Chapter 225
Chapter 225
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 225
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work
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I plopped back down onto the bed.
My hand still clutched the bell.
The signpost that guided my thoughts back to being myself.
Ding-a-ling.
I looked up.
"...My head feels clear."
It was astonishingly me.
"Yeah. But..."
That very point felt off.
The fact that I wasn't overwhelmingly shocked or tearfully grateful at regaining my sanity.
I felt a bit dazed.
And so, I noticed the sense of incongruity.
For example, this.
"...Why aren't I scared at all?"
Y-yeah.
But that's not what I meant...
"Overall, the situation seems plenty scary enough to warrant fear."
My body was some grotesque thing, my future was a dumpster fire, and right now I was locked alone in a ghost story containment chamber. Normally, I'd be screaming internally and swallowing sobs...
But 'unsettled' was all I felt.
When I used the Nostalgia Kitty to briefly revert to being Junior Deer, reclaiming my body and mind only to get crushed again, I remembered the terror and helplessness I felt.
It was a situation that called for panic.
Yet now, having returned to my senses, I was surprisingly calm.
A bit afraid, sure, but it felt like the fear button was deactivated. Like I'd taken some kind of mental stabilizer.
"Is it because this bell is for agents?"
Maybe it repels excessive negativity or intense emotions?
But even subtle, nuanced feelings seemed dulled.
Hm. If so...
"Am I in a state where I've only recovered part of my reason and will?"
Emotions barely registering.
Emotions are heavily influenced by the body, so it felt rational at first glance.
...If so, it might actually be better to act now.
"With panic and fear dulled, it's far better for surviving this insane ghost story world..."
Though who knows about later.
I held back a sigh.
This body would just spew smoke anyway, so no issue there, but realizing that made me a bit depressed.
"Be grateful even for this slight depression..."
And I moved on to something productive.
Ding-a-ling.
By adjusting the intervals of shaking the bell during 'rest time,' I tested how long the 'sanity maintenance' effect lasted.
The result.
"...About four hours?"
After four hours, maintaining thought grew difficult.
To keep reason steady, I'd need to hear the bell every four hours. At least for now.
"Hm."
I stared thoughtfully at the small bell.
Would it break if used too long?
Then it should hold up fine for a while.
"Thank you, Team Leader Haegum..."
I let out another sigh, then carefully tucked the bell into the gap between the horns sprouting from my head.
I could move my skull to shake the horns.
So this way, I could ring it at will. And it wouldn't be too visible.
With urgent matters settled, I could ponder until shift time.
"Hm."
...I lay down as comfortably as possible.
Avoiding topics that might shake me too much, I reviewed the events I'd been through.
People mostly flashed by.
Kwak Je-gang, J3, Junior Park Minseong, Agent Lee Seong-hae, Kang I-hak... Agent Choi.
And tracing back to the first scene.
Something dawned on me.
"...!"
Mr. Jang Heo-un.
One of the new hires who came to find me in room 666 on sub-basement level 13 of the annex, under the excuse of 'special recruitment' experiments.
Back then, I only felt a vague joy that Mr. Jang Heo-un was alive... But now thinking properly, it wasn't something to brush off.
"He must have recognized me."
Mr. Jang Heo-un entered the Jolly Theme Park resort knowing I was Kim Sol-eum, and even saw the security team's costumes in the process.
Meaning he could match this me with the Kim Sol-eum he knew.
Of course, with a premise.
That it was really Mr. Jang Heo-un.
"People's faces look like dripping mosaics to me..."
Voices were hard to distinguish too, so I relied on impressions and speech patterns. Expressions were somewhat visible, at least.
"No, if the Wish Grant had worked right, why come here?"
And unlike my disappearance and presumed death resignation, it was just a branch transfer. He could've returned to HQ easily.
Didn't contact Director Ho? Why...
......
......!
A chilling hypothesis crossed my mind.
What if.
Mr. Jang Heo-un never reverted to human form?
And the Wish Grant was used to turn Mr. Jang Heo-un human?
Then Mr. Jang Heo-un had no Wish Grant left for his own wish.
So the odds he'd return to the company for another...
"High."
Definitely possible.
"Wait, conversely, could Go Yeongeun have given up her Wish Grant to save Mr. Jang Heo-un?"
......No clue.
People with wishes too desperate to abandon pass the Field Exploration Team aptitude test and orientation.
......
Spot on.
If Mr. Jang Heo-un used a Wish Grant to become human again.
Couldn't I... use one to regain a human body?
"No. Wasteful."
If I could get another Wish Grant, I'd wish properly this time. If I could just think of the perfect phrasing, I could go home...
......
Wasn't that blind urge to go home also fixed by the experiment?
Forgot the experiment log that lured me here like a good friend?
"Ah."
My gut churned.
Get another Wish Grant.
Impossible anyway. Security barely gives points. All spent on upkeep. And me, underground. Lab, shattered incubator, collapsing me. Crumbling...
No.
Ding-a-ling.
My rapidly crumbling mind rallied at the bell's sound.
Whew.
I shook the bell between my horns again.
Ding-a-ling.
"Get it together."
Pining for a Wish Grant from Daydream points? Don't.
Need another way.
First... accurately grasp my situation.
Goal: Approach the truth.
Then it hit me.
The resolve from my crushed self hadn't changed even after regaining sanity.
"...I was on the right path."
A faint stir in my chest. I imagined a mental deep breath and reaffirmed it.
