Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 317

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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 317

 

I took a shower after a long time.

 

In other words, it had been truly a long time since I showered in my original body.

 

My body stayed in place without being crushed or spilling out.

 

The sensation of hot water running across my skin.

 

I was myself.

 

“….”

 

I changed my clothes.

 

It had been so long since I wore something other than the Security Team uniform that it felt a bit awkward.

 

A clean sense of reality that wasn’t a temporarily borrowed body or a dream I was having while asleep.

 

The sensation of breathing.

 

‘Phew.’

 

…I felt refreshed.

 

With that pleasant feeling, I opened the door to the hospital room and came out.

 

In the Fox Counseling Room waiting area, people who were already prepared were waiting.

 

“Sorry I’m late. I was washing up.”

 

Come to think of it, it was surprising that this Fox Counseling Room even had a shower room…. No, thinking about it, having a hospital room without a shower room would be the real ghost story.

 

I sat down with a smile.

 

The sensation of sunlight warming my face.

 

“…Don’t you need to wear the Security Team uniform?”

 

“No.”

 

“I’m fine now.”

 

And I truly meant it.

 

Relief and joy burst across Agent Choi’s face as he sat at the table.

 

Then he hugged me as if to encourage me.

 

“Thank goodness.”

 

“….”

 

I felt a bit choked up.

 

And I noticed Agent Choi subtly performing dowsing to measure my contamination, then putting it away after confirming there was no problem.

 

This guy is really consistent….

 

“Ahaha~ No, last time it seemed like you had recovered too, but you hadn’t. …I thought it might be a similar situation again.”

 

“That was… well, it was a different body made with an item.”

 

The Lizard body.

 

It’s still being kept at Manager Lee Ja-heon’s company housing, probably sleeping the whole time.

 

‘I barely used it, so maybe I could get a refund….’

 

Of course that wouldn’t work, and it was a gift anyway, so making such a request would clearly make me a troublemaker who’d get kicked out even from Space Shopping Mall VIP.

 

I’d feel too sorry to do that anyway…. Thanks to it, I was able to talk with people and even eat meat for a few days.

 

In any case, I smiled and shook my head.

 

“I should be fine now. Continuously.”

 

If I keep accepting myself, I should be able to sit here as Kim Sol-eum.

 

“…Right.”

 

The relief in Agent Choi’s eyes deepened.

 

“Will Deputy Manager Peregrine Falcon and Bronze Agent stay at that station?”

 

“There’s a high probability of that, right? Since the chaos is over, they probably got on the train just fine. I’ll go in and check, so Grape, you….”

 

“How truly touching. Noru. And Agent.”

 

“…!”

 

The person who had been sitting silently at the table until now spoke up.

 

“It seems you had a very touching and beneficial experience in Segwang Special City. To feel such emotions while going to work, I’m envious.”

 

He looked straight at me and smiled.

 

Coincidentally, someone I had quite a lot to say to as well.

 

“You even regained your appearance.”

 

….

 

“Director Ho.”

 

“You can call me Ho Yu-won casually like before, if you’d like.”

 

Really?

 

“Then, Ho Yu-won.”

 

“….”

 

I looked at Ho Yu-won who was smiling.

 

Though it made my head tingle to address a director this way, if I kept using formal speech and reading the mood, our dynamic would probably revert to ‘new employee and director.’

 

So even if this new graduate’s body was breaking out in cold sweat, this tone was correct.

 

‘Fire me if you’re upset.’

 

No, please fire me. Though you probably can’t since Director Cheong has the contract.

 

…Somehow it seems like ever since falling here, I only meet people I need to assert dominance over.

 

I spoke quietly.

 

The biggest question.

 

“I saw you in the Special City this time.”

 

“…!!”

 

Ho Yu-won’s face hardened.

 

“Do you know where I saw you?”

 

“…I wonder.”

 

“The Disaster Management Bureau branch office.”

 

“….”

 

“It was a place contaminated by the courthouse. You were endlessly selecting which citizens to rescue.”

 

“I was,”

 

Ho Yu-won’s voice became strange.

 

“there?”

 

The counseling room distorted.

 

“I was doing the selection?”

 

“No.”

 

I shook my head.

 

“You helped stop the selection process.”

 

“…!”

 

“And….”

 

I placed my human hand on the table.

 

“As a result, you also helped me regain this appearance.”

