Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 221
Chapter 221: Chapter 221
MTL
A dark and cramped editing room.
Huge editing monitors.
One of them caught fire.
The only light source shows a blue background.
And some video icons there.
These are footage from a variety show.
The two field investigation team members, who had already talked beforehand, moved without hesitation.
-First, I’ll check if it’s dark.
-yes!
Verification task.
The hand holding the mouse moves, and the pointer moves on the desktop… .
Click.
The clicked icon spits out a screenshot.
Original video that will be the 26th episode of MBS’s ’Friendly Karaoke’.
[Hahahaha!]
[Wow, you really sing well!]
[You are too kind.]
The MC and two guests are seen laughing across a table in a bright and colorful karaoke set.
A popular format in recent broadcast content targeting YouTube is a small-group singing talk show with luxurious guests and a not-so-aggressive, humorous host.
The bright and cheerful atmosphere of the interior, the laughter, and even the cheers of the production crew were refreshing.
“excuse me.”
Stop the video.
A cut of the interior of a passing karaoke bar.
A dark, small window on the karaoke room door.
There is a man’s face there.
Looking at the camera.
“after.”
It is visible even in the dark. It is more distorted and noticeable than the capture of episode 36 that I saw in the attached post.
As if trying to catch someone’s eye beyond the camera.
It was a horrifying sight, enough to make anyone who discovered it unexpectedly freeze in place or run away screaming in fear.
“okay.”
But the two members of the field investigation team quickly turned off the video and clicked on something else.
Because I’m used to it.
Click, click, the hands are quick to click on the files of episodes ending in ’6’ of different entertainment shows in succession.
… but here’s where you realize it.
“….”
“….”
Among the recent popular entertainment formats, there aren’t many noisy ones with multiple cast members.
Especially when there are a lot of people involved for reactions or audience participation.
That’s why there are no crowds.
After all, the ’man on the screen’ cannot sit among people as if he were one of them. so….
The man appears in increasingly awkward ways.
A variety show where they sit on cushions on an attic and chat, a man standing outside on the veranda looks at the camera. A variety show where they fish in a river, a man with his face next to the cast members who are focused on fishing looks at the camera. A variety show where an MC and an actor guest talk, a man standing blankly behind the table where the two sit facing each other looks at the camera.
The expression on his face becomes increasingly strange.
That attitude too.
Sometimes there are movements that imitate the guests or MCs.
It’s almost like he’s imitating, but the awkwardness and discomfort send shivers down my spine… .
“….”
At this point, even the most staunch gold-believer begins to feel an ominous fear.
Kang Yi-hak swallowed and turned off the camera.
But I don’t hesitate.
“I’ll put it in.”
“yes.”
Agent Lee Seong-hae inserted the prepared USB into the main body of the editing device connected to the monitor.
Implementing a simple process provided by the company.
The video data is returned to an appropriate storage location in a non-playable storage device. (guess)
It was a reasonable thing to try given the dark pattern.
If someone dies while watching a video of the ’man on the screen’ in the editing room, all of those videos should be stored separately and the editing room should be closed down.
If the video doesn’t play, the phenomenon can’t even occur.
Unfortunately, we have to inform the production team that they will have to use the original shooting data that has not yet reached the editing room.
-Don’t provoke me unnecessarily, just put it in the USB!
-That’s right.
Click.
Kang Yi-hak, who had been waiting, opened the removable disk as soon as the USB was connected and quickly dragged all the files ending in ’6’ on the desktop and the editing folder into it.
It’s a speed that doesn’t cause any hesitation since it’s a movement that’s been done so often.
’after.’
And as expected for a large file, a loading pop-up appears. The process of moving the footage to a removable disk, if you can just endure this… .
Copying…
“….”
“….”
uh?
“hey.”
Lee Seong-hae opens his mouth.
“Why are you putting your hand there?”
Kang Yi-hak lowered his gaze and looked at his hands.
His hand, reflexively placed on the keyboard, is holding down the Ctrl key.
…habit.
When you simply drag and drop a file or folder onto the USB storage, it is treated as a move.
It is ’cutting’.
But if you hold down the Ctrl key… .
It becomes a ’copy’.
This is something that happens naturally to seniors who have numerous extracurricular activities and assignments.
Backup right away.
“….”
Kang Yi-hak still saw the files being loaded into the USB storage.
And I saw the files still left on my desktop.
Contains the ’man on the screen’.
If things continue like this, the original will remain in the editing room.
However, the file being copied cannot be deleted.
’no.’
Kang Yi-hak waited for completion while looking at the ’Copying’ pop-up with a cold feeling in his eyes.
The numbers are rising steeply. Please. 90, 92, 95, 97, 99… .
complete.
At that moment, Kang Yi-hak immediately pressed the delete shortcut key.
These 6 items are completely Are you sure you want to delete it?
immediately!
I had to do it quickly. My hand couldn’t slip. No, my hand didn’t slip, but strangely enough, supernaturally, the mouse double-clicked and instead of deleting, I pressed the icon play and the shot was played.
“You made eye contact with the man on the screen”
In a joyful scene from a variety show, silently, a camera slowly zooms in.
