Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work

Chapter 81.1

The tattoo stickers.

It was something I got as freebies from the .

– Are there any designs related to courage or boldness—symbols of fearlessness?

In response to that question, the tattoo artist recommended a design of a tomato tree...

And that design was preserved as stickers.

This is the tattoo I’m currently sticking on my neck.

To be honest, it had some of the effects I expected.

It felt like the fear-processing part of my brain was paralyzed, making paranormal occurrences less frightening.

Just like the D-squad... Right.

...Just like Assistant Manager Eun Haje and Supervisor Park Minseong before me.

Their guts seemed so out of place it felt like their bravery bordered on recklessness as they fearlessly explored these supernatural horrors.

But.

Inside the locker, I blinked.

‘It... doesn’t seem to have much effect, does it?’

I recalled the students who had chased me earlier.

Absolutely terrifying.

I thought about the crazy red bunny mascot I encountered in the theme park ghost story.

It sent shivers down my spine.

I thought about the ghost who pretended to be human, sobbing and knocking on the door in the changgwi ghost story.

‘...Terrifying!!’

No matter what I thought of, it chilled me.

‘C-Could this be a scam?’

Or maybe I applied the sticker wrong? After all, I’ve never used a tattoo sticker before, so I wouldn’t know.

But either way, it wasn’t something I could verify right now.

Shit.

Either way, I still had to proceed as planned.

Now that the ‘teacher’ had vanished from the fourth floor, this was my chance.

‘They must have gone downstairs.’

In the end, I swallowed hard and stepped out of the locker.

...Of course, the sight before me would be gruesome.

The bloodstains and flesh chunks of the newly assigned D-squad supervisor—who had just died—would be scattered, so I braced myself as I stepped out...

......

‘Tomato?’

Wait a second.

I quickly left the faculty office and headed up to the fifth floor.

There...

The very reason I avoided the fifth floor was laid bare before me.

AAAACK!

The walls of the fifth floor were now plastered with pages from old graduation albums.

And the students in the photos wore agonized expressions, their arms reaching out toward the outside world.

AAAACK!

Beyond the torn fragments of the graduation album, writhing chunks of flesh were visible.

The fifth floor itself was a source of immense psychological burden and panic for anyone who entered.

It looked less like a school and more like a grotesquely twisted alternate reality.

I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryfortearingupthetalismanIdugupintheschoolbackyard.Iwaspreparingforthegraduationceremonyof■■School.I’msorry...No,no!Thegraduationceremonyisnotaritual,it’snotasacrifice,no!!Pleasesaveme,pleasesav

‘They can’t harm me anyway.’

Irrational fear had been replaced with tomatoes, and I walked along the path between the chairs.

Toward the giant stage on the opposite side, adorned with a graduation ceremony banner.

Step, step.

The graduates turned their heads to stare at me expressionlessly as I walked past them.

I ascended the stage.

Grabbing the standing microphone installed in the center, I shouted:

“Let the graduation ceremony begin.”

[Ding- dong- daeng- dong-]

As if on cue, bright and grandiose event music began to play in response to my declaration.

The graduation march starts to play...

At that moment—

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Screams erupted in the auditorium.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

As if peeling away a façade, the intact appearance of the auditorium was stripped away, revealing its grotesque and distorted true form.

The horrific scenes I had witnessed in the fifth-floor hallway emerged before me.

As if in a final outburst of fury, the imagery seemed to lash out, eager to punish the one disrupting its order—me.

But it didn’t faze me.

After all, everything looked like tomatoes.

And the greater danger was just about to begin.

‘It’s coming.’

The sound of crazed footsteps storming up from below to forcibly drag the student who dared to start the graduation ceremony without permission back to their seat.

StepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStepStep

The sound of footsteps barreling upward.

‘The teacher is coming.’

It was fine.

‘I’ve done everything I needed to before it arrives.’

I pulled a stick-type auto-injector from my pocket and jabbed it into my arm.

Happy Maker.

The ultra-potent, single-use painkiller injected its neon-colored liquid into my veins with an artificial, cheerful wave.

A wave of comforting and refreshing vigor coursed through my body, light as air.

As if it were a lie.

‘Good.’

Simultaneously, I popped two Nostalgia Candies into my mouth.

Take no more than three at a time!

Nostalgia might overwhelm you and drag you under!

I even followed the dosage instructions.

Now, I was in the best and most perfect state imaginable.

‘Whew.’

The time had come.

BANG

Through the crack in the auditorium door, something forced its way in.