Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 165
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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 165
Elder.
The existence known as the Team Manager of Genbu Team 1.
This person had also bestowed ‘dokkaebi mischief’ upon the agents through the window of this club room-like waiting room, allowing them to enter the Sparkling Dragon Palace in the form of children.
‘They’re probably not human.’
I’m almost certain of it.
So I expected it. Probably through that window in the waiting room, we’d perform some magical ritual to go see the ‘Elder’.
But the situation didn’t unfold that way.
“Alright, let’s go carefully.”
Click.
We traveled by car.
“…??”
“It’s not that far, about 40 minutes?”
I should probably be grateful it wasn’t a bicycle at least.
The three agents used an unbelievably ordinary means of transportation, passing through Seoul city center toward their destination.
That place was….
“….”
A white building in a quiet location.
It was a nursing hospital.
Judging by how kind all the staff were and how many visitors there were, it seemed like a very well-managed place….
The agents entered through the front door as if familiar with the place.
“We’re here to visit Park Hong-rim.”
“Ah! This way….”
Going up to the 5th floor, we could see a private room with good sunlight.
And….
There, on a bed where warm sunset light poured in from the window, lay an elderly person with a peaceful face.
If their eyes had been open, I would have thought they looked like a wise and kind person.
Truly… an elder.
“Grape. Let’s greet them. This is our Elder.”
“….”
On the table was a framed collection of rolling paper messages that people had written.
Just like in the Genbu Team 1 waiting room.
-I really, really love you, Sister Hong-rim
-Always grateful
-Leaving a certification post as the devoted disciple who tracked and rescued the Andong soju master for loyalty with Team Manager who’s a soju fan
-Great leader, our Team Manager
Traces of people.
“Grandma, I… huh?”
Just then, a student who was hurriedly entering the hospital room was startled to see us.
“Hello, Agents…!”
“Yes, Ye-ji. Good to see you. How have you been?”
“I’m about the same. Let me see, our lady is….”
The high school student who appeared to be the granddaughter placed her hand on her grandmother’s forehead as if checking for fever, examined her expression, then looked up with a smile.
“She seems to be in a good mood.”
“Indeed. Her complexion looks bright.”
“Haha. Oh, how have you been, Uncle Jae-gwan?”
“…Yes.”
The granddaughter seemed acquainted with them, and after the two agents chatted familiarly, they introduced me.
“Here, our new employee.”
“Ah… Nice to meet you.”
“Yes, me too…!”
This wasn’t the time to be bewildered. I hurriedly bowed to the student, and the student also bowed deeply.
And said.
“…Excuse me. Please take good care of my grandmother.”
“….”
Somehow my heart felt heavy.
“I’m the one… receiving great help from the Team Manager.”
“…Yes.”
The granddaughter seemed to be holding back emotions that were about to make her cry, took a deep breath, then smiled brightly.
“Then I’ll step out for a moment so you can greet her!”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Click.
The hospital room door closed and silence settled in.
Agent Choi looked at their unconscious team manager and gently reached out to arrange her hair.
Still, the Elder didn’t move.
“There was… an accident.”
“….”
“As Grape probably knows, in supernatural disasters, even one small mistake can get people killed in really absurd ways, right?”
Agent Choi’s voice became slightly quieter.
“The last supernatural disaster our Team Manager entered was apparently very maze-like and bizarre, anyway a really strange place….”
They took a deep breath.
“Her upper body was almost blown away.”
“…!”
“Especially her head… I heard almost half of it disappeared.”
I reflexively checked the Elder lying on the bed.
…That completely intact appearance.
“Right. But she looks fine now, doesn’t she?”
Agent Choi couldn’t continue speaking and quietly looked at the bed like I did.
…The Bronze Agent slowly opened their mouth.
“The Team Manager passed the dokkaebi trial, so she possessed her own customized dokkaebi fire lantern.”
Ah.
I reflexively looked down at my right arm.
More precisely, at the dokkaebi fire that was replacing it.
-It’s made to order, right? You can’t just receive it informally like this, the agent has to undergo the dokkaebi trial too… Phew, it’s powerful but it’s hard work.
No way.
“So currently, from the Team Manager’s head to her upper body… more than half is being replaced by dokkaebi fire.”
“…!”
“The reason you cannot wake up is because the Dokkaebi Fire is already using too much spiritual power, so it cannot withstand the causality of directly intervening in reality… they say.”
“….”
I looked at the old man peacefully sleeping on the bed.
…Who would probably sleep forever.
“…That’s how the Team Manager became an ‘Elder’.”
More of a supernatural being than a person. As a Dokkaebi Elder.
Agent Choi, who had been staring at the bed together, barely lifted his head.
His face wore a gentle smile.
“But we know he’s always watching over us! In dreams and visions.”
“…Yes.”
