Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 140

Regardless of Daydream Inc.’s ethics, the effectiveness of the potions they produce is undeniable.

Like magic.

“…!”

As Agent Cheongdong drank the C-grade regeneration potion, flesh erupted from the area of his severed thighs, and the shape of complete legs began to restore themselves in an instant.

Go Youngeun gasped. She had used it herself, but witnessing it for the first time seemed to fill her with awe.

I felt the same way.

For such a large area to regenerate at once, with just a C-grade regeneration potion.

‘…He said it was about 10,000 points, right?’

It was an effect that would astonish and mesmerize anyone.

I unconsciously tried not to touch my newly regenerated right arm with the Nostalgia Candy, and watched the scene.

“Phew.”

Soon, Agent Cheongdong mechanically checked the movement of his legs.

Then, barefoot, he stood up, gripped the binding ropes that had restrained the employees… and avoiding my gaze, he bowed his head.

“…Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

As if she couldn’t hold back anymore, Go Youngeun mumbled softly.

“……I think you can be even more grateful.”

Ah.

“What do you mean…”

“Let’s talk once we’re outside.”

I quickly diffused their conversation and tried to return to the base camp Agent Cheongdong had set up, all of us together.

But the binding ropes Agent Cheongdong had tied began to tremble.

“…!”

Inside them, the forms of the two employees, deflated and suppressed, began to squirm.

And over there.

The door to the staff area… where we had come from.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump.

A sound like countless dull objects colliding echoed, and then… the metal door flew open, and employees poured out with a creaking sound.

“…!!”

“Th-this way!”

Dodging the employees rushing towards us like madmen, we hastily hid Agent Cheongdong behind the candle’s shadow.

The capacity for three people was filled again.

The three agents urgently pressed against the wall, hastily retreating to avoid the terrifying wave of employees.

“…!!”

“It’ll be okay. You’re within the candlelight…”

Agent Cheongdong glanced at the candle Go Youngeun was holding.

“…Was that originally yours too?”

“……Yes.”

I deliberately murmured, glancing at Agent Cheongdong.

“Uh, I made an excuse that it was something I received from Agent Cheongdong… so, I’d appreciate it if you could play along.”

“……”

Agent Cheongdong nodded very slightly.

‘…He’s cooperative.’

Even knowing that it was an item from Daydream Inc. days, his cooperativeness suggested that the regeneration potion had been effective.

Squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak-squeak.

‘No, it’s making it impossible to think…!’

In the midst of all this, the number of employees surging in was increasing. Go Youngeun’s ears, as she backed away, grew paler and paler.

The two employees hit by the pistol, whose binding ropes’ effect was wearing off, were now squirming out, grotesque and deflated.

Other employees who had poured out surrounded them, swirling around like mad.

Due to the sheer number of employees, arms were crushed, heads were squashed, and then bounced back up.

It looked like some grotesque ritual.

“That, it seems like they’re looking for someone who harmed an employee…”

“If you damage an employee in this mart and are witnessed doing that… you’ll be chased until you’re caught.”

“…!”

But he didn’t hesitate to shoot two of them and then sit on them?

Agent Cheongdong’s eyes hardened.

“…This time, since it was over anyway, I intended to bear the consequences.”

“~!!”

Go Youngeun seemed to have held back another comment.

“Let’s move quickly.”

“Yes.”

Anyway, we hastily moved our feet to escape from that bizarre group activity.

Still, the unpleasant, high-pitched creaking noise could be heard…

‘Phew.’

I looked down at the floor, then at Agent Cheongdong’s bare feet on the mart floor.

“Agent, extra shoes…”

“…They’re in the camping section.”

Okay. I checked the time on my wrist-watch.

Fortunately, we found Agent Cheongdong relatively quickly, so perhaps only two or three hours had passed at most.

‘Even if I conservatively estimate the perceived time, it’s still around evening….’

Around 7 PM, I guess. I looked at my watch, expecting that.

But…

Nine o’clock.

“……!”

I looked at the numbers again.

But the numbers, ten hours different from my expectation, remained the same.

Of course, I hadn’t gone back in time, so this was…

‘…It’s next morning?’

“The time is weird…”

The moment I spoke, I realized.

“Agent Podo. Time doesn’t flow consistently in this mart’s staff area.”

