Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work (Novel) - Chapter 97
Chapter 97
===================
Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
===================
When I found the shoes in the entryway, I initially thought that this bastard Baek Sa-heon had finally returned from work to the company housing.
‘Did he gather courage after a few days?’
Or perhaps he entered quickly after getting wind of a rumor that I wasn’t returning from the ghost story today.
‘But I just got off work now.’
So I was just pondering how to deal with the guy who would be in the room right now.
-My, Mr. Roe Deer. Hearing your story, it seems there is a slight misunderstanding!
Misunderstanding?
-Those shoes have always been in the exact same spot every evening, my friend.
“……!”
What?
No. Surely there was nothing in this entryway even when I went out on the first day…
‘…Wait a minute.’
I suddenly recalled the last time I had seen Baek Sa-heon.
Segwang Technical High School.
The way he caused confusion between the confronting Disaster Management Bureau and the Field Exploration Team, and ran away holding an item.
And the effect of the fountain pen-shaped item he was holding was…
‘Brainwashing.’
“…….”
I looked down at my hand.
The silver ring.
The mental defense item I purchased today.
‘…Ah.’
Was that it.
Baek Sa-heon hadn’t been going out before me and coming in later, or commuting from a completely different place all this time.
He had kept returning home to the company housing.
It was just that he had placed a suggestion on me.
So that I would not recognize him.
‘But it doesn’t work on me now.’
Thanks to the silver ring protecting my mind, I had ‘witnessed’ Baek Sa-heon’s shoes for the first time in several days.
“…Ha.”
Unbelievable.
Even though my body was in bad shape and I was exhausted to death, to think I had to care about this kind of thing at home…
-Ah, it was a deduction that fit perfectly and pleasantly like a puzzle!
-However… isn’t it a traditional and instructive plot that those who try to deceive someone pay a price?
A sinister joy dwelled in Brown’s voice.
Normally I would have been startled, but…
Mmh.
‘Brown.’
-Why is that, my friend?
‘I’m thinking of doing something fun from now on, what do you think?’
I grinned despite my aching head.
‘It will be to your liking.’
-…!!
* * *
‘Whew.’
As soon as the noise in the entryway subsided, Baek Sa-heon cautiously sat up from the bed.
‘What on earth was that bastard doing, not entering his room quickly.’
It had already been several days since leaving Segwang Technical High School. He was living a highly secluded life in the company housing as quietly as possible.
In order not to get caught by Kim Sol-eum!
‘…In the beginning, I just used it thinking I was fucked.’
Think about a situation where the moment you open your eyes in the morning, a psychopath is waiting with a grudge against you in the next room!
Out of fear that he might suffer some consequence if he faced Kim Sol-eum, he had made it so that Sol-eum could not perceive his traces or presence.
‘It really was a decent item.’
Because that psychopath hadn’t noticed at all!
Even so, fearing that the suggestion might break, he desperately avoided Sol-eum inside the company housing, and did not make unnecessary noises even inside his room.
He had also thought about placing a stronger brainwashing or suggestion, but couldn’t do it out of fear of the outcome if he failed…
Even so.
‘…Isn’t it about time I could place something a bit stronger?’
The suggestion had been successfully maintained for several days. Thoughts that it might be alright to take a gamble were stealthily rising.
Say, making Sol-eum throw his body to save him at the company in case of emergency. Or making him hand over a good item he obtained, and hallucinating that he lost it…
‘Hmm.’
Furthermore, from what he heard, the Dark that Kim Sol-eum entered this time was an alley where one could obtain various equipment and items.
It was news heard from Jang Heo-un of the same group.
‘…I’m envious.’
Baek Sa-heon clenched his fist briefly, recalling his colleague who was from the cleanup team that joined his group.
He also needed opportunities to obtain items. More opportunities…!
He felt like he could gently embezzle items from company colleagues by placing suggestions on those bastards, but…
‘I can’t do that right now!’
The fountain pen could only place a suggestion on one person at a time. Since it was entirely used on Kim Sol-eum, using it on others was far out of reach.
He was getting restless.
‘As expected, I need to rip off something more from Kim Sol-eum.’
Right now was precisely that timing.
‘Let’s make a plan.’
First, once Kim Sol-eum fell asleep today, by using the fountain pen…
He drawing pictures in his head, he opened the door to drink water.