“Then let’s say hello. …Elder! We came to express our gratitude and introduce our new employee.”
Agent Choi patted my shoulder.
“Look. I told you this kid seemed like they’d do well. They really do well. You’ve probably already seen.”
Here, I couldn’t bring myself to say I had no intention of joining this team.
I wondered if Agent Choi had planned this too, but looking at his gentle smile, it didn’t seem like it.
“….”
I came right up to the bed, guided by the Bronze Agent.
“…Hello, Elder.”
And I bowed my head respectfully.
“I’m the new employee who just joined.”
At that moment.
[Grape.]
“…!”
I lifted my head.
Everyone who had been in the hospital room had disappeared.
And instead of sunset, a brilliant full moon illuminated the room from the window.
There was….
[You did very well.]
A gentle, soft flame stroking my head.
No, a fragment of the Elder with a warm body temperature like flame….
Warmth and image.
I blinked my eyes.
“Am I… dreaming?”
[That’s right. You seem to have dozed off briefly from the fatigue of your arduous journey. Come, sit here….]
A warm hand grasps mine.
My eyes closed.
Before I knew it, I was leaning against the bed, receiving the Elder’s touch as he patted my back….
“…Do I.”
Words suddenly burst out.
“Do you really think I did well?”
[Of course!]
[You did your best, and thanks to that, the children returned alive and laughing. It’s all your effort and blessing.]
“….”
[Don’t be hard on yourself. No one else could have done better than you. Even if you went back, you couldn’t have done better than that.]
Somehow I feel choked up.
Receiving emotional support from someone had the power to stir a weary heart.
‘But….’
I have doubts.
‘It seems like he knows my identity.’
I felt it in my previous conversation with the Elder too. He knows well about the items I have.
‘Is it because it’s a dream?’
He must already know about me.
Then could this also be an attempt to extract my true feelings as a spy?
It’s a strange sensation closer to disappointment than suspicion.
Like the feeling when I realized my grandmother was forcing herself to be nice to me because she had ulterior motives….
And anxiety.
But….
[Besides, where in the world is there a person without secrets? Where is there a person without flaws?]
The hand pats my back again.
[What’s important is always keeping a small lantern lit in your heart. Ah, I took the wrong path. So you can turn back, checking the ground from time to time.]
“…Thank you.”
I caught my breath.
[Yes. I’ve become an old man who’s overwhelmed just knowing the people in my care…. I don’t really understand complicated worldly affairs or disputes.]
It was a gentle expression of intent not to report my original affiliation to the Disaster Management Bureau.
…About my suspiciousness too.
“….”
The hand that had been patting my back fell away.
The hand gestures seemed somehow excited.
[But old people have old people’s wisdom. And….]
[There are rewards too.]
I found myself sitting up and perched on the edge of the bed.
As always in dreams, the context was omitted. But it wasn’t awkward. Because it was a dream.
And this gentle request too.
[Take out your ornament from your pocket.]
“….”
I took out the item that was in my pants pocket.
A round accessory with an X drawn on it.
Memorial Grip Tok
An item that showed past memories in text form in an organized manner, the one that let me read the .
But it had cracked and I could no longer use it.
[Ah, I remember now.]
[The Principal Officer was so worked up about how all the kids these days stick these things on. The goblins didn’t even hold a feast for eight days saying they’d make one.]
A hearty and benevolent laughter.
[But that one seems a bit… different. Let me see…]
The elder put on reading glasses and examined my grip tok.
In the cracked gap of the grip tok, there was still adhesive that the employee who pretended to be a dokkaebi at the dokkaebi workshop had put in.
“Um, they said that adhesive would harden within a month… but it’s been quite a while and it hasn’t changed.”
[Hmm? Aha… I see. That fellow isn’t a real dokkaebi but a shapeshifted human, so they might not know.]
[This is more precious. However, it seems they imitated our workshop’s items.]
[But if you treat it like a counterfeit made by street thugs, things won’t work properly.]
The elder injected fire into the grip tok.
“…!”
The grip tok that was blazing brightly sparkled as if old grime was being peeled off, and soon the crack disappeared.
[There, now it’s properly bonded.]
“…! Thank you…”
[But the important step isn’t finished yet.]
[You need to make a wish about what form you’d like it to take.]
“…!”
Come to think of it, I heard those words at the Goblin Workshop too.
-While making a wish about what form you’d like it to take. Then it’ll become a really wonderful trinket!
Since the situation was so urgently unfolding that I wasn’t in my right mind, I paid less attention to that part.
‘Let me be more conscious of it this time.’
I politely put the grip tok back in my pocket.
“Thank you.”
[Grape has such good manners.]
I felt a pleased gaze.
They pat my head again.
Warm flames seem to permeate my entire body. As if burning away pain and contamination…
[This old man would like to give our Grape a dried persimmon, but oh my… time is up.]
