Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 350

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work Episode 350

 

I told Ho Yu-won everything I had experienced on the ground level of Segwang Special City, honestly and without omission.

 

About the repeating May 4th.

 

What had happened, what kind of being the counseling teacher I met was.

 

What he had gone through.

 

“….”

 

Amidst the flood of stories, Ho Yu-won sat silently on the sofa and listened to all of it….

 

At first, he seemed confused, as if he didn’t quite understand why he had accepted my handshake or why he was sitting on the sofa, but as the story progressed, that confusion was swept away.

 

As if everything had been washed away by the flood of truth he had so desperately yearned for.

 

[But will that plague truly trust his friend’s words so readily? Perhaps suspicion might grow and lead to cunning judgment.]

 

[Or, what about the possibility that it might actually interfere with Noru’s plan?]

 

…I don’t know.

 

But this felt right.

 

While Ho Yu-won bore responsibility for what he had done as a director of Daydream Company, he equally deserved to hear about what had happened in Segwang Special City.

 

He had the right to properly know about both what he had done and what had been done to him.

 

“…And so, I came outside together with you.”

 

“….”

 

A thick silence flowed into the space where the truth had been poured out.

 

“Teacher?”

 

“I see.”

 

Ho Yu-won’s mouth slowly opened.

 

“It was Director Cheong, then….”

 

“….”

 

“So I’ve been living all this time with the biggest culprit who made me into this state.”

 

“Teacher.”

 

“It must have been quite enjoyable, wasn’t it? Watching the deceived one being deceived again.”

 

However, his voice wasn’t boiling with anger.

 

Rather… it sounded hollow and dry.

 

“But I’m not angry. …Unlike when I think of the Disaster Management Bureau, there’s no surging resentment.”

 

“….”

 

“I wonder why.”

 

An emotionless voice could be heard.

 

“Perhaps I’m not the counseling teacher you met. Seeing as I can’t feel the emotions he should rightfully feel….”

 

“….”

 

“…All that remains in me is overwhelming resentment and sadness toward the Disaster Management Bureau.”

 

That voice echoed hollowly through the counseling room.

 

“Why…?”

 

“….”

 

“Perhaps I’m… something that can’t even be called his alter ego. A small remnant that he cast off to see you off.”

 

Ho Yu-won’s voice continued slowly.

 

“But I was deluding myself alone because of the traces of intense emotions that counseling teacher must have felt at the time. …That I was that counseling teacher.”

 

The counseling room shook.

 

“But I was nothing at all….”

 

The space grew dim, and the being before my eyes began to distort.

 

As if the sleep I had been holding back would pour out at any moment and all of this would disappear into darkness, flickering and becoming dizzy in that shock….

 

I looked at him.

 

“But you’re the one who saved me.”

 

“…!”

 

“And you use the same name.”

 

I could hear his breathing.

 

“Ho Yu-won. …Using the character Ho meaning ‘protect’, Yu meaning ‘clear’, and Won meaning ‘help’.”

 

I realized something.

 

“That’s… the name I told the counselor on May 4th.”

 

Ah.

 

I see.

 

The order was reversed.

 

“I… had given your name to the counselor.”

 

“…!”

 

“So… you’re not a small remnant but clearly exist here. You gave yourself a name.”

 

“….”

 

“And you’re here having inherited that name.”

 

The things that were disappearing stopped.

 

Ho Yu-won raised his head.

 

…I saw an indescribable smile on his face.

 

I couldn’t tell if he was crying or laughing.

 

“…Then in fact, my name was originally given by you, Soleum.”

 

“Are you okay with that?”

 

“Of course…. It’s a wonderful name.”

 

“….”

 

That was a relief.

 

Looking at the counseling room and counselor who had regained their existence, I began speaking again.

 

“And… it seems rather normal that emotions don’t change overnight just because you suddenly know the truth.”

 

“….”

