Chapter 232
Chapter 232
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 232
Chapter Title: Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Have to Go to Work
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Ho Yuwon.
The director here who knows more about Jang Heo-un than anyone else.
"You must have a lot of questions."
But an untrustworthy person was smiling at me.
In a corridor from a ghost story turned into skeletal ruins by fire and smoke, piled with corpses.
He asks me if I have any questions.
'...In that case.'
This approach could work.
I exhaled smoke.
"Hm?"
I did it on purpose. Because it's a deal with a non-human entity.
And...
'He must have questions for me too.'
In this formal ritual of exchanging questions, he couldn't resist.
And.
"...Haha! Are you copying me?"
Yes. Feel what it's like to be on the receiving end.
Ho Yuwon laughed a few times before answering爽快ly.
"But I like it."
Yet a sly glint lingered in his eyes.
"It's fair, right? I could impose a binding curse that actually delivers punishment... but I won't. I want to trust you, Deer."
A lie.
He's just saying that because he couldn't easily impose one anyway.
'He got burned trying to bind me before.'
But it doesn't matter.
Now.
Clap.
"Alright. Then... I'll let you, the proposing Deer, ask the first question."
And so, in the basement 96th floor, at the bizarre fire scene of the Jolly Lab, the two from the ghost story began their question and answer.
[Friend, what fact do you want to know first?]
The most core one first.
"That's a very broad question, Deer."
Ho Yuwon answered.
"What I know is this. Male, in his 20s, no family, raised in a religious social welfare facility in the countryside. Three years ago by entry date, a fire destroyed the facility completely, and he was the sole survivor."
......
Information matching the testimony I once heard from the corrupted Jang Heo-un.
"So his wish is probably related to that fire. Like bringing the dead back to life, or making the fire never happen."
Accurate.
'Did he investigate more deeply while selecting him as a spy?'
"Then it's my turn to ask, Deer."
Ho Yuwon looked at me.
"If you already knew what I just told you, who did you hear it from?"
...!
"Exactly, which being?"
......
"Ah, as expected."
Reigniting embers cast shadows on Ho Yuwon's face in the backlighting.
"I saw in the Field Exploration Team report about dying in the theme park and reviving as a resort employee... but to hear that directly."
......
"Not just helped with your resurrections... he's your subordinate, huh?"
Sigh.
"Ah, that's not a question. It was a certainty. ...You're so human-like, Deer. Making choices you'll regret."
Ominous words, yet tinged with faint regret.
Instead of getting angry, I just stared at Ho Yuwon.
"Anyway, you're curious about the other three 'Heo-uns' with different surnames, right? I'm curious too, so how about we deduce together through this Q&A? ...Shall we continue?"
No agitation, move on.
"...This is where it gets interesting."
Interesting?
"He has the exact same background as Jang Heo-un."
"...!!"
Male, in his 20s, no family, raised in a religious social welfare facility in the countryside. Fire trauma.
"For someone raised in a similar environment, the keywords match too perfectly. Like playing the same role in a game."
......
Puzzle pieces assemble in my mind one by one.
"Then my question. ...Did you distribute the Wish Grants you received to the Daydream employees who infiltrated the Disaster Management Bureau with you? Exactly who got how many?"
"Ah.... As expected."
Wait. 'As expected'?
As if he already knew...
"Ah. Not tracked, I just know."
...!
"The Wish Grants I gave were my personal collection items. So I processed the bottles slightly... enough to know if they were used or not."
Ho Yuwon smiled.
"And the three Wish Grants I gave you, Deer, have all been used. ...One was used by you, right?"
That means...
The two that went to Go Yeongeun have also been used.
A chilling sensation crawled up my back.
'Go Yeongeun used both bottles?'
Unless someone took them... but unlikely she was robbed.
Go Yeongeun is the cautious type who manages risks well.
And she has the character not to use Jang Heo-un's Wish Grant carelessly.
So high chance she used them for Jang Heo-un.
'But...'
Why is the Jang Heo-un I saw still the same?
"Then we can make an interesting guess. ...Someone wished wrong?"
Ho Yuwon laughed in a pitying tone.
"After half a year with no sign of poor Bison recovering from corruption and returning human, he got anxious... and used it arbitrarily."
......
"But due to some error, instead of 'Jang Heo-un,' a 'Kim Heo-un' appeared in this world, fulfilling the wish?"
A spine-chilling speculation.
[Hm. Is that so? Then let's speculate more specifically.]
In other words...
If Go Yeongeun wished something like 'Let Heo-un live as a human in this world.'
'Instead of the corrupted Jang Heo-un returning human, someone she could accept as 'Heo-un' was born into the world...!'
Wish Grants are personally omnipotent. A ghost story-like situation that's entirely plausible...
"Ah?"
There's a puzzle piece that doesn't fit.
'The person on this Jolly Lab employee ID.'
Only this Lee Heo-un researcher remains unexplained.
This one seems unrelated to the recently used Wish Grant, a remnant from the past Jolly Lab.
'...There must be something else.'
Heo-un, Heo-un, Heo-un...
An eerie feeling.
'Fire keyword overlaps too.'
Raised in a facility that burned down, everyone around died.
Looking at this basement 96th floor situation, this Jolly Lab employee too... why do they all have backgrounds so similar to Jang Heo-un? Wait.
'It's the opposite.'
If thinking chronologically...
'Jang Heo-un and Kim Heo-un have backgrounds resembling this Jolly Lab employee...'
Rustle.
......
Rustle.
"Deer."
......
"Did you see it?"
I saw.
Just now.
The corpse pile moved.
No, precisely, the corpses in front of the elevator seemed to move.
Because something buried underneath moved.