Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work

‘I need to get out quickly.’

Something is going wrong.

But… first, to do that, I needed to successfully expand this resort one more time.

As quickly as possible.

Requirements to expand resort facilities

Staff : 3

Satisfied Guests : 300

Mascot Ceremony Rites

For now… at this rate, I’d reach 300 satisfied guests in no time. Honestly, judging by how many guests flooded in today, I’d probably hit the goal within a day or two.

It was an astounding achievement.

‘Why does the social distancing concept work even for ghost stories?’

If it were before, I might have found it infuriating or funny, but now I really didn’t care. The real issues were above and below. Staff and the ceremony.

‘……’

Three additional staff members.

One way was to tempt civilian visitors into taking a job here, using a night’s stay as bait, just like before.

The problem was, how many people could I actually persuade like that? And if someone died while working here, who would be responsible?

‘Those people don’t even have basic gear like a mask.’

There was also the question of whether my own mind could handle it.

The next method was…

Gruesome, but I’d learned about it from the recent incident.

‘……’

I called for the standard mascots.

Then, I asked them about the whereabouts of certain things they had stashed away.

Specifically, the two corpses that Supervisor Lee Seonghae had dragged in with her.

Right.

I was going to check if I could revive those corpses and use them as staff.

The standard mascots led me to the back of the resort building.

It was a place where only mascots worked, where human staff avoided and guests were forbidden from entering.

Among those spaces, they guided me to the cold storage section in the room service warehouse.

Two mascots were standing guard at the entrance.

[Freezer Storage. Lock Confirmation Required]

‘Ha.’

I was about to open the door, imagining the corpses inside…

‘……’

And then I realized.

As a mascot, I could see it immediately.

Y o u T w o

The corpses were not in the freezer.

The two standard mascots guarding the freezer were the employees’ corpses themselves!

‘Fuck!’

The corpses had turned into those standard mascots…!

Just like how Jang Heowoon’s corpse became an employee…

The mascots stared at me.

I almost stumbled back, but my identity as the resort’s operator kept me upright.

Then, the mascots—creatures that, in a sense, I recognized as extensions of myself—approached and tried to support me.

Goosebumps crawled down my spine.

That means, all the standard mascots here are……

‘Damn it.’

There must have been corpses wandering in the resort ruins.

I was raising up people who had died who knows when, and using them as staff!

This was a terrifyingly creepy resort… Wait a minute.

If you think about it, it’s not the resort’s fault.

‘Corpses end up buried in graves and become nutrients for nature anyway.’

But if they became nutrients for this wonderful resort, isn’t that better than simply decaying for bugs and weeds?

Yeah. If someone’s already dead, it might actually be better to make good use of them.

‘Huu.’

I barely managed to calm myself, letting out a sigh of relief.

…Anyway, reviving the corpses to use as staff was a failure.

‘Maybe because I didn’t make a separate contract, they’re not recognized as individual beings.’

Still, there was one silver lining. Jang Heowoon was still counted as staff, not just a standard mascot.

In other words, he’s recognized as an individual, not just as a mascot with no self.

…Even if he didn’t have a mascot appearance, it’s just because I allowed staff to maintain a human appearance.

“……”

I squeezed my eyes shut— No, I wanted to, but the mascot head prevented it.

This situation… is spiraling out of control.

‘I’m so confused.’

The weirdness of the ghost story was starting to show itself blatantly.

I’d been so focused on running things, but now that I took a step back, I realized things could get far worse at this rate.

I had assigned Ladybug to keep a close eye on the two powerful staff—Section Chief Lee Jaheon and Supervisor Lee Seonghae—but I couldn’t load all the burden on him forever.

‘I have to get out of this insane resort as soon as possible.’

No matter how dazzling this resort is, or how much care I put into it, this is something I can’t avoid.

‘I need more information.’

Ironically, now that Jang Heowoon… is a perfect staff member for the resort, I can leave him in charge of the front desk while I move around.

If I give him instructions, he’ll carry them out precisely.

I’ve gained a bit of freedom of movement.

So, on this fourth day, my evening plan was… this.

I left the resort building entirely and walked down the road.

Then…

H e l l o

I went straight to the gate leading to Blue Dream Waterpark.

That is to say…

To meet the blue mascot.

I ’ m H e r e

The blue mascot, standing on the other side of the gate, tossed aside the booklet it was holding and ran over.