Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 202

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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 202

Underground location unknown.

A dark steel zone like a shelter space inside a tunnel.

“….”

“Ah, Agent. This way please.”

The Genbu Team 1 Agent followed the guidance and moved.

There were no employees working as guards in the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau’s glass prison.

Unknown supernatural forces without sound or form served as guards, and one person in charge worked in shifts to check the condition of those ‘guards’.

The person in charge asked cautiously.

“…Did you come to interrogate that Grape Agent, no, 37-999?”

“….”

“I see. This way.”

The agent followed the person in charge’s cautious guidance, avoiding the ‘guards’ and opening the iron door to enter inside. That place was….

A crystal cave.

“…!”

Countless quartz crystals diffusely reflected light, making all sorts of shadows and shapes flicker throughout the cave.

However, strangely, no light source that would be the origin of the light reflection could be seen.

A festival of light and shadow without a starting point.

Click.

“The detention cell is here.”

The person in charge willingly opened the rusted door located in the corner.

However, there was no shadowy figure there.

Instead….

Countless glass beads were stacked on each wall, forming structures that created diffuse reflections.

“….”

The agent looked at it with dark eyes.

Layer upon layer of glass beads densely filled the space, forming a cone shape. It felt almost like a decorative object.

However, things moving inside each and every glass bead could be seen.

Ahhh….

Let me out let me out let me out please

You betrayed me.

Am I going to die here?

Isolated prisoners.

The one standing before them could observe each thing contained in those glass beads as if they had become a giant. A strange structure that also felt like a panopticon.

That was the true identity of the glass prison.

A sealed room made of a single bead.

In this crystal cave whose exact location was unknown except to personnel, and whose method of existence was also unknown, there was no way out unless the gatekeeper directly moved that glass to the outside.

Even if one succeeded in breaking their glass and escaping, that wouldn’t be true escape.

It would be inside another glass bead.

A circular structure. An eternally endless series of glass rooms.

“Here’s the bead at the very top. I heard you made a special request. You requested that it be a little more comfortable if possible…. I suppose it’s because they were originally an agent.”

The agent’s eyes stopped.

Exactly… the 37th layer. The top of the glass beads.

Just one bead there.

With that identification tag.

37-999

“….”

A black shadow could be seen inside the glass bead, but that shadowy figure lying on the floor didn’t move.

“I’ve been talking too long. I apologize. Here are the past interrogation records for 37-999.”

The agent barely managed to receive and read the documents the person in charge handed over.

Prisoner Number: 37-999

Prisoner: Kim [REDACTED] (Agent Name: Grape)

Affiliation: Emergency Rescue Team Genbu Team 1 (On Hold)

Transfer was originally conducted for the purpose of a simple mental and physical examination that normally takes 24 hours, but return was delayed due to strange aspects revealed during the first day’s interview.

Formal imprisonment under discussion.

The agent’s hand clenched tightly at the last line for a moment, but then turned the page.

Rustle.

Day 1.

The prisoner was transferred to the glass prison as part of the procedure to examine an agent who had been under a special prohibition.

The prohibition was confirmed to have already been lifted (Implementing Entity: General Beom of Daecheongbong), light interview and physical examination conducted.

※Anomaly discovered during interview process.

The prisoner voluntarily refused all statements regarding the identity, timing, and form of the supernatural entity that imposed the prohibition.

Examination procedure halted. Switched to interrogation.

Of course, at first, even the interrogation wasn’t very intense.

Why they were refusing to give statements, where it hurt, if there was any roughly estimated time when it happened, what kind of prohibition it was.

They approached gradually, thinking the agent was showing trauma responses due to a shocking incident.

However, the response to all those questions was the same.

The prisoner completely refused to answer all questions.

That’s when the personnel began to feel the seriousness of the situation.

Suspected of behavior attempting to avoid statements by knowing the interrogation effects of the glass prison in advance.

Thus, from the evening of day 2, the glass prison’s true interrogation began.

