Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel (End Part 1) - Chapter 197

“Please!”

Baek Saheon was practically screaming.

Yet, at the same time, he was trying his best to keep his voice down, as if he simply wanted to escape the encroaching supernatural disaster without being detected.

However, Agent Cheongdong did not release his restraints.

He merely glanced at the golden stick in my hand, which I had taken from Baek Saheon’s pants pocket, and asked a question.

Special Prize.

“What does it mean that you picked that?”

“What does it mean? It means we’re screwed! So we have to get out of here before the holiday festival’s hard labor begins. Right now, from here…”

“Are we going to die?”

Baek Saheon froze.

I, who had interjected, asked again.

“But earlier, I saw the person who picked that stick being congratulated. And there was talk of them playing an important role in next year’s event…”

“……”

Baek Saheon’s lips parted, but he couldn’t speak.

However, fear and anger flickered in his eyes.

‘Forbidden words?’

I met Agent Cheongdong’s gaze.

The agent nodded slightly and asked in an uninflected tone.

“Then tell us how you obtained the direct emergency number for headquarters.”

“Ha! Isn’t that the number you guys hid all over the village?”

“……!”

“Everyone already knows. The whole village knows. They’re just leaving it be. But how do I contact them with that number?”

Sarcasm poured from Baek Saheon’s lips.

“Wait. You noticed the Bureau’s notices and just left them neglected?”

“Yes! They don’t care if outsiders drink Divine Mountain Liquor, attain worldly truths, and hang themselves, drown in the river, rot at the bottom of a well, or forget everything and just live their lives. They don’t care if one or two of them escape, so they don’t pay attention. They’re just managing it to avoid bad luck!”

“‘Bad luck’? What kind of bad luck?”

Baek Saheon clamped his mouth shut again.

Cold sweat dripped from his jaw.

‘Forbidden words again.’

My mood strangely sank at the sight of him tormented by supernatural fear and pressure.

‘…Is it because it reminds me of myself?’

But that was my perspective.

“Looks like you can’t answer.”

Agent Cheongdong probably had no need to feel sympathy for Baek Saheon.

He was the one who had killed those with the tape at the mountain lodge, as part of his duty.

Because the Disaster Management Bureau had selected him as a wicked person.

And Baek Saheon had the tape.

“If you know so much, then leave on your own.”

“I told you, I can’t!”

At the calm agent’s words, Baek Saheon seemed to grasp the situation and rolled his eyes.

But the next moment, his voice became calm.

“Look, you know that thing. I know it too. The stone pile in front of the village pine tree. You put a stone there, pray, and if the agents link arms and walk with you on both sides, you can safely leave the village, right?”

“……!!”

He was accurate.

Ninety-nine steps east of the well, there’s a withered pine tree, and you have to place one more small stone on the stone mound in front of it.

And after praying ‘Look back and watch over us’ three times, if the entire group links arms and heads towards the entrance, they can safely return to their daily lives… that’s the current rule.

Since this task absolutely requires at least three people, two agents are dispatched.

So, don’t forget. The agents should link arms at the far left and far right and put the rescued people in the middle!

“I… I saw it all. I’ve seen it for decades. Isn’t that the rescue method? Do it for me too! I reported it! That’s right, isn’t it?!”

Baek Saheon’s tone overflowed with desperation and resentment.

But…

“That doesn’t work for village people.”

Baek Saheon stopped.

“……What?”

“It means it won’t work for you, who lives in this village.”

That’s right.

-I’m writing this again, but this doesn’t work for villagers during the festival, so don’t try it rashly. Don’t get lost between the village and reality by trying it unprepared.

“Villagers cannot safely leave by that method.”

“…I don’t live in this village anymore. I live in Seoul.”

Agent Cheongdong did not reply.

Baek Saheon lowered his voice and wailed urgently.

“I… I only come here once a month, no, once every two or three months, and stay for a few days. I don’t live here! These crazy bastards, no!”

“The criterion is whether you’re wearing a feather from the festival.”

“……!”

Baek Saheon’s gaze dropped.

To his own chest, still bearing a rooster feather.

“~!!”

