Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 244

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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 244

Segwang Special City ghost story.

An unprecedented situation designated as an extinction-level supernatural disaster by the Disaster Management Bureau, where an entire special city was erased from people’s memories and isolated as an area that could no longer be recognized.

But I opened my eyes right in the middle of that Segwang Special City, at Segwang Station no less.

In human form, at that.

“….”

What the hell is this?

Sitting blankly on the dark platform floor, I reflexively thought of my conversation partner.

The being who could maintain casual conversation even in the most insane situations.

‘…Brown?’

….

….

No response.

‘No way.’

The ominous feeling and anxiety I had been suppressing began to slowly spread through my mind.

If this is a place that even ‘that’ Brown couldn’t follow, then what state am I in right now….

[Oh, my friend is calling me!]

“…Ha.”

I almost collapsed on the spot.

Thank goodness, really.

[Oh my, Noru. You must have been quite startled by the sudden change in environment. I must clarify that this Brown was also somewhat bewildered by this situation. Transportation through a well! How… folksy, one might say.]

Still as sarcastic as ever….

[However, oh, congratulations.]

Huh?

[While it may not be sophisticated shapeshifting, isn’t this the appearance you desired!]

That’s… true.

‘I’ve returned to human form.’

But I don’t understand why.

Why?

‘Was entering Segwang Special City the trigger?’

It doesn’t feel real so I’m mostly bewildered, but still, when I see my face reflected in the glass window, when I touch my bare hands, I can’t deny the deep sense of relief I feel….

‘My clothes are… a suit.’

It was the familiar company work attire. I swallowed and touched my face several more times with my hands before calming my heart.

It’s me.

…The familiar me.

Something like overwhelming emotion brushed past me.

I steadied my breathing and barely managed to swallow it down.

And just as I was about to get up.

Grab.

“…!”

My arm was caught.

When I turned my head, I saw someone who had been lying unconscious on the floor reflexively reach out their hand at my movement.

And opening eyes.

“….”

“….”

“…Grape?”

“Agent.”

Agent Choi’s eyes widened.

Then he hurriedly got up and grabbed my shoulders, turning me this way and that.

‘Ugh.’

As if checking whether there were any transformed parts, whether there was anything wrong. He even tried to lift up the dokkaebi lantern but soon realized the lantern wasn’t in his hands and hesitated.

‘We left it at the well.’

But he didn’t stop there and even used his contamination detection rod to somehow figure out my condition.

I asked somewhat anxiously.

“Are you alright?”

“….”

Agent Choi gripped my shoulders tightly.

“You’re fine, Grape….”

“….”

I held my breath.

“No, did that well suddenly gain some recovery function? No… ha.”

Confusion, doubt, and joy mixed across Agent Choi’s face.

I felt both gratitude and guilt seeing him rejoice over the recovery of a team member revealed to be a spy as if it were his own affair, but that didn’t last long either.

The situation, that is.

“But where is this place?”

“….”

“It seems we’ve been sent to some other city, a subway? Hmm, let me see….”

Segwang Transportation Corporation

Segwang Station

“….”

The smile disappeared from Agent Choi’s face as he tried to maintain composure.

Segwang.

“Have you ever heard of it?”

“No.”

A city and station name never heard of in daily life.

Then the agent would naturally realize it too.

This is inside a supernatural phenomenon.

“Grape, wake the people up. Right now.”

Agent Choi and I immediately crouched down and began waking people up.

Bronze Agent, who tried to slap his own cheek upon seeing me so I hurriedly stopped him, Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae who got up with a surprisingly calm and bright smile, and lastly….

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je.

“…I definitely put her in.”

I heard Agent Choi muttering.

‘Had he imprisoned the Deputy Manager in a portable glass prison?’

But if the imprisonment was released during the move here, this is really serious.

I personally woke up Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je.

“Wait… Noru?”

“Deputy Manager.”

I urgently asked Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je as she stood up.

“Are you by any chance connected to Director Ho?”

“…Just a moment.”

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je checked the orb she had been quietly holding, sensing something was amiss.

And a strange light flickered in her eyes.

“No, it’s not working.”

“….”

This feels even worse… No, actually this is good.

I can gloss over the source of my information.

“Everyone.”

I looked around at the awakened people and spoke quickly.

“The place Director Ho Yu-won was looking for seems to be right here.”

“….”

“Excuse me?”

I pointed to ‘Segwang Station’ with my hand.

“This entire city called Segwang Special City is exactly the extinction-level disaster he was searching for.”

“…!!”