“……”

No wonder the staff area seemed to be haphazardly connected with strange, out-of-context spaces; it seemed there would be such a setting to make it even eerier and more bizarre.

‘It’s a cliché.’

Perhaps it was mentioned in the , but it might not have stuck in my memory because it was so common… No, that’s not what’s important.

‘…Then how long were the kids alone?’

To make matters worse, Agent Cheongdong mumbled with a hardened face.

“Nine o’clock.”

“…Yes.”

“Let’s move as quickly as possible. …The protective array placed in the store doesn’t have much time left.”

“…!!”

We practically sprinted to the camping section. It was impressive that we didn’t drop the candle.

“Gasp, huh-huh-huh…”

And it was true.

The high school students in the camping section were on the verge of fleeing.

“They’re not coming! And it’s weird now!”

“Th-that…”

‘Oh my God.’

The agents hadn’t returned even after a day, and the sounds of employees moving somewhere were frantically audible.

Thanks to that, they seemed to have been completely terrified and tried to escape to another floor.

They were desperately discussing among themselves how to move their friend, who had gone missing earlier and was now distraught, or if they should just leave her behind. The moment they saw us, they collapsed.

“Gah!”

“Ag-agent!”

This is crazy.

We took the high school students, who were alternately expressing ‘why are you so late?!’ and ‘you’re here!’, and crying, back to the center of the camping section.

And Agent Cheongdong quickly checked the defensive items, like the playing stones, that he had installed.

“How much time is left?”

“About an hour.”

Damn it.

“At least we can definitely rest for an hour. Let’s quickly get ourselves organized during that time.”

Go Youngeun immediately extinguished the candle and began to check the high school students’ condition and ascertain what had happened.

…She was reliable.

‘Phew.’

“I’ll keep watch, Agent. You should get your uniform ready.”

“…Yes.”

Agent Cheongdong, seizing the opportunity while Go Youngeun entered the tent, changed into a spare agent’s uniform he seemed to have brought with him.

I stood beside him, listening to the sounds, and pondered where on earth we should go after this camping section…

‘The staircase landing is too narrow.’

…I really hoped the store would be open today, but no, expecting such good luck was bad for my mental health.

I swallowed the sugary taste of Nostalgia Candy with my saliva.

And diverted my attention to something else.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“……Yes.”

Agent Cheongdong quickly re-equipped himself with a few items taken from the pocket of his blood-stained uniform pants he had originally worn.

But among them, there was something that seemed out of the ordinary.

Agent Cheongdong, who had casually and instantly taken out and organized his own belongings, flinched when he picked this one up.

…A white PopSocket.

Must be given

A handwritten label was attached.

…It somehow reminded me of a memorial PopSocket. It looked like something from the Disaster Management Bureau.

“Agent, that’s…”

“……”

Agent Cheongdong silently looked at the PopSocket, then finally put it into his new clothes and mumbled,

“It’s another agent’s. I found it… in the item storage.”

I realized the nuance.

‘…Were there more agents in the storage?’

He likely took it from the corpse of an agent who had already died and been ‘stored’ in the item storage for a long time.

Agent Cheongdong completely adjusted his uniform and met my gaze.

And quietly asked.

“Did you happen to enter the item storage room?”

“……”

I shook my head. A hint of relief passed through the agent’s eyes.

“You did well. From now on, try to avoid ‘places that somehow feel unpleasant’ as much as possible. Human intuition is quite useful in these supernatural phenomena.”

“……”

What on earth could the inside of that storage room look like?

But even without specific details, I could already guess its state from the descriptions in the .

‘…Dozens of dying people being processed as items, rapidly contaminated and trapped.’

I tried to avoid imagining it and diverted my attention.

“So, what kind of item is it?”

But if it were useful, Agent Cheongdong would have already spoken.

Sure enough, a slightly distressed expression crossed the agent’s face.

“…It’s an item that helps to definitively send a rescue request message to the Disaster Management Bureau.”

“……”

Ah.

“It’s a smartphone attachment item, so I wondered if I could send even a single message outside… but it seems it only sends if the user is a rescue target.”

It must be an item designed with such a restriction to be effective.

‘…Did the dead agent carry it around to give to someone?’

Of course, if one could definitively send a rescue request in this damned ghost story, it was a good item, but it meant the conditions weren’t met.

