Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: The Grape Agent
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Baek Saheon was, for once, doubting his remaining eye.
Am I dreaming right now?
No, he was dreaming. A nightmare inside a ghost story... no.
No!!
Actually, until just moments ago, he had simply been pissed off.
'I came here because I heard there's a powerfully brainwashing item in this school's staff room...'
Seeing all these people from various factions gathered, it seemed that wasn't such premium intel after all. He had just been seething inwardly.
'...Tomorrow at work, that guy's not getting off easy.'
He could grit his teeth and mentally add the person who fed him that so-called "premium intel" to his hit list. Fine.
Even so, he was confident.
No, this tense standoff between two evenly matched factions was actually perfect for exploitation, he thought.
'Just shake things up a bit, and it's pandemonium, right?'
Whether sowing discord or summoning a monster to wreak havoc, he could snatch the item and slip away.
Just like how he'd risen by using the idiots around him as bait in clutch moments.
He could even stomach his frail buffalo-masked colleague holding back frustrated tears. The guy looked useful.
But...
'What the hell is that bastard...'
Baek Saheon stared blankly ahead.
A familiar-faced employee in a black school uniform stood brazenly next to the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau agents, as if it were the most natural thing.
Wearing the same iron badge, holding a bizarre toy-like pistol.
...Kim Sol-eum!
"Grape Agent."
Gra-Grape??
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
He definitely hadn't been equipped like that when Baek Saheon spotted him in the classroom earlier. No...
'Why is a Daydream Corporation employee standing there so casually on the enemy side!'
"Everyone seems to be securing items. Is it what we were after?"
"Possibly."
Even exchanging perfectly Bureau-like banter...!
The Daydream Corporation employees beside him muttered among themselves.
"They don't seem like ordinary folk."
"Maybe a high-ranking agent? Looks like he was summoned here."
"......"
Next to him, Jang Heo-un gaped, flicking his gaze between Baek Saheon and Kim Sol-eum.
The only other employee here—besides himself—who knew Kim Sol-eum's bare face well enough to recognize it.
Even through the mask, his shock came through crystal clear.
And now he was staring straight at Kim Sol-eum, lips parting as if to act familiar!
'Yes! That's it!'
You do it instead!
"Th-that..."
"Could you perhaps just withdraw?"
"Pardon?"
But the opponent was Kim Sol-eum.
That... "Grape Agent" instantly cut off Jang Heo-un's attempt, scanning the employees with a grave expression.
Then he continued in a convincingly earnest tone.
"In supernatural disasters like this, individuals possessing dangerous items can trigger unimaginable horrors. You've seen it yourselves—things that look appealing here don't always end well."
His voice somehow sounded...
Extremely plausible.
"...Even now, monsters roam outside."
"......"
Kim Sol-eum pleaded with desperate eyes.
"Please yield for the greater good of saving more lives."
You?
Chills ran down his spine.
But Jang Heo-un blinked vacantly, then slowly opened his mouth, entranced.
"Th-then... we'll yield this time."
You mad bastard!
"...! Hey! What the hell are you saying, newbie?!"
"Shut your trap."
Outraged voices erupted from the suddenly snapped-back employees.
Baek Saheon didn't know it, but they carried mental defense items potent enough to partially shrug off the Silver Heart's influence.
Of course, it didn't paint a pretty picture—the opposing agents muttered.
"Corporate culture's trash, huh."
"Tell me about it. But that agent's got a way with words."
"......"
Even earning nods from the agents...!
'What the hell is that guy, impersonating an agent...'
No, wait.
A bolt of realization struck Baek Saheon like lightning.
'W-was he... actually a Bureau agent from the start?'
Looking closer, that civil servant beside him was the same guy from the insane murder mountain!
The company-issued mask scrambled recognition of non-employees, so he hadn't clocked Baek Saheon...
'......No way.'
Was it all a setup?
Kim Sol-eum a Bureau spy from day one?
His spine turned ice-cold.
But it also handed him a new card.
'Expose that bastard's true colors, and...'
Then their eyes met.
Kim Sol-eum grinned, patting his own chest.
Mouthed a word.
'Debt.'
"......!"
The message he'd scribbled when leaving the emergency flashlight.
'You psycho, that's your debt to me...!'
Did it mean "shut up and play along if you want it settled"?
How was the debtor strong-arming the creditor... No!
'Fuck that noise!'
Baek Saheon ground his teeth.
Right now, his team was outnumbered.
'More agents on their side.'
This way, Field Exploration employees gunning for a high-score clear would likely back off meekly, forfeiting the item.
No chaos sown. Opportunity vanished!
'Might as well...'
"......"
Baek Saheon agonized, then decided.
He needed that item.
...Absolutely.
He also felt the hefty investment of a thousand points—his custom gear—securely adhered to his shoe sole.
This painstaking fusion of parental gear was...
A crowd-control lethal weapon.
Savoring the slim cylindrical pressure from his shoe sole.
Baek Saheon deliberately turned to Jang Heo-un.
"Hey."
"Yes?"
"Doesn't it sound weird outsi—"
And smoothly fired at Kim Sol-eum.
"—de?"
Aimed straight for the head.
'Die!'
Instant kill.
That way, even upon waking from this darkness, they wouldn't trace it back to him.
