Chapter 9
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**Even if I Fall into a Horror Story, I Still Have to Go to Work – Chapter 9**
—
On a rainy Monday afternoon, the employees of Field Exploration Team D wrote up the status report at a record-breaking speed and even got the team leader’s approval for proxy payment.
All for one reason.
A new employee who cleared a time-limited horror story ahead of schedule!
“Wait… wasn’t the duration three days?”
“Yes, it was.”
The Deputy Manager and the Assistant Manager sat across from the new employee on the sofa, having raided the break room for snacks and laid them out in front of him.
They exchanged glances and nodded.
Finally, it was time to ask the real question.
“But how did you get out so fast?”
“Ah.”
The new employee seemed to think for a moment, then answered with a look of understanding.
“I fast-forwarded the time.”
*’He says it as casually as if he just had lunch…!’*
Before they could even say that, the new employee calmly explained his method.
“Since there was a time limit, I figured there must be an event that would signal that ‘time has passed.’ So I focused on that…”
Even the method of using the expiration date to trigger the ‘time alarm.’
The superiors listened silently and thought:
*’He’s a genius.’*
*’No quitting allowed.’*
Instinct and logic that could instantly see through the essence of a horror story?
This was talent born for the Field Exploration Team. They absolutely couldn’t let him escape—no, they had to help him adapt well!
“I’m not the one who should be saying welcome or anything, Musk Deer-nim.”
“You’ll probably overtake me and become Deputy Manager soon.”
“…!?”
This kind of new employee—you’d never find another one!
“Don’t forget us when you rise up the ranks… And when you get your Wish Grant, come brag about it…”
The new employee seemed a bit flustered.
“No, I mean… actually,”
“Hmm?”
He added, as if making a big confession:
“I just wanted to get out fast because I was scared.”
“……”
Normally, does being scared of an urban legend make you escape faster…?
It felt like some kind of cognitive contamination—as if it were an escape room.
*’That’s too humble…!’*
But the new employee stood firm.
“Next time, I’d appreciate a heads-up. I almost fainted from fear.”
“That’s rich coming from someone who cleared it in an hour…?”
The new employee made a peculiar expression.
“I thought I was going to die.”
*’Liar!’*
Who looks like they’re about to die while doing a record-breaking speedrun? That’s pure insanity that even veteran employees wouldn’t try.
Nevertheless, he understood their sense of betrayal.
*’To be fair, it was a bit harsh.’*
No matter how “safe” it was, being dropped alone into a paranormal phenomenon wasn’t normal.
And he knew exactly how to soothe their wounded hearts.
The corporate cure!
The Deputy Manager took a sip of coffee and asked.
“Musk Deer, how much did you get?”
“Huh?”
“The money you get when you clear it.”
“Oh, yes. I got 10 million won.”
That’s right. This F-class Darkness gives a cash prize upon clearing.
And the manual clearly states:
—
-When clearing a Dusk (F)-class Darkness for which the company has a complete manual, 50% of any incidental profits are paid to the employee as a bonus.
—
Conversely, 50% of the money earned from the Darkness using a completed manual goes to the company.
Moreover, the first Darkness assigned to a new employee isn’t subject to this clause!
The company’s reasoning was that since they assigned a horror story whose safety had been guaranteed through dozens or hundreds of attempts, they couldn’t pay hazard pay.
The new employee had already read this manual.
But:
“That money would normally be taken by the company… but just keep it for yourself.”
“…Huh?”
Once you have seniority and know-how, there are always ways to handle things off the books!
And there’s even a lovely company policy exception—”Cleared with a new escape method, so it’s not covered by the manual”—so it’s all manageable.
After all, when a newbie hits a jackpot on their first day, everything gets prettified!
The Deputy Manager and Assistant Manager applied the same techniques they’d experienced themselves, with warm smiles.
“Hey, just keep it. There are ways to handle everything.”
“……”
*’Actually, it was 20 million won.’*
Kim Soleum, who’d planned to pocket half himself, broke out in a cold sweat.
