Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work-Chapter 111

“Tamna-bound? What’s that?”

“Error? Wow, that’s kind of creepy.”

Passengers on the high-speed train murmured as they watched the transformed cabin footage.

It didn’t seem too serious—just the tone of people noting something unusual happening during an otherwise boring journey.

...At least until they truly understood what this event entailed.

“Hey, I recorded this. I’m going to upload it to Inhart... huh?”

“What?”

“...The internet’s not working.”

Of course.

“Hey, turn on your smartphone. Quickly!”

“Um, excuse me, I’m getting a ‘no signal’ message. Are you able to make a call?”

“What the hell? Why is no one able to connect?”

The murmurs among the passengers grew louder.

But the agent sitting in front of me, Deputy Manager Butterfly, didn’t move a muscle, and Chief Dolphin, seated on the aisle-side seat next to me, only grumbled softly.

“Oh, what a pain. And of all times, we had to get caught up in this with a bunch of civilians.”

This was a classic opening scene of a Darkness Zone that every field operator in our company would recognize.

Moreover, while these passengers didn’t know it, this particular ghost story wasn’t one discovered by our company but by the government decades ago. It was an anomalous phenomenon documented in a classified memo.

The Nirvana Test (tentative title) was a rare occurrence on the high-speed rail line running from Seoul to Iksan.

To date, there had been no reported casualties. Disaster classification: postponed.

And that was all.

“No casualties!”

The Paranormal Disaster Management Bureau typically classified ghost stories as disasters only when fatalities occurred.

Thus, the memo concluded with: “The anomaly appears to have been resolved as the high-speed rail line was extended from Iksan to Mokpo.”

However... it had begun again.

Right now, on this train.

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“Excuse me! L-Look outside!!”

“Oh my god!”

I turned my head to look out the train window. The scene outside, which should have shown us leaving Seoul behind, revealed instead...

An endless blue ocean stretched out before us.

“...!”

The crimson sky met the blue horizon, creating a breathtaking and surreal landscape.

The train was racing forward, cutting through the waves, leaving sprays of seawater behind, as it sped along the shimmering surface of the ocean.

“This train... it’s running on the ocean?! H-How is that possible?”

“Wow...”

“Uh... is this some kind of display graphic? Like a demo for window LCD technology or something?”

The passengers, caught between confusion and awe, momentarily forgot their panic as they marveled at the strange yet beautiful, almost transcendent scenery.

Some tried to capture the moment on their smartphones, only to be startled when their devices refused to save the photos.

The Tamna-bound High-Speed Train Incident.

It matched the opening described in the document I had read... exactly.

“......”

What a damn nightmare.

If I had focused on the simple fact that I was boarding a train to Mokpo, maybe I could have anticipated the possibility of this ghost story manifesting.

“But by design, I let this slip by unnoticed.”

They had placed a different Darkness Zone right in front of me as the target!

“Head to Mokpo and enter the C-grade Darkness Zone.”

Focusing on this directive, I had spent all my time refining and preparing countermeasures for it, only to be blindsided by a threat from an entirely unexpected direction.

I clasped my hands together, my mind racing.

“...Was this a trap, then?”

Or just coincidence?

According to the file, this incident was labeled as “unexpected and unpredicted.”

“But that’s from the Paranormal Disaster Bureau’s perspective.”

It’s possible that other groups—or individuals—might have analyzed the ghost story’s patterns and figured it out.

Especially...

“Looking at my companions, it feels far too intentional...”

“Excuse me, Deputy Manager. Wake up.”

“...Sigh.”

Beside me, Chief Dolphin nudged Deputy Manager Butterfly, who was sitting in front.

“Another mission? I wish it were at least a high-grade one. That way, I’d get more points for the report.”

“Exactly!”

The elite team.

In other words, people capable of making ruthless, decisive decisions without hesitation to ensure mission success.

“...They’re completely incompatible with this ghost story.”

This is...

