Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 330

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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 330

 

Inside the engineer’s cabin.

 

The train conductor glanced back and forth between the agent uniform I was wearing and the chaotic outside with a pale complexion, then began stammering as he spilled everything to me.

 

About this train.

 

“Originally… you know how originally, the subway trains were strangely safe from the beginning…”

 

It seemed that almost everyone had realized the gimmick that ‘injured people become fine once they enter the train’ from the very day of the disaster.

 

“People pushed and shoved to get on the trains, fought over seats… there were fights, people died, it was complete chaos.”

 

“So this train was also originally occupied by people like that?”

 

“No! This train suddenly appeared!”

 

…!

 

“A train that wasn’t there originally suddenly started operating the next day, came into the station and opened its doors!”

 

I could imagine that scene.

 

People who had barely survived without being able to board a train were gathered on the relatively safe platform, when a new empty train appeared and opened its doors.

 

“…And inside were Chogae Agent and other agents.”

 

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

 

The train conductor rolled his eyes, then tried to compose himself and speak in a plausible tone.

 

“But I recognized this train. This was a broken train!”

 

“…!”

 

“You know, when a train breaks down during operation, they don’t take it all the way to the depot but move it to a side track. Usually when subway operations end, they park trains on hidden side tracks at stations, and it was probably there.”

 

“…”

 

“I don’t know how they repaired it, but they boldly brought it out and started picking up the people remaining at the station…”

 

They probably used supernatural equipment or abilities to make the broken train function properly.

 

Since they were already swallowed by supernatural phenomena anyway, there was nothing to worry about.

 

“I… yes. When they asked if anyone had experience operating trains, yes. I helped Chogae Agent a lot. Hahaha…”

 

So this person wasn’t even originally the engineer of this train.

 

‘So that’s why he was called the train conductor.’

 

“Of course, subways these days are mostly automated, but still, having an expert makes a big difference, doesn’t it.”

 

“Yes. I understand Chogae Agent’s judgment.”

 

However, I looked back at the paper attached next to the control cabin, with dozens of names marked with X’s.

 

“But I think his expectations of what that expert would do after he disappeared were different.”

 

“No… Agent, Agent! You really need to understand this, living with this many people for years is no ordinary hardship!”

 

The train conductor said urgently.

 

“The people who were agents? They went to stations to get supplies and didn’t come back one by one! That all happened because they tried to take all the refugees who came to the train. With food and everything else running short, they kept trying to gather enough for everyone and that’s how it ended up like this!”

 

“…Is that what you think?”

 

“Of course! You know how it is. When people are all together like this, you have to reasonably weed out what needs weeding out, and? abandon what needs abandoning for the system to work.”

 

“…”

 

“All of this~ happened because I tried to maintain this shelter according to Chogae Agent’s wishes! I was overwhelmed and made mistakes!”

 

I wasn’t exactly furious.

 

I just felt strange.

 

In fact, this person’s situation is exactly the state of being abandoned from the outside under that very judgment of ‘we have to abandon what needs to be abandoned and move on.’

 

But seeing him make statements that actually justify the situation he’s in gives me a strange feeling.

 

And this strange sense of deflation that… the agents died one by one pushing themselves too hard trying to save someone like this.

 

‘…This isn’t something for me to judge any further.’

 

It would probably be right for the people who have been continuously staying in the train shelter to handle it directly.

 

So instead of showing hostility toward the train conductor, I searched for information again.

 

“Tell me in more detail about when Chogae Agent went missing. I heard he went to get food supplies.”

 

“What? No, I think there’s some unnecessary misunderstanding here, I absolutely didn’t chase the agent away or anything like that!”

 

Hmm?

 

I deliberately remained silent. Then the train conductor looked around more nervously and poured out explanations for his excuses.

 

“That! You’re trying to say why he went out at that timing when we weren’t short on food supplies, aren’t you.”

 

[He’s spilling it all on his own.]

 

“Absolutely not! I didn’t deliberately use any tricks to chase that agent away. He just kept going down on his own, saying something like there was something more necessary for this train?”

 

…’Something more necessary for this train.’

 

“What exactly did he say was necessary?”

 

“Well, he didn’t give a proper answer. He just smiled and told us to wait and see. There was nothing to smile about but he kept doing that, so I got irritated too…”

 

I cut off the train conductor’s words.

