then a story where someone becomes a corpse… which means it would be a movie or novel about a murder case. Therefore, stopping my death would logically be the clear method.”

I shrugged.

“And honestly, I wanted to resolve it quickly since it’s taking too long.”

“…?!”

“Even though you called me, I wanted to resolve it preferably in the morning.”

The A team leader looked at me as if saying, ‘What kind of nonsense is this, newbie?’

But the manager would certainly say that it’s better to be a fool than a coward!

“So I sought a shortcut.”

“How?”

“Because there were hints.”

I turned to the two of them.

“Your actions.”

“…!”

“You two read the manual, right? That’s why you kept dropping clues in your actions.”

Like encouraging me to observe the corpse.

‘If that was an intentionally given hint, then I must have unconsciously dropped hints as well.’

I recalled the most decisive part.

-Well then. Shall Sol-eum give it a try?

-Sol-eum?

“You called me by my real name even though we entered the darkness.”

“…!”

In a horror story, it’s a definite recommendation to not call each other by our real names but rather use alias names derived from the masks.

To avoid being manipulated in a negative direction.

Yet the A team leader called me ‘Sol-eum’ instead of ‘Doe.’

If someone so experienced and from the elite team called me by my real name, it meant one thing.

They already knew it was okay.

“That means there’s no intellect here that would harm me upon hearing my real name in this darkness.”

It also means there were no other supernatural interferences except for my already occurred death.

After explaining that, I continued.

“So my range of motion expanded, and… then I thought, why not attack the story itself and dismantle it?”

“…??”

“You thought… that?”

“Yes. Stories lose their meaning if their foundations crumble.”

I nodded.

“So I criticized the plot’s plausibility to break it down and escape. That’s all.”

“……”

“……”

The expressions on my superiors’ faces seemed to grow hazy.

“…You deduced that from both the surrounding environment and our conversations and actions…?”

“That’s right.”

No, actually, I benchmarked Exploration Records.

The space suddenly collapsed, transporting them to a different work (Subsequent Record: Exploration Record #22). There were testimonies of crying sounds being heard.

By merely mocking what had become a meme of a failed piece, the narrative was reconstructed and collapsed.

Then, I thought, if I kept meticulously pointing out the inconsistencies in logic while trampling on the pride of the creator, the new work and everything would vanish, right?

‘And I succeeded.’

Yay!

But then the A team leader stared at me and slowly spoke.

“Very… straightforwardly put, Sol-eum.”

Uh-oh.

“Of course, it’s not a conventional method. You could call it a trick.”

Did I accidentally hurt their feelings?

I sincerely laid the groundwork. Then I lowered my head as if reflecting.

This should seem genuine, right?

“Still, I will gladly accept any reprimands.”

Yes. Please just scold me and let it end.

I waited quietly for Workplace Bullying Mark 2.

But then……

Clap, clap, clap….

Applause echoed.

When I lifted my head, the A team leader, having removed the duck mask, was shining with amazement and satisfaction.

“We uphold rules and orders. But we do not discriminate against means and methods.”

Pardon?

“Excellent! That’s exactly the kind of talent we were looking for.”

Me?

“Sol-eum. You’ve passed.”

“What do you—”

“There’s a vacancy in Team A, right?”

At that moment, I realized.

‘Ah.’

This wasn’t workplace bullying.

It was a test.

“Fill that spot officially, Sol-eum.”

“…!!”

Oh my god.

Was this an A team scout invitation?