Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 339
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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 339
I watched that scene while holding my breath.
The scene of Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s companions attempting CPR.
“J-Journalist…”
The Deputy Manager’s shaking corpse.
Eventually thinking there was no hope, I watched them carry the corpse while sobbing, looking around frantically before heading up to the waiting room…
“Agent.”
“…”
“Is this someone we need to rescue?”
I unconsciously nodded my head.
“Then I’ll follow them!”
High School Student Ryu Jae-gwan, who had been about to board the train, turned around and began moving away from the train toward the waiting room.
Wait…
The screen doors are closing…
I turned my head.
Behind me, the train doors were closing.
Through the window, I saw Ho Yu-won’s face flash by as he looked at me with an unreadable expression.
The train departs.
Whooooom-
“…”
It left.
I caught my breath and followed Ryu Jae-gwan, who had already started running up the stairs.
Climbing up while avoiding the refugees sitting on the stairs sobbing or muttering, I could see the shadowy figures holding the corpse, not knowing what to do.
Even though Ryu Jae-gwan had openly followed them, they were so panicked they didn’t even notice they were being followed.
“Excuse me.”
I spoke to them directly. They turned to look at me in shock.
“Yes??”
Looking at their eyes filled with wariness and surprise, I chose my words carefully.
The title…
-Journalist!
“By any chance, is the person you’re holding… Journalist Eun Ha-je?”
“…!”
The tear-stained faces of the companions changed color.
“Are you an acquaintance of our journalist?”
“Yes. And I worked with her until recently…”
I trailed off.
High School Student Ryu Jae-gwan stood next to me, and I heard him take a short, sharp breath as he looked at ‘Journalist Eun Ha-je’s’ condition.
‘He noticed.’
That she was a corpse.
I also looked at Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je with a naturally pale, shocked face and said:
“Why did this happen? What on earth occurred?”
Then, as if they couldn’t hold it in any longer, testimonies began pouring out from the companions like a burst dam.
“We were, we were… going to City Hall.”
“…!”
“Right! There was supposed to be a terrorist attack at City Hall, so we went to cover it… but on the way there, all the lanes suddenly stopped right in front of us.”
They said all the cars ahead stopped on the road as if possessed by ghosts.
The sound of honking horns and people getting out asking what was happening…
“Something did feel wrong! They said it was terrorism. Well, we were going there thinking it was probably just a mistaken emergency text… but when that happened, it seemed real.”
“…”
“…Journalist Eun said to zoom in with the camera and take one shot of City Hall, and if nothing came of it, we’d make a U-turn. Since we only live once.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“So we got out of the car while filming with the camera… we got out of the car…”
“…Were people marching?”
“…!! That’s right! Did you see it?!”
“Damn, really like zombies…”
The companions spoke desperately with pale faces and trembling hands.
I took a deep breath.
And as I looked around, I saw the camera bag hanging from one companion’s waist.
“You said you filmed it, is there any footage left? I think I should tell the family members when I meet them.”
“Ah, ah… yes!”
One person turned on the camera and showed me the video.
A shaking screen appeared.
-Hey, just run for now!
…Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s voice.
And the road screen captured as it moved away.
The sound of emergency alerts going off everywhere, and silhouettes of passersby flashing by.
-Why are they acting like that??
-Looking at the emergency text now… huh? Huh huh huh?
“Emergency alerts were going off, and we could see people who saw them joining the march. Like they were possessed by ghosts…”
-…Kids. Let’s all turn off our smartphones.
Something felt strange, so Journalist Eun told us all to turn off our phones…”
“So you all turned them off?”
“Yes. We were holding just the camera backwards like this, trying to film what was happening behind us while running away. But then… *sob*…”
The journalist group’s eyes contorted and tears flowed again.
“A person who was trying to escape in their car… suddenly swerved onto the sidewalk.”
“…!!”
I looked at the screen.
-Huh? Huh huh huh!?
-Ahhh!! Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!! Ahh!
-Go!
A loud crash.
The camera screen shook violently, and someone’s body being hit by the car, twisted and slammed to the ground, passed by.
“Journalist Eun pushed us away. Then she got hit by the car.”
“…”
“There was so much blood…”
I looked at Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je again.
