Bailonz Street 13-Chapter 197.2

I realized it.

“Don’t make such a fuss in the village.”

“That’s right. Sheesh, what are you all doing in the middle of the night? The bathwater here is excellent, why not take a nice warm bath and get some rest?”

“Couldn’t sleep? Maybe you haven’t eaten enough.”

Now I understood why Agent Choi said that if you think you’ve been spotted by the villagers, you need to hide immediately or subdue them and stash them in the abandoned house.

The treatment had changed.

“Here’s some food~”

After our meeting at the well was discovered…

The ever-friendly villagers led us back to the tile-roofed house.

And instead of the small, cramped room where we had originally been staying, they moved us to a luxurious, spacious room with sliding paper doors.

Nobody outwardly agreed on it, they just did it naturally.

Then they encouraged us to bathe and brought out more festival food and drinks.

“Drink up, it’s medicinal wine.”

“These are herbs, wild greens, and ginseng from the mountain! Very nutritious and good for your eyes~”

Just like the ones who had flocked to the troublesome guest who threw the cucumber on the ground.

Baek Saheon was nowhere to be seen.

The villagers had led him somewhere.

“……”

Feeling a chill, Agent Bronze and I exchanged glances.

Had those who found the hidden Bureau instructions and sent a rescue request felt the same sense of unease?

The villagers set the food down and left the room, leaving just the two of us, but I could still sense people lingering outside the door for a moment.

And then, they were gone.

“……”

Agent Bronze approached the door and pressed his ear against it.

He waited until he was sure there was no sound, and then, very carefully, reached to open the door just a crack to check outside…

Wait.

I grabbed Agent Bronze’s shoulder, stopping his movement.

Then I rummaged through the table and picked up a flat candle used for warming food.

I held it up close to the sliding paper door.

Shadows of people pressed right up against the other side of the door.

“…!”

They were eavesdropping.

They hadn’t left and disappeared after all.

‘Shit.’

A shiver ran up my neck.

I quickly put the candle back down as naturally as I could and instead tipped a bit of water from my glass, wetting my fingers to switch to writing notes.

– Is it impossible to just put everyone here to sleep and quietly slip out?

– It would be difficult.

Agent Bronze answered quickly.

– In a ghost story with overt religious themes like this, sleep is not usually a good method.

“……”

As expected.

This was a ghost story that had been observed for a very long time, and they must have tried all sorts of methods by now.

The manual from Agent Choi can’t have included every attempt, only the most effective and safest ways would have become the official rules.

…But even so, not a single method for rescuing a villager from the disaster had ever been confirmed.

Even so…

– How exactly do outsiders who visit this village festival end up disappearing?

I had to ask.

But…

– It’s unknown.

…!!

– After the festival, the villagers immediately send outsiders away.

And there are quite a few records of people who only stayed one night insisting on leaving in the middle of the festival and actually leaving.

– The problem is… some of them never make it home.

“……”

– Sometimes, even after making it home safely, there are numerous cases where people suddenly choose to end their own lives a few weeks later.

It was usually by means involving natural objects.

A chill ran down my spine.

– The cause of this phenomenon is unknown, but a common procedure has been confirmed.

It’s this: after entering this ghost story, if you follow the kind villager’s guidance to bathe, eat, and drink alcohol, you’re provided with those three things.

– They haven’t determined exactly which one is the trigger, but it looks like we’ve gotten a hint this time.

I recalled what Baek Saheon had shouted.

– Outsiders drink the sacred mountain liquor, realize the truth of the world, then hang themselves, drown in the river, or rot at the bottom of the well…

So that’s it.

‘At least the alcohol is clearly a factor.’

I looked at the alcohol on the table.

Clear liquor in an ordinary white porcelain bottle.

But…

‘If drinking this makes people ‘realize the truth of the world’ and then die, what does that even mean?’

What sort of ‘truth’ could do that?

In ghost story settings, things called ‘truth’ often end up being brainwashing or hypnosis that ruins people’s minds.

Of course, that’s frightening.

But what’s even scarier is this.

…If it really is the truth, and just knowing it makes a person choose death.

A case where a human learns something they should never have known.

‘…I have a bad feeling about this.’

A coldness settled in my chest.

…It seemed safer to just leave.

My nerves were signaling that digging any deeper would be unwise.

And there was still one reliable method left.

The escape method provided to agents by the Disaster Management Bureau.

The five-colored sneaker laces.

“……”

I saw that Agent Bronze had already glanced into his jacket, clearly conflicted.

– Are we going to leave, just like this?

But even if they weren’t the ones who requested help, there were definitely people who would not be able to return home after the festival ended if left here like this.

Agent Bronze was a stickler for the rules, but as an agent, he couldn’t ignore that.

– If we can’t find a way to quietly slip out of this room before the festival ends today, we’ll do that.

Then, with a tired and guilty look, he added,

– I’m sorry. I was too forceful, and that gave him an excuse to act out.

No, that’s not it.

‘I should’ve known Baek Saheon would act out like that…’

I’d seen it enough times on the wiki, and even lived in the company dorms with him.

…I’m just too tired, my judgment’s getting dull.

I shook my head, then slumped down in the corner of the room.

It was already dawn.

‘The festival will probably start soon.’

Salt Goblin

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