Chapter 152

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The start of the fucking disaster dates back to when I went to work in the Site Cleanup Team.

Even up to this point, everything was smooth.

“Now, now, share greetings. This side is our rookie, Agent Hwagak.”

A good-natured, scholar-like middle-aged female boss introduced me and Jang Heo-un, and we shared conversations and exchanged agent names as if it were our first time.

“U-um, I am called Grape…. N-nice to meet you….”

“…?! *cough*, *wheeze*, yes….”

Although a situation occurred where Mr. Jang Heo-un choked for some reason, it passed safely, and everyone shared greetings with a smile.

The team leader of the Site Cleanup Team, Vermilion Bird Team 2, chatted with Agent Bronze, and having probably heard from that side that my desired choice was his team, I could implicitly hear related conversations.

“Haha, our kid is also still a rookie, so it would be nice if a similar-aged peer came to the team.”

“Yes. I look forward to working with you.”

Thank you, Agent Bronze…!

Hiding my desire to beam with a grin, I pulled my shoulders in, pretending to be nervous. Mr. Jang Heo-un looked at me and quickly managed his gaze.

“Now, the place to enter today… yes, it isn’t difficult, so it seems perfect for the two rookies to enter.”

The team leader smiled and patted the shoulders of both of us.

“It’s coincidentally a ghost story where Agent Choi from Black Tortoise Team 1 just rescued civilians. Ah, Black Tortoise Team 1 is Agent Bronze’s affiliation, you’ve heard of it, right?”

“Yes…!”

I almost got forced to buy an affiliation, unable to bear listening….

At any rate, the Vermilion Bird Team 2 leader gave us a clean briefing about the paranormal disaster we would enter today.

And even safety defense measures.

“If you think you absolutely can’t do it, tell me. Because Agent Grape’s senior is waiting outside.”

“Thank you…!”

But such a thing would not happen.

I will surely finish the Site Cleanup Team’s dispatch duty perfectly and show perfect paperwork organization too…!

Moreover.

‘Because this is a familiar ghost story.’

No, it was a ghost story that was beyond familiar, even slightly friendly. To the point where it wouldn’t matter whether the GripTok was restored or not.

‘Because I watched people fight all night over how to end this ghost story’s exploration record.’

And I remembered it well because the ghost story was concluded in the way I thought was reasonable, and I had gone to work using dopamine as raw material the next day.

Of course, it was a ghost story of the style I was most afraid of.

But the ghost story-like things were already all over!

In terms of cleaning up, it could be seen as similar to the taxi last time, but it was much better in that a supernatural existence would not pop out. It was literally site cleanup…!

“I feel comfortable when I wear this clothing.”

Wearing the white hazmat-suit-like agent uniform distributed for cleanup, Jang Heo-un spoke in a bright voice.

“It really is so…!”

Because it covered me from head to toe, it gave a sense of psychological stability.

When I replied with a bright smile, for some reason, Mr. Jang Heo-un’s expression became ambiguous. Did I act too friendly….

“Now, let’s have Agent Hwagak do the site briefing once more.”

“Yes!”

Following the team leader’s instruction to encourage him, Mr. Jang Heo-un spoke to me quite briskly.

“The paranormal disaster we have to clean up today is located in Dobong-gu, and the estimated time required to complete the site cleanup is 3 hours. And its characteristics are these….”

A clear description follows.

“A phone booth that tells scary stories.”

* * *

A neighborhood in Seoul where the sun was setting darkly. It was standing desolately on a secluded roadside.

A worn-out phone booth.

That thing, which was hard to see in Korea now, had its ceiling finished in sky blue.

Its exterior was a typical phone booth manufactured in the 1980s, looking worn-out outwardly, but when attempting a call, it connected normally.

On the wall surface, a few old telephone number advertisement stickers were stuck haphazardly as if attached long ago.

Most of the advertisement stickers attached next to the telephone were businesses that did not operate currently.

However, among them, when calling the number of the 12cm x 7cm size advertisement sticker finished in deep red and yellow, ‘We Tell Scary Stories’, it tells a scary story related to a phone booth.

(The corresponding number is 13 digits, and when attempting a call with another device from outside the booth, it does not connect)

The booth user testified that upon witnessing the corresponding sticker, they felt a strong impulse to try calling.

The paranormal disaster occurs from there.

And the corresponding scary story actually happens inside the booth.

This afternoon, the Dispatch Rescue Team rescued the civilians caught up in the ghost story in that phone booth.

