Chapter 201
Chapter 201
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 201
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work
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“...!!”
Baek Saheon jerked his head up.
Just now, a massive roar had come from behind him. Perhaps something even more catastrophic was unfolding in the village...
'F*ck, is this the time to worry about that?'
He gritted his teeth and forced his feet to move again.
He had to get away as fast as possible.
“Hoo.”
Baek Saheon dashed up the mountain path. His enormous backpack was stuffed with drinking water, rations, and survival gear he'd painstakingly assembled.
He'd hidden it in a spot only he knew, for the day he'd need to flee the village in a hurry. He could hardly believe he was finally using it.
But now, the empty space in the backpack was filled with...
Remains.
The bones that had been left after the wind-and-drum troupe collapsed and vanished.
Among them, the bones that had once been his older sister.
“......”
He should've ditched them—they were heavy.
He knew it was a stupid move bringing them along anyway, and he felt ridiculous for it, but he couldn't just toss them on the ground now.
That was the only thing on his mind.
'I hope they all drop dead.'
Better that way.
The villagers, the outsiders who'd come to the village, the agents who hadn't been able to rescue him.
All dead, and this sh*tty village wiped clean off the map.
The thought sent a thrilling shiver from his scalp to his toes.
But.
'Still, that one agent...'
The young, bespectacled agent who'd made him draw the 'special prize.'
Astoundingly calm, never mocking or snapping at him even once. Offered help without demanding anything in return.
And in the end, kept his promise.
Both of them survive.
No betrayal.
'......'
A strange sensation washed over him.
Probably the first of its kind in his life.
The subtle feeling of doing something he never would have—something good—on impulse and actually pulling it off.
People called it a sense of fulfillment.
'......'
That must've been why he'd impulsively left the 'paper boat' behind.
Of course, it only mattered if that agent survived to the end and found it.
'...I'll think about it if he picks it up.'
Considering the centipede sickle chaos from earlier, he might be dead by now...
That instant.
“......!”
A bizarre pressure prickled down his spine like a needle, sending chills through his neck.
Something even stranger was definitely happening in the village.
'...F*ck.'
Baek Saheon couldn't hold back any longer and glanced over his shoulder.
And.
“......!!”
His face drained of color as he broke into a sprint up the mountain path.
He never looked back again.
'Damn it.'
The sight he'd just glimpsed.
Scarlet blood was pouring from the sky.
I was flat on the ground.
It happened automatically. Prostrated, hands pressed to the floor.
Like bowing in worship.
Drip.
Red blood rained down on my head and the backs of my hands.
Pain enough to scream tore through one hand. My left hand, the one that hadn't been severed.
I'm going to die!
I clawed at the ground with my hand.
“Grape Agent!”
Bronze Agent and Choi Agent were bickering.
“Isn't that the Daecheongbong Tiger General? Are you insane? Unleashing a supernatural phenomenon that's not even friendly to humans...!”
“Later! Be quiet for now!”
I stifled a groan and hurriedly glanced to the side.
The Fox Executive, in the form of Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je...
She was smiling amid the blood.
“She's my acquaintance. Please disregard her and be on your way, Elder.”
“She's my acquaintance. Shout from beyond the threshold, Elder.”
Blisters bubbled up on the back of one hand.
They burst red, pus blooming. Traces of plague.
“She's my acquaintance. Sit on the floor and have a meal, Elder.”
Pus burst and flowed.
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je's body floated into the air.
“......!”
Her limbs locked in a grotesque twist, but the gentle smile on her face remained unchanged.
“No...”
“Shh.”
Choi Agent pressed down on my shoulder.
Lightning struck.
“Don't wanna?”
The Fox Executive's expression emerged through the lightning.
“Leaving a hide upon death is for tigers. No idea what you're talking about.”
She was still smiling.
“They say shamans kill people—scary stuff. I'm no fox spirit. Proof I'm a fox? A ghost? How about this: Begone, evil spirit! Tree, Amitabha! Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva! Urgent rapids guardian! Our Father, Thy kingdom come! Salt scattered, red beans too.”
Lightning struck again.
“But it doesn't work.”
A tearing sound.
“What now? Must be a mistake. How unfortunate...”
A serene voice emanated from the one suspended in midair.
“Can't burn her.”
A massive eye revealed itself amid the falling blood.
The Fox Executive's limbs twisted.
“Oh dear.”
“Truly tyrannical. Forcing my acquaintance and me apart like this.”
The smiling face turned to me.
“How unfortunate, Sol-eum-ssi.”
“...!”
And the next moment.
She vanished.
Deputy Manager Eun Ha-je's body, bound and grotesquely twisted in midair, ceased to exist as if it had never been there.
The Fox Executive possessing it, gone with her.
“......”
“......”
Escaped...?
My mind raced with deductions: how was she manipulating the deputy manager? What restrictions bound her? Was she okay now?
At the same time, I looked up at the sky.
The blood had stopped falling.
Then I glanced back at the back of my hand.
