Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 144
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work Episode 144
The comfortable and warm atmosphere of the Fox Counseling Room.
In front of the door sign that read ‘Closed Today’, Director Ho was waiting for me at a table in the corridor-like waiting room space.
And as soon as I politely greeted the director and sat down across from him at the table, that was what I said.
“Industrial accident compensation… you want to apply for it?”
“Yes.”
I pulled out my empty right arm area and boldly displayed it in front of the table.
“An incident occurred during my first mission deployment with the Disaster Management Bureau that required my arm to be severed.”
“….”
If Director Ho has any sense, he should remember.
-It will be much more comfortable for you.
He had introduced me to the spy position, saying it was work with better conditions and safer than what I had.
But one of my limbs, which had remained intact while I struggled at Baekillmong for over half a year and extracted A-grade solution twice, was gone just three days after passing the agent exam.
‘It’s basically fraud.’
Of course, I had fully prepared for the case where they might try to blame it on my bad luck or lack of ability…
“Oh my! Of course we should take care of that!”
“…!”
Director Ho’s face fell as he nodded.
“It must have been very painful for you, Soleum. So you need Baekillmong Corporation’s regeneration potion right now, correct?”
“That’s correct.”
“Of course I’d like to give you the potion right away, as much as you want. But… I’m worried whether you can handle it.”
“…Excuse me?”
Director Ho glanced at the empty space where my arm should be.
“If your arm suddenly grows back… there’d be no way to explain it to the Disaster Management Bureau. It would put you in a difficult position.”
“….”
“And the Disaster Management Bureau must have ways to deal with missing body parts, so I wonder if there’s an urgent reason why you specifically want Baekillmong Corporation’s regeneration potion…”
Director Ho continued speaking with a worried expression, then clasped his hands together as if realizing something.
“Ah, I think I’m overthinking this. Of course you must have some clever method in mind, Soleum.”
“Yes.”
“….”
“Well, I think I misspoke and caused some misunderstanding.”
I smiled slightly.
“I’m not bothering you about using the regeneration potion right now.”
“Of course not! I didn’t think it was bothersome, but then what do you mean?”
“I need the potion to immediately regenerate ‘if I lose body parts again’ in the future.”
“…!”
“The Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau basically operates with one person per team, right? So I figured I could just regenerate after coming out of a ghost story but before reporting.”
How about that.
“I heard they strongly recommend retirement if physical damage becomes unbearable, so I also intend to prevent that…”
“….”
“Of course, if it’s difficult for the company, I’ll try to endure it.”
But would Director Ho readily refuse, saying our company is really struggling?
‘That’s unlikely.’
If he wanted to refuse, he’d have to make excuses while changing his words or suddenly try to suppress a subordinate.
‘Neither is Director Ho’s style.’
I trust he wouldn’t be stingy over one C-grade regeneration potion…
“Do you know something, Soleum?”
Director Ho stared intently at me.
“When I look at you, I sometimes think I’m seeing my former self…”
The Fox Counseling Room swayed strangely.
Old earthen walls, hanji paper doors, rafters, moldy wooden floors.
“I really miss those days…”
Somehow a completely ruined thatched house flickered in my vision. Beyond the comfortable modern interior, that desolate abandoned house strangely appeared…
Click.
“Ah, you’re here.”
“…!”
The door to the Fox Counseling Room opened and everything stopped.
Two people, a man and woman, entered through the doorway into the comfortable Fox Counseling Room interior, the waiting room, with tense expressions.
They were familiar faces.
“Ah, hello.”
“…!”
Go Young-eun, Jang Heo-un.
The two people who had infiltrated the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau as spies with me had also been invited to this meeting.
I was tearfully happy to see them.
“Please come in, you two.”
Director Ho smiled and seated them at the table.
I saw Go Young-eun nodding slightly, and Jang Heo-un, whose face had shown obvious joy before turning pale as a sheet when he saw my right arm.
“Ah, thanks to Soleum’s good suggestion, you’ll all receive one regeneration potion each. Isn’t that wonderful?”
“…?! Y-yes…”
“…Yes. Thank you.”
Go Young-eun was relatively better, but Jang Heo-un looked completely like a mouse in front of a cat.
Meaning he was extremely tense.
‘This would be the right attitude in front of an executive…’
Especially if it’s a ghost story company executive you meet in a ghost story.
“Excuse me, aren’t you happy?”
“I-I’m happy.”
“…It’s a happy and grateful situation, but I’m nervous because I have a work report coming up. I’m sorry.”
“Ah, right. That does seem like something to be nervous about. Then let’s quickly discuss that!”
Director Ho smiled as if he understood completely and turned to look at one person.
“I heard Young-eun almost went missing but safely came out thanks to help from your colleague here. What a relief! Right? It was worth all three of you infiltrating together.”
“…Yes.”
I could briefly hear Go Young-eun’s sharp intake of breath.
“I heard Heo-un is doing well too. You joined the Field Cleanup Team, right? That’s a good team for accessing documents.”
