Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel (End Part 1) - Chapter 192

Underground Research Lab.

Kwak Jekang’s eyes tremble as he surveys the Dream Incubation Room of the Pleasant Research Institute, gazing at the colossal incubator in the center.

But the countdown has begun.

A low-quality recorded melody and cheerful shouts.

[10! 9! 8!]

“What do I know? Are you telling me to spill everything I know about the potion manufacturing device?”

I looked at him silently.

[7! 6!]

“No, haha. Potion manufacturing? Did I see it once when I joined the company? Even if you make such demands of a raw material procurement researcher. Unreasonableness is indeed the charm of darkness, but this is…”

Kwak Jekang’s movement stopped.

“…Hold on.”

His voice trembled.

“That’s not, surely, that, is it?”

Not with fear, but with excitement.

[5! 4!]

A gleam of madness sparked in the eyes of the one who had figured it out.

“It’s the potion device prototype!”

The countdown stopped.

But Kwak Jekang’s mouth did not.

“The version without production quality restrictions! Ah, I don’t have much passion for the Daydream Potion, but a potion manufacturing device is a different story, haha…”

A smile spread across Kwak Jekang’s face.

“It originated from darkness, didn’t it? And that’s the original device extracted from darkness!”

…!!

“To think it’s right before my eyes! If you had just shown it to me without all this, I would have testified to anything!”

He mutters, looking at the dream incubator as if to lick it.

“Where on earth did you get it? For a wish voucher to come out, it must be Abyss-grade darkness. Which ghost story did it come from? I don’t know which superior is doing something like this, but don’t you need a researcher? I’m an expert with a heavy mouth and full of research passion!”

A beaming smile spread across Kwak Jekang’s face.

“Better than the wasted efforts at the annex! Hey, can I take a look inside? That’s…”

Whoosh.

I heavily laid a black smoke in front of Kwak Jekang, who was about to stand up.

Kwak Jekang stopped moving.

But the eyes in his raised face gleamed with interest, not fear.

“Your temperament is extraordinary, aren’t you? Haha… Where do you come from? From what darkness did you answer the call of the Daydream? Fire? Water? The imagination of madness? A fairy tale? The Pure Silver Throne?”

I didn’t answer.

But in my mind, special exploration records involving Kwak Jekang flashed by.

What would be best to make him misunderstand?

‘As powerful as possible, and something Kwak Jekang doesn’t know well.’

But a place where he could let his imagination run wild.

I reached out and pointed.

Right at…

The yellow lantern hanging at my waist, encased in rib-like horns.

“…Star?”

Kwak Jekang mutters.

So he understood it that way.

“Darkness related to stars. Gold, restraint… Haha, interesting… Are you very interested in humans?”

I didn’t answer.

Instead, I pressed the carrot.

[Starting next round.]

[Now, a question!]

Kwak Jekang now looks at me with interest rather than tension.

He seems excited at the thought of perhaps getting information related to the dream incubator from the question.

But this.

This isn’t a question about the incubator.

It’s a question to hit you over the head with.

[Is Darkness Qterw-B-553, where you secretly swapped and deployed Team J without your boss’s knowledge, still under observation?]

Kwak Jekang’s face hardened.

[10, 9, 8…]

“It is under observation.”

The countdown stopped.

“…How did you know? Did the company already know?”

As if.

I simply know very well about the crazy things this Kwak Jekang bastard did through the ‘#ExplorationRecord (Extra)’ page of the Darkness Exploration Record.

Among them, I just needed to pick one unexpected incident that was particularly large in scale, caused a stir in the development department when discovered, and was not detected until the very end.

Team J’s Endless Life.

This irregular record, famous for making you feel unpleasant after reading it, made people uncomfortable just thinking that it happened in reality.

But its usefulness in this situation was clear.

‘He’ll never think I’m a private individual who resigned.’

It doesn’t matter how well Kwak Jekang reads people or how quick-witted he is. It’s impossible.

Instead, he can only think this:

‘Ah, someone high up in the company noticed what I did.’

From now on, it’s easy.

“…Haha, if it’s not an official disciplinary action but you called me separately using the security team… what did I tamper with there? What secret was there?”

I can let the other party misunderstand and steer the situation as I wish.

“Was it related to this place?”

I didn’t answer Kwak Jekang’s muttering. Instead…

[Next…]

I turned off the carrot.

And approached Kwak Jekang, reaching out my hand.

“…!”

I pushed him, still restrained in the chair, and dragged him in front of the incubator.

“Ha… haha!”

Kwak Jekang laughs, sweating coldly.

It was a bit disgusting to feel his anticipation for what was to come, even amidst his fear, but at any rate, he stopped in front of the gleaming dream incubator.

The light of the dream fluid reflects in his glasses.

And I turned the carrot recorder on again.

A cheerful child’s voice is heard.

[What functions do you think the machine in front of you has?]

