Chapter 193
Chapter 193
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Have to Go to Work
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I rolled aside to dodge the guillotine.
But the blade that had already begun pouring down was embedded in my foot.
"…!"
In that moment, Agent Choi charged at me with terrifying speed, pulling something else out with his hand.
Something round.
A glass orb sparkling in the glow of the dream essence solution.
'Portable glass prison!'
The instant it hits, I'm bound and transported straight to the Bureau's infamous glass prison.
Everything ends right there.
The spy business. The Wish Grant.
'No.'
I gritted my teeth, yanked the guillotine from my foot, and rolled to the side.
Ting, tididing… .
The glass orb I dodged by a hair fell aside with a cheerful chime.
But the prison had already opened.
"……!"
Numerous hands reached out from the hollow glass sphere and seized me.
I clung to the office fixture, but it wasn't enough. I was dragged inside along with it. The sound of my nails shattering as my hand scraped across the floor rang out.
No time to pull out an item.
'Brown!'
-Oh, it seems you desperately desire the devoted help of a good friend, my friend!
-But it'll be difficult.
What?
-It's a decision for more intriguing developments, so I believe Deer will graciously understand. Ah, but my heart is tearing apart! Of course...
-The plight of my friend!
My blood ran cold.
I was trapped in the glass just like that.
Charararak.
With a clear, sharp sound like the glass resonating, I was cut off from the outside world, as if peering through a shattered mirror.
'Brown?'
No response. Fuck!
'No.'
I gritted my teeth.
The moment the agent contacted the Bureau, it was all over.
And Agent Choi was exactly the type to do it!
'He's already starting the contact.'
The glass orb spun in Agent Choi's grip. A sort of portable ritual to summon the prison warden.
'Damn it, damn it!'
How do I stop it? How do I persuade him? He's compassionate and sways to emotions sometimes, but that requires an opening.
Now that he knew I was a spy, he'd shove me into the glass prison first and...
… .
Wait.
I looked not at Agent Choi's hand holding the glass orb, but at his opposite left hand.
The crumpled paper clutched there.
'…….'
Found it.
"Is that the note I gave you? Did you solve that riddle recently and track down this place?"
Agent Choi didn't answer, just kept rolling the glass orb in his hand. But I pressed on without backing down.
"At least when you got the note, did you think it was a genuine cry for help to aid someone?"
"No."
"…!"
"At first, I figured it was some kind of ploy. Given your origins."
…!!
"What're you so shocked about? You waltzed in here using your exact Daydream Corporation employee name. You thought no one would notice?"
The shock slamming into my head produced the result...
'It was weird.'
Yeah. I definitely thought it was off.
When C Squad's Lee Kangheon never existed, and Assistant Lee Sung-hae—who supposedly exchanged messages with him—said they'd never met.
A simple deduction revealed the truth.
The person never existed in the first place.
Someone posing as a Daydream employee to extract information.
That person.
So he'd known from the start that I was from Daydream...
"But you know."
Agent Choi's voice grew hollow.
"You did damn good work. ...Real diligent."
"……."
"Pouring everything into helping everyone you met—the kids, the annoying pricks, no exceptions. Throwing yourself in even if it meant getting hurt or taking a loss."
His voice thickened.
"I figured that couldn't be an act. Regular Daydream employees can't stomach a loss. So I thought... maybe just like you told Director Jae, you really faked your death to escape the company."
…!
"If we kept you on the team and managed you right..."
Agent Choi clenched the glass orb tight.
"I let myself believe the convenient version. Haha, screwing up like this with all my experience."
"……."
"Sure, people move for bigger gains even at a loss. And I forgot how you types risk your lives for a Wish Grant. But..."
Agent Choi's eyes gleamed darkly.
"Deer. You human?"
"……."
"What was that form earlier? What's this place? What do you gotta do to the Bureau for Daydream to grant wishes? Spill it."
I clamped my mouth shut.
Agent Choi held my gaze for a moment, then chuckled.
"Pointless, huh?"
"……."
"Yeah. You can talk all you want in prison—"
"Prison?"
