Chapter 66
Chapter 66
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Recruited into the Agency
-----------------------------------------------------------------
66.
A faint light seeped through my eyelids, and my eyes opened on their own.
It was dazzling.
“…Wh-where is this.”
Hansol lay on the bed.
The first thing that caught her gaze, carried on the rough metallic sound flowing from her throat,
was the pristine white tiles and LED lights.
She had no idea how long she had been lying here. Her body refused to respond.
Her body felt heavy.
Even twitching a single finger was an ordeal.
The only movement possible was rolling her eyes.
Twisting her head slightly, the only new visual information her eyes could capture
was a woman in a black suit looking down at her.
For a moment, it felt like she was gazing upon the Grim Reaper.
“You’ve regained consciousness.”
The woman stared straight down at Hansol.
“…”
Even though it was a face she had never seen before, it didn’t feel unfamiliar to Hansol.
Far from unfamiliar—it felt familiar first and foremost.
Perhaps because of the clothes the woman was wearing?
Lying on the bed, Hansol barely managed to move her heavy lips and forced out a metallic sound.
She put the word into her voice.
“…Y-you’re… from the Agency.”
In response to Hansol’s thin voice leaking out, the Agency woman replied in a calm tone.
“We found you collapsed in front of the Agency after you lost consciousness. The treatment is complete, so don’t worry.”
“…Thank you.”
The two exchanged brief words of gratitude.
The Agency woman took the lead in the conversation.
Her voice tone sank even lower.
“I know it’s not right to ask someone still bedridden this, but… could you tell me? Hansol, what did you see in there?”
“…”
This person.
She already knows.
That Hansol had entered a ghost story—and that she had survived it.
In that case.
No need to hide it.
Hiding it would be the weird thing.
She saw it as basic courtesy to those who had treated her.
So, Hansol uttered the first word that came to mind.
“…‘Black Flame.’”
“?!”
“I saw the Black Flame in there.”
Her explanation continued afterward.
The story of how one ghost story grabbed another ghost story and saved her, a human.
She even added that the power of that ghost story was overwhelmingly dominant.
She carefully recounted everything she remembered to the Agency woman.
And the Agency side’s reaction to hearing it all
was a pale complexion,
with a gray shadow slowly descending over the woman’s face.
From her drunken-looking pallor and the Agency member’s equally darkened face,
an air of restlessness began to show.
She muttered softly.
“…I need to report to the higher-ups… quickly…”
To her, who looked ready to leave at any moment, Hansol squeezed out her voice as much as possible.
And spat it out.
“Hey!”
At Hansol’s voice, the woman’s attention focused for a moment.
Hansol didn’t miss this opportunity.
She squeezed out even more voice.
She put strength into her eyes.
“Could I… maybe work for the Agency too?”
“…Pardon?”
It was a sudden request.
The woman’s face was filled with embarrassment at Hansol’s abrupt plea.
The woman shut her mouth.
“Ah, that’s…”
This wasn’t something she, not even at section chief level, could decide alone.
Thud-
But at that moment.
Along with the sound of footsteps approaching the two,
“Her name is Hansol, right?”
A thick voice rang out.
As a sturdy-built man appeared before them, asserting his presence,
the first to react was the female employee.
“Ch-Choi Section Chief! What brings you here?”
“What do you think? I came to confirm something confidential with Hansol. Go back and handle your backlog. If you want to leave on time today.”
“Yes, sir! Got it!”
Leaving the female employee scurrying away the moment Choi Section Chief finished speaking,
for a moment, only silence lingered in the space.
And the one to break that silence first
was Choi Section Chief.
“…You said you want to work for the Agency?”
Did he hear my story?
If so.
What Hansol needed to say here was simple.
“Yes, definitely with the Agency…”
“Understood. I’ll pass this along to the higher-ups.”
“…”
Approval… granted.
The matter concluded in an instant.
The conversation ended so abruptly that an odd silence floated in the air for a while.
But Choi Section Chief smiled with genuine kindness and continued nonchalantly.
“We were planning to propose it first, but it seems our minds are aligned.”
His face brimmed with the impression of a good person.
That’s why.
She wanted to ask even more.
The conversation was flowing too smoothly, strangely so.
Anyone could see he was openly showing another intention.
“…It’s not for the one who brought it up first to say this, but… may I ask the reason?”
At Hansol’s words, no change appeared on Choi Section Chief’s expression.
He simply voiced his thoughts accordingly, silently.
“…I can’t tell you everything, but for now, I can only say it’s related to the ‘Black Flame’ you witnessed.”
“…”
Hansol heard the answer
and closed her mouth.
It seemed the Agency’s reason for pulling her in was deeply tied to this Black Flame guy.
But.
This was exactly what Hansol wanted.
The Black Flame had uttered the name ‘Park Yeon-jeong’ from its own mouth back then.
Hearing that name mentioned from its lips
sounded like Park Yeon-jeong was highly likely captured by that Black Flame ghost story too.
It was the story that her lifesaver was in danger.
‘…This time, I’ll definitely repay that favor. Yeon-jeong.’
And this was also for Hansol’s own revenge.
That vile being that had used her as a meat shield.
A monster of utmost evil that treated humans as mere tools—its very existence was a scourge.
‘I’ll definitely come rescue you.’
While harboring that deep resolve inwardly,
Choi Section Chief, having wrapped up the talk with Hansol, moved first.