He twitched his body as if to tear it off, but soon stopped, as if it were impossible.

And he mumbled.

“It doesn’t work?”

“……”

“No. That can’t be. I’m an adult and I don’t live here, so I’m an outsider, right? Then… then there must be another way. You said you have to save citizens. You have to save the reporter.”

Agent Cheongdong’s calm voice declared.

“It’s currently impossible.”

…….

…….

“Then die.”

…….

What?

“Then you all die too.”

Baek Saheon’s mouth opened.

“May Jisan bless you with myriad fortunes, oh Agent! May Jisan bless you with myriad fortunes, oh Agent! May Jisan bless you with myriad fortunes, oh Agent! May Jisan bless you with myriad fortunes, oh Agent—”

I hurriedly covered Baek Saheon’s mouth.

Then, with a sharp pain, flesh was torn from my hand.

“…!”

He had bitten me.

“Agent Roe Deer!”

“These outsiders are taking the Agent! They’re taking the Agent! It’s bad luck!”

As Agent Cheongdong quickly pulled my hand away, and the force covering his mouth momentarily released, Baek Saheon’s voice burst out again.

And.

“May Jisan bless you with a myriad of fortunes, oh Agent…”

Figures appeared from behind the abandoned house.

No, several figures.

I realized.

“Please don’t make such a ruckus in the village.”

“Yes. Oh my, what’s all this at night? Our bathwater is very good, why don’t you have a warm bath and get some good rest?”

“It seems you couldn’t sleep and weren’t full enough.”

I understood why Agent Choi had said that if we were detected by the villagers, we should quickly hide or subdue them and hide in the abandoned house.

The treatment had changed.

“Meal is served~”

After being discovered at the well.

The kindly villagers led us back to the tile-roofed house.

And they had changed our sleeping arrangements from Baek Saheon’s small single room to a luxurious large room with sliding paper doors.

It wasn’t a suggestion. They had simply done it naturally.

And they offered us a bath, and brought out festival food. Along with alcohol.

“Drink it down refreshingly. It’s medicinal liquor. Medicinal liquor.”

“It’s made with mountain vegetables, herbs, and ginseng from here, so it’s very nourishing and opens your eyes~”

Like those who had clung to the obnoxious person who threw the cucumber on the ground.

Baek Saheon was nowhere to be seen.

The villagers had led him somewhere.

“……”

A chilling premonition made us exchange glances.

Did the people who had seen the hidden notices from the Disaster Management Bureau and sent in rescue requests feel this same unsettling sensation?

The villagers had set out the meal and left the room, leaving just the two of us, but a slight presence could still be felt outside the door for a moment.

And then it disappeared.

“……”

Agent Cheongdong approached the door and listened intently.

He waited until he was sure there was no presence, then cautiously reached out to slightly open the door to check outside…

Wait a moment.

I grabbed Agent Cheongdong’s shoulder and stopped his movement.

Then I rummaged through the table and picked up a flat candle that had been used to warm the food.

I shone it near the sliding paper door.

The shadows of people pressed close on the other side of the door were visible.

“……!”

They had been eavesdropping.

They hadn’t moved away and disappeared.

‘Damn it.’

A shiver of dread crept up my neck.

I hurriedly put the candlestick down naturally, and instead, slightly spilled my water glass, wetting my finger to switch to writing.

-Is it impossible to put all these people to sleep and quietly leave?

-It’s difficult.

Agent Cheongdong replied quickly.

-In ghost stories with such overt religious overtones, sleep isn’t always a good method.

“……”

Indeed.

This ghost story seemed to have been observed for a very long time, and they had probably tried various methods.

Agent Choi’s advice that I read probably didn’t contain all the various attempts they made. Only the effective and safe ones became rules.

…And among those, not a single method for rescuing villagers from the disaster had been confirmed.

Still.

-How exactly do the outsiders who visit this village festival disappear?

I had to hear this.

But…

-Unknown.

…!!

-The villagers send outsiders away immediately after the festival ends.

And there were quite frequent records of people who had only stayed one night vehemently insisting on leaving in the middle of the festival and doing so.

