Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 148

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work Episode 148

Baekillmong Corporation.

…This was the record from when this corporation first appeared in .

The lack of explanation only fueled more imagination, and its bizarre technology, mystery, cruelty, and gaps felt eerily unsettling.

However, as the wiki accumulated, so did the plot threads.

‘The backstory gets filled in.’

Naturally, Baekillmong Corporation couldn’t have just fallen from the sky with perfect unknown pharmaceutical technology.

Even if it appeared that way, digging deeper should allow one to deduce its origins and history… That’s what makes it thrilling and interesting.

Eventually, as time passed, meaningful exploration records were added here and there in the Darkness Investigation Records, allowing readers to formulate several conspiracy theories about Baekillmong and make deductions.

-What exactly is Baekillmong Corporation.

And the place I was now visiting… was evidence for conspiracy theory number 2.

Conspiracy Theory 2: Baekillmong Corporation was not originally a pharmaceutical company.

Precisely the pharmaceutical technology of Baekillmong Corporation, its original source.

“…Phew.”

Swallowing my saliva, I began to look around the ‘Dream Cultivation Room’.

The dust-covered research laboratory looked like an abandoned school science lab or a decrepit lab abandoned after the apocalypse.

Everything looked dead.

Work tables and experimental equipment, beakers and display cases containing unknown liquids.

And… the massive device in the center.

“…”

It was an old experimental machine in 2000s style, with button and keyboard panels below an empty glass tube that had no power.

Dream Cultivator

And the experiment log placed beside it.

The very thing mentioned in the exploration records.

I unfolded the old paper and read it.

Pleasant Researcher

■■■

Above the smudged name, the phrase ‘mustn’t be discovered’ was pressed down and written with what looked like a worn-out pen tip.

But I could read the first character of the researcher’s name.

‘…Pleasant?’

Something reflexively tried to surface in my mind, but I suppressed it for now.

“…Phew.”

If I searched this space further, I felt like I could learn about the unknown background circumstances or origins of Baekillmong Corporation.

‘But I have no idea what might jump out…’

Even just the experiment log from earlier felt strange.

‘For now, let’s only touch the verified things.’

I returned to the device called the ‘Dream Cultivator’ in the center.

Even without specific operation records in , it was clearly written that it ‘appears to be an old prototype, but is in a normally usable state’.

All that remained was to piece together the necessary components.

“Phew.”

First, I picked up the card key I had recovered from the dead researcher.

Then I felt around the device called the ‘Dream Cultivator’ and found a slot on the front exterior.

‘Is this it.’

I inserted the card key into it.

Whirrrr-

“…!”

Red and blue lights came on in the device.

A massive experimental machine coming back to life alone in the decrepit abandoned laboratory, as if it were the only living thing.

And the glass tube installed at its top.

‘…What’s in there?’

Something round… seemed to be installed in the middle of the glass tube.

‘That might be the core component.’

In any case, the ‘Dream Cultivator’ had successfully completed its restart.

Along with numbers appearing on a small panel next to the glass tube.

DE 0000000

Let’s move to the next action.

I opened the valve at the end of a small pipe connected next to the glass tube.

Inside it was a peculiar groove.

‘…This is it.’

I rummaged through my belongings and pulled out what I had prepared.

Something I had treasured since getting it from the goods box, unable to use it in any situation.

Something I hadn’t dared to touch because it would oxidize and lose its efficacy when exposed to air.

-A-grade or higher dream essence.

A golden liquid that sparkled like a hologram was contained in Baekillmong Corporation’s elite team dream essence collector.

…I was finally using what had been charged the moment I escaped from Brown’s Late Night Talk Show.

I inserted the pointed tip of the collector into the groove at the end of the pipe.

Click.

It fit perfectly, as if by magic.

And… the liquid was sucked in.

“…!”

The sight of the iridescent liquid traveling through the pipe and filling the transparent glass tube was almost overwhelming.

‘There was this much quantity?’

An unbelievable amount of liquid that had been in a palm-sized cylinder filled a quarter of the glass tube, rippling.

Then, in the sparkling light of the liquid, the form of what was in the middle of the glass tube briefly revealed its silhouette.

‘…An egg?’

It was something crimson, about five times the size of a chicken egg.

A strange shape seemed to be reflected inside the pulsating egg, but it all disappeared as it submerged into the iridescent golden A-grade potion.

And…

DE 0000001

The panel’s numbers go up.

Along with the sound of machinery running, the rapidly moving panel eventually…

DE 00158313

It stopped here.

“Phew.”

I succeeded.

‘I charged the Dream Essence solution into the device…!’

The numbers looked like Welfare Mall points, and the speculation that Daydream’s point system was derived from here crossed my mind, but that wasn’t important.

What mattered was that everything had proceeded as I expected up to this point.

Now all that remained was to use it.

“…”

I focused on the buttons below the panel.

…They were emoticons.

🥰🥸🤯🧐🤪🥱

Among dozens of emoticons, only about this many were properly lit up.

‘Insufficient materials?’

Or maybe it was a limitation of the machine itself.

Anyway, after careful consideration, I clicked on what seemed to be the safest and most useful one.

🥰🥸🤯🧐🤪🥱

A playful emoticon that seemed to be observing something.