 

“Then were there no words that Chogae Agent left behind? Words he usually emphasized, or words he left before departing.”

 

“…Well, he tried to give hope to the people on the train. Those kinds of words. That we could escape someday, that he was looking for a way…”

 

I could see him rolling his eyes, thinking they were obvious words.

 

That alone was enough to tell me.

 

‘…That agent must have suffered tremendously.’

 

The Disaster Management Bureau agents too, or rather, because they were agents, they would have known all too well.

 

Below the ground where countless citizens had died en masse, they had no idea how much longer they would be trapped with the survivors in this city’s subway ghost story.

 

‘At some point, they must have realized they were sealed off.’

 

Perhaps an agent well-versed in gut rituals and ceremonies might have even vaguely grasped the circumstances of being used for human sacrifice.

 

But they couldn’t have shown it.

 

Reassuring all the survivors, who weren’t many left but were overwhelmingly burdensome for an individual, and keeping this shelter from continuously falling into chaos would have been no ordinary task…

 

“…”

 

“Ah, that, that’s right! There’s an item that Chogae Agent left behind! It’s a personal belonging, and now it could be called the only keepsake. Over there…”

 

“Don’t move.”

 

The train conductor was looking around nervously and trying to get up, but when I grabbed his shoulder, he froze again.

 

I kept one hand firmly pressed on his shoulder while opening the place he had pointed to.

 

A small drawer next to the control cabin.

 

The moment I opened it, a small item that had been in the empty space was revealed along with dust.

 

“…”

 

It was escape five-colored laces.

 

Agent-issued equipment that couldn’t function properly in this place.

 

It was neatly tied in the shape of shoelaces with dust accumulated on the surface.

 

…The ends were slightly worn.

 

As if someone had frequently handled them to find peace of mind.

 

“….”

 

The desire to escape.

 

And… it also felt like a rope of hope expressing the will to someday get out.

 

So I realize.

 

‘They must have done something.’

 

-They just kept wandering around saying there was something more needed on this train!

 

They must have planned rescue operations beyond simple survival.

 

Even if they thought it was hopeless, they must have tried to make the citizens outside attempt a rescue.

 

Just like the agents from Segwanggo.

 

Then, where exactly?

 

“N-now that I’ve answered everything, Agent…”

 

“Shh.”

 

I continued examining the engineer’s seat.

 

If it’s the core facility of the train, it would naturally be here. What exactly did they think this train needed?

 

I looked into the control cabin. But would the agents really have touched these complex-looking devices and monitoring screens without an expert’s assistance?

 

If they did, where would it be…

 

-Teacher.

 

-What if you think from the user’s perspective rather than the facility’s?

 

User.

 

A place the agent could routinely access, use, and protect.

 

But a place that others entering this engineer’s cabin would be unlikely to notice or touch even by accident.

 

“…!”

 

I turned to look at the conductor.

 

When our eyes met, the startled conductor became terrified as I reached out my other hand, not the one holding his shoulder.

 

“Huh? Huhhh… huh?”

 

I lifted the conductor up as he was.

 

And moved him to the side.

 

Then I flipped over the chair he had been sitting on.

 

The seat of the ‘train engineer’ who operates the train.

 

“…!!”

 

* * *

 

Some time later.

 

“E-everyone!”

 

The Train Conductor who rushed out from the engineer’s seat raised both hands and shouted.

 

“I was short-sighted. The Rabbit Doll is humanity’s perfect friend! Of course I approve the train reform!”

 

“Wow!!”

 

Peak dopamine!

 

A sense of victory like winning a sports match filled the interior of the train. People soaked in the narrative all together took the Train Conductor and went to the Rabbit Worship Cult Representative.

 

Naturally crowds gathered and people began flowing toward Car 3 like a receding tide.

 

And there was someone quietly following that crowd.

 

Lee Ja-heon.

 

Because of his notably conspicuous build, those who knew him from before spotted him at once even in this chaos.

 

“Manager?”

 

“Peregrine Falcon.”

 

Eun Ha-je approached with a pleased face and whispered.

 

Now an atmosphere had temporarily formed where social acceptance was possible for outsiders and whatnot as long as they wore rabbit doll badges.

 

She spoke somewhat cheerfully.

 

Deliberately not even mentioning the fact that she had died.

 

“I heard you worked part-time at Talk Show Ghost Stories. What did you do?”

 

“I performed studio audience guidance, guest service, staff assistance, and porter work.”

