Mistaken for a Catastrophe-Level Ghost Story Employee 119

Chapter 119.

Ziiiiing—  

Ding!  

“It’s done.”  

Staring at the lunchbox spinning inside the microwave, my head felt just as hot and dizzy as that lunchbox.  

The lingering questions about this space.  

A world completely different from the one just moments ago, where ghost stories ran rampant.  

Now, back in a reality where those ghost stories were nothing more than mere games.  

Was I really back in the reality I knew?  

Holding my growling stomach, I was still trying to make sense of the current situation.  

At this point, since the temple mark visible to the naked eye and the skull mark on my right wrist had disappeared, it was already confirmed that no evidence from that world remained with me.  

I tried calling Noise, but there was no response from him either.  

Every moment now…  

It felt like every second was telling me that this space I stood in was truly reality.  

Even though I had clearly returned to the reality I so desperately wanted to come back to, why did a corner of my heart feel so uneasy…?  

……  

……  

……  

Growl—  

“…….”  

I decided to think while eating first.  

After finishing the meal and tidying up a bit, I immediately turned on my smartphone.  

The moment I turned it on, the word I typed into the search bar was.

<Ghost Story Record Storage>  

And right away, I checked the manual for a specific ghost story.  

————————  

/Ghost Story Journal 

[New Employees Are Always Welcome!]  

:Identification Code Cd-F-1129  

F-grade.  

.  

.  

————————  

Nothing had changed.  

It wasn’t much different from what I already knew.  

This ghost story was the first one that trapped me in the space of ghost stories.  

It was also the ghost story Journal where I met Noise, the “Primordial Ghost Story.”  

After that, I kept digging into the ghost stories Noise was involved in.  

Just in case there was some new detail I didn’t know about.  

Hoping to uncover another secret about him, I continued my investigation.  

For about an hour after that, I kept searching in that spot.  

But all that came up was.

—No search results.  

Nothing.  

There were no records at all.  

I couldn’t find any meaningful information about Noise in the <Ghost Story Record Storage> beyond this.  

“……Really.”  

Did I really come back?  

For real?  

I slumped weakly onto the bed and blankly stared at the ceiling.  

Thinking that everything that had happened might not have been real. 

That it was all just my delusion.  

I still had no idea how to accept the current situation.  

Amid the endless doubts, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind. 

Why…?  

Why was I trying so hard to uncover the truth about this situation?  

Even though this was the moment I had longed for, why was I trembling with anxiety and obsessively questioning everything?  

Even though I had wished for this life.  

Now that I was back in the original world, wasn’t that enough?  

It felt like another version of myself was speaking.  

That everything had just returned to how it was supposed to be. 

Even if this space wasn’t real…  

‘Isn’t this enough?’  

“……Yeah.”  

With a jolt—  

I got up from the bed and moved my body to the chair in my studio apartment.  

At this point, whether everything that had happened was real or a dream didn’t matter anymore.  

All I had to do was what I needed to do right now.  

Just go back to being Park Yeon-jeong, a job seeker.  

A very simple choice.  

Flap—!  

I sat at the desk, opened a book, and continued studying.  

And that day’s studying…  

Of course, it didn’t go well.  

*****  

The night air was cold.  

“……Achoo!”  

I shouldn’t have come out.  

Come to think of it, today’s date was January 1st.  

If it wasn’t cold, it would’ve been weird for winter weather.  

What was I thinking, taking a walk? I’d freeze to death.  

Just as I was about to turn back to my studio apartment, thinking it was a mistake to come out—  

……Huh?  

For some reason, a familiar alleyway caught my eye.  

Why did it look so familiar?  

I stared at the dimly lit alley for a while.  

Ah, I remembered.  

This path… It led to the house where Soi had been.  

“…….”  

‘…Well, I’m already out for a walk.’  

With that half-hearted thought, I took a step forward.  

Really, just half-heartedly… With no particular intention, I walked into that dark alley.  

Flicker—  

Flicker—  

Under the flickering street lights of the night path, I felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.  

