Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 166
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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 166
The very night I escaped from the Mermaid Graveyard.
I was able to meet Director Ho immediately at the waiting area of the usual Fox Counseling Room.
And….
“Oh my, you must have had such a hard time. Sol-eum! Don’t worry about the body tissue that was extracted. I’ll retrieve it right away.”
“…Yes. Thank you.”
The conversation is ending much more smoothly than I expected….
‘To this extent?’
Honestly, while it’s not my fault, having an emergency meeting with a director when it’s not even a regular report is the kind of situation that makes a lower-ranking employee break out in cold sweat.
But Director Ho listened to my story with great interest, and even clapped his hands in delight.
There was only one moment when he indirectly showed his displeasure.
“So that’s why the Disaster Management Bureau support team came all the way to Company Headquarters.”
Damn.
“Ah, I’m not complaining to you, Sol-eum! It’s just that they’re such a hypocritical group with different faces inside and out… getting close to them feels instinctively uncomfortable.”
“….”
You’re making such statements while having an employee planted there as a spy?
And honestly… isn’t their character incomparable to Daydream’s level?
‘I think our company should at least try to be hypocritical….’
Where on earth does that almost hatred-level aversion toward the Disaster Management Bureau come from? It was strange to the point of being eerie.
“I’m sorry if my personal feelings made you uncomfortable, Sol-eum.”
“Not at all.”
Anyway, the conversation itself flowed smoothly, and Director Ho wrapped up the topic gracefully.
“In any case, please don’t mind such issues at all and feel free to speak up anytime!”
And….
“Is there anything else that makes you uncomfortable?”
I was waiting for this.
‘…The atmosphere is good right now.’
And we’re alone.
It’s right to strike when I can. I poured another cup of hot water into Director Ho’s green tea and said.
“It’s not uncomfortable, but… there’s one point I’m concerned about.”
“Please speak comfortably.”
Director Ho nods with an expression that says ‘it breaks my heart that you’re worried about something.’
So I explained.
“There’s a darkness I need to enter within a short period of time.”
“….”
About Cheerful Theme Park.
Although I didn’t specifically mention the Blue Mascot there, cases of being ‘marked’ by strange entities while exploring ghost stories were frequent, so Director Ho would have easily understood the situation.
“I almost died, but when I promised to ‘visit again next time,’ it let me go.”
My subsequent explanation was also reasonable.
At that time, I was employed by the company, so naturally I thought I could re-enter ‘Cheerful Theme Park’ without issue, but with how things turned out, I can no longer enter.
‘You’re the one who assigned me the spy work.’
And given Director Ho’s personality traits I’ve observed so far, for this level of request.
“Cheerful Theme Park….”
Director Ho smiles broadly.
“Don’t worry. I’ll arrange an entry method so you can visit as quickly as possible!”
As expected.
“Thank you. I was very worried because if I can’t enter within a month or two, I might have difficulty performing my duties due to personal circumstances….”
I nodded seriously.
“Thanks to your arrangements, Director, I’ll be able to focus wholeheartedly on performing my duties.”
So please give it to me within a month.
If you don’t, I might die suddenly, spy work or whatever.
I trust that intention was conveyed well.
“Of course. It’ll be ready soon. Don’t worry.”
This aspect was also refreshingly straightforward and convenient.
Because he’s competent.
‘Really, is he actually a decent superior as long as I don’t press his rage button….’
Was it just that I had a hard time because I was assigned duties that often involved jumping around on that crazy guy trigger button?
It was the first moment I could relate to what the Evaluation Team Manager said about ‘Director Ho being quite a decent superior.’
“Thank you.”
With that, the emergency report was winding down to a farewell atmosphere.
Director Ho would soon get up saying he’d head back in, and after seeing him off, I was about to prepare to return quickly.
“Ah, come to think of it, there was something I wanted to ask you too….”
Director Ho, who was about to get up, looks at me intently.
“You don’t use the Fox Counseling Room, do you?”
“….”
Aaaah.
“Once you enter the counseling room, there’s no worry about running into other employees. I’d like you to use it actively to heal contamination and mental trauma.”
Would I do that?
‘No matter how I think about it, this place seems connected to you…!’
Just look how it’s amazingly closed whenever I come to report.
I’d believe it if someone told me Director Ho was paying the counselor a commission to leak employees’ counseling information.
