Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 315

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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 315

 

I swallowed my saliva.

 

From dozens of jury seats placed on both sides of the dark courtroom, Disaster Management Bureau agents from Segwang Special City were looking down at me in the state they were in when they died.

 

An eerie feeling crawled up my spine.

 

Their eyes didn’t match the usual descriptors for agents like ‘filled with conviction,’ ‘steadfast,’ or ‘gentle.’

 

‘…It’s a ghost story.’

 

Something contaminated.

 

The actual agents… would have already been completely wiped out throughout Segwang Special City during rescue operations.

 

Those forms that were already dead but trapped in this courthouse by some force.

 

For this meaningless rescuer selection process…

 

They stared at me.

 

Those who will testify about 202■Management 370614 selection candidate, raise your hands and speak.

 

Naturally, my companions quickly raised their hands.

 

But I saw it.

 

Others had raised their hands too.

 

Throughout the dark jury seats, bizarrely dead forms were raising their hands.

 

“…!”

 

Juror No. 5, please speak.

 

Only a pinpoint spotlight remained on the numbered jury seat.

 

Someone whose body was torn apart.

 

An agent whose organs and limbs remained geometrically in the darkness looked at me and whispered.

 

That person is wanted at the casino.

 

…!!

 

They’re currently a wanted criminal who earned many coins there but didn’t help any of the numerous addicts in the casino

 

I stepped backward.

 

If problems arise from rescuing gambling addicts who will take responsibility get it together not rescuing is right I had no choice but to turn my head to look elsewhere

 

A strange guilt pressed down on my chest.

 

What is this?

 

Juror No. 17, please speak.

 

Another figure rose from the jury seats.

 

Their pale face was swollen.

 

Their grayish eyes had no focus, so even while looking at me, they seemed to be staring at something strange.

 

He is someone who has already attempted suicide.

 

I swallowed my saliva.

 

He hanged himself in the forest near City Hall. Since he has given up on life before, humane execution would be more appropriate than rescue.

 

…This.

 

‘This is what I did at the stations in Segwang Special City.’

 

There was no time to stop people from committing suicide or collect corpses had to keep moving… Be quiet!!

 

I put strength in my feet, swallowed my saliva, and endured the strange mental shock…

 

And I chewed over a chilling realization.

 

‘They’re testifying about my sins.’

 

The choices I made at each station.

 

All actions that could be judged as socially and morally wrong.

 

‘Refute,’

 

I need to refute.

 

But a strange guilt prevented my mouth from opening. What is this emotion? These strange thoughts? Where on earth do this resentment and grief come from…

 

Those who will testify about 202■Management 370614 selection candidate, raise your hands and speak.

 

Meanwhile, a new juror was selected. They’re raising their hand. Ah…

 

Juror No. 32, please speak.

 

From that distant jury seat, a dead figure wearing agent uniform stood up. That person…

 

Was completely burned black.

 

Already completely burned, their facial features were crushed. Even the agent uniform was already blackened and crumbling, only its outline distinguishable…

 

…

 

‘Ah.’

 

My chest turned cold.

 

An ominous premonition rose up suffocatingly.

 

I will speak.

 

Wait, wait a moment…

 

Arsonist!!!

 

I staggered.

 

That person set fire to a residential area Countless citizens who wanted to be rescued burned to death died died because of you take responsibility die die die

 

“Ugh.”

 

Tremendous pressure crushed my heart and an abnormal amount of burden and guilt confused my mind.

 

I felt like vomiting.

 

I almost collapsed and held onto the platform to endure. Thinking of the countless people who died in the residential area my heart felt like it was tearing apart sobbing resentment rang piercingly in my head I was watching that scene until I died uuugh this

 

Whose memory is this?

 

“Gasp!”

 

Those who will testify about 202■Management 370614 selection candidate, raise your hands and speak.

 

“Hic.”

 

The pressure lessened slightly for a moment.

 

I straightened my body. Something hot was streaming down from my eyes. When I wiped it away, it wasn’t tears but blood.

 

When I barely managed to lift my head, another figure from the jury seats was raising their hand.

 

Bronze Agent.

 

Juror No. 37, please speak.

 

“I question the subjectivity of the previous testimonies.”

 

The gaze from the jury seats turns toward the Bronze Agent. But the Bronze Agent continues speaking with the pale face of the dead.

 

“So to objectively verify the truthfulness of the testimony,”

 

That gaze looks at me.

 

“I propose weighing it on the Scale of Evil. …According to the original regulations, using ‘motiveless murder’ as the weight of sin.”

 

…!

 

“If the current testimony is true, it means this person committed evil acts worse than motiveless murder, so shouldn’t the scale be able to discern that!”

 

The Bronze Agent’s voice echoes through the courtroom.

 

“Please use the Scale of Evil as it was originally intended.”

 

The original purpose.