 

“…You did four things simultaneously? No wait, by any chance when you were doing one thing, didn’t someone come and get angry or sigh and then make you do something else? Right?”

 

Then Lee Ja-heon answered immediately with a blank expression.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Ahahaha!”

 

Eun Ha-je burst into laughter.

 

But given the situation, she couldn’t laugh for very long.

 

Because she could see a companion wandering around over there.

 

“Ah, there he is.”

 

The Bronze Agent who was looking at the rabbit doll worship cult and the Stuffed Doll enshrined in the central velvet box with a bewildered face, muttering ‘Pink…?’

 

Under the pretext of obtaining food, he had visited where Jang Heo-un… that is, Agent Hwagak was located for the past few days, and couldn’t adapt to the suddenly changed train chaos situation.

 

It was enough to forget the somewhat bitter feelings from having to manage and be careful so his dead body wouldn’t rot after leaving the train.

 

Then he finally met someone he knew.

 

“…!”

 

Bronze Agent rushed over urgently and got straight to the point.

 

Even though he didn’t know why that Lizard Employee who wasn’t here before was present, that wasn’t what was urgent right now!

 

“That thing, isn’t that the doll Grape Agent used to carry around?!”

 

“No.”

 

“Then that’s a relief…”

 

“It’s a replica of that doll.”

 

“…”

 

Bronze Agent was speechless, but barely managed to respond.

 

“Then is this perhaps… Grape Agent’s doing?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“…!! Did you see where they are? I need to go find them right away….”

 

Manager Lee Ja-heon grabbed Bronze Agent by the scruff of the neck and lifted him up.

 

“?!”

 

-Manager. Could you please find Bronze Agent from the rear car and bring him here.

 

It was to fulfill both people’s requests!

 

And so, some time later.

 

Knock knock.

 

The engineer’s seat door opened once again with a short knock, and Manager Lee Ja-heon pushed the person he had brought into the engineer’s seat.

 

“…Grape Agent.”

 

“Bronze Agent.”

 

Bronze Agent approached urgently.

 

“What on earth are you doing right now?! Don’t tell me you’re trying to enter this engineer’s cabin….”

 

But he stopped speaking.

 

Because Kim Sol-eum was looking at him with an expression full of tension, anxiety, and anticipation, his mouth twitching.

 

“Agent, could you please check something for me?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Here,”

 

Kim Sol-eum flipped over the chair in front of the control seat to show him.

 

“…There’s a talisman here.”

 

“…!”

 

“It seems like the agents who turned this train into a shelter put it there, but I don’t have professional knowledge about talismans. So I called for you….”

 

“Please wait a moment.”

 

Bronze Agent stopped all the remarks he was about to make.

 

And looked again at the pattern under the flipped chair.

 

Straight lines.

 

Blocked patterns.

 

Repetition and restraint.

 

It was clearly drawn by mixing some unknown burnt ash with a viscous liquid. These barely adequate ritual elements that were somehow squeezed out in an environment that lacked everything.

 

But it was indeed a talisman.

 

And he had already seen agents who tried to create temporary barriers with such talismans, even at that high school in Segwang Special City.

 

Bronze Agent began to understand the meaning of that talisman, his blue eyes shining with terrifying concentration.

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

And only after half an hour had passed did he straighten up.

 

“…What kind of talisman is it?”

 

“….”

 

The Bronze Agent who had extremely carefully returned the chair to its original position opened his mouth.

 

“This isn’t an evil-warding talisman.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“I mean it’s not meant to drive away evil things. …This is the opposite, a talisman that draws something in.”

 

…!

 

“A fortune talisman, so to speak… you could say it’s a talisman meant to draw in blessings, luck, or situations.”

 

“…Something like a success talisman?”

 

“Yes. But the type is a bit different.”

 

The Bronze Agent explained calmly.

 

“This is, if we’re being precise, a relationship talisman.”

 

…Relationship?

 

“You’re saying this train is a talisman for meeting someone?”

 

“Rather than someone… it seems like it wants to meet something.”

 

Something.

 

“So, that talisman was made with the purpose of making this train inevitably meet something. But if supernatural laws are added to that…”

 

The Bronze Agent declared.

 

“To meet that thing, this train will move on its own.”

 

…!

 

“Yes. If this talisman is used properly, the entire train will move somewhere as a whole.”

