Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work

Chapter 24.1

I broke out in a cold sweat as I stared at the wristband.

[◎ (Cheerful) Fantasyland Membership ◎ ]

But the words that had changed from ‘Admission Ticket’ to ‘Membership’ didn’t revert, and the material that had become oddly luxurious and ornate remained the same.

O-Okay…

It’s an unexpected situation, but what I have to do hasn’t changed.

Scan the wristband at the gate and leave.

‘Membership or whatever, I just won’t come back.’

“Thank you.”

I swallowed hard.

“Um… I’d like to go home now.”

The blue mascot tilted its head slightly to the side.

I stepped toward the gate scanner to scan my wristband.

But the mascot blocked my way.

‘Please.’

Why are you doing this?

I felt like crying.

“I’m not as much of a good kid as you think…”

G o o d k i d

C o r r e c t

The blue mascot’s claw gently, ever so softly, covered my wristband.

And a voice resonated.

To one who knows honor,

you are worthy.

……!!

“Urgh.”

A cough burst from my mouth.

It was blood.

‘W-What… just happened…’

Could it be… because the ticket changed to a membership?

The blue dragon mascot seemed flustered as I spat out blood, fidgeting anxiously, and then pulled something out from its pocket and offered it to me.

[Blue Soda Churros]

It seemed to be a snack sold inside the theme park.

“…Thank you.”

Yeah. I’m definitely not eating that.

“But, I’d like to take it home and eat it.”

P l a y

M o r e

The mascot was insistent.

To the point that it turned off the gate machine.

“……!!”

Click.

The lights went out at the north exit, and the shutter came down.

I stared blankly at the scene.

Going this far?

I couldn’t grasp what was happening at all.

But I didn’t make the foolish move of arguing.

‘I might end up like the researcher.’

I definitely wanted to avoid that.

For now, for now… I’m not in immediate mortal danger here. Let’s find an alternative.

I stepped back from the gate.

As I ran off, the blue mascot kept watching me…

* * *

“Driving me crazy.”

I went into the water park’s locker room and collapsed onto a bench.

I’m scared to death.

“What is going on?”

To sum up, the mascot suddenly called me a ‘good kid’, handed me a membership, and closed the gate shutter.

In other words, I’m trapped here.

“……”

Trapped.

Wait, but what’s with this ‘good kid’ thing anyway?

The researcher was a bad kid, and I’m a good kid…

Ah.

‘…Is it because I saved my teammates a few times?’

Yeah. That’s the most plausible reason.

By chance, I did help people in dangerous situations a few times… So as a reward, they’re letting me play in the theme park forever?

‘This is driving me nuts…’

This is inside a B-Class creepypasta.

No matter how friendly and seemingly safe that mascot appears, it means I don’t know when or where some dangerous and bizarre, crazy thing might happen.

Besides.

‘…There’s no exploration record of anyone staying more than 24 hours.’

Once it goes over 24 hours, it means everyone dies or disappears.

Even if I interpret it optimistically and think that since the admission ticket is a one-day pass, and I’m a member now so I might be okay, the most crucial thing here is that I have no information.

‘Shit.’

I racked my brain, feeling like I wanted to bite my tongue.

Maybe due to the fatigue of the past few hours, my thinking was sluggish…

‘What can I do?’

I can’t win against the mascot in a fight.

I can’t sneak in and turn on the gate machine.

‘And I used up all my coins earlier.’

In a hurry, seeing Y-squad rookie Jang Heo-un fall, I threw whatever I could grab, which was a blunder. I pressed my fingers against my eyelids.

I don’t have a button to communicate with the people outside, so I can’t expect help from D-squad.

‘The items I have are…’

The Smiley Sticker? It’s not something to use when the problem is that their favorability is already too high.

It’s the same with the 2x Potion or 0.5x Cookie. They only have meaning if there’s an effect to synergize with.

‘Do I really have nothing?’

The more I worried, the deeper I seemed to sink.

As I was sinking into gloom, a light flickered above my head.

[Dark Exploration Records Real Merch Box]

– New merch unlocked! (!)

“……!!”

It’s the black notepad—the merch box.

‘Please!’

Without even taking a breath, I pressed it immediately.

Is this a lifeline? No, anything would do. I needed even the smallest hint, anything…

Thud.

Merch dropped out.

“……!”

I picked up the item wrapped transparently in plastic.

It was small enough to fit in my palm and fluffy.

A plush doll.

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Dark Exploration Records / Daydream Inc.

/ ■■■■■

Good Friend

It’s your cute animal doll. It will always be with you and protect you.

Always.

—Product description on the packaging

from the ‘Cheerful Theme Park Gift Shop’

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Ah.

I recalled the phrase on the board game box.

– Be the first team to ride all three fantasy attractions with your teammates and win spectacular prizes!

In the ‘Cheerful Theme Park’, the team that rode all three attractions the fastest could take one of various items from the gift shop as a prize.

‘Come to think of it, the Supervisor Park mentioned earlier that they received a prize.’

And of course, the theme park gift shop in the ghost story often had bizarre items mixed in.

‘There was even an exploration record that sorted the list of prizes people had taken…’

And this was one of the most famous items among them.

Good Friend

In the original story, it was a plush doll small enough to fit into a child’s arms, but as merch, it was reborn as a small keychain-sized doll that fit into my hand.

‘So the unlock requirement for this merch was to be a participant in the ‘Cheerful Theme Park’.’

Unless you were someone who had visited the theme park, it was just a plush doll with no function, but since I had used up all my admission tickets, it seems I unlocked the requirement.

And the ability of this plush doll is…

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A strange item that invites someone from the Otherworld, allowing a part of their spirit to dwell in the doll and become your friend.

It rarely appears in the gift shop of the <Cheerful Theme Park>.

For detailed invitation records, refer below.

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