Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work

I remember it exactly.

It’s vivid and unforgettable. It was an event that marked a turning point in my Daydream Inc. days.

The Good Friend summoning ritual.

1- On a smooth floor, dip your finger in water and draw a hexagram using the enclosed design.

I ran to the bathroom, got some water, poured it on the office floor, and began drawing the pattern with my finger.

Strangely enough, I could recall the design with perfect clarity, as if someone had etched it into my mind.

In no time at all, the floor was covered with the damp outline of the hexagram.

But there was one difference…

B i g g e r

I placed the nonfunctional Magic Bunny mascot suit in the center of the completed hexagram.

And, as carefully as I could, I reached for a coin…

‘……’

But I couldn’t get the coin out.

The original ‘Silver Serpent Coin’ used to summon a good friend… it was inside my mascot costume, inside the Security Team’s uniform under that, and all the way down in the pocket of my regular clothes.

But I couldn’t take off the mascot suit.

‘…In that case!’

I opened the office drawer and took out a Cheerful Coin.

‘This is a coin too.’

Even though it’s a plastic token, it’s still definite currency, and it fits the intent of ‘coin’ in this ritual.

It doesn’t have to be a real metal coin, it just needs to be a small, round object with monetary value.

I made sure the mascot’s glove was completely dry, then picked up the coin and placed it on the mascot suit’s belly.

‘Done.’

I hurried on to the next step.

So…

‘Salt!’

4- Hold a tablespoon of salt in your mouth and burn the item related to a friend using fire.

5- When the ‘Good Friend’ starts to speak, swallow the salt and return the greeting kindly!

If the coin has disappeared, the ritual was successful! You have met a reliable friend. Always keep them close and cherish them!

※ If you cannot swallow the salt, tastes strange, turns to ash, or if blood comes out, run away.

There was little time left.

The standard mascots came running from the room service storage, carrying salt. I snatched the salt up outside the office and put it in my mouth…

……

Would it work, putting it in my mouth while I was wearing the mascot suit?

‘Let’s try.’

I cautiously opened the yellow mascot’s mouth and poured the salt inside, then closed it.

Now, there was one last thing to do: burn something.

Last time, I’d used my necktie, but I didn’t have one now.

‘This will do.’

I took off the yellow bowtie from around the mascot’s neck and held it in my hand.

Then I brought it to the flame of a prepared candle.

Whoosh.

The bowtie flared up in the fire.

The oddly tall flame brought back memories of the time I had summoned Good Friend before.

A huge shadow fell across the pink mascot suit.

And it wavered.

Shake.

Shake.

I watched, anxious.

I know that that as long as you used a suitable medium, it would come.

So it should work.

Shake.

Shake.

The shadow seemed to move as if the mascot suit itself was about to stir.

Any moment now. Any moment.

Shake.

Shake.

Within the dark shadow…

…the massive mascot suit opened its mouth.

– My resort!

……

What?

– My resort has called me back! Hahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahahaha! My resort! My resort! Myyyyyyy resooooooort! Beautiful Flower Golden Resort!

In the center of the hexagram, the mascot suit shook with spasmodic laughter. I watched, frozen.

Thunk.

Its upper body sat up.

It twisted its head around to look at me.

– Give it

The Cheerful Coin placed on its belly sizzled as it burned, then was sucked into the mascot suit.

The stench of burning plastic filled the facilities office.

– My

– Resort

The water on the hexagram vibrated, and blood flowed.

From the eyeholes and mouth of the mascot suit, something like melted plastic dripped out.

It rose to its feet on the hexagram.

– Give it

‘……’

Something’s wrong.

I needed to end the ritual—right now!

‘Swallow it.’

I tried to swallow the salt. If I just got the saltwater down my throat…

……

What?

Why… don’t I have a throat?

– Hahahahahahahahaha!

I looked down at myself.

And realized something shocking.

‘I don’t have a body.’

Inside this mascot suit, I was filled with stuffing. And the reason was—

I hadn’t returned to ‘my own body’.

After meeting the blue mascot, and after Supervisor Lee Seonghae killed Ladybug, when I rushed back to the resort, instead of moving my original body, I’d started using one of the standard mascot bodies as if it were mine.

And I’d kept doing that.

So, so…

I had forgotten that I even had an original body.

Right now, I’m using a standard mascot’s body.

‘…!!’

Then… where is my original body?

Don’t tell me… When the Magic Bunny attacked earlier, was it torn apart as one of those standard mascots…?

Ah, no.

If my real body had been torn up, there would have been blood and real entrails, not just stuffing and cloth organs.

There was no yellow mascot like that. My body must be somewhere…

……

But then, where?

– Hello?

And the thing summoned by the Good Friend ritual, whose call had it responded to?

I realized.

My reasoning was right.

A mascot costume was indeed a suitable medium for the invitation ritual.

But there’s a flaw.

‘Undefined purpose.’

Because it’s not a plush sold at the souvenir shop.

It has no ‘Good Friend’ seal or restriction.

– Hello? Hello? Hello? Answer me. Answer me.

The mascot suit twists, transforming into something grotesque.

…That’s not a ‘Good Friend’.

It’s just something from the other side.

– Greet me warmly and accept me, you hollow thing.

……Wait a minute.

‘My resort’? Don’t tell me that’s…

– Behold the true mascot!

……!

The being within the hexagram begins lurching out of the mascot suit.

Petals of a bizarre, fractal structure, shining in dirty gold, burst upward and fall back down, threatening to pierce its head.

…Flower Golden.

– Accept me.

The silhouette from the ruined resort’s sign.

The mascot resembling a golden flower was inside.

The invitation ritual, performed by a ‘standard mascot’, had awakened and called the deceased original owner of this resort—who knows where they’d been since dying.

– Accept me.

The papers on the desk tremble.

A pen, all alone, dances across the document that once celebrated my appointment.

The true owner of the resort has appeared.

I was nothing but a pitiful interim manager, just holding his seat until now. Now, I must humbly hand over everything I’ve built to him and step aside.

Everything was undoubtedly prepared for this moment!

The document floats toward me.

The pen scribbles furiously in my own handwriting.

He will perform the ceremony. The great Flower Golden will personally take back the mascot position and run this resort!

Up until now, I had been borrowing his power! I dared to take the seat of a temporary manager, but it’s all over now.

Ah.

Accept him.

Completely accept him, become part of him, and follow the mascot.

Accept him.

– Accept me.

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