I Became a Professional Horror Story Cleaner

I knelt in front of the shattered marble platform.

‘The basics for achieving good adhesion are to remove any residue.’

I took a microfiber cloth and a small brush out of my bag and quickly removed the fine stone dust accumulated between the broken surfaces and fragments.

When I placed the piece of marble I had brought from Exhibition Hall 1 into the hole I had just cleaned, it fit much better than before.

‘Now I need to secure it.’

I opened the nozzle of the tube of transparent silicone and, following the joints of the platform, began injecting the viscous material from the deepest points, carefully filling every gap.

— Hurry, come here!

From somewhere in the exhibition hall, [The Dead]’s shouts echoed while the floor rumbled with every Thud, thud.

‘Don’t think about anything else and focus.’

The translucent silicone completely filled the cracks and protruded slightly above them.

I couldn’t leave it like that, so I properly gripped the scraper I had taken out along with the silicone.

I placed the scraper blade diagonally against the surface of the platform and slid it along the joints.

It was a leveling process that cleanly removed the excess silicone protruding above the surface while simultaneously pushing the adhesive deep into the cracks so that no empty spaces remained.

“Cleaner, how’s it going?”

It was Team Leader Jo.

He adjusted his crooked glasses and tried to catch his breath.

He was already back?

Then had the twins been left to deal with [The Dead]?

“I’m almost finished.”

Team Leader Jo strode over and ran his fingertips across the surface I had just leveled.

Some of the silicone still remaining on the surface had probably stuck to them.

“Yeah. I knew this would happen.”

“What now?”

“It hasn’t dried at all. As far as I know, silicone takes more than a day to dry. Are you planning to stay here doing this until then?”

Team Leader Jo knew the disadvantage of silicone perfectly well.

Silicone was excellent in terms of adhesion and waterproofing, but it took an incredibly long time to dry.

Of course, I knew that too.

“I said I was ‘almost’ finished.”

While he searched for flaws in my work, I filled a spray bottle with water and adjusted the nozzle to produce a fine mist.

Then.

Hiss.

I sprayed an appropriate amount of water over the areas where I had applied the silicone.

With just that, the humidity between the cracks in the marble rapidly increased, and a faint heat began to radiate from them.

It was a process to accelerate curing.

After all, silicone hardened by absorbing moisture from the air.

I could feel with my fingertips how the surface was beginning to dry rapidly, forming a thin film.

“The drying process should be finished in about thirty minutes.”

“Yeah? And after that, we just have to put [The Dead] on top of it?”

“That……”

I had been thinking about it while I worked, but it was still impossible to place a creature of that size on top of it.

Even if the surface of the silicone dried, just as Team Leader Jo had said, the inside would take approximately a day to fully harden.

“How did this platform break?”

“[The Dead] jumped the moment it woke up. The impact shattered it.”

It had broken simply because it used the platform as a foothold to jump?

And we were planning to put that thing, which was causing this much destruction, on top of it?

Just as I thought, that made no sense.

“I think it’ll be impossible.”

At my straightforward answer, the corners of Team Leader Jo’s lips rose as though he had been waiting for precisely this moment.

“Ha, is that so? Then I guess that means you don’t mind dying.”

Clack.

With that sound, I felt a metal object pointing directly at my forehead.

It was a gun.

‘Damn it, aren’t firearms prohibited in Korea? Where the hell did he get something like that?’

Team Leader Jo looked furious.

It was understandable.

Not only had he ended up obeying the orders of a cleaner he despised, but now it looked like he had simply been used for nothing.

“Any last words? I’ll have to pass them on to those bastards.”

Gulp.

I swallowed with difficulty.

I understood that he was furious, but I also had something to say.

“Give me your [STAFF] ID badge.”

“Those are your last words?”

“I’m asking you for it.”

Team Leader Jo lowered his gaze toward the palm I had extended toward him, as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Then he disengaged the safety.

Creak, clack.