-But the problem is… some of them never arrive home.

“……”

-Occasionally, even after safely returning home, numerous cases are observed where they suddenly choose death a few weeks later.

Mostly deaths using natural objects.

Chilling.

-We don’t know the cause of this situation, but a common procedure has been confirmed.

Entering this ghost story and following the friendly villagers’ guidance, receiving a bath, food, and alcohol.

-It hadn’t been revealed exactly which of the three was the factor, but we’ve caught a hint this time.

I recalled Baek Saheon’s shouting words.

-Outsiders drink Divine Mountain Liquor, attain worldly truths, and hang themselves, drown in the river, rot at the bottom of a well…

I see.

‘So alcohol is definitely one factor.’

I looked at the alcohol on the table.

Clear liquor, contained in a plain white porcelain bottle.

But…

‘If you drink this, you attain worldly truths and die… What on earth does that mean?’

What kind of ‘truth’ could it be?

In the original ghost story worldview, there are many cases where people’s minds are destroyed by brainwashing or hypnosis under the guise of truth.

That’s scary, of course.

But what’s even scarier is this.

…It’s truly the truth, but simply knowing it makes a person choose death.

Humans who have learned what they shouldn’t know.

‘…I have a bad feeling about this.’

A chill ran down my chest.

…It seems safer to just leave.

My peripheral nerves signaled that not digging further was the wise thing to do.

And there was still a definite method left.

The escape method provided to agents by the Disaster Management Bureau.

The five-colored shoelaces.

“……”

I had already seen Agent Cheongdong discreetly looking inside his jacket, clearly conflicted.

-Are we leaving just like this?

But even if he wasn’t a rescue target, leaving them like this would undoubtedly mean people wouldn’t return home even after the festival ended.

Although Agent Cheongdong was a stickler for principles, it seemed he couldn’t help but consider that as an agent.

-If there’s no way to quietly leave this room until the festival ends today, I will do so.

And he added, with a tired and guilty expression.

-I apologize. I spoke too strongly and provided an excuse for the other person to act impulsively.

No.

‘I should have known Baek Saheon was the type to act impulsively…’

I had seen so much of him on the wiki and even lived with him in the company dormitory.

…I felt like my predictions were dulled by exhaustion.

I shook my head, then slumped onto the floor in a corner of the room.

It was already dawn.

‘The festival will start soon, won’t it?’

And.

Hiyah-a-a-a-a!

As the festival music and noise outside grew louder, reaching their peak, we couldn’t leave the room.

‘They’re not disappearing.’

Even after the festival began, people would occasionally bring food and drink to our room, warmed up.

And there were always at least two people standing outside the door.

Persuasion or inducement didn’t work either.

They were just friendly, with no intention of conversing with us in the first place.

‘They’re going this far?’

It was almost perplexing.

‘How on earth did Baek Saheon report us to the villagers?’

It was ominous.

At this rate, we would really have to tie our shoelaces and just go back.

It was then, just as Agent Cheongdong’s judgment seemed to be slowly leaning that way.

A sound came from outside.

‘People were making a ruckus over there… Should I tell them here?’

‘Yes, yes. They were fighting. Something about spilling food… Uh-oh?’

There was a brief commotion outside, then the sound of people rushing away.

And a moment later.

Thud.

The sliding paper door opened, revealing a familiar face.

“So there are people here too.”

“…!!”

It was Agent Eun Haje.

Agent Cheongdong’s eyes widened.

“You…”

“Shh.”

The agent raised his index finger to his lips.

And he frowned, mumbling.

“Is this some kind of human trafficking village? Everyone’s trying to lock up family and outsiders who are troublemakers. Anyway, you guys want to get out of this room too, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then let’s go.”

Agent Eun Haje guided us, skillfully starting to sneak out of the tile-roofed house.

For some reason, the tile-roofed house was almost completely deserted.

“Why did the numbers suddenly drop?”

“People were already scarce due to festival preparations, and then a fight broke out between villagers outside the house, so everyone rushed to break it up.”

“…Did someone perhaps instigate that fight?”

“Who knows?”

And Agent Eun Haje winked.

