Chapter 196
Chapter 196
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 196
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work
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First off, a fairly reasonable guess immediately came to mind about why Baek Saheon was in this bizarre rural village.
'...Baek Saheon was on the train to Tamra!'
It was the exact same high-speed train to Mokpo that I had taken today.
'Was this his destination back then too?'
It had seemed like he was heading home to his family place, so did that mean this was Baek Saheon's... hometown?
A strange feeling washed over me.
The sight of this humble, cozy rural village festival somehow felt utterly disconnected from Baek Saheon.
Especially if that rural festival was a cultish ghost story about a peculiar little community.
"Take this over there!"
"Ah, sure."
Even now, Baek Saheon wore a sullen expression but obediently followed the instructions of the other villagers, helping serve food and lend a hand with the work.
But...
According to this tip from Agent Choi, did that mean that guy was one of the suitable candidates?
It was a bit awkward and eerie, but up to that point, I could grasp the context of the situation. But...
Why the hell was that person over there?
'...Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je.'
I desperately turned my head as naturally as possible to avoid catching the bronze agent's eye and confirmed that figure once more.
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je was taking more braised pork and downing soju.
Just like she was in the company cafeteria.
"......"
Seeing that natural, indifferent expression and those casual movements made my stomach churn.
I unwittingly leaned my gaze further in that direction...
Our eyes met.
'...!'
In that instant, Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je smoothly picked up her pork plate and soju bottle... and started walking this way.
'......?!'
Why, why was she coming over here?
And then she plopped down right in front of our table and naturally struck up a conversation with the bronze agent!
"I've got a lot of pork here. Want a piece?"
"......Who are you?"
"I'm a reporter. I heard about the village festival and thought there might be a story, so I came to cover it and get some impressions."
'De, Deputy Manager!'
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je played it completely cool, pretending not to know me, and kept pestering the bronze agent like some overworked journalist.
The agent's eyes turned annoyed, like he'd picked up a pesky fly.
"I've got nothing to say."
"Then just listen to me ramble about dried squid. From what I saw yesterday, this festival's outsider bait is..."
Clang clang clang clang clang!!
"...!!"
Our heads snapped toward the boisterous sound of gongs and drums being beaten together.
The music stopped, and from amid the pungmul troupe, a friendly-looking middle-aged man stepped up, grabbed a megaphone, and shouted.
"See? I told you. Holiday commemorative lottery draw."
During the four days of the festival, they held prize drawings every day.
The prizes were mostly produce grown right in the village, with occasional crafts or jewelry.
The branch office suspected the jewelry cases were missing persons' belongings.
Villagers scattered with the lottery drums. Voices rose here and there about what they drew or didn't. Someone who pulled gold cheered as they received a pair of gold earrings.
"Oh, nice. But those earrings look secondhand."
"......"
"......"
"Probably just something someone donated for the festival."
None of us could respond.
And then one person approached our table from afar, holding a lottery drum.
The sullen man with the medical eyepatch.
'Ba, Baek Saheon.'
This wasn't some Daydream employee reunion. Suddenly, we were facing off in a three-way standoff.
The bigger problem was...
The bronze agent knew Baek Saheon's face.
"You...!"
The bronze agent's face hardened coldly as he recognized the face of my 'coworker' from the serial killer mountain lodge.
His gaze alternated between me and him, and I shook my head.
"It's fine."
"...Yes."
The bronze agent quickly calmed down.
Because he was certain my identity hadn't been exposed.
Why?...
Because they wouldn't recognize us anyway.
Baek Saheon drew closer.
Still wearing that displeased expression, showing no reaction even as our eyes met.
Simply...
"Draw one."
He just offered the lottery drum to our table.
"......"
"They say the prizes are pretty good... Oh, thanks."
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je boldly pulled a stick from the drum without hesitation. The end read 'rice'.
"Your turn."
I locked eyes with the bronze agent.
"Hey. You not doing it?"
"Ah. I will."
I reached for the wooden chicken-shaped lottery drum. It felt oddly damp and moist.
