Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel (End Part 1) - Chapter 193

I rolled and avoided the guillotine blade.

But the blades, now pouring down, had already pierced my foot.

“…!”

In that instant, Agent Choi rushed towards me with frightening speed, pulling something else from his hand.

Something round.

A glass marble glinting in the light of the Dream Solution.

‘AnGlass Prison!’

The moment I was hit by that, I’d be restrained and transferred to the Disaster Management Bureau’s famous glass prison.

At that moment, everything would be over.

My spy mission, my wish.

‘No.’

I pulled out the guillotine blade from my foot, gritted my teeth, and rolled sideways.

Ting, Tididing…

The glass marble, which I narrowly avoided, fell to the side with a cheerful sound, but…

The prison had already opened.

“……!”

Sinner, Receive your ropes.

Numerous hands emerged from the glass void, seizing me.

I clung to the office equipment, but it was useless. I was dragged in with it. I heard the sound of my fingernails shattering as my scraping hands were pulled.

There was no time to even pull out an item.

‘Brown!’

-Oh, you’re desperately wishing for the devoted help of a good friend, my friend! -But it will be difficult.

What?

-It’s a decision for more interesting progress, so I believe Mr. Roe Deer will willingly understand. Ah, but my heart is tearing too! Of course… -The friend’s predicament!

My blood ran cold.

I was trapped in the glass just like that.

Charararak.

With a clear, sharp sound as if the glass resonated, I was separated from the outside, as if looking through a broken mirror.

‘Brown?’

No answer. Damn it!

‘No.’

I gritted my teeth.

The moment the agent contacted the Disaster Management Bureau like this, it was all over.

And Agent Choi was exactly the kind of person who would do that!

‘He’s already started to contact them.’

The glass marble spun in Agent Choi’s hand. It was a kind of ritual to summon the prison guards.

‘Damn it, damn it!’

How could I stop him? How could I persuade him? He’s a compassionate person who sometimes gets swayed by emotions, but that’s only possible if there’s an opening.

Now that he knows I’m a spy, he’ll probably just throw me in the glass prison and start…

…

Wait.

I looked not at Agent Choi’s hand holding the glass marble, but at his opposite, left hand.

A crumpled piece of paper was held there.

‘……’

Found it.

“Is that the note I gave you? Did you solve that riddle recently and find this place?”

Agent Choi didn’t answer, continuing to roll the glass marble in his hand. But I didn’t give up and kept talking to him.

“At least when you received the note, did you think I was genuinely asking for help to assist someone?”

“No.”

“…!”

“At first, I thought there would be a trick. Because of your background.”

…!!

“Why are you surprised? You joined here using your real name from Daydream Inc., did you really think no one would know?”

The shock that pierced my head led to a conclusion…

‘It was strange.’

Yes. I definitely thought it was strange.

When Lee Kang-heon of Team C didn’t exist, and when Team Leader Lee Seong-hae, who supposedly exchanged messages with him, said he’d never seen him.

I could deduce the cause with a very simple deduction.

That the person never existed in the first place.

It was someone disguised as a Daydream employee to dig for information.

That person.

So, he knew from the beginning that I was from Daydream…

“But you know…”

Agent Choi’s voice became hollow.

“You work really well. …And hard.”

“……”

“You strive to help everyone you meet—kids, even annoying jerks—without discrimination. And you try to do anything, even if you get hurt or suffer a loss.”

His voice choked.

“I didn’t think that I could be acting. Usually, Daydream employees can’t stand suffering losses. So I thought… just as you told Jae-gwan, that you might really have faked your death at the company and run away to go into hiding.”

…!

“That it would be good to keep you on our team and manage you well…”

Agent Choi tightly gripped the glass marble.

“I just believed what was convenient. Haha, to make such a mistake with this much experience.”

“……”

“Yes, it’s human nature to move when a greater gain comes, even if you suffer a loss. And I forgot your tendency to risk your life for a wish. But…”

Agent Choi’s eyes gleamed darkly.

“Mr. Roe Deer. Are you even human?”

“……”

“What was that form earlier? And what is this place? They said Daydream grants wishes if you do something to the Disaster Management Bureau? Let’s hear it.”

I remained silent.

Agent Choi met my gaze for a moment, then finally laughed.

“Meaningless, isn’t it?”

“……”

“Yes. Go to prison and talk as much as you want…”

“Prison?”

A voice came from above Agent Choi’s head.

“…!”

A dark shadow fell over him.

A monstrous form of a gigantic wolf with teeth and eyes growing haphazardly.

The Head of Security.

He had returned.

I, who had been stalling for time, gritted my teeth and shouted.

