Chapter 57.
A man was looking at a crack in the floor with a serious expression when a noise that seemed to scratch his nerves seeped into his ears.
Static-
[Good to see you, Employee Park Yeon-jeong!]
Hearing his energetic voice from the morning already makes me feel drained.
But now this situation has become routine.
“Good morning, Mr. Noise.”
With my light greeting.
I expected Noise’s characteristic static to follow.
But the voice that should have come through the speaker never came, and instead a white librarian quietly appeared in the hazy air.
Abruptly.
The white librarian immediately showed me the object in his hand.
The object placed on the white gloves was ‘that thing’ that I had already thoroughly broken once.
The ghost story capturing quill.
[Please take good care of company property this time, Employee Park Yeon-jeong.]
“…Yes, I understand.”
As a matter of fact, I was really planning to take special care of it this time.
Just as you, Mr. Noise, have special regard for company property. I also value my body.
And….
What is this cross mark really?
Surely….
In the old days, could it be a slave mark used to indicate ownership when people were bought and sold…surely not?
‘…Right, Mr. Noise?’
I wonder if the day is approaching when I’ll have to address Noise as ‘ Master.’
As my strange imagination was growing.
[Employee Park Yeon-jeong.]
“Yes?”
Noise called me to attention in a calm, settled voice.
[You don’t need to worry so much. Surely, it won’t work in a negative way.]
Ah, is he talking about this tattoo?
But there was no way I could blindly believe Noise’s words telling me not to worry about the tattoo engraved on the back of my hand.
[At least, not right now☺.]
…With those words just now, it became even harder to believe.
That meaningful voice that now seems to everyone like some trick has been played with the tattoo engraved on the back of my hand.
Even with that voice mixed with laughter.
He definitely must have done something.
And honestly.
By now I know well enough that it would be foolish to expect otherwise. Since it’s a mark engraved by a ghost story, it’s only natural that it’s suspicious.
Lately, Park Yeon-jeong.
Has frequently been forgetting his personal motto.
This won’t do.
It seemed good to remind himself of it always before entering a ghost story.
-Giving up makes things easier.
Yes, that’s it.
If I don’t at least charge myself up like this, I feel like I won’t be able to move a single step in this place called ghost stories.
‘Let’s do our best today too!’
Just as I was deeply engraving this resolution in my heart, the static from the speaker gradually began to start up this story.
[Well then.]
Ah, that pattern again.
Yes, I’m used to it now.
I’m ready.
So please tell me clearly.
[I will tell you about the product to capture this time.]
Yes, as expected, it’s a ghost captured today too.
But hopefully, not something strange like that Judge. I wished for a moderately difficult ghost story.
Clack!
Soon a light turned on in the dark space and what appeared there was.
A cathode-ray tube.
‘You again?’
Our Mr. Brown tube who has been showing up a lot lately.
Now I even felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity with this inanimate object. But the fact that he pulled out this brown tube instead of the usual white door meant….
“This time, we’re not going through the white door?”
And Noise’s answer was—
[Indeed! As expected of our company’s excellent employees, you’re quick-witted.]
[That’s right. The place where Employee Park Yeon-jeong will go this time has some very old-fashioned people. So I’ve prepared it the way they want.]
Old-fashioned people?
There wasn’t any particular ghost story that came to mind upon hearing those words.
Noise continued to add explanations.
[And for this ghost story, I would like you to take all of these with you.]
“What?”
As soon as Noise finished speaking, the white librarian handed something to me.
What appeared before Park Yeon-jeong’s eyes, traveling across the white palm was.
Wiggle, wiggle!
Wiggle, wiggle!
Our teddy bear brothers.
Noise, who had taken these guys with him for a while when I entered the jackpot ghost story, saying he had some use for them.
Now told me to take all of them with me.
The meaning of these words was not hard to understand.
‘So it’s going to be difficult…’
It means this ghost story is that much trickier.
Would it hurt to put me in an easy ghost story just once?
