Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel - Chapter 147

I never imagined there’d be such a crazy bastard who could recognize someone just by the veins on their exposed wrist, between glove and sleeve.

‘Agent Choi.’

And I certainly never imagined I would be the one to experience it.

‘This is insane.’

It was a situation beyond chilling, one that could freeze a person solid.

But I couldn’t afford to freeze.

Just a moderate, moderate show of confusion; that way, I wouldn’t look suspicious.

So…

“Huh?”

Better to reverse the suspicion.

I feigned bewilderment, then openly swallowed in front of him.

And I stepped back as if I’d been caught by a cultist on the street.

“I, I’m sorry, but… I have someone with me.”

“Oh??”

“I’ll be going.”

This implied I hadn’t recognized him as Agent Choi.

‘If he’s a new agent whose mental state shattered after his arm was cut off, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t recognize a senior agent who visited him once, just by looking at his eyes…!’

Especially if he was faint-hearted but bravely entered this crazy space within a ghost story.

‘This way, he’ll be flustered and make excuses…’

“Oh, really. Go on, then~ See you at work.”

“……”

Holy f*ck.

‘I’m in a dilemma.’

Finally, I opened my mouth.

As if hearing the word ‘work’ had made me hesitate.

“…Perhaps, that person I saw in the hospital room, um, my superior…”

“Oh~ You recognize me now. Good.”

Agent Choi clapped me on the shoulder and casually tried to lead me towards the outskirts. Wait a minute…!

“Excuse me, I was trying to buy that…”

“Nah, it hasn’t sold in five years, it’s still there, you know? Let’s talk a bit. I’m just happy to run into you here. …Why is there a new recruit who should be in the hospital room here?”

“……”

Deliberately, I fumbled for my fake right arm inside my coat.

I felt Agent Choi’s gaze.

“…I heard I might be able to find something here to temporarily replace my arm.”

“Ah ha~ Who told you that? Jaegwan?”

“I cannot tell you.”

It was a trap!

Blurt out the name of the person who introduced me right then, and it would be proof I was lying to escape the situation.

At the very least, it wouldn’t fit the persona I was building at the Agency. It’d be pathetic!

“Wow, loyal, aren’t we?”

Sure enough, Agent Choi laughed and clapped my shoulder.

This direction was indeed right—

“Or perhaps you thought you’d be caught right away if you made something up.”

“……”

“Just kidding? Haha!”

Aaaargh!!

“It’s okay. What agent doesn’t have circumstances? There might be something you can’t talk about.”

“……”

“Let’s see… You were trying to buy that, weren’t you? Shall we take a look?”

Agent Choi focused on the arm I was about to transact with.

A crumpled, blood-stained scrap of paper clutched tightly in a hand missing its pinky finger.

“But that doesn’t look like anything related to an arm.”

“……”

“Why were you trying to buy it? I don’t understand.”

F*ck.

In that case!

“…Because.”

“Huh?”

I bowed my head deeply.

“……Because you looked so desperate.”

“……”

“You were clutching a mere piece of paper, and there was blood on it, so I speculated that perhaps… you were holding a distress message.”

It was true.

Not now, but it was my speculation when I first read the record where this arm appeared.

Anyway, Agent Choi was silent for a moment.

N-now’s my chance. Make an excuse…!

“I didn’t know it had been left here for five years, but…”

“My junior, let’s think about this for a moment.”

Agent Choi took my shoulder and gently turned me.

So that the numerous waving arms on the communal wall directly in front of us looked grotesque.

“Is there anyone here who would send a distress signal?”

“……”

“Everyone here willingly enters this strange place to sell things. The probability of it being a distress situation seems low.”

That’s…

“I think we can move past this, what do you think?”

That was unlike Agent Choi.

That is, based on the Agent Choi I knew from .

‘This person… was an agent who desperately tried to save anyone he could.’

Agent Choi was an early-stage “named character.”

And in the beginning, when it only featured the Supernatural Disaster Management Agency, exploration logs often focused on the government agency’s attribute of ‘saving civilians.’

Later, settings were added for verisimilitude and ease of story development.

The Supernatural Disaster Management Agency prioritizes the lives of its agents above all else.

Furthermore, it places more emphasis on ending the ghost story itself than on civilian rescue, sometimes even tolerating unavoidable civilian sacrifices.

But Agent Choi was a named character from before this setting was attached.

Naturally, this meant he was the type of agent who would push himself to save every last civilian.

In the process, he used cunning or ingenious methods and acquired various abilities and items… but his essence never changed.

Until he was presumed dead and missing at Looky Mart.

“……”

As expected.

This might actually work.

“Still, I will try.”

“…?!”

Without hesitation, I held up the item I had prepared and reached out.

Towards the arm I had found, the one missing a pinky finger.

“No, that arm doesn’t allow exchanges…”

Whoosh.

The arm violently reached out.

“…!”

And the hand missing a pinky finger swallowed the item I offered with a crunching sound.

Flap, I barely managed to snatch the crumpled paper it had originally been clutching, as it fell onto the dirty floor.

