Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 194

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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 194

Director Ho’s mouth did not open.

However, the incantation had begun.

-Man.

Countless circular ripples undulate across Agent Choi’s face.

The smile on the agent’s face also distorts with the ripples.

And the moment he pulls his body back.

Thud.

“…!!”

Blood pours out as one side of his face caves in.

Flesh was torn away in the exact shape of the ripples.

No.

“You mustn’t move. Don’t move.”

I grabbed Agent Choi.

‘He’s doing it on his face, not the back of his hand.’

The treatment was different from the spies.

It meant he would kill him if he moved.

Cold sweat trickled down my neck.

The incantation continues.

-You will never be able to reveal this matter.

That is.

-You will become unable to reveal it.

The bleeding intensifies.

Blood flows over my hand gripping Agent Choi’s shoulder.

What can I do?

Director Ho’s incantation doesn’t come from his mouth. Even if I speak to Director Ho or plead with him, it won’t stop.

-Your final state will be as follows.

At this rate, wouldn’t my holding him just make Agent Choi die more smoothly and quickly?

I can’t help him escape either. The incantation has already begun, and his equipment… his equipment is all inside my tattoo.

‘If only I hadn’t disarmed him in the first place.’

No, if only I hadn’t given him the note in the first place.

Even at the last moment, it might have been better to be transferred to the glass prison instead.

But every moment has passed, and now Director Ho speaks.

-Unconscious revelation of suggestions, changes in attitude, and provision of clues are fundamentally prohibited, and the restriction of your free will will never be revealed outwardly.

-All attempts to reveal the fact that a prohibition has been placed will be thwarted, and you will appear no different than before.

-If you attempt to change this, you will receive punishment.

‘….’

Is it over?

That’s definitely the ending phrase, right? So he’s just placing a strong prohibition and ending it?

I felt relieved for a moment.

If we could get through this situation, I might be able to find some other way. At this level, somehow….

-And tonight.

The incantation doesn’t end.

-You will resolve to die.

No.

-Despairing of your circumstances, you will take your own life in the most wretched place in this alley…

I lunged forward.

I kicked the back of Director Ho’s chair while reaching out to grab Director Ho by the collar.

And I pressed down roughly on the steering wheel.

Beeeeeeeep!

The car horn blares madly under the weight.

That noise drowns out all incantations, and the scattered attention breaks concentration.

The oppressive feeling that had been pressing down on the space disappears.

In an instant, the circular ripples disappeared from Agent Choi’s face.

Panting.

Silence.

…Quiet.

“….”

“….”

“Mr. Soleum.”

“….”

“Did you just attack me?”

I let go of my hands.

My mouth barely moved.

“You had to stop.”

“….”

“Because it was the wrong choice.”

It was an insane choice.

I just criticized something that was my distant superior, had placed a prohibition on me, and seemed like it could kill me at any time and wasn’t even human….

I criticized it.

“Aha.”

Director Ho clapped his palms together with a smacking sound.

“So you know better than I do!”

“….”

“Someone who couldn’t even last a quarter after infiltrating, had their identity discovered by a superior from the same team, didn’t give me a single word of warning, and has been personally meeting with the Security Team in their spy capacity!”

I feel like I’m going to die.

One wrong step here and I die.

Director Ho has never shown such direct hostility before. I will die.

But, but….

Even so.

“That’s your mistake.”

….

“Excuse me?”

“The setup was far too sloppy from the beginning. Infiltrators should never have been deployed under their real names.”

That’s right.

“If you judged that the Disaster Management Bureau wouldn’t know the backgrounds of new hires, that was an overly naive decision as a planner.”

Unbelievable crazy words are coming out of my mouth to a vastly superior officer.

I can’t stop.

“Why did you send us under such easily discoverable conditions? I thought there were other safeguards in place, but it turns out there weren’t any. Did you do it on purpose….”

….

Wait a moment.

“I see.”

I looked at Director Ho.

“You did it on purpose. You wanted us to be caught.”

“…!”

“You sent us hoping we’d be discovered from the start. That’s why you made us use our real names, and that’s why you only chose new employees instead of veterans.”

Expecting the inexperienced to make mistakes.

While giving the easy excuse of ‘to fool the Disaster Management Bureau’s detection capabilities,’ you only selected new employees who were kind and sincere—those who would fit best in the Disaster Management Bureau.