There—eyes meet yours.
Enlarged pupils, like holes in the face, two dark, black eyes look at you. Baring its teeth— it smiles.
It sees you.
As it opens its mouth, inside, black void and jagged gums and tongue twitch faintly, fixed in place.
It slowly begins to speak.
“DONT DELETE IT”
Ohh …
On the desktop, numerous footages are played simultaneously. Sounds overlap, lag, and stutter. Strange sounds are heard. The playback positions of the footages change randomly, turn off, turn on, and change again. The screen flashes. On the screen
Something comes out.
Ohh …
The image flashes. Scenes from different entertainment programs change every second and are close-up. A common entity is edited out and appears on the screen. That is.
Man on screen
The face of
A man
appears on screen.
The camera zooms in— closer, and closer, bigger, and bigger, and bigger,
Bigger.
You are watching the man’s mouth.
The man’s strangely rounded mouth moves.
Anyone standing in front of the editing monitor cannot help but see it.
Kang Yi-hak’s gaze was fixed.
Lee Seong-hae’s gaze was fixed.
I have no choice but to see it.
I’m ready to listen to what he has to say.
He was angry.
After hearing all his words, he dies.
he is….
Bam
“….”
sound. Knock knock knock
performance. Knock knock knock
Moving house.
Staff.
“…!”
Kang Yi-hak bites her tongue and bleeds, regaining consciousness. Then she quickly reaches out her hand. Her hand touches the lock of the mobile cage right next to her.
Solve it. thud.
The sound of iron bars opening.
But the ’employee’ did not appear.
Instead, a thick black fog-like smoke is coming out… … .
And it blocks the eyes of the field investigation team.
“…!”
Dozens of yellow light sources shine through the smoke, disrupting the lights and images on the monitor. The man on the screen is no longer visible.
Because only the lights are visible in the smoke.
“…under!”
The field investigation team member, momentarily separated from the darkness, took a deep breath and sat up.
… Kang Yi-hak realized that he had been bending his head down so much that his nose was almost touching the editing monitor.
My back ached from the awkwardness.
The sound of the recording of the six shots continues to scream through the small editing room, with lag.
Kang Yi-hak still sees the thick black fog and yellow snow flowing out of the moving cage…. Lee Seong-hae seems almost completely surrounded by smoke.
“Staff!”
Kang Yi-hak made a rational judgment.
“Can you wrap the monitor tightly and subdue it just once? Then we can get right back into it!”
Isn’t that the role of the security team?
But the black smoke did not reach the monitor.
No, now that I look at it… I actually avoid touching the monitor or editing equipment directly.
’…uh?’
The smoke draws the letters.
Concerns when contacted:
▶ Delete Darkness
▶ Increased risk of death for two accompanying employees (dolphin, pony)
“…!!”
Reason: Anomalous nature of non-physical entities. Insufficient data.
for a moment.
So, does that mean that just by making contact with you, the ghost in the editing room is ’influenced’ and is holding back in case something crazy happens?
Even one of them disappears from the darkness?
’How powerful is it?’
A thrilling feeling ran down my spine, but my mouth spoke rationally.
“Then, to get back to work….”
And the task suggested by the ’employee’ was very simple.
Don’t stare into the darkness
“…Of course! That makes sense.”
But without eyes, a person’s accuracy and efficiency are greatly reduced… .
Even more so when it comes to delicate tasks like having to keep seeing crazy popups of photos and having to find files on the desktop and completely delete them!
“Still, I think someone has to be watching.”
And the staff member kindly answered that question as well.
Viewer: Me
At that moment,
Dozens of yellow eyes rise from the black fog and stare at the monitor.
“…!”
…yellow eyes on a black background.
’…uh?’
It was the moment when Kang Yi-hak came up with something.
“yes.”
At the same time, Agent Lee Seong-hae started to move.
Because I had just finished talking to the black smoke while bending down.
Expected results with delayed start:
▶Failed to collect darkness
▶Casualties occur Because I got the signal.
Bam.
The elite team slides through the black smoke and takes up position under the desk with the monitor.
As the smoke receded slightly to make room, she reached out with her right hand, grabbed the mouse on the desk, and brought it to the floor beneath her where she was sitting.
“…!”
Yes, that’s right.
’It works well even if I put the mouse under the desk…!’
Nowadays, it is possible to use a Bluetooth mouse with strong connectivity on most devices.
Lee Seong-hae placed the mouse on the floor to balance it.
Then I grabbed it and dragged it down to the bottom right. ’…! If you do that, you have to go all the way to the bottom right.’
It aligns the position of the mouse pointer on the invisible screen.
If you align it like this and move it up a bit… that’s right at the bottom of the monitor screen, where the ’View Desktop’ button is.
Click.
“…!”
“Is it okay?”
Bam.
But it was only for a moment.
Ohh …
“Ugh!”
As the footage began to play again, eerie sounds began to echo through the dark editing room.
The man on the screen is still there.
’under.’
Kang Yi-hak forced a smile, feeling a cold sweat run down the back of his neck from the rare thrill.
And in the black smoke, a single yellow eye looked back at him.