Deputy Lee Seong-hae raised her hand.

“In Daydream Company terms, would that be abyss-level?”

“The classification systems are different, but it might be.”

“Ooh.”

But only Deputy Lee Seong-hae was impressed. Everyone else’s faces had hardened.

However, Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je, who seemed to roughly know the situation from working on Director Ho’s project, was just slowly looking around the sharp surroundings.

“Noru. Then could your return to human form also be due to this darkness’s influence?”

“…That might be possible.”

“Hmm. Seems likely. Look at this.”

“…!”

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je raised her hand.

The hand that had disappeared during the Hangman incident… revealed itself in perfect condition!

“Deputy Manager, your hand…”

“Right. It grew back.”

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je waved her hand with a grin, but she didn’t look particularly happy.

“This seems to have some kind of condition, hmm. It’s just too good to be true. Is this really the highest grade darkness? If so, it should be a real hellhole that humans can’t endure, not like this.”

That’s…

“What I know for now is… something terrible happened in Segwang Special City, and because of that, the city was completely sealed off. To the extent that the Disaster Management Bureau erased the existence of this special city…”

“Wait a minute.”

The faces of the two agents hardened.

“The Management Bureau did what?”

“Yes.”

I swallowed and described the facts I knew as calmly as possible.

“From what I understand, the situation became completely uncontrollable, so they eventually cast a kind of powerful binding. So that no one could perceive Segwang Special City.”

“Ooh… is that possible?”

“….”

The Bronze Agent’s mouth opened.

“It is, possible.”

“Phew.”

Agent Choi grabbed her head. It seemed the two of them could theoretically identify a few specific ‘rituals’ that could make this possible…

“As far as I know, there are no such records. Of course…”

“Right. If they really did it, they would have wiped the agents’ memories clean afterward too. Anyway, Noru. Continue explaining.”

“…Yes.”

The Bronze Agent moved his lips but soon closed his mouth at Agent Choi’s restraint.

I confirmed that sight and opened my mouth.

“And despite such a frightening situation, the reason our environment is better than expected might be because this place is a subway.”

I pointed to the platform screen door glass window where I had checked my face.

“…Could you look at that?”

Beyond that darkness.

There’s what’s called an island platform structure, where two platforms face each other with tracks in the middle for trains going in opposite directions.

You can see this platform’s tracks, the tracks for trains going the other way, and… the opposite platform beyond that.

That place is.

“It’s all collapsed.”

Everything was broken with steel frames exposed, and concrete was spilling from the collapsed stairs.

The difference was jarring.

The contrast with this clean platform.

And on the half-collapsed screen door glass windows over there…

Please save us

SOS

Please

Mom I love you

It was covered with countless words.

Rescue requests and dying messages left in blood, dust, and filth.

Letters written backwards from the opposite side.

“…!!”

My body froze at the traces of the overwhelming disaster that had struck the city.

‘Ha.’

And I recalled.

The document recording the process of Segwang Special City being sealed due to an extinction-level disaster.

That first day.

‘Many residents fled to the subway station building, but the entrance collapsed and they’re all trapped there. Something terrible is happening outside.‘ This phone call was recorded, but detailed field conditions cannot be determined.

Since there was mention that ‘if it’s the subway, they could probably hold out for a few more days,’ we should immediately begin search operations!

-Claim of the field agent at the time (rejected)

“…I heard that one of the last places rescue requests were sent from in disaster-stricken Segwang Special City was the subway station building.”

It means there’s a high probability it’s relatively safer than outside.

It wasn’t specifically described as Segwang Station, but still, it’s better than suddenly being dropped into the middle of an extinction-level disaster with people.

‘Though that’s probably just relatively speaking…’

Phew.

Thinking of the wiki made my mouth go dry. It seemed hunger and thirst had returned as well.

“So then…”

Wait a minute.

“Agent?”

“Okay.”

Agent Choi, who had been sighing, was now calmly attempting to open the screen door.

“Agent?”

“I’ll go take a quick look.”

“Ah. Should I check the opposite side?”

“Wait, please wait a moment.”

Both of you, please!

“I told you that this entire city has been completely destroyed and sealed off due to an extinction-level disaster!”

I hurriedly approached and blocked both of them.

“People must have fled down here, but it would be safer not to go to the half-collapsed areas. …Since they might be connected to the outside.”

This is probably what Agent Choi and Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae are thinking.

‘If we don’t have information anyway, we have to try something.’

But…

“And if it comes to it… I’ll go. I know the most about this place,”

“Grape.”