A voice rang from above Agent Choi's head.
"…!"
A black shadow draped over him.
A massive wolf-like monster sprouting teeth and eyes haphazardly.
The Guard Captain.
He'd returned.
I'd been buying time, teeth gritted, and shouted.
"Target the glass orb!"
"Son of a—"
Agent Choi reached for the guillotine at his waist, but it was too late.
The teeth closed in.
Kwak.
The guillotine blade shattered, and the glass orb—Agent Choi's hand still attached—crunched between them.
"Ugh!"
The instant the orb splintered between the teeth, the portable prison holding me shattered too.
I bolted out. Dove in and pinned Agent Choi.
At the spot where his reaction would be slowest.
The neck.
"…!"
I deliberately aimed for the scar on his neck.
Something—guilt or tension—shot up my spine.
Thud.
Agent Choi slammed to the floor. From the black, wolfish maw clamped on his arm, lumpy teeth and tongue emerged, poised to rip him apart...
"No."
I panted, blurting urgently.
"Can't kill him."
"……."
The monstrous form receded slowly, revealing the lanky Guard Captain with his listless vibe.
"Wasn't gonna... kill.... Just... scare him..."
Hoo.
"That type of scare tactic won't work on him."
I looked down.
My heart hammered.
What now?
So my mission's totally fucked? What about the Wish Grant? How do I fix this? How...
"Sol-eum."
"……."
"Ahem, Kim Sol-eum. Hey."
From below came a small cough and a choked sound as Agent Choi grinned.
"That guillotine didn't hurt much, did it?"
…!
"Not something you shake off and move like that after it nails your foot. You saw it yourself. Your company's elite squad."
I saw.
In the Sparkling Dragon Palace ghost story.
Deputy Jin Nasol stifling a groan and collapsing the instant the guillotine struck.
And the fact it barely hurt me... that means...
"You're not some irredeemable bastard. Right?"
"……."
"Podo. You can still turn back."
…!
"No need to kick it upstairs. I can handle it quietly at my level. ...Bureau's got plenty of weird backgrounds already."
"……."
"Let's bury it. Then you live like you said: newbie who ditched that cult company and joined the Bureau."
Agent Choi's eyes cleared with calm resolve.
"Just... keep being the baby agent in Hyunmu Team 1. Saving folks."
"……."
"Dunno why you're chained to that shithole company... but be real. Way more fun on our team, yeah?"
"……."
"And your wish? Maybe we can even make it happen."
His low voice spun a warm tale.
"I'll help you. Sol-eum."
… .
I shifted my hand.
"Agent."
"Yeah?"
"Cut the lies. It's not working."
"…!"
I wrenched Agent Choi's left arm behind his back.
Plop. The pager dropped from under his left elbow. I snatched it and smashed it.
"You...!"
As expected.
"Agent Choi."
I pinned both his hands behind him and stated firmly.
"I already know."
"……."
"Hitting the pager taped under your left elbow—that's your go-to move."
Agent Choi's eyes widened.
"But when you can't reach the pager... you scheme ways to subdue. Usually goblin lantern for that, but sometimes books from Yi-jeong Bookstore."
"……."
"Only to shield rescue targets, though. Now you'll pick escape. Jay, extra pocket inside this guy's pants pocket. Sneaker lace in there. Get it."
The Guard Captain obliged.
Seeing his own escape item in my hand, Agent Choi's smile went ashen.
I declared.
"I know you. I see every move you make coming."
"……."
"Don't pull any stunts that make this dangerous."
"Haha... you little shit."
His voice shook.
"What the hell are you."
"……."
"Who."
I couldn't answer.
It was to keep him on edge, unable to act rashly.
I made him disarm every weapon one by one, stashing them all in my inventory tattoo.
Primary neutralization complete.
'Hoo.'
Far from relief, my head spun.
Next step, next...
'Gotta get out.'
Staying here with Agent Choi was too risky. If the Bureau tracked us somehow, disaster.
'Motel.'
Third location first.
"Walk. Quietly."