Meanwhile, Agent Choi’s eyes narrowed as he checked the shape of the object I had offered.

“…A coin?”

“Ah, it’s not just a normal coin… It’s, um, from another ghost story.”

It was true.

Though the fact that it was a Twilight-grade ghost story for custom equipment from Hundred Daydream Inc., ‘Kind Seed Kit,’ was a secret.

Right.

That was the first specialized equipment I ever created for the Field Exploration Team.

‘Third Hand…!’

A coin-shaped device that could summon a hand in mid-air.

Given the identity of this arm, the conditions for the required item were too obvious.

An item produced from a ghost story that Hundred Daydream Inc. had isolated and utilized in its early days.

This was definitely it.

However, since Hundred Daydream Inc. employees were virtually blacklisted by this vendor, the transaction had been left unfulfilled for five years…

‘Done.’

Clutching the paper in my hand, I felt a small, exhilarating sense of accomplishment.

Of course, I hadn’t impulsively invested in a dedicated piece of equipment because I wasn’t using it immediately; there was a way to retrieve it all later.

But for now, Agent Choi was the urgent matter.

I offered the excuse I had thought of.

“I thought currency would be immediately helpful in a ghost story… I, um, it reminded me of what happened at the mart.”

By the way, the gift certificates from Looky Mart disappeared completely, including the balance, the moment I left the mart. It truly was a malicious bastards’ ghost story mart.

Anyway, I think it was an appropriately new recruit-like attitude.

‘He’ll probably think I just offered it without really knowing that different ghost stories might have different currencies in circulation.’

And luckily, it worked.

I’ll stick with that meta.

“Hmm… Junior. Five years have passed since that arm was left neglected. Didn’t you think that the situation requiring help would have already ended?”

“Even so… the arm is still there.”

Only then did I finally smile a little.

“I guessed that if bartering was possible, it meant there was someone to receive it… Of course, it’s just a guess and I could be wrong.”

“……”

Agent Choi stared at me intently, then…

“Ah~ I really like that!”

“…?!”

“Cough, yes, this is it! It’s rare to find someone who uses their head and imagines like this. Plausibly!”

Agent Choi ruffled my hat-covered hair. Ugh!!

And he lowered his voice, speaking secretly so that those around couldn’t hear.

“As expected…”

Expected?

“Coming to our Hyunmu Team 1.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Hmph.”

I was fed up…

‘Still, it’s a relief that I seem to have mostly avoided suspicion…’

“But you say you’re scared to join the emergency rescue team, yet you have the guts to enter this dangerous place alone.”

“……”

“Then… couldn’t you also endure Hyunmu Team 1?”

Damn it.

Is this a threat? Come in if you don’t want to be suspected?

My head became complicated.

But the moment the next words came out.

“Even your fear, to begin with. It’s actually a delusion caused by overwork from your very first mission…”

I exploded.

“No, I’m scared to death! I’m really scared!!”

“…?!”

“But what can I do but endure it! I can’t just say I can’t do anything because I’m scared, can I, as a new recruit!”

If I don’t do it, I’ll die!!

“How can I not be scared of having no arm! I endured and came all the way here, even though I was scared something might go wrong!”

I spoke almost spitting blood.

It was partly intentional, but the pent-up resentment from this crazy ghost story world’s pharmaceutical company erupted, and I truly felt wronged.

…Agent Choi was staring at me with his mouth open.

“S-sorry?”

“……”

“Alright, alright. Junior. Congratulations on your first transaction, and… yes, the note! You have to check the note. How about it?”

“……Yes.”

I took a deep breath.

Still, it felt… slightly refreshing, not knowing when was the last time I could speak this honestly.

Surely, even after all this, they wouldn’t try to take me to the Emergency Rescue Team… Please.

“I’m sorry for shouting.”

“Eh, it’s fine. It’s not like there’s only one or two crazy people doing crazy things here. It’s good to feel a 3-second spotlight or something.”

So, it looked like crazy behavior. Understood…

I sighed.

“I… don’t know when was the last time I shouted like that.”

“Oh dear, your house must not be soundproof.”

“No. My house… I don’t have one right now.”

“……”

“I want to go there.”

“Right.”

Phew.

I finally calmed my breathing and unfolded the note in my hand.

‘Agent Choi suddenly got quiet, for some reason.’

Anyway, it’s better since he’s not poking at me anymore.

I turned my gaze back to the note.

The inside of the bloody scrap of paper, which I carefully unfolded with one hand, was…

Words scrawled in blood, dried onto the paper.

Look here

A toy that empathizes and pays attention

There is

The bloodstains thickly dried all over the paper were from these very letters bleeding and running…

‘Ha.’

It was like something straight out of a horror movie prop. I wanted to throw the note away immediately, but just then, someone helped me.

“Wait a moment.”

Agent Choi naturally took the paper I was holding.

I deliberately didn’t stop him.

Agent Choi placed a strange divining rod-like object on the paper and began to examine it.

‘That was also an Agency-issued item.’

Location Rod

: A bent rod made of glass and brass.

It spins around over substances originating from ghost stories, or mediums that cause supernatural phenomena.

