Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 130

That evening, the day Kim Soleum agreed with the director to infiltrate the Disaster Management Bureau as a spy.

At the same time, Baek Saheon was enjoying a remarkably comfortable private life at the company dormitory.

All thanks to his damned psychopath roommate disappearing!

‘I knew that bastard would die acting so audacious.’

Baek Saheon smiled triumphantly.

Although that insane team leader of D-Group, who bore a striking resemblance to the psychopath, had persistently requested interviews about the ‘Tamra Express Train’ several times.

And because of that, it’s terrible… contamination had deepened, but it had calmed down a lot now. He no longer vomited or had mental breakdowns just by recalling the great talk… damn it, whatever it was.

Thanks to that, he was able to access the Fox Counseling Center.

For free!

‘It’s a benefit usually only available to assistant managers… not a bad exchange rate, is it?’

Thanks to the D-Group manager’s handling, receiving a separate nameplate for the Fox Counseling Room like this was a clear advantage.

Moreover, didn’t that counselor in the ghost story give one more nameplate every time you received counseling? The ‘treatment’ he received from the company allowed him to use this ‘until he recovered sufficiently.’

‘Could I subtly pass it on to someone else after using it for a while?’

If he behaved well, that is.

‘I can probably milk it for at least three more months… until I get promoted to assistant manager.’

For now, he will use it one more time today.

Baek Saheon, humming a tune, hung the nameplate on his deceased roommate’s door to visit the Fox Counseling Room once more.

And opened the door…

“Oh. They’re closed today.”

“…?!?!”

A cool-looking black-haired office worker stood beyond the door and spoke casually.

And walked out of the room.

A familiar face that he would never forget in his dreams.

It was, it was…

“K-Kim Soleum.”

His former roommate, presumed missing and dead, chuckled when he saw him.

Huh?

Huh?

“……?!?”

Baek Saheon began to seriously doubt.

‘A-A dream?’

Did I fall into a hypnotic darkness?

If not, why was that crazy bastard, who had gone missing and was presumed dead, coming out of the Fox Counseling Room door…?

Thump.

Baek Saheon slapped himself on the cheek.

It stung.

At least it wasn’t a dream.

‘Damn it.’

And he felt a sympathetic gaze on the fool who had just slapped himself.

“Hmm… I can see why you wanted counseling.”

“…!?”

“But if you go in now, they’re closed, so take off the nameplate and go in next time.”

Thud.

Kim Soleum completely exited the room and closed the door.

And with clear physical force, he tore off the nameplate from the door that was once his room and threw it to Baek Saheon.

“…!”

He snatched it by reflex.

“But… you happened to open the door just now?”

“……”

“I didn’t expect to see your face like this.”

Baek Saheon swallowed.

At the same time, his brain began to work rapidly.

In this absurd and unexpected situation, where he questioned what was happening, one thing became clear.

The dark halo, radiating as if piercing through the blindfold.

A warning alarm.

–You saw what you shouldn’t have seen.

The fact that an employee presumed dead was standing perfectly fine in front of him meant there was a conspiracy at the company level, or even higher.

‘They even used me as a witness to his disappearance…!’

Baek Saheon swallowed, trying not to recall the terrible, secret infiltration he suffered when trying to find Kim Soleum, who had vanished in the restroom.

His head was reeling with anger and dizziness, but a warning hit him first.

‘…Wait, but this crazy bastard is alive and well right here, right now…’

Can I,

See this?

“……”

“……”

The most certain way for that psychopath to deal with me was…

-Murder to cover up.

‘No, no!’

Baek Saheon quickly corrected the preposterous thought that had crossed his mind by reflex.

Why would anyone go to such inefficient lengths in modern society?

‘He has my mind-control fountain pen…’

The item he exchanged for this eye. Baek Saheon clenched his fist.

Right. He’ll definitely use mind control and get away. He can just make me un-see it and leave. There’s such an easy and simple way, no need to go back to…

“You want me to erase your memory with the fountain pen, don’t you?”

“…!!”

“I’m not going to.”

In Baek Saheon’s mind, immediate countermeasures – punching, using specialized equipment, reporting, begging – flashed by in an instant.

And as soon as they appeared, they were all discarded.

‘Oh, no.’

If he acted rashly, he didn’t know what might happen to him.