And he was startled out of his wits.
“…!”
Kim Sol-eum was in the dark kitchen.
He sat at the dining table, laying out some unknown snacks and looking closely at the wrappers.
And in the center of the table was a fluffy stuffed doll placed on a cushion.
That creepy rabbit-shaped doll that Kim Sol-eum called ‘Brown’ and carried around every time.
“What? It looks cheap?”
*Flinch.*
“Right. To some extent, it must be a snack with that kind of concept. Since it was a stationery store.”
‘That crazy bastard.’
He was conversing with the doll again.
‘Why is he still out here doing that bullshit instead of going to his room quickly…!’
Baek Sa-heon shuddered and tried to enter his room again, but… stopped.
Wouldn’t encountering him naturally actually be an opportunity?
Without having to try separately, it seemed to be the perfect timing to reinforce the suggestion.
“…….”
Baek Sa-heon made up his mind and pulled out the fountain pen.
And he moved his feet quietly.
“Right. But even these items have their own effects.”
Toward Kim Sol-eum’s back.
Going right behind that psychopath who was talking alone, the fountain pen…
“Just like the fountain pen of my roommate passing behind me right now.”
“…….”
Ah.
Baek Sa-heon froze as if his blood ran cold.
“Brown, you know what? I’m telling you my roommate tried to brainwash and manipulate me.”
“…….”
“Right. Even though I brought a gift to pay back my debt…”
Kim Sol-eum slowly continued speaking.
Because he felt like he would spit blood again if he spoke quickly, but with the blood scent added to his voice lowered by burning pain and fatigue…
All of it sounded more threatening and significant.
“Isn’t it bad manners?”
Kim Sol-eum set the snack down on the table and turned his head.
“And shouldn’t a person with no manners… lack the qualification to be a roommate.”
“…!!”
Their eyes met.
‘Fuck, fuck, fuck…!’
I’m caught.
How did he know? No, that wasn’t important right now. He was caught. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely!
“I-I will leave!”
Baek Sa-heon shouted in a trembling voice without even processing it in his brain.
“Supervisor! You are right that I have no qualification! I will leave immediately! I will leave right now and never come back!”
Kim Sol-eum frowned.
“My head is ringing. Don’t you know etiquette? Why are you shouting in a shared house in the middle of the night.”
Fuck…!
Baek Sa-heon cursed in his mind while resenting himself for automatically shutting his mouth.
“Brown.”
In the midst of that, Kim Sol-eum was talking to the rabbit doll again.
“He is loud, but hearing him speak to that extent… even if he has no qualification to live here, I think we should give him one chance.”
What?!
“I don’t need…”
“You don’t need it?”
Kim Sol-eum whipped his head around.
“You don’t need a chance to live here?”
“…….”
Why did that sound like ‘you don’t need a chance to survive here’…?
Baek Sa-heon swallowed his saliva and replied.
“I need it.”
“Right?”
“Yes…”
“Good. Then hand over the item.”
“……!”
“The fountain pen you used. The item that places a suggestion exactly as written on a post-it note.”
“…….”
“Since you might do something strange again, I should store it somewhere else for a while.”
How on earth does he know that.
Baek Sa-heon clenched his teeth despite the terror rising along the back of his neck.
“I can’t… give it.”
“…….”
“Th-think about it, Supervisor. Honestly, what I did didn’t cause you any trouble, did it?”
He spoke urgently and desperately.
“It is a necessary item. I absolutely cannot give it to anyone. I won’t use it on you again, Supervisor, so please…”
“Hmm.”
Kim Sol-eum retorted expressionlessly.
“Why do you think I would believe those words?”
“…!”
“Just… reflect on yourself.”
Kim Sol-eum pointed at Baek Sa-heon.
“I told you the confirmed entry method to that Segwang Technical High School where you obtained the item, and I didn’t even get angry when you tried to kill me inside…”
It was a plain fact.
“But what returned is brainwashing? I have no reason to trust you.”
“…….”
That, that was…
Might be… true.
The supervisor before him might be a crazy bastard, but he was highly competent, and turning against him to this extent… might rather be me doing something crazy.
‘What is it? What is it?’
Did I make the wrong choice?