They had tied her waist with cloth trying to stop the bleeding, but the abdominal hemorrhaging was too horrific to look at.
She probably died from shock as all her internal organs were crushed.
‘…Deputy Manager.’
I tried to calm myself by taking deep breaths.
“You… must have been close to Journalist Eun…”
“…”
I slowly nodded my head.
Next to me, I could see a companion unconsciously replaying the video they had filmed, as if wanting to forget the situation, and High School Student Ryu Jae-gwan watching it…
But then.
“That’s…”
“Yes? What’s… huh?”
A puzzled voice was heard.
“What’s at City Hall?”
…!
I reflexively turned my gaze back to the camera.
“What? Look at this.”
“No, here… what is this thing on the building?”
The paused frame of the shaky video had blurred silhouettes as if representing the urgent accident scene, but it was clearly visible.
Segwang City Hall in the upper left corner of the screen that the camera caught while moving wildly.
“…A balloon?”
The very top part of the city hall building next to the window had changed into a round, swollen shape.
A pale, round form.
Mysterious rainbow-like colors swirled around it.
“Looks like something that ate a ghost?”
“No, the color might be like that, but what is this… Could it be that the biochemical terror substance is contained in here? In balloon form?”
Convincing deduction followed.
However, it didn’t look like a balloon to me.
Rather…
‘A cocoon.’
Or.
‘…An egg.’
It looked like something was growing using the building as a nest…
‘…What the hell is growing?’
I somehow couldn’t take my eyes off the video and watched it…
“Agent.”
When I turned my head at the hand that grabbed my shoulder, I saw Ryu Jae-gwan’s pale face.
And I realized.
“Hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm hmm…”
Everyone watching the video was humming softly.
Goosebumps rose all over my body.
‘Damn.’
“We’ve seen enough. Thank you.”
I quickly moved as if wiping the camera and covered the screen.
The humming sound disappeared.
“…Ah.”
“Ah, no. Don’t mention it.”
And the journalist group finally came to their senses and gave appropriate responses.
…They didn’t seem to feel any sense of unease.
Do you know what’s even scarier?
When high school student Ryu Jae-gwan grabbed my shoulder, I was also humming…
‘I even ate the fruit the counseling teacher gave me.’
Yet I was still affected.
‘…No matter how I think about it, the counseling teacher… won’t even be able to attempt termination.’
But the train had already left, and I had chosen Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s corpse.
I felt like I’d be bathing in cold sweat.
“…So that’s how you ended up like this, journalist.”
“Yes…”
While the companions were distracted by the corpse, I swallowed and quickly put my hand on the camera screen to delete the video.
They might check later and curse at me, but being in a state to curse would be something, wouldn’t it?
“Um, do you happen to know where the journalist’s family lives? The body…”
“…”
The companions couldn’t bring themselves to continue.
“If it’s alright with everyone, I’ll take care of the journalist’s body and send it to the family.”
“…!!”
“Why…”
I spoke as calmly as possible.
…While looking down at the unfamiliar corpse of Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je.
“Because I know where the journalist’s family is. You all seem to be injured already… Take care of your own safety.”
“Ah…”
The companions’ expressions changed.
After showing the video to others, crying their hearts out, and spilling everything that happened to strangers, their reason seemed to have returned.
It would be incredibly difficult to carry around a corpse, but it was also hard to decide to just abandon it and leave.
And then someone appeared who would take care of it instead.
I could see them glancing at my outfit with new interest.
If I had worked with Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je, a social affairs journalist, they probably thought I was in a related profession, and some relief crossed their faces.
“Th-thank you.”
“Please take care of it…”
Eventually, the companions bowed several times, gathered their camera, and finally moved away together.
I heard voices saying the broadcasting station wouldn’t work, they should probably go home.
And so Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s corpse remained here.
“…”
“…”
I looked at high school student Ryu Jae-gwan.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Excuse me?”
“I abandoned the train and ran here without properly investigating, interfering with your plan, Agent.”
What are you talking about?
“And in the first place… because time was delayed rescuing me, this happened,”
“No.”
I grabbed Ryu Jae-gwan’s head.
“It’s absolutely not that, so don’t think that way. Got it?”
“…”
I barely managed to add jokingly.