“…More powerful and fundamental potion manufacturing functions! Since it originated from darkness, it would be more extreme, with rules difficult for humans to understand! Can I touch it? No, just observe.”

I silently allowed Kwak Jekang to stand up, but thoroughly monitored his every move as he touched the incubator.

Kwak Jekang, unable to hide his excitement even while sweating coldly, busily inspects and taps various parts of the incubator.

“It’s crude… but rather more complex than the company’s completed manufacturing device, yes. Of course. There are fewer buttons, but… emoticons? What’s this? This is…”

And he presses the side of the incubator.

…Something similar to the pipe I used to inject the fluid appears.

To think something like that existed.

‘Can I extract the fluid from there?’

I should remember that. In an emergency, I could extract all the dream fluid from there.

In the midst of this, Kwak Jekang examined various places as if possessed, and soon peered inside the glass container where the dream fluid was stored.

Specifically, a faint silhouette visible within the dream fluid.

A reddish-orange mass, about five times the size of an egg.

“That in the center! What is that? It’s something the company’s manufacturing device didn’t have!”

I didn’t say anything.

Because I didn’t know either…

But thanks to the situation I had created, Kwak Jekang seemed to have interpreted the implication ‘this is not a story for you to hear’ all by himself.

He smacked his lips and took his hand away, but his gaze still greedily scanned the incubator.

Then his gaze stopped at the very bottom.

The spot where a button had been removed.

◎

“Ah, this is… it looks like a wish voucher creation spot.”

…!

“Is that right? It seems so. Ah, did you remove it in case I pressed it?”

Wait a minute.

That’s… where the wish vouchers are normally placed?

Did even the prototype have the function to extract wish vouchers?

‘Then, originally… the wish vouchers were even more powerful than they are now.’

What on earth was the Pleasant Research Institute making?

And…

‘If I find and restore that button, could I also get the Pleasant Research Institute version of the wish voucher?’

Thump. Thump.

My head reeled from the sound of my heart beating.

No, no… Calm down.

This is just Kwak Jekang’s conjecture.

And even if that conjecture is correct, the power of the wish voucher I know is all based on what was refined by Daydream Inc.

No one can guarantee what kind of crazy effects the ‘original’ produced by the Pleasant Research Institute would have…

Let’s not be tempted by reckless moves when there’s a sure answer!

‘Phew.’

“If you give me a little more time, I think I can find out more, but whoever you are, if you would allow me to join this project…”

Kwak Jekang spoke subtly, looking at me.

I looked at him silently.

Black smoke stretched out towards him like a line.

Kwak Jekang flinched.

The black smoke circled Kwak Jekang, as if to say ‘don’t mess around’ or as if assessing him, and then was sucked back into my body as I inhaled.

“Ha.”

I reached out and reactivated ‘Everything the Carrot Can Know’.

Time to wrap this up.

‘If I get too greedy, he might notice.’

And the final touch… is for a perfect setup.

[What did you want to hide during today’s truth game?]

“…!”

This is the question the security team always asks at the end of an interrogation.

A direct hit that makes people who were just trying to evade, thinking they just needed not to lie, despair.

However, Kwak Jekang smiled.

“Nothing in particular. Haha!”

He truly seemed like a madman.

“Anyway, it seems you already know all the disciplinary matters I was hiding and are turning a blind eye, so why bother hiding anything?”

He smacked his lips.

“I’m just disappointed. I guess I’m not the type of talent that team wants, am I? Hmm, then who would be on that team… Secret team, disappearance, hmm.”

And.

“Assistant Manager Kim Soleum?”

I nearly jumped out of my skin.

“Looking at it this way, the physique seems similar… Come to think of it, yes. Kim Soleum’s mask also had horns. Did you perhaps spirit that employee away from the train and use her as a vessel for your arrival?”

This is insane.

“I knew something was off! That train darkness wasn’t the type to disappear like that, but now the pieces of the puzzle are fitting together. Hahaha.”

Wait a minute.

The train darkness was ‘not the type to disappear like that’?

That remark sounds like…

‘He knew about the Jeju-bound train ghost story beforehand!’

At that moment, I realized.

‘This bastard set this whole thing up!’

The sudden provincial business trip, and getting caught up in the train ghost story on the way.

It wasn’t an unlucky coincidence, but a scheme set up by this bastard.

‘He had collected information about the Jeju-bound train.’

Yes, Kwak Jekang can play tricks in ways not found in the Darkness Exploration Record.

Because of the variable that is ‘me’!

“A moral and fear-aware new employee. Well, just listing it out, it sounds like a perfect candidate for human sacrifice…”

And his tone, which seemed to know quite a bit about me, ‘Kim Soleum’, more than I expected.

…He knew?

My personality?

“Anyway. I really want to confirm if my hypothesis is correct! Did you perhaps make that security team uniform out of the unfortunate employee’s skin as a raw material! Was the compatibility right?”

Calm down.

I deliberately did not react.