 

“….”

 

I looked at the ‘counseling space’ door of the Fox Counseling Room.

 

I recalled the appearance of the ‘counselor’ who had appeared at the window when I received counseling in there.

 

-Teacher Kim Sol-eum.

 

The Fox Counselor who appeared with my face.

 

Although what I experienced at the Scale Courthouse was much more rough and shocking than that….

 

“Appearing in my form and pointing out my inner self.”

 

Couldn’t that also be considered a kind of counseling?

 

“That being said about itself that it was ‘a projection left here.'”

 

“….”

 

“Ho Yu-won.”

 

I opened my mouth.

 

“Isn’t that what you were looking for in Segwang Special City?”

 

“….”

 

“Yourself, I mean.”

 

The part of yourself left behind in Segwang Special City.

 

I can deduce this clearly since I’ve almost experienced something similar several times.

 

That dangerous experience where, while trying to tear away contamination, I get torn away entirely and my ego and characteristics get severed.

 

“There’s something I’ve been wondering about. Why don’t you infiltrate Segwang Special City yourself?”

 

Now that I’m here, one deduction comes to mind.

 

“Maybe part of you is already in Segwang Special City, so you can’t exist there again as a separate being.”

 

Since someone who’s already there can’t enter again.

 

“….”

 

“Ho Yu-won. What you’re trying to find in Segwang Special City… is it part of yourself?”

 

Ho Yu-won remained silent for a long time.

 

A voice flows out from that body sitting frozen and dazed at the table.

 

“No.”

 

…!

 

“I’m truly sorry, but you’re wrong.”

 

He raises his head.

 

“What’s there isn’t part of me.”

 

I looked at Ho Yu-won’s face, still grinning.

 

‘No.’

 

There’s definitely a connection.

 

“Really? How are you so certain?”

 

“Well.”

 

“….”

 

I looked at Ho Yu-won.

 

-It’s a projection left here.

 

Those words.

 

And even that behavioral principle.

 

‘It’s definitely him.’

 

….

 

Then.

 

What if.

 

I recalled the first thing I had said.

 

“Not a part… you mean yourself?”

 

“…!”

 

Ho Yu-won himself.

 

“You yourself are trapped in Segwang Special City, and what I’m seeing now is…”

 

I suddenly remember.

 

How Director Ho would suddenly appear transformed into various people in various places.

 

How he controlled Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s body.

 

Then.

 

‘Maybe in a similar way.’

 

This Ho Yu-won in front of me too…

 

“Could this be a body controlled by someone trapped in Segwang Special City?”

 

“….”

 

The Fox Counseling Room became quiet.

 

I looked at the being before me…

 

“That’s right.”

 

…!

 

Clap.

 

Ho Yu-won applauds and smiles brightly.

 

“Yes. As Noru said… my side is the part.”

 

“….”

 

“No, it’s hard to even call it a part. I’m a kind of storage, an illusion.”

 

I stared blankly at it.

 

A consciousness dwelling in another person’s body.

 

“The real one is in Segwang Special City. What’s here now is just a fragmentary consciousness. One that escaped outside…”

 

Ho Yu-won mutters to himself like a madman. As if he can’t hold back the words bursting out.

 

Or as if it’s uncontrollable.

 

“But do you know this? Excessively intense emotions and mental pain can dominate personality. What should have been a brief stay that would disappear can sometimes change a life forever…”

 

Ho Yu-won pointed to himself.

 

“That’s me.”

 

“….”

 

“The comprehensive, encompassing, and intense consciousness of ‘someone’ trapped in Segwang Special City made me into Ho Yu-won.”

 

And Ho Yu-won stared strangely at Agent Choi.

 

“And I know exactly what caused this to happen…”

 

The Disaster Management Bureau.

 

‘Wait.’

 

I had a bad feeling.

 

With my head throbbing and my spine turning cold at the chilling scene, I hastily threw out a question to draw Ho Yu-won’s attention.

 

‘Aggro!’

 

The name I found during Ho Yu-won’s ‘reading’ process.

 

And Brown’s words.

 

-Noru, I smell the scent of plague from that person.

 

“What is Nine Fox Disease?”

 

“….”

 

His gaze turns back.

 

“To ask about someone’s intimate medical history so openly like this… it’s truly bewildering and frightening, Noru.”

 

“I never said you had that disease.”

