Mistaken for a Catastrophe-Level Ghost Story Employee 106

Chapter 106.

Room 4444?

The moment I heard the room number through the receiver, I once again scanned the location of the space I was standing in with my own eyes.

Currently, I was standing at the intersection between Room 495 and Room 496.

And if I carefully reconsidered the fact that the number I heard through the receiver wasn’t three digits, but four, then the location of the room I was searching for wasn’t the 4th floor—it was the 44th floor.

I realized I had to go up 40 more floors from where I was now.

It would’ve been nice if it was Room 444…

But at this point, the number of floors didn’t matter to me anymore.

The most important thing right now was that I had finally discovered the location of the room I had been desperately searching for.

That alone was enough.

After all this time, there was finally progress in finding the escape route I had been struggling to locate.

If I could just make it to the 44th floor, I would find the clue to escape this place.

If I was lucky, I might even return to the original world the moment I found that room.

‘I can finally break free from this dreadful place!’

Now that I knew my destination, there was no reason to delay any further.

Step—

Let’s go.

Let’s get out of here.

Thinking about quickly making my way to the elevator, my steps began moving faster than ever before.

Humming to myself, I walked with light steps—until two enormous tails caught my eye.

Swish, swish, swish—

The moment I noticed the tails swaying rapidly from side to side, it seemed their owner had also spotted me.

[M-Master!]

A loud, ringing voice.

The fox was waiting for me in the hallway.

The fact that he was standing there meant he had successfully delivered the book to the customer.

‘This girl is pretty capable, huh?’

Thinking I could also entrust him with handling the remaining customer, I grinned—

Sniffle—!

…?

‘Why is she crying all of a sudden?’

The fox’s eyes were red and swollen, and before I knew it, she rushed toward me and began pouring out her grievances.

[I-I’m… not used to… bright places… so I turned off the lights for a bit…]

Sniffle—!

[And then… they yelled at me… got angry… M-Master, what should I do?]

“……”

Is she serious?

I might have set my expectations too high for this fox disciple.

Staring at herfor a while her face completely drenched in tears—I finally spoke.

“…The book?”

[H-Here…]

Still sniffling, the fox handed the book back to me.

The moment I took it, I fixed my gaze on the tightly shut door of Room 444.

‘They’re… angry, huh.’

Taking a deep breath, I forced a faint smile onto my face, as always, and opened the door—

Whoosh—!

!!

Our furious customer, unable to contain their anger, had come right up to the door to greet us.

[Such a rude fox, isn’t she?]

[Tear her to shreds!]

[N-Now, killing her might be a bit much…]

The moment I opened the door, the customer presumably this time’s ghost story suddenly lunged forward.

Steadying my startled heart, I stared straight at them.

Their body was nothing but a black mass, atop which extended three long, branching faces.

Each of the three faces wore a differently colored mask.

The red mask kept repeating the same demand ‘Kill him! while the blue mask seemed to be restraining the red one.

And then, the last one, the yellow mask appeared to be the only one capable of reasonable conversation at the moment.

Only after assessing the situation did I immediately understand why the fox had been crying so much.

‘She ran into a troublesome one.’

———

/Ghost Story journal

[Today’s Expression?]

Cd-C-333

———

Just going by the grade recorded in the Journal, this ghost story was two levels above the fox.

For a socially awkward fox like her, this must have been an extremely difficult customer.

The ghost story ‘Today’s Expression?’ was fundamentally skilled at reading others’ expressions.

The most important thing when dealing with them was not to get swept up in their words.

I couldn’t let myself be swayed by this ghost story’s provocations.

Keeping my voice smooth, I spoke.

“I apologize for the delay in attending to you.”

After hearing my words, the yellow mask fell silent for a while.

As the silence stretched, the first one to break it was the red mask.

[What’s with that damn fox?! First, she turns off the lights the moment she steps in, then she starts bawling out of nowhere! From start to finish, there wasn’t a shred of manners in that fox bastard! Kill her! Kill the disrespectful little shit right now!]

The blue mask’s voice followed the red mask’s furious outburst.

[Crying… sniffle… isn’t wrong.]

[Shut the hell up, you crybaby!]

[Bad words… are no good.]

While the red and blue masks bickered, the yellow mask—who had remained silent until now spoke in a low voice.

[So it’s you. The one who’s been making waves among us lately… It’s an honor to meet you like this.]

