Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work - Chapter 97

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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 097

When I discovered the shoes at the front door, at first I thought that bastard Baek Sa-heon had finally come home to the company housing.

‘Did he finally gain some courage after several days?’

Or maybe he heard rumors that I hadn’t returned from the ghost story today and hurried inside.

‘But I just got off work.’

So I was contemplating how to deal with that guy who would be in his room right now.

-Oh my, Noru. Listening to your story, it seems there’s been a slight misunderstanding!

A misunderstanding?

-Those shoes have been in the same spot every evening, friend.

“…!”

What?

No way. When I left on the first day, there was definitely nothing at this front door….

‘…Wait a minute.’

I suddenly recalled the last time I saw Baek Sa-heon.

Sekwang Technical High School.

The sight of him causing chaos between the confronting Disaster Management Bureau and Field Investigation Team, then running away with an item.

And the effect of that fountain pen-shaped item he was carrying was….

‘Mind control.’

“….”

I looked down at my hand.

The silver ring.

The mental defense item I purchased today.

‘…Aha.’

So that’s how it was.

Baek Sa-heon hadn’t been leaving before me and coming back after me, or commuting from somewhere else entirely.

He had been returning to the company housing all along.

He had just placed a suggestion on me.

To prevent me from recognizing him.

‘But it doesn’t work on me now.’

Thanks to the silver ring that defends my mind, I had ‘witnessed’ Baek Sa-heon’s shoes for the first time in several days.

“…Ha.”

Good grief.

I’m already feeling sick and exhausted to death, and now I have to worry about this kind of thing at home too….

-Ah, what a perfectly fitting deduction, like a puzzle piece falling into place!

-But… isn’t it traditional and instructive plot for those who try to deceive someone to pay a price?

Brown’s voice carried sinister pleasure.

Normally I would have been terrified, but….

Hmm.

‘Brown.’

-What is it, friend?

‘How about we try something fun from now on?’

I grinned wickedly despite my throbbing headache.

‘It’ll be right up your alley.’

-…!!

‘Phew.’

As soon as the noise from the front door subsided, Baek Sa-heon carefully got up from his bed.

‘What the hell was that bastard doing instead of going straight to his room?’

It had already been several days since he came out of Sekwang Technical High School. He had been living in hiding at the company housing as quietly as possible.

To avoid being caught by Kim Sol-eum!

‘…At first I used it just thinking I was screwed.’

Imagine waking up in the morning with a psychopath harboring a grudge against you waiting in the adjacent room!

Thinking he didn’t know what would happen if he faced Kim Sol-eum, he had made it so his traces and presence couldn’t be perceived.

‘It really was a decent item.’

That psychopath hadn’t noticed at all!

Even so, he desperately avoided him within the company housing in case the suggestion wore off, and didn’t make unnecessary sounds even in his room.

He had thought about trying stronger mind control or suggestion, but was too terrified of the consequences if it failed….

Still though.

‘…Couldn’t I try something a bit stronger soon?’

The suggestion had been successfully maintained for several days. He was starting to think maybe he could try taking some risks.

Like making him throw his body on the line to save him if something happened at the company. Or if he got good items, making him hand them over and then think he lost them….

‘Hmm.’

Moreover, he heard that the darkness Kim Sol-eum entered this time was an alley where you could obtain various equipment and items.

It was news he heard from Jang Heo-un, who was on the same team.

‘…I’m jealous.’

Baek Sa-heon briefly clenched his fist, thinking of the colleague from the cleanup team who had joined his team.

He needed opportunities to obtain items too. More opportunities…!

He felt like he could place suggestions on his company colleagues and quietly steal their items….

‘But I can’t do that right now!’

The fountain pen could only place suggestions on one person at a time. As long as it was being used entirely on Kim Sol-eum, using it on others was out of reach.

It was frustrating.

‘I really need to squeeze more out of Kim Sol-eum.’

Now was the perfect timing.

‘Let me make a plan.’

Once Kim Sol-eum falls asleep today, I’ll use the fountain pen to….

He opened the door to drink some water while drawing up plans in his head.

And he was startled out of his wits.

“…!”

Kim Sol-eum was in the dark kitchen.