Agent Choi reached out his hand. And…

Thwack.

He flicked my forehead.

“…!”

Owww!

“Does Grape think I look like someone with a death wish? Of course I was planning to just check carefully and come back.”

Agent Choi looked quite annoyed despite his smiling face…

But he took a breath and eventually settled into relief.

“You’re the one who shouldn’t act impulsively here. Please.”

“…”

“And Bronze, you too!”

“Honestly, you’re more likely to act impulsively than Bronze Agent and me…”

“Hey now.”

Eep.

I quickly dodged Agent Choi’s flick and stepped back.

I sent Bronze Agent a look of sympathy, but instead he looked at me with an expression that said he really had a lot to say.

“…”

“Once we move to a safe place, I’d like to have a talk.”

Please spare me.

I held back a sigh and rubbed my forehead.

…It had been a while since I felt this kind of pain.

“Well, since we’re all experienced, let’s move together, and shall we check everyone’s condition?”

“Yes, yes.”

Anyway, we decided to gather everything we could and examine everything we needed to on this platform, which still had a relatively ‘decent atmosphere,’ before moving to the stairs.

So when we were each checking our bodies.

“Employee!”

Team Leader Lee Seong-hae, no, Deputy Manager called out to me.

But…

“Employee…?”

“Ah, should I call you Deer Supervisor?”

“Ah. No. Noru is fine.”

“Then you can call me Dolphin instead of Deputy Manager too, Noru!”

Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae smiled brightly and took out what appeared to be small glow-in-the-dark star stickers, a vitamin tablet container, and a tail comb for brushing hair from her chest, checking them quickly.

“Hmm. Some of my equipment and items aren’t working.”

“Same here. It seems like items that borrow power from other places don’t work.”

“Oh, good deduction, Deputy Manager!”

Everyone was impressively checking their equipment.

And…

“Do you have any items, Noru?”

“…”

No.

I’m broke…

‘My items…’

I gave them all to Manager Lee Ja-heon to dispose of, so what’s left is probably…

[Oh. Don’t you have my merchandise, Friend!]

R-right.

‘I do have this.’

Even though it’s a knockoff, not the real Good Friend. Ugh.

[Just put it in your front pocket. Oh, excellent.]

I carefully took out the Rabbit Doll and put it back in my suit’s front pocket as Brown requested.

For some reason, Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae gave me a thumbs up. Hmm. Thank you…

‘I wonder how Manager Lee Ja-heon is doing.’

Come to think of it, now that I’m human again, maybe I can use the Space Shopping Mall’s VIP personal shopping service again.

Since I can use the ‘VIP cell’ installed under my tongue.

‘Or maybe this is also the type that borrows power from elsewhere and won’t work…’

Anyway, since I can’t use it right now after being dropped into an extinction-level disaster with a 5-person party and no equipment, let’s pass for now.

I just held back a sigh and habitually rummaged through my pockets like the others…

‘…Huh?’

There’s a smartphone.

“…!!”

I hurriedly pulled it out. A black rectangle with a pop socket attached.

It was the one I carried around when I worked at Daydream Company.

‘What’s this?’

I hastily turned on the smartphone. Surprisingly, it powered on.

Of course, there’s no signal and the WiFi doesn’t work. But…

The most important thing appeared.

Darkness Investigation Records

I could read the wiki pages. Just like before.

“…”

“Ah, phones don’t get signal here!”

“…Yes. Definitely.”

I thought my heart was going to stop.

I replied to Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae as naturally as possible while trying to turn off the smartphone screen… then I realized something.

‘Can’t she see it?’

“Um, could you please read this page for me?”

After hesitating, I carefully held up the page showing only the words “Darkness Investigation Records” in front of Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae.

But she tilted her head.

“There’s nothing really to read? Oh, if you want my opinion, I have one. The basic wallpaper is a bit boring!”

“…Thank you.”

She can’t see it.

‘Am I the only one who can read this?’

My heart was beating so loudly it was making my ears hurt.

‘I don’t know why, but this makes checking much easier.’

I barely maintained my composure while pretending to check my smartphone again.

And I noticed another difference.

The shape of the grip tok was different.

‘The crack has disappeared.’

Had it finally been completely repaired?

Moreover, the center of the grip tok that had the ‘X’ mark drawn on it was finished in red instead of gold…

“…?”

What’s this?

I couldn’t understand what this meant. And I had no idea where this smartphone with the grip tok had been all this time…

[Don’t you really know, Noru?]

[Let’s do a little deduction. An unknown place that Friend doesn’t know about, but somewhere that’s always with you…]

“…”

Ah.

