Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 192

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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 192

Underground research lab.

Gwak Je-gang’s eyes tremble as he looks around the Dream Cultivation Room of the Joyful Research Institute, gazing at the massive cultivator in the center.

But the countdown has begun.

A low-quality recorded melody and cheerful shouts.

[10! 9! 8!]

“What do I know? You want me to spill everything I know about potion manufacturing equipment?”

I looked at him silently.

[7! 6!]

“No, haha. Potion manufacturing? Did I see it once when I joined? Even if you make such demands of a raw materials supply researcher. Though the irrationality is part of darkness’s charm, this is…”

Gwak Je-gang’s movement stopped.

“…Wait a minute.”

His voice trembled.

“That thing, could it be, is that it?”

Not with fear, but with excitement.

[5! 4!]

A mad spark flashed in the eyes of the one who noticed.

“It’s a potion equipment prototype!”

The countdown stopped.

However, Gwak Je-gang’s mouth didn’t stop.

“A version without production quality restrictions! Ah, I don’t have great passion for Baekil-mong potions, but potion manufacturing equipment is a bit different, haha…”

A smile spread across Gwak Je-gang’s face.

“It originated from darkness, didn’t it, and that’s the original equipment taken from darkness!”

…!!

“To think it’s right before my eyes! If you had just shown it to me without doing this, I would have testified to anything!”

He mutters while looking at the dream cultivator as if licking it with his eyes.

“Where on earth did you procure this? If it can produce wish potions, it must be abyss-grade darkness, which ghost story did it come from? I don’t know which superior is doing this, but don’t you need a researcher? One who’s tight-lipped and full of research passion!”

A beaming smile spread across Gwak Je-gang’s face.

“Better than the futile work I was doing at the annex! Say, could I perhaps take a look inside? That thing…”

Whoosh.

I heavily spread black smoke in front of Gwak Je-gang as he tried to get up.

Gwak Je-gang stopped his feet.

However, the eyes in his upturned face gleamed with interest, not fear.

“Your temperament is quite something. Haha… Where did you come from? From what darkness did you answer Baekil-mong’s call? Fire? Water? Mad imagination? Assimilation? The Silver Throne?”

I didn’t answer.

But in my head, the special investigation records that Gwak Je-gang had been involved with flashed by.

What would be best to let him misunderstand?

‘Something as powerful as possible, and something Gwak Je-gang doesn’t know well.’

But a place where he could let his imagination run wild.

I reached out and pointed.

Right at…

The yellow lantern wrapped in rib-like horns hanging at my waist.

“…Star?”

Gwak Je-gang mutters.

So that’s how he understood it.

“Darkness related to stars. Gold, binding… haha, interesting… Are you very interested in humans?”

I didn’t answer.

Instead, I pressed the carrot.

[Next round begins.]

[Now, question!]

Gwak Je-gang is now looking at me with interest rather than tension.

He seems excited at the thought that he might get information related to the dream cultivator from the questions.

But you know what.

This isn’t a question related to the cultivator.

It’s a question that will hit your head.

[Is darkness Qterw-B-553, which you secretly switched to deploy J-team without your superior’s knowledge, still under observation?]

Gwak Je-gang’s face hardened.

[10, 9, 8…]

“It’s under observation.”

The countdown stopped.

“…How did you know? Did the company already know?”

As if.

I just know well the crazy things this bastard Gwak Je-gang did through the ‘#Investigation Records (Extra)’ page of the Darkness Investigation Records.

Among them, I just need to catch one incident that was particularly large-scale and caused a stir in the Development Department when discovered, yet remained undetected until the very end.

J-Team’s Endless Life

This irregular record, famous for making people feel bad after reading it, made people feel somewhat uncomfortable just thinking that this happened in reality.

But it was definitely useful in this situation.

‘He absolutely can’t think I’m an individual who quit.’

No matter how well Gwak Je-gang reads people and how quick-witted he is, it doesn’t matter. It’s impossible.

Rather, he has no choice but to think this way.

‘Ah, someone among the company’s superiors noticed what I did.’

From here on, it’s easy.

“…Haha, if it’s not official disciplinary action but you called me separately using the security team like this… what did I touch there? What secret was there exactly?”

While letting the other party misunderstand, I can lead the situation as I want.

“Was there some connection to this place?”

I didn’t answer the muttering Gwak Je-gang. Instead…

[Next…]

I turned off the carrot.

And approached Gwak Je-gang, reaching out my hand.

“…!”

I pushed him forward in the chair with the restraints still on, dragging him in front of the incubator.

“Ha… haha!”

Gwak Je-gang laughed while breaking out in cold sweat.

Even in his fear, I could feel his anticipation for what was to come, which was rather disgusting, but anyway, he stopped in front of the Shining Dream incubator.

The light of the dream solution reflected off his glasses.

And once again, I turned on the carrot recorder.

A cheerful child’s voice could be heard.

[What kind of function do you think the machine in front of you has?]