 

Only those who committed greater sins than killing people without reason would be judged as evil.

 

If proven not to be such an evil person, then as a good citizen.

 

As a normal person not conscripted as a sacrificial victim for ghost stories.

 

As someone qualified to be rescued.

 

…

 

Ah.

 

“You cannot judge people using the current method. It’s contaminated and distorted, something the original Management Bureau would never have done…”

 

“No.”

 

I wiped away the nosebleed and saliva as I stood up.

 

“…Grape Agent?”

 

“That’s not it. Agent…”

 

I looked around at the faces of the jury members.

 

Those broken forms.

 

“The current method you judged as ‘distorted’ was probably also the right decision by the Disaster Management Bureau.”

 

“…What?”

 

“Following the original ‘Scale of Evil usage’ regulations, there would have been no way to determine rescue priorities.”

 

“…!”

 

“The city was in an extinction-level disaster with countless people dying, personnel was limited… in the end, they had to choose.”

 

Who to save.

 

If we rescue gambling addicts and problems arise who will take responsibility get it together not rescuing them is right I had no choice but to turn my head and go elsewhere

 

There was no time to stop suicidal people or collect corpses we had to move

 

Thinking of the countless people who died in the residential area my heart felt like it was tearing apart sobbing resentment rang piercingly in my head I watched that scene until I died

 

Those traumatic overwhelming feelings that poured over me.

 

…That was surely the tremendous burden and guilt the agents felt before dying.

 

“Whether to choose the most virtuous, the most useful people, or the most vulnerable… probably various plans came up.”

 

“Then.”

 

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je asks.

 

“Who did they choose as rescue targets?”

 

…

 

“The least dangerous people.”

 

“…!”

 

“They probably saw that as the way to save more people.”

 

Those who wouldn’t cross the line.

 

To put it more bluntly, in this unprecedented disaster they would have selected people who wouldn’t abandon principles and ‘troll around.’

 

People who wouldn’t act impulsively in this crisis situation and endanger those around them.

 

…People who wouldn’t prioritize what they love over ethical standards.

 

“That’s why ‘what you love’ goes on the other side of the scale, isn’t it?”

 

Silence flows as if time has stopped.

 

“Yeah… that makes sense.”

 

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je nodded.

 

“Then shouldn’t this entire trial be declared invalid?”

 

…!

 

“Nobody could be saved anyway. This principle was useless.”

 

The courtroom shakes in the silence.

 

Dozens of pinpoint lights sway, and the agents’ forms flicker in the darkness…

 

“What authority did they have to arbitrarily judge rescue priorities in the first place? Scale of Evil? I understand wanting to rescue good people over bad ones, but making that into a principle is something a government agency shouldn’t do.”

 

The balance of the scale wavers.

 

Friction sounds echo from the metal floor touching the judge’s bench.

 

“Government officials naturally rescuing whoever they’re inclined toward is understandable, but the very act of establishing rules and conducting selection like this was wrong…”

 

Please cease your statement.

 

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s pinpoint light went out.

 

“…!”

 

During Juror No. 37’s testimony, Juror No. 38 has no right to speak.

 

Juror No. 37, please continue your statement.

 

The light returns to the Bronze Agent.

 

He opens his mouth again with eyes that seem crushed by fatigue.

 

Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s gestures, as if encouraging something from the adjacent seat, are faintly caught at the edge of the lighting.

 

However.

 

“…There are no corrections to my statement. Please verify the testimony with the Scale of Evil.”

 

“…!”

 

“‘Let individual agents make the judgment’… Citizen, your statement is something I’ve heard often and a topic I’ve thought about a lot recently. But…”

 

In the darkness, the Bronze Agent looks back at Eun Ha-je’s jury seat and speaks calmly.

 

“If that happens, all responsibility falls on individual agents.”

 

“…”

 

“Both the guilt and the death.”

 

The Bronze Agent looks at me.

 

“Even if it seems unreasonable, if something is necessary, it’s often better to have principles, and sometimes following those principles is better for individuals.”

 

“…”

 

The Bronze Agent had said similar things before.

 

But it sounded much deeper in meaning than before.

 

Like the words of someone who had experienced and pondered much.

 

“In that sense, I understand why the Scale of Evil rules were modified, but it remains the same that they’re distorted and ineffective in the current situation. As personnel, I formally propose returning to the original principles.”

 

And the Bronze Agent stood tall, as if he wouldn’t sit until his words were accepted.

 

But the trial simply continues.

 

Anyone wishing to testify regarding Management Case 202■ 370614 Selection Candidate, raise your hand and speak.

 

So.

 

“I’ll do it.”

 

I raised my hand.

 

“…!”

 

Based on everything I’ve experienced so far, I have a method in mind. It feels like sparks are flying in my head.

 

“Can’t I testify about myself?”

 

Originally, this isn’t allowed in criminal trials.

