Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 193
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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 193
I rolled to dodge the guillotine blade.
However, the blades that had begun pouring down were already embedded in my feet.
“…!”
In that moment, Agent Choi rushed toward me at a terrifying speed, pulling something else out with his hand.
Something round.
A glass orb glinting in the light of the dream solution.
‘Portable glass prison!’
The moment that thing hits me, I’ll be restrained and transported to the Disaster Management Bureau’s famous glass prison.
That would be the end of everything.
The spy mission, the wish voucher, everything.
‘No way.’
I grabbed the guillotine blade stuck in my foot, gritted my teeth, and rolled to the side.
Ting, tiding….
The glass orb I barely dodged fell to the side with a cheerful sound.
But the prison had already opened.
“…!”
The criminal
shall receive
the binding rope
Countless hands emerged from the glass void and grabbed me.
I clung to the office equipment, but it wasn’t enough. I was dragged in along with it. I could hear the sound of my nails being shattered as my hands scraped across the floor.
There was no time to pull out any items.
‘Brown!’
-Oh, you desperately wish for Good Friend‘s devoted help, Friend!
-But that would be difficult.
What?
-It’s a decision for more interesting hosting, so I trust Noru will gladly understand. Ah, but my heart is also torn! Indeed it is….
–Friend‘s predicament!
My blood ran cold.
I was trapped in the glass just like that.
Charararak.
With a clear, sharp sound as if the glass was resonating, I became separated from the outside as if looking through a broken mirror.
‘Brown?’
No answer. Damn it!
‘No way.’
I gritted my teeth.
The moment the agent contacted the Disaster Management Bureau, everything would be over.
And Agent Choi was exactly the type of person who would do that!
‘He’s already starting to make contact.’
The glass orb spun in Agent Choi’s grip. It was a kind of simple ritual to summon the prison guards.
‘Damn it, damn it!’
How do I stop this? How do I persuade him? He’s a compassionate person who sometimes gets swayed by emotions, but that’s only possible when there’s an opening.
Now that he knows I’m a spy, he’ll put me in the glass prison first and then start….
….
Wait.
I looked not at Agent Choi’s hand holding the glass orb, but at his opposite left hand.
The crumpled paper held there.
‘….’
Found it.
“Is that the note I gave you? Did you recently solve that riddle to find this location?”
Agent Choi didn’t answer and continued rolling the glass orb in his hand. However, I didn’t give up and kept talking to him.
“At the very least, when you received the note, did you think I was genuinely asking for help to save someone?”
“No.”
“…!”
“I thought there would be some trick from the beginning. Considering your background.”
…!!
“What are you surprised about? You joined here using the same employee name you used at Baekillmong Corporation. Did you really think no one would know?”
The shock that struck my head produced a result….
‘It was strange.’
Right. I definitely thought it was strange.
When Lee Kang-heon from Team C didn’t exist, and when Lee Seong-hae, who supposedly exchanged messages with him, said he’d never seen him.
I could have deduced the cause with very simple reasoning.
That he was a person who never existed in the first place.
Someone who had been impersonating a Daydream employee to extract information.
That person.
So from the beginning, he knew I was from Daydream….
“But you know what.”
Agent Choi’s voice became hollow.
“You did your job really well. …And worked so hard.”
“….”
“You desperately tried to help everyone you met, kids, even annoying people, without discrimination. Even when you got hurt or suffered losses, you tried to do whatever you could.”
His voice choked up.
“I thought that couldn’t be acting. Usually Daydream employees can’t stand taking losses. So I thought… maybe what you told Jae-gwan was true, that you really faked your death and escaped from the company.”
…!
“I thought we could keep you on our team and manage you well….”
Agent Choi gripped the glass orb tightly.
“I believed what was convenient for me. Haha, making such a mistake with all my experience.”
“….”
“Right, it’s human nature to move when you can get bigger gains even if you take losses. Plus I forgot about your people’s tendency to risk even your lives for wish vouchers. But….”
Agent Choi’s eyes glinted darkly.
“Noru. Are you even human?”
“….”
“What was that form from earlier? And what is this place? You said Daydream would grant wishes if you did something to the Disaster Management Bureau? Give me some answers.”
I kept my mouth shut.
Agent Choi stared into my eyes for a moment, then finally smiled.
“Meaningless, isn’t it?”
“….”
“Right. Go to prison and talk as much as you want….”
“Prison?”
A voice came from above Agent Choi’s head.
“…!”
A black shadow cast over him.
A massive wolf-like monster with teeth and eyes sprouting randomly all over.
The Security Chief.
He had returned.
I, who had been stalling for time, gritted my teeth and shouted.
“Go for the glass beads!”