“…A more powerful and fundamental potion manufacturing function! Since it originates from darkness, it must be more extreme and have rules that humans find difficult to understand! May I touch it? No, at least just observe it.”

I allowed Gwak Je-gang to stand up, but I thoroughly monitored everything as he placed his hands on the incubator.

Gwak Je-gang couldn’t hide his excitement despite breaking out in cold sweat, busily examining and tapping various parts of the incubator.

“It’s crude… but actually more complex than the completed company’s manufacturing equipment. Yes, that makes sense. There are fewer buttons though… emoticons? What’s this? This is…”

Then he pressed the side of the incubator.

…Something similar to the pipe I had used to inject the solution revealed itself.

So there was something like that too.

‘Can I extract the solution through there?’

I should remember this. In an emergency, I could drain all the dream solution from there.

Meanwhile, Gwak Je-gang examined various places as if entranced, and soon peered into the glass container where the dream solution was stored.

More precisely, the silhouette faintly visible within the dream solution.

A crimson mass about five times the size of an egg.

“That thing in the center! What is that? It’s something that wasn’t in the company’s manufacturing equipment!”

I said nothing.

Because I didn’t know either…

But thanks to the situation I had created, Gwak Je-gang seemed to have read the implication on his own that ‘this isn’t something to tell you about.’

He smacked his lips and withdrew his hands, but his gaze still greedily swept over the incubator.

Then his gaze stopped at the very bottom.

The spot where a button had been removed.

◎

“Ah, this looks like… the spot for Wish Potion creation.”

…!

“Am I right? I think I am. Ah, did you remove it because you were worried I might press it?”

Wait a minute.

That spot… was originally where Wish Potions were supposed to be placed?

Did the prototype also have a function to produce Wish Potions?

‘Then, originally… Wish Potions were even more powerful than they are now.’

What exactly was the Joyful Research Institute creating?

And…

‘If I find that button and restore it, could I also obtain the Joyful Research Institute version of Wish Potions?’

Thump. Thump.

The sound of my heartbeat made my head dizzy.

No, no… let me calm down.

This is just Gwak Je-gang’s speculation.

And even if that speculation is correct, all the power of Wish Potions I know is based on what Baekillmong Corporation refined.

What kind of insane effects the ‘original’ created by the Joyful Research Institute might have… no one can guarantee.

Don’t be tempted by risky moves when there’s a certain answer available!

‘Phew.’

“If you give me a bit more time, I think I could find out more. I don’t know who you are, but if you let me join this project…”

Gwak Je-gang spoke subtly while looking at me.

I looked at him silently.

Black smoke extended toward him like threads.

Gwak Je-gang flinched.

The black smoke circled around Gwak Je-gang as if telling him not to act foolishly, or as if appraising him… then was sucked back into my body as I inhaled.

“Ha.”

I reached out and activated ‘Everything the Carrot Can Know’ again.

Let’s wrap this up soon.

‘If I get too greedy, he might catch on.’

And the final touch is… for perfect setup.

[What did you want to hide during today’s Truth Game?]

“…!”

This is the question the Security Team always asks at the end of interrogations.

A direct hit that drives people to despair when they thought they just had to avoid lying and could get by with evasion.

However, Gwak Je-gang smiled broadly.

“Nothing in particular. Haha!”

He really seemed like a crazy bastard.

“Since you seem to know about all the disciplinary actions I was hiding and are turning a blind eye to them, what’s there to hide?”

He smacked his lips.

“I’m just disappointed. I guess I’m not the type of talent that team wants? Hmm, then who would be on that team… A classified team, missing, hmm.”

And then.

“Kim Sol-eum?”

I almost jumped up from the floor.

“Looking at it this way, you seem to have a similar build… Come to think of it, yes. Kim Sol-eum’s mask also had horns. Did you perhaps take that employee from the train and use them as a vessel for you to come?”

This crazy bastard.

“No wonder it seemed strange! That train darkness wasn’t the type that would disappear in that way, but now the puzzle pieces are fitting together. Hahaha.”

Wait a minute.

The train darkness was ‘not the type that would disappear in that way’?

That statement sounds like…

‘He knew about the Tamra-bound train ghost story in advance!’

At that moment, I realized.

‘This bastard had set up the whole thing!’

The sudden business trip to the provinces, getting caught up in the train ghost story on the way.

It wasn’t bad luck or coincidence, but a trap this bastard had set up.

‘He had gathered information about the Tamra-bound train.’

Right, Gwak Je-gang could pull tricks in ways not recorded in the .

Because of the variable that is ‘me’!

“A moral new graduate who knows fear. Well, just listing those qualities makes them sound like a perfect candidate for human sacrifice…”

And that tone suggesting he had properly investigated me, ‘Kim Sol-eum’, more than I thought.

…He knew?

My personality?

“Anyway. I’m getting curious whether my hypothesis is correct! Was that Security Team uniform perhaps made using that unfortunate employee’s skin as raw material? Did the compatibility work out?”