Baek Sa-heon’s mind spun rapidly, and faint guilt, self-deprecation, and intense fear clashed fiercely under the name of rationality…
And at that moment.
“But since it is indeed an item you secured, well… shall I offer a reward.”
Uh?
Kim Sol-eum pulled out something he had placed on the kitchen table chair.
That object, packaged transparently, was…
“It’s a left eye.”
What the fuck!!
Baek Sa-heon held back a scream upon seeing the black circle whose violet iris moved here and there.
However…
“This is not just an eye. It’s biological equipment.”
“…!”
“What kind of ability it has…”
Kim Sol-eum explained the ‘eye’s’ ability.
As the subsequent words followed, Baek Sa-heon’s expression gradually changed.
“…….”
“Do you need it?”
Baek Sa-heon clenched his teeth.
Even though he could hardly believe it.
“…Yes.”
He voluntarily handed over the fountain pen.
And with hands trembling with expectation and confusion, he received the biological equipment extended by Kim Sol-eum.
* * *
Whew.
I broke out in cold sweat.
Having finally finished the conversation with Baek Sa-heon, I sat on my room’s bed while suffering from a headache and spitting blood.
It was a miracle that I endured it without showing I was in pain.
‘I didn’t lose my momentum, right?’
Wow, I almost flinched when he rolled his eyes back and rushed at me in the middle. I also had a reality check on why I had to do this when my body was in pain…
But I had to address it properly right now.
I could not leave a sociopath possessing a brainwashing item around me when I would be sick for three days.
‘I think I used the carrot and stick well.’
I recalled the purple eye that had left my hand.
It was an object attached with functions that were not threatening to me, but would be helpful to Baek Sa-heon.
Well, it happened to be a left eye, so that side could use it without having to extract their own.
Anyway, to think I was roommates with that guy of all people… no, thinking about it, Ms. Go Yeong-eun and Mr. Jang Heo-un were special cases, and Baek Sa-heon might just have the company’s average personality.
There were so many sociopaths in this neighborhood that you could trip over them!
‘The more I think about this, the more depressing it gets, so let’s just think about good things…’
For example… something like the upcoming gift presentation.
“Brown.”
I sat up and pulled out the item I had kept safely stored inside my tattoo.
None other than the ribbon hair tie I had purchased boldly in place of change at the boutique.
“It’s a gift.”
-…!
“Are you okay with this? Actually, I thought you might have guessed it beforehand.”
If it didn’t match his aesthetic view, I might have to find another offering while sweating profusely…
But what came from Brown was a happy voice.
-Ah, it was indeed a situation where circumstantial evidence was too clear!
-If I hadn’t guessed it, that would also be unacceptable as a show host… but showing that I noticed everything is also something an entertainer shouldn’t do.
-Well then, this cotton-filled body can finally tidy up its appearance.
It was a tone that trembled slightly with anticipation, which was rare.
‘Thank goodness.’
I smiled, adjusted the hair tie pulled out of the envelope properly, and tied it quite stylishly on the fluffy rabbit doll.
“Thank you for everything so far, Brown.”
The rabbit’s round, button-like eyes stared into space, then returned the cheerful host’s response the moment I turned my gaze away.
-I only did what was natural as a friend, Mr. Roe Deer.
Perhaps that ribbon hair tie had no effect other than looking very luxurious and plausible.
However, joy overflowed from Brown’s voice as he wore the bow tie around his neck.
-Isn’t a tidy appearance also a necessary refinement for someone who stands before an audience?
Brown accepted very gladly and joyfully my fixing of the bow tie, searching for the exact angle several times.
But at the same time, he also urged me to sleep.
-Mr. Roe Deer, maintaining condition is the basic quality of a professional. Since rest is also important, it would be best to head quickly to dreamland today!
“Yeah.”
Presenting a gift to my good friend. This much is still worthwhile among the things that happened today…
Originally, I would read the wiki one more time, but neither I in pain nor the broken smartphone seemed to have the energy for that.
‘Tomorrow when the day breaks, I’ll buy a new phone or get it repaired…’
As long as the Memorial GripTok was intact anyway, swapping the phone would not interfere at all with viewing the wiki.
I lay down comfortably on the bed.
And first, separating the GripTok from the broken smartphone…
“…….”
-My friend?
I hurriedly flipped the smartphone over.
The GripTok was cracked.