 

“You said it yourself, didn’t you? That emotions originally have no logic.”

 

It would have been stranger if anger suddenly surged toward Director Cheong just from hearing my words without any memories.

 

So….

 

“From now on, which direction you shape those feelings is also your own responsibility, isn’t it.”

 

Ho Yu-won stared at me blankly.

 

I spoke with emphasis.

 

“Teacher, I want to terminate the Segwang Special City disaster and free the people of May 4th. The citizens.”

 

And after thinking, I added.

 

“So, based on the dream essence liquid from there… I want to find a way to return home. …I’m moving with these reasons.”

 

“….”

 

“Isn’t it similar for you, Teacher?”

 

“What do you mean,”

 

“Previously, you admitted that what you were looking for in Segwang Special City was yourself.”

 

“…I did.”

 

“Yes. You said that was the reason you persistently tried to enter the sealed Segwang Special City.”

 

“….”

 

“But… I think there might have been another underlying reason from the beginning.”

 

Not something created through self-deduction, but a fundamental motive.

 

Something that definitely existed even if he couldn’t remember it.

 

The reason he frantically searched for Segwang Special City.

 

The remaining emotion.

 

-I have a place to go to terminate this disaster. There’s something I need to find.

 

Perhaps… what Ho Yu-won was looking for hadn’t changed since then.

 

“You… wanted to find a way to terminate the disaster in Segwang Special City, didn’t you.”

 

So, weren’t you trying to figure out a way to rescue the citizens there.

 

Continuously, for all this long time.

 

“….”

 

“And Teacher. Either way, the goal hasn’t changed.”

 

I said with emphasis.

 

“Whether as Ho Yu-won searching for himself, or… as a counseling teacher of Segwang Special City. From now on, won’t you cooperate in ending that disaster?”

 

“…”

 

“Just as you wanted.”

 

Ho Yu-won’s eyes trembled.

 

I waited.

 

Soon the other person slowly raised his head and… looked at me and nodded.

 

And said.

 

“…Thank you.”

 

“Yes.”

 

That was enough.

 

* * *

 

“…So, you obtained Director Ho’s full cooperation last night?”

 

“That’s what happened.”

 

Agent Hae-geum, you look like you have a lot to say and can’t believe it at all…

 

I looked at Agent Hae-geum whom I contacted again at an abandoned rural house in Gangwon-do.

 

The agent sighed and looked at me with an expression of going crazy.

 

“…Seeing that he sent you back safely is fortunate for now, but did he believe those words? Agent Choi is going to come running foaming at the mouth as soon as the tracking ritual ends.”

 

Hmm.

 

“So I brought back a written pledge.”

 

“A… pledge?”

 

“Yes.”

 

I took out a Fox Counseling Room nameplate and showed the back of it.

 

I, Ho Yu-won, pledge to fully cooperate in the supernatural disaster termination that Kim Sol-eum is conducting.

 

And at the bottom was stamped a fox paw print.

 

“…”

 

“I also have a mutual employment contract with this individual, so the effect should be certain. As you know, a pledge made by a supernatural being staking their name has meaning in itself…”

 

“What kind of reckless thing did you do!”

 

Ahhhhh.

 

I didn’t avoid Agent Hae-geum’s hands and got hit a few times.

 

My back hurt…

 

But since I didn’t make Agent Choi-style remarks like ‘But it worked out well,’ Agent Hae-geum, who stopped hitting me soon after to avoid earning more beatings, sighed and asked.

 

“What happened to Young-eun?”

 

“She re-entered the subway station from there using a safe method.”

 

-I’ll handle this.

 

That was her saying she would check the condition of the potion manufacturing device I had entrusted to the researchers.

 

‘Although Ho Yu-won pledged full cooperation, honestly it’s difficult to completely trust new personnel in the project.’

 

Having Go Young-eun do it was something to be grateful for if thinking only in terms of work efficiency.