Stay calm.

I deliberately didn’t react.

As if I wouldn’t give him any information whether he spouted nonsense or deduced the truth.

As if anything outside my assigned work was meaningless and of no interest to me.

Then I suddenly picked up the carrot recorder and shook it slightly.

“…Tsk. So taciturn….”

At that moment.

The Security Chief, who had been hiding behind the desk, jumped out and struck the back of Gwak Je-gang’s neck, knocking him unconscious.

“Urgh.”

With a thud and a short sound, his body collapsed to the floor.

‘Phew.’

Somehow I felt refreshed.

“Should I… leave him outside…?”

I quickly nodded my head.

And as I watched the Security Chief move Gwak Je-gang, I quickly took off the security team uniform.

‘…Done.’

What will happen from here?

The Security Chief will dump Gwak Je-gang near the company like this, and he’ll be ‘discovered’ by Park Min-seong and transported.

That way, Park Min-seong can testify that he ‘found Section Chief Gwak Je-gang unconscious near the company and brought him back to the office.’

Since that would be the last sighting!

‘Seeing me or the Security Chief becomes unrelated to work.’

This way, Park Min-seong could remove my sighting from the report without having to lie.

-Noru! Ah, what a truly enjoyable viewing experience. You used wit, deception, and secrecy in such an entertaining way.

After finishing changing clothes, I picked up Brown who had been sitting in one corner of the office and put him in my front pocket, and he burst into applause.

‘Really? It wasn’t awkward?’

-Ah, it was flawless. That boldness of not even blinking an eye when you were mentioned! It was a magnificent performance.

-But aren’t you worried that the author will go back and expose this entire situation, friend?

Ah. That.

I smiled confidently.

‘That won’t happen.’

-Oh?

Because Gwak Je-gang is someone whose head works.

Security team interrogations are classified information.

Until someone who knows asks specifically about it, everyone usually keeps their mouths shut.

This would be especially true for Gwak Je-gang.

Especially if the interrogation was related to his own crazy overreach!

‘Why would he go around talking about something that could get him disciplined?’

Especially before he can ‘observe’ what results come out and feel catharsis.

-Indeed!

This was better than a gag order.

I recalled Park Min-seong’s worried voice.

-It would be nice if there were memory-erasing drugs or gag order potions.

I could buy them but didn’t use them.

Those are potions made by Daydream Company, aren’t they?

Someone in Gwak Je-gang’s position could probably purchase potions with neutralizing effects from Point Mall, and he’d be suspicious of restrictions that could be easily broken like that.

The important thing is that this matter needs to be handled naturally.

In a way that shows there’s no real point in him talking about it.

And even if Gwak Je-gang really does talk in the worst case scenario, whoever hears it should think it wouldn’t be strange if someone from some faction really was doing such a secret project.

-So Noru put great effort into perfectly recreating that ‘security team interrogation.’

-So that even if word gets around, all the personnel involved would be misled.

‘Exactly.’

The only thing that bothers me is… that he associated Kim Sol-eum with my security team outfit.

Even if Gwak Je-gang talks about it very specifically later, by the time this news reaches Director Ho, I won’t be here.

“Done.”

This way I succeeded in extracting all the information from Gwak Je-gang while managing the situation.

My whole body aches….

‘Should I rest a bit before the Security Chief comes back?’

Dealing with that crazy researcher made my stomach hurt.

I organized all the security team uniforms and stored them in my inventory tattoo, then sat in front of the dream incubator.

And quietly looked into it.

–Friend, sorry to interrupt your rest but… ah, now I feel like giving a little hint and preview.

‘…Preview?’

-That’s right! Let’s build up some tension.

-A very interesting incident is about to happen.

“…Brown?”

That’s when it happened.

Bzzzzt.

My phone rang.

“…!”

A contact at this late hour.

Could something have happened at the Disaster Management Bureau? Maybe rescue requests came in overlapping amounts that were unmanageable.

I immediately opened my smartphone. But….

[K.LEE: Oh, it’s been a while since I contacted you, Employee lol]

[K.LEE: How have you been?]

Huh?

The person with Hawaii Beach as their profile picture.

The employee who introduced himself as Deputy Lee Kang-heon from Team C, who connected me to Salmon Market, was there.

But….

A text came?

‘That’s impossible.’

Because, because….

I’m already dead to Daydream Company.

I changed my number long ago too.

‘….’

Something’s wrong.

Even in the midst of all this, the phone keeps ringing.

[K.LEE: That’s right lol they’re calling you supervisor now]

[K.LEE: No…]

[K.LEE: Are you a spy?]

“That’s right.”

I turned my head.

“If you really want to be a spy.”

Someone appears from behind the office chair in the Dream Cultivation Room, removing the Goblin Invisibility Cap they had been wearing on their head.

Agent Choi.

In their hand is the crumpled note I had given them.

“You should have somehow gotten rid of hints like this along the way. …Noru.”

The cleaver came crashing down.

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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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