“Then it would be my fault for not saving her.”
“That…!”
“You don’t think that’s true, right? I think the same way about student Jae-gwan. So let’s not blame individuals who are trying their best in disaster situations.”
“…Yes.”
Ryu Jae-gwan nodded, and his expression improved somewhat.
However, the high school student’s complexion turned pale again looking at the dead person.
To be honest, I want to wail too.
‘…What if she’s really dead?’
I become anxious because I don’t know what principle or how the situation works.
What if…
…What if she’s really dead.
‘…Is this how it ends?’
It doesn’t feel real.
In the noisy waiting room, Ryu Jae-gwan and I stood frozen, looking down at the corpse…
‘A way to save her.’
Even if I put her in the tattoo and carry her around, a corpse is still a corpse.
Rather, if I die now too, wouldn’t I perhaps come to my senses on the morning of May 4th, Segwang Special City’s disaster day?
But what if I’m a foreign substance that only appears this time and disappears from the next May 4th?
Or what if my memory completely disappears?
‘…Then I’m screwed.’
Cold sweat trickled down.
Is there no other way?
I kept looking at Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s corpse. There was something that looked like an ID card near her chest area.
A Broadcasting Station ID card.
‘…Broadcasting Station.’
Blood Broadcasting Station…
Twilight Station.
Delusional Home Shopping.
And what came to replace that home shopping…
‘…Flower Golden Resort Pop-up.’
…
…!
‘Brown.’
I swallowed.
‘Could the Segwang Special City Subway Station ghost stories I experienced and this place… be considered the same space?’
[Hmm. Someone could say that a calf and chateaubriand are the same existence too. Isn’t everything just a matter of environment and conditions?]
It was an eerie analogy, but I understood that ambiguity.
In the end, it depends on the observer’s perspective.
And such judgment criteria can also form important rules in ghost stories…
‘If that’s the case.’
It’s worth trying.
“Student Jae-gwan.”
I moved Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s body to a corner together with Ryu Jae-gwan.
And I began to work.
“What… are you doing?”
“…You could call it emergency treatment.”
Unlike my resolute hands, my mind was complicated.
Shouldn’t I be doing this?
But wouldn’t this be better than actually dying? If the day really repeats anyway…
Questions and fear kept circling in my head, but my hands continued to move desperately.
And after a moment.
The dead Journalist Eun Ha-je opened her eyes.
“…!!”
“Phew…”
High School Student Ryu Jae-gwan stared blankly at her sitting up as if she had just woken from a deep sleep.
At the sight of Journalist Eun Ha-je moving as if she had come back to life.
She frowned and looked at me with a wary expression.
“Who exactly are you?”
In a completely normal manner.
…I shoved the ‘Flower Golden Resort Employment Contract’ I had hidden behind my back back into my tattoo.
It worked.
* * *
“So you’re saying I’ve been revived now? Not after three days, not three hours, but in 30 minutes?”
“…You just regained consciousness from a state of apparent death.”
“Then why doesn’t it hurt like this?”
“Because of adrenaline.”
“Well, that’s a scientific explanation.”
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je, no, the ‘Journalist’ frowned while alternately looking at me and Ryu Jae-gwan with an expression like she was craving a cigarette.
Her appearance was so natural and human.
So Ryu Jae-gwan was looking back and forth between me and Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je with a confused expression, not understanding what was happening.
And I was thinking about the crude contract I had written…
Day Worker Contract
Right.
I had added a clause to Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s ‘Delusional Home Shopping Day Worker Contract’ that I possessed.
Specifically, work as a Cheerful Theme Park Employee.
The said employee will be transferred to Flower Golden Resort.
Just before, I thought of the ‘Heo-un’ workers who had been working at the Popup Store.
Especially the dead Jang Heo-un.
‘…When I called him into the Segwang Special City Subway Station, he suddenly came to his senses.’
As if that contaminated appearance from the ghost story where only the resort employee’s personality remained had never happened.
‘And this station is exactly Twilight Station where that Popup Store is located.’
The place where the ‘Cheerful Theme Park’ space I rented exists.
Wondering if it might be possible this time too because of that, I tried reviving Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je as ‘my employee’…
And it really was possible.
