Chapter 3 Part 3: New Employee Recruitment

Ba-dum!

A cheesy congratulatory sound effect.

A cheerful notification sound echoes from the speakers.

And a second, dull sound follows.

Thud thud-

[Now! Shall we check the number of applicants!]

[Hmm hmm hmm~♪.]

An obviously joyful humming comes from the announcement.

Not long after.

The broadcast resumed faster than expected.

[…………No. Is this for real?]

[As many as 13 applicants! This is the most applicants we’ve had since the company was founded!]

[This…tears are welling up in my eyes…………(sniffle).]

[I dedicate this meaningful moment to applicant ‘Park Yeon-jung’.]

Thud! Thud! Thud!

As if the protagonist appeared on stage, all the lights focused on one man, forcibly revealing his presence.

This kind of attention.

I don’t need it.

The person in question was sweating profusely and making a crying face at this attention.

Even while squinting due to the painfully bright light, the man’s gaze turned to those who were not here with him.

‘Eight people.’

The eight people who did not fill out the resume, even after hearing the provocation of that two-faced woman, bothered him.

But it’s no use anymore.

All I can do now is.

“I have a request.”

A small request for the woman who helped me.

“Please take care of the female students.”

“What? What do you mean.”

She expressed her confusion at my request, which seemed to be missing an object.

Crackle-

Everyone focused on the voice from the speaker again.

[Now! For smooth progress, we would like to thank the applicants who took the time to visit our company during their busy schedules, and say a sad ‘farewell’.]

Judging by the tone of the man’s voice from the announcement.

Everyone here must have thought this.

This was………………

The wrong answer.

Some glared at me and the woman who encouraged them to come here as if they wanted to kill us.

Just 5 seconds.

That was 5 seconds ago.

[It’s always hard to let go of talent………….]

[Then, shall we all wave our right hands and say ‘farewell’!]

But none of those who filled out the resumes followed the announcement.

Not only did they not follow, they covered their faces with both hands and sobbed at the impending despair.

On the contrary.

The faces of the eight people who were not on our side were filled with joy.

We can get out!

We can finally go home!

You idiots! I’m leaving!!

Their faces were filled with hope that they could leave this place.

And I couldn’t bear to look at all those faces.

I lowered my head.

I couldn’t bear to see.

Crackle-

[See you again!]

[Our company always welcomes ‘courageous applicants’ like you!]

Swoosh….

“…Huh? Where’s this dust coming from.”

Dust fell from the ceiling where the eight people stood in joy.

The people on our side who were watching the scene didn’t even have time to cover their mouths with their hands.

Boom!

With a loud noise.

Crunch!

The ceiling collapsed precisely where the remaining eight people were standing.

Crushed by a giant compression press.

A murder scene.

Did they forget how to scream.

The remaining 13 people gathered here were all silent at the scene that unfolded before their eyes.

And the screams that they all forgot.

Swoosh.

With the ceiling rising again.

The moment they saw the countless bones, flesh, and blood clots flattened underneath.

“Aaaah!”

“Aaaagh!”

“…Ugh!”

The woman who had questioned my words earlier seemed to understand now.

She covered the eyes of the two female students.

“I, I want to go… home…………”

One female student burst into tears that she had been holding back.

She was a student who seemed precarious from the beginning.

The short-haired female student, who was listening to her friend’s sobs right next to her, tried to hide her trembling body as much as possible in the woman’s arms.

Her small, trembling fist caught my eye.

That’s a normal reaction.

Here, the calm ones are the abnormal ones.

Even I, who knew this situation would happen, felt like my legs would give out and I would collapse at any moment.

Ugh!

I quickly covered my nose with my sleeve due to the stench that stung my nose.

Crackle-

[Now, now. Let’s stop the tearful farewell. The remaining applicants, shall we run towards the future of our company!]

Thud!

Once again, all the lights went out, and in less than a few minutes.

When the lights illuminated us again.

The traces of the central hall of the library where we had been standing and the bodies that had been stuck to the floor like gum were gone.

We had moved to a place that looked like an ordinary gymnasium.

Park Yeon-jung knows.