The blisters and pus were gone, clean.
As if washed away by the blood.
“......”
“No, General! You said you'd make that bastard kowtow and pay respects inside! But he just bolted!”
Choi Agent's neck was seized and hoisted into the air.
“Agent!”
“Urk, haha...”
I frantically looked skyward and shouted.
“Sorry! And thank you!”
......
From the sky.
Something gazed down at me.
It examined me.
And proclaimed.
Hold on.
Something—a bizarre force—pressed down on my shoulders and back.
“No.”
“......”
Choi Agent raised his arm.
“There's already one served here. See? The goblin elder.”
At the end of that arm, the elder's goblin lantern swayed.
“Procession's over now—time for a lavish spread. Off you go before it gets cold, Tiger General!”
A snort like a feline predator huffed.
And.
Everything fell silent.
“......”
The blood from the sky, the crashing lightning—all vanished like a lie.
“Phew......”
With deep sighs, the three agents slumped to the ground.
I barely managed to open my mouth.
“...That one.”
“Ah, the resident lord of Seoraksan Daecheongbong—Tiger General King Bodhisattva... Complicated name, but yeah, think of it like that. He likes being called that.”
Ah.
In that moment, I realized which ghost story it was.
And its meaning...
First and foremost: One must carry the offering alone up Seoraksan Daecheongbong.
Choi Agent had done that.
“......”
I strained not to ask about it, desperately changing the subject.
“...According to Bronze Agent, it doesn't seem like a human-friendly supernatural phenomenon.”
“Ah, that.”
Choi Agent shrugged.
“More precisely... it's indifferent. Offer a lavish sura table sincerely, and it'll listen when in a good mood.”
“The problem is it accepts humans on that sura table!”
Fire shot from Bronze Agent's eyes. Choi Agent grinned.
“Hehe, the Bureau coaxes and placates it well. It's on a vegan diet now.”
And in the next moment, Choi Agent's eyes snapped to me.
“No, this isn't the time for that.”
More precisely, to the back of my hand, cleansed by the blood.
Pretending otherwise, but tension flickered in his eyes.
“It's gone... right?”
“......”
Bronze Agent's eyes shifted to my hand as well.
Having seen it earlier, it was easy to predict: whatever had possessed the deputy manager had likely placed some nasty curse or affliction on my hand.
“Grape Agent, what the...”
“Details after we get back. First, confirmation. ...Grape. Say anything.”
I hesitated, then spoke.
“...I'm Deer.”
“......!”
It worked.
No resistance at all.
Good.
“Good!”
The restriction was lifted.
'My god.'
I dazedly peered at the back of my hand.
And right on cue, bicycle bells began ringing from outside the village.
“Phoenix Squad's here.”
Like a final signal.
“This Jisan Village... still full of suspicious corners. Now the full search begins. People too. The well and all.”
Choi Agent tapped the well site cheerfully.
“Might turn up other oddities, but not right now. Let's head back today.”
“...Yes.”
A strange sense of relief spread from my chest.
Yes. The restriction was gone.
No dying in a month. I'm free...
......
Wait a second.
“...Grape Agent?”
I'd been mistaken.
Swept up in the moment's emotions, I'd felt an unfounded relief. This was no time for joy or lightness.
Time to cool my head.
'F*cked up.'
I couldn't afford to fall out with the Fox Executive here.
Failing the mission and dying in a month? Big problem, sure—but more crucial was completing it safely and getting the Wish Grant.
But this? This was blatant betrayal. To fulfill the Fox Executive's mission, I couldn't...
No way.
I turned to Choi Agent.
Had he... planned for me to completely burn bridges with the Fox Executive?
“......”
“Grape.”
Choi Agent avoided my gaze.
Instead, still smiling, he drew his sickle and inspected the blade.
Saying this.
“But... on the way back. Procedure-wise, there's a place Grape has to visit.”
“...Yes?”
The sickle spun smoothly in the agent's hand.
“Fell under a restriction the Disaster Management Bureau doesn't know about.”
“......!”
“An agent under some weird restriction? Gotta inspect properly what happened. That's procedure. Safely... in isolation.”
Something he'd been holding alongside the sickle came into view.
A small glass orb.
“Let's go in.”
The same one from a few days ago.
Glass prison. Portable detention chamber.
No.
Wai...
Tap.
“......!!”
Before I could finish, countless hands burst from the void created by Choi Agent's orb and seized me.
“Age...”
“Shh.”
The sudden event left me no chance to resist or hold on—I was quickly subdued.
“Cooperate with the interrogation, and you'll be out quick. Don't worry.”
I gritted my teeth and glared at him.
Choi Agent blocked Bronze Agent, who was rushing forward in shock, with his sickle.
“He's back a bit, but he'll be fine.”
“Choi Agent, what the hell...”
“Just a moment.”
Choi Agent turned to me and said quietly.
“Rest up a bit. ...Grape.”
I was sucked into the void.
Thus, transferred to the glass prison.