Even though this was a path I’d never walked in this world before, I didn’t feel any awkwardness.  

Instead, my footsteps carried a strange comfort.  

As I walked along this path, I felt like a shabby, crumbling house would welcome me at any moment.  

Silently enduring the cold winter wind, I moved forward.  

When my footsteps stopped…  

The shabby house I had assumed would be there…  

Really appeared before my eyes.  

Just like the first time I visited this dilapidated house, the broken wooden pillar came into view at a glance.  

When that sight entered my vision—  

Thud.  

My footsteps naturally stretched toward the inside of that shabby house.  

As if bewitched by something, I slowly, cautiously approached the crumbling front door.  

My gaze slowly followed the doorknob, and when my right hand grabbed it—  

Click.  

If I opened this door…  

I was filled with anticipation that Soi would greet me on the other side with her bright smile.  

But as the door creaked open, the scenery inside the house…  

“…….”  

True to its crumbling exterior, the inside was just as broken.  

Of course, there was no Soi to welcome me.  

The moment I took in the sight of the ruined interior, I thought:  

‘Of course.’  

But why…?  

Why had I gone inside that day and searched so desperately for something?  

In any other situation, I would’ve just turned back.  

But I wandered around, calling someone’s name.  

Even though the building looked like no one could possibly live there, I moved around as if possessed, feeling nothing but emptiness.  

After that, with the cold biting into my skin, I returned home.  

After a quick shower, I lay back on the bed.  

Only then could I admit it.  

‘I… really came back.’  

I muttered those words to myself.  

It felt like it was finally time to accept it.  

The feeling that digging any deeper would be too much.  

I decided to accept reality now.  

Knock, knock, knock—  

?  

Drawn by the sound of someone knocking, I slightly lifted my body from the bed and looked toward the front door.  

Knock, knock, knock—  

…Who is it?  

At this late hour, there was no one who would come to my place.  

Knock, knock, knock—  

“…Who is it?”  

“…….”  

Knock, knock, knock—  

No answer to my question. Just silent knocking.  

For a while, I felt an inexplicable sense of dissonance toward this mysterious person.  

With a jolt—  

“Who is it?”  

I stepped out of bed and slowly walked toward the front door.  

Knock, knock, knock—  

“Who is it?!”  

“…….”  

Faced with someone who refused to answer until the end, the only thing I could think was:  

‘Are you a religious solicitor or something?’  

Otherwise…  

Who would come to a man’s house alone at this hour?  

Slowly, with measured steps, I approached the door.  

Peering through the peephole at the center, I saw—  

A red robe was the first thing that caught my eye.  

Dressed in a red robe rarely seen in this era, a small child stood there, knocking on my door.  

!!  

With a jerk—  

I immediately opened the door.  

Faced with someone who shouldn’t exist in this space, I flung the door open without thinking.  

Thud—!  

“Ow!”  

“Ah… sorry.”  

The girl in the red robe rubbed her forehead and glared at me like she wanted to kill me.  \

****

A being who shouldn’t exist in this space was now in my room, arms crossed, glaring at me.  

“Why didn’t you open the door faster?! Do you know how long I’ve been calling?!”  

“That’s what I want to say. Why didn’t you answer when I asked who it was?”  

“Don’t mess with me, Yeon-jeong! I’m not in the mood right now!”  

“Same here.”  

The being who shouldn’t exist here and I were now fiercely arguing.  

“Do you know how hard it was to find you?! There were only unfamiliar buildings everywhere! Some kids grabbed me and said they’d take me to a place called a ‘police station’! Another kid said I looked pitiful and opened some weird book, chanting strange spells!”  

“…….”  

Watching Eve, who seemed thoroughly angry, there was only one thing I wanted to ask:  

“Why are you here?”  

Why was Eve here, of all places?  

In this world—the real world?  

That was the question I wanted to ask her now.  

Clearly, I was the only one who came back here.  

So the fact that Eve, whom I could only meet in my dreams, was here meant…  

‘Don’t tell me…’  

And then Eve shouted at me like an angry bull:  

“Why?! Because this is inside your dream!”