And what I drew was...
"Blank."
Phew.
The bronze agent cautiously drew one too, and it came up blank again.
"Too bad. Would've been nice if you'd snagged something."
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je pointed at the middle-aged man in the village center holding the megaphone.
"Hitting the special prize there would be a jackpot."
In the corner of the banner the man pointed to, a vivid print of a golden rooster statue gleamed.
I couldn't gauge the exact size from the image, but the detail suggested it was fairly large.
"Jackpot."
"Looks like at least 100 nyang!"
"Does anyone actually ever draw that thing?"
As for that...
And as Agent Choi said.
No special prize this time either.
Deep regret crossed the megaphone man's face.
And so the holiday festival for that day concluded.
"Aw."
"Ain't this a scam?"
"Hey, at least the booze and meat were free."
The outsiders rose from their seats, but the issue was that many who'd gotten drunk on the free booze couldn't drive.
"Ugh, how'd it end up like this..."
"It's fine. This person said they'd put us up!"
Quite a few outsiders, swayed by the kind hospitality and invitations of the rural villagers, decided to stay the night like at a minbak.
It was a fairly warm scene.
But if you looked closely, the villagers were quietly gathering here and there without drawing attention, collecting the remaining lottery drums and muttering something.
And they too took turns drawing sticks from them.
"Grant mountain blessings to the proxy of the white paper mountain." "Grant mountain blessings to the proxy of the white paper mountain."
⟨ Jisam Village Offering Ritual ⟩
And finally, one person found it.
The stick with gold foil at the end.
"Ah...!"
Tears streamed from the drawer's eyes.
The crowd surrounded him like they were congratulating him and shouted.
"......"
I turned my head.
Baek Saheon was watching the whole scene with sunken eyes.
"Excuse me."
Baek Saheon merely shifted his gaze.
I asked quite politely.
"Any place in the village where I could stay the night?"
"......You're not saying you expect to crash for free, eat their food, and take their bed, right?"
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je, hoisting a sack of rice, suddenly interjected.
"I'll pay. We met like this, so it's fate."
"Pardon?"
"Here. Is this enough?"
And Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je pulled out a thick wad of cash and offered it to Baek Saheon.
Baek Saheon looked slightly flustered, but soon his eyes darkened as he snatched it like a hawk.
"...Follow me."
"Okay."
"Wait! Didn't you say you're a reporter? Leave now. We asked them to..."
"Gonna kick out the one who paid? Capitalism's dirty, but we keep what we gotta keep. Old-timer."
"......"
I heard the bronze agent mutter 'old-timer?' softly.
God help us.
In the mood to squeeze my eyes shut, I followed after Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je, who was calmly strolling behind Baek Saheon, and asked.
"...Should I take the rice sack?"
"Oh. Young'un, repaying the lodging fee? You keep what you gotta keep."
I took the rice sack from Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je, whose hand was still inconvenient, and the sullen-faced bronze agent helped carry it along.
"You're late."
"......"
At the moment the bronze agent gave Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je an incredulous look.
"Hey! You fucking hick bastards! Cucumbers? You think I came to this backwater dump for cucumbers?!"
Thwack!
A shout and bursting sound erupted nearby.
Cucumbers smashed as a box was flung to the dirt ground, rolling in the soil.
And a drunk outsider rolled on the ground throwing a tantrum.
"Gold! Gimme gold!"
"Oh dear, sir."
"You've still got two more chances!"
Villagers with smiling faces coaxed and soothed him.
...Inconceivable warmth after hearing such abuse just moments ago.
Tempted by offers of dinner, another draw tomorrow, hot spring water here, etc., the jerk followed the kind villagers into a house.
One of the few tiled-roof houses in the village.
The centrally located tiled house looked oddly grand in scale.
"......"
I stiffly averted my gaze.
The smiles vanished from the remaining villagers' faces as they silently gathered the shattered cucumbers into the box and carefully cleared them away.
Brushing dirt off the cucumbers, they kept muttering something.