 

“…! Could it possibly move completely outside of Segwang Special City?”

 

“I don’t think that would be the case.”

 

The Bronze Agent frowned.

 

“You can’t write strokes in a way that makes it abandon the train’s role. So, it would be moved to somewhere, anywhere this train can fulfill its role…”

 

“….”

 

“That’s how I interpreted it.”

 

A place where the train can fulfill its role.

 

“…Then it would be on railway tracks.”

 

Kim Sol-eum’s mind raced. He hurriedly checked the monitor attached next to the control cabin.

 

The train’s route map.

 

mark

 

‘If this talisman is used properly, would we go to the opposite side tracks?’

 

Until now, the opposite side tracks had been suspended from operation. But since there were clues on that side, this agent might have wanted to make this train operate in the opposite direction…

 

‘Then what would be the order?’

 

Kim Sol-eum hurriedly recalled the stations again in the order of the Segwang Subway route map.

 

Segwang Subway Route Map

 

– Segwang Station (Forest Path of Death)

 

– Midnight Station (Body Casino)

 

– Hanmam Station (Hanbit Library)

 

– Twilight Station (Conscience Sales Stand)

 

– Ohu Station (Blood Broadcasting Station)

 

– Midday Station (Nap Shelter)

 

– Morning Station (Scale Courthouse)

 

And he diligently retraced those stations in reverse order as he read. But then….

 

‘….’

 

As he was doing this, Kim Sol-eum suddenly came to think of another question.

 

Since these station names had been revealed one by one, he had never gone through them all in his head like this before, so he hadn’t noticed it.

 

A slight sense of unease that he had just brushed off thinking ‘I see.’

 

‘The subway stations in Segwang Special City… are all named after time periods.’

 

They were strange names.

 

Probably it wasn’t like this unintuitive system before. The station names would have been based on regions and characteristics.

 

However, as they became contaminated due to the Day of Disaster incident and the subway also mutated into supernatural phenomena, they must have changed to these kinds of station names.

 

…But here’s the thing.

 

‘Why is Segwang Station still called Segwang Station?’

 

It was strange.

 

Conversely, doesn’t that mean only Segwang Station wasn’t contaminated?

 

How could that be possible?

 

Clearly that suicide spot ghost story called the Forest Path of Death was eerily contaminated. So much so that they could only run away rather than even dare to terminate it until now.

 

But why is only the station name intact?

 

‘That’s….’

 

….

 

Segwang Station.

 

Segwang Special City.

 

…!!

 

“Grape Agent?”

 

“Bronze Agent.”

 

Kim Sol-eum turned to look at Bronze Agent.

 

A strange light was flashing in his eyes.

 

“I think I’ve figured out where Chogae Agent was trying to send this train.”

 

“…!”

 

“It would be here.”

 

And Kim Sol-eum pointed to one station on the route map.

 

“Segwang Station… you mean?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Kim Sol-eum nodded.

 

“But these aren’t the tracks we’ve been seeing until now.”

 

“That’s….”

 

“Agent.”

 

Kim Sol-eum’s mind feels like it’s about to burst as he draws out the logic.

 

Why didn’t Segwang Station mutate its name like the other subway stations?

 

It’s simple.

 

Because it wasn’t completely contaminated by the subway ghost story.

 

Because that ‘Segwang Station’ wasn’t exclusively a subway designation!

 

“Segwang Station probably has a high-speed railway.”

 

“…!!”

 

That’s right.

 

Kim Sol-eum recalled Seoul Station where he had boarded the Tamra-bound train.

 

Seoul Station also has a subway.

 

But at the same time, it has something else.

 

‘High-speed railway…!’

 

Tracks that connect region to region.

 

“That station representing this city called ‘Segwang’ has a very high probability of being not just a subway station, but also a high-speed railway station…!”

 

“…Then.”

 

Bronze Agent looked at the route map.

 

mark

 

“If this train is placed not there, but on the high-speed railway tracks….”

 

The destination of those tracks doesn’t circulate within Segwang Special City like that.

 

“It goes outside.”

 

“…!”

 

“The agents were trying to ride this train and escape outside of Segwang Special City!”

 

Bronze Agent realizes again.

 

There’s Grape Agent here to get fuel for the train.

 

And if there’s himself who’s well-versed in talismans and scriptures….

 

“We can try it now.”

 

The train shelter can be escaped from.

—————
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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