And there’s another side effect to this.

“The agents who uncover the identities of such infiltrators will become even more confused. After all, there’s no real difference in character from actual agents.”

Internally, opinions on how to handle them would be extremely divided.

Furthermore, they’d realize that no personality test could filter out spies, and suspicion toward each other would spread.

And so….

“You induced internal division within the Disaster Management Bureau?”

“….”

“To slowly dismantle an organization with strong teamwork, to plant seeds of distrust so they wouldn’t trust newly incoming employees?”

“Ms. Soleum. You have quite an imagination!”

Is that so?

“But you’re not directly answering that it’s not true.”

Standing tall.

Director Ho looked at me silently.

“‘I had no such intention, and I can swear on the counseling room itself.’ …Can you make such a declaration?”

“….”

“I asked if you could make such a declaration.”

“Ms. Soleum.”

A gentle, good-natured smile appeared on Director Ho’s face.

“Nothing would change even if I did.”

“…!”

“There was only one promise from the beginning.”

Director Ho raises his index finger.

“If Ms. Soleum brings me the documents I requested, a Wish Potion will be provided. That condition is an absolute guarantee that will never be withdrawn.”

“So.”

My mouth went dry with tension.

My heart pounds like crazy.

But my mouth moved without hesitation.

“Whether we’re caught or not, that’s actually not important. As long as you can bring back the ‘documents.'”

“….”

“As long as you can hear that information, Director.”

Information about extinction-level supernatural disasters.

….

Right.

“Then I’ll definitely bring it.”

“The documents?”

“The information you want.”

“Even though you’ve already been caught?”

“Even if I’ve been caught,”

I met Director Ho’s eyes.

“I can bring it.”

And I pointed to Agent Choi while slightly blocking him with my back.

“But if that agent dies or becomes incapacitated here, the mission becomes impossible.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I can’t handle things from that point on.”

“….”

“….”

Director Ho continued to look at me silently with a smile.

I also couldn’t look away and kept staring at him. I held on.

And.

“Very well.”

Director Ho declared.

“Our promise hasn’t changed after all. I’m really looking forward to seeing what method Ms. Soleum will use to bring me those documents.”

“….”

Just as a sigh of relief was about to escape my throat.

“But… you’ll have to receive punishment, won’t you?”

…!

“I trust you already know that Ms. Soleum’s response just now was incredibly rude and inappropriate behavior.”

My eyelids tremble.

“To begin with… none of the others were caught, so I’m not sure how you can claim it’s not Ms. Soleum’s personal fault.”

A chilling sense of foreboding runs down my spine.

“Excuses are fine, but attacking a superior because your opinion wasn’t accepted was going too far…. So if I were to guess why you went this far.”

“….”

“Have you grown attached?”

Cold sweat drips down my chin.

“Have you become afraid of your fellow agent dying? Ms. Soleum, you create precious things quite easily even when dropped into unfamiliar environments.”

“Director.”

I answered as calmly as possible.

“It’s natural for a person to fear another person’s death.”

“….”

“If my rebuttal offended you, I apologize.”

“How could that be! I wasn’t offended. You’re absolutely right.”

A smile spread across Director Ho’s face again.

“But rules are rules.”

“….”

“Could you extend your hands? You need to receive punishment.”

….

I slowly extended both hands, barely managing not to tremble.

With the backs of my hands facing up.

-Male.

A ripple spreads.

But it’s not gentle like the secrecy prohibition spell that was cast before.

A massive, deep groove gives my hand a grotesque sensation, twisted with bizarre pain.

“…!”

I gritted my teeth, breaking out in cold sweat. I mustn’t move. If I move….

-You will die in one month.

…!

-However, if you fulfill your agreement with ■■■, this obligation will be revoked.

-For any other attempts to avoid this, you will receive punishment.

I suppressed a scream.

The ripple on my hand subsides, and slowly, the grotesque sensation and pain disappear….

“I was concerned you might be lying to buy time. As you said, I tried not to be naive this time!”

Director Ho smiles brightly.

“Thank you for letting me know.”

“….”

I withdrew my hand.

For a moment, I met Agent Choi’s trembling pupils.

“Ah. I think I should get going now.”

“….”

“I was only planning to handle this quickly, but I didn’t expect my chat with Mr. Soleum to go on this long.”