And so, we just need to clean up the eerie ‘site’ swept by that ghost story….

The current situation was,

The inside of the booth was filled with bright red blood, which had burst out and flooded outside.

“…….”

“…….”

Wow.

‘I want to run away.’

But if I fail, it is a resignation recommendation.

I swallowed my saliva.

“Let’s go in.”

“Y-yes….”

Mr. Jang Heo-un, who was similarly weak to blood, had a face that looked like he would faint, but similarly being a spy, he could not back down.

So the two of us approached the phone booth creakingly.

The telephone receiver was dangling by its cord and dropped on the floor, and it seemed blood had poured out from there….

“I will take, pictures….”

“A-ah… yes!”

I raised the camera and zoomed in with the phone booth in the center.

‘…Something is floating on top of the blood.’

It was internal organs.

I got goosebumps.

‘Please, really.’

L-let’s think. Since the civilians were well rescued, that is no different from a model. Yes, if I just think I entered a haunted house…

‘A haunted house is also scary!’

At any rate, endure it!

Scolding myself, I barely set down the camera that had finished continuous shooting. Next to me, Mr. Jang Heo-un approached the booth with stiff steps, opened the door, and put in the ‘cleaning machine’.

Misfortune Swallower

A dedicated Site Cleanup Team equipment shaped like an industrial vacuum cleaner went in and stably sucked in the blood.

However, due to the limitation of the inlet size, we had to directly retrieve ‘something larger than that’.

“…….”

“Will you, be okay?”

“Y-yes… because, I am covering my whole body….”

Directly touching it without a screen is indeed the worst chore.

Fortunately, together with Mr. Jang Heo-un who did not faint, I entered inside the booth and began cleaning.

What a fuck….

Suppressing my curses, I grabbed the entrails and round organs and put them in the dedicated recovery bin.

Because it was a situation without a threat to my life, the dread was fully and quietly savored in its complete version with a sober mind.

I can’t endure this more…!

‘Save me.’

Physiologically, I came to tightly close my eyes several times.

Mr. Jang Heo-un, who was watching that state, admired even with a pale face.

“Excuse me, you are acting, no, you look exactly like a rookie…!”

“…….”

“Ah, I-I mean it in a good way.”

“…Thank you.”

I am not acting….

Suppressing words I could not say, I quickly and mechanically continued cleaning. Ugh.

Fortunately, the blood inside the booth drained easily.

And whether thanks to the efficacy of the hazmat-suit-like uniform we were wearing, the work proceeded briskly and more calmly than I had thought when I first saw the state of this crazy booth.

‘Let’s not look too closely.’

Trying hard not to recall that I had to count how many organs there were when it was all finished, I cleanly organized the ghost-story-style filth inside the booth.

Next to this, spray the purifying agent…

Next……

“Yes?”

“Pardon?”

“Just now, you said let’s do what next….”

Ah. Did I voice my thoughts because I was too tense……

The next scary…….

“…….”

“…….”

We slowly turned our heads.

As the vacuum cleaner sucked in the blood, the head of the telephone that had been submerged in the blood was revealed.

The blood clinging to it was also dropping onto the floor. Drip. Drip.

It reveals.

A clean speaker.

[To hear the next scary story, please press 4.]

Thump.

The booth closed.

“…!!”

[To hear the next scary story, please press 4.]

We reflexively moved away from the telephone.

From the telephone, the whirring mechanical noise unique to a recorded voice playing automatically is heard.

“The telephone, hasn’t disconnected yet…!”

Beep.

A short electronic sound.

…One of the telephone number buttons on the body of the public telephone is pressed on its own.

The first button of the second row.

4.

Ring ring ring ring!

[I will tell you the next scary story….]

I ran toward the telephone.

And reflexively, as if crazy, pressing the pound button, I shouted into the receiver.

“Right now is March 7, 202X. There is no way a public phone box exists in Dobong-gu. It is truly a scary thing, isn’t it?”

[]

“I have already heard the next scary story!”

The call stopped.

‘Now…!’

“Agent, this!!”

Almost calling Jang Heo-un by his real name, I grabbed the public telephone body itself with both hands and lifted it into the air.

“…?! W-what,”

“Get out of the way!”

And I threw it entirely toward the glass booth door.

“…!!”

Crash, shatter!!

The booth door is smashed, and the public telephone rolls onto the sidewalk. And each time it rolls a turn, it gradually breaks, making sounds mixed with bizarre recorded screams, button sounds, and connection tones…

And it disappeared, leaving only black ashes.

