Got Dropped into a Ghost Story, Still Gotta Work-Chapter 155

A whining rookie, two supervisors on the verge of tears.

All three of us, eight years old.

The situation was escalating smoothly into disaster.

‘Damn it!’

This isn’t about explaining—it’s more like being overwhelmed…!

I bit my tongue, barely able to explain the reasoning behind my “No, let’s keep searching” before I was almost influenced by the two of them.

Tears spread quickly among the kids…!

“Ah, we still have time. You mentioned the rule is only two days, so I thought we still have time to search safely without being affected…”

“…Right.”

“Then, I want to try and find at least one more. Maybe we missed one!”

Agent Choi, the child version, sniffled.

“What? Is that possible? Maybe we could try for another two days…”

“Agent!”

The Bronze Agent, now with red-rimmed eyes, stepped forward, glaring at Agent Choi and then me, saying firmly:

“No.”

“Why not!” I wanted to yell.

“Why not!”

I’m losing it.

The Bronze Agent also raised their voice.

“Because it could be dangerous! The lives of agents always come first. If we break the rules…”

Then their voice cracked.

“I’ve seen agents die like that. There are many seniors who couldn’t return.”

“……”

“That’s why, from the start, we should’ve followed the rules. We have to stick to them.”

‘…Hah.’

I could understand their side.

The Bronze Agent then glanced at my prosthetic arm.

“Don’t forget that arm needs to be recharged every three days.”

“I brought the recharging equipment for that!”

“Then how about this? Let’s stay just one more night. Just one more night.”

Agent Choi stretched out a finger.

“And if we don’t find a kid by tomorrow afternoon, we leave. Alright? A short delay in the mission isn’t a big deal—just one line on the report.”

“……”

We both instinctively looked at the Bronze Agent.

“Jaegwan…”

“Agent, over there…”

“Do as you please.”

The Bronze Agent closed their mouth, leaving only this last statement.

“I never agreed to this.”

It seemed like it.

With a face turning red from frustration and helplessness, they still silently acknowledged the decision and said nothing more.

Agent Choi immediately wrapped things up.

“Alright. One more day, then!”

Still, if we couldn’t find anything, we’d give up and go home. The three of us, children, promised each other that.

We then scattered to our respective areas to check on the children’s sleeping arrangements.

Agent Choi took the area near the palace, the Bronze Agent went to the central fountain, and I...

Headed toward the entrance of the village.

The strange thing was, while walking, our paths overlapped, and I ended up walking with the Bronze Agent.

“……”

“……”

“Um, sorry...”

“…It’s fine.”

The Bronze Agent sighed and spoke.

“When I think of the other cases where agents used goblin tricks to transform... this one was handled well, all things considered.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. Some agents cried and fought among themselves.”

“I see.”

“…That’s why the rules are important. In supernatural situations, even if it doesn’t make sense, following protocol is crucial. In the end, we’ll realize it was the right decision.”

The Bronze Agent took a deep breath.

“Of course, Agent Grape isn’t at fault. Every rookie goes through this. But if the person in charge couldn’t explain things properly and just went along with it…”

“……”

The Bronze Agent must’ve thought it was because of the supervisor that the deal was struck.

Anyway, their expression had soured, but it seemed like, as we split off toward our destinations, the tension had softened enough for them to offer some advice.

“The kids will fall asleep before midnight anyway. Don’t waste your energy, Agent Grape. Get some rest.”

“…Yes.”

The Twinkling Dragon Palace has its day and night cycles marked by the town’s clock tower chimes.

At night, the children’s sleep cycles sync up, and before midnight, they fall asleep. At dawn, everyone wakes up to cheerful music.

It’s a ghost story-like supernatural setup.

I walked through the village, past the shimmering red-gold glow, and into the room assigned to me, covered in soft blues and whites.

The sign at the entrance read:

For Children’s Dreamland Beds

Inside, the room was decorated like a child’s bedroom, with large, soft, canopy beds neatly arranged.

…All the kids had already fallen asleep.

Having spent all my time searching for the last child I could rescue, I had reached my limit on time.

I, too, was overwhelmed by drowsiness.

“Hah.”

I picked an empty bed and lay down. The unbelievably soft and warm blankets wrapped around me, cradling my body.

The thoughts of earlier...

The ridiculousness of what had just happened—what was I thinking?

‘I didn’t act like this even when I was little...’

And looking at how I’d reacted, it was clear Agent Choi and the Bronze Agent were the same, perhaps affected by this goblin trick.

Maybe it wasn’t true rejuvenation but a deceptive trick, and that’s why I felt like I was trapped in a child’s body.

What mattered now was to stay calm, unaffected by the excesses of this childish body and keep moving forward.

My goal hadn’t changed, after all.

I slowly vowed in my dazed state:

‘I’ll wake up early and search again.’

There had to be at least one child I could bring back...

“…Grape.”

Hmm?

“Grape. I think you’ll be a great agent. Your arm seems to think so too.”

A voice, somewhere warm and nostalgic, reached my ears.

At first, it felt reassuring, strong—like I could count on it.

What is this?

“It’s your dream.”