 

Of course, to be precise, my attempt to enter together was also cut off at Young-eun’s discretion.

 

-Noru, you just disappeared there and woke up yesterday. We don’t know what might happen if you go back in.

 

-It would be better to enter after it’s verified that you won’t disappear again at minimum.

 

But there was no time to verify.

 

Moreover, I wanted to emphasize that we had to enter within a week anyway to attempt termination, but my objections weren’t accepted.

 

So Young-eun entered the Long-term Hospitalization Room.

 

Together with the Security Chief.

 

-Then… let’s go.

 

-Y, yes…

 

…Although she did receive the snacks that the Security Chief seemed to have prepared with quite awkward movements, the atmosphere wasn’t too bad.

 

Rather, it had a nuance like she had received some advice.

 

And I came back to Gangwon-do to inform the agents of the progress.

 

‘I can’t delay time.’

 

Although things with Ho Yu-won went well and gave me some breathing room, it wasn’t actually a situation to be relaxed.

 

It was a situation where the countdown to hell’s arrival had begun.

 

‘I mustn’t forget.’

 

I steadied my increasingly anxious heart and said.

 

“So as soon as the potion manufacturing device’s condition is checked, I plan to try the termination method we discovered.”

 

“About that.”

 

Agent Hae-geum’s sigh was heard.

 

“That termination method you’re trying to attempt is excessively vague and suspicious to begin with.”

 

“…”

 

“Do you understand the principle?”

 

-Then somehow steal the dream cultivation device that Baekillmong Corporation copied

 

And try installing it in the remaining Joyful Research Institute facilities

 

“…”

 

“Apparently not.”

 

That was true.

 

“But there is a place I can guess.”

 

“…!”

 

The repeating May 4th.

 

I could analyze this hint based on what I experienced on that disaster day.

 

-Director Cheong put a small music box inside the cultivation device tank.

 

‘This disaster occurred because the dream cultivation device used for experiments was tampered with in the first place.’

 

And that tampering was Director Cheong’s doing.

 

Then.

 

Wouldn’t Director Cheong have considered a similar possibility?

 

That someday someone might pull off something similar to what he did.

 

[Indeed!]

 

So the stolen dream cultivation device, that is, Baekillmong’s version… probably had some special safety device prepared in anticipation of that.

 

Since he had once turned a cultivation device into a bomb, a preventive measure to stop others from doing the same.

 

Or…

 

A cleanup method for after it exploded.

 

[An interesting reasoning approach.]

 

And practically speaking, there’s only one place left in the remaining Joyful Research Institute facilities that didn’t burn.

 

‘…The rooftop.’

 

Then everything falls into place.

 

-Install the Baekillmong potion manufacturing device in the dream cultivation device’s spot on the rooftop.

 

This sentence is completed.

 

And I… think this is worth trying.

 

If it doesn’t work, it’s the end anyway.

 

So I spoke honestly to Agent Hae-geum.

 

“And even if we don’t try, it’s hell anyway, isn’t it.”

 

At that moment, a tired and dry voice was heard.

 

“I agree with that too.”

 

“Agent Choi.”

 

…!

 

I looked at that agent who appeared behind me.

 

He was smiling out of habit, but his eyes were darkly sunken.

 

Still, when our eyes met, they sparkled slightly with joy.

 

Like before.

 

And I give a bitter smile.

 

“At least when Grape causes trouble, she cleans up after herself, so that’s better.”

 

“….”

 

“…Agent Choi, was there anything different about the containment?”

 

“No. It’s exactly the same. …The countdown has started. There’s no other movement from the Management Bureau either.”

 

Agent Choi, who skillfully gathered the ritual knife and bell, sat down on the worn linoleum floor and spoke matter-of-factly.

 

“Cheongdong-i also… shows no signs of waking up yet.”

 

“….”

 

“…But he’s definitely alive in there, right? …In the form of a high school student.”

 

“Yes.”

