Chapter 167 - Chapter 167

Chapter 167

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Translated by Jinmu

Read more at Nineheavens.org

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The agents' group chat that Ms. Go Yeong-eun showed me left such a huge shock and realization.

'No wonder Agent Choi easily sent me to work in the New Investigation Team.'

Was it because my transfer to Black Tortoise Team 1 was already confirmed?

Was Agent Bronze's consideration in sending me to Ms. Go Yeong-eun's team today also because today would be my last, and I was bound for the Dispatch Rescue Team...!

'It is unfair...'

No, if we only look at what was visible on the surface, wasn't the singularity created by Agent Grape just that he got infected because he threw a tantrum to stay one more day and looked after the kids?

That was why I was feeling relieved, but since a paranormal disaster that had barely managed regular rescues had been resolved, and I was the only variable, it seemed I stood out like a sore thumb.

And if the nickname of that variable was the 'Destruction King Rookie'... was it effectively game over for my image?

That was right!

'Ha.'

"......."

"Um... Mr. Sol-eum. Are you okay?"

I nodded.

But perhaps I did not look very well, as Ms. Go Yeong-eun had a slightly worried look in her eyes.

'It would be strange if I acted too much like this...'

Let's pull myself together before she catches on that I am a coward.

I tried to act calm somehow and opened my mouth in a calm tone, sounding slightly disappointed.

"The Dispatch Rescue Team is certainly a good team as well, but since I am someone who is better at paperwork than field work... I was a bit taken aback."

"......."

"Yeong-eun?"

"Um, well, yes..."

For some reason, it felt like Ms. Go Yeong-eun's gaze turned sour.

But in the very next moment, she began to comfort me, so it must have been my imagination.

"Um, looking at the bigger picture, it might actually be a good thing. After all, to each team, o...!"

...?

The employee in front of me stopped speaking unnaturally.

And she pressed the back of her hand.

The spot where Director Ho had placed a restriction.

"......!"

Someone was listening.

Someone was in this office, pretending to have left their seat while listening to the rookies' conversation.

I made eye contact with Ms. Go Yeong-eun.

'I must not panic.'

Yeong-eun was probably trying to say something like, "Since one was assigned to each team, the balance is good."

I naturally picked up the conversation.

"Yes. Every team has its strengths, so even if I end up going to the Dispatch Rescue Team like this... I will work hard."

"Yes. Let's do our best...!"

Fortunately, the conversation ended calmly.

We raised both hands toward each other and made a cheering pose like fresh rookies.

Afterward, the topic naturally shifted as Yeong-eun introduced the work of the 'New Investigation Team, White Tiger Team 2'.

'Whew.'

Later, we pretended to be as shocked as possible upon seeing an agent yawn and rise from under a desk in a corner of the office.

"A-Agent?"

"Ah, sorry. I was just going to close my eyes for a bit... Are you guys the rookies too? You two have already become close. Keep up the good work. Today is my day off... *yawn*."

"Yes. Thank you!"

And after casting a warm look at us, the agent left the office. I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

'There was nothing they could catch us on.'

It felt less like wiretapping and more like they were listening in out of curiosity and affection for the rookies, wondering if there was anything they could help with. Either way, it was true that we had to be more careful.

'...Director Ho's restriction did help in the end.'

Ms. Go Yeong-eun and I did not utter a single word regarding the topic and focused entirely on setting up the PC, and not long after, the agents returned from their field duty.

"We're back, Yeong-eun!"

"Team Leader."

I ended up greeting them while standing next to Ms. Go Yeong-eun.

The team leader of White Tiger Team 2 had a very jovial impression, and he laughed heartily upon seeing me.

"Ah, so this is the... well, rookie employee!"

"......."

Did he... just hesitate while trying to call me the Destruction King?

If these people were also in that group chat, it might have already become an irreversible nickname.

'Ha...'

I never thought I would say this, but I felt like it was less embarrassing when I was a supervisor at Daydream Co....

"You just returned from a rescue operation the day before yesterday. I heard you did a great job. Today, just hang around without any trouble, getting a feel of 'so this is what the White Tiger Team does,' and then go. Got it?"