But the location rod showed no reaction to the scrap of paper I had bought.

“Hmm, no mystique to it. It’s a normal note. The wording is…”

Agent Choi chuckled.

“Looks like it’s luring people into a ghost story, doesn’t it?”

“Perhaps.”

But I took the note from Agent Choi’s hand and carefully put it away.

“Oh~ But you’re keeping it?”

“Yes.”

I bowed my head, looking slightly embarrassed.

“Just in case there really is a hidden distress signal… I thought I’d take it and look into it myself.”

“……”

Agent Choi also didn’t ask why I wasn’t reporting it to higher-ups.

The Supernatural Disaster Management Agency wasn’t an organization with enough leisure to leisurely analyze a normal note left by some suspicious, unknown person that had been neglected for five years.

After all, there were countless ghost stories where people were dying right now.

Even a freshly recruited new agent would know that ambiguous cases like this would inevitably be pushed down in priority.

‘Even Agent Choi himself just said so.’

However… here’s where I make a turn.

I hesitated, then held out the note.

“Uhm, Senior, if you happen to have time, could you check it just one more time…?”

“…!”

Actually, this note, if you memorize the content, the note itself isn’t needed.

And given its nature, there was no problem entrusting it to an agent of the Disaster Management Agency who could recognize ghost stories.

“Alright. I’ll take a look too.”

“Ah, thank you…!”

I quickly handed over the paper. I hoped this would remove me from suspicion, even just a little.

After that, the atmosphere flowed a bit more smoothly.

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Thank you…”

Under Agent Choi’s supervision, I finally managed to acquire one item I wanted to buy.

‘It was difficult.’

Not just the supervision, but choosing the item itself.

This is because what you can get here are mainly items from the conventional ghost story worldview.

What this means is that these aren’t items refined by large corporations or filtered by aliens to ensure customer safety.

There are terrible side effects.

This was the premise.

Because these things weren’t originally made for humans to use beneficially.

Many of the sellers aren’t sane either, so the items received often aren’t sane either…

What was surprising was that Agent Choi wasn’t just supervising, but actually tried to help.

“This place is exactly like Hanyang. They say you can get your eyes poked out and your nose sliced off, you know? If you watch what your senior does and follow along…”

…It didn’t always work out, though.

“…Someone already bought it.”

“……”

“I-it’s okay. The next one is good too! Onward to the next arm~”

Still, like a veteran, he knew some of the origins and specific side effects of items I didn’t, and I was able to ‘purchase’ things carefully.

Yes. All good, but…

‘He made me buy items he knew about.’

Ultimately, he brought my movements under his control.

Whether this was an expression of strong suspicion, or if he genuinely cared… Even I, who had seen all of Agent Choi’s actions , didn’t know.

‘Of course, I was more or less led to buy that item because I wanted it in the first place…’

The terrifying part was that even if I hadn’t been, I probably would have bought it begrudgingly anyway.

I sighed, touching the item in my pocket.

‘Phew.’

Agent Choi accompanied me until just before his time limit was up, then saw me off.

He even shook the piece of paper I had bought.

“So, I’ll check this note one more time and then return it?”

“Yes. Thank you…”

Actually, there was no need to return it at all. I had already memorized it.

And there was no real meaning in Agent Choi checking it, either.

Because…

That note wasn’t even related to a ghost story in the first place.

‘It was a psychological trap.’

Since it was a marketplace where ghost story-related people traded, it was naturally assumed that the note contained ghost story-related phrases.

But no.

If anything, it was… yes.

‘A legacy.’

Let’s look at the note again.

Look here

This refers to the ‘here’ that actually exists in reality.

In other words, ‘a certain place’.

Then, looking at the next sentence…

A toy that empathizes and pays attention

There is

The grammar was somehow awkward and lacked context.

Because it was a sentence forcibly put together.

‘So, disassemble it.’

Then what remains is…

empathizes and pays attention

There is

Three words.

And three words plus a ‘place’ make for a perfect hint for deduction.

Because there’s ‘what3words,’ an address system that expresses a 3m x 3m area with three words.

‘If I enter these words there and search…’

It immediately brings up a small place in the old downtown area of Seoul.

I was standing there now.

“……”

Amidst a cluster of small commercial buildings, the word coordinates pinpointed a location that vaguely bypassed a building.

What was there…

It was a manhole.

To be precise, an old manhole cover was propped carelessly against the wall of a vacant commercial unit.

As if leaning against that wall.

Suggesting something.

“……”

I pushed the manhole cover.

Creak.

Surprisingly, it moved lighter than I expected. And behind it…

There was a half-basement staircase leading down to the floor below.

“……”

A hidden place.

Why did the arm without a pinky finger lead me here?

And why did it only accept items from early Hundred Daydream Inc. as payment?

It was simple.

‘Because it’s a force related to Hundred Daydream Inc.’

“Phew.”

I went down all the stairs and raised my head.

[Dream Incubation Room]

Hundred Daydream Inc.’s Dream Synthesis Machine.

The prototype laboratory, built long ago, was now revealed before my eyes.