Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work

Chapter 103.2

on one occasion, i ran into lee byeongjin, the manual reviews officer, in the hallway, who gave me a casual hint: “the company’s ridiculously busy with year-end accounting and audits, which is why things have been so quiet for you.”

he still occasionally brought up director ho, which was uncomfortable, but the information was helpful...

“aiyah. supervisor kim, you must have no worries! you clear high-level darknesses and rack up points so fast. you must be disappointed there aren’t more high-level cases these days, haha!”

“......”

i’m not disappointed at all, actually...

clearing low-level cases steadily still earned points, allowing me to catch my breath and focus my thoughts.

however, during this quiet time, there was one thing that oddly remained unresolved.

“uh, squad leader, is my disciplinary action still under discussion?”

“yes.”

my disciplinary action, of course.

– oh. this is quite, hm. fascinating... didn’t you expect a swift decision, mr. roe deer?

i did.

i wasn’t hoping to avoid punishment, but i didn’t expect it to take this long.

i thought they’d hand me a simple, swift penalty to knock me down a peg for being a cheeky yet competent newbie.

‘...why is this so complicated?’

it seemed the field exploration team had even caught wind of this, judging by some curious reactions.

[kang yihak : supervisor! i heard about it haha! you took a bold stand against inefficient tasks not covered by your salary. kyaah! i respect you!]

“......”

wait, is that how the story’s spreading?

‘i was trying to come across as a morally principled character, but did that backfire too...?’

thankfully, it didn’t seem to go that far. the development department appeared to be debating how to handle my case—whether to make an exception or follow standard procedure.

finally, in late december.

“the date for your disciplinary action has been set.”

“......”

huu.

the official notice had arrived.

--------------------

disciplinary notice

task : perform night cleaning duties with the security team.

duration : 3 days.

this disciplinary measure is intended to improve the employee’s work attitude and prevent similar incidents in the future.

--------------------

it was such a quintessentially ghost-story-company type of punishment.

‘where are the usual corporate disciplinary measures like training, pay cuts, suspension, or demotion?’

so, was three days of punishment not too bad? did i manage to get off lightly? sure, but...

i recalled all the strange murmurs and phenomena i’d experienced walking down that isolation hallway and gulped nervously.

‘cleaning the security team’s area, huh.’

the near certainty of encountering something unusual made my heart pound.

“this way... to the locker room.”

i followed the security sergeant to the locker room, swallowing my fear. along the way, i caught a glimpse of the security team’s quarters through an open door.

[sleeping quarters]

through the gap, i could see compact rooms furnished with gray standard-issue curtains, bedding, metal desks, and cabinets.

...oddly enough, it reminded me of a prison staff dormitory.

‘it looks worse than my dorm.’

the fact that it was underground seemed unhealthy, to say the least.

“do all the security team members live here?”

“no, just the guards... um.”

the security sergeant furrowed his brow slightly, as if deciding how much to share.

eventually, he gave a vague answer, ending the conversation on this topic.

“the security team is... actually a branch of the higher-level security management department. this area is mostly for the guards...”

“i see.”

finally, we reached the locker room, and i quickly changed into the provided uniform.

it wasn’t the security team uniform i’d worn before. this one was bright orange and eye-catching, resembling an engineer’s work suit.

“cleaning uniforms... not bad... the color’s nice...”

“......”

was he serious?

in any case, i finished changing and prepared to head to the cleaning site.

‘huu.’

feeling like i was being led to the slaughterhouse, i glanced at the security sergeant, who was still lingering in the locker room as if waiting for someone.

“cleaning... usually requires two people per team.”

um?

surely the security sergeant wasn’t going to join me—maybe it was another staff member?

then, the security sergeant glanced out of the locker room and gestured for me to look.

“there they are... your partner for today.”

i turned to see someone walking down the hallway from the direction of the sleeping quarters.

...a familiar face.

“roe.”

“......!!”

supervisor park minseong approached awkwardly from the hallway, raising a hand in greeting.

“long time no see. how’ve you been?”