Interrogation Intensity: 3

Professional interrogator assigned.

Persistent and detailed questions, trap questions, suggestions hidden within everyday inquiries, questions structured so that even silence becomes an answer….

The intensity gradually increased.

After three days passed, the glass prison made even the prisoner who had persistently avoided all questions eventually succumb to the situation.

Interrogation Intensity: 7

The prisoner’s body was restrained. Head and eyes were fixed to make it impossible to avoid eye contact, then the premise that silence equals affirmation was declared.

To avoid attempts to not listen to questions through meaningless exclamations, a gag was worn during questioning.

After that, it became possible to determine ‘yes’ or ‘no’ responses from the prisoner.

Fortunately, interrogation methods that involved changing the prison’s living environment to apply pressure were not used.

This was a decision made considering the prisoner’s health condition, but it wasn’t very effective.

Day 5.

Prisoner condition: Poor.

Politely declined recommendations for sleep and meals.

Requested that the dokkaebi fire assigned to him be released from prison, saying it was ‘pitiful’.

Request denied due to concerns about prisoner escape attempts and unexpected incidents.

However, several items preferred by dokkaebi were brought into the detention cell for emotional stability.

Prisoner expressed gratitude.

Special notes: Interrogator’s personal opinion.

-It seems like there might be another prohibition in place. I recommend transferring him to a specialized examination facility rather than here and proceeding with either a ritual or exorcism.

However, when asked if there were other prohibitions, surprisingly the person himself directly answered ‘no’.

And this was judged as truth by the glass prison.

-It might be hypnosis that makes him think he’s not under any prohibition.

Despite such personal opinions from the person in charge, the transfer was put on hold for now.

I turned the page.

The date changed again, and the prisoner’s condition worsened again.

Day 6.

Prisoner condition: Poor.

Special meal provided due to concerns about prisoner’s health condition. (The special meal (mung bean ginseng chicken soup) was left untouched until the next day.)

No interview responses.

Injection into the Nightmare Maze was proposed for more intensive interrogation, but was canceled due to strong opposition from field agents.

“….”

“These are the records up to yesterday.”

And from the next page onward, it wasn’t records but deductions.

Speculation about the prisoner’s identity.

Information labeled ‘Absolutely prohibited from removal except by authorized personnel’, currently accessible only to the person in charge and interrogator.

Confirmation of circumstances suspected of espionage.

The agent clenched his fist tightly.

While the prisoner attempts to maintain silence during all interrogations uniformly, based on several truths confirmed in extreme situations, it’s possible to deduce ‘the questions he most wants to avoid’.

As follows.

Source of information.

Purpose of working at the Disaster Management Bureau.

The one who placed the prohibition.

Unclear gap period before employment.

Various contamination traces.

Thus a conclusion was reached.

But the sentence didn’t end there.

However, considering that the prisoner has no moral disqualifications, faithfully performed all assigned supernatural disaster response duties, and his ethical tendencies confirmed as truth, this is suspected to be an act involving coercive means such as blackmail or sorcery.

Since information that can be confirmed with short answers is limited, methods to draw out a more cooperative attitude from the prisoner will be introduced.

The agent turned the page.

It was the last page.

A document attached as a temporary appendix was visible.

The reason he was here now.

Special notes: The Genbu Team 1 agent who transferred this prisoner to prison has strongly volunteered for the interrogator role over the past few days, but was denied due to regulation violations.

Another agent within Genbu Team 1 who was dispatched together to that field site has been confirmed to volunteer as interrogator.

Permission pending.

“….”

“Preparations are complete, Agent.”

Ryu Jae-gwan put down the records.

And for the interrogation, he approached the front of the glass sphere.

I blinked my eyes.

A transparent ceiling was visible.

In the narrow hemispherical space surrounding him, a bed, desk, chair, and several books and food were placed according to specifications.

Beyond that seemed invisible as if shrouded in fog, but I could tell that the material composing the walls was transparent.