"...Thank you."

I had almost ruined the character I had built up.

I hung my head low while pretending to be timid, suppressing the urge to make a crazy Gen Z-style response like I did back at Daydream Co....

"Now, now. You can work in the seat next to Agent Peppermint today!"

And I sat in the seat of some agent who was off-duty today and received a brief work briefing from Ms. Go Yeong-eun.

Whew.

"The work you will do today is investigating ghost stories... You won't be going out into the field, but it would be good to work on the PC and learn how to do paperwork afterward."

"Um, will Agent Peppermint be the one teaching me?"

"Yes. I have been taking on this kind of work quite often recently."

Go Yeong-eun seemed to hesitate slightly before adding.

"Well, after the agent who went to the mart with me... um, acted impulsively, they have been giving me mostly desk work."

Ah.

'Since the rookie almost died after suddenly getting dragged down, did they separate her from field work for now?'

Of course, since Ms. Go Yeong-eun was already a Daydream Co. veteran, she seemed to have quickly cut that agent out of her mind and recovered, though....

'Even here, they will probably put her back on field duty within a month.'

In any case, if she continued to handle paperwork like this, she might naturally gain access to the Paranormal Disaster Management Bureau's secret archives in Gangwon Province at least once.

'...I'm envious.'

I wanted to take that route.

'...No.'

It was not too late yet.

'I will make a proper appeal this time.'

Since it happened not to be field work, it was perfect.

I would show them exactly how capable I was at drafting documents related to ghost stories...!

Especially, that was.

The New Investigation Team's paperwork?

'That is about tracking down ghost stories and writing them up.'

It was work meant for me.

I smiled and sat in front of the PC.

"I will try."

Thus, the ghost story whose information I had to track during my working hours today was...

[Do you know about the red clothes at Exit 4?]

It was a ghost story originating from an internet post.

* * *

The modern internet was no different from an incubator for urban legends.

All kinds of wild rumors, gossip, and ghost stories ran rampant, and without the truth being properly distinguished, they spread from mouth to mouth—no, beyond words, and even beyond videos.

This was because people steered stories according to their own values.

In the direction that they thought was the most interesting, fun, and plausible.

And in the process of mutating and regenerating, a few among those stories ended up possessing tremendous vitality.

Even though they had clearly started as falsehoods.

For example...

Like this ghost story I was investigating now.

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[Do you know about the red clothes at Exit 4?]

Witness accounts of people seeing this next to subway station Exit 4 keep coming up lately.

(Photo)

Red clothes with the sleeves tied twice.

The condition is too clean to say it was thrown away, and the color is so eye-catching that it feels strange.

So there was a lot of talk about it being a sign for organ trafficking, possession by ghosts, or the work of a psycho...

But it's scary because it appears in too many places for that, and it feels like someone did it with a clear purpose.

I don't know what the intention is, but it gives off bad vibes, and testimonies of people feeling sick or having nightmares after seeing it are flooding in.

(Photo)

Anyone else seen it here?

------------------

This was the most famous version that first appeared two months ago.

A ghost story about discovering something suspicious and eye-catching at Exit 4 of a subway station.

It was a witness account combining the chill of encountering an everyday object in a bizarre way in an everyday space with the horror of imagination.

It was said that similar witness accounts flooded in as it spread to all kinds of internet communities and social media.

And now, two months later.

The urban legend became a horror.

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[Don't touch the red clothes at Exit 4]

Testimonies that it's bait for shamanic rituals keep coming up.

They say it seems like they're trying to make a ghost attach to whoever touches it.

-It was made red on purpose to lure people... Don't touch it.

-Even getting close might be dangerous. It seems like it's meant to make a ghost mistake that clothing for yours. People with weak energy might catch something bad just by looking at it closely.

-You just need to pass by pretending not to see it. Don't pay attention to it. Someone is in the clothes.

-The sleeves being tied twice... Ah, this feels bad. If that is the ritual I know, it's not a method used by a normal shaman...

-That's not something you should bring to a crowded place, what kind of curse are they trying to bring upon themselves by doing that?

