Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work Novel (End Part 1) - Chapter 201

“…!!”

Baek Saheon snapped his head up.

Just now, there had been a thunderous roar behind him. Perhaps something even more terrifying was happening in the village…

‘Damn it, is this the time to be thinking about that?’

He gritted his teeth and moved his feet again.

He had to get as far away as possible, as fast as possible.

“Pant.”

On his back, the enormous backpack, which Baek Saheon had slung over himself as he ran along the mountain path, contained water, food, and survival items meticulously planned and packed.

He had collected and hidden them in a secret location, meant to be used for a swift escape from this village someday. It was unbelievable that he finally had to use them.

However, the empty space that remained in the backpack now contained…

Bones.

What was left after the pungmulnori troupe collapsed and vanished.

Among them, the bones of someone who was once his sister.

“……”

He should have left it behind; it was heavy.

He knew it was a foolish thing to do, but he was dumbfounded by himself for stubbornly carrying it. Yet, now that he had carried it this far, he couldn’t just toss it on the ground.

But that was all he cared about.

‘I hope everyone dies.’

It would be better if they did.

The villagers, the outsiders who came to the village, the agents who couldn’t save him.

If everyone died, and this damn village vanished without a trace.

It was a thrilling imagination that made his scalp tingle.

However.

‘Still, that agent…’

That young, bespectacled agent who made him draw the ‘Special Prize.’

He was surprisingly calm and never once mocked his words or got angry. He helped him without ever demanding anything in return.

And ultimately, he kept his promise.

Both of them survived.

Not betraying.

‘……’

A strange feeling washed over him.

It must be a sensation he had never felt before in his life.

This peculiar feeling when he inadvertently tried to do something good, something he would never have done otherwise, and achieved success.

People called it fulfillment.

‘……’

That must be why. Why he impulsively left the ‘paper boat’ behind.

Of course, it would only have meaning if that agent survived to the very end, found it, and picked it up.

‘…I’ll think about it if he picks it up.’

Considering the centipedes and guillotine earlier, he might be dead by now…

At that moment.

“……!”

A strange, chilling pressure, like a needle, pierced the back of his neck, making his spine tingle.

There was something behind him.

Something even stranger was definitely happening in the village.

‘…Damn it.’

Baek Saheon finally couldn’t resist and glanced back.

And.

“……!!”

His face turned ghostly pale, and he began to sprint down the mountain path again.

He never looked back.

‘Damn it.’

The scene he had just witnessed.

Crimson blood was pouring down from the sky.

I prostrated myself.

It happened automatically. I found myself prostrate, with both hands on the ground.

As if bowing.

I see you, I see you.

You are visible.

Thud, thud.

Red blood poured over my head and the back of my hands.

Malicious beast, disease, ancient fox spirit!

A pain so intense it made me scream flared in one hand. My left hand, which had not been severed.

I feel like I’m going to die!

It smells rotten.

I clawed at the ground with my hand.

“Agent Roe Deer!”

I heard the sounds of Agent Cheongdong and Agent Choi squabbling.

“Isn’t that General Tiger from Daecheongbong! Are you crazy? A supernatural phenomenon that’s not benevolent to humans…!”

“Later! Just quiet!”

I stifled a groan and hurriedly looked sideways.

Director Ho, in the form of Deputy Eun Haje…

Filthy and lowly thing.

Let me see your true form.

…was laughing while bathed in blood.

“This is my acquaintance. Elder, please pay no mind and go on your way.”

Blisters bubbled up on the back of one of my hands.

I see a tail.

“This is my acquaintance. Elder, you should just shout from beyond the threshold.”

It burst red, and pus erupted. The mark of a plague.

The tail was severed.

“This is my acquaintance. Elder, please sit on the porch and have your meal.”

The pus burst and flowed.

Deceitful tongue.

Deputy Eun Haje’s body floated into the air.

“……!”

Her limbs were twisted and roughly restrained, but the gentle smile on her face remained unchanged.

“Don’t…”

“Shh.”