“That didn’t seem like a chat….”

…!!

“You said you’d kill him in a month….”

Security Chief!

‘Don’t say anything, please!’

Director Ho looked at the Security Chief as if noticing his existence for the first time.

And… smiled as he said.

“Please give my regards to Director Cheong.”

…!

Director Ho turned his head again as if he hadn’t heard what the Security Chief said at all.

He looked at me with a bright smile.

“Well then, I hope you have a good night, Mr. Soleum!”

And.

Director Ho disappeared from the driver’s seat.

“….”

“….”

“I don’t have any business meeting Director Cheong…. Ah, he’s gone.”

I survived.

I almost collapsed onto the taxi floor.

But realizing I was already sitting, I immediately moved my trembling body.

Agent Choi’s bleeding had reached a terrible level.

I opened one of the medical supplies from Agent Choi’s equipment that I had taken and began first aid to stop the bleeding.

“….”

The bleeding from his face stops, and he calms down somewhat.

Agent Choi didn’t resist.

But he still remained silent.

“Agent.”

He only turned his eyes to look at me.

“Don’t think about it.”

“About what.”

“Ways to break the prohibition spell the Director cast. Don’t attempt it or even plan it.”

“….”

The first prohibition spell Director Ho recited had already been applied to Agent Choi.

Now he couldn’t convey any information about me being a spy or about what happened today.

He had to appear to live today just like yesterday.

Otherwise.

“You’ll receive punishment.”

“Punishment.”

“Yes.”

I lifted my head and spoke directly.

“What’s most precious to you will meet the Director.”

“….”

Agent Choi silently retrieved his medical equipment from my hands and continued the first aid himself.

The skillfulness unique to someone who had done the same work for a long time.

And….

“…You called him Director.”

I didn’t answer.

“What kind of prohibition spell did the Director put on you?”

“….”

“Right now it seems like he said he’d kill you in a month if you don’t spy properly. What did he put on you before?”

I opened the car door.

And gestured with my chin.

“Go home.”

“How are you going to extract information?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Agent Choi looked at me with unreadable eyes.

“If you tell me what kind of information it is, I might be able to help.”

“It’s not necessary. I won’t ask you to leak anything.”

“What’s the wish you’re trying to fulfill by doing this?”

I couldn’t stand it.

“Going home.”

“…!”

“…I’ll leave your equipment in the trunk.”

I got out of the car with the Security Chief.

And after taking out all of Agent Choi’s equipment and placing it in the trunk, I put one Baekil-mong Low-Grade Regeneration Potion among them.

Because I couldn’t imagine what people would say if he showed up to work tomorrow with his face looking like that.

…During that time, Agent Choi didn’t follow me out of the car.

Click.

After roughly closing the trunk, I walked away with the Security Chief.

…somewhere.

“….”

“Um… are you okay…?”

“…Yes.”

I avoided the worst.

Certainly, I had properly gotten through the situation.

One month.

That would be enough. I could do it. I had a plan….

I could, do it.

“Hmm….”

The Security Chief’s slow voice could be heard.

“Um, if it really becomes impossible… come find me….”

“…Thank you.”

Even just the words were appreciated.

I finally came to my senses.

“I’m sorry. You always help me, but I should be treating you to something.”

Wasn’t there a bakery nearby? Even if donuts weren’t available, I wanted to give him something else, but the Security Chief slowly shook his head.

“Hmm. Next time… at a delicious place….”

“…Yes. Next time. For sure.”

I let out a slight hollow laugh.

…My heart seems to be easing up a little.

“Um… the information I found out…?”

“I’ll hear about that next time too.”

But that was my limit.

I barely saw the Security Chief off with a faint smile.

The Security Chief looked back at me several times, but eventually returned to Daydream before the sun set….

“….”

-Whew, that was breathtaking suspense!

I lowered my head.

The Stuffed Doll on my chest came into view.

-I’m very excited to see where your journey will go now that it’s facing a new phase. Don’t you think so, Friend?

….

“Think whatever you want.”

And I pulled out the Stuffed Doll.

I felt a brief impulse to throw it onto the main street, but it went straight into my jumper pocket.

This way I won’t have to hear its voice.

At least for today, that is.

“….”

I returned to the old motel I had rented long-term.

And five hours later, I went to work at the Disaster Management Bureau.

As if nothing had changed.

—————
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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