Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel (End Part 1) - Chapter 194

Director Ho’s mouth didn’t open.

But the incantation had begun.

-Male.

Numerous circular indentations rippled on Agent Choi’s face.

The smile on the agent’s face distorted with the ripples.

And the moment he leaned back.

Thump.

“…!!”

One side of his face seemed to cave in, blood gushing out.

Flesh was torn away exactly in the shape of the ripples.

No.

“Don’t move. Don’t move.”

I held Agent Choi.

‘He’s doing it on his face, not the back of his hand.’

His treatment was different from the spies.

It meant he would kill him if he moved.

Cold sweat trickled down my neck.

The incantation continued.

-You shall never reveal this matter.

That’s.

-You shall become unable to reveal it.

The bleeding intensified.

Blood flowed over my hand gripping Agent Choi’s shoulder.

What can I do?

Director Ho’s incantation doesn’t come from his mouth. Even if I speak to Director Ho or plead, he cannot be stopped.

-Your final appearance shall be as follows.

If I keep holding him like this, am I just making Agent Choi die more smoothly and quickly?

I can’t even help him escape. The incantation has already begun, and his equipment… his equipment, it’s all in my tattoo.

‘If only I hadn’t disarmed him in the first place.’

No, if only I hadn’t given him the note in the first place.

Even at the last moment, being transferred to the glass prison might have been better.

But all moments had passed, and now Director Ho spoke.

-Any unintentional hint, change in attitude, or provision of clues is fundamentally forbidden, and the restriction on your free will shall never be outwardly apparent.

-All attempts to inform you of the imposed restriction shall be frustrated, and you shall appear no different than before.

-Should you attempt to change this, you shall be punished.

‘……’

Is this the end?

That’s definitely the final phrase, right? So, will he just impose a powerful restriction and then stop?

I felt a momentary relief.

If I could just get past this situation, I might be able to find another way. This much, somehow…

-And tonight.

The incantation didn’t end.

-You shall resolve to die.

No.

-Believing your situation to be hopeless, you shall take your own life in the most squalid place in this alley…

I lunged.

Kicking the backrest of Director Ho’s seat, I simultaneously reached out and grabbed Director Ho by the collar.

And roughly pressed him against the steering wheel.

Beeeeeeep!

The horn blared madly under the weight.

The noise drowned out all incantations, and the scattered attention broke his concentration.

The oppressive pressure that weighed down the space disappeared.

In that instant, the circular ripples vanished from Agent Choi’s face.

Gasping.

Silence.

…Quiet.

“……”

“……”

“Soleum-nim.”

“……”

“Did you just attack me?”

I let go.

My mouth barely moved.

“You had to stop.”

“……”

“Because it was the wrong choice.”

It was a crazy choice.

I had just… criticized an unfathomable superior, someone who had placed a restriction on me, someone who seemed like a non-human who could kill me at any moment…

“Aha.”

Director Ho clapped his palms together with a resounding smack.

“So you’re saying you know better than me!”

“……”

“The one who couldn’t even last a quarter after infiltrating, got their identity exposed to a superior on their own team, and is privately meeting with the security team as a spy without a word of warning to me!”

I felt like I was going to die.

One wrong step here and I’d die.

Director Ho had never shown such direct hostility before. I was going to die.

But, but…

But still.

“That’s your mistake.”

…

“What?”

“The setup was too shoddy from the start. An infiltrator should never have been deployed with their real name.”

Yes.

“If you judged that the Disaster Management Bureau wouldn’t know the backgrounds of new recruits, that was an overly naive decision as a planner.”

Crazy words, unbelievable to be spoken to such a senior superior, came out of my mouth.

I couldn’t stop.

“Why did you send me with such easily detectable conditions? I thought there were other preventive measures, but it turns out there weren’t. Did you do it on purpose…”

…

Just a moment.

“I see.”

I looked at Director Ho.

“You did it on purpose. To get me caught.”

“…!”

“You sent me hoping I’d be discovered from the start. That’s why you made me use my real name, and that’s why you only chose new recruits instead of veterans.”

Hoping that the inexperienced would make mistakes.

Giving the easy excuse of ‘to trick the Disaster Management Bureau’s detection capabilities,’ he only picked new recruits who were kind and diligent, most fitting for the Disaster Management Bureau.