If it hadn’t worked properly and only the personality as a ‘Resort Employee’ had been revived, I was planning to erase the clause immediately.
Fortunately, that didn’t seem necessary.
‘Thank goodness…’
But could I really call this fortunate?
How is this even possible? When I don’t know the cause.
And is it right to… revive someone like this?
Wouldn’t leaving them dead here have allowed them to be saved later?
I can’t know.
‘No.’
Being alive is what’s important for now.
Being able to have conversations like this is what’s important!
I swallowed the surging anxiety and impatience for now, and with the most composed appearance possible, first restrained Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s excessive movements.
“You shouldn’t move your body too vigorously. It could be serious for your wounds.”
“Wounds? Hmm…”
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s expression became subtle as she looked down at her abdomen.
Because the traces of the tremendous blood loss remained intact.
I changed the subject to make her look away from there.
“I’ve given emergency treatment to stop the bleeding, and there shouldn’t be any danger to your life. Still, since the situation is urgent, let’s move. You need to get out of this city…”
“Hmm?”
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je burst into laughter.
“No, what am I supposed to trust to follow you?”
“…!”
“And I’m curious where all our kids ran off to and why some tall guy and a kid were staring at me.”
But without any chance to make excuses, the next sharp question came right under my chin.
“And do we know each other?”
“…You probably don’t know me, Journalist.”
“Then I guess only you know me one-sidedly. Looking at your face, anyone can see you’re looking at someone you know.”
“…!”
“Haha, that’s right. Well, so you were looking after someone who collapsed…”
And she rested her chin on her hand.
“So, why should I accompany a stranger?”
“…”
“Well, I can tell just by looking at your expression that you don’t have any ill intentions… but in this terrorist situation, after even getting hit by a car.”
And she waved her hand dismissively.
“I don’t usually accompany suspicious people. Well, take care.”
I realized.
‘…This is going to be difficult to persuade easily.’
If I told her I was an agent, she’d probably sneer at me.
The current Eun Ha-je ‘journalist’ strangely didn’t hide her sharpness more than the Deputy Manager I knew, and she sparkled with confidence and self-assurance.
I saw those two eyes shining sharply even in the noisy and desperate waiting room.
In that case.
“…What if I help you escape from this chaos, journalist?”
“Well.”
“Then what if I give you a scoop?”
The other person’s eyes changed.
As if we could finally communicate properly.
“What kind of scoop?”
“Something related to terrorism.”
I said quietly.
“Journalist. From now on, I’m going to uncover the cause and identity of this terrorism.”
Journalist Eun Ha-je’s eyes lit up, then she extended her hand.
“Deal.”
“…”
“Looks like we’re in the same industry. Please take care of me.”
I shook hands.
‘…She doesn’t seem to believe me.’
It was purely an observer’s gaze.
Still, I suppose it’s fortunate that I got permission to accompany her.
Then, Ryu Jae-gwan whispered from beside me.
“Um, Agent. So we’re taking the subway to Segwang Station?”
But Journalist Eun Ha-je interrupted.
“Going to Segwang Station? Is the subway still running?”
Hmm.
“It was running in only one direction.”
“…That’s strange. Usually when something like terrorism happens, trains either pass through without stopping or halt operations entirely. Didn’t you get any contact from control?”
“There were station masters over on that platform.”
“Hmm. Then it’s not a completely abandoned situation.”
Journalist Eun Ha-je, who had been tilting her head, smiled anyway and fully stood up.
“Anyway, operating in such a strange way means there’s definitely something going on. Let’s go catch it.”
“…!”
“You said you’re going to Segwang Station. Right?”
I briefly hesitated.
…I had delayed quite a bit with this matter, so I couldn’t guarantee that moving outside the subway would be safe anymore.
I needed to recalculate.
‘In that case.’
Moving within this subway for now, then waiting for the crowds to pass before going out wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
Since the subway is relatively safe.
And if I visit Segwang Station to gather information, there are few people with abilities comparable to Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je in that area.
“…Good. I’ll move to Segwang Station together.”
“Okay.”
I looked at my former superior speaking refreshingly and smiled faintly.
Even in this situation, she was still reliable.
So we ended up taking the subway a step late and moving to Segwang Station.
In search of traces of the counseling teacher.
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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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