He hated to admit it, but like a psychopath, that heartless bastard was resourceful.

To avoid being dragged into ruin or dying, he had to remain calm.

What on earth did he want?

Surely, he wasn’t actually trying to kill…

‘……No!’

A sentence, reassembled like a flash of lightning, crossed Baek Saheon’s mind.

-He wants something.

That bastard, he must want something, which is why he’s confronting me!

Baek Saheon finally calmed down.

And with great difficulty, he folded his arms to show composure.

“…Assistant Manager, it seems you want something.”

“Hmm.”

As expected!

“…Ah. Do you perhaps need my testimony, Assistant Manager? Like when you went missing! Like, reporting to the company that I feel like I saw Assistant Manager Kim Soleum at the company dormitory…”

“No.”

Damn it.

Baek Saheon, barely suppressing a string of curses, looked at the other person with the most nonchalant expression he could muster.

Kim Soleum was also staring at Baek Saheon.

Now that he looked closely, the other person was indeed wearing a suit, but his hair was slightly cut, and one arm was splinted. This meant he wasn’t completely ‘fine.’

‘Where did he get hurt?’

Moreover, the suit itself was slightly different.

It was strange. It looked somewhat more expensive and stylish than what a typical office worker would wear, like a display-purpose fit…

‘Something one would wear on TV…’

…Huh?

Just as some strange connection was about to flash, the other person uttered words that could not be ignored.

“You seem to covet items.”

“…!”

“Not duds, but proper ones. Hypnosis, suppression, healing…. Do you want more useful items like those?”

A desire and need that surpassed all else flashed at the very top of Baek Saheon’s priorities.

Baek Saheon sharply raised his head.

Kim Soleum was smiling.

“Then, regularly inform me of what happens at Daydream Inc. from now on.”

“……”

What the other person proposed was a trade.

Information exchange.

“…Things like high-grade darkness exploration manuals held internally by the company, Assistant Manager?”

Kim Soleum looked at him with an incredulous expression. Right, no matter what, he wouldn’t ask for field exploration team secrets…

“Why would I want to know something so boring?”

“……”

“Company rumors are fine, personnel changes, employee gossip too. Bring me whatever you think is ‘information valuable to an internal employee.’”

“…Why?”

“Because I’m curious?”

“……!!”

“No, I was just bored because I was terminated and couldn’t hear anything anymore.”

Damn it!

Baek Saheon felt like he was going to go crazy.

If it were anyone else, they would obviously be indirectly expressing that they didn’t want to tell him, but the other person was Kim Soleum.

‘That bastard seems serious too!’

He seemed like a lunatic who genuinely wanted to hear company gossip just for the dopamine, making him even harder to figure out…!

‘Ha…’

“So. Are you going to bring information and exchange it for an item?”

“Information,”

…

…

“I can… bring it.”

Baek Saheon thought.

‘Who cares?’

If the company found out?

He could just say he was threatened or mind-controlled.

Anyway, the company was generally lenient with the Field Exploration Team, as long as it wasn’t about selling masks and collectors.

Responding to a former employee asking about the ‘company atmosphere’ was nothing!

Although the company was ‘mistakenly’ believing that the former employee was dead, honestly, what did he care?

No matter how much he thought about it, he didn’t think the company would impose disciplinary action for this.

‘And I’m not selling information to the Disaster Management Bureau, am I?’

He wasn’t a manager, nor was he from the research team, so he couldn’t leak development know-how.

‘Good.’

No matter how much he thought about it, this was a trade he should accept.

…Though he hated to admit it. Kim Soleum… never tricked or humiliated people by not paying the promised compensation in such matters.

‘Let’s do it.’

Let’s just take the offer first!

The moment a foothold appeared, Baek Saheon’s sly expression returned.

“But Assistant Manager, no, oh, wait, you’re not an assistant manager anymore, are you?”

“……”

“Anyway, I don’t quite understand why you’re trusting me with this…. I might lie out of fear, you know.”

He was hinting that if he wanted trust, he should be given some items upfront.

Kim Soleum smiled broadly.

“You’re going to lie? That sounds fun. Go ahead and try.”

“……”

No way.

‘Bastard.’

“But if you bring more fun and interesting information, wouldn’t the items I give you naturally be better? That’s the basis of trade.”

“…!”

It meant he wouldn’t treat the information lightly if it was good enough.