He was sitting at the dining table, laying out what looked like snacks and examining their packaging.

And in the center of the dining table was a fluffy stuffed doll placed on a cushion.

The creepy rabbit-shaped doll that Kim Sol-eum called ‘Brown’ and carried around everywhere.

“What? You’re saying it looks cheap?”

He flinched.

“Right. It must be some kind of conceptual snack. Since it was a stationery store.”

‘That crazy bastard.’

He’s having a conversation with the doll again.

‘Why isn’t he going into his room and still out here doing this shit…!’

Baek Sa-heon shuddered and tried to go back to his room… but hesitated.

Wasn’t this natural encounter actually an opportunity?

Without having to try anything separately, it seemed like perfect timing to strengthen the suggestion.

“…”

Baek Sa-heon made up his mind and took out his fountain pen.

And quietly moved his feet.

“Right. But even items like this have their own effects.”

Toward Kim Sol-eum’s back.

Going right behind that psychopath who was talking to himself, to use the fountain pen…

“Like my roommate’s fountain pen who’s passing behind me right now.”

“…”

Ah.

Baek Sa-heon froze with the feeling of his blood running cold.

“Brown, you know what? My roommate tried to brainwash and control me.”

“…”

“Right. I even prepared a gift to repay my debt…”

Kim Sol-eum continued speaking slowly.

It was because speaking quickly would make him cough up blood again, but his voice lowered from the burning pain and fatigue, combined with the bloody smell…

All of it sounded more threatening and ominous.

“That’s not very polite, is it?”

Kim Sol-eum put down the snacks on the dining table and turned his head.

“And people without manners… don’t qualify to be roommates, do they?”

“…!!”

Their eyes met.

‘Fuck fuck fuck…!’

He was caught.

How did he know? No, that wasn’t important right now. This was caught. Definitely, definitely, definitely!

“I, I’ll leave!”

Baek Sa-heon shouted in a trembling voice without thinking.

“Team Leader! I think you’re right that I don’t qualify! I’ll leave right away! I’ll go out immediately and never come back!”

Kim Sol-eum frowned.

“My head’s ringing. Don’t you know etiquette? Why are you shouting in a shared housing at night.”

Fuck…!

Baek Sa-heon resented himself for automatically shutting his mouth while cursing internally.

“Brown.”

Meanwhile, Kim Sol-eum was talking to the rabbit doll again.

“It’s noisy, but hearing him say that much… even if he doesn’t qualify to live here, I think we should give him one chance.”

What?!

“I don’t need…”

“You don’t need it?”

Kim Sol-eum quickly turned his head.

“You don’t need the chance to live here?”

“…”

Why does that sound like ‘you don’t need the chance to survive here’…?

Baek Sa-heon swallowed and answered.

“I need it.”

“Right?”

“Yes…”

“Good. Then hand over the item.”

“…!”

“The fountain pen you’ve been using. The item that creates suggestions exactly as written when you write phrases on Post-it notes and stick them.”

“…”

“Since you might do something strange again, I’ll have to keep it somewhere else for a while.”

How the hell does he know that.

Baek Sa-heon gritted his teeth despite the fear creeping up his neck.

“I can’t… give it.”

“…”

“Think about it, Team Leader. Honestly, my actions haven’t actually caused you any trouble.”

He spoke desperately and urgently.

“It’s a necessary item. I absolutely can’t give it to anyone. I won’t use it on Team Leader Kim again, so please…”

“Hmm.”

Kim Sol-eum replied expressionlessly.

“Why do you think I’d believe that?”

“…!”

“Look at yourself a bit.”

Kim Sol-eum pointed at Baek Sa-heon.

“I told you the confirmed entry method to Sekwang Technical High School where you got that item, I didn’t even get angry when you tried to kill me inside…”

It was a plain fact.

“But what you returned with was brainwashing? There’s no reason for me to trust you.”

“…”

That, that…

Might be… the truth.

The Team Leader in front of him might be crazy, but he was very competent, and making an enemy of him like this… maybe I’m the one doing crazy things.

‘What is this? What is this?’

Did I make the wrong choice?