“Aim for the glass marble!”

“You son of a b*tch…”

Agent Choi tried to grab the guillotine blade from his waist, but it was already too late.

Teeth approached.

Chomp.

The blade of the guillotine shattered, and the glass marble was chewed up along with Agent Choi’s hand.

“Ugh!”

The moment the glass marble shattered between the teeth, the prison that had confined me also broke.

I immediately rushed out. And seizing the opportunity, I subdued Agent Choi.

At the part where he would react the slowest.

His neck.

“…!”

I deliberately aimed for the scar on his neck.

Something between guilt and tension coursed up my spine.

Thump.

Agent Choi was pinned to the floor. The black maw of the wolf-like monster that had bitten his arm revealed teeth and tongue-like masses, as if it intended to tear him apart…

“No.”

I gasped, speaking urgently.

“You mustn’t kill him.”

“……”

Slowly, the monster’s form retracted, revealing the gaunt Head of Security with an unenthusiastic expression.

“I wasn’t… going to kill him… just… scare him…”

Whew.

“He’s not someone that kind of scare tactic will work on.”

I looked down.

My heart pounded.

What do I do now?

So, has my mission completely failed? What about the wish…? How do I fix this situation? How can I…

“Soleum-ah.”

“……”

“Ahem, Kim Soleum. Wow.”

From below, Agent Choi gave a small cough and a muffled sound, then smirked.

“That guillotine blade didn’t hurt much, did it?”

…!

“That’s not something you can move like that after getting hit in the foot. You saw it too. When your company’s elite team got hit.”

I saw it.

In the Twinkle Twinkle Dragon Palace Horror Story.

Deputy Jin Nasol groaned and collapsed the moment the guillotine blade pierced her.

And the fact that it didn’t hurt me much, that means…

“It means you’re not such a bad guy, right?”

“……”

“Grape. You can still turn back.”

…!

“I can just handle it quietly on my end without reporting it higher up. I mean… there aren’t just one or two people with unusual backgrounds in the Bureau, right?”

“……”

“Let’s just cover this up. Then you can live as a new recruit who escaped from a cult-like company and joined the Disaster Management Bureau, just as you said.”

Agent Choi’s eyes became calm and clear.

“Just… keep working with us as the youngest agent on Team Hyunmu 1. Saving people.”

“……”

“I don’t know why you’re tied to that damn company… but honestly. Didn’t you enjoy being with our team much more?”

“……”

“And your wish, maybe we can grant it too, you know.”

A low voice told a warm story.

“I’ll help you, Soleum-ah.”

…

I moved my hand.

“Agent.”

“Hm?”

“Stop lying. It won’t work.”

“…!”

I twisted Agent Choi’s left arm behind his back and grabbed it.

Thudududuk, a pager fell from under his left arm. I grabbed the pager and crushed it.

“This…!”

As expected.

“Agent Choi.”

I pressed both his hands behind his back and stated clearly.

“I already know.”

“……”

“Pressing the pager attached below your left elbow is a common countermeasure you use.”

Agent Choi’s eyes widened.

“But in situations where it’s difficult to pull out the pager… you usually devise methods to subdue your opponent. You mainly use the Goblin Lantern for subduing, but sometimes you use books obtained from Jeong’s Bookstore.”

“……”

“But since that’s for protecting the person to be rescued, you’ll choose to escape now. Mr. J, there’s another pocket inside his pants pocket. There should be a shoelace in there. Please take it out.”

The Head of Security did as I asked.

Agent Choi’s smile turned pale as he saw his escape item, now in my hand.

I declared.

“I know you. I anticipate everything you do.”

“……”

“Don’t make the situation dangerous with useless attempts.”

“Haha… You son of a b*tch.”

His voice trembled.

“What are you?”

“……”

“Who are you?”

I couldn’t answer.

I had done this to instill caution, to deliberately prevent him from moving recklessly.

I systematically disarmed Agent Choi of all his weapons and stored them all in my inventory tattoo.

With this, the initial incapacitation was complete.

‘Whew.’

But far from feeling relieved, my head was spinning.

What next, what next…

‘I need to get out.’

It was dangerous to stay here with Agent Choi. It would be troublesome if the Disaster Management Bureau tracked him down.

‘Motel.’

First, I’ll go to a third location.

“Walk. Quietly.”

“……”

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

I helped Agent Choi to his feet and held him. With the Head of Security beside him, at first glance, it looked as if two people were supporting a drunk colleague.

As we left the Dream Incubation Room, I pondered how to handle the situation again…

“Soleum-ah.”

“……”

Agent Choi smiled, sweating profusely.