“This damn….”
Agent Choi tried to grab the cleaver from his waist, but it was already too late.
The teeth approached.
Crunch.
The cleaver’s blade shattered, and the glass beads were crushed along with Agent Choi’s hand.
“Ugh!”
The moment the glass beads shattered between the teeth, the makeshift prison holding me also broke.
I immediately ran out. Then I slipped through the gap and suppressed Agent Choi.
At the part where his reaction would be slowest.
His neck.
“…!”
I deliberately aimed for the scar on his neck.
Something that might be guilt or tension ran up my spine.
Thud.
Agent Choi pressed to the floor. From the black muzzle of the wolf-like monster that had bitten his arm, teeth and tongue-like masses were revealed, as if trying to tear him apart completely….
“You can’t.”
I said urgently, breathing heavily.
“You can’t kill him.”
“….”
Gradually the monster’s form subsided, revealing the thin Security Chief with his unmotivated expression.
“I wasn’t trying to kill him…. Just… trying to scare him….”
Phew.
“That kind of intimidation won’t work on someone like him.”
I looked down below.
My heart was pounding.
What should I do from now on?
So, has my mission completely failed? What happens to the Wish Potion? How can I salvage this situation? What should I do….
“Sol-eum.”
“….”
“Ahem, Kim Sol-eum. Hey.”
From below, making small coughs and muffled sounds, Agent Choi grins wickedly.
“That cleaver didn’t hurt you much, did it?”
…!
“That’s not something you can move around with after getting hit in the foot like that. You saw it too. When your company’s Elite Team got hit.”
I saw it.
In the Sparkling Dragon Palace ghost story.
Deputy Jin Na-sol collapsing while suppressing groans the moment the cleaver struck.
And the fact that it didn’t hurt me much, that means….
“You’re not such a bad guy, are you? Right?”
“….”
“Grape. You can still turn back.”
…!
“I don’t have to report this upstairs and can just handle it quietly at my level. Well… the Management Bureau has quite a few people with unusual backgrounds.”
“….”
“Let’s just cover this up. Then you can live as what you said you were, a new employee who escaped from a cult company and joined the Disaster Management Bureau.”
Agent Choi’s eyes became calmly clear.
“Just… continue working together as the youngest agent of Genbu Team 1. While saving people.”
“….”
“I don’t know why you’re tied to that damn company… but honestly, tell me. You had much more fun being with our team, didn’t you?”
“….”
“And your wish, maybe we could grant it too.”
His low voice spoke warm words.
“I’ll help you. Sol-eum.”
….
I moved my hand.
“Agent.”
“Yeah?”
“Stop lying. It won’t work.”
“…!”
I twisted Agent Choi’s left arm and held it behind his back.
Thud thud thud, a pager fell from under his left arm. I grabbed the pager and smashed it.
“This…!”
As expected.
“Agent Choi.”
I pressed both his hands behind his back and said clearly.
“I already know.”
“….”
“Pressing the pager attached under your left elbow is a breakthrough method you use frequently.”
Agent Choi’s eyes widened.
“But if you’re in a situation where it’s difficult to get the pager out like this… you usually come up with ways to suppress your opponent. You mainly use dokkaebi lanterns for suppression, but sometimes you also use books obtained from Yi-jeong Bookstore.”
“….”
“But that’s to protect the target you need to rescue, so right now you’d choose to escape. Jay, this person has another pocket inside his pants pocket. There should be shoelaces in there. Please take them out.”
The Security Chief did as I asked.
Agent Choi’s smile turned pale as he saw his own escape item in my hands.
I declared.
“I know you. I anticipate everything you might do.”
“….”
“Don’t make the situation dangerous with pointless attempts.”
“Haha…. You little bastard.”
His voice trembled.
“What are you.”
“….”
“Who are you.”
I couldn’t answer.
It was something I did deliberately to prevent him from moving carelessly, to instill wariness.
I systematically disarmed all of Agent Choi’s weapons one by one, and stored them all in my Inventory Tattoo for now.
With this, the first phase of neutralization is complete.
‘Phew.’
However, far from feeling relieved, my head is spinning.
What comes next, what comes next….
‘I need to get out.’
It was dangerous to stay here with Agent Choi any longer. It would be troublesome if the Disaster Management Bureau tracked us down.
‘A motel.’
For now, I’ll go to a third location.
“Walk. Quietly.”
“….”
“Don’t try anything foolish.”
I helped Agent Choi to his feet and held him. With the Security Chief beside him, at first glance it looked like two people supporting a drunk colleague.
As we left the Dream Cultivation Room like this, I pondered ways to handle the situation again….
“Sol-eum.”
“….”