What’s certain is that this space, this ghost story, is definitely within Director Ho’s domain.
That’s why I’ve been intentionally avoiding the Fox Counseling Room until now.
‘It’s uncomfortable.’
Separate from the fact that I received substantial help during my last counseling session.
Besides, now the Elder has burned away all traces of my infection, so I don’t need to go.
But since I can’t honestly spill all of this, I just nodded.
“Yes. I’ll make an effort. However, including this space, the Fox Counseling Room is a darkness, and that person isn’t really a counselor either….”
Just as I was about to finish saying ‘I’ll keep that in mind.’
“That’s right.”
“…!”
“A ‘real counselor,’ that’s right.”
The gentleness disappears from Director Ho’s tone.
A somewhat emotionless voice comes out without inflection.
“Because he is a darkness, he is more firmly bound by the rules of the counselor profession. He knows exactly what he does, and he has pride as a professional.”
“….”
“So, I wanted to tell you that you can trust the teacher at the Fox Counseling Room!”
“…Yes.”
“Also… he’s very worried about the condition of client Kim Sol-eum.”
“….”
Pat pat. Director Ho taps my shoulder encouragingly.
“Well then, I’ll head back in now. I’ll see you again at the regular report. Sol-eum!”
“Yes. Director.”
The emergency report ended like that.
‘…Fox Counseling Room and Director Ho.’
And Director Ho was a person who wasn’t recorded in detail at all in the Darkness Investigation Records.
…Somehow it felt like there were more hidden setting values. I’d like to check a bit more, but….
‘Yeah. Let’s focus on the wish ticket instead.’
Let’s not forget. The purpose and means shouldn’t be reversed.
Let’s just focus on quickly finishing this spy work and getting the wish ticket to return home.
…In that sense, even in this ‘Sparkling Dragon Palace’ ghost story, I seemed to have gotten too immersed and desperately tried to evacuate all the children….
“Phew.”
Still, there was an additional harvest.
“The dream essence liquid grade went up.”
I looked at the golden liquid filling the elite team’s collector.
Sparkling B-grade or higher dream essence liquid.
Considering that the Mermaid Graveyard was originally C-grade, this was irregular.
‘Did the grade go up because I drew out the main body of that biological disaster?’
It was possible.
And while I was checking, I also squeezed out the research team’s potion I had secretly stored in my wrist tattoo and put it in a plastic bottle.
The recovery medicine I had planned to give separately only to children with severe contamination or heterogeneous elements.
‘If you drink this, you move to ‘somewhere’ that the research team set up, right?’
I suspected it might be one of the research team’s experimental spaces, but just in case, let’s keep it stored rather than disposing of it.
I sighed in relief and stored the potion back in my tattoo along with the plastic bottle.
And I rummaged through the space again.
‘I’m glad the items stored in the tattoo space exist separately from each other.’
I almost got it on this tag card too, didn’t I?
I am a Space Shopping Mall VIP!
~Gratitude cells enclosed~
I also found the golden card that the delivery tentacle from the alien shop had personally delivered to me a few months ago, stored in my tattoo.
The ‘VIP card’ that Lee Ja-heon mentioned was probably this, right?
‘Hmm.’
I examined and handled the card letter more carefully.
Then, I felt something thin inside the somewhat thick card paper.
“…!”
When I carefully peeled off one layer of the card paper, a small sealed… chip-like thing was revealed inside.
‘…It looks like a SIM chip.’
There was a sticker with rounded font attached.
Eat cells anywhere!
Healthy and peaceful purchase
※Fast connection to counselor guaranteed※
“….”
I really wish they would hire a professional translator….
‘Eat….’
For now, this chip seems to be the cell, and they want me to… eat it, but ‘healthy and peaceful purchase’?
‘It strangely reminds me of talking with the Lizard Team Leader.’
I mean the translation errors that come from not knowing the cultural context of modern people.
Anyway, I decided to try using this ‘cell’ if needed.
‘…The Lizard Team Leader isn’t the type to put others in danger through lies or tricks.’
It would be more rational to worry about my head exploding from pure physical force instead.
“Cleanup finished.”
I finished settling accounts and raised my head.
Anyway, for now I have the most convenient items to use, so let’s consume those first.
‘Joyful Research Institute’s potion.’
Right.
I was visiting the Hidden Laboratory Under Manhole Cover again in the middle of the night.