The button lights up…

DE 00158313

DE 00148313

The numbers on the panel decreased, and the machine started operating.

Whirrrr!

Along with the sound of a motor running, the solution in the glass tube was sucked downward. As my body trembled slightly from the machine’s vibration…

Thunk.

The bottom of the machine opened, revealing a cylindrical transparent glass bottle.

“…!!”

I picked it up with trembling hands.

A bright purple liquid swam inside the glass bottle with an eerie brilliance…

Complete with a label printed on graph paper.

Children’s Detective Syrup

(Cherry Flavor)

★★★

A familiar color.

And from the emoticon and that name, I could guess.

‘Daydream Corporation’s Detection Potion…!’

Judging by the color, it seemed to be at least grade C.

Even though the name was different, I was confident the performance would be similar.

However, there was one more interesting point here…

‘This is a discontinued potion.’

That’s right.

It was a potion that Daydream Corporation no longer produced. Naturally, it was also impossible to purchase from the Welfare Mall.

Perhaps it was an item that could only be obtained from this prototype device now…!

‘What I charged was well over 150,000 points.’

Since 10,000 points were consumed for this potion, I could try clicking all the remaining emoticon buttons.

‘Alright, then next…’

That’s when.

The text on the panel changed.

06 / 23:59:54

And the overall lighting of the ‘Dream Cultivator’ dimmed. Like it was in power-saving mode.

‘…A reuse countdown?’

Something that could be used once a week.

It was a limitation befitting a prototype.

“Phew.”

It was rather fortunate. I might have gotten excited and pressed random buttons, wasting the Dream Essence solution I had barely managed to charge.

‘Let me think about it more.’

I decided to examine the now-darkened machine a bit more.

Of course, what was externally visible was just a seemingly ordinary and crude-looking chunk of metal, so I focused on observing the user interface instead.

Especially the buttons.

‘Each of these must correspond to a potion.’

I could see emoticons combined with masks, devils, thermometers, money, and various other shapes. I could match each one to Daydream Corporation’s potions.

However, there was just one thing.

‘…I don’t see anything that looks like a Wish Potion.’

Right.

There was no emoticon anywhere that resembled that potion, which could be called the essence of Daydream Corporation.

‘…Could this be it?’

I discovered a strange trace at the very bottom.

◎

It looked like a spot where a button had been forcibly removed.

“…I can’t be certain though.”

The ghost story world wasn’t lenient enough to act on hopeful speculation alone.

‘…Maybe another employee could figure something out?’

If I brought along someone who had worked at the company longer than me, I might be able to safely discover other hints here.

Of course, we might both end up in danger by unnecessarily sharing secrets…

‘But there might be someone who doesn’t care about that kind of thing.’

I started thinking of a few candidates but stopped.

Since my job had become industrial espionage, it would be difficult, and by the time this spying was over, the Wish Potion would already be in my hands.

‘On hold.’

For now, let me be satisfied with having created my own use for the Dream Essence solution.

I took the ‘Children’s Detective Syrup’ and came outside.

“Phew.”

The harvest was substantial, so I wasn’t in a bad mood.

However, looking at the manhole cover, I gradually began to worry.

Agent Choi who took the note.

‘What if he can deduce and find this place like I did.’

Or maybe he tracked my whereabouts itself.

But not only would it be impossible to track which manhole I came out of from inside that marketplace, no matter how much I thought about it, it seemed difficult to derive the correct answer from looking at the note while trapped in the preconception of ghost stories.

Even in the , it took 3 months for the former Baekillmong Corporation employee who obtained this to solve that cipher.

And even that was by chance.

‘If your way of thinking is fixed on ‘it must be related to ghost stories’, that’s inevitable…’

But I was still anxious, so I decided to take temporary countermeasures as well.

“I guess this should be enough.”

After taking the 3000 point potion I purchased from the Welfare Mall, I closed the manhole cover.

I think it was also called a Secret Potion.

It strangely reminded me of what Director Ho had done, which made me feel slightly bad, but the relief was greater.

“Good.”

Since there wasn’t any crazy setting like Baekillmong Corporation tracking all potion usage locations, this gives me some peace of mind.

What’s left… is returning to the Disaster Management Bureau and entering another ghost story again.

I pondered while trudging back to the hospital room.

‘My life…’

Still, from now on it was a bit better since there would be additional income from entering ghost stories.

Because I’d be able to collect Dream Essence.

Not to return to the Company, but for my own use!

“Let’s stay strong.”

I touched the empty Elite Team collector that would soon be filled again, then successfully returned to the hospital room.

And a few days later.

“…Thank you for your hard work.”

“Oh, not at all.”

I was finally discharged and returned to temporary agent duties.

“As we mentioned, you’ve been assigned to general duties rather than the Emergency Rescue Team’s exclusive tasks.”

Thank you…!

I almost cried while listening to the Bronze Agent’s guidance.

“…This time, there shouldn’t be any dangerous work like before. The civilian rescue is finished, and you just need to do simple cleanup work at the field site.”

Everything was beautiful.

Right, people should have some easy-going work like this too…

“You just need to drive with a ghost in the passenger seat at 2 AM.”

“…”

Excuse me?

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————