"Grant mountain blessings to the proxy of the white paper mountain..."
The prayer-like chant from earlier.
"......"
I barely tore my eyes away and kept walking.
"...This way."
But do you know what the problem was?
Baek Saheon was heading to that tiled house too.
'Wait.'
Was it really okay to enter that suspicious place no matter how you sliced it?
But since the bronze agent strode forward without hesitation, I didn't bolt.
'...Agent Choi wouldn't have put lies in the help notes.'
The tiled house loomed closer.
"...Come in."
The entrance to the tiled house was wide, and the large wooden-floored hall currently serving as the entryway was spacious too.
But Baek Saheon moved cautiously and stealthily to the corner as if he didn't even want to step on it, opening a side door.
Yet someone was already standing there.
The middle-aged man from earlier with the megaphone.
"The guests want to stay."
"Ah, come right in. Haha! Saheon, treat them well. No funny business."
"......"
"Receive the blessings of Mount Jisam!"
Baek Saheon slowly nodded and led us inside.
The tiled house was weirdly vast, with repeating structures and sliding doors appearing endlessly... until a hallway lined with worn wooden doors came into view.
Creeeak.
Baek Saheon opened one of them.
Inside was a cozy little single room.
A neatly prepared bedding set and a hastily pulled-out, dusty blanket set.
"Sleep here."
"Isn't this your room? Where will you sleep?"
"......"
With an expression like I was asking pointless nonsense, Baek Saheon spun around and opened another door for Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je.
Then he vanished down the hallway.
"Guy's not delivering value for the money."
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je shrugged and said casually to me.
"Well, good night then. See you tomorrow if luck's in."
"...Yes. Thank you."
I watched Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je enter the next room.
......She definitely recognized Baek Saheon too. But she didn't let on.
She knew we wouldn't be recognized.
'She knows this ghost story well.'
Meaning the deputy manager had come here with a clear purpose too.
And Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je was...... on Director Ho's project team.
'...What's going on here?'
I could guess at the extinction-grade supernatural disaster Director Ho wanted, so various hypotheses arose. No, I definitely would've before, but...
"......"
I was tired.
Of all of it.
Just drop it.
Think about the Wish Grant instead...
"Bronze Agent."
"......"
"Remember your mission?"
"Yes."
This 'Jisam Village Offering Ritual'.
When a rescue request comes in, the branch uses a supernatural phenomenon auto-responder to designate the meeting spot and time for the rescuer.
So head to the location from the branch.
"Here it is."
The bronze agent showed the note.
The tiled house fell deathly silent after midnight.
The bronze agent and I slipped quietly out of our rooms and moved.
"The well site is to the east."
Crossing the dark rural village landscape with only sporadic streetlights, we arrived at a spot with just a few abandoned-looking houses devoid of people.
The well site sat in the middle.
The blocked-off well had a single figure standing there, posture like a sentinel on watch...
Baek Saheon.
"...!!"
His one good eye turned to us and he spoke quietly.
"Are you the agents?"
The next instant.
The bronze agent lunged and subdued Baek Saheon.
And as he roughly tried to drag Baek Saheon to an abandoned house.
"Ow! Isn't roughing up a whistleblower like this against the rules for a public servant?!"
"......!"
The bronze agent froze his arm.
"You're the whistleblower?"
"Yes! I made the report!"
Baek Saheon irritably tried and failed to shake off the restraint, then glanced around and urgently lowered his voice.
"Get me out of this village. ...Tonight."
"Sounds like a trap."
The bronze agent said outright to me.
"Villagers can leave anytime after the festival ends. No reason they'd need help..."
"I can't leave!"
Baek Saheon panted.
His eyes darted desperately between me and the bronze agent, searching for a way out, then he swallowed hard and said.
"...Check my pocket."
"......"
I reached out and rummaged in Baek Saheon's pants pocket.
Inside was...
A draw stick with gold foil at the end.
The special prize.
"I, I drew that on the first day..."
"Let me out of here, please!"