‘…Was this kind of place.’

Glass prison.

The Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau used this to build the glass prison system.

These mysterious glass beads that block all supernatural phenomena and the gatekeeper who guards them.

‘And there… they mixed in some supernatural phenomenon related to the afterlife and judgment.’

What did it matter anyway.

It wasn’t important.

What was important was that only clean and accurate reality could remain in this place where I was now trapped.

Inside this, supernatural beings can only exist, and all actions that are realistically impossible do not occur.

Just like… reality outside the wiki.

Here, all items are useless and tattoos are just tattoos.

‘During the body search, only things like the glass handkerchief in my chest were confiscated.’

The inventory tattoo wasn’t activated, so there was nothing to search for.

But in the same sense, it could also be seen as a place where one could feel completely at ease.

‘Since there’s no chance of suddenly falling into a ghost story.’

Physically, it should definitely be a place where I could ‘safely’ rest as Agent Choi said. I heard that some people had voluntarily imprisoned themselves here to escape curses or death.

But….

“….”

I couldn’t sleep.

Tension and resignation pulse together throughout my entire body.

Just like the past few days of being interrogated.

The interrogations in the glass prison are becoming increasingly intense. I’m desperately trying to evade answering, but quite a bit of information has already been extracted.

‘They must be suspecting something.’

That I’m suspicious.

That I might even be a spy.

‘If that’s the case, they might introduce even more powerful methods from now on…’

The Disaster Management Bureau is an organization that can become utterly ruthless toward selected villains.

As I recalled several interrogation methods I already knew about, cold sweat began trickling down from my temples.

‘Damn it.’

Perhaps Agent Choi expected me to confess everything from the beginning once the prohibition spell was lifted…

Maybe they hoped I would give up since I couldn’t return to Director Ho anyway.

The problem is that my secrets don’t end there.

Among the things I know, there are far too many that can’t simply be explained away as being a spy.

I don’t even know how much I’ll end up saying, or what my treatment will be like afterward if I do speak—those kinds of secrets.

My original world, the dream cultivation room, various contaminations, and… even the darkness investigation records.

‘If I was going to talk, I should have confessed from the beginning and kept it at the spy level.’

But in that case, what about Young-eun and Heo-un who came in with me?

And what about my wish potion?

‘That was the right choice back then.’

…But even so, I know.

This too will soon reach its limit.

“…”

Though I’m overcome with a sense of helplessness, I still need to pull myself together.

The time is approaching soon. The blood-draining interrogation time filled with traps and bait.

I swallowed and tried my best to calm my anxiety, calmly separating in my mind the things that absolutely must not be discovered.

And then…

Clatter clatter clatter.

The sound of glass colliding echoes.

A shadowy figure approached from beyond that glass wall.

An interrogator appearing with the wall between us.

However, this figure isn’t the person in charge I saw yesterday.

“…Prisoner 37-999.”

“…!!”

Bronze Agent.

Ryu Jae-gwan stood beyond the glass with dark eyes.

Wait a minute.

‘The Bronze Agent is… today’s interrogator?’

The interrogation method has changed.

I tensely assessed the situation.

The Bronze Agent spoke slowly without avoiding eye contact.

“…I will inform you before the interrogation. You have the freedom to make false statements, but all lies will be transparently revealed.”

I know.

-Daydream Origin Prisoner

That’s why I couldn’t say anything.

Lying here is no different from telling the truth.

But my silence would also seem suspicious. They’d suspect whether I already knew about this prison’s mechanism. It’s obvious.

‘And that too… is the truth.’

I would have been suspicious too.

I gritted my teeth while looking at the Bronze Agent.

‘So the interrogation direction has been decided toward involving acquaintances.’

It was a relatively lenient approach, but… I couldn’t deny that it would be effective.

“I will begin the interrogation.”

I swallowed hard.

And then…

A completely unexpected question came out.

“Where is your house?”

“…!”

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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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