‘No way.’

A rather eerie hypothesis formed in my mind…

Inside my body.

…The grip tok had been embedded in my melted body, clumped together inside my uniform. I had been merged with this grip tok all this time…

‘Then.’

The strange editing function I could use, that ability…

‘Did it… originate from here?’

The shock that made my head spin, the fear that my body might melt again, and my mind trying to remember what state I had been in just before…

Bzzzz.

“…!”

The smartphone vibrated.

I barely escaped from my thoughts and reflexively turned on the smartphone.

And there…

A notification appeared saying a new page had been registered on the Darkness Investigation Records wiki.

Of course, it was a familiar page. But…

‘This shouldn’t be possible.’

This wiki was composed of my memories, so something like this shouldn’t appear.

In confusion, I moved my hand and clicked.

“…”

I had a strange premonition.

‘Is this… a function of the newly repaired grip tok?’

During the six months I worked as a Special Department Employee after melting, what had this grip tok been completed with?

“If everyone’s finished checking, we’ll move out.”

“Yes!”

I left the page with nothing registered as it was and began moving with the others.

‘Let’s be careful.’

While it was really good to be back in human form, it was also natural human psychology to miss the abilities I had used back then…

The five people, like true veterans, didn’t make noise or sudden movements, slowly securing their vision as they climbed the platform stairs.

Tap. Tap.

Only the calm vibrations of footsteps were transmitted.

And finally, when the top of the stairs came into view…

A forest spread out.

“…!!”

There was a huge, misty forest with gloomy lighting.

The subway station structures. Fire extinguishers, tactile tiles, escalators, information boards, mirrors, and the lit ceiling were still in their places, but they were strangely large and repeating like a maze.

And the gaps were filled with trees, soil, and fog…

It was dark and gloomy, and visibility was almost impossible due to the fog.

“…”

“…Wait.”

Agent Choi, who had slightly inhaled the fog, frowned.

“It doesn’t seem toxic for now, but just in case, let’s cover our breathing and go. If anyone shows even the slightest abnormality, return to the platform immediately.”

“Yes.”

“I think we should start by examining things like information boards. Supernatural disasters with territories are likely to be rule-based ghost stories.”

“Good. So who wants to volunteer for the advance team? …No, everyone’s really enthusiastic. You’re all recruitment material, really.”

This happens when experienced players with full defensive equipment move together.

Eventually, everyone began moving together to find an information board.

We stepped into the gaps between trees.

Rustle.

Dry fallen leaves were crushed underfoot, making a dry sound. There seemed to be gloomy sounds coming from somewhere…

And we soon discovered a large sign, though not an information board.

“Ah.”

Surrounded by vines and trees on the wall, it was a station name sign.

Similar to what we saw on the platform, but with differences.

“There’s advertising displayed too.”

“Advertising?”

“Yeah. You know. The subway station naming rights they sell. They display hospitals or companies next to the real station names. The subway corporation sells them for profitability.”

That’s right.

Mainly displays aimed at advertising effects.

But the station name displayed here was…

Segwang Transportation Corporation

Segwang Station (Forest Path of Death)

“…”

“…”

Everyone must have sensed it.

That this was absolutely not a normal ‘advertising station name.’

At that moment.

Bzzzz.

‘…!’

I hurriedly lowered my gaze to my smartphone. And I saw it.

The wiki had been updated.

‘Segwang Station.’

I clicked without even breathing.

‘Forest of Hanged Trees…?’

The moment I read that far.

Thud. Something touched my head.

“….”

I raised my head.

Until now, I had been careful not to get too close to the trees while moving, but I got distracted looking at my smartphone and my body tilted slightly, bumping into something hanging down.

But.

Slowly, slowly, I looked again at the shape of what I had thought was a ‘tree’ that had touched me….

It was a person’s foot.

“….”

“Grape… wait a moment.”

“Oh, there’s a corpse here. Above Noru’s head.”

I realized.

It wasn’t thin trees and thick trees standing densely in alternation.

The identity of the thin trees.

On every tree, corpses hung from thick branches by their necks, swaying while dried to the bone….

“They’re all corpses.”

“These look like they hanged themselves.”

And I realized one after another.

That becoming human again meant I could feel the fear of not being able to see scary things again.

That I had become a coward again…!

‘I’m screwed.’

“Should we check around us too?”

“Good idea. Noru. You look at what’s above your head. Oh, it’s barefoot.”

“…Yes.”

Aaaahhhhh!!

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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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