-If you rip the clothes open, hair or paper money will definitely come out, but you know you're an idiot if you touch it to check, right? Haha.

This is just what I found and screenshotted.

And crucially...

Someone actually found hair and paper inside the clothes...

(Photo)

I don't know what it is, but the vibes are really too strange, everyone be careful.

------------------

And this was the comment with the most upvotes.

-They say the person who checked the clothes in that screenshot went out of contact...

└Really?

└Crazy

└It's true, they said they even sprinkled salt in their own way and did some kind of exorcism? But a proof post was uploaded showing the salt completely burnt, and there has been no news since.

└Ah ㅠㅠ

└F*ck, so scary haha

Even more chilling and eerie testimonies had been revealed.

And the comment sections and quotes everywhere turned into utter chaos.

-I heard an obituary was posted for the person who went out of contact, is this true?

-It's that thing, the Wetuber who picked up the red clothes uploaded a post asking for help, saying they were hospitalized and kept having nightmares.

-F*ck, so scary, f*ck, can't they find out who the hell is doing this?

-Shamans are also emerging saying it might not be a person leaving it there.

Reading up to this point, it truly felt like a real-life ghost story with a chilling twist.

A ghost story where red clothes were still being discovered all over subway entrances, and because there was no room for public authority to intervene, only those who knew about this fact continued to tremble in fear while watching victims emerge.

However, it did not subside.

Because it was currently ongoing.

-One more out of contact case added... I think we should report this.

-Red clothes found in places other than Seoul too (photo). Is this a copycat or the real thing?

And people who used to consume the horror stories on the internet as a bit of entertainment began to seek realistic methods, frightened by the strangeness and chill that hit closer to home.

-They say even if you report it to the police, they don't really do anything, since it's just clothes after all ㅠㅠ

And they say many among the police know what this really is and tend to avoid it, especially the older police officers.

└It seems there have been quite a few such cases since a long time ago, it's just that we didn't know.

Public discussion.

-Can't we report this to the news?

└I tried reporting it, but it just ended as an internet topic at the end of the morning news. Even though I said there were actual missing persons, they treat me like a jobless person making a fuss, haha ah haha.

And even more realistic witness accounts.

-I also talked to the station staff, but they said it's actually outside the exit so it's not under the station's jurisdiction. The day before yesterday, I saw them arguing and shouting at people (video).

-Someone was staring blankly at the red clothes and then collapsed. But nobody helped, so some elderly person supported them and called an ambulance. What if something happens to that elderly person too? I keep worrying...

-Stop taking pictures of the red clothes and posting them on the internet, I think it has an effect even indirectly.

And finally, this internet urban legend flowed all the way into the Disaster Management Bureau.

Of course, most of these internet ghost stories were merely stories created by a combination of coincidence, misunderstanding, and the 'desire to believe.'

It seemed the Disaster Management Bureau had also approached it that way initially.

The problem was...

An agent who witnessed the 'Red Clothes at Exit 4' attempted contact and sample collection.

Thereafter, they lost consciousness and fell into a coma for five days. Sleepwalking symptoms. Goblin fire reacted hostilely. After regaining consciousness, they repeatedly stated only, "I have to wear the red clothes."

Subsequently jumped.

They had ended up confirming that this ghost story was real.

Even all those rumors floating on the internet were exactly as they said.

It was the truth.

The agent was in a stable condition after a partial memory erasure procedure. Currently hospitalized and receiving treatment.

Currently discussing registering the 'Red Clothes at Exit 4' as a paranormal disaster. Seeking verification of more cases.

Thus, I, 'Agent Grape,' ended up taking on the role of collecting various stories about the red clothes at Exit 4 from the internet....

In effect, its registration was already a foregone conclusion, and they were simply telling me to pull more data from the internet to support the registration.

Although it might be a bit eerie and scary, compared to field work, it was merely at the difficulty level of reading ghost stories.

It was truly a relaxing task, meant for training rookies.

But...

'It would be a pity to stop there.'

Had I not clearly said so?

That I was better at paperwork.

And... organizing internet ghost stories into documents?

'This is truly my specialty.'

I will show them properly.

I grinned and placed my hands on the PC.