I didn’t know what Agent Cheongdong must have felt enduring in that item storage.

“Um, have you finished changing?”

“…! Yes.”

Go Youngeun opened the tent door and came out.

“Agent Cheongdong, I think it would be good if you talked to them once. The students already know you’re the highest-ranking among us.”

“……”

Agent Cheongdong nodded slightly and entered the tent.

Go Youngeun sighed deeply and sat next to me.

“…How are the students doing?”

“They’re fine. They really perked up once they focused on the fact that all the agents returned and even rescued someone.”

…Because they didn’t know they would soon have to flee this tent section.

Phew.

Go Youngeun and I sighed simultaneously.

“I hope… the store reopens today.”

“…Me too.”

I really hoped so.

I agreed deeply and sat down.

“No, when we came in, it was doing perfectly fine, but how many days has it been closed and not operating?”

Indeed.

Every word was how I felt.

‘When we came in, it was doing perfectly fine…’

…

…

Wait a minute.

“Po, Agent Podo?”

I got up and ran to the tent.

And violently pulled open the front.

“Agent!”

Agent Cheongdong and the high school students looked back at me with wide eyes.

“Can we use that rescue request item now?”

“Excuse me?”

Agent Cheongdong looked at me briefly with a bewildered expression, but then, as kindly as his fierce impression allowed, he answered again.

“The item itself is usable, but agents cannot use it in the first place.”

“Then what if a student uses it?”

“Duplicate requests… are lower in priority than the first report.”

The high school students flinched.

Right. Those kids reported it, and we entered this damned Looky Mart for rescue.

But this.

“There’s one more student, isn’t there?”

“……!”

I recalled the student still lying blankly in the other tent.

The friend of these high school students whom Agent Cheongdong had found, who had gone missing even earlier.

A citizen who had never requested rescue from the Disaster Management Bureau before.

“Calm down, Agent.”

Agent Cheongdong spoke calmly again, as if trying to soothe me.

“This is an item that can only send a 33-character message, without detailed explanations possible.”

“It’s fine.”

Because I wasn’t going to use it to inform them of our situation.

“That student just needs to send a rescue request freely, as they wish. …As long as they do that.”

If my hypothesis was correct.

I swallowed.

“…The mart will open today.”

“…!!”

I ran to the adjacent tent.

And distributed one of the remaining three Nostalgia Candies to the high school student who had been lying blankly.

The student was named ‘Lee Soobin’.

To the missing person who had entered this mart several days before the high school students who reported us.

The high school students who had come in together, on Go Youngeun’s judgment that a familiar face would be better for stability, watched nervously from the side.

The moment I unwrapped the Nostalgia Candy and put it into Lee Soobin’s mouth.

“……”

“Su, Soobin-ah. Are you okay?”

Drip, drip, tears began to stream down the student’s eyes.

And she sobbed.

“Hmph, h-h-h-h-h…”

“It’s okay, it’s, it’s okay…”

The high school students came over, not knowing what to do, and hugged her tightly.

…Nostalgia Candy restored one’s body and mind to their prime, but it wasn’t something that erased painful memories or experiences from the mind.

I calmly waited for her friends to help Lee Soobin calm down.

Checking the time.

And when it was time, I could no longer wait.

At that moment, I spoke.

“Lee Soobin.”

“Hmph-hmph, yes…”

“Actually, to get out of here faster, your help is absolutely necessary.”

I handed the student the smartphone with the PopSocket attached.

“Can you write your name and identity, then write ‘Looky Mart’ and send a rescue request?”

“……”

“Please.”

The student grabbed the smartphone with trembling hands.

And began to write frantically.

[HelpmepleaseI’mtrappedatLookyMartI’mLeeSoobinfrom■■dongplease]

It was a text message like a blood-stained cry. Tears streamed down the high school student’s eyes as her fingers moved.

And… send.

“……”

“You’ve worked hard. Please rest a little.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell her to spit out the Nostalgia Candy.

…If my hypothesis was wrong, I might really have to make her spit it out to save it then.

‘For now, I have to wait.’

I left the tent, leaving the high school students to themselves.

Ziiiik.

Go Youngeun, who was sitting in front, looked at me.

I sat next to her, checking my watch repeatedly until the time came.

Until ten o’clock, the opening time.

Agent Cheongdong prepares to retrieve the protective items.