A ghost story that tests human ethics.

“Huh. The text on the screen has changed.”

......

I lifted my head, my gaze icy.

A new sentence scrolled across the screen.

Those who wish to reach Tamna must offer a sacrifice.

Those who wish to reach Tamna must offer a sacrifice.

It repeated over and over again, filling the screen.

“...A sacrifice?”

Clunk.

The frontmost window of the train car slid open.

The passengers seated nearby recoiled in shock.

“What the hell?!”

“That’s supposed to be a fixed window... Wait. Why isn’t any wind coming in?”

“But why did it suddenly open...?”

As if...

As if it was inviting something—or someone—to be thrown in as an offering.

“......”

A faint sense of confusion and fear spread across the faces of a few passengers who had left their seats to inspect the strange phenomenon more closely.

“What... sacrifice? An offering?”

“This is too weird...”

But no one dared to speculate or openly discuss what the “sacrifice” might be or what it meant to “offer” something.

“...Couldn’t this just be a hacking incident?”

“Why don’t we try finding a crew member?”

Avoidance.

The passengers clicked their tongues nervously and either sat back down or wandered off to another car in search of the staff.

They pretended to stay calm.

Because they realized deep down that something was gravely wrong, a cold, oppressive silence settled over the train car.

Tap tap.

At that moment, Deputy Manager Butterfly lightly rapped on the handlebar of the seat in front of him, drawing both mine and Chief Dolphin’s attention.

“Don’t act. Just observe what they do first.”

“Understood!”

“Yes.”

It seemed like the deputy manager wanted to see what would happen if someone else took action first. ...And possibly, to keep me from acting rashly.

Not that I had any intention of stepping forward in the first place.

If this really is that incident, it’s better not to act right now...

I remained quietly seated, watching to see if the situation would unfold “as written.”

Moments later.

“This is seriously messed up!”

Cries of alarm began erupting sporadically from different corners of the train car.

“I found a crew member, but they’re completely panicked! They’re shouting that they don’t know what’s going on either!”

“There are people with kids in the front car! They’re screaming because their kids have disappeared! This is not normal...!”

“The engineer’s not responding. They say the driver’s cabin is completely locked!”

As communication between train cars began, more chilling revelations came to light.

-Oh, chaos! Throughout human history, the incomprehensible has always been a source of terror. This place is no exception.

-Will you continue to watch where this flows, my friend?

...For now.

That was the right move.

But the mounting tension was unavoidable, and I clenched my teeth to suppress my unease.

I looked at the people standing near the train car door, speaking loudly as if addressing an audience.

“Everyone, we need to come up with a plan!”

“Yeah, this seems like it’s going to turn into a real disaster—!”

Beep!

“...Huh?”

All eyes turned toward the train’s video monitor.

New text had appeared on the screen.

First altar reached.

“...Altar?”

Whoosh.

The brilliant blue ocean outside the windows abruptly turned blood-red, and then...

Darkness fell.

“Ahh!”

All the windows now showed not the horizon, but walls covered in grotesque, fleshy membranes.

“This... this is...”

“Oh my god!”

It was as if the high-speed train had entered a tunnel—or a station—within this bizarre, dark space, continuing to glide forward effortlessly.

Distance remaining: 5.

“S-Shouldn’t we do something? Anything?”

“Find a button or something!”

“A button? There aren’t any...”

Distance remaining: 4.

“What do we do? What can we do...?”

“Excuse me! You by the window seat! Help me close this window! Don’t just sit there—”

“Ugh, shut up already!”

Thwack!

Distance remaining: 3.

“Are you trying to push me? Huh? Huh—?!”

Splash!

“Ahhh! Someone fell out of the window!”

“No, no! That person tried to push me, but they—”

Distance remaining: 2.

“Sh-Shouldn’t the train stop? Someone just fell out—”

Distance remaining: 1.

“Get down on the floor. Quietly.”

“Yes, sir.”

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