'That guy's got a name tag anyway!'
After all that debt setup, he couldn't risk exposure for botching it.
'Pin it on some other bastard.'
Company employees were all cut from the same rotten cloth anyway.
Baek Saheon flashed a subtle smirk of triumph.
Whoosh.
The nib launched silently from his shoe sole, poised to skewer Kim Sol-eum's skull...
...and missed?
Kim Sol-eum casually twisted his head aside.
"...?!"
Kim Sol-eum shot Baek Saheon a glance.
'How many times have I read your gear manual on the wiki.'
He even knew the reload.
'Smack the left heel twice.'
Prepped countermeasures since their roommate stint—so this reflex was only natural.
No real anger, given zero expectations...
'Can't let it slide, though.'
At that moment, Kim Sol-eum grinned at Baek Saheon.
'I know it was you.'
And you're screwed now.
"......"
Baek Saheon's spine turned to ice.
His conditioned terror spiked near panic levels.
But his goal of sowing chaos succeeded.
"Eek!"
"...!"
The pen nib struck the locker behind Kim Sol-eum, detonating in all directions.
In an instant, the staff room choked with light, noise, and smoke.
"...Who was that?!"
No more whispering would help now.
This level of racket drew the "students" even if it meant tanking some property damage. Which meant...
They'd swarm soon.
"...!!"
"Flashlights."
Everyone hunkered low against the walls. Vision obscured by smoke was the nightmare school's worst nightmare.
'Which bastard...?'
Just before survival outranked culprit-hunting in everyone's minds.
'No choice now...!'
Grab the prize anyway!
Baek Saheon lunged for the table.
He snatched the item and pocketed it.
Then seamlessly blended with the employees, bolting from the staff room.
The agents, arrayed in a no-blind-spot formation inside, only grasped the situation once the haze thinned slightly.
The fountain pen—and the employees—gone.
"...! Damn it!"
"Daydream Corporation scum...!"
Suddenly saddled with brigade liability.
'Heh.'
Only Kim Sol-eum, who'd been eyeing Baek Saheon, clocked it.
But the situation was too dire for commentary.
Daydream Corporation employees emerging into the hallway had taken out one student.
"...Ha."
Blackout hit.
Five seconds of blackout.
Flailing flashlight beams.
Screams.
Corpses.
'This is nuts.'
Crowded with people and monstrosities—this was straight B-grade splatter horror flick material.
A different breed of terror from the suffocating hush moments ago.
Aaaah!
Over there, the window!
Blood! Blood!
Support... gah,
Amid the hair-raising carnage unfolding everywhere, I was picking off fresh students trying to breach the staff room through fog gaps.
Like some godawful defense game.
Or a horror game where you're so cornered, that's all you can manage.
"Go!"
Small mercy: the agents' aggressive push kept aggro off me.
But limits loomed.
Blink.
Blood flecked my eye; no helping the blink.
A student's hand hung mid-swipe above my head like a hook.
"...!!"
I backpedaled fast.
...Skull nearly cracked open.
Hairs stood on end.
'Holy...'
Heart plummeting.
'No good.'
This was quicksand.
'One flashlight can't cover the range anymore.'
By my reckoning, runs varied, but each floor packed at least twenty students.
Kill one, announcement blares?
They come again.
With five seconds of solemn blackout.
'Endless.'
High odds we'd all wipe here, ending the expedition. So...
'Escape while we can.'
I gritted my teeth.
Link up with others elsewhere.
Fog lifting, blackout wrapping...
Blink.
'...Now!'
I dashed across the staff room's gore-soaked heart, sliding through the already-open door.
That instant,
"Grape!"
"...!"
Fog-cleared vision revealed the bronze agent.
Standoff with a masked employee, whose mask was...
"Hic."
"Quiet."
Buffalo mask. Y Squad cleanup.
'Jang Heo-un.'
Couldn't keep up with the employee exodus...!
"Restrain him with this...!"
The agent hurled a handcuff-looking item my way.
To cuff Jang Heo-un. Mistaking me for backup.
But I'd already resolved to ditch everyone...
"R-run, Deer!"
"...!"
Damn it.
Jang Heo-un blurted it, clapped a hand over his mouth in shock.
My mask's name.
"......Deer?"
"N-no, I..."
The agent's face said it all.
'Busted.'
Shit, then...!
I snatched the agent's handcuff item clean.
Snapped it on him instead.
"......?!"
Handcuffs expanded, binding the agent's mouth and arms; a silver chain snaked to my hand.
"Buffalo, let's bolt."
"Y-yes...?!"
I dragged Jang Heo-un and the agent outside.
Aaaaah!
We fled the staff room's inferno, charging up the stairs like madmen.
A couple entities trailed us out, but fresh staff room uproar yanked them back.
"Keep eyes on above, please."
"Got it!"
Jang Heo-un piped up sharp, scanning upstairs.
'Whew.'
Mid-stairs, I watched the students peel off and vanish, turning my head with a cold-sweat itch.
Then locked eyes with my chain's end-victim.
The Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau's bronze agent glared daggers, murderous.
"......"
This mess left no options.
Inevitably.
'Time to grift...!'
I spun up the slickest sob story sales pitch of my life, at unprecedented speed.