The chilling sound of metal parts locking into place echoed in front of me.

“Of all the damn lunatics who could’ve come in here……. Tell me why.”

I had a reason.

It was point number 4 in the app, which was still partially hidden.

[4. If you are an employee, ■■■ ■■ ■■.]

Realistically, it was impossible to place [The Dead] on this platform.

That meant that, in this situation, the only thing I could rely on was that clause.

And what did I need to become an employee?

The [STAFF] ID badge.

But how could I explain that to him?

I couldn’t tell him that I had an app on my phone.

Team Leader Jo was a completely rational and calculating person.

He was totally different from the other people I had managed to give vague answers to until now.

As I felt the cold pressure of the barrel against my forehead, I spoke as calmly as possible.

“You can shoot me if you want. But you realized it too, didn’t you? It’s physically absurd to think we can calmly put a creature that shattered this platform when it launched itself off it back on top of it.”

“That’s your problem. I suppose that’s exactly why I gave you this opportunity.”

My heart was pounding like crazy.

He wasn’t wrong.

He had probably deliberately let me try even though he knew it was impossible.

Because he wanted me to fail.

But at the same time, Team Leader Jo was a rational person.

“If my death will improve our current situation, go ahead.”

What would he gain if I died?

Performance credit? Shit, he would have to get out of here alive first to keep that. Right?

Silence.

While only the sound of [The Dead] wreaking havoc echoed in the distance, Team Leader Jo stared intently at me.

His gaze seemed to be trying to figure out where this damn lunatic cleaner was getting that kind of courage.

Finally……

Clack.

Team Leader Jo put the gun’s safety back on and tucked it inside his clothes.

Then he threw a [STAFF] ID badge at my feet, damp and completely soaked in blood.

It was probably the one Seo Gitae had been wearing.

“……This is the last one.”

“What?”

“I said this is the last chance I’m giving you. Move.”

With his only remaining hand, he abruptly loosened his tie and adjusted his glasses.

“Are you coming with me?”

“Of course. How the hell am I supposed to know what you’re plotting?”

I didn’t care.

I sprang to my feet and started running.

I had already noted where the door leading to the employee-only corridor was.

And then……

I found Jeong Dohan pressed against the back of an exhibition platform, trying to catch his breath.

“Dohan, why are you here alone?”

“It’s Dohyeon’s turn now.”

It seemed Jeong Dohan and Jeong Dohyeon had decided to split up and take turns becoming [The Dead]’s target so they could conserve their strength.

“Perfect. I need to ask you a favor.”

“What?”

“I’m going into the employee-only corridor for a moment. Until I get back, make sure the central exhibition platform isn’t destroyed.”

“Are you serious? You’re planning to leave all of this to us?”

“I promise I’ll give you a sticker.”

Jeong Dohan was already completely drenched in sweat, but he seemed to steel himself and nodded.

“All right, all right! But we won’t be able to hold out for long. That thing is faster than it looks.”

“Hey, cleaner, you……”

Team Leader Jo trailed off, staring at me as though he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

What are you looking at me like that for?

Even if you look at me that way, the performance credit for this Horror Story will be mine.

Try to kill me if you want.

I don’t care.

Beep.

The door marked [STAFF ONLY] opened easily just by bringing the employee ID badge close to it.

‘Is this really the employee-only corridor?’

Perhaps because it wasn’t part of the exhibition halls, it seemed they hadn’t even bothered to maintain it properly.

There were dim, flickering lights, an extremely narrow corridor, and all kinds of objects piled up on both sides.

It was hard to believe that this place belonged to the same Horror Story as the exhibition halls.

Bzzz―.

The moment I set foot in the corridor, the app updated as well.

[4. If you are an employee, ■■■ the delivered angel.]

I knew it.

Entering the employee-only corridor was the trigger that unlocked that part of the information.

But……

An angel?

What did “the delivered angel” mean?

I opened the Rats’ manual that I had stored in my bag.