Agent Choi breaks into a cold sweat as he smiles.
“Are you going to bury me somewhere like this? Or… hand me over to Daydream?”
“….”
“But you know how terribly those Daydream bastards operate. You saw right in front of you how they tried to use the kids we barely rescued from the Dragon Palace for experiments.”
I take a step forward.
“Are you really going to hand me over to them? Really?”
“….”
“Just tell me what the Disaster Management Bureau was trying to do. I’ll help you.”
I couldn’t tell him.
And… I know he won’t help.
He’s just hoping I’ll waver and show an opening.
And the moment I give him an opening, the experienced Agent Choi will somehow transport me to the glass prison or escape to gather support and return.
Then it’s over. No….
‘Is it already over?’
My stomach churned.
This feeling that I’ve passed a point of no return.
The realization that the daily life where I thought I could quietly extract just the documents Director Ho requested would never come back….
The vastness of knowing I’ll fall into a quagmire that will be difficult to escape from now on.
I feel like I’m going to vomit.
‘…What should I do?’
What method is there.
Daydream potions that make Agent Choi lose his memory or force him to swear secrecy are useless.
‘I’ll be caught within a week.’
Agent Choi undergoes company checkups once a week to confirm whether anything malicious has entered him. That’s where I’ll be caught.
Rather, rather….
“Excuse me….”
“….”
“Excuse me.”
I looked back at the Security Chief across from me.
The Security Chief looks at the agent he’s restraining while supporting and says.
“This person… Disaster Management Bureau…?”
“…Yes.”
“Hmm…. I don’t know what’s going on, but…,”
The Security Chief speaks as if he’s realized something.
“Well, he seems like someone I knew… it seemed like we could communicate.”
“…!”
“Through dialogue… for now?”
But what could I possibly say.
I can’t talk about what kind of work I do as a spy, what exactly Daydream demanded, and other most important things. Because Director Ho’s prohibition spell is in effect.
Excluding that, what I can talk about is….
….
Only me, not as a spy.
Kim Sol-eum.
What I want.
What thoughts I had while working at the Disaster Management Bureau.
Whether I intended to deceive them.
“….”
Should I try saying at least that much.
‘At least that I have no intention of harming the Disaster Management Bureau.’
If I could prove that I haven’t caused any actual harm, then perhaps we could somehow find a compromise.
For now… let’s try that.
“…Yes.”
After coming out to the alley, I came out to the roadside and saw a taxi parked there, then quietly said to Agent Choi.
“We’re going to take a taxi.”
“….”
“Don’t cause a disturbance.”
“Smart. Mr. Noru.”
With civilians around, he won’t be able to rampage or attack recklessly. He’ll worry that the taxi driver might get hurt or killed in the process.
‘I can actually prevent unexpected situations.’
Using even that made me feel worse, but I had no choice.
“Let’s board.”
The three of us got into the taxi’s back seat together. And to avoid startling the driver in the driver’s seat, we continued the posture of supporting a drunk person….
“Mr. Sol-eum!”
“…!!”
A familiar face turns around from the driver’s seat.
Not a taxi driver. He calls out to me with a voice full of regret as he looks at me.
…It’s Director Ho.
‘What is this.’
How did he appear?
Why… here?
But shock dominates the situation before questions can.
Because Director Ho declared.
“Oh my, you’ve been discovered.”
“….”
No.
“But you secured him immediately! I came out to meet you because I wanted to save you the trouble of coming.”
Director Ho’s gaze turned.
His gaze, which ignored the Security Chief as if he didn’t exist, looks at the person in the center of the back seat, restrained by both of us.
Agent Choi.
“Hello?”
Something that is not human, which had shown clear hatred and hostility toward the Disaster Management Bureau, looks at an agent of the Disaster Management Bureau.
A tense smile spreads across Agent Choi’s face.
“…Doesn’t seem like a very peaceful situation for me though.”
“Oh my, no.”
A smile spreads across Director Ho’s face as well.
“You’ll be at peace soon.”
No.
“Please wait.”
I urgently stepped into Director Ho’s line of sight.
Cold sweat soaked my back.
“He has set up an immediate alert to the Management Bureau in case he dies, goes missing, or mutates.”
“Is that so?”
“I’m certain. So it would be most efficient and safe to place a prohibition spell on him and return him to his daily life…”
“Soleum.”
Director Ho looks at me with an apologetic smile.
“Since your identity was exposed this quickly, it’s difficult to trust your judgment anymore…”
Chills ran through me to the tips of my hair.
“I’ll handle this myself.”
“…”
I stiffly turned my head.
Circular ripples were forming over Agent Choi’s face.
Director Ho’s spell.
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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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