As if I wouldn’t give any information, whether he spouted nonsense or deduced the truth.

As if it was meaningless and I wasn’t interested beyond the task assigned to me.

Then, suddenly, I picked up the carrot recorder and shook it slightly.

“…Tsk. You’re taciturn…”

At that moment.

The head of security, who had been hiding behind the desk, sprang out and struck Kwak Jekang on the back of the neck, knocking him unconscious.

“Ugh.”

With a short thud, his body collapsed to the floor.

‘Phew.’

Somehow, I felt relieved.

“Should I… leave him outside…?”

I quickly nodded.

And watching the head of security move Kwak Jekang, I swiftly took off the security team uniform.

‘…Done.’

What would happen now?

The head of security would leave Kwak Jekang near the company, and he would be ‘discovered’ by Assistant Manager Park Minseong and transported.

That way, Assistant Manager Park Minseong could testify, ‘I found Manager Kwak Jekang unconscious near the company and brought him back to the company.’

Because that was the last sighting!

‘Me and the head of security seeing him would become unrelated to work.’

Thus, Assistant Manager Park Minseong could remove my sighting from the report without lying.

-Mr. Deer! Ah, that was a truly enjoyable viewing. Wit, deception, secrecy. You used these three elements very entertainingly.

After changing, I picked up Brown, whom I had seated in a corner of the office, and put him in my front pocket, and he applauded.

‘Really? It wasn’t awkward?’

-Ah, it was flawless. That audacity, not even flinching when yourself was mentioned! It was a magnificent performance.

-But aren’t you worried that the author will go back and expose this whole situation, friend?

Ah, that.

I smiled confidently.

‘That won’t happen.’

-Oh ho?

Because Kwak Jekang is a man who thinks things through.

Security team interrogations are confidential.

It was normal for everyone to keep silent unless a knowledgeable associate specifically asked about it.

Especially in Kwak Jekang’s case, even more so.

Especially if the interrogation involved his crazy overreach!

‘Why would he go around blabbing about something that would get him disciplined anyway?’

Before he could even feel the catharsis of ‘observing’ what the outcome would be.

-Indeed!

This was better than a prohibition.

I recalled Assistant Manager Park Minseong’s worried voice.

-It would be good to have a memory-erasing potion, or a non-disclosure potion.

I could have bought them, but I didn’t use them.

Aren’t those potions made by Daydream?

Someone in Kwak Jekang’s position could buy a potion with a解除 (release) effect from the point mall, and he would suspect such an easily broken prohibition.

The important thing is to handle this naturally.

As if his blabbing wouldn’t mean much.

And even in the rare case that Kwak Jekang does blab, the superiors who hear it would also think that it’s not strange for someone from a certain faction to be doing such a secret project.

-So, Mr. Deer, you put your heart and soul into perfectly reproducing that ‘security team interrogation’.

-So that even if rumors spread, all those involved would be mistaken.

‘That’s right.’

The only thing bothering me was… that he associated Kim Soleum with my security team attire.

Even if Kwak Jekang later blabs in great detail, by the time the news reaches Director Ho, I won’t be here.

“Done.”

Thus, I successfully salvaged the situation while extracting all the information from Kwak Jekang.

My whole body aches…

‘Should I rest a bit before the head of security arrives?’

My stomach ached from dealing with a mad researcher.

I neatly folded the security team uniform and stored it in my inventory tattoo, then sat down in front of the dream incubator.

And I quietly stared at it.

-Friend, I’m sorry to interrupt your rest, but… ah, now I feel like giving you a slight hint and a preview.

‘…A preview?’

-That’s right! Let’s build up a little tension.

-Soon, a very interesting event will occur.

“…Brown?”

It was then.

Zzzzzzing.

My phone rang.

“…!”

A call at this late hour.

Could it be that something happened at the Disaster Management Bureau? Like too many overwhelming rescue requests came in.

I immediately opened my smartphone. But…

[K.LEE: Oh, it’s been a while, Employee-nim haha]

[K.LEE: How are you?]

Huh?

The person with a Hawaiian beach as his profile picture.

Assistant Manager Lee Kangheon from Team C, who introduced himself and connected me to the Salmon Market, appeared there.

But…

A text message came?

‘That’s impossible.’

Because, because…

I am already dead at Daydream.

And I had changed my number long ago.

‘…’

Something was wrong.

Meanwhile, my phone kept ringing.

[K.LEE: Oh right haha, you’re an Assistant Manager now, aren’t you?]

[K.LEE: No…]

[K.LEE: Are you a spy?]

“So.”

I turned my head.

“If you really want to be a spy.”

From behind the office chair in the dream incubation room, someone appeared, taking off the Dokkaebi Gamtu (goblin’s hat) they were wearing on their head.

Agent Choi.

In his hand was the crumpled note I had given him.

“You should have somehow snuck out hints like these in the middle. …Mr. Deer.”

The guillotine descended.