Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work

A dark office.

Taka-taka-taka.

Someone sits alone, typing away.

Letters appear on the illuminated monitor screen.

Report (Draft)

Author : Lee Jaheon

20XX. 01. 02. Eyewitness testimonies of the clearance process of the anomalous C-grade Darkness that occurred aboard the Mokpo Express, and the (presumed) death of Supervisor Kim Soleum.

The typing continued at a steady rhythm, with no hesitation or pause, as if the timeline was already neatly arranged inside the writer’s head.

Witnesses : Employee A, Employee C, Employee F (Initials assigned based on team divisions for ease of reference.)

Are we really doing this interview again? I don’t see the point.

Anyway… yeah. I boarded the train for a business trip, and next thing I knew, the train itself was running over the ocean.

Employee C :

The clearance went super smoothly! Supervisor Soleum led a lot of it, and it was really nice seeing him work so hard to minimize civilian casualties!

(Employee A inquired whether the anomaly was intentionally orchestrated by the company, but the Research Team stated that it was ‘pure coincidence’ — Further confirmation available in Interview No. 3.)

A three-person elite team successfully led the clearance of the anomalous Darkness. Collection of C-grade essence confirmed.

From this point forward, all testimonies consistently stated that the train was no longer an anomalous space but a fully real-world environment.

Employee C :

Supervisor Soleum was the first to check the liquid and then said he was going to the restroom. Right, ‘that’ restroom.

After the train’s departure, Supervisor Kim Soleum left his seat, stating, “I’m going to the restroom.” No contact for 15 minutes.

At the 17-minute mark, Employee F, who had been seated in Car 3, visited the elite team’s section.

Purpose of visit : ‘To say goodbye’, according to testimony.

Employee F :

Ah, I’ve mentioned this before, but… I was on vacation, sir.

I got caught up in the anomaly unexpectedly, but I tried to stay calm and assist the team as best I could. It’s only natural as an employee of our company.

After everything ended, I went to say goodbye to my superiors—then realized my friend—who’s from the same recruitment batch as me—wasn’t at his seat. So I went to look for him.

Employee C :

Oh, you were heading the wrong way at first, so I directed you to the correct way! I guess you instinctively turned toward your original seat!

Following Employee C’s guidance, Employee F proceeded to the restroom.

There, they found a collapsed man outside the restroom door.

Condition of the victim :

– No external bleeding

– Both hands and feet had been removed

– The severed areas were covered in fine ash

A medical professional diagnosed that the limbs appeared to have been instantly incinerated by an extremely high temperature.

( Source : Somang Medical Center [Daydream Inc. Affiliated Hospital] )

Employee F :

I had a bad feeling about it. But the restroom door was locked. No response when I knocked.

Well… not to brag, but I’m pretty handy with locks. I tried unlocking it myself… and succeeded.

…But. (Sharp inhale.)

At the 21-minute mark, the express train restroom door was unlocked.

Employee F :

The restroom was… silent.

There was no one inside. Just a perfectly clean, ordinary express train restroom. Which made it feel even more wrong. So I instinctively stepped back to leave…

And that’s when things started falling out of thin air. …Along with blood.

The hands typing on the keyboard momentarily halted.

The cursor moved as the mouse navigated toward a desktop folder labeled ‘Scene Photos’.

Several images were attached to the document.

Photograph of the interior of the restroom beside Car 7 of the blood-soaked express train.

The walls and floor are drenched in blood, with everything scattered haphazardly across the ground, stained red.

A mask, an employee ID, a briefcase, and… a Dream Essence Collector filled with C-grade liquid.

Yet, amidst the carnage, there was one pristine space.

A small, bathtub-shaped patch of tile—completely free of blood.

As if… someone had taken it away.

Employee F :

And then, a giant hand suddenly appeared—ugh! Uuuurgh, it—it pushed me! Flash, flash, flash, flash… HelloThejoyofthisnightanewfaceeverydayandyourfamiliarhostGoodeveningthisisTheLateNightTalk— BLAAAAARGH (Interview terminated)

Contamination and PTSD symptoms. Fox Counseling Center referral recommended. Seventh interview ended.

A testimony from the fourth interview is hereby referenced instead.

(Fourth Interview)

Employee F:

A hand appeared from thin air—a hand with a halo, no, some kind of strange light, no… no, never mind.

(Deep breath.)

It picked up a strange bathtub that had fallen onto the floor. A small bathtub with a checkered pattern and golden feet. A-And… when that happened, blood spilled across the floor, and… something—

Something like a shredded black ribbon fell with it.

The hand grabbed the ribbon too. And then… on the mirror.

It wrote something.

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

The typing hands stopped once more.

The writer reached for a printed photograph pinned to the board beside his desk.

A bathroom mirror, covered in blood, its surface serving as an inkwell for an elegant, cursive message.

Mr. Kim Soleum

is working somewhere else

starting today.

:)

The Research Team theorized that the message was linked to the anomalous ‘Tamra Express’ Darkness that had manifested on the train.

(This hypothesis was considered highly credible and formally recorded in internal research logs.)

Supporting evidence include Supervisor Kim Soleum’s active role in this Darkness’s resolution and his unique ethical approach to clearing Darknesses, increasing the likelihood of irregular occurrences.

There is a possibility that, while on a routine business trip, he was ‘invited’ to a place called ‘Tamra’—a yet-unknown space—where the message now hinted at his death.

Or, conversely, that Supervisor Kim Soleum had been chosen as the final sacrifice for Tamra Express.

Tak.

The writer stopped typing.

Not because he didn’t know what to write next—

“Section Chief.”

“Assistant Manager Eun Haje.”

—but because he had a visitor.

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