Chapter 168
Chapter 168
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Go Yeongeun glanced at her colleague sitting beside her.
Kim Sol-eum was staring into his monitor, rapidly working on his PC. With his shaggy hair and glasses, he looked unassuming—the styling he'd adopted for the undercover job.
At the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau, he hunched his shoulders and averted his gaze downward, perfectly playing the role of a timid newbie.
But the eyes peering through those glasses at the PC screen now were filled with conviction and composure.
This was the man she'd seen at Daydream Corporation.
It was that distinctive ease of someone insightful and far-sighted—the so-called 'relaxation of the knowledgeable.'
'He's immersed in the work, huh.'
His true demeanor was slipping out.
He'd said paperwork was his specialty, and it wasn't a lie...
'Deceiver...?'
Go Yeongeun looked at her top-of-class colleague—who'd been promoted to junior manager in just a year—with complicated eyes!
But soon, he briskly finished his last keystrokes on the keyboard and turned to her.
And just as quickly, he slipped back into his timid character.
"Ah, um... Agent. Could you maybe give me a quick check on if I'm doing this right...?"
"Sure. Of course."
There might be something she could learn. Even if not, she could help her colleague get better at document work.
Go Yeongeun peered at Kim Sol-eum's PC alongside him.
"First, these are the urban legend variants currently secured by the Disaster Management Bureau from the internet."
Cases were pouring in.
A red garment left standing blankly at the exit.
Eerie testimonies from somewhere, all sorts of chilling and ominous sightings that could be foreshadowing in a horror movie—filling the document with posts, comments, and videos.
But Kim Sol-eum continued his explanation without even blinking.
'As expected, stuff like this doesn't scare him.'
No. He's just strong with text!
"Anyway... I've classified the sightings. Into actual incidents and baseless testimonies."
The documents aligned.
"And then an interesting trend emerges."
Interesting?
"Namely, actual incidents occur after baseless testimonies."
"...!"
"See here."
"And sure enough, hair and paper talismans were found. In the 'red clothes.'"
Kim Sol-eum attached a comment from someone who'd found hair and talismans in the 'red clothes.'
"Next, the same goes for the whereabouts of the person who found that hair and paper."
"This comment wasn't posted after the actual disappearance. The disappearance news came after this comment."
"...!"
Go Yeongeun's face hardened.
...Just like what happened at Lucky Mart.
"The order is reversed."
"Yes."
It was a trait of urban legends.
Kim Sol-eum smiled faintly.
"Focusing on this trend, if you look at the ghost story again... you can spot a bigger pattern."
Kim Sol-eum clicked on another document.
"This is the version from three months ago."
Rumors about the red clothes were rampant.
"But none of these turned into actual incidents. Why do you think that is?"
"......"
Go Yeongeun fell into thought.
"Too varied? Realizing one would contradict the others?"
"Exactly."
Kim Sol-eum smiled faintly.
"And one more thing: I think it's because there was no speculation people fully bought into."
"...!"
"So many speculative comments, hardly anyone stating it definitively, and plenty of rebuttals... Nothing had enough traction to be treated as real."
"...No evidence?"
"Right."
In other words.
"They weren't 'plausible enough.'"
Kim Sol-eum clicked the mouse again.
"But then, at some point, it appears in the comments."
A 'plausible enough story.'
"From here, the situation escalates rapidly."
Go Yeongeun scanned the document Kim Sol-eum had compiled, barely breathing.
Trick to lure ghosts, someone's attached to the clothes, arms bound twice isn't standard shamanism, it's a curse hit...
"Stuff about shamanism is hard to refute unless you're an expert in that field. And once an 'expert' appears, it starts sounding plausible."
"...But no demands for image proof or verification?"
"...! Right."
Kim Sol-eum smiled as he looked at the comments he'd collected.
"Checked this guy's comment history: office worker at a steel company."
"...!"
Not an expert.
But a field where anyone could fake it convincingly.
"Perfect for someone who's met a shaman a few times or read a couple books to make stuff up."
No one knows if the people chattering online are real shamans.
And no one's credibly proven if you can really pass ghosts or curses that way.
But it sounds plausible, so people believe it.
The effect of fear mixed with familiarity!
"Even looking closely, these self-proclaimed experts are all saying different things."
"......Hoo."
It's real.
Go Yeongeun held back a sigh as she read the comments.
She hadn't noticed amid the horror atmosphere and similar 'shamanic' testimonies, but they were just piling on every creepy story they could.
Exorcisms, possessions, curse hits...
"...Most of it's made up, right?"
"Probably."
Maybe... not most, but all of it.
"But people believed it."
And.
"So, you see it as becoming reality."
"Yes."
Kim Sol-eum gave a wry smile.
"Information polluted reality in reverse."
A ghost story destined to be verified and registered by the Disaster Management Bureau someday.
"Tracing back to the archetype..."
An SNS post registered with a photo of red clothes abandoned in front of a subway exit. The 4th exit sign is visible in the background.