The joy of suddenly getting an extra 10 million won with no explanation and the brief pang of conscience were soon set aside as he followed his superiors to stand up.
“Since you successfully completed a Darkness exploration, we need to go earn the most important thing.”
“Earn…?”
“Yeah.”
The Assistant Manager grinned.
“Employee welfare mall points!”
—
* * *
“Phew.”
I never knew being in the middle of a crowded city in broad daylight could feel this happy.
I wasn’t even worried about the future—about not being able to sleep tonight even with all the lights on.
*’Does having 20 million won in cash in my pocket really give me that much peace of mind…?’*
No matter how much I’d fallen into a horror story, this was still 21st-century Korea—a capitalist society.
I finally sat down at my assigned desk, turned on the computer, and accessed the intranet.
Sitting in a posture-correcting office chair in a fluorescent-lit office, the insane reality of just moments ago—facing off against a ghost—felt like a lie.
There were even cute stationery items and a wide-eyed lizard plushie on the desk.
*’…It looks suspiciously used?’*
Well, I could only hope the previous user had immediately quit due to winning the lottery and hadn’t had time to clear their desk.
Anyway, the welfare mall was already bookmarked on the PC, so I could access it easily.
—
[Daydream Corporation Employee Welfare Mall]
—
I entered my employee number to quickly register, and as my superiors had instructed, clicked the ‘Point Registration’ tab.
—
-Select the Darkness class you cleared, enter the name, attach a PDF, and submit.
—
I did exactly that.
And 5 minutes later:
—
[Employee Kim Soleum / Points Earned: 100p]
—
“…!”
The review was completed and points were credited with astonishing speed.
*’So clearing an F-class alone gives 100 points.’*
Well, aside from the hell I went through, it’s F-class, so it’s probably not a huge amount… Let’s not get my hopes up.
Still, since I had points now, I wanted to check if there was anything I could buy with 100p.
And the first page surprised me.
“…A robot vacuum?”
The items were better than I expected.
Most items on sale were around 100p, and high-end large appliances you’d buy for a wedding were about 500p.
Moreover, Daydream Corporation’s unreleased reagents were sold for around 1000p, among which were shocking levels of over-technology like corneal regeneration potions.
Oh, and hair loss medication—which costs about 500,000 won without insurance on the market—could be bought here for 100p.
*’This is actually pretty good.’*
With a bit of anticipation, I moved the mouse.
It was time to check the most important thing.
Under the ‘Company Products’ tab, sorted by ‘Highest Price’—that glorious name would appear.
‘Wish Grant.’
The price of that wondrous potion, introduced as the representative benefit right after the death survival, was…
—
Wish Grant: 500,000p
—
“……”
You’re joking, right?
*’Five hundred thousand?’*
I just got 100 points for clearing a horror story…
500,000 points?
*’In theory… if I go into F-class alone every single day, it would take 15 years.’*
But there’s no way it would be that easy.
*’If things went according to plan, it wouldn’t be work.’*
There’s no way I could only pick F-class Darkness and clear it every day—there would be countless anomalies.
*’There will definitely be many cases where I’m forced into high-class Darkness with colleagues.’*
Wait, do those get split N-ways too?
I searched the point registration tab on the welfare mall and found the base point values for each Darkness class:
—
F-class: 100p
D-class: 1,000p
C-class: 2,500p
B-class: 10,000p
A-class: 100,000p
S-class: Separate review
—
Additional allowances would be added based on the company’s own measured special factors—like urgency, lack of information, or additional risks.
*’Since it’s 3 people per team, and 3-person clear is the baseline…’*
…I’d have to clear B-class 150 times?
*’Are they insane?’*
Even B-class alone drops civilian survival rates to about 2%.
Beyond that, it’s a class where no matter what choice you’re given, you die or suffer a fate worse than death!
Going in 150 times basically means a regular employee is as good as dead.