 

Witnesses have meaning as third parties who bear the responsibility of perjury, so the defendant themselves doesn’t have the qualification to be a witness.

 

‘But this isn’t a real criminal trial.’

 

It’s a selection process, and it’s a contaminated form of the Disaster Management Bureau’s evil scale.

 

‘The trial format is also just what Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je requested.’

 

So if I can persuade this Scale Courthouse ghost story, it might be possible.

 

Especially if it has enough emotion and ego to be swayed by my words to this extent.

 

“Am I not the party undergoing selection? As that party, I have something I want to testify about.”

 

….

 

Permission to speak granted.

 

“Yes.”

 

I took a deep breath.

 

And I spoke.

 

The sentence I’d been thinking of.

 

“Don’t rescue me.”

 

“…!”

 

“No, not just me, but don’t rescue any of the citizens waiting for selection here. That’s what’s right.”

 

Tremendous commotion erupts from the jury seats. The lighting flickers and anger guilt despair resentment hope compassion altruism hatred seem to boil and pour out.

 

Something hot that had built up from my heart to my nose and mouth surges up.

 

“Because!”

 

But I gritted my teeth and said the next words.

 

“The Segwang Special City Disaster Management Bureau branch no longer exists.”

 

[Oh!]

 

The commotion in the courtroom stopped.

 

“…You all know this city has been sealed off. This place is already in a state where recognition and access are impossible, and naturally, the Segwang Special City branch officially no longer exists.”

 

I spoke with difficulty.

 

“This is a clear fact even without my proof. Anyone can deduce it. So….”

 

….

 

“There’s no longer any duty to rescue anyone.”

 

I raised my head.

 

“So not based on special designations from the branch, but only according to the original principles of the Disaster Management Bureau!”

 

I shouted.

 

“Through the evil scale, if I can just prove that I’m not an evil person….”

 

I finished with difficulty.

 

“Without execution or rescue, just let me go.”

 

….

 

….

 

The gaze disappeared.

 

Click.

 

All the pin lights came on normally.

 

And one more appeared.

 

Right in front of the judge’s bench where the massive gray evil scale was raised.

 

202■Management 370614 Selection Candidate.

 

Place the weight of sin on the evil scale.

 

It worked.

 

I left the platform on shaking legs and headed forward.

 

Is this right?

 

‘Somehow, it feels like I’m directly denying all these agents’ desperate efforts….’

 

No, I have to continue. Endure it.

 

As I walked, I could see my companions’ faces.

 

The Bronze Agent’s slightly relieved yet tense face, Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s complicated and thoughtful expression, and strangely, Agent Choi’s profile looking elsewhere….

 

Passing all of that, I stood before the scale.

 

And I saw the black weight that had appeared at some point.

 

A strange weight with the faces of screaming people carved in relief.

 

The scale’s weight is set as ‘unmotivated murder’, and if heavier, classified as a conscription target.

 

It was the object from that description.

 

I picked it up. Its lighter-than-expected weight created a strange sense of unease.

 

And….

 

I carefully climbed onto the judge’s bench and placed it on the scale opposite my silver heart.

 

“….”

 

One side of the scale comes down.

 

The scale with the ‘unmotivated murder’ weight.

 

“…!”

 

Smoothly descending, the balance gracefully collapses.

 

Thud.

 

The scale with the weight touches the floor with a light sound.

 

My silver heart was placed on the opposite scale, floating smoothly and well in the air above….

 

….

 

Pass.

 

My legs almost gave out from the tremendous relief.

 

‘It really worked.’

 

I managed it even in this strange state. I’m okay. I’ve solved it now!

 

‘I just need to leave like this.’

 

Then I’ll be treated as cleared, gather information, and get the dream potion….

 

“….”

 

At that moment.

 

I witnessed it.

 

A single hand.

 

Someone else in the jury seats was raising their hand.

 

The one sitting right in front of the scale.

 

Juror No. 1, please speak.

 

They stand up from their seat.

 

Their appearance was strangely intact.

 

I could tell they were wearing the familiar agent uniform, but even with the pin lighting falling on them, their face was oddly invisible.

 

However, their silhouette was strangely familiar…

 

Their mouth opens.

 

I object.

 

“…!”

 

That person’s sins cannot be measured by the Scale of Evil.

 

What?

 

The invisible gaze of the agent sitting in the jury seats turns toward me.

 

Because they are shifting their sins onto something else.

 

…What?

 

Their twisted desires, twisted thoughts, extreme emotions, all abnormal judgments – they’ve passed them on to other personalities that they’ve separated and isolated within themselves.

 

“…”

 

That person is an empty shell.

 

And they pointed at me with their finger.

 

No,

 

The real one is inside there.

 

My tattoo.

 

I looked down at the ‘Contamination Cleanup’ tattoo on my chest with a face gone pale as a sheet.

—————
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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