As Park Yeon-jeong’s complaints about the absurdity of Noise, who claimed to be a workplace superior, were piling up, static was heard and interrupted my thoughts.
Static-
[Oh, right!]
A sparkling light burst in front of my eyes, and the quill slowly rose from my hand.
[Ta-da—!]
As if I had leveled up in a game, a ridiculous sound effect flowed from somewhere.
……No, it wasn’t a sound effect, but a sound Noise made directly with his mouth.
“……Did you really have to make that sound with your mouth?”
[Sound effects are essential for enhancement scenes!]
Noise said, seeming pleased.
[I’ve also increased the allowance for the quill while I’m at it. Now that Employee Park Yeon-jeong seems to be handling tasks skillfully, I put in some effort.]
[No need for thanks, just use it well☺.]
“……”
At his words, which seemed as if he was doing me a huge favor, I stared blankly at the quill.
-Successfully enhanced quill+1
The message that it had been upgraded to capture many ghost stories means-
This time it was conveyed to me that the ghost story I would enter wasn’t just one.
‘Wow—this is really too much. Do you remember that I haven’t even been here for 2 weeks yet, Mr. Noise?’
Now that Park Yeon-jeong had fully understood the hidden meaning of Noise’s words, cold tears fell from his eyes.
Truly, he painfully realized the fact that there isn’t a single easy path in life.
Static-
Once again static brushed past my ears.
‘What is it now!’
Today especially, Noise is talking way too much.
[About the wristwatch I gave you.]
Startled!
In an instant, the anger toward Noise subsided, and my gaze naturally shifted to the cross that had appeared on the back of my hand.
No way……
No way, is he going to refer even this broken wristwatch for disciplinary action?
Park Yeon-jeong was inwardly shocked as he slightly twisted his wrist wearing the watch to look at the cracked screen.
[If you successfully capture this ghost story, I will have your wristwatch repaired as a reward.]
“……Thank you for your consideration.”
Thank you, thank you!
I was relieved that it seemed my sin regarding the wristwatch would not be counted against me.
Static-
The static heard this time wasn’t from the speaker.
Static-
It was the sound coming from the cathode-ray tube in front of Park Yeon-jeong.
After the gray screen adjustment characteristic of cathode-ray tubes, soon a line of text appeared on the screen-
———-
<Wonderlot Circus>
———-
!!!
“W-wait! This is!”
The moment I saw the phrase ‘Wonderlot Circus’ on the cathode-ray tube.
I hurriedly turned my gaze away.
And quickly closed both eyes and covered both ears.
I wanted to deny all information being broadcast from the cathode-ray tube.
Static-
The white librarian approached me, lightly placing his hand on mine.
At the same time, Noise whispered in a voice full of amusement, as if my denial was just entertaining to him.
Even knowing that I couldn’t hear his voice.
He continued his explanation.
[Employee Park Yeon-jeong. Surely a fun performance awaits you. Something glamorous and eventful is waiting for you.]
Static-!
[And I, too, will not make the same mistake as last time.]
Stagger!
Soon I couldn’t withstand the extreme dizziness and….
Thud-
Collapsed helplessly to the floor.
At the same time, Noise’s voice and the voice from the cathode-ray tube overlapped, vibrating my eardrums.
[Let’s go have fun together.]
-Everyone! Enjoy the show.
*****
-We invite you to a world of fantasy! Feel the splendid performances you’ve never seen before with your whole body!
-We invite you to a world of fantasy……
-You…static-
A small voice continued to flow through my eardrums repeatedly.
Dizzy.
Nauseous.
My mind is becoming distant.
Why, of all the many ghost stories….
‘Quickly….’
Otherwise……I’ll change.
Bulge!
“Aaaaargh!”
It has begun.
The form of my legs started to change.
At this rate I’ll be too late.
I’ll be too late.
I’ll become their puppet.
Quickly….
Quickly the glasses!
Quickly!!!
Buzzz, buzzz, buzzz-
This simple action of reaching for my employee ID has never felt so slow.
The trembling of my hands gradually worsened, and at this rate, truly-
Pitter, patter!