Agent Choi pressed down on my shoulder.

Die.

Lightning strikes.

Leave only skin.

Burn to death.

“I don’t want to?”

Director Ho’s expression was revealed through the lightning.

“It is tigers that leave behind their skin when they die. I don’t know what you are talking about.”

She was still smiling.

“They say a half-baked shaman kills people, and it’s truly terrifying. I am not a fox spirit. Is there any proof that I am a fox? Any proof that I am a ghost? How about this? Evil spirit, begone, Namu Amita Bul Gwanse-eum Bosal, Geupgeup Yeoullyeong, may the kingdom of Heavenly Father come, and I’ll even sprinkle salt and red beans.”

Lightning struck again.

“But it’s not working.”

A tearing sound.

“What to do. You seem to have been mistaken. How unfortunate…”

A calm voice came from the one held in mid-air.

“You can’t burn me.”

A giant eye appeared amidst the blood falling from the sky.

How noisy.

Director Ho’s limbs twisted.

Ancient and vicious.

Filthy thing.

Get lost.

“Oh dear.”

Grab the tail.

Run away.

“You are truly wicked. To forcibly separate my acquaintance and me like this.”

The smiling face turned to me.

“How unfortunate. Soleum-nim.”

“…!”

And the next moment.

She vanished.

Deputy Eun Haje’s body, oddly twisted and bound in mid-air, was no longer there, as if it had never existed.

Along with Director Ho, who had inhabited that body.

“……”

“……”

Did she… escape?

My mind began to race with complex deductions about how he was controlling Deputy Eun Haje, what kind of restriction was placed on the Deputy, and whether he was truly alright right now.

At the same time, I looked up at the sky.

The falling blood had stopped.

And then I looked down at the back of my hand again.

The blisters and pus had cleanly disappeared.

As if washed away by the blood.

The filth was.

Removed.

As promised.

“……”

“No, General-nim! You said you’d make that fellow grovel and offer greetings! But he escaped just fine, didn’t he?”

How noisy, you insolent one.

Agent Choi’s neck was grabbed and lifted into the air.

“Agent-nim!”

“Ugh, haha…”

I urgently looked up at the sky and shouted.

“I’m sorry! And thank you!”

…

A child who knows etiquette.

From the sky.

Something looked down at me.

Good.

It observed me.

And declared.

Let him serve.

Wait.

Bow.

I permit it.

Something, a strange force pressing down on my shoulders and back…

“You cannot.”

“……”

Agent Choi raised his arm.

“This place already has someone serving. Do you see? Elder goblin.”

At the end of his arm, the Elder’s goblin lantern swayed.

“Now that your procession is over, you should have a grand feast. Please return before it gets cold, General Tiger-nim!”

Insolent thing.

A sound like a feline beast snorting.

Prepare the promised royal feast.

And.

Everything fell silent.

“……”

The blood that had been falling from the sky, the lightning that had been striking, all vanished as if it had been a lie.

“Hoo…”

With deep sighs, all three agents collapsed where they stood.

I managed to open my mouth.

“…That person was.”

“Ah, the guardian deity of Daecheongbong in Seoraksan, Tiger General King Bodhisattva… it’s a bit complicated, but you can think of it that way. He wanted to be called that.”

Ah.

At that moment, I realized the identity of the horror story.

Daecheongbong General Tiger.

A tiger horror story derived from Baekho-daesal, which in saju-palja (four pillars of destiny) refers to hyeongsal, a great ill omen signifying disaster.

However, the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau, noting that this sal in saju-palja could actually work favorably if one engaged in professions related to knives, blood, or punishment, found a way to make this horror story consume misfortune or bad luck.

Refer here for more detailed exploration records.

And that meant…

First and foremost, one must carry the offering all alone and ascend Daecheongbong in Seoraksan.

That’s what Agent Choi had done.

“……”

I desperately struggled not to ask about it, and with difficulty, changed the subject.

“…According to Agent Cheongdong, it didn’t seem to be a supernatural phenomenon friendly to humans.”