And one more.
Additional Goal: Meet Mr. Jang Heo-un again.
Good.
If possible, like this.
And right then, my shift began.
"So damn loud..."
Can't even sleep, and it's telling me to wake up...
I agreed somewhat.
Anyway, soon the complex containment room locks disengaged, and one person entered.
"Employee!"
Researcher Kwak Je-gang.
The researcher who'd dismissed the outer security team entered, visibly excited.
Hm, seeing him sane, he seemed even stranger...
"No, why not regenerate the tip of your pinky..."
He must have points, holding out before more loss? Or regen potions don't work on the 'Red Finger' ghost story. No wiki logs that detailed.
Either way possible, but him not minding screamed mad scientist.
"Sleep well? Haha, the 'Man in the Dark' you splendidly captured yesterday was safely handed to the research team!"
"Of course!"
And as promised 'on his pinky,' Kwak Je-gang explained everything neatly.
The Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau safely contained it, securing a minimum C-Grade darkness quickly with processing costs locked in, pleasing Director Cheong.
"...Whew."
And...
"Junior Kang I-hak is missing."
...?!
"Ah, apparently the Disaster Management Bureau took him in. What of it? Even if they now know about the USB, we have it."
My nonexistent digestive organs hurt...
Ah, no. Do I have them? With sanity back, I could objectively assess my body more... Collapsed, but maybe somewhere?
R-right.
Anyway, Kang I-hak was still a junior, so no big deal. And better for humanity if the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau knew Daydream took the 'Man in the Screen'...
"......"
A twinge of longing or attachment tried to rise, but mild enough to brush off.
I demanded the next steps from Kwak Je-gang.
"Achievements? Naturally! Thanks to you, I even got a one-on-one with Director Cheong!"
Kwak Je-gang burst into laughter.
"First time conversing that long... Pulled out tons of interesting, valuable info. Haha! ...Never thought I'd hear this."
The researcher's eyes gleamed with satisfied curiosity.
"Our goal... info closing in on your origins, the foundation..."
...!
"Of course! ...It's about how this company collects darkness. Astonishingly systematized from all angles."
Kwak Je-gang whipped out a pen, flipped papers, and scribbled diagrams before me.
"The company's darkness collection divides into two main methods."
"The former you know well."
Collecting externally.
Scouting new wandering ghost stories to acquire, or recovering those redeployed to civilians for recycling.
"The latter... haha, that's where the research team shines!"
Done internally at Daydream Corporation.
"Development and excavation."
"Development is creating new darkness by grafting or experimenting with various ones."
Fitting the ghost story world, typical research team work.
Studies to raise grades while maximizing survival rates, hypothesis-setting for manuals, etc.
All stuff I knew well.
So the key was...
"But excavation? First time hearing it?"
Finally.
"Exactly as it sounds. ...Excavation is digging up darkness from the company's underground."
...!!
Kwak Je-gang grinned broadly.
"Know what's under our company...?"
......
"...! Knew it was connected... Haha, ha!"
I quietly stared at Kwak Je-gang.
He quickly stopped laughing.
"Yes. Go deeper than now, and office layouts repeat endlessly."
I knew.
Witnessed it twice.
And... the security guard chief risked it to tell me.
-Even deeper underground... the same office corridors... keep repeating...
-Same place, but... the times... seem slightly different?
Thought it irrelevant post-Wish Grant, but no.
"That's the Jolly Lab ghost story."
Itself a massive ghost story.
Kwak Je-gang showed copied pages from the Jolly Lab ghost story entry he'd apparently requested.
...Matched the guard chief's info.
And.
"There, you find all the prototypes they churned out when Jolly Lab was active, and mediums linking to ghost stories."
Daydream's founding era, early darkness sources.
"Right there, Daydream excavates ghost stories destined to become darkness. Especially in the early days."
Kwak Je-gang's eyes sparkled with discovery joy.
"So maybe they built HQ on top... Hypothesis-worthy. Haha, fun, right?"
"Anyway, they've scoured the upper levels... Now deeper, but weirder stuff happens the further in."
Kwak Je-gang looked at me.
"Even regular security struggles. ...So, special division employee help is crucial, right?"
...!
"Surely tied to your creation purpose."
I clenched my unseen hand in the smoke.
"Excavation duties will eventually be assigned to you..."
"Of course! But to get there, need firmer trust."
Kwak Je-gang suddenly gauged my mood.
"Like... the lead researcher on 130666 proving useful usage. Haha."
Hm. Basically, act compliant enough for next phase...
Make the company think they can control me somewhat.
Driving me nuts.
"Well... signed the slave contract anyway."
Better for mobility.
"...! Good. Then I'll think of a perfect, fun method..."
I'll decide, so shut up, please.
I quickly formed smoke letters.
"...Ah."
Kwak Je-gang's enthusiasm deflated.
"Right. Bit boring, no, tame... but you doing it changes things."
Not finished.
"...! Ah, frame as finding and testing a control factor on you! Great. Fear? Pleasure? Reward and punishment? Haha, either way..."
"......"
"......Yes."
Thanks, Kang I-hak.
Money-driven folks reassure surprisingly.
And Daydream has plenty of money.
A few days later.
I sat at the annex front desk with two security team members.
They'd pay. Good.
Sad bit: still in the transport cage...
"Sniff."
And one more.
During quiet shift time, rationally exploring my crushed body to map what flowed where.
If some intact shape remained, something to confirm.
And found one.