About the Corridor’s Structure

The employee-only corridor is designed as an irregular maze.

However, the shortest route leading directly from to has been secured and is marked with dismantling markers. .

At present, it is unknown where the branches without dismantling markers lead.

Entering unidentified areas carries an extremely high risk of becoming lost and permanently isolated.

About the Corridor’s Anomalies

The employee-only corridor is a dumping ground for ‘Failed Works’ that have lost the value necessary to be displayed inside the halls.

Individuals whose bodies have been damaged to the point of becoming unusable or whose assembly has failed are gathered here. These ‘Failed Works’ possess considerably lower individual physical strength and lethality than the works inside the exhibition halls.

However, they display clear and fierce hostility toward humans and attack them.

If that was true, it meant that Exhibition Halls 1 through 3 weren’t the only places that occupied a considerable area and contained numerous anomalies.

This place did too.

But no matter how much I checked the manual, there was absolutely no section related to deliveries.

“Team Leader.”

“What?”

“Have you, by any chance, seen a delivery box?”

“What the hell are you talking about now?”

Team Leader Jo was surveying the place with a piercing gaze, as though he didn’t like this place at all, but he must have realized that I wasn’t talking nonsense, because he answered.

“I remember receiving a report that they found something like that while exploring the route to Exhibition Hall 3. But all kinds of things are piled up in here, so it wouldn’t be strange either.”

“Do you know where they found that delivery?”

“Who knows. There’s one particular branch that seems likely to me.”

It wasn’t a very clear answer.

Perhaps, since the Rats still hadn’t managed to conquer Exhibition Hall 3, they had never had a reason to thoroughly explore this employee-only corridor.

“Then I’d appreciate it if you could guide me.”

“Hey, wait. Just because they’ve only gathered things with lower lethality here doesn’t mean it’s safe. I only said I have an idea where it might be! Cleaner, hey!”

Team Leader Jo tried to stop me as I moved forward, but I couldn’t turn toward him.

— Uooogh!

A grotesque anomaly that looked like a human head with arms and legs attached backward had just lunged at me.

Bam!

I struck the creature with my cleaning tool bag.

The head slammed into the wall with a Splat and burst apart.

No matter how rigid and heavy my cleaning bag was, it still shouldn’t have been capable of bursting a person’s head.

‘There’s definitely something strange about this place…….’

— Grgh, urgh…….

— Kieeeh…….

Now I understood why the Rats had called them ‘Failed Works.’

Half-carved bones, completely inverted joints, twisted hair, and all kinds of similar things lunged at us from the corridor walls and ceiling.

“There are too many!”

“Already starting to regret it? More are coming from behind!”

After giving me only that minimal warning, Team Leader Jo shoved me aside and ran ahead of me.

Damn bastard!

He’s only thinking about saving himself!

If the outside pursued art and aspired to flawless and beautiful exhibitions, this place was a dumping ground.

Under the dim, flickering lights, ‘Failed Works’ covered in blood and filth continued appearing without end.

I stuck down the adhesive markers I carried with me to mark off cleaning areas and thus mark the path, kicking away the Failed Works that lunged at me, keeping track of Team Leader Jo’s back ahead of me, and elbowing the ones that tried to cling to me from behind.

“Team Leader! There are too many Failed Works!”

“How long do you expect me to keep cleaning up your problems?”

You don’t even know what we’re supposed to do with that delivery anyway!

However, unlike me, Team Leader Jo seemed accustomed to dealing with the Failed Works in this corridor, and he kept getting farther and farther ahead.

“Phew! Team Leader Jo!”

After barely advancing a few steps, I had to grab and throw aside another Failed Work that tried to cover my face.

Then my feet stopped.

“Team Leader?”

Team Leader Jo had disappeared.

When had I lost sight of him?

I tried turning down every branch I could see and even retraced my steps, but the only intact human in that corridor was me.

“……Ah.”

Looks like I completely lost Team Leader Jo.

Did I…… get lost?