 

“….”

 

“What kind of disease is it? Does it have something to do with nine-tailed foxes having nine tails? Is it related to the civilian perception that nine-tailed foxes can shapeshift? And…”

 

I looked at him.

 

“Does it also relate to you suddenly appearing in that form from unspecified people’s bodies?”

 

“….”

 

A cool voice is heard.

 

“That’s right. Those infected with Nine Fox Disease… if they infect others with Nine Fox Disease, they can briefly live that life as if it were their own.”

 

“…!”

 

“Is that difficult? Would it be easier to understand if I said they become clones?”

 

Ho Yu-won smiled.

 

As if giving up on something.

 

“So, I could be seen as a clone of someone trapped in Segwang Special City.”

 

“….”

 

“Who am I? I remain here in one state, but I have no idea.”

 

I opened my mouth.

 

“Maybe they’re an agent from the Disaster Management Bureau, or a cooperative spirit…”

 

“I wonder.”

 

Ho Yu-won’s lips twisted.

 

“I don’t remember. Hahaha…”

 

“…!”

 

“I don’t have structural or concrete memories. Only my consciousness exists in here. I can only know what I am through emotions and perceptions that unconsciously emerge.”

 

“…”

 

I raised my head to look at this counseling room.

 

“Do you know about counseling in that way too?”

 

“…!”

 

“So that’s why you created this counseling room?”

 

“…Yes.”

 

A faint smile spread across Ho Yu-won’s lips.

 

“I was a counselor. That much is absolutely certain.”

 

So did he create this place to not forget, to not lose that feeling?

 

‘…How powerful is he?’

 

The fact that he became a director at Daydream Company even in that state wasn’t ordinary. I listen to the muttering that seems to pour out of him.

 

There’s an emotion there that I know too.

 

A sense of resolution.

 

“I just know a few intense things. Identity-like cognition and emotions, you could say? Counseling, disasters, and…”

 

His gaze turns again.

 

“Selection.”

 

Agent Choi faces him with a hardened expression.

 

“That happened at 2:34 PM.”

 

“…”

 

“Are you curious? If you’re curious about what it feels like, you can answer my questions from now on…”

 

“That person is a decent agent, right?”

 

“…”

 

“Isn’t that right?”

 

“That’s correct.”

 

Ho Yu-won stares at me again.

 

Relief and cold sweat alternately ran up my spine, making me feel like I was dying.

 

But I still couldn’t let my guard down.

 

“Ah, and entering Segwang Special City is difficult for me in other ways too. I don’t sleep. Because I disappear when I sleep, I stopped sleeping.”

 

“…”

 

“But it’s okay! It’ll all be over soon!”

 

Joy and anticipation seem to swirl like madness in his eyes.

 

“…Right. Ho Yu-won.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“I’ll check if what I saw at Morning Station was really you.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

“But…”

 

I stared at his face up close.

 

“So what are you going to do?”

 

“…”

 

“If the confirmation is correct, how exactly are you going to get out?”

 

“Finding that out is your job…”

 

“No. Our job was to find what you wanted in Segwang Special City.”

 

“…”

 

Ho Yu-won’s eyes narrow.

 

“So.”

 

“You’re saying you won’t do it?”

 

“I was asking if you had a method in mind.”

 

I almost collapsed from fear.

 

“If you don’t, I was going to tell you my idea.”

 

“Ah, what kind of idea did you come up with?”

 

“Terminating the supernatural disaster in Segwang Special City.”

 

“…!!”

 

“That’s right. When the disaster ends, there’s no need to continue the blockade, and naturally you’ll be released…”

 

“What? Hahaha…”

 

Ho Yu-won burst into laughter.

 

It didn’t seem like he was laughing from joy.

 

“Noru! Hundreds of thousands of people died meaningless deaths there, so how exactly are you going to terminate that…”

 

Does he think I’m saying this because I really want to attempt such an insane thing?

 

“Then how are we going to get you out?”

 

“…”

 

“Right now, two of our exploration members are trapped there dead too. If we can terminate it, wouldn’t that be good?”

 

And I would go home.

 

‘It’s a win-win.’

 

My desire to go home remains unchanged.

 

Honestly, I still wanted to scream ‘Please just send me back! Give me the Daydream machine! At least let me test if it can be terminated!’ or run away…

 

But now I know there’s no need for that.

