Chapter 242
Chapter 242
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 242
Chapter Title: Even in Urban Legends, I Still Have to Go to Work
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Outside the Nameless Radiant Church's underground bunker.
The deserted Ghost Mountain Village was already half-destroyed.
The moment Ryu Jaegwan burst out through the door of the similarly shattered underground bunker, he nearly bit his tongue at the sight before him. And...
"Oh, you made it out!"
A voice called out right beside him.
"...!"
Lee Seonghae, deputy manager of Daydream Corporation's Elite Team, was leaning against the wall near the door. She turned to him and waved.
Ryu Jaegwan, who had been about to speak, froze for a moment.
How...?
How could she be so calm?
Two people had just escaped a bizarre supernatural disaster that had kept them trapped and digesting for decades.
It was certain death.
He'd heard it emphasized multiple times that once the box closed, it never opened again. Even Ryu Jaegwan, who had escaped, was utterly confused about what was happening...
"Why...?"
"Weren't you surprised?"
...!
"Well... you went in with an employee, after all."
She glanced at the 'Grape Agent' Ryu Jaegwan was holding.
Light reflected in Lee Seonghae's pupils.
"The mascot's stronger than that box!"
"......"
Mascot?
An unfamiliar nickname already felt eerie...
Ryu Jaegwan instinctively looked down at Kim Sol-eum, the one called by that name, and asked himself.
How did I get out?
...That sound from earlier.
There had been something inside the box—mercilessly twisting the gudoja that spouted bizarre nonsense in a brutally mechanical way. It was...
......
...The Grape Agent?
"Anyway, looking for your fellow agent?"
"...!"
He snapped out of his strange thoughts.
"Yes."
The Bronze Agent took a deep breath and refocused on the situation.
So, Choi Agent's whereabouts...
"They're all over there."
Boom.
Right on cue, a massive boom echoed again.
Ryu Jaegwan whipped his head around.
In mid-air, two enormous blue guillotine blades were being swung energetically in the grip of a human arm.
It was Choi Agent.
The guillotine plunged toward the ground without hesitation.
Toward its target.
...That thing!
"Hmm. Looks pretty pissed off."
Lee Seonghae's voice reached Ryu Jaegwan's ear as he moved to rush over.
"At first, that agent tried to reopen the box somehow. Looked like they were analyzing for any openings."
Ryu Jaegwan could easily imagine it.
Staring blankly at the box in disbelief, then racking their brain and acting to dismantle the sealed box somehow.
He'd seen it many times before. Agents who regained composure, resorting to reckless actions to find a way to save people and escape the situation.
"They even tried prying it with their hands. Looked exhausted, so I offered to help. But then Ho Director started spouting the most infuriating crap."
"...!"
-How tragic. Of all people, the Deer went in.
-What can you do? Two went in, so this box is safe for decades now. Congrats!
-The Disaster Management Bureau loves this scenario.
"Really shameless, right? Pushed them into it himself."
Ryu Jaegwan felt his mouth twist.
Anger and worry.
"After hearing that, the agent let go of the box and pulled something from their pocket."
And then...
"The door shattered."
Boom.
Another boom from the side.
Dust flew all the way here.
"...!!"
Then, faintly visible through the settling dust.
Someone impaled by the guillotine and pinned to the ground.
"Oh, got 'em."
It was Ho Director.
Two massive ritual guillotines were stabbed through the chest of the suited man.
"I stepped back so I wouldn't interrupt the rage, but maybe I should help with cleanup now... Huh?"
Ryu Jaegwan rushed forward.
No.
Because he saw it.
On the ground where the dust settled, ink was rising, forming letters.
The letters turned red and blue, composing a circular pattern.
The sounds of gongs, drums, and bells began to ring.
A ritual...!
And there was only one kind of ritual done this way.
Sacrifice Rite...!
It was a procedure passed down in the Disaster Management Bureau to offer powerful supernatural entities as tribute.
They planned to offer the Daydream Corporation director whole to summon a divine being and shatter the box...!
Anger and purpose aligned.
But.
"Agent Choi!"
Choi Agent couldn't use that!
Choi Agent was sitting on the ground, eyes closed, doing something.
Lips shaped as if praying.
Clearly reciting an incantation.
Even with eyes closed, the voice carried, and it was a very familiar one.
"Agent Choi!"
Choi Agent stopped and turned their head.
Choi Agent's pupils dilated upon eye contact.
Surprise.
Doubt.
Joy.
Relief.
And... overwhelming emotion.
"Jae... "
"Agent Choi!!"
Ryu Jaegwan rushed over and grabbed them by the collar, yanking them up.
"You know you can't perform the Sacrifice Rite, Agent Choi!!"
"......"
"You don't even have a name to use for it..."
"Bronze."
Scarred hands gripped Ryu Jaegwan's shoulders tightly.
"Thanks..."
"......"
Choi Agent, collar released, slumped slowly to the ground.
From the gasping figure, Ryu Jaegwan realized how tense and mentally cornered they'd been. A wave of emotions hit him.