And there was another side effect to this.

“The agents who uncover the identities of such infiltrators will be more confused. Because, in fact, there’s no difference in character from real agents.”

Inside, opinions on how to deal with them would be extremely divided.

Furthermore, they would realize that no matter what character test they imposed, they couldn’t filter out spies, and suspicion would spread among them.

That way…

“Were you trying to induce internal division within the Disaster Management Bureau?”

“……”

“To slowly dismantle a tightly knit organization, to sow seeds of distrust so that they can’t trust new recruits coming in?”

“Soleum-nim. You have a rich imagination!”

Really?

“But you’re not directly answering no.”

Stop.

Director Ho looked at me in silence.

“‘I had no such intention, and I can swear that in the counseling room.’ …Can you declare that?”

“……”

“I asked if you can declare it.”

“Soleum-nim.”

A gentle, good-natured smile appeared on Director Ho’s face.

“It won’t change anything, you know.”

“…!”

“The promise was always one from the beginning.”

Director Ho raised his index finger.

“If you bring me the documents I asked for, you will be granted your wish. That condition is a sure guarantee that will never be withdrawn.”

“So.”

My mouth was dry with tension.

My heart pounded furiously.

But my mouth moved without hesitation.

“Whether I’m caught or not, that doesn’t really matter, does it? As long as I can bring you the ‘documents’.”

“……”

“As long as you can hear that information, Director.”

Information about the extinction-level supernatural disaster.

…

Right.

“Then I will definitely bring it.”

“The documents?”

“The information you want.”

“You’ve already been caught?”

“Even if I’m caught,”

I met Director Ho’s eyes.

“I can bring it.”

And at the same time, I pointed at Agent Choi while slightly shielding him with my back.

“But if this agent dies or becomes incapacitated here, I cannot carry out the task.”

“Why not?”

“Because I won’t be able to handle it from there.”

“……”

“……”

Director Ho silently smiled and continued to look at me.

I also couldn’t take my eyes off him and continued to look, enduring.

And.

“Very well.”

Director Ho declared.

“Our promise hasn’t changed. I’m really looking forward to seeing how you’ll bring me the documents, Soleum-nim.”

“……”

Just as a sigh of relief barely escaped my throat.

“But… you still have to be punished, don’t you?”

…!!

“I trust you already know that your actions just now were incredibly rude and inappropriate, Soleum-nim.”

My eyelids trembled.

“Frankly… none of the other people were caught, so I’m not sure how you can claim it’s not your personal fault.”

A chilling sense of dread ran down my spine.

“Excuses are free, but attacking a superior because your will wasn’t accepted, I think that was too much… So, if I were to guess why you went to such lengths.”

“……”

“Did you grow fond of him?”

Cold sweat dripped from my chin.

“Were you afraid of a colleague dying? Soleum-nim, you seem to form precious bonds quite easily even in unfamiliar environments.”

“Director.”

I replied as calmly as possible.

“It’s natural for a person to be afraid of another person dying.”

“……”

“I apologize if my rebuttal upset you.”

“Not at all! I’m not upset. What you said is only natural.”

A smile spread across Director Ho’s face again.

“But rules are rules.”

“……”

“Would you extend your hand? Because you need to be punished.”

…

I slowly extended both hands, barely without trembling.

Palms up.

-Male.

Ripples appeared.

But they weren’t calm like the secrecy restriction placed earlier.

Huge, deep indentations, accompanied by a bizarre pain on the back of my hand, giving a grotesque, twisted sensation.

“…!”

I gritted my teeth, sweating profusely. I mustn’t move. If I move…

-You shall die in one month.

…!

-However, if the promise with ■■■ is fulfilled, this obligation shall be withdrawn.

-In all other attempts to avoid this, you shall be punished.

I suppressed a scream.

The ripples on the back of my hand subsided, and slowly, the bizarre sensation and pain disappeared…

“I was worried that you might have lied to buy time. As you said, this time I’ve dealt with it without being naive!”

Director Ho smiled brightly.

“Thank you for letting me know.”

“……”

I withdrew my hands.

For a moment, my eyes met Agent Choi’s trembling pupils.

“Ah. I think I should go now.”

“……”

“I only intended to deal with it quickly, but I didn’t realize my conversation with Soleum-nim would be this long.”

