Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 355

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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 355

The exit leading to the surface.

The crumpled paper that left my hand flew in an arc toward that place where distorted shapes were reflected….

It was swallowed.

“Oh.”

“…Did you see the paper go through?”

“Not that, it just disappeared.”

Whew.

‘Did it really make it outside properly?’

I held my breath and waited.

The silhouettes beyond the exit rippled as if a pebble had been thrown into a spring, and then….

…Thud.

“…!”

The crumpled paper came back into the tracks.

I left it rolling on the floor for a moment, then after confirming there were no other abnormalities, I hurriedly picked it up.

“That’s strange. It seemed to disappear for a moment then bounce back after hitting a wall.”

“…I see.”

And on the paper I unfolded, the same words were written.

I see.

…Manager.

Did you escape outside?

And the moment I read that sentence, I saw the Manager’s handwriting disappear from the crumpled paper.

“…!”

…As if being dragged back to the sealed surface of Segwang Special City.

“….”

I pressed firmly and wrote a reply below where it had disappeared.

That’s right.

I quickly wrote down that I was able to get outside with the counselor’s help, and that I was safe.

“Are there still people out there who haven’t woken up?”

“That’s right.”

And….

Was escape through the outskirts impossible?

…The three people still haven’t woken up.

‘From the circumstances, the escape… must have failed.’

It seems there was a problem with the method of going outside on foot, unlike the train.

‘Is it because it was through the surface rather than through the air?’

And thinking about why these people were standing at this track exit….

Perhaps Manager Lee Ja-heon had similar thoughts to mine.

So you came here to find a way to return to the subway using the passage the train shelter escaped through?

This maintenance track was the only method we had experienced for going from underground to the surface.

So perhaps you were researching whether it might be possible to return to the subway that wasn’t May 4th in reverse….

Sure enough, the paper I sent had a short answer written on it.

Yes.

Escape through the outskirts is not suitable for two people.

So that’s how it was….

Wait a minute.

‘Then you kept meeting those two people and bringing them here every time?’

How many times did you try?

Were you continuously attempting this while May 4th was repeating?

I anxiously crumpled it up again and threw it outside.

This time too, the paper was swallowed outside and came back.

But.

It did not repeat.

…Huh?

The moment I read the next words, my mind went blank.

2 hours and 17 minutes have passed since Noru disappeared from the collapsed station facility.

Wait a minute.

It’s still

the same day I escaped?

….

Yes.

I pulled my nearly confused mind together.

[Oh, my goodness! It’s as if time has frozen only beyond there!]

What… is going on here?

But the moment I saw the exit rippling and reflecting silhouettes, a prediction flashed through my mind.

Unstable sealing.

‘Did May 4th become fixed because something went wrong with the sealing ritual…?’

Like a cracked hourglass.

Originally, the flow of time that should return to the past on that morning has a hole in it and leaks out, so the sand doesn’t accumulate.

May 4th seems to be slowly solidifying inside there….

Wait, wait a minute.

‘Then the difficulty of attempting termination….’

I had originally planned to rush to City Hall early in the morning, the moment the disaster began.

Using the Joyful Research Institute Segwang Station floor, racing through the corridors there that hadn’t burned yet, and going to the rooftop through the emergency staircase.

Then I could finish it at the least dangerous time, when the disaster text hadn’t spread yet and chaos hadn’t erupted.

The safest and most likely method.

But if it turns out like this….

‘That becomes impossible.’

I have to attempt the conclusion in Segwang Special City in the afternoon when the disaster is in full swing.

Breaking through the rooftop where the cocoon has already swollen up.

‘…Damn.’

Just imagining it made me dizzy.

And even if I succeed.

‘That’s the end.’

That May 4th that I experienced becomes fixed.

The dead agents and people remain as they are.

…The counselor too, in a melted state after sending me off, that’s how it ends.

“….”

Rather.

‘Should I… let the Disaster Management Bureau… proceed with re-containment?’

So May 4th repeats again?

Then I could attempt the conclusion that morning. Under the best conditions….

‘No!’

I froze cold as I fell into thought.

‘The moment they re-contain it, I’ll forget everything about Segwang Special City too.’

Meaning it’s impossible from the start!

Since information and awareness about Segwang Special City would be deleted once more from that point, perhaps this time not only I but Ho Yu-won might forget about Segwang Special City too.

‘Then it just ends.’

Everything about the Joyful Research Institute, about Segwang Special City… all of it.

Moreover, that wasn’t the only thing bothering me.

‘…I don’t know what Agent Choi might do in the meantime.’

That person seemed to be targeting the re-containment attempt itself to cause some incident.

….

‘Ha.’

With the feeling that my brain would burn from stress, I took a breath.

This is driving me crazy….

“Ooh.”

…?

“This looks decent.”

I turned my head.

Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae, who had moved away from my side, was rummaging around near the railway tracks.

After examining various fallen materials here and there, he picked up a long… piece of rebar…?

“What, what are you doing?”

“Making something to try with. Heave!”