You’d be begging on your knees, refusing to go even if ordered.
It meant that speedrunning by only targeting high-class was impossible.
*’So to raise my survival rate even slightly, I’d need to invest over 10 years.’*
This isn’t some noble revenge quest…
Yet the Field Exploration Team is still the fastest department—meaning employees in other departments have an even lower chance of ever getting a Wish Grant.
There are plenty of items on the welfare mall, so people in other departments probably give up and settle…
But I can’t.
Because my goal is very surreal and clear.
Return to my original world.
But they expect me to live here for 15 years? I’d die of a heart attack from shock before that!
*’No!’*
I needed a plan.
*’I need to carefully figure out which horror stories I absolutely must enter and which I should avoid.’*
So I could maintain a golden balance between safety and speed, and accumulate 500,000 points in the shortest possible time.
Just as I was about to fall into deep contemplation, the Assistant Manager tapped my back and asked.
“Musk Deer, did you register? Is the computer working?”
“Yes. Oh, about these personal items here…”
“Ah, that’s the Team Leader’s desk.”
“……”
So that’s why it looked used!
“As long as you don’t break the monitor, it’s fine. Take it easy today—relax.”
Is this company… actually okay?
Is it really acceptable to make a newbie temporarily use their boss’s desk?
*’Now that I think about it, there’s no way it’s okay.’*
It’s a company that grinds people up in horror stories to extract potions. If I applied the common sense of a decent 21st-century Korean office worker, wouldn’t I keep encountering things that would make my jaw drop?
…Maybe I should resort to some underhanded methods after all.
“Ah, Musk Deer, do you smoke?”
“No, I’m fine.”
I didn’t join my superiors for their smoke break.
Instead, I looked down at the desk I was using, took a deep breath, and flipped over the keyboard.
Sure enough, there was a Post-it note stuck to it.
—
[Team Leader Lee Ja-heon / 105105301]
ID: yongj1111
PW: dydajflgodks!111
—
It’s hard to criticize the lack of security awareness when this is such a common sight in companies.
*’A Team Leader would be a Section Chief…’*
And actually, in this company, there’s a certain website that’s accessible only from the Section Chief rank and above…
That would definitely be helpful when clearing high-class Darkness.
“……”
After seeing the insane target of 500,000 points, I really couldn’t afford to miss this.
Alright.
*’Let’s do it.’*
With that resolve, I accessed the welfare mall again.
Only this time, not with my ID.
—
ID: yongj1111
Password: dydajflgodks!111
—
I attempted to log in to the welfare mall with Team D’s Team Leader ID.
—
Password does not match.
—
“Hmm…”
No problem. I’d anticipated this level of obstacle.
Let’s see. If I click ‘Register,’ I can check the password requirements.
*’It needs a capital letter.’*
So I’d change the first letter of the password written under the keyboard to uppercase and try logging in with ‘Dydajflgodks!111’…
*Ding-ling.*
—
[Welcome, Section Chief Lee Ja-heon]
—
*’Got it!’*
I pumped both fists under the desk. A subtle celebration I could do in the office without drawing attention. Even though the office was currently empty.
Anyway, what I needed to find on this page was… a kind of phishing link.
The so-called ‘Alien Store.’
<Darkness Exploration Records> had quite a few alien horror stories, including some that tried to sell things to humans with clumsy communication methods.
*’They had no ill will, but from a human perspective, they sold things that were creepy or dangerous.’*
Still, it was almost comedic—one of the rare heartwarming horror stories.
And they had some business sense too. They wanted to target customers who had a demand for their products…
So they planted something like ransomware on Daydream Corporation’s intranet.
*’The shopping mall ad phishing link was only visible to Section Chief rank and above.’*
I also remembered exactly how to see that phishing link.
*’If you click around randomly on the welfare mall and hit the back button five times in a row…’*
*Click, click, click, click, click—*
—
*Beep-ri-lick.*
—
Suddenly, a small green hand appeared in the corner of the welfare mall screen.
