Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 152

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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 152

The beginning of this disaster goes back to when I reported to the Field Cleanup Team.

Up until this point, everything had been going smoothly.

“Come on, let’s exchange greetings. This is our new employee. Agent Hwagak.”

A pleasant, scholarly-looking Middle-aged Female Superior introduced me and Jang Heo-un, and we conversed as if meeting for the first time, sharing our agent names.

“Um, I’m called Grape… N-nice to meet you…”

“…?! *cough*, *cough*, yes…”

For some reason, Heo-un seemed to choke once, but we got through it safely and everyone exchanged greetings with smiles.

The Jujak Team 2 Leader of the Field Cleanup Team was chatting with Bronze Agent, and I could overhear conversations indicating that Bronze Agent had mentioned my preference for this team.

“Haha, our kid is still a new employee too, so it would be nice to have someone of a similar age join the team.”

“Yes. Please take good care of us.”

Thank you, Bronze Agent…!

I hid my desire to grin widely and deliberately hunched my shoulders, pretending to be nervous. Heo-un glanced at me then hastily managed his gaze.

“Now, the place we’re going into today… right, it’s not difficult, so it would be perfect for the two New Employees to go in.”

The Team Manager smiled and patted both our shoulders.

“It happens to be a ghost story where Agent Choi from Hyeonmu Team 1 just rescued Civilians. Ah, Hyeonmu Team 1 belongs to Bronze Agent, you’ve heard of them, right?”

“Yes…!”

I’ve heard so much I was almost forcibly recruited…

Anyway, the Jujak Team 2 Leader gave us a clean briefing about the supernatural disaster we would be entering today.

Plus safety measures.

“If you feel like you absolutely can’t handle it, just say so. Grape Agent’s Senior is standing by outside.”

“Thank you…!”

But that won’t happen.

I will definitely complete the Field Cleanup Team’s dispatch work perfectly and do the paperwork perfectly too…!

Besides.

‘This is a familiar ghost story.’

No, it was more than familiar—it was quite well-known. So much so that it didn’t matter whether my phone grip was restored or not.

‘I watched People fight all night over how to end this Ghost Story Investigation record.’

And I remembered it well because the ghost story ended in a way I thought was reasonable, and I went to work the next day using that dopamine as fuel.

Of course, it is the type of ghost story I fear most.

But all the ghostly events are already over! And no Ghost appears!

In terms of cleanup, it’s similar to the taxi from last time, but it’s much better in that no supernatural beings pop out. It’s literally just Field Site cleanup…!

“Wearing these clothes makes me feel at ease.”

While putting on the white hazmat suit-like agent uniform issued for cleanup, Jang Heo-un spoke in a bright voice.

“It really does…!”

It gives psychological stability by covering from head to toe.

When I answered with a bright smile, Heo-un’s expression somehow became ambiguous. Did I act too friendly…

“Now, Agent Hwagak, let’s have you give the Field Site briefing one more time.”

“Yes!”

Heo-un, following the Team Manager’s instruction to encourage himself, spoke to me quite briskly.

“The supernatural disaster we need to clean up today is located in Dobong District, and the expected time to complete Field Site cleanup is 3 hours. And its characteristic is this…”

A clear description followed.

“A Public Phone Booth that tells scary stories.”

In a Seoul neighborhood where the sun is dimly setting. Standing alone on a Remote Roadside.

An old Public Phone Booth.

This thing, now rare to see in Korea, has a sky-blue finished Ceiling.

Its exterior is an ordinary Public Phone Booth produced in the 1980s, looking old on the outside but connecting normally when attempting calls.

On the Wall surfaces, several old phone number advertisement stickers are stuck here and there, seemingly attached long ago.

Most of the advertisement stickers attached next to the phone are from businesses that are no longer operating.

However, among them, when calling the number on a 12cmX7cm advertisement sticker finished in dark red and yellow, ‘We’ll tell you scary stories‘, it tells scary stories related to the Public Phone Booth.

(The number is 13 digits, and when attempting calls from other devices outside the booth, it doesn’t connect)

Booth users testified that upon seeing the sticker, they felt an intense urge to make the call.

The supernatural disaster occurs there.

And the scary story actually happens inside the booth.

This afternoon, the emergency rescue team rescued Civilians caught up in a ghost story at that Public Phone Booth.