 

I spoke with emphasis once again.

 

As if making a promise to myself.

 

“Manager Lee Ja-heon definitely had his memories intact. He’s the most capable among the Field Investigation Team members I’ve seen, and personality-wise… he’s a good person. Since he’s protecting him… even if they can’t come out, they’ll be safe.”

 

“…Right.”

 

Agent Choi, who had been silent, soon brightened his voice and spoke energetically.

 

“Alright, then we need to keep fighting until the resolution. Really.”

 

“…Yes.”

 

“….”

 

Agent Hae-geum looked at both of us with a contemplative expression, but ultimately remained quietly silent.

 

Agent Choi filled the silence with a grin.

 

“For now, eat and rest a bit more, Grape. Resolution also comes from physical strength, you know?”

 

“….”

 

“Right?”

 

“I understand….”

 

While eating with the agents, I recalled the conversation I had with Ho Yu-won.

 

About the other thing that had been bothering me.

 

Specifically, the whereabouts of Ho Yu-won’s fox bead.

 

I couldn’t help but search for it, remembering the counselor’s words who had asserted it would ‘help with the resolution.’

 

-Given the flow of events, Director Cheong most likely took the teacher’s fox bead.

 

-Have you ever felt anything strange around Director Cheong? Something like a familiar feeling?

 

But….

 

-I’ve never experienced that.

 

Ho Yu-won’s answer was definitive.

 

-Even if there really was something, I can’t guarantee I’d be perceptive enough to notice it. I don’t even remember what that fox bead looked like.

 

-…However, as you said, I might feel some degree of familiarity.

 

Sigh.

 

I’m anxious.

 

‘…I want to search Director Cheong’s quarters.’

 

But just thinking about it makes my survival instincts raise every hair on my head. The ingrained fear springs up first, suppressing my antipathy and anger.

 

…It’s scary.

 

Like a ghost story.

 

‘Ha.’

 

-If it’s something that absolutely needs to be investigated, please leave it to me.

 

-…You need to be careful.

 

Director Cheong already knew I had escaped from Seegwang Special City.

 

He would guess that what he had done had already reached Director Ho through me….

 

‘He’s definitely preparing something.’

 

A situation that makes me break out in cold sweat just thinking about approaching it.

 

But I can’t not investigate.

 

-Of course. I need to be careful.

 

‘I should also look for other methods.’

 

…For now, I began investigating Director Cheong’s background while waiting for contact from Go Young-eun and the Security Chief.

 

A few hours later.

 

“Noru, I’ve confirmed it.”

 

I meet Go Young-eun again inside the Fox Counseling Room, her face pale white.

 

“Are all the researchers okay?”

 

“…They’re living about as well as the people in the train shelter. The machine is fine too. They really did repair it. But….”

 

This was unexpected.

 

“The researchers found something strange inside the machine while repairing it.”

 

“What?”

 

“Just in case, I took a photo. Wait a moment.”

 

I watched tensely as Young-eun pulled out her smartphone and showed me an image.

 

The object photographed against the backdrop of the old, massive machine was….

 

A black music box.

 

“….”

 

Wait,

 

wait a minute.

 

“Strange, right? The pattern from the tape at the Body Casino is here too. The conch shell.”

 

Cold sweat runs down my temples.

 

On the surface of that music box, unfamiliar golden letters were carved.

 

Characters unknown to humans.

 

“…Noru?”

 

I stared at that image, frozen.

 

Though I couldn’t read it myself, these were familiar letters that I had read before with Brown’s help….

 

[Oh, it’s ‘Angel’s Sigh’!]

 

That was….

 

-Director Cheong placed a small music box inside the cultivation tank.

 

The cause of Seegwang Special City’s disaster day.

 

“….”

 

“N, Noru?”

 

“Sanyang.”

 

“I’m going to meet the researchers right away.”

 

D-5 until the arrival of disaster day.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————