 

Looking at myself from multiple angles, I suppress those emotions.

 

So I could talk like this in a slightly less blind, slightly less frightened state.

 

“I’ll do my best to try. So you do your best to try too.”

 

“…”

 

“At least attempt it.”

 

Ho Yu-won looks into me.

 

“Can you swear to it?”

 

“I can swear.”

 

I stood up from the table.

 

“But I won’t accept your prohibition spell. That’s actually a contract, not a vow.”

 

“That’s too much… You even hired me at the resort and forcibly tied me down.”

 

The words ‘quit if you don’t like it’ rose to my throat, but no matter how casually I spoke, that statement was too terrifying so I held back. I guess I can’t do it because I’m not Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je…

 

Instead, I said this.

 

“Anyway. Shall we do that? Agree to do our best for each other.”

 

Ho Yu-won stared at me silently without a smile, as if searching.

 

Then he slowly extended his hand to me.

 

“Let’s do that.”

 

We shook hands.

 

Thus, the official goal of the Segwang Special City exploration changed.

 

Termination of an extinction-level disaster.

 

 

After that, I also changed the compensation system through conversations with Ho Yu-won.

 

-Half of the dream solution that the team members will give you while exploring Segwang Special City. I want that as compensation.

 

That amount should be enough to maintain this project.

 

…By the way, Agent Choi silently stared at me the entire time I was saying this, but didn’t say anything at that moment.

 

However, later when we left the Fox Counseling Room together, she said this:

 

-…If that doesn’t seem like a way to go home, give up.

 

-…

 

-And don’t risk your life either. Got it?

 

I nodded.

 

Whether it was because she confirmed I wasn’t seriously contaminated and was emotionally more stable than before, or if she was thinking something else, I don’t know… but I didn’t feel the hostile wariness toward Agent Choi like before.

 

Though it was still difficult…

 

-Hm? Are you sad about our team’s lack of manpower? Then do you want to return, Grape?

 

Please no.

 

I almost said yes because guilt was stabbing at me.

 

‘I need to rescue those two people quickly…’

 

I accepted the rising impatience and anxiety again. Honestly, when two acquaintances are dead in a disaster, it’s natural to feel this way.

 

Conversely, given Segwang Special City’s characteristics, I was also afraid that the seriousness was gradually disappearing from my mind.

 

But I just needed to do my job calmly without being too overwhelmed by all of that.

 

And so here I am.

 

“Thank you, Manager.”

 

Instead of the Fox Counseling Room, I asked for permission and visited Manager Lee Ja-heon’s company housing.

 

I wanted to sit at the familiar desk structure and think like before.

 

Like when I was originally a Daydream Company new employee.

 

By the way, Manager Lee Ja-heon just identified me without much disturbance even when I returned to my original appearance.

 

He really was a consistent lizard…

 

In a good way, I mean.

 

“Is it okay if I use this?”

 

“Yes.”

 

And thankfully, I’m now contemplating at this desk.

 

Recalling the information, risks, and methods I originally knew… how to end the Segwang Special City ghost story and go home.

 

‘First, if I follow Lee Kang-heon’s note…’

 

I need to steal Daydream Company equipment.

 

And I thought of one thing.

 

[What a wonderful plan, Noru?]

 

“Using all my Daydream Company connections.”

 

I solemnly declared.

 

“I’m going to steal the research team applicant documents.”

 

[…Hm?]

 

-The entire research team must have gone missing.

 

-That’s right. I suppose you met them inside the special city.

 

Then naturally, one procedure comes.

 

‘New personnel recruitment.’

 

Right.

 

They’ll hire new researchers.

 

By the way, I don’t even need the list of successful candidates.

 

‘I just need to see who will pass.’

 

I just need to find the names that were in the .

 

“And…”

 

Originally, you don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

 

‘Ho Yu-won definitely said he’d try to steal Daydream Company’s dream solution equipment.’

 

But he’ll continue to be monitored by Director Cheong, and with all the researchers missing, stealing the machine might be too conspicuous.

 

Then I need to make a diversionary attack.

 

So we can draw aggro for each other.

 

“Alright.”

 

So I decided.

 

‘I’ll open one more route to steal Daydream Company equipment.’

 

Since it’s come to this, I’ll give the researcher a very brief gift of a life without ghost stories.

 

‘I’ll become a temporary researcher…!’

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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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