Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Witch of Rebirth - 1
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In the pitch-black room, I turned on my smartphone, and a blue light illuminated my face.
I lay sprawled on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I could still feel my fingertips trembling. The clock hanging in the corner of the room was slowly making its way toward midnight.
Was it because I was a little drunk? Or was it because the horrific memories from the Hyehwa Station theater hadn't faded yet? I hesitated for a moment, looking at the blurry screen, then opened the Ghost Story Gallery.
'I should at least write this down.'
I wanted to vent. I wanted to share what happened today, what I went through, with someone. My head was about to split open, my flesh felt like it was being torn apart, the spray of blood... It was too much to handle alone.
─Title) I almost died for real today ─Author: [Baekyaⓖ] ─Content: The company told me to go see a play, so I went without thinking much, but it turned out to be the Tragedy of the Red Prince... Thankfully, I took two painkillers I bought the day before and skipped it by sleeping, so I survived, damn it. I almost went to the grave after watching the whole play. As soon as the play started, the audience's heads exploded, and they started biting each other to death... It was a real hell, damn it.
With trembling fingers, I typed out the words, staring at the screen. After putting the final period, a sense of relief washed over me. It felt like I had put down a heavy burden.
In an instant, the ghost gallery users reacted. For some reason, seeing familiar nicknames made me feel relieved.
— Chwameon500wonⓖ
For real, this person is the survival king. Damn. Any aftereffects?
— Baekyaⓖ
Fortunately, I fell asleep early in the play, so I don't think there are any. Thankfully, I wasn't attacked while I was asleep.
— Chwameon500wonⓖ
You thought of that? Damn, you're different 'cause you're a veteran.
— Baekyaⓖ
But I think luck was a bigger factor. Out of the 300 people there, only the two of us survived. All the other audience members...
As I wrote the comment, the scene came back to me. The audience packed into the wide seating area. At first, I thought a normal play was starting.
But when the red stage lights came on, everything changed. The sound of someone's scream, exploding heads, the seats flooded with blood...
— Hikikoⓖ
Damn, damn, damn. So the Red Prince's Tragedy really exists?
— AnalogueLoverⓖ
So how scary was it?
— Baekyaⓖ
It was more about the cruelty than the fear. Seeing heads explode and flesh get torn apart for real... It was really...
The fingers tapping on the keyboard stopped.
Suddenly, the sight I saw in the audience came to mind. I felt like I was about to be sick, so I quickly sprayed the green spray into my mouth. My mind calmed down along with the refreshing sensation.
Cold sweat soaked my palm. I picked up the soju bottle on the bedside table and took another sip. The bitter taste going down my throat eased some of the tension.
— AnalogueLoverⓖ
How much incentive did you get this time? Since it was a B-grade ghost story, you probably got a decent amount.
— Baekyaⓖ
I think I got about 100 million won after tax?
— AnalogueLoverⓖ
Wow, except for the possibility of dying, the pay is truly top-tier....
— Baekyaⓖ
But honestly, if they didn't pay this much, the company wouldn't run. The work environment is a total hell.
A company where there's no overtime or special duties, but a high chance of dying during work. That was the Catastrophe Foundation. No matter how high the salary, the fact that it was a job where you had to risk your life remained unchanged.
Just then, a gallery user reacted to my comment about earning 100 million won.
— Cryptidⓖ
You earned 100 million? What are you gonna do with that money?
I thought about it for a moment.
Actually, the answer was already set. In a world like this, saving money is meaningless.
You never know when you'll get caught up in a ghost story and die, so what's the point of financial management? And I'm not the type to live a life of luxury, so in the end, the money would probably go towards buying items as soon as I earn it.
— Baekyaⓖ
I'll probably buy from FamilyNet like last time. I have a rough list of what to buy when I have the money.
— Cryptidⓖ
Oh, share the list, share.
At Cryptid's words, I mentally listed the items I had already decided on. I thought about the items I needed to survive and their uses, one by one, as I typed on the keyboard.
— Baekyaⓖ
First, to avoid instant death, I'm thinking of Nostradamus's Eye. Second, considering I need to prevent mental corruption that occasionally pops up, I think the Golden Branch Brooch is also necessary. Third, for emergency wound recovery, I'm thinking of Lovecraft's Cube Necklace.
— Cryptidⓖ
Oh... If you have those three, your survival rate is top-tier unless you get insta-killed. Lol.
— Baekyaⓖ
For real, lol. But I'll have to buy what I can for now.
Indeed, buying all three items would cost nearly 1 billion won. In contrast, I only had 100 million won on hand. Considering that, it was right to buy what I could right now.
The city lights glittered outside the window. At a glance, it was a peaceful night, but somewhere, someone was probably confronting a ghost story right now. If they were lucky, they'd survive, but most wouldn't.
— Cryptidⓖ
Which one are you gonna buy first?
— Baekyaⓖ
I don't have anything to deal with mental corruption, so I'll buy the Golden Branch first. Yeah.
— AnalogueLoverⓖ
Isn't the Golden Branch that thing? The one that perfectly blocks C-grade and below mental corruption? But it won't work on something like the Red Prince's Tragedy since it's B-grade.
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— Baekyaⓖ
Yeah. But the field investigation team mainly deals with D-grade and below ghost stories anyway... It can't hurt to have it, right?