Baek Sa-heon’s mind spun frantically, as faint guilt and self-loathing mixed with intense fear under the name of rationality, fiercely battling…

And then.

“But anyway, it is an item you obtained, so hmm… should I set up a reward?”

Huh?

Kim Sol-eum took out something that had been placed on the kitchen dining table chair.

The transparently packaged thing was…

“It’s a left eye.”

Holy shit!!

Baek Sa-heon held back a scream seeing the black circle with purple irises moving around.

But…

“This isn’t just an eye. It’s biological equipment.”

“…!”

“As for what kind of ability this equipment has…”

Kim Sol-eum explained the eye’s abilities.

As he continued, Baek Sa-heon’s expression gradually changed.

“…”

“Do you need it?”

Baek Sa-heon gritted his teeth.

He could hardly believe it, but.

“…Yes.”

He voluntarily returned the fountain pen.

And with hands trembling from anticipation and confusion, he received the bio-equipment that Kim Sol-eum offered.

‘Phew.’

I’m breaking out in a cold sweat.

After finally ending my conversation with Baek Sa-heon, I sat on my bed in my room, suffering from headaches and coughing up blood.

I was admirable for enduring it without showing I was in pain.

‘I didn’t lose in terms of momentum though, right?’

Wow, I almost flinched when he rolled his eyes back and charged at me in the middle. My body was already hurting, so why did I have to go through this… I even had a reality check.

But I had to address it properly right away.

I couldn’t leave a sociopath with mind control items around me for three days while I was sick.

‘I think I used the carrot and stick approach well.’

I recalled the purple eye that had left my possession.

It was an item with functions that weren’t threatening to me but would be helpful to Baek Sa-heon.

Well, since it happened to be a left eye, he could use it without having to extract his own.

Anyway, being stuck as roommates with that bastard… no, come to think of it, Go Young-eun and Jang Heo-un were special cases, and Baek Sa-heon seemed like just the average company personality.

There are so many sociopaths in this neighborhood that you trip over them!

‘The more I think about this stuff, the more depressed I get, so let me just think about good things…’

Like… the gift presentation ceremony that’s coming up.

“Brown.”

I got up and took out the item I had carefully stored in my tattoo.

The ribbon hair tie I had boldly purchased at the boutique instead of taking change.

“It’s a gift.”

-…!

“Are you okay? I thought you might have guessed it beforehand.”

If it doesn’t match your aesthetic standards, I might have to break out in cold sweat and look for other offerings…

But what came from Brown was a joyful voice.

-Ah, the circumstances were so clearly evident!

-If I hadn’t guessed, that would be impossible as a show host… but showing that I noticed everything would also be something an entertainer shouldn’t do.

-Well then, this cotton-stuffed body can finally have proper grooming.

It was a rare tone that trembled slightly with anticipation.

‘Thank goodness.’

I smiled and carefully adjusted the hair tie I took out of the envelope, then tied it stylishly on the fluffy rabbit doll.

“Thank you for everything so far, Brown.”

The rabbit’s round button-like eyes looked into space, and the moment I looked away, they returned a cheerful host’s response.

-It was only natural as a friend, Noru.

Perhaps that ribbon hair tie had no effect other than looking very luxurious and plausible.

But Brown’s voice, wearing the bow tie around his neck, overflowed with joy.

-Isn’t proper grooming essential etiquette for one who stands before an audience?

Brown very happily and joyfully accepted me adjusting his bow tie several times to find the perfect angle.

But at the same time, he urged me to sleep.

-Noru, maintaining condition is a professional’s basic quality. Rest is also important work, so it would be best to head to dreamland quickly today!

“Right.”

A gift presentation ceremony for Good Friend. This much could be considered a rewarding event among today’s happenings…

Normally I would read through the wiki one more time, but neither my sick self nor my broken smartphone seemed to have the energy for that.

‘Tomorrow as soon as day breaks, I’ll either buy a new phone or get it repaired…’

Anyway, as long as the Memorial Grip Tok is fine, switching phones won’t interfere with viewing the wiki.

I lay down comfortably on the bed.

And first, I separated the grip tok from the broken smartphone…

“…”

–Friend?

I hastily flipped the smartphone over.

The grip tok had a crack in it.

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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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