Seong Hae smiled as he held out the rebar that was easy to grip.

“Try sticking this outside!”

I reflexively looked back at the exit.

And it struck me like lightning.

“You want them to grab this from the other side?”

“Yes. You seemed to recognize the paper, right? I thought the rebar might work the same way!”

“…!”

It was definitely worth trying!

“I’m strong, you know. Hurry up.”

I reflexively took the rebar.

“Dolphin said the exit isn’t perceived, right.”

“Yes. So Noru needs to stick it outside! If you grab it from outside, we’ll try pulling once!”

“Understood. Just a moment.”

I will stick out an iron rod, so please grab it. I will try pulling.

I threw that paper beyond the exit, then waited a moment.

It seemed like time flowed properly only briefly when communicating with me, so waiting appropriately should be fine.

And after the paper returned again.

Yes.

I grabbed the rebar and stuck it outside the exit.

“…!”

A strange resistance.

Or along with a feeling like being sucked in, when the rebar went halfway outside, I gripped the rebar more firmly.

“Oh, it looks like exactly half disappeared.”

Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae’s hand gripped the rebar together above mine.

And after waiting a moment.

We began slowly pulling the rebar.

…I can feel heavy resistance.

“Pull harder!”

Without time to answer, I pulled the rebar. With a crackling sound, the scenery outside suddenly flickered clearly and distorted again. Continuously, continuously pulling the rebar….

A powerless right hand popped out from the exit.

“…!!”

Seeing the pale white hand placed on the rebar, I pulled the rebar more strongly. After that, an arm, a left hand, shoulders emerged, and….

The moment the rebar came completely out of the exit.

The bodies of two people hanging on it came tumbling down onto the tracks.

“Gasp,”

I let go of the rebar and immediately caught both of them with both hands….

Cold.

“….”

Cold and rigidly stiff, powerlessly limp human bodies were caught in my hands.

Deputy Manager Lee Seong-hae lifted Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je’s arm from beside me and let it drop.

Thud.

“Oh my, it’s a corpse.”

“….”

I looked at the corpse of the Bronze Agent caught above my head, at the pale complexion of the deceased.

The corpses of the two people who died at Delusional Home Shopping were in my hands.

“~!”

I endured the chills and fear crawling up my hands. And slowly, slowly laid the two people down on the floor….

My heart pounds violently.

But as the surprise faded, a positive signal briefly flashed.

‘…Is this success?’

Right.

Originally, when you died in the subway, you would wake up outside, so returning as an immobile corpse like this… isn’t this actually normal?

‘It’s like a signal that they’ve awakened outside.’

It had been strangely twisted because of the Delusional Home Shopping contract, but looking at the current situation… it seems like those constraints were lifted while passing through the even more distorted Segwang Special City surface.

Perhaps both of them have awakened in reality.

My mind cleared with that assumption.

‘…But why can’t I see Manager Lee Ja-heon?’

I urgently raised my head and stared at the exit where sunlight was streaming in…

…

“The silhouettes are still visible.”

“Huh?”

There are still three of them.

Right now I’m holding two corpses in my hands, but I could still see the two shadowy figures behind Manager Lee Ja-heon that were visible from outside the exit.

“…”

My blood runs cold.

I put down the corpses and wrote a note with trembling hands.

The corpses of Deputy Manager and Agent have come in.

But why are the shadowy figures I see still three people?

And did Manager intentionally not grab the iron rod?

Cold sweat flows down.

However, the reply was clear this time as well.

Yes.

“…”

I placed the two people on the iron rod first.

Considering the difference in physical strength between us, this was a judgment made in case Noru’s plan doesn’t proceed as predicted.

…It seems like he sent the two people first because he was worried that I might be dragged outside instead due to Lizard’s insane physical force.

I could understand that much. But…

However, the iron rod disappeared again at the exit point, and the two people fell into the underground railway tracks.

They have now returned to their original positions.

Can you see them?

I can see them.

So, the dead bodies of the two people who were judged as ‘objects’ through the rebar came over here…

But they’re also over there.

Journalist Eun Ha-je and High School Student Ryu Jae-gwan.

‘…What the hell?’

What are they supposed to be?

[This is quite a puzzling situation!]

[‘What came inside but also exists outside?’ If this were a nonsense quiz, something like a button would be an appropriate answer, but unfortunately, this is the literal situation.]

The literal situation.

I looked at the corpses of the two people in my arms, then looked outside again…

Suddenly I think.

Did I misjudge the premise?

‘…They weren’t alive to begin with.’

The two people were already dead bodies even inside the train.

Their spirits were just trapped here, bound by the Delusional Home Shopping contract.

So, the conditions were different from me and Manager Lee Ja-heon from the very beginning.

Already trapped beings.

‘Entering May 4th while being corpses…’

And the two people I met were in a completely past state, unlike us two, they had no memories.

That… perhaps.

They didn’t lose their memories.

‘Were they really beings from the past from the beginning…?’

Were the spirits of Ryu Jae-gwan from his high school days and Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je from her journalist days really dragged in and trapped there…?