So we just need to clean up the eerie ‘Field Site’ that ghost story swept through…

The current situation is,

The booth was filled with bright red blood that had abundantly burst out.

“…”

“…”

Wow.

‘I want to run away.’

But if I can’t do this, it’s a resignation recommendation.

I swallowed.

“Let’s go in.”

“Y-yes…”

Heo-un, who was similarly weak with blood, looked like he might faint, but being a spy as well, he couldn’t back down.

So the two of us creakily approached the Phone Booth.

The phone was hanging from its cord, dangling and fallen to the Floor, and it seemed like bloody Water had poured out from there…

“I’ll take, photos…”

“Ah, ah… yes!”

I lifted the camera and zoomed in with the Public Phone Booth in the center.

‘…something’s floating on the bloody Water.’

Organs.

I got goosebumps.

‘Please, just.’

Think, think. Since the Civilians were rescued safely, that’s no different from props. Right, if I just think of it as entering a Ghost House…

‘Ghost Houses are scary too!’

Anyway, endure it!

I scolded myself and barely managed to put down the camera after finishing the burst shots. Next to me, Heo-un approached the booth with stiff steps, opened the Door, and inserted the ‘cleaning device’.

Misfortune Swallower

The Field Cleanup Team’s Specialized Equipment, shaped like an industrial vacuum cleaner, went in and stably sucked up the blood.

However, due to Entrance size limitations, we had to manually collect ‘anything larger than that’.

“…”

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, yes… Since I’m covering my whole body…”

Direct contact without any barrier would be the worst ordeal though.

I started cleaning inside the booth together with Heo-un, who fortunately didn’t faint.

This fucking…

Holding back my curses, I grabbed the intestines and round organs and put them into the specialized collection container.

Since there was no danger to my life, I could fully savor the complete version of terror with a clear mind.

I can’t stand this anymore…!

‘Save me.’

I found myself squeezing my eyes shut several times physiologically.

Seeing my state, Heo-un admired me even with his pale face.

“Um, you really act, no, you’re really like a proper new employee…!”

“…”

“Ah, I mean that in a good way.”

“…Thank you.”

This isn’t acting…

Holding back words I couldn’t say, I continued cleaning quickly and mechanically. Ugh.

Fortunately, the blood inside the booth drained easily.

And thanks to the effectiveness of the protective suit-like uniform we were wearing, the work proceeded smoothly, more calmly than when I first saw this crazy booth’s condition.

‘Let’s not look too closely.’

Trying not to think about having to count how many organs there were after finishing, I cleanly organized the ghost story filth inside the booth.

Next, I need to spray the purification agent and…

Next…

“Yes?”

“What?”

“Just now, you said what to do next…”

Ah. Did I accidentally speak my thoughts out loud because I was too nervous…

Next story…

“…”

“…”

We slowly turned our heads.

The head part of the telephone that had been submerged in the blood was being revealed as the vacuum cleaner sucked up the blood.

The clinging blood was also dripping down to the floor.

Drip. Drip.

Revealing.

A clean speaker.

[To hear the next scary story, please press 4.]

Thud.

The booth closed.

“…!!”

[To hear the next scary story, please press 4.]

We reflexively moved away from the telephone.

From the telephone came the crackling mechanical noise characteristic of automatically playing recorded voices.

“The telephone isn’t disconnected yet…!”

Beep.

A short electronic sound.

…One of the number buttons on the public phone body pressed itself.

The first button in the second row.

4.

Ring ring ring!

[I’ll tell you the next scary story…]

I rushed to the telephone.

And reflexively pressed the pound key frantically while shouting into the receiver.

“It’s March 7th, 202X right now. There’s no way there could be a public phone booth in Dobong District. That’s really scary, isn’t it?”

[]

“I’ve already heard the next scary story!”

The call stopped.

‘Now…!’

“Agent, this!!”

I almost called Jang Heo-un by his real name as I grabbed the public phone body itself with both hands and lifted it into the air.

“…?! Wh, what,”

“Get out of the way!”

And I threw the whole thing at the glass booth door.

“…!!”

Crash!!

The booth door shattered and the public phone rolled onto the sidewalk. And with each roll it broke apart more, making sounds mixing strange recorded screams, button sounds, and dial tones…

It disappeared leaving only black ash.