The senior's feelings upon realizing all field team members except himself had been snatched by a supernatural disaster in a blink, doomed to decades of torment before death.
He felt it too.
They...!
Always the one trying the most dangerous stunts alone!
But the surge subsided quickly.
After all, both the Grape Agent and he had escaped safely.
Instead, he focused on the small orb hanging from Choi Agent's waist.
Someone was already inside that makeshift glass prison.
The man from Ghost Mountain Village who introduced himself as a reporter.
An employee using the odd name Rosefinch.
"...Did you put them in there on purpose?"
"Yeah. Didn't want some innocent civilian getting caught up and hurt, so I did this for now."
Without saying it outright, but implying cooperation. Choi Agent finally flashed a grin and stood up.
And Ryu Jaegwan finally said one thing.
"From now on, please, please stop doing reckless shit."
"Haha..."
No reply came from Choi Agent.
"My, how touching."
The supernatural disaster suppressed by two ritual guillotines.
Daydream Corporation's Ho Director.
He was smiling.
Not even flinching at being impaled, no groans of pain.
Instead, he casually raised both hands to the massive guillotine blades nearly bisecting his chest.
Even as the sizzling sound of burning flesh rang out, his smiling eyes didn't change.
...Really.
Was he truly subdued?
"So, will you return our company employee now? You've been holding them this whole time."
"...!"
Ryu Jaegwan immediately stepped back.
Choi Agent's eyes beside him darkened.
The habitual smile vanished as the figure pretended to cover their mouth with a hand, leaning toward the fallen 'Kim Sol-eum' as if listening, nodding.
"What? Grape. Yeah, yeah, good idea."
Then turned to the fox-plagued one with the guillotine and smiled.
"Grape wants to resign."
"Oh? If they say so themselves, no choice. Want to wake them up?"
"Nah."
Blue flames sparked in Choi Agent's eyes.
"Why wake a sleeping kid? We'll take good care of them. You rest in your cage too."
And looked around at the surrounding colleagues.
"Right, Bronze...?"
"......"
But Ryu Jaegwan didn't agree.
Choi Agent noticed the subtle vibe.
And then, overly relieved by the situation, a postponed question for assessing it surfaced.
Exactly.
How did they get out of the box?
"Bronze."
Why, when we both came out the same way, was Kim Sol-eum still out cold amid all this chaos?
"Looks like... they won't wake up."
"......"
"Want me to try?"
"Shut up."
"Employee 130666, time to wake up and stand by for duty."
At that moment.
130666 rose.
Black smoke.
Thickly billowing from the black uniform, yellow lanterns flickering, a bizarre presence heavily pressing down on the dust-covered ground.
The horned figure cast a black shadow, standing utterly still, coat draped motionless.
......
Something was off.
This.
It's different from before.
Earlier, despite the clearly inhuman, bizarre silhouette, there was something palpable from it.
The atmosphere from attitude and reactions.
Things that made you call it 'Grape' without hesitation.
But now...
Something forcibly shaped into a human silhouette.
A chill up the spine, the agent's inductive instinct.
Supernatural phenomenon.
Still, his mouth opened.
"...Grape?"
The smoke turned first.
Slowly, atop the black, dusky fog spreading at its feet, gas lamp flames flickered.
Gaze from beneath the horns.
"......"
Choi Agent was speechless.
After flapping their mouth a few times, they finally spoke.
"Then, what should I call you?"
"Call you by number? You right now..."
"Hold on."
Ryu Jaegwan cut in urgently.
"Grape Agent. What's your current status? Any ongoing pain, or persistent strange whispers?"
The smoke didn't move.
The black-uniformed special division employee standing still inscribed letters after a few seconds.
"......"
"Oh dear."
Ho Yuwon's laughter rang out.
"Not the state we expected, huh?"
"You...!"
"Employee 130666. With a company exec detained, mind pulling these out?"
Black smoke surged toward the guillotine.
"...!"
Clang!
The guillotine blade yanked free crashed to the ground with a clear, sharp sound.
The moment Ho Yuwon, now free, began to rise, Choi Agent drew another suppression tool and lunged, but...
The smoke blocked them.
"...!"
Security Risk Behavior
Suppression Level Will Change on Retry
"......"
Dangerous.
The neck-hair-standing experience of facing something truly hazardous.
"...You,"
Trembling eyes saw the malice beyond the smoke.
"What have you done."
"Nothing."
Ho Yuwon feigned regret in his tone.
"Looks like the box had a bad influence. Right?"
"The box? More like you and your cult company."
"Who knows."
Laughter.
"But oh well. I have no intention of answering... You can keep wondering."
"......"
Choi Agent lowered the guillotine.
Staring at the once-colleague in the standoff...
"One thing's clear now."
The guillotine pointed at the malice beyond the smoke.
Xuanwu Team 1 Agent declared.
"Daydream Corporation's Ho Yuwon Director is a supernatural disaster."
A mark of targeting.