-Escape through the outskirts is not suitable for those two people.

“…”

Was escape through the outskirts impossible because of this kind of time distortion?

‘This is insane.’

What exactly is the sequence here?

No, first…

Are the two people safe?

Are there any other problems?

I threw that toward the exit again.

And I opened the paper that came back.

Agent.

…It’s High School Student Ryu Jae-gwan’s handwriting.

The slightly trembling handwriting, as if holding back fear, was written firmly and boldly.

Both the journalist and I are fine.

I’m glad you’re safe.

“…”

A sigh escaped without me knowing.

‘…How can I save them?’

First, let me assess the situation first.

“Dolphin Deputy, could you check on the Fox Counseling Room? I’d like you to confirm whether Deputy Manager Peregrine Falcon has awakened.”

“You want me to go check by myself?”

“Yes. I’ll stay here and guard this place. Since there are people right outside, I need to be prepared in case an emergency situation occurs.”

But I won’t keep communicating with outside the corridor just because I’m anxious.

If the time on Segwang Special City surface is really solidifying, it would be better not to communicate unnecessarily so that more time doesn’t pass.

I watched the letters disappear from the returned paper.

…The corpses, perhaps because they originally belonged to this place, weren’t sucked in.

“Wait a minute.”

Click.

When I turned my head, toy handcuffs were fastened to my wrist and connected to the railway tracks.

“…?!”

The plastic yet strangely rusted thing has an eerie graffiti that reads ‘Hide and Seek Ghost-nim’.

Somehow my hands felt cold. As if caught by a ghost.

“Oh, it’s a simple restraint item! Since you asked me to catch them so they don’t go through the exit, I’m leaving something to do it instead of me!”

“…Thank you.”

She’s incredibly thorough….

“Then I’ll be going!”

And Dolphin Deputy walked out behind the railway tracks.

I was left like that in the sunlight, together with the two corpses.

“….”

Outside the exit, silhouettes are still visible.

I deliberately turn away to avoid looking at them, worried it might affect time, and think.

…My head feels heavy.

‘No, I still have to do it.’

There’s still time left, and I will extract the best choice from this situation.

“I can do it.”

Speaking it out loud made me feel a bit better.

Right, first….

My speculation.

“First. Currently, time is flowing very slowly on May 4th in Segwang Special City.”

The day I experienced continues, so it’s impossible to enter by targeting the morning of the repeating day before the sealing ends.

…Current situation. I have to enter in the afternoon and break through. By any means necessary.

“Second. The Journalist and High School Student are really those people from the past.”

The fact that Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je and Bronze Agent’s corpses were retrieved to the subway but those people couldn’t cross over means they weren’t spirits originating from the subway in the first place.

It seems like the moment May 4th restarts, it revives the corpses, and to fill the mental void, it really summoned people from the past….

And in all this situation, what I need to do hasn’t changed.

“Before re-sealing, termination….”

….

And.

If those two people are really from the past, do they return to their bodies from that past time the moment the seal is broken?

How exactly did people from the past enter? Did it only pull in their spirits?

“Did it get mixed with other pasts?”

“Since the Segwang Special City sealing ritual deals with time, there’s a possibility that past existences could appear jumbled up inside it. …Grape.”

…!!

I turned my head.

I saw a shadowy figure walking up from down the railway tracks.

Not the small and petite height like Lee Seong-hae, but a person of much taller stature.

It’s Agent Choi.

“….”

I almost reflexively stepped back, then realized that behind me was the surface of Segwang Special City and stopped.

The handcuffs on my hands rattled.

Agent Choi’s expression becomes strange as he sees them.

“What’s that about….”

“….”

“No, it’s fine. Whatever.”

The bewilderment on Agent Choi’s face was momentary, and soon it sank back into a tired complexion.

Though it was a completely unexpected encounter, I instead clenched my fists tightly.

‘This is an opportunity.’

Now would be the timing.

I will somehow gain this person’s cooperation and improve the situation.

This wasn’t the time to put forward emotions. This is a situation where I need to reach an agreement somehow, share all the information I have, and persuade him.

‘…I have to extract everything.’

I stared at my opponent with a clear mind.

Agent Choi gazes at the railway tracks and opens his mouth.

“…You weren’t in the counseling room.”

“….”

“If it were you, I thought you’d probably be checking for entry routes around now.”

“….”

“…Want to sit over there?”

I asked cautiously from behind, preparing to respond to any potential situation.

“Did you come to have a conversation?”

“Yes.”

And Agent Choi sat down first.

In a distant spot, at least twice the height of an adult male away from me.

‘How should I bring it up.’

I chose calmly.

…This person doesn’t believe my words. Then wouldn’t it be better to say something he’d find easier to believe?

But the moment I thought that far.

“What you wanted to hear, I’ll tell you everything.”

…!

“Everything, including what exactly I’m trying to do.”

Agent Choi began speaking in a low, emotionless voice.

About the method he had intended to use.

—————
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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