‘It looks scarier at night.’
However, it was a bit better because the dream essence liquid stored in the dream incubator was sparkling with enchanting colors.
DE 00128313
I also injected all the B-grade dream essence liquid I obtained this time into that place.
The numbers rose.
DE 00143126
‘B-grade is roughly 15000 or so.’
You could think of it as roughly one and a half potions, but actually there’s a blind spot here.
The prices are set differently depending on the button.
The first one I drew deducted 10000 points, but the second one deducted 20000 points.
‘It seems to vary depending on how many stars there are.’
The first ‘Detective Syrup’ I drew had 3 stars, and the next ‘Surprise Syrup’ I drew had 4 stars.
These stars….
‘Must definitely be performance differences.’
The 4-star potion even worked briefly on biological disasters.
However, if you simply convert it one-to-one with Baekillmong’s welfare points, it was more expensive than Baekillmong potions.
‘It might be that this dream incubator is an early model so the efficiency is poor.’
It seemed like syrups closer to the original solution came out, with better effects than Baekillmong potions.
Anyway.
‘I won’t know how much will be deducted until I actually press the button and draw a potion.’
Unfriendly.
‘It would be nice if there were research notes.’
The Security Chief said he would look into it, but there was no special news yet.
Let’s wait a bit more. Maybe this dream incubator has other functions….
Anyway, since I’ve been using it quite usefully even now, I decided to visit weekly and get one potion each time.
Thus, it was time to choose.
🥰🥸🤯🧐🤪🥱
“Hmm.”
There was a way to safely draw a potion with confirmed effects, but….
‘It might be better to prepare more before entering the theme park.’
I needed to quickly confirm the effects when timing allowed. There might be more useful things.
For now, let’s use the means available to me to select the most useful one.
‘Association and Deduction.’
In that sense, the button I’ll check this time is….
‘The most expensive and effective one when matched with Baekillmong Corporation’s potions.’
🥰🥸🤯🧐🤪🥱
Clank.
“Good.”
As 30,000 points were deducted, a small glass bottle containing syrup came out of the exit.
I picked up the sparkling turquoise liquid.
Children’s Disguise Syrup
(Green Grape Flavor)
★★★★★
An expensive potion. A successful snipe.
The next day.
I took the entire day off after the agents told me I could rest well, and only came to work late the following day.
“Agent Grape, thank you for your hard work.”
Moreover, thanks to the Xuanwu Team 1 agents who had gratefully already finished most of the situation report, I was able to wrap up the ‘Sparkling Dragon Palace’ related work with just light responses.
‘I’m so grateful I could cry.’
I received various commendations from the agents.
And…
Good news too.
“They found guardians for more than half the kids.”
“…!”
“Since the entry method was so distinctive, there must have been many cases collected in our database.”
“There was no phenomenon of rescued citizens evaporating. …Everyone was confirmed rescued around 7 PM last evening.”
The faces of the Xuanwu Team 1 agents speaking were unusually bright with joy.
…I probably wasn’t much different either.
“And, and you know what? Should I tell you one more surprising piece of news? …There’s someone on the team next door who found their younger brother they lost in ’89.”
“…!”
“Among the agents who came here… quite a few applied hoping only for that.”
Finding missing family members.
“Thanks to you, that person finally received compensation for the past years and can sleep comfortably at night. Together with their family.”
“…”
“How about it?”
How about it?
An agent who entered this place searching for their younger brother for decades.
That person who finally found out where their brother went missing but couldn’t rescue him due to distorted time.
How do I feel hearing that they safely got their brother back?
‘My goodness.’
Something like an overwhelming thrill that really makes the back of my neck tingle sweeps through me.
This isn’t just a sense of accomplishment.
‘So this is why they do it.’
It was dangerous.
I almost… almost started working with real dedication to this job.
‘…No.’
I clenched my right hand that had been gone.
I have to go home.
That should be my only goal.
Right now… I don’t know how many times I’ve crossed the line between life and death. For someone like me who used to consume ghost stories only as content in a world without them, living sanely here was impossible.
‘Purpose and means. They mustn’t be reversed.’
I took a deep breath and calmed my mind.
But my elevated heart didn’t completely settle down.
“Anyway, you really did well.”
Agent Choi, who had been rattling off stories about rewards befitting the successful exploration, smiled and patted my back.
