Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 203

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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 203

Home.

Destination.

The reason I want to ride the Wish Potion.

I used to call it that as a shortened way of expressing my intense desire to escape from this world and return to where I originally lived.

‘I want to go home.’

…Only in my thoughts!

My private circumstances, which I had never spoken about outwardly, suddenly burst out during the interrogation.

‘Where is my home?’

I deliberately released the strength from my hands to avoid gripping the chair.

I must not lie.

“Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“…I heard that you consider home to be important.”

From whom exactly? No…

…

I remembered.

-So what’s the wish you’re trying to fulfill through all this.

-Going home.

Agent Choi must have told him.

I recalled that hellish night when I encountered Director Ho in the taxi.

And the conversation I had with Agent Choi afterward.

“…”

Home.

Was that part judged as personal conversation unrelated to me being a spy?

‘Even so, why did I try to say it out loud.’

Wasn’t that dangerous?

And it wouldn’t change anything for the Bronze Agent to know that.

I deflected the question.

“Should I tell you where I commute to and from?”

“No. That’s not home, is it?”

…!

The Bronze Agent looks at me silently.

“I know that you’re staying at a motel.”

“…”

“I’ve already confirmed that the room you’re staying in has almost nothing you could call your own belongings, let alone personal furniture. …Just a few sets of clothes.”

It felt like something I had kept only to myself in my thoughts was being exposed.

“That place can’t be called home. No, you were deliberately leaving it as such a space. You didn’t even apply for the agent dormitory provided by the Disaster Management Bureau. …Why is that?”

A question I couldn’t answer.

“Grape Agent.”

“…”

“You don’t have to answer the questions I’m about to ask. But I’d like you to know this.”

The Bronze Agent speaks without hesitation from beyond the glass wall.

“This conversation is just between you and me.”

“…”

“There’s no recording or separate documentation. Only I will hear this.”

I raised my head.

The Bronze Agent, meeting my eyes, nodded slightly and put down the documents he was holding as he spoke…

“I never had a home from the beginning.”

“…!”

“My parents divorced when I was young, and after my mother passed away, I grew up in an orphanage.”

Wait a moment.

“Even though I was eating, sleeping, and living there, I didn’t really think of it as home. Instead, when I thought of home, I remembered the villa where I lived with my mother. Even though I couldn’t remember it well and only feelings remained.”

Personal history pours into my ears like a flood. The past of a character not recorded in the wiki.

No, not a character but…

‘Bronze Agent.’

An acquaintance’s story.

“Then I got caught up in a supernatural disaster on my way to school and first encountered the Disaster Management Bureau. When I asked how I could work there, they laughed.”

And he said the Management Bureau, after hearing his circumstances, introduced him to a safe job that a student could do.

It was a strange bookstore that the Management Bureau used.

“While working there, I attended night university. And immediately after completing the university course, I took the exam and… passed.”

The Bronze Agent looks at me.

“That’s how I’m here now.”

“…”

“Now when I hear the word home, I think of Genbu Team 1’s waiting room. I also think of my dormitory room at the Management Bureau. And I think of people’s faces.”

Ah.

“So I want to ask you this question.”

The Bronze Agent asks quietly.

“…Grape Agent. Your home, does it not exist in this world right now?”

“…!”

“Did it originally exist, but you lost it?”

I seem to hear the words omitted after that.

‘Like me.’

“…”

I’m not restrained like during the last interrogation.

I could freely avoid the question.

But…

“Yes.”

“…!”

“It doesn’t exist.”

Light flashes in the Bronze Agent’s eyes.

“Was working at Daydream Company because you wanted to get that home back?”

“It’s a little different.”

I slowly formed my words.

“It’s because I want to go back home.”

“…”

The Bronze Agent was silent for a moment, as if pondering the meaning of those words.

But.

“Grape Agent.”

A firm response came back.

“You can’t return to a place that no longer exists.”

“…”

“There are only those who try to use you by deceiving you that you can return. …Don’t let them exploit you like that. You’re stronger than that.”

No.

I know that’s not right.

The Wish Potion was real.

I understand what you want to say, but that doesn’t apply to my situation…

“Can’t a house be built anew?”

“…!”

“Just like I did.”

I looked at him with an expression like I’d been struck in the head.

“Leave here, meet good people, find a place your heart desires… and create a place where you can rest comfortably and sleep peacefully.”

The Bronze Agent declares.

“That place will become your home.”

Just like how he thinks of the Disaster Management Bureau’s main building, that cozy club room-like waiting room, as his own home.

The advice from someone with experience comes across refreshingly clear.

So.

“I’m not asking Grape Agent to be absolutely certain about it. But… I hope you’ll at least think about it.”

“….”

“Can you do that?”

I nodded very slowly.

And the glass wall projected nothing.

Truth.

A relieved smile spread slightly across the Bronze Agent’s face.

“Good. Today’s interrogation ends here.”

“….”

“Today… I really hope you get some proper rest.”

I can’t believe myself either.

What did I just agree to consider?

But the atmosphere is surprisingly gentle, and my heart is calmer than expected.

As if I hadn’t made a bad choice.

And the Bronze Agent doesn’t pry further into my circumstances.

“And please take care of your meals and sleep properly. I’ve been assigned as interrogator for the next week, so there won’t be any harsh interrogations. Don’t worry and think of it as rest.”

The Bronze Agent added that he’d provide anything I needed. Of course, dangerous items that violate regulations would be out of the question.

There’s no sign of deception in those words.

It doesn’t seem like he’ll throw me into the Nightmare Maze right away…

‘…Phew.’

The state of alertness I’d desperately maintained to avoid traps during interrogation—eating only the safest foods in small amounts, trying not to sleep—almost completely relaxed in that moment.