[Honor my ass! You’re next!!]

[B-Bad words are no good.]

Unlike the others, the yellow mask seemed surprisingly friendly toward me.

But.

That didn’t last long.

Whoosh—

The yellow mask suddenly thrust its mask toward me and continued.

[But why did you send that fox instead of coming yourself? Why did you let a disrespectful little fox bastard who doesn’t even know basic manners into our room? Manners are the bare minimum.]

……

This was getting troublesome.

If I had known this was the customer, I would’ve gone in from the start.

But now, it was too late.

If they were expressing dissatisfaction with the current situation, my options were limited.

Once a customer lodged a complaint—

Swoosh—

I immediately bowed my head to them.

“I apologize.”

Handing the book I was holding toward them, I continued.

“She’s a new recruit. It seems her inexperience led to a mistake on your end. I’ll make sure she’s properly trained so this doesn’t happen again.”

In customer service, the easiest way to smooth things over is with an apology.

And the response to my apology was—

[…You’re someone who knows how to show respect. That’s a relief. Manners are the bare minimum, after all.]

Fortunately, the yellow mask seemed satisfied with my apology.

If things could end with just this simple apology, that would be ideal.

Watching me, the fox disciple stared blankly as I bowed—

[!!]

Thud—!

‘At least she’s got some awareness.’

She immediately followed my lead and bowed to the ghost story customer.

The fox and I waited for their reaction, and what we got in return was—

[Given your courtesy, we’ll overlook today’s rudeness.]

[What?! You’re letting them off that easily?!]

[F-Fighting is bad…]

Good.

“Thank you for your understanding.”

Fortunately, it seemed the situation had been resolved well.

Just in case, I had been prepared to pull out ‘that item’…

But it seemed unnecessary now.

As I raised my head and looked straight at the ghost story before me—

Wriggle—

?

The yellow mask’s voice brushed past my ears again.

[However… I believe a clear warning is necessary for that fox.]

With those words—

Swoosh—!

A black whip suddenly extended from the ghost story’s dark mass, lashing toward the fox at high speed.

[Those who lack manners deserve appropriate punishment, don’t you think?]

The moment the black whip was about to strike the fox’s head—

Crunch—!

!!

The whip stopped just before impact.

To be precise—

Before the loud crack could sound, someone had blocked it.

“…Customer.”

A man’s lips curled into a ridiculous smile as he spoke in the same gentle tone as before.

[What do you think you’re doing?]

“I thought we had already settled the matter just now… Apparently not.”

The man’s smile slowly twisted—

And with a sinister darkness, it lashed out as fast as the black whip had.

“Let’s not make this any more unpleasant than it has to be. Customer… Let’s both maintain the bare minimum of courtesy.”

Crunch—!

Bang—!

With one hand, I mercilessly crushed the black whip.

[!!]

[!!]

[!!]

Whether they understood the weight of my final words or not—

They took the book from me and slowly retreated back into their room.

But before disappearing completely, they muttered in a chilling voice:

[The rumors were true.]

[So you really are…]

[That person’s… subordinate.]

Click—

The door to Room 444 closed.

And with that—

It was over.

‘Good thing I had the mask ready.’

I had prepared the ‘Mass-Produced Hero’ item just in case ‘Today’s Expression?’ acted out. Thank goodness I didn’t need to use it.

I immediately removed the mask from my face and stored it back in my employee ID.

It was a relief that it ended without major trouble.

And one thing was now certain:

The remaining customer in Room 612, I had to be the one to handle them.

A situation like this once was more than enough.

Step—

I took the lead, and the fox silently followed behind.

……

A heavy silence lingered as we walked toward the elevator.

I didn’t mind the quiet.

And as we reached the elevator, the first one to step inside was—

Me.

For some reason, the fox stood frozen outside, not boarding.

“…Not coming?”

[Ah… Yes!]

Only after my question did she hurriedly step in.

And once inside, the fox finally opened his tightly shut mouth.

[M-Master… Thank you… for saving me.]

“…Be more careful next time.”

The fox had thanked me for rescuing her.

But.

The moment I heard those words—

I felt a slight pang of guilt.

In this situation, the biggest reason things had gone wrong… was because I had irresponsibly pushed the task onto the fox.

‘Well, if she’s thanking me… I guess it’s fine?’

……Right?