“…*pant*.”

“*gasp*, *pant*….”

Jang Heo-un and I slumped down.

Before we knew it, the glass booth we had entered also disappeared. The surroundings were wide open, and the bin where we had gathered the organs submerged in blood was also cleanly empty.

Only the loud sound of the vacuum cleaner inhaling the empty space was heard….

‘Phew….’

Haunted public phone booth… demolition complete.

‘That was terrifying.’

I almost suffered a terrible fate.

I was just glad the ending method of this ghost story was not that difficult.

‘If I cause a contradiction by letting it know that I am already experiencing a ghost story related to a public phone, and then rip out the telephone body and throw it outside…’

Because the ‘scary story’ has efficacy only inside the booth, it naturally disappears.

It was a paranormal disaster conclusion method that made the ghost story devour itself.

‘Personally, it was a method I liked, so to be able to use it like this is amazing….’

“Agent Grape!!”

I also hear the sound of the senior agent who was waiting running toward us.

They must have been surprised that the phone booth suddenly disappeared. Yes, Agent Bronze, I successfully escaped….

“…….”

No, wait a minute.

The senior agent was waiting outside anyway.

‘Then, wasn’t it fine even if I just stayed still…?’

And also.

‘Instead of cleaning the site, I completely… erased the site?’

I raised my head.

Agent Bronze, who had run from outside, was looking over here with a dumbfounded expression.

“…….”

“…….”

“Just now… did you smash the phone booth.”

Ah.

* * *

“Hahahahaha!!”

“…….”

“Not cleanup but destruction! Destruction King rookie! Agent Grape!”

Agent Choi, who was laughing like crazy, gave a thumbs-up.

“Yes! The conclusion of a paranormal disaster is indeed true cleanup! Well done, junior!”

I want to smack him just once.

‘Ha.’

Suppressing my right hand that tried to give a thumbs-up on its own, I held back a deep sigh and irritation.

…I remember the voice of the displeased Vermilion Bird Team 2 leader who conversed with Agent Bronze after I smashed the phone booth….

-It is indeed amazing, but… well, it could have been dangerous. I think it would be better if a more calm-tempered agent came to our team.

-…….

Naturally, even if my mouth were torn, I could not say ‘Because I already saw the solution in the Records of the Dark Exploration, it was completely safe’….

In the end, my action was accepted as a timid rookie making a bold and somewhat dangerous decision through intuition and inspiration in a state of slight distraction.

And as a situation where that fortunately worked!

Of course, concluding the paranormal disaster itself was an astonishing achievement, so the ability itself seemed to be recognized, but….

……The evaluation conclusively came out like this.

-Yes, Agent Bronze’s team is perfect for that rookie agent! Dispatch Rescue Team!

*whimper*.

…I saw Mr. Jang Heo-un, though looking anxious from behind, change to an expression of ‘Yes, Supervisor Roe Deer’s aptitude is indeed in another place rather than here’. I truly thought I was going out of my mind.

‘…Still, I could have done the paperwork well!’

Because the site completely vanished, there was nothing to clean up.

And as the ghost story was treated as concluded, I… became the object of paperwork rather than the organizer of paperwork.

…Just now, I also had my testimony collected for data gathering……. By the Vermilion Bird Team 2 leader….

“…….”

“*cough*, still, you got to know the rookie of that team a bit. Having someone you know in another team makes it comfortable. It’s also good to ask for light favors.”

So why am I meeting Agent Choi right now.

“Oops! Sorry. Your team wasn’t decided yet. I was hasty~ …Still, because you are working in our team today.”

Yes. Because my next duty was determined right away.

…As a rookie agent, I am currently experiencing the duties of various affiliations without division for 3 weeks.

What that meant was….

“Welcome back to Black Tortoise Team 1!”

I could also do the Dispatch Rescue Team mission again.

And because of the thing I had committed, the talk of trying to make me do the Dispatch Rescue Team mission just once more seemed to have come out very persuasively from the human resources department.

‘Agent Bronze….’

It seems he tried hard to block it, but because it was work a rookie agent naturally had to do, it was not enough….

“Ayy~ Some junior must be happy. Working in the team that perfectly fits their aptitude today~”

“…….”

Agent Choi in front of me rubs his palms while beaming.

“Today, junior~ will try a very rewarding 3-person regular rescue mission!”

Save me.