What will happen in this seemingly ordinary gymnasium.

[The ‘first evaluation’ to be held is a simple ‘aptitude test’ to see if the applicants are suitable talents for our company.]

[You can think of it as a simple physical fitness test at the elementary school level.]

Physical fitness test at the elementary school level?

Do elementary school students these days go through hell training that crosses the line between life and death?

Mr. Announcer?

At this time, a middle-aged man with a protruding belly carefully spoke.

“…It’s, normal?”

Other people also nodded in agreement with the middle-aged man’s words.

Even to me, this place just looks like an ordinary gymnasium.

It’s made very well to look like that.

<Exploration Record 3rd>

:Deputy Manager Kang Hyeok filled out the resume according to the announcement.

Survival.

Considering this a good start, he declared that he would be the first to take the ‘aptitude test’ in the second round.

(Result: Death_Skull fracture.)

The additional cause of the skull fracture was the failure to avoid the falling shot put.

If you ask why the shot put suddenly fell from the sky.

I don’t know.

How would I know.

Please don’t ask.

If I could analyze and understand such strange phenomena, I would have been an elite employee at the <Ghost Story Record Repository>.

Of course, I don’t want to enter that world at all.

Since this is the place with the second highest number of casualties, starting with resume writing.

The best way to clear this is to be placed in the later ranks of the aptitude test.

And memorize the locations of all the traps that the advance party passed through.

So the most important factor here is ‘order’.

And the format for determining that order is.

[The aptitude test will be conducted one by one. The order will be determined fairly by ‘drawing lots’!]

[Isn’t it fair?]

Along with the announcement that they will draw lots.

A mysterious white glove suddenly appeared in front of us.

The white glove, flying in the air, approached with a clenched fist, and upon closer inspection, it was holding 13 thin pieces of paper.

“…Is it, okay to draw?”

As strange phenomena continued to unfold before their eyes.

People’s wariness increased.

People who were hesitant to act were just watching each other, and Mr. Announcer seemed unhappy with the situation, as a noise was heard.

Crackle.

[This is troublesome. It’s troublesome. If we waste time like this on the aptitude test, the executives who will be interviewing next will complain…hmm.]

[Trouble…some.]

I’m in trouble too!

<Exploration Record 4th.>

:Intern Lee Hyeok, inferring from the previous situations. He realized that the order was important and fell into 고민.

As the aptitude test did not proceed smoothly. The announcement was heard.

[Due to time constraints, we will start the aptitude test with all personnel together.]

(Result: Death_Crushed)

(Cause of death: Crushed to death by being trampled on by a large crowd.)

I can’t have a crushed ending.

I hurriedly picked a random piece of paper from the white glove.

‘It doesn’t matter as long as it’s not the first order.’

No matter how much I’ve read the strategy guide for this ghost story.

I don’t trust my memory.

I remember the approximate locations of all the traps, but the only one I don’t remember is the location of the first trap.

The ‘shot put trap’ that our Deputy Manager Kang Hyeok failed to avoid and died gloriously.

Please, just not the first order!

Just not the first!

<2>

The rank written on the paper was ‘2’, right after ‘1’.

I said it didn’t matter as long as it wasn’t the first.

But I never expected to get the number 2.

‘…St, still. It’s better than being number 1.’

Let’s think positively.

When people saw that there was no problem even after I drew lots, they started to draw lots one by one.

“…………It’s number 10!”

“Damn it, I got number 5.”

I’m number 2.

Isn’t it legal to hit these jerks?

I checked the faces of the people who drew lots one by one.

My gaze returned to the horn-rimmed glasses woman who had been bothering me.

‘…She looks calm.’

She has a very calm expression.

That person.

She definitely drew a later number.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t be so calm.

I continued to look at the faces of the remaining people.

My gaze stopped at a certain person.

I didn’t even have to ask.

Of all things.

A female student holding the piece of paper she drew, trembling like a withering tree, unable to control her own body.

And the short-haired student who saw her friend’s অবস্থা.

“…Don’t tell me you.”

“Minji…what do I do…………”

A strange atmosphere lingered between the two female students for a while.