“Oh, that.”

Agent Choi shrugged.

“To be precise… he’s not interested. If you just meticulously prepare and offer the royal feast, he listens when he’s in a good mood.”

“The problem is that he accepts humans as part of that royal feast!”

Fire flashed in Agent Cheongdong’s eyes. Agent Choi grinned.

“Hehe, the Bureau is managing him well, pacifying him. He’s on a vegan diet now.”

And the next moment, Agent Choi’s eyes immediately turned to me.

“No, this isn’t the time to be talking about this.”

Specifically, they landed on my hand, which had been washed clean by the blood.

He pretended not to, but there was a slight tension in his eyes.

“It’s gone… right?”

“……”

Agent Cheongdong’s eyes also turned to my hand.

Having seen that state earlier, it would be easy to predict that the being inhabiting the Deputy’s body had placed some harmful curse or misfortune on my hand.

“Agent Roe Deer, what on earth…”

“We’ll talk about the details after we return. For now, let’s confirm. …Roe Deer. Say anything.”

I hesitated, then opened my mouth.

“…I am a roe deer.”

“……!”

I can do it.

Without any resistance.

It’s done.

“It’s done!”

The restriction was lifted.

‘My God.’

I stared at the back of my hand with a dazed expression.

And just in time, the sound of a bicycle bell began to ring from outside the village.

“The Jujak team has arrived.”

Like a signal for the end.

“This Jisan Village… still has many suspicious corners, you see. From now on, they’ll start a full-scale search. Looking for people. And well too.”

Agent Choi tapped the area next to the well site and spoke in a cheerful tone.

“Other peculiar things might come up, but not right now. Let’s go back today.”

“…Yes.”

A strange sense of relief spread through my chest.

Yes. The restriction was lifted now.

Dying in a month is over. I am free…

…

Wait a minute.

– How unfortunate. Soleum-nim.

“…Agent Roe Deer?”

I was mistaken.

I had been swept away by emotion for a moment and felt an absurd sense of relief. This was not the time to be happy or relieved at all.

My blood had to cool.

‘I’m screwed.’

I shouldn’t have fallen out with Director Ho here.

Not being able to complete the mission and dying in a month? It’s a big problem, but more important than that is successfully completing the mission and receiving the wish.

But if it turned out like this, wouldn’t it be a very clear betrayal? To carry out Director Ho’s mission, I couldn’t…

No way.

I looked back at Agent Choi.

Did he… intend for me to completely fall out with Director Ho?

“……”

“Roe Deer.”

Agent Choi avoided my gaze.

Instead, with his still smiling face, he took out his shaman’s ritual blade and checked its blade.

Saying this.

“But… on the way back. According to the Disaster Management Bureau procedures, there’s a place Roe Deer has to go.”

“…Yes?”

The shaman’s ritual blade smoothly spun in the agent’s hand.

“You were under a restriction that the Disaster Management Bureau didn’t know about.”

“……!”

“Since an agent was under some strange restriction, we need to thoroughly examine what happened. That’s the procedure. Safely, …in the quarantine zone.”

What he was holding along with the shaman’s ritual blade came into my sight.

A small glass bead.

“Let’s go in.”

Something I had seen a few days ago.

A portable glass prison for temporary detention.

No.

“Wa….”

Thunk.

“……!!”

Before I could finish my sentence, countless hands burst out from the void created by Agent Choi’s bead and grabbed me.

“Agent…”

“Shh.”

This sudden situation left me no time to grab and resist, so I was quickly restrained.

“If you cooperate with the interrogation procedure, you’ll be released quickly. Don’t worry.”

I gritted my teeth and looked at him.

Agent Choi blocked Agent Cheongdong, who was rushing in shocked, with the shaman’s ritual blade.

“It’ll be fine, even if it took a detour.”

“Agent Choi, what is this…?”

“Just a moment.”

Agent Choi turned to me and spoke quietly.

“Get some rest. …Roe Deer.”

I was sucked into the void.

And so, I was transferred to the glass prison.