Huh?
[Your sleepiness is fading away!]
“…”
I opened my eyes.
I was already about to bump my head against the hospital room bed, and reflexively straightened up my body.
A person who woke up startled from dozing.
“…!”
I hurriedly raised my head.
I saw two agents looking at me with smiles.
And… the elder lying peacefully asleep on the bed.
“Did you greet him well?”
“…Yes.”
Looking at the hospital room clock, the time was the same as when we entered.
I had literally ‘dozed off for a moment.’
And even very short sleep can contain dreams.
“…”
I looked down at my body.
The traces of tumors and ulcers that had looked like they were boiling up had all disappeared.
“…Thank you.”
I bowed deeply toward the sleeping elder. The agents smiled and patted my back.
“Then I’ll come again next time, Elder!”
I followed the two agents and left the hospital room.
The elder’s figure, still peacefully closing his eyes, seemed to be seeing us off…
“How was it. He’s a good person, right?”
“…Yes.”
“See, I told you. He has such good connections with people. Our team~ Maybe Grape has good luck with superiors?”
This time, Agent Choi’s confident statement didn’t feel annoying.
I put my hand in my pocket. I felt the completely bonded grip tok.
“…”
“For now, get plenty of rest, and let’s think about reports and such again tomorrow. The Field Cleanup Team went too, and the kids are all asleep.”
“Please get home safely.”
“Yes… Thank you.”
I bowed to the two agents as well.
The agents rode the bicycles they had brought and disappeared beyond the road.
Only after they disappeared did I raise my head.
“…Phew.”
It was amazing.
‘Still, I gained something.’
I never expected to get the Memorial Grip Tok fixed like this.
‘Then… I should make a wish until this works.’
Now, what I need to do is…
“…Contact Director Ho.”
…I need to clean up the mess that happened at Baekillmong Corporation…
‘I could really cry.’
Didn’t Agent Choi just say I have good luck with superiors?
I don’t think so.
‘Ah, please.’
I squeezed my eyes shut and picked up my smartphone.
Please let this be resolved quickly…!
“Hey, this rumor isn’t going to be contained.”
Agent Choi grinned and patted his direct junior’s back.
Ryu Jae-gwan suppressed a sigh and casually avoided that touch.
“It’s dangerous.”
“Come on, I’m a bicycle master.”
On their way back to headquarters to report among themselves after sending the Grape Agent to rest, they continued chatting while riding bicycles.
“What do you mean by a rumor that can’t be contained?”
“What else could it be? It’s about Grape.”
“…!”
They had rescued all the children from a supernatural disaster during a routine rescue operation, and might have even terminated that supernatural disaster itself.
And this amazing achievement happened after a single new employee joined them.
“When a coincidence repeats twice, it starts being recognized as skill.”
Moreover, if this new employee had previously terminated a supernatural disaster during field cleanup work?
The probationary period for new employees was no longer an issue.
His job aptitude evaluation had shot through the roof…!
“Congratulations on your confirmed assignment to Genbu Team 1. Uhahahaha!”
“…”
Ryu Jae-gwan pressed his temple.
The fortunate thing was that the Disaster Management Bureau invested generously in equipment for talented individuals.
‘…At least he could become safer.’
At this rate, a truly customized dokkaebi fire lantern didn’t seem far off… Even if not that, he would be able to receive several more pieces of equipment.
The only concern was whether he might receive too much attention.
‘…I hope the rumors don’t get exaggerated in strange directions.’
He’d have to keep checking.
Ryu Jae-gwan suppressed a sigh and pedaled his bicycle.
“Let’s go, Jae-gwan~”
Incidentally, this prediction was also being made by completely different forces in different directions…
Same time. An office at Baekillmong Corporation.
“Cat-sama!”
Bang! The Pony Mask Field Investigation Team Employee struck the table and conducted a vivid interview with the research team.
“The great Cat-sama was in that darkness! The omnipotent cat!”
Incidentally, the research team was in complete chaos.
B-grade or higher solution had emerged from the ‘Mermaid Graveyard’ where originally C-grade dream solution was extracted.
A crazy irregular!
But the Disaster Management Bureau had stolen away all the young mermaids, and the agents had fled in haste too.
Thanks to this, the research team, now lacking research material, was busy continuously extracting testimonies from the Field Investigation Team that had entered at the time.
And… these kinds of testimonies were commonly emerging.
“It was a monster! A monster! Save me!”
“I don’t know… The, the letters I saw? Were they really there? It might have been my mistake… I was just, I was so scared but I did my best for the clear.”
“The great Cat-sama watches over us, lets us escape! We must rescue the children!”
“Yes. This time it helped with the clear, but… I’m not sure what would happen if we met it elsewhere.”
“I’d like to avoid it as much as possible.”
It was the beginning of complete chaos.
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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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