A pixelated left hand, waving like it was greeting someone, catching attention.
A speech bubble appeared above it.
—
1st Anniversary Thank You Sale! ~80%
Bored with work? >>Click
Want to get stronger? >>Click
Want cool stuff? >>Click
—
*’So cheap.’*
It looked like an old-school internet banner ad.
But amazingly, if you clicked this crude thing!
The intranet would magically open an external internet page and abduct you to an alien site.
I wanted to click it immediately, but—
*’Hold on.’*
Instead, I right-clicked to copy the link, pasted it into an Excel sheet, and took a photo with my smartphone.
*’Company PCs keep access logs.’*
It wouldn’t be good to have a record of clicking the alien ransomware—especially with someone else’s account.
A short while later, when my superiors returned from their smoke break, I nodded and greeted them as if nothing had happened.
“Musk Deer~ When the Team Leader gets back from fieldwork, let’s have a welcome dinner. On the company card.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
And I waited until quitting time.
—
* * *
The evening after my memorable first day of work.
But my work wasn’t done yet.
“Let’s do this.”
After depositing the 20 million won, I returned home.
And now, in my bedroom, I was copying the ‘Alien Store’ phishing link I’d photographed in my smartphone gallery using image analysis.
After correcting a few characters that didn’t read properly, I opened a browser and pasted it into the address bar.
“Hoo…”
Deep breath… and enter.
*Click.*
Following the complex link address in the bar, the page transitioned.
A screen similar in format to Daydream Corporation’s welfare mall appeared… then glitched out.
And a new page loaded.
Like an early 2000s internet page, with naked underlines and fonts:
—
<Space Shopping Mall>
※Awesome stuff from outer space※~!!
>>I want to see the stuff
—
*Boing boing boing.* A green spaceship spun in the corner.
*’So tacky.’*
But I couldn’t let the tackiness lull me into complacency.
Clicking ‘Stuff’ here would reveal a list of bizarre supernatural items for sale.
…The problem was the prices were equally bizarre.
Starting at a minimum of 1 million won.
This was the result of imagined inflation, born from horror story creators’ inflated egos—’I should use more expensive stuff!’
Just yesterday, I couldn’t have bought any of these items.
*’But now I have 20 million won.’*
My heart raced a little. The fact that I could buy items from a fictional world was definitely a dopamine hit.
“Hoo…”
I finally clicked the ‘Stuff’ tab.
The screen appeared.
—
Stuff
Blood-Sucking Cutlery – ₩14,999,999
Wide-Range Walkie-Talkie – ₩4,999,999
Alice Picnic Set – ₩11,999,999
We Help! – ₩66,666,666
※Sale!※ Silver Coin Snake – ₩4,999,999
₩19,999,999
—
“…!”
I recognized over half of the items.
Maybe my luck was finally turning!
*’Excellent!’*
In my excitement, I quickly recalled the items.
—
**Blood-Sucking Cutlery.**
A weapon consisting of a small fork and knife. A bladed weapon that evolves by drinking the victim’s blood, growing larger and sharper.
Literally a growth-type weapon.
—
**Wide-Range Walkie-Talkie.**
A toy walkie-talkie that allows remote communication with others even within a horror story.
It would be incredibly useful when working with colleagues.
—
**Alice Picnic Set.**
The name alone evokes the association—food items inspired by Alice in Wonderland.
A drink that temporarily doubles the effect of items, and a cookie that halves them—that was the set.
—
These were the items I knew.
I didn’t recognize the remaining two. Putting aside the interesting title ‘We Help!’—it was far beyond my budget, so I skipped it.
*’The Silver Coin Snake is on sale.’*
Buying something on sale always gives that sense of getting a good deal.
“……Hmm.”
I crossed my arms.
Weapon, communication device, buff potion, and a sale item…?
My budget was 20 million won.
What would be the most profitable purchase within this budget?
“Alright.”
I made up my mind and clicked.