?!
Swish.
The nausea……began to subside.
Gradually the trembling of my hands lessened, and when the pain in my legs that I had felt just a moment ago subsided.
“……..Haa.”
My irregular heartbeat began to find its pace again.
Only then could I raise my body that had been crawling on the floor and observe my surroundings.
Wiggle, wiggle!
And there on the floor was a teddy bear waving its short stuffed arms toward me.
Especially when that heart-shaped embroidery on its chest caught my eye.
“…It was you.”
Our teddy bear saved me.
It had taken the glasses out of my employee ID and put them on me.
Lately, I seem to be receiving indescribable help from the teddy bear.
I immediately picked up the heart teddy bear and placed it on my shoulder.
And slowly looked around.
Under the red-dyed sky, the air was humid and heavily settled, and an endless vast plain stretched out.
The ground was stained blood-red as the light of the red sky reflected in puddles formed by rain.
This gave me the strange feeling of being immersed in blood.
In the center of the vast plain stood a deep red tent.
The tent stood tall as if to pierce the red sky, and the fabric painted alternately with red and white stripes fluttered ominously.
The entrance was decorated with long strings of sparkling bulbs that could capture everyone’s attention, and a large electronic display emitted colorful lights.
★☆★Wonderlot Circus★☆★
‘Wonderlot Circus.’
This confirmed it.
Noise is definitely trying to kill me.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have thrown me into this den of crazy clowns.
The [Wonderlot Circus] recorded in <Ghost Story Record Storage> is a place where many settings are mixed like bibimbap, and one of the ghost stories where survival probability plummets to the worst.
‘If you didn’t like me, you could have just said so.’
I hated Noise for just sending me to this place.
Not just hated – I deeply swore to myself that if I died, I would curse him immediately.
Static-
It’s noise.
Of course, it wasn’t Noise’s.
———-
Not■ce.
As there isn’t mu■h time le■t until the perfor■ance st■rts static.. soon. We a■k that a■■ spectato■s qui■■ly e■■er the pe■formance h■ll.
———-
Even worse quality than the speakers Noise uses.
Honestly, ‘it’s amazing that it even works’ would be an accurate review of how poor the speaker quality was.
And after hearing that announcement.
The feet are even more reluctant to leave.
It was a sensation I always felt whenever entering Ghost stories, but today I especially didn’t want to go in there.
Throb-!
Despite wearing mental damage immunity glasses, I felt an illusion of a migraine.
My whole body was refusing to enter the circus.
…But.
Of course I know.
The fact that just hanging around here doesn’t change that I’ll die all the same.
It’s a case of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t.‘
In that case.
Perhaps it’s better to die fighting like a dog than to die foolishly without doing anything.
Most Ghost story places were ones where you had to struggle to return alive anyway.
Step.
Though I hate it to death.
Now I must move forward.
‘If I really make it back alive, I’ll secretly spit on the speaker.’
Tap, tap-
?
Turning my gaze to the familiar sensation on my cheek, there was our teddy bear raising its stuffed hand high in a gesture as if to say ‘cheer up.‘
Seeing that, I.
Felt a little strength.
Yes…just a little.
*****
Unlike the exterior welcomed by bright billboards and lights, the interior was darkness without a single point of light.
All that could be seen with vision blurred from not adapting to the darkness.
Was a large stage in the center, numerous chairs, and the faintly audible whispers of people.
At the too-dark interior appearance, I stopped walking and looked at the center of the stage.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
At that moment.
Three lights turned on at the very center of the large circus.
And three clowns who revealed themselves there.
The shapes of the masks they wore on their faces had simple patterns drawn on them, like basic emoticons.
And <Ghost Story Record Storage> describes the names of those three masks like this:
-♦Angry mask.
-♥Love mask.
-♣Tear mask.
The three clown siblings.
———=
/Urban Legend journal
[Wonderlot Circus]
:Identification code Cd-▒▒F-4
———=
Ah, I miss mom.
Intensely.
Please review this novel @ NovelUpdate.
Thanks for the chapter