“…Huff.”

“Hah, hahhhhh…”

Heo-un and I collapsed.

The glass booth we had entered had also disappeared. All around us was open space, and the container where we had collected the organs submerged in blood was also cleanly empty.

Only the loud sound of the vacuum cleaner sucking empty space could be heard…

‘Phewwww…’

Haunted public phone booth… demolition complete.

‘That was a close call.’

We almost suffered a terrible fate, didn’t we.

It was fortunate that this ghost story’s resolution method wasn’t too difficult.

‘By letting it know that I was already experiencing a ghost story related to public phones, creating a contradiction, and then ripping out the phone body and throwing it outside…’

Since the ‘scary story’ only had effect inside the booth, it would naturally disappear.

It was a supernatural disaster resolution method that made the ghost story devour itself.

‘It was personally a method I liked, so it’s interesting that I could use it like this…’

“Grape Agent!!”

I can also hear the sound of the Senior Agent who was on standby running toward us.

You must have been surprised when the phone booth suddenly disappeared. Yes, Bronze Agent, I safely escaped…

“….”

No, wait a minute.

The Senior Agent was waiting outside anyway.

‘Then I could have just stayed still… right?’

And another thing.

‘Instead of cleaning up the site, I completely… eliminated the site?’

I raised my head.

The Bronze Agent who had run from outside was looking this way with a stunned expression.

“….”

“….”

“Did you just… destroy the phone booth?”

Ah.

“Uhahahaha!!”

“….”

“Not cleanup but destruction! Destruction King New Employee! Grape Agent!”

Agent Choi, who had been laughing like crazy, gave a thumbs up.

“That’s right! Ending supernatural disasters is true cleanup! Well done, Junior!”

I want to smack him just once.

‘Ha.’

I pressed down my right hand that was about to give another thumbs up on its own and suppressed a deep sigh and my irritation.

…After I destroyed the phone booth, I remember the awkward voice of the Jujak Team 2 Leader who was talking with the Bronze Agent…

-It’s quite impressive, but… uh, it could have been dangerous. I think it would be better if our team got an agent with a calmer personality.

-….

Naturally, I couldn’t say ‘It was completely safe because I had already seen the breaking method in the Darkness Investigation Records’ even if my mouth was torn…

In the end, my actions were interpreted as a timid new employee making a bold and somewhat dangerous decision through intuition and inspiration while in a slightly confused state.

And fortunately, it worked out!

Of course, ending the supernatural disaster itself was an amazing achievement, so that ability seemed to be recognized, but…

…The evaluation ultimately came out like this.

-Right, Bronze Agent’s team would be perfect for that New Agent! Emergency Rescue Team!

Ugh.

…I saw Jang Heo-un looking at me anxiously from behind, then his expression changed to something like ‘Well, Deer Supervisor would be better suited elsewhere than here.’ I thought I was going crazy.

‘…But I was good at paperwork!’

The site completely disappeared, so there was nothing left to organize.

And with the ghost story being completely terminated, I… became the subject of documents rather than the organizer of documents.

…Just now, I was having testimony collected from me for data gathering purposes… By the Jujak Team 2 Leader…

“….”

“Hehe, but you did get acquainted with that team’s new guy. It’s convenient to have someone you know in other teams. Good for asking light favors too.”

So why am I meeting with Agent Choi right now?

“Oops! Sorry. Your team assignment isn’t decided yet. I was being presumptuous~ …But you’re working with our team today anyway.”

Right. Because my next assignment has been decided.

…As a New Agent, I’m spending 3 weeks experiencing various departmental duties without distinction.

That means…

“Welcome back to Hyeonmu Team 1!”

I can do Emergency Rescue Team missions again.

And because of what I did, the idea of having me try Emergency Rescue Team duties one more time apparently came up very persuasively from the Personnel Department.

‘Bronze Agent…’

It seems like he tried to stop it, but since it’s work that New Agents should naturally do, his efforts weren’t enough…

“Wow~ some Junior is lucky. Getting to work with a team that perfectly suits their aptitude today~”

“….”

Agent Choi in front of me grins and rubs his palms together.

“Today, Junior~ you’ll get to try a very rewarding 3-person regular rescue mission!”

Save me.

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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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