Input device
▶ Mouse (dolphin) ▶ Keyboard (Pony)
shit.
“yes!”
As expected, you work as hard as you earn!
Eventually, Kang Yi-hak ran over and grabbed the keyboard, then bent down under the desk and sat down face down.
Likewise, a Bluetooth keyboard works naturally.
“I will display the desktop, so please mark it as deleted by Dolphin!”
Kang Yi-hak started pressing the Windows key and D repeatedly.
So, I repeat like crazy.
Sometimes the video comes up first and the icon click misses, and other times it almost comes up and I have to press the desktop key to make the delete popup disappear.
And the sound becomes clearer and clearer.
Eee …
A situation where cold sweat makes both hands clammy.
However, Lee Seong-hae moves calmly. While moving the pointer solely based on senses, he calmly learns the signals of the ’employee’ and reduces errors.
You can’t delete desktop icons by selecting them all with your keyboard because they include the Recycle Bin.
In the end, I had to use the mouse to specify the appropriate file, excluding the Recycle Bin.
After that, Kang Yi-hak just has to press the button corresponding to ’complete deletion’.
Until the timing is right.
Before it’s too late.
Repeat.
Eee …
To catch the exact file that Kang Yi-hak caught earlier.
At that moment, to make it input the exact shortcut key for complete deletion.
And then for a moment.
Bam.
“…!”
Lee Seong-hae knew.
“…ah.”
Now Kang Yi-hak’s delete key has been pressed at the perfect timing.
And I remember.
A pop-up on the monitor that the ’employee’ is watching, but cannot see.
These 6 items are completely Are you sure you want to delete it?
Is that right?
Bam.
right.
Lee Seong-hae immediately placed his hands on the keyboard that Kang I-hak was holding and repeatedly pressed Enter.
And he smashes the mouse he was holding onto the floor.
To prevent videos from playing if you ’accidentally’ double-click them.
Then he breaks the keyboard.
Crunch.
Panting and silence fill the editing room.
… .
… … .
“Is it… done?”
But the staff is still surrounded by black smoke. The monitor is not visible. What else should I do…?
Bam.
At that moment, a black-gloved hand emerges from the black smoke and gently points at the main body of the editor.
Ah, USB!
“…!”
Kang Yi-hak approached the main body almost as if he was waiting and pulled out the USB.
Only then does the black smoke surrounding them disappear.
“…after.”
The revealed view. I raised my body and looked inside the editing monitor… Only the blue background was visible again.
There is no footage, no man, no strange lag or voice.
It’s over.
The ’Man in the Screen’ phenomenon was captured on USB.
“under!”
Kang Yi-hak sat down on the floor.
I survived and made money.
Dopamine rushes through your brain and makes your heart race. This is happiness…
But the next moment, Kang Yi-hak jumped up and hit his head.
“Oh, sorry, I left the original file on this computer and it took up a lot of time!”
In times like these, if you mention it properly, it can be passed over relatively lightly, and you won’t suffer any more losses or spend more money later.
’Still, the training was done well.’
She still rolled the small magnet in her left hand around in her hand.
A special piece of equipment made with the free opportunity gained upon being promoted to chief. It was an item with the ability to ’unlock items immediately with a 50% chance once a day.’
Although it has the disadvantage of being unable to unlock a lock no matter how much time you put into it, it was still a fairly satisfactory piece of equipment.
This time, he was active again!
’If I hadn’t opened the cage door right away, would I have died?’
Phew! As expected, high returns come with high risks!
“But it ended so quickly. It was all thanks to working with such capable people…. I also made some extra money, which was great! I’m glad it ended well!”
That was the moment.
The ’employee’ who had been silent after returning to the moving room reacts.
Knock knock.
negative.
Kang Yi-hak swallowed.
“…You’re saying that the additional income isn’t that much?”
Knock knock.
“….”
“….”
then.
What this security team special unit employee denied was….
“The work isn’t finished yet.”
… … .
“Are we mistaken about something now?”
Lee Seong-hae’s calm voice made Kang I-hak shiver.
“What did you miss, correct?”
Bam.
“…!”
Before you can even ask what that means.
“…Was this a film in the past?”
“yes?”
“This is a video of a variety show shoot. They used film even in the mid-2000s.”
Suddenly, Lee Seong-hae, who had been looking at the USB, opened his mouth.
To be exact, by looking at the data inside it.
“Even if that weren’t the case, there wouldn’t have been any video data going out of the editing room, right? After all, full-scale editing can’t be done anywhere but the editing room.”
“Hmm. I guess so.”
Lee Seong-hae raised his head.
“But he’s outside now.”
“….”
Kang Yi-hak realized the meaning of those words.
I just experienced it.
The ’man on the screen’ reacted to the very act of deleting himself.
So, if the space called the editing room was not the trigger, but the act of ’editing the filmed footage’ itself was the trigger.
-Editing… First of all, we only do urgent work that requires equipment during the day, and we try to do it outside the broadcasting station, in a studio, or at home.
On the personal computers of all PBS entertainment production staff members.
There is a ’man on the screen’.
They left the station and started frantically calling security.