“Are you going to bury me somewhere like this? Or… hand me over to Daydream Inc.?”

“……”

“But you know how terrible those Daydream guys are. You saw with your own eyes how they tried to use the kids we barely rescued from the Dragon Palace for experiments.”

I moved my feet.

“Are you really going to hand me over to them?”

“……”

“Just tell me what the Disaster Management Bureau was trying to do. I’ll help you.”

I couldn’t speak.

And… I knew he wouldn’t help.

He was just looking for an opening, for me to falter even a little.

And the moment I gave an opening, the seasoned Agent Choi would somehow transfer me to the glass prison or escape, gather reinforcements, and reappear.

Then it would be over. No…

‘Is it already over?’

My stomach churned.

This feeling, as if I had passed an irreversible turning point.

The realization that the everyday life where I thought I could quietly extract the documents Director Ho requested would never return.

The faintness that I would now sink into a quagmire from which it would be difficult to escape.

I felt like throwing up.

‘……What do I do?’

Is there a way?

Daydream’s potions that would make Agent Choi lose his memory or swear secrecy are useless.

‘I’ll be caught in less than a week.’

Agent Choi undergoes a weekly in-house check-up to confirm if anything sinister has entered him. He’d be caught there.

Rather, rather…

“Excuse me…”

“……”

“Excuse me.”

I turned to the Head of Security opposite me.

The Head of Security, looking at the agent he was subduing as if supporting him, spoke.

“This person… Disaster Management Bureau…?”

“…Yes.”

“Hmm… I don’t know what’s going on…”

The Head of Security spoke as if he had realized something.

“Hey, he looks like someone I knew… I think we could talk.”

“…!”

“Through conversation… for now?”

But what could I say?

I couldn’t say the most important things: what I was doing as a spy, or exactly what Daydream demanded, because of Director Ho’s restriction.

Excluding that, what I could say was…

…

Only myself, not a spy.

Kim Soleum.

What I wanted.

What I thought about while working at the Disaster Management Bureau.

Whether I intended to deceive them.

“……”

Should I just say that much?

‘At least that I had no intention of harming the Disaster Management Bureau.’

If I could prove that I hadn’t caused any actual harm, then perhaps I could find some compromise.

For now… let’s try that.

“…Yes.”

After exiting into the alley, I stepped onto the roadside, saw a taxi stopped there, and quietly told Agent Choi.

“We’re taking a taxi.”

“……”

“Don’t cause a disturbance.”

“Clever, Mr. Roe Deer.”

He wouldn’t recklessly cause trouble or attack if there were civilians. He’d worry about the taxi driver getting hurt or killed in the process.

‘It can even prevent unforeseen situations.’

My stomach felt even worse using that to my advantage, but there was no other choice.

“Let’s get in.”

The three of us got into the back seat of the taxi side by side. And to avoid startling the driver in the driver’s seat, we continued to maintain the posture of supporting a drunk person…

“Soleum-nim!”

“…!!”

A familiar face turned from the driver’s seat.

Someone who wasn’t a taxi driver. He called out with a voice full of regret, looking at me.

…It was Director Ho.

‘What is this?’

How did he appear?

Why… here?

But shock dominated the situation before questions.

Because Director Ho declared.

“Oh dear, you’ve been caught.”

“……”

No.

“But you secured him well immediately! I wanted to save you the trouble of coming, so I came to meet you.”

Director Ho’s gaze shifted.

His gaze, ignoring the Head of Security as if he wasn’t there, fell on the person in the center of the back seat, who was held as if restrained by the two of us.

Agent Choi.

“Hello?”

Something non-human, who had clearly expressed hatred and hostility towards the Disaster Management Bureau, stared at the Disaster Management Bureau agent.

A tense smile spread across Agent Choi’s face.

“…It doesn’t seem like a very ‘hello’ situation for me.”

“Oh dear, no.”

A smile also spread across Director Ho’s face.

“You’ll be ‘hello’ soon.”

No.

“Please wait.”

I urgently stepped into Director Ho’s line of sight.

My back was damp with cold sweat.

“He has set it up so that if he dies, goes missing, or mutates, an immediate alert will be sent to the Bureau.”

“Is that so?”

“It’s certain. So, it would be most efficient and safe to simply place a restriction on him and return him to his daily life…”

“Soleum-nim.”

Director Ho looked at me and smiled apologetically.

“Since your identity was exposed so quickly, it’s difficult to trust your judgment anymore, Soleum-nim…”

Goosebumps ran down to the top of my head.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“……”

I rigidly turned my head.

Round ripples were appearing on Agent Choi’s face.

Director Ho’s incantation.