Finally, Baek Saheon, sweating coldly, grinned and extended his hand.

“Alright. I’ll bring you the ‘interesting information.’”

“Okay.”

Kim Soleum shook his hand.

Thus, Kim Soleum successfully planted a very shrewd information spy within the company.

‘Phew.’

I survived!

Kim Soleum secretly let out a sigh of relief.

‘Unofficial information source… secured.’

Director Ho subtly created an atmosphere where he wouldn’t grasp the situation by deliberately mentioning ‘colleagues who will work together,’ but Kim Soleum knew.

That he and his colleagues were clearly under different conditions.

‘Only I am officially dead.’

Moreover, he had resigned.

This meant that all natural avenues for him to grasp internal company news were blocked.

‘And Director Ho is a superior who would happily exploit my isolation in terms of information.’

Kim Soleum accurately remembered Deputy Manager Eun Hajae’s remark.

-I don’t know what the other team members are doing in this project. Director Ho completely prevents employees from different departments from talking to each other.

She would never deliberately take care of her.

So, he needed another line.

‘But D-Group is out.’

No matter how he thought about it, Director Ho seemed to have already grasped that connection. The way he sent the nameplate through Deputy Manager Eun Hajae was very obvious.

So, he was already planning to target Baek Saheon or Kang Yihak, and the situation turned out very well.

‘Honestly, Kang Yihak… might sell all my information to someone who pays more.’

Just thinking about it made him sweat.

In that sense, Baek Saheon, who appropriately feared him but also kept others in check and had strong survival instincts, was the right card.

Kim Soleum looked at his former roommate, then nodded.

“Then I’m leaving.”

“Huh? Well… you must be busy.”

Kim Soleum nodded at Baek Saheon’s spiritless words.

“I have work to do.”

There were only a few weeks left until he was deployed to the Disaster Management Bureau.

‘Tight.’

He had to prepare starting now.

A new character, befitting a Disaster Management Bureau agent, not a new employee of Daydream Inc.!

February 22nd.

“Agent Cheongdong. The aptitude test for new recruits is ready.”

“Yes.”

Ryu Jaegwan, an agent of the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau with the codename ‘Cheongdong,’ stood in front of a glass window, holding documents.

In fact, this window was one-way; to those on the other side, it would appear merely as a mirror.

And there, candidates who would soon become new agents of the Disaster Management Bureau were waiting.

Sitting around the room with tense expressions, their faces held a subtle determination.

All that remained was the aptitude test.

But this was also the most crucial hurdle.

‘If you fail the aptitude test, you’ll forget you even took the exam and just go back.’

They wouldn’t even be given another chance to prepare.

Because there was no point in trying again.

It meant that they either had a personality incapable of working at the Disaster Management Bureau or possessed an immoral ethical compass.

They could never be employed.

“……”

However, knowing that most of those who applied here had their own stories, Ryu Jaegwan secretly hoped that many would pass the aptitude test safely.

Especially applicants looking for missing relatives, or those who had a supernatural disaster they absolutely wanted to eliminate, even more so.

“Let’s begin.”

“Yes!”

But he was never the type to give generous scores, so such wishes were not expressed outwardly at all.

The assistant interviewers, who were also grading, merely swallowed and became conscious of ‘Agent Cheongdong.’

‘They say the passing criteria are really strict.’

‘These applicants in this room are pretty unlucky.’

They exchanged glances and, following Agent Cheongdong’s instructions, began the aptitude test.

-Group ‘Da’, numbers 1 through 4. Please come forward.

The announcement came from the room beyond the glass.

The four final candidates whose names were called walked to the center of the room.

Number 1, visibly tense, aged 25. Number 2, appearing nonchalant but with a pale face, aged 38. Number 3, with eyes burning, aged 31. And…

“Phew!”

“A-Agent?”

Ryu Jaegwan hastily cleared his throat.

For a moment, he thought he had imagined it, but the image reflected beyond the glass did not change at all.

The strange and benevolent figure he had unexpectedly seen countless times over the past six months in various supernatural phenomena.

‘…Agent Podo!’

Kim Soleum.

He, who had been an employee of Daydream Inc., stood across from the mirror, awkwardly hunched and adjusting his glasses, with an expression of shrinking modesty!

As Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau Agent Candidate, Group ‘Da’, Number 4.