“Conversation… it didn’t feel like one…”

…!!

“You said… you’d kill me in a month…”

Head of Security!

‘Don’t say it, please!’

Director Ho looked at the Head of Security as if he had only just become aware of his presence for the first time.

And… he smiled and said.

“Give my regards to Director Cheong.”

…!!

Director Ho turned his head away again, as if he hadn’t heard what the Head of Security said.

He smiled broadly at me.

“Then I hope you have a good night, Soleum-nim!”

And.

Director Ho vanished from the driver’s seat.

“……”

“……”

“Director Cheong… I won’t have a chance to meet him… Ah, he’s gone.”

I was alive.

I almost collapsed onto the taxi floor.

But realizing I was already sitting, I immediately moved my trembling body.

Agent Choi’s bleeding was now horrific.

To stop the bleeding, I opened the treatment kit from Agent Choi’s equipment that I had taken and began first aid.

“……”

The bleeding on his face stopped, and he calmed down somewhat.

Agent Choi didn’t resist.

But he still remained silent.

“Agent.”

He only turned his eyes to look at me.

“Don’t think about it.”

“What.”

“How to break the restriction the Director placed. Don’t try or even plan it.”

“……”

The first restriction Director Ho chanted had already been applied to Agent Choi.

Now he couldn’t convey any information about me being a spy, or about what happened today.

He had to appear as if he was living today just like yesterday.

Otherwise.

“You’ll be punished.”

“Punishment.”

“Yes.”

I raised my head and spoke clearly.

“Your most precious thing will meet the Director.”

“……”

Agent Choi silently retrieved his treatment tools from my hand and continued with the first aid himself.

The kind of practiced skill unique to someone who had done the same work for a long time.

And…

“…You said Director.”

I didn’t answer.

“What kind of restriction did the Director place on you?”

“……”

“It sounds like he said he’d kill you in a month if you don’t do your spy work properly. What did he put on you before?”

I opened the car door.

And gestured with my chin.

“Go home.”

“How are you going to get the information out?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Agent Choi looked at me with unreadable eyes.

“If you tell me what kind of information it is, I might be able to help.”

“No need. I won’t ask you to steal anything, Agent.”

“What is your wish that you’re trying to achieve by doing this?”

I couldn’t stand it.

“To go home.”

“…!”

“…I’ll leave your equipment in the trunk, Agent.”

I got out of the car with the Head of Security.

And after taking out all of Agent Choi’s equipment and placing it in the trunk, I put one low-grade Daydream regeneration potion among them.

Because I didn’t know what he’d hear if he showed up for work tomorrow with his face looking like that.

…During that time, Agent Choi didn’t follow me out of the car.

Click.

I roughly closed the trunk and walked away with the Head of Security.

…Somewhere.

“……”

“Um… are you okay…?”

“…Yes.”

The worst was avoided.

Clearly, I had properly escaped the situation.

One month.

That was enough. I could do it. I had a plan…

I could do it.

“Hmm…”

The Head of Security’s slow voice reached me.

“Hey, if it really gets too difficult… come find me…”

“…Thank you.”

Even just the words were appreciated.

I finally regained my composure.

“Oh, I’m sorry. You always help me, but I should treat you to something.”

Was there a bakery nearby? I wanted to give him something, even if not donuts, but the Head of Security slowly shook his head.

“Hmm. Next time… at a good restaurant…”

“…Yes. Next time. Definitely.”

A slight chuckle escaped me.

…My heart seemed to lighten a little.

“Um… the information I found out…?”

“I’ll hear that next time too.”

But it was my limit.

I barely managed to see off the Head of Security with a faint smile.

The Head of Security looked back at me a few times, but ultimately returned to Daydream Inc. before sunset…

“……”

-Whew, that was breathtaking suspense!

I lowered my head.

The plush toy on my chest was visible.

-I’m terribly excited to see where your journey, now entering a new phase, will lead. Aren’t you, my friend?

…

“Think what you want.”

And I pulled out the plush toy.

I felt a brief urge to throw it onto the main road, but it went into my jacket pocket instead.

With this, I wouldn’t have to hear its voice.

At least for today, anyway.

“……”

I returned to the old motel I had rented long-term.

And five hours later, I went to work at the Disaster Management Bureau.

As if nothing had changed.