"……."
"No bullshit."
I hauled Agent Choi up and gripped him. With the Guard Captain alongside, it looked like two colleagues propping up a drunk coworker.
We slipped out of the dream incubation room, mulling salvage options...
"Sol-eum."
"……."
Agent Choi smiled through cold sweat.
"Gonna bury me out back like this? Or... hand me to Daydream?"
"……."
"You know how fucked up those Daydream assholes are, though. Saw it yourself at Dragon Palace—barely rescued kids turned into lab rats right in front of you."
My feet kept moving.
"Handing me over to them? For real?"
"……."
"Just tell me what you planned for the Bureau. I'll help."
Couldn't say it.
And... I knew he wouldn't help.
Just fishing for any slip or hesitation.
The second I gave one, veteran Agent Choi would drag me to the glass prison somehow or bolt for backup and return.
Game over. Or...
'Already over?'
My gut roiled.
This sense of crossing an irreversible fork.
The dawning realization that the simple routine—snag Director Ho's document and done—wouldn't return.
The vertigo of sinking into inescapable muck.
Gonna hurl.
'……What do I do?'
Any way out.
Daydream potions to wipe memories or force oaths? Useless.
'They'd sniff it out in under a week.'
Agent Choi does self-inspections weekly at the office for curses. It'd trigger.
Instead, instead...
"Um..."
"……."
"Hey."
I turned to the Guard Captain across from me.
The Guard Captain eyed the subdued agent he was propping up.
"This guy's... Bureau...?"
"…Yes."
"Hmm... Dunno the details, but..."
The Guard Captain spoke as if piecing it together.
"Hey, he looks familiar... seemed like he was getting through to you."
"……!"
"Talk... it out? For now?"
But what could I say.
Can't spill spy ops or Daydream's exact demands. Director Ho's gag order.
Besides that...
… .
Only the non-spy me.
Kim Sol-eum.
What I want.
The thoughts I had working at the Bureau.
Any intent to deceive you all.
"……."
Maybe say that much.
'At least that I meant no harm to the Bureau.'
If I prove no actual damage done, maybe we find common ground.
For now... try it.
"…Yes."
Out the alley, onto the roadside. Spotted a parked taxi and murmured to Agent Choi.
"We're taking a taxi."
"……."
"No scenes."
"Sharp as ever, Deer."
With civilians around, he couldn't cut loose or attack. Too worried about hurting or killing the driver.
'Prevents surprises too.'
Using even that soured my gut more, but no choice.
"Get in."
The three of us piled into the back seat side by side. Kept the drunk-support pose so the driver wouldn't freak...
"Sol-eum!"
"…!!"
A familiar face turned from the driver's seat.
Not the cabbie. Calling my name in a voice thick with regret.
...Director Ho.
'What the hell.'
How'd he show up?
Why... here?
But questions drowned in shock.
Director Ho had declared it.
"Oh dear, you've been found out."
"……."
No.
"But you secured him lickety-split! I came to pick you up—save you the hassle."
Director Ho's gaze shifted.
Ignoring the Guard Captain like he was air, it fixed on the back seat center—the man we had bound between us.
Agent Choi.
"Hello?"
Not the man who'd bared raw hatred for the Bureau. Something eyed the agent.
A tense smile crept across Agent Choi's face.
"...Doesn't feel much like hello for me."
"Oh, no."
A smile bloomed on Director Ho's face too.
"You'll be saying hello soon enough."
No.
"Wait."
I threw myself into Director Ho's line of sight.
Cold sweat soaked my back.
"He's rigged to ping the Bureau the instant he dies, vanishes, or mutates."
"Oh?"
"Dead certain. So slapping a restriction on him and sending him back to routine seems most efficient and safe..."
"Sol-eum."
Director Ho smiled at me, apologetic.
"With your cover blown this fast, I can't really trust your calls anymore..."
Chill prickled from my scalp down.
"I'll handle it."
"……."
I stiffly turned my head.
Circular ripples bloomed over Agent Choi's face.
Director Ho's incantation.