“If luck is on our side, I hope we meet again as coworkers.”
He offered a brief farewell.
With those short words, he leisurely exited the hospital room.
Click-
The door closed.
A quiet silence arrived.
The face of the man who had worn a smile in front of Hansol until now was covered entirely in the black shadow born from the backlight.
From that darkness, a low murmur flowed.
“…You again.”
Bzzz-
Along with the smartphone vibration from his pants pocket,
Choi Section Chief held the phone to his ear.
“Confirmed. This time too, it was that ‘Black Flame Man.’”
-………We can no longer afford to delay……
Ending with the woman’s voice from the speaker, Choi Section Chief followed the established reporting procedure.
“Then… as of now, we designate the ‘Black Flame Man’ as top ‘S-Rank.’”
==========
/Ghost Story Log
[Black Flame Man]
:Identification Code Cd-S-███
==========
*****
……Thud!
!
I opened my eyes with the tremor running through my body.
My body felt… lighter than expected.
The word refreshing fit perfectly.
As I raised my upper body and my gaze fell on the surroundings,
Splash-!
Water sound?
I was currently aboard a ferry made of dark wood.
All alone, forlornly.
Moreover, judging by how my two legs, sent flying toward the smiling mask, were perfectly reattached,
this was.
Probably…
Yeah, that’s it, right?
Samdocheon.
I… died.
This time, I definitely died.
No room for other excuses—this time, I was surely dead.
And before losing consciousness.
My last memory was vomiting a large amount of blood and the noise grazing my ears.
My ears still felt numb, like an illusion.
Still, I clearly remember Noise’s final voice after that.
-Memos are mandatory, you know! Employee Park Yeon-jeong.
No idea what to memo, but… anyway, that’s how it went.
Goodbye, Mr. Noise.
The memories we built together… I won’t forget them.
Whether in
a good way
or bad.
Anyway, let’s not get involved in the next life.
……Absolutely.
Splash-.
On the ferry rocked by gentle waves, my gaze turned to the surroundings again.
An endless lake and the thick mist blanketing it.
The scene exuded an atmosphere of a truly mystical place. If it were a tourist spot, it would surely draw crowds.
Well, the entry condition is ‘you have to die to get here.’
Splash-!
Soon after, what looked like a shore entered my sight.
The ferry slowly headed toward that shore.
Thump-
With a small jolt,
it stopped there.
The ferry refused to move further, as if declaring this was truly the destination.
But…
‘Should I really get off?’
A natural doubt.
A slight unease crept in.
Even as a ‘spirit’ who had bid farewell to the living world, the fear from the unknown never changed.
I stared blankly at the lush grassy field for a while.
Rustle-
?
In a space where no people should exist, the sound of footsteps trampling grass tickled my eardrums.
Rustle-
And that sound.
Was way too close.
The footsteps were approaching.
Someone was coming toward Park Yeon-jeong himself. In normal times, I’d have bolted in terror, but.
I…… waited.
It just felt instinctive, like my body was telling me to.
-Wait for those footsteps.
-Welcome the one coming to find you.
As if saying that.
My body was too heavy.
I couldn’t take even a single step.
Rustle-
The footsteps stopped.
And the one revealing itself before my eyes
was a truly unexpected existence.
Standing there was a small child.
A slender girl child draped in a red robe stood in the grassy field.
The robe’s length trailed to her ankles, half-covering her face.
Between the red robe peeked dirty skin and brown hair as the second thing to catch my eye.
The mysterious girl with large eyes silently staring blankly at me on the ferry
……smiled.
Not anyone else.
Toward me on the ferry.
From her pale white skin stretched a cold smile that could never come from a child, directed at Park Yeon-jeong.
“You’re alone too?”
“…”
The chill flowing from her mouth quickly seeped into the ground.
Because of that chill, the grass on the ground froze.
I shut my mouth.
Somehow, it felt like I had to.
With my firmly closed mouth and no reply coming,
Rustle-
The red-robed child came even closer to me and grabbed my left wrist without hesitation.
And once more, a faint smile spread on her lips, captured in my sight.
“Let’s go.”
“Ah, no, I…”
The girl’s pull on my left arm wasn’t that strong.
I could shake it off easily.
I could shake it off right now.
But.
My body followed her all too naturally.
As if my body was whispering to follow the girl.
All my senses told me to follow the girl before my eyes.
And we ran across that vast grassy field for a while.
Endlessly.
Without end.
Deeper into the space blanketed in thick fog.
And when the child’s plump lips parted once more,
she asked my name.
“What’s your name?”
“…My, my name is.”
To the child asking my name, I said this.
“‘▓▓▓▓▓’.”
What did I say?
I don’t remember at all.
What did I say?
It just instinctively felt like I had to utter this name.
Not any other name.
The name ‘▓▓▓▓▓’.
Hearing my name,
the child shared hers with me too.
This time, her voice carried not chill,
but a warm heat emanating from it.
That voice was truly……
warm.
“My name is ‘Eve.’”
The voice of the child introducing herself as Eve held a very faint smile.
And we endlessly hid our bodies in the thick fog.
Before long,
the increasingly dense fog first swallowed the child before my eyes.
My consciousness cut off there too.
It wasn’t unpleasant.
Far from unpleasant, it felt like gently drifting into an even deeper sleep once more.
And so I
closed my eyes again.
“See you again. ▓▓▓▓▓.”