"It starts as a simple everyday post like this."
Whether it was some drunk's forgotten jacket or debris from a clothing collection truck... who knows.
Either way, it was just a mundane mishap.
"Most likely, a coincidental event that sparked an amusing misunderstanding."
"But the key is that people started misunderstanding it."
Spot on.
In the end, this sighting spread across the internet, got reproduced rapidly, explanations attached, fear and rumors piled on—and became reality.
"That's everything I've investigated."
"......"
He's really good...
"Um, but... did I mess up anywhere...?"
But switching back to that timid act makes him look like a total deceiver...!
'Can't help it because of the spy work!'
Go Yeongeun nodded, suppressing a sigh and wry smile.
"No. ...Probably exceeds what the agents in this office expected."
"Ah, good...! Then, um, would I be okay working in the New Investigation Unit?"
No, wait. That's not the point right now...
"Then, Agent, you've pretty much uncovered the principle behind this supernatural disaster, right? If your reasoning holds."
"Ah, maybe..."
No 'maybe'—it seems spot on!
Go Yeongeun looked at her colleague with slightly excited eyes.
Doesn't that mean we can infer a solution too?
Right away...
"If we make people stop believing, this ghost story ends!"
"Right."
Then, somehow explain it...
'Ah.'
Go Yeongeun realized the reality.
"...Making them unbelieve is pretty much impossible."
"Yes."
Actual incidents are happening.
A supernatural phenomenon already turned real.
"Too many people already believe, so persuasion won't be easy."
This ghost story was itself a conspiracy theory about internet rumors becoming truth through belief.
Maybe the author of Darkness Exploration Records wrote various conspiracy 'evidences' and sightings satirically.
"...Plus, it really became a supernatural disaster. With real evidence and circumstances, refuting it is even harder."
Exactly.
That's why agents in Darkness Exploration Records would 'manage' it each time they discovered the ghost story—by continuously destroying the central object or erasing people's memories...
A method of acknowledging the ghost story's existence, managing the danger, and slowly neutralizing it.
A lukewarm solution fitting this sticky ghost story's nature.
But.
"Not necessarily."
"...Pardon?"
Kim Sol-eum smiled faintly and placed his hands back on the keyboard.
There was one.
The countermeasure he'd thought of since reading this Darkness Exploration Records entry.
'It can work.'
It just didn't fit the ghost story vibe, so it wasn't added to the wiki!
Go Yeongeun watched Kim Sol-eum boldly fill in the final section of the document.
And lift his hands with a somewhat proud expression.
"This should do it."
"......"
Kim Sol-eum.
This time, he'd really shown something!
And a few days later.
The red clothes at the 4th exit reappeared without fail.
Now people were starting to fear even directly referring to the red clothes.
Probably soon the news stations would pick it up. With a few disappearances and deaths, even if supernatural, at least an investigation was rumored online.
But.
This time, the red clothes had black writing on them.
Illegal gambling site ad!
People exploded.
Curses and frustrations flew.
But after the initial outburst settled, other opinions slyly emerged.
Seemed reasonable at first glance.
So believers in the red clothes ghost story started murmuring again, building atmosphere about something happening to that company.
But the next day.
A famous cult formally displayed the red clothes at the exit with a signboard...!
And as the finishing touch, the text below the signboard!
People read between the lines.
The cult made a trap to lure vulnerable people, and an illegal gambling site hijacked it!
People shuddered with annoyance and started shoving the red clothes off the conversation table.
'Perfect.'
Kim Sol-eum smiled as he scrolled through the scene.
Yes.
If it was a ghost story made real by belief, the solution was simple.
'Make it unbelievable.'
Make it mockable and deflating.
'Knew linking it to everyday annoyances would kill it quick.'
With annoyance, people quickly wiped it from memory.
Even conveniently dismissing actual deaths and disappearances as 'ad stunt fakes.'
And so...
Surprisingly cleanly, the ghost story ended.
Safely, without a single agent hurt.
For the cost of a few banners.
Thanks to this unusually lively agent anonymous group chat, Kim Sol-eum borrowed Go Yeongeun's phone and smiled faintly.
'Investigated the ghost story in the office, proposed and documented the solution. Nailed it.'
If his New Investigation Unit skills got recognized like this...
And.
"......??"
Kim Sol-eum had really shown something.
And yes, ghost stories typically end with multiple teams finding clues and trying ideas.
But the world has preconceived images.
Thus, the 'Destroyer King Newbie' made a huge contribution to destroying a ghost story even while doing New Investigation Unit work...!
All absorbed into reinforcing existing images!
Thus, Kim Sol-eum—who ruined the ghost story with image—ruined his own plan with image too.
"......"
'You got this, Sol-eum...'
Go Yeongeun, who had foreseen this, just squeezed her eyes shut and sent silent cheers...
And on the last day of the two-week newbie training.
Kim Sol-eum was assigned to Dispatch Rescue Squad Hyunmu Team 1......
No one was surprised at all.