Crackle-

[The drawing seems to have ended successfully! Once again, we would like to thank applicant ‘Park Yeon-jung’ for following our instructions!]

Clap clap clap clap clap!

The sound of applause that I’ve gotten used to.

More than that, why does that announcer keep mentioning my name…

It’s uncomfortable.

It’s unsettling.

But for now, I focused on the situation at hand.

[Then then then! Will the applicant who drew number 1 please come forward to the white line!]

[……You must be very nervous since it’s your first time.]

At the sound of calling the first applicant, everyone here turned their gaze to one female student, as if on cue.

“…St, student. You’re number 1, right.”

“Yes! I, I…I…………”

The student named Kim Hye-sun started to stutter.

She seemed to be trying her best to hide that she was number 1, but…….

She was really bad at lying.

“..
.”

And such a poor lie was not something an applicant who came to an interview for a company should do.

[Hmm… Number 1 applicant.]

[Is there no number 1 applicant?]

The man who had been continuing the announcement with a cheerful voice until now, was now speaking with an obviously irritated voice.

Those who felt uneasy and took action were the remaining applicants.

“St, student! Go quickly! They’re calling for number 1 applicant!”

“Didn’t you see those people earlier! If we stay like this, we’ll all die!”

“B, but………I…….”

The female student seemed like she would collapse at any moment due to the pressure from the adults around her.

[Number 1・・・ pplicant· is no 1?]

Now, the announcement was severely distorted by noise, and as the situation reached its limit.

“Fcking hell! Get out there, you btch!”

A middle-aged man lost his temper and started to pull the female student by her wrist.

“No, no! Help…help me! I don’t want to die!!”

The people who had been pressuring the female student watched the middle-aged man forcibly dragging the female student, and watched with a pitiful look.

They just watched.

No one tried to stop that middle-aged man.

“…Min, Minji! Minji! Hey! Jung Minji!”

When Kim Hye-sun saw her friend, Minji, whom she had been calling so desperately, avoiding her eyes and turning her head.

“Min………ji?”

From that moment on, Kim Hye-sun stopped screaming.

[…………Wait. The number 1 applicant seems to be nervous.]

His voice was still low.

But anyway, after confirming the number 1 female student who was semi-forcibly placed on the starting line, the announcement regained its cheerful voice.

[…………I understand. Those who applied to such an excellent company as ours may be nervous, thinking ‘what if I fail’. Of course! I understand!!]

I was just amazed at how he could come up with such an idea from that situation.

[But still, you have to move forward! If you don’t move forward, you can’t achieve greater authority!]

Soon, countless obstacles that had been hidden until now began to appear.

-Falling balance beam. Shot put

-500m run with a working compression press.

-Push-ups with iron spikes underneath.

-Time attack sit-ups where the lying area gets smaller in real time.

-Long jump with flowing magma.

[Then, we will start the aptitude test for applicant number 1………….]

“…I have a question.”

[…………Yes?]

The one who raised his right hand so confidently and stopped the aptitude test was none other than Park Yeon-jung.

Me.

[……………Ah. It was our applicant ‘Park Yeon-jung’!]

Fortunately, the announcer seemed to have a favorable impression of me, so his slightly lowered voice quickly returned to normal.

“I was wondering if there is a need for an aptitude test, so I wanted to ask, even if it’s rude.”

[······.]

The announcement seemed to be thinking deeply.

I really hoped so.

Not anger at my extremely rude question, but a calm judgment.

“Sniffle.”

And after my actions, when I met the eyes of the number 1 applicant female student who was swallowing tears and snot at the same time.

Probably everyone gathered here thought this about my actions.

Hero complex.

Or, a hypocrite.

The worst move thrown into a situation where everyone might be in danger.

‘They must be cursing me a lot right now.’

My ears are already itchy.

But it can’t be helped.

I can confidently say that this choice is the best I can make right now.

Hero complex?

Hypocrite?

Think whatever you want.

I won’t change my mind.

Why, you ask?

Even if I know the locations of all the traps.

That’s only if my body can keep up.

Me.

I have terrible stamina.