“Y-yes. That’s right…”
Jang Heo-un couldn’t raise his eyes.
Director Ho smiled and picked up the green tea I had brought.
“It’s really nice to meet and talk with you directly like this. Don’t be nervous just because it’s your first time, I hope you’ll be comfortable…”
“….”
“….”
If this was the first status report for all three of us.
Then from whom exactly had he ‘heard’ about our respective assignments?
‘…The Disaster Management Bureau has other pawns too.’
He knew how to properly set the atmosphere so we couldn’t do anything recklessly.
I really hate this kind of superior…
However, the three lower-ranking office workers who had to comply when ordered stiffened and nodded their heads, silently sipping their instant green tea.
“Um, excuse me.”
“…!”
No, I thought that was it, but surprisingly someone spoke up.
Even more surprisingly, it was Jang Heo-un.
“If it’s not rude, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask all along…”
“Oh, what is it?”
“What exactly are the documents we need to find at the Disaster Management Bureau,”
“That’s not something you need to worry about.”
Silence flowed.
“When the time comes, I’ll let you know properly! When you can sufficiently access the information needed for our project.”
“…”
“For now… hmm, I think knowing this much should be fine.”
Director Ho smiles.
“It’s documents about a certain supernatural disaster.”
I expected that much.
“It’s an item in the archive on the underground 33rd floor of the Disaster Management Bureau’s Gangwon Province branch. To call it by its classification… Extinction grade.”
“…! Th-that’s…”
“Ah, you heard about it during training! That’s right.”
Extinction Grade
“It’s a supernatural disaster that the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau has officially issued the highest level danger warning for.”
…That’s right.
A designation given to supernatural disasters that cause casualties the Disaster Management Bureau, which only manages ghost stories that cause casualties, absolutely cannot handle.
The criteria is…
Estimated death toll of over 500,000 people.
In other words, it was a name given only to insane situations where people die on the scale of a major city. Truly cosmic horror-level ghost stories that deserve the name ‘disaster.’
But here’s the thing.
‘I… think I know what it is.’
That ghost story Director Ho just mentioned.
-Among the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau’s Extinction-grade ghost stories, one related to Baekillmong Corporation’s ‘project.’
With just this clue, the cases had already been narrowed down too much.
‘There’s only one in the Darkness Investigation records.’
Thanks to that, I now knew what Director Ho was looking for and what that bastard’s project was trying to do…!
‘This is driving me crazy.’
To think I was digging into the aftermath of that mind-boggling ghost story that makes you feel dizzy just thinking about it.
My heart raced like crazy and my head went cold.
This won’t do.
‘The Wish Potion… I don’t think I’ll be able to get it for several years.’
I need to cut my losses.
However, I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if that perceptive and scary director found out that I already knew.
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
The wisest choice is…
‘Just shut up and stay put for now.’
Don’t get your back broken in a fight between whales.
I looked at the table with the most tense face I could manage like the others, avoiding eye contact with the director. It wasn’t difficult since I was already nervous.
Fortunately, the director didn’t notice.
“Well, is this answer sufficient?”
“…Yes.”
“Good!”
The conversation continued rolling along.
“Oh, and about the ‘industrial accident processing.'”
Regeneration Potion.
“Official execution seems difficult. After all, you three aren’t officially affiliated with the main company.”
Fortunately, he wasn’t trying to say something different now.
“So let’s provide it as activity expenses.”
Director Ho extended his fingers.
“10,000 points per month.”
“…!!”
“I’ll give you temporary Welfare Mall accounts. You’re free to use them however you want, but they’ll disappear if you don’t use them within a month.”
My goodness.
It’s an amount that could buy a C-Grade Regeneration Potion every month.
“So are we all satisfied?”
Director Ho looked at each person one by one, giving me his attention as well.
I bowed my head respectfully.
“Yes. For now, I can only be grateful.”
For now, that is.
“Great!”
Director Ho smiled brightly.
And then he went one step further.
“Oh, would it be alright if I helped you with one more thing for your activities? Could all three of you extend your hands?”
“Ah.”
The two people very politely raised both hands and extended their palms.
I also raised one hand and extended my palm. And placed it on the table…
“Not like that, with the back of your hand facing up.”
“…”
The moment I corrected my hand position.
“That’s right.”
Something began to be drawn on the back of my hand.
“…!!”
“Be careful. If you move, you might need to use a Regeneration Potion…”
This is insane.
Countless circles with holes rippled like waves across the back of my hand.
‘What is he doing?’
A strange constricting stuffiness spread…
-Man, woman, man. From now on, you three cannot call each other by your codenames.
“…!”
-If there are prying eyes, you cannot share any information that hints at your true identities with each other.
Thud.
Thud.
-If you try to change this, you will receive punishment.
Something round struck my hand as if digging in. The impact that started on the back of my hand spread throughout my entire body. And then….
“Gasp!”
It disappeared. Without a trace.
“….”
“….”