I calculated how long we could last in the 2nd floor food court if we failed.

In the worst case, who would receive the two escape items.

And…

Time approached.

All three of us raised our heads and began to look at the ceiling and into the void.

Waiting for the signal.

And so…

Time was up.

“……”

“……”

“Agent Podo, are you okay…”

Na-na-na-na na-na-nan-na-na-na na-na-nan~

“…!!”

A bell-like notification sound began to fill the store.

-Looky Mart is now open. We welcome all customers with bright smiles today as well~

A lively announcement.

A familiar jingle, unaltered, began to ring cheerfully throughout the mart.

Tiddidddik.

The mart lit up brightly, and sunlight began to stream in from beyond the windowpanes.

And the bizarre employees disappeared as if rewinding.

With strange creaking sounds, they seemed to be sucked back into the gap of the open staff area’s metal door, and then…

Thump.

The door closed, and they were all gone.

Without a trace.

“……”

Business, finally, resumed.

“Gasp.”

‘…I’m alive.’

I sank to the floor.

“It, it worked! It worked!!”

Indeed.

Go Youngeun, with the most excited face she’d had in days, slapped my shoulder and looked around the store with a flushed, tearful face.

“How on earth… No! It doesn’t matter! Let’s just get out of this crazy place and talk!”

However, Agent Cheongdong, who had been staring blankly at the store, immediately turned to me with a look of realization.

“Rescue request! Is this possibly…”

“Yes.”

Did he catch on?

Only then did I smile and reply.

“Because the mart needs to be operating for a rescue agent to enter.”

“…!”

Right.

‘It’s a kind of reverse thinking.’

I created a situation where the mart had to be open for business to ‘make sense’.

It was… a matter of preconditions.

“You clearly said there’s no way to prevent people from entering Looky Mart.”

Not only in the rescue agent manual I received, but it was also explicitly recorded in the .

No known methods of termination or sealing exist to date. Proactively preventing disappearance is also impossible.

The entry conditions are also clearly stated.

Looky Mart Entry Condition: Travel for more than 20 minutes to find a mart within 3km of the building where Lucky Mart used to be.

What does this mean?

‘It means if you just meet those conditions, you can immediately enter this terrible ghost story called Looky Mart.’

If we think about this in reverse.

“Then, it means that when someone is trying to enter, Looky Mart must be in operation.”

-For a victim to enter, Looky Mart must be open for business that day.

“And…”

“A new agent will enter today.”

Go Youngeun suddenly spoke.

Her face was flushed with shock and realization.

“Because the high school student sent a rescue request, they’ll be entering!”

Correct.

So today, for an agent from the Disaster Management Bureau to come in response to a request for assistance…

“Yes. Today must be a day for business.”

I smiled.

Go Youngeun smiled with me for a moment, but then her face filled with confusion.

“…? Wait. Then the causality is reversed…”

That’s also true.

“It’s not that missing persons occur because the doors open, but that the doors must open for missing persons to occur, meaning business starts in the morning. Chronologically, it’s completely messed up.”

“That’s why it’s a ghost story, I guess.”

It follows strange, incomprehensible, reversed, bizarre laws…

Just like the endless succession of event stores from all seasons on the 3rd floor.

“That’s true.”

Confusion was replaced by calmness and an active sense of discomfort on Go Youngeun’s face.

She looked like she wanted to rush out of this mart immediately.

…I empathize.

So let’s get out quickly.

We immediately got up and began preparing to leave.

‘We have gift certificates, and escape items.’

With this, all three high school students and all three of us should be able to get out.

“Excellent.”

As we prepared, Agent Cheongdong whispered softly.

And, delighted at the thought of ‘now we can leave’, he subtly nodded towards the three students emerging from the tent.

“Those citizens are being rescued thanks to Agent Podo.”

Honestly, that wasn’t true. If either Agent Cheongdong or Go Youngeun hadn’t been here, we all would have died…

Anyway, it was the moment I was about to say thank you.

“……”

I suddenly felt.

My mouth felt too comfortable speaking.

Whatever had been hindering my pronunciation was gone.

‘Ah.’

And I realized there was no longer any sweet sugary taste in my mouth.

“……”

The Nostalgia Candy had completely melted away.

That meant…

“……!”

“Agent!”

An insane, violent pain struck my right side.