“Oh, since Grape is still in the new employee period, did you have to go do other work now?”
“Yes. I’ll be guided to other duties.”
“Right. I kept you too long. Good luck with your work~!”
I parted with Agent Choi who was waving his hand and followed behind the Bronze Agent.
Fortunately, they didn’t ask me to come to the Xuanwu team again.
Right. The Emergency Rescue Unit… continuing this kind of work would be too difficult. Emotionally too.
‘Hah.’
I held back a sigh and walked following the Bronze Agent.
And the place he guided me to was…
[New Investigation Unit Baekho Team 2]
It was the team where Go Young-eun was.
“Sol-eum!”
As I entered the office, Go Young-eun with her welcome face saw me and jumped up from her seat.
I reflexively looked back at the Bronze Agent.
He was smiling faintly. It seemed he had deliberately arranged work for this team in consideration of the fact that we were acquainted from Lucky Mart…
“There’s no field work today, so you don’t need to move in pairs with me. You can work in this office. …If any problems arise, please come find me at the Xuanwu Team 1 waiting room.”
“…Yes. Thank you.”
I was really grateful.
Moreover, I felt more at ease knowing it wasn’t field work.
‘Today is a timing to take it a bit easy.’
Of course, I would still do my best to show that I’m someone who fits the New Investigation Unit.
I bowed to the departing Bronze Agent and entered the office with Go Young-eun.
The place that looked like a neat general office was still quiet.
“Everyone’s out on external duties right now so it’s just me in the office, but they’ll be back soon so we can greet them together.”
“Yes. I understand.”
I added with some hope.
“Please give me lots of guidance and advice. I might end up being assigned to this department and working together.”
“Ah, um…”
…??
Go Young-eun somehow gives a vague response.
Why such an… ominous reaction?
“…Did I make some mistake?”
“No! It’s not a mistake… Phew.”
Go Young-eun makes a subtle expression.
“Being too competent is also, well, unavoidable…”
Excuse me?
“Um, would you like to… take a look?”
I took the smartphone that Go Young-eun handed me.
What appeared on the screen of that phone, which seemed newly activated for work with little usage…
[Agent Talk Talk Anonymous Chat Room]
A group messenger anonymous chat with a somewhat old-fashioned naming style.
“….”
Wait.
Here’s another… group chat that I’m the only one not in…?
“Ah. Usually they invite you after your new employee period ends and you get officially assigned to a department.”
“I see.”
That’s a relief.
‘Hmm.’
I asked Go Young-eun for permission and scrolled up in the group chat to get a feel for the atmosphere.
-Fortune vending machine appeared in Seocho-dong, reporting here for now, duty officer please confirm
-About the swamp music box, is it okay to just leave it when it’s not working?
-Yeah it’s fine, it’ll be reflected in the rulebook next month too
-Any lunch menu recommendations?
‘The atmosphere is more relaxed than I thought.’
From what I could see, it seemed like a chat room where agents asked each other for advice when they were in a hurry or stuck while working.
You could say it was a naturally formed information-sharing room due to the nature of the job with frequent solo work and shift-based standby duties.
Since it wasn’t a death survival-style competitive relationship like at some companies, the atmosphere seemed a bit better and valuable information was exchanged more easily.
‘Come to think of it, I think I saw something like this in too.’
Thinking about it that way made me feel somewhat nostalgic. I nodded inwardly while scrolling.
It would be fun to get invited here at least once…
-Destroyer rookie destroyed another disaster
“….”
Wait a minute.
Is this… about me?
‘No way.’
I quickly scrolled down further to see the latest conversation.
-They say he rescued all thirty kids who were trapped in a regular rescue disaster and completely destroyed the entire city
-Is that really true??
-Xuanwu Team 1 must be thrilled haha
-Wow if it’s to that extent, it’s not coincidence but pure skill… They must be no ordinary person, isn’t this the first time since Team Leader Hong joined?
-I want to be friends with them…
-Would Xuanwu Team 3 be of any interest? We can really treat you well, honestly I’m better than Mr. Choi from Xuanwu Team 1
-Sis, I’m here too^^
-Yeah I know
“….”
And the group messenger chat’s conclusion was summarized into one thing…
-Someone who’ll plant their flag in the Emergency Rescue Team has appeared haha
-I.hope.they.become.the.youngest.team.leader~^^
Please 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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