Breaking out in cold sweat, the three spies removed their hands from the table.
“…Th, this is.”
“I worked hard to prepare this to help ensure you don’t make any mistakes by chance.”
Director Ho smiled kindly.
However, none of the three of us could smile.
“Just now, I heard something about punishment.”
“Yes?”
“You said you’d punish us.”
“Ah, it’s nothing major, just something obvious… If you’re in a situation where you’re forcibly trying to break this prohibition, it might mean something big has gone wrong.”
Director Ho smiled and clasped his hands together.
“Then as ‘punishment’… what you treasure most will get to meet me.”
“…!”
“I’ll take good care of them.”
“Wait a minute! That’s….”
I deliberately made eye contact with Go Young-eun, who was about to protest.
“….”
“Yes?”
Go Young-eun slowly calmed herself down, then asked again in a composed tone.
“…Then, do we receive this prohibition until the moment the project ‘succeeds’?”
“No. This is a device to help you three with your work!”
He really speaks so cleverly.
‘Help?’
“As soon as you bring me information about the extinction-level disaster I’ll tell you about, this auxiliary device will disappear. And….”
Director Ho rested his chin on his hand.
Leaning toward us.
“The person who contributes to this work will receive the potion right then and there.”
“….”
Wait a minute.
I heard Jang Heo-un’s trembling voice from beside me.
“P, potion, you mean.”
“The Wish Potion.”
“…!!”
“You can receive the Wish Potion right away just by performing your assigned roles! Amazing, right?”
Good heavens.
“I worked hard so you wouldn’t have to wait until the project succeeds.”
Suddenly the deadline for receiving the Wish Potion was drastically shortened.
This spy work was starting to feel incredibly enticing.
‘If I do well, I could get it ridiculously fast.’
If only I do well!
“….”
At the same time, my back felt cold.
‘He deliberately revealed this now.’
He was providing a secondary motivation to cling to this desperately.
Instead of disclosing everything at first and letting us choose after careful consideration, he controlled the information.
‘So he made it feel like it’s right in front of us.’
As I’ve thought before, his methods are chillingly clever and layered.
‘…It’s not just this.’
I recalled Director Ho’s past remarks.
What he said when he got me hooked on the spy work.
-And since you might be lonely alone, other people will be deployed together with you.
Hearing just this, it sounds like he’s infiltrating other people as spies into the Disaster Management Bureau together for my sake.
But when I actually agreed and checked, it was the opposite.
‘My colleagues had already been deployed to the Disaster Management Bureau before me.’
Director Ho doesn’t lie about the phenomenon itself.
However, he seemed to freely change the frame regarding its intention and interpretation to drive people….
Just look at my colleagues’ expressions right now.
‘Their eyes are shining.’
How sweet are the words ‘Wish Potion once this work is done.’
However.
“Then may I ask if everyone can be recognized?”
“Hmm?”
I can’t miss the details at times like this.
“I’m curious if we can all receive the Wish Potion if we ‘cooperate’ together to hand over the materials.”
“Ah, of course.”
“…Then, will you judge whether we properly ‘cooperated’, Director?”
“….”
Director Ho made brief eye contact with me, then smiled again.
“I’ll trust your reports on that!”
Phew.
“Thank you.”
This prevented the situation where Director Ho would deny that we all cooperated and select only one person as MVP to save on Wish Potion supplies.
“Ah, it’s time.”
Then Director Ho looked at his wristwatch and stood up.
And after clapping once, he spoke to us in a friendly manner with a pleased face.
“You three, take your time talking. It’ll be difficult to gather together ‘outside’ from now on. I arranged this opportunity for that reason.”
He meant not to create suspicion by gathering as spies.
Still, he maintained at least minimal conscience.
Once he finished speaking, he left the lower-rank gathering.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Director Ho stood up with a bright smile saying ‘I’ll try to arrange opportunities for you to meet each other in the future too’ and waved his hand.
We hurriedly stood up from the table and bowed our heads.
“You don’t need to stand up! Thank you.”
And he went to the door leading out of the counseling room, grabbed the door knob, then turned around as if suddenly remembering something.
Our eyes met.
Director Ho glanced slightly at the silver ring on my left finger.
The silver ring.
My Mental Protection item.
“That’s all worn out.”
“…!”
Slide.
“Then I’ll see you all again at the next counseling session, everyone.”
The sound of the Fox Counseling Room door closing smoothly and kindly echoed.
Thud.
“….”
“….”
Director Ho had completely disappeared.
And.
“Hah….”
A deep sigh filled the waiting room.
It was the sigh of lower-ranking working staff who had faced off against that crazy bastard of a far superior….
‘Still, the fact that it wasn’t a private meeting seemed to give some strength.’
And I was meeting one person again after a long time.
“Um… it’s been a while, Sol-eum.”
I turned to look at my colleague.
An employee who was once part of the Cleanup Team.
The long-haired male employee looked at me with both joy and worry as he spoke.
“Have you been doing well?”
It was Jang Heo-un.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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