Just as fatigue was about to crash over me like a wave.

“And this is… a personal question.”

I hear a slightly hesitant voice.

“Do you perhaps resent Agent Choi?”

“…!!”

“I think you could. Right after lifting your prohibition spell, he suddenly transferred you to prison. …Without consulting anyone.”

A hint of anger mixed into the Bronze Agent’s voice before being firmly suppressed and disappearing.

‘Seems like they had a fight.’

But as if not wanting to show that, the Bronze Agent changed the subject.

“However, during this past week, Agent Choi wasn’t trying to deliberately neglect Grape Agent by keeping you here.”

An explanation follows that he continuously volunteered for the interrogator role to have conversations with me.

But…

“Since he was the one who transferred you to prison, and on the first day he applied to be interrogator, he failed to meet the objectivity requirements.”

“…!”

“Fortunately, I passed, so today… I was wondering what would be good to say.”

The Bronze Agent bowed his head slightly.

“I’m somewhat relieved that you gave me an answer.”

“….”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After once again urging me to take care of my health and rest, the Bronze Agent disappeared back into the mist beyond the glass wall.

I was left alone again in the glass prison with just the Dokkaebi Fire.

However, instead of the tension from a mind alert with wariness, a dazed feeling like being struck fills my head.

And I mulled over it.

The conversation just now.

‘Live here?’

Give up… on going home?

It’s a suggestion to create a new home here and settle down.

As an agent belonging to the Disaster Management Bureau.

‘…Is this bait for interrogation?’

But considering the Bronze Agent’s nature, he didn’t seem like he’d cooperate with such deceptive interrogation methods.

Then it must be real.

And there are preconditions to that.

The Disaster Management Bureau hasn’t determined me to be a villain.

And… they want me to continue working.

“….”

Good heavens.

‘The situation seems… better than I thought.’

Since the interrogator is the Bronze Agent, I might confess to being a spy at an appropriate level and wrap things up. I might be able to walk out of this glass prison while keeping all sorts of secrets that are too difficult to speak of.

And, and…

I might just be able to continue working here.

“….”

Continuing to live as an agent of the Disaster Management Bureau.

Working with Genbu Team 1 like now, spending time doing good work with good people.

And if it gets really tough, I could honestly say I’m scared and they might transfer me to another team.

That way, even in this ghost story world, I could live relatively safely with good people and build a daily life.

‘It wouldn’t be… bad, would it?’

No, it actually feels quite good.

Creating a new home…

‘No.’

I hit my thigh hard enough to make a sound.

I can’t make the mistake of judging things to suit myself just because my body and mind are struggling right now.

‘Right now, the Bronze Agent made that suggestion assuming I lost my home due to an accident or disaster.’

I mustn’t be mistaken.

‘My home is perfectly fine.’

It’s just difficult to return, but I’m not going against reality or obsessing over something completely impossible!

I can do it. I can do it…

…Besides.

I actually know.

That deciding to live entirely in this world of isn’t really the wisest choice.

…Do you remember? That wiki’s subtitle.

Apocalypse Prophecy: Darkness Investigation Records

That’s right.

‘I can’t stay here long.’

Because this world was originally….

-Oh my.

A polite and cheerful male voice.

-Your mind seems complicated, Friend.

“…!!”

I bolted upright.

‘A hallucination?’

-A hallucination, you say? Could there be such a clear hallucination? Oh, of course I can fully understand if you mistook it out of longing for this Brown. Naturally….

The eloquently flowing speech was too clear to be my imagination. I hurriedly put my hand into my pocket and pulled it out.

A small rabbit plush doll.

‘….’

A chilling sensation ran down my spine.

‘How is it speaking?’

All abnormal supernatural phenomena in this Glass Prison are blocked….

Ah.

‘Supernatural beings… can still exist, they said.’

Just like the Dokkaebi Fire that’s currently clinging to the wall, trembling.

So… ‘Good Friend’ is being recognized not just as a talking stuffed doll through that medium, but as an intelligent entity, as a being?

-That’s right. Haven’t we had many conversations in your daily life! You can’t treat intimate conversations between Friends as fraudulent magic. Noru, how hurtful!

The Host who had been speaking in a cheerful tone hesitated while adding his final flourish.

As if realizing something.

-Yes…. How hurtful.

….

–Friend doesn’t seem happy to see me. Even though it’s our first conversation in a week.

-I… thought Friend would be as delighted as when eagerly waiting for and finally watching a program that only comes on certain days of the week….

“….”

Then.

This stuffed doll had voluntarily remained silent for a whole week like a lie….

-There you go again, calling me ‘stuffed doll’.

Goosebumps rose on the back of my neck.

-Hmm. Though it doesn’t matter. A great talk show host, a show entertainer must gladly accept any nickname or derogatory term. If that’s the public’s choice. And if it’s my dear Friend’s choice!

The Host’s voice cheerfully echoed through the glass sphere.

Like a microphone’s echo, there was a reverberating sound….

-Very well. I should put on a wonderful show for my Friend who has spent exhausting and difficult days.

-Surprise! Please look up, Friend!

I stiffly moved my head.

On the glass wall in front of me, where the Bronze Agent had been standing….

-Now let me introduce… ‘Glass Prison Escape Method’!

A video began playing.

Like a screen.

“…!”

-Isn’t this more wonderful than the children’s cartoon we were supposed to watch together? Haha, oh my! Friend, you’re flustered. It’s alright. Oh? I don’t know what you mean by supernatural phenomenon. Watching TV is the most natural and everyday activity, isn’t it! Now then….

-Let’s watch.

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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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