After leaving a rough comment, I put down my smartphone. The alcohol spreading through my body slowly pulled up my fatigue. My eyelids grew heavy.
Today was a really long day.
The time from going to work to seeing the play was ordinary. I was even excited. I thought, what could be better than the company sending me to a play?
But that was just the beginning of everything.
The moment the audience seating became a sea of blood, the moment the head of the person in front of me exploded, the moment the actors on stage started biting the corpses...
Everything felt hazy. And in the midst of it all, I was lucky that the painkillers made me fall asleep.
'Ah, I really need to sleep now.'
I picked up the soju bottle by my pillow and took the last sip. The alcohol going down my throat seemed to melt away the remaining tension.
As I lay on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, I soon closed my eyes. Thanks to being drunk, I didn't have a nightmare tonight. Instead, I sank into a deep, heavy darkness.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The next morning.
The morning air on my way to work was cold. The memory of the theater was still vivid, and I couldn't believe I was already on my way back to the company.
As soon as I arrived at the 4th Team's office, I turned on the computer and logged into FamilyNet. While sitting in my chair waiting for the login screen to appear, I looked around.
The office looked no different from any other company. Neatly organized desks, a few potted plants, a coffee machine... But if you looked closely, strange things caught your eye. Various talismans on every desk, a cross hanging on the wall, the suspicious accessories that colleagues were wearing.
Soon, the foundation's logo flashed on the screen. It was a simple logo drawn in gray on a black background, but it felt strangely like my gaze was being sucked in.
[FamilyNet] -『Nostradamus's Eye』- ₩500,000,000 -『Taromaster's Deckholder』- ₩300,000,000 -『Lovecraft's Cube Necklace』- ₩200,000,000 -『Golden Branch Brooch』- ₩100,000,000 ...
The item list was laid out. Nostradamus's Eye was still 400 million short, and Lovecraft's Cube Necklace had the side effect of corrupting the mind and body if used often. In the end, I decided to buy the Golden Branch Brooch first, just as I had thought yesterday.
『Golden Branch Brooch』 -Grade: C -Price: ₩100,000,000 -Description: A special accessory inspired by the golden branch that Aeneas offered to Hades and Persephone to pass through the gates of the underworld. When worn, it completely blocks mental corruption of grade C or lower. It can temporarily delay grade B mental corruption but cannot block it completely.
After reading the details thoroughly, I moved my mouse to the purchase button. I hesitated for a moment. 100 million won was not a small amount of money. But considering it was the price of a life, it was actually cheap.
I pressed the purchase button. A text message arrived saying that 100 million won had been withdrawn from my account. At the same time, a message appeared on the screen: "Purchase complete. The item will be delivered immediately."
As soon as I pressed the purchase button, the back of my neck felt cool. Someone was standing behind my seat.
"Did you buy something from FamilyNet?"
It was Team Leader Cheon Seung-soo's voice. I turned around, and he was standing there. He was dressed in his usual black suit, but he felt more intimidating for some reason. He was holding today's report file in his hand.
"Yes, that's right."
My voice trembled slightly. Maybe because I was still a rookie, I got nervous in front of the team leader. Especially when he appeared suddenly from behind like this.
"Can you show me what you bought?"
Just then, a delivery driver entered the office. He was holding a black box with the foundation's logo on it. I received the item and opened the box, and a golden light shimmered from inside. The brooch was smaller than I thought, but it had a heavy presence.
I took the brooch out of the box and showed it to Cheon Seung-soo. His eyes twinkled.
"The Golden Branch Brooch. Is there a reason you bought this?"
Cheon Seung-soo's tone contained more than just simple curiosity. It felt like I was taking a test. I answered as calmly as possible.
"I thought it was the most optimal item I could buy in the current situation. I can endure physical trauma with painkillers, but I had no item to block mental corruption attacks."
When I finished speaking, a smile spread across Cheon Seung-soo's lips.
"Hmm... You must have learned a lot from the play incident? Usually, rookie employees don't even think about mental corruption."
His words contained a mix of praise and a little surprise. It had the nuance that it was a good judgment for a rookie.
"Yes, that's correct."
Cheon Seung-soo rummaged through some documents on his desk and spoke.
"It's a good thing, actually. The mission you'll be taking on this time is also related to mental corruption."
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
A ghost story related to mental corruption from the third day of my job? The nightmare from the theater hadn't even faded yet.
"Baek Jeong-woo, you were a college student before joining the foundation, right?"
Cheon Seung-soo's voice broke the silence in the office. A smile was still plastered on his face. But for some reason, that smile looked ominous.
"Yes, that's correct."
"Then have you heard of the Repeater Witch?"
The Repeater Witch.
There was no way I hadn't heard of it. I had spent a year at a cram school. It was one of the ghost stories that circulated in the academy world. Wasn't it just a simple urban legend that said she was a female student in a repeater's class who seduced male students and made them unable to study?
I used the effect of Sobriety to recall if there was a related ghost story in the gallery.
'Ah, there was one. Right.'
It was a ghost story written as a joke by a floater as a Manual Ghost Story, but I didn't expect it to become a reality.
I nodded and answered.
"Yes, I know it."
Cheon Seung-soo nodded. His expression became more serious. The air in the office grew heavier.
"The mission given to you this time is simple. Infiltrate the Ilseong Academy in Daechi-dong and capture the Repeater Witch."
Huh? Me?