‘That person’s doing, isn’t it?’

I felt a mix of wanting to scream at him to stop doing dangerous things and gratitude, making me choke up a little.

“Anyway, hurry up and go. This doesn’t seem like an ordinary village.”

“……Thank you.”

“No problem.”

And having exited through a back door that Agent Eun Haje seemed to have marked, we were met with the same scenery as yesterday.

[Receive the blessings of Jisan!]

The holiday festival was in full swing in the village.

Hiyah-a-a-a-a!

“Still a mess, huh.”

Agent Eun Haje, raking a hand through his hair, turned to us and said.

“Don’t get caught again and dragged back to a room. In this chaos, you can quietly go to the entrance without being noticed…”

“Just a moment.”

Agent Cheongdong frowned and spoke sternly to Agent Eun Haje.

“Let’s leave together.”

Of course, Agent Eun Haje was dumbfounded.

“No, I have other business, you see. I have to do my interviews to make a living, don’t I?”

“It’s dangerous.”

“I’m the one who saved you when you were in danger, aren’t I?”

Agent Cheongdong sighed. He seemed frustrated about wasting time arguing, yet also wanted to persuade Agent Eun Haje.

It seemed he was worried that someone who had done so much for them might disappear here. He probably wanted to save him no matter what.

But I…

‘I’m worried, but I can’t be sure which is more dangerous.’

If I dragged Agent Eun Haje out of this seemingly dangerous village right now, wouldn’t I risk being retaliated against by Director Ho for neglecting my duties?

It was something I had just experienced myself.

‘Whew.’

My head was spinning.

And one more thing bothered me.

‘Is it really okay to just leave Baek Saheon like this?’

Of course, Baek Saheon wouldn’t die and would continue to be promoted to section chief. If this was Baek Saheon’s original home, then nothing that hadn’t already happened according to the wiki’s setting would happen because of my variable presence, meaning he wouldn’t die here.

‘But… that fear was real.’

Was it really okay to just leave like this?

I inadvertently looked around, and at that moment, my eyes landed squarely on him.

It was Baek Saheon.

“……!”

He was still helping with village tasks, like carrying food and guiding people.

His eyes were hollow, but his face was surprisingly calm.

And then.

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

[Everyone! It’s drawing time! May you all receive prizes and many blessings from Jisan!]

The drawing time had returned.

The villagers began to move in an orderly fashion, carrying the drawing barrels again.

“We have to leave.”

“No, I mean…”

As Agent Cheongdong’s urgent words and Agent Eun Haje’s words overlapped.

“Receive the blessings of Jisan!”

The villagers scattered among the outsiders.

‘…At this speed, even if we had just run straight for the entrance, we would have been caught.’

Meaning it was an unavoidable flow.

Being seen by them.

One of them approached us.

Thus, our turn came quickly and naturally.

“Receive the blessings of Jisan!”

The drawing barrel was presented.

“……”

Wouldn’t it be more suspicious not to pick?

There were too many villagers.

‘I don’t think we should cause a ruckus.’

If we wanted to leave without being detected by the people in the tile-roofed house, it was better not to refuse and draw attention or raise our voices.

‘Even if I win, I just won’t take the prize when I leave.’

After intense deliberation, I finally reached out and picked up any stick closest to me and pulled it out…

But.

A golden tip was visible.

“…!!”

A stick with gold stuck to the end.

The same one that had been in Baek Saheon’s pants pocket yesterday.

Special Prize.

“……”

The surroundings suddenly became impossibly quiet.

Gaze, even without looking, I could feel the gazes.

And.

“Aaaahhh!”

“Aaaah!”

[They’re here! They’re here! The blessings of Jisan are here!]

May Jisan bless you with myriad fortunes, oh Agent!

May Jisan bless you with myriad fortunes, oh Agent!

May Jisan bless you with myriad fortunes, oh Agent!

May Jisan bless you with myriad fortunes, oh Agent!

The sounds echoed.

I managed to tear my eyes from the stick and raised my head.

And I saw.

Over there.

Baek Saheon, holding the drawing barrel, was laughing with ecstatic joy.