I see.

Thinking back on it, I must have fallen asleep.

There was a flickering light in my closed eyes. It shimmered like a warm flame.

“And in dreams, thoughts that cannot arise in reality always appear. You’re free from the constraints of the real world.”

I thought about it.

Some things I hadn’t noticed before...

Now, while under the guise of a child and carrying out a rescue mission, I could review all the things I had missed.

The dream me calmly recalled a few suspicions.

The doubts of an adult.

For example...

‘Why do the kids we meet change every time we enter? More than half of them are different.’

If all the children were switched out, it would be reasonable to assume there are multiple locations with similar supernatural phenomena.

But the fact that half of the kids were different means they disappear here.

At least, in a form that can’t meet us again.

‘And why do the agents never question this?’

Two possibilities arose, simple and chilling.

They might also be affected by the ghost story.

...Or maybe there’s something they’re hiding from me, a new recruit.

Or maybe both.

‘Then…’

There must be something I can use in this situation.

A tool that can provide me with the insight I need.

I don’t even need to ask the other two for it.

[Indeed! Smart thinking, Grape. Wise ideas are treasures from the ages.]

[Don’t forget what you’ve learned in the dream. Let’s see it when you wake up.]

I felt a wrinkled hand gently patting my head, as if to encourage me.

Ah, thank you, elder.

I drifted into sleep.

“…Ah.”

Squeak!

The chime rang out, followed by the children’s laughter.

A new golden morning was beginning.

“Let’s go see the mermaid princess!”

“I want to play tag!”

The children chattered excitedly as they jumped out of their beds.

Normally, I would’ve immediately chased after them to gather information, but my head was now clear.

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I had a new idea in mind, one I’d concluded from my dream.

That’s when I reached inside my thick coat and carefully pulled out what I had brought, making sure it wouldn’t break.

It was the ‘children’s detective syrup’. The syrup I had manufactured by pressing an emoji button in the dream cultivation room.

At Dreamland Inc., they called it:

Detection Potion:

When consumed, it opens your eyes to see what you need most right now.

If I drink the detective syrup, I will be able to see the child that needs rescuing immediately.

Right now, my mission goal, what’s most needed, is rescuing a child.

‘Alright.’

Normally, I would’ve done some calculations, but… rescuing a child, if I thought too much about it, it would feel like I’m becoming less of a human.

‘I should have checked the effect once anyway.’

I opened the sealed lid of the syrup and swallowed it all at once.

As described on the label, it had a synthetic cherry flavor and sweetness that slid down my throat…

“…Huff.”

I stashed the empty bottle away.

There wasn’t any remarkable, awe-inspiring change like with regeneration potions, but my heart started to race and I became more composed.

‘Let’s check now.’

I alternated between looking at the kids left in the living room and those running around the streets outside the window.

I was looking for the “child” who caught my eye.

But…

“…”

Why can’t I find one?

The kids running outside, or the ones joyfully playing in the fountain far away.

They’re just kids. Nothing stands out about them.

I started to get chills, wondering if perhaps there were no targets at all, making my spine tingle.

‘…Huh?’

A presence is felt from somewhere else.

At the edge of my vision, something clear and bright appeared.

“…”

I turned my eyes to check it out.

It was in the opposite pocket of my coat.

The place where I had kept the item I bought at the faceless marketplace in the manhole.

‘Why is this…?’

I reached inside and pulled out the object.

It was a paper with four old postage stamps printed on it.

It looked like one of those low-cost charity or promotional seals, but every faded stamp depicted old streets in Korea.

And if I looked closer, there were some non-human creatures in the background.

Pigeons, rats, stray cats, sparrows, cockroaches.

Creatures that coexisted on human streets.

Street Postage

: A peculiar postage from the streets of Yeongdeungpo District in 20th-century Korea, able to disguise as one of the street animals.

Created by today’s antiquities dealer.

…I had planned to keep it in case I needed to spy or hide, but Agent Choi had recommended it, making me break out in cold sweat.

I had also sweated while selecting non-epic items that didn’t originate from the Dream Corporation for exchange.

Anyway, the core ability of this item is ultimately that.

‘It can transform into a non-human street animal.’

Seems pretty good, right?

Of course, it has deadly side effects.

If the effect of the stamp is sustained for more than 2 hours continuously, the body might transform into something from the stamp.

This wasn’t an easy change into an actual animal.

Instead, features of those animals start to infest your human body. It’s like a biological disaster horror game.

Imagine sparrow eyeballs or pigeon beaks growing on the side of your jaw.

‘Ugh.’

Just thinking about it made it horrifying, so I reminded myself once again to never exceed the time limit.

But… being in the form of an animal in a ghost story that requires the appearance of a “child”… is the most needed thing right now?

I felt a bit uneasy, but at the same time, an eerie chill ran through me.

It felt like I had to check it, something about this didn’t sit right.

‘…Even if the Dream Corporation has tricked me in other ways, it hasn’t lied about the potion.’

The effects were so clear that there was no need to deceive me.

‘Alright.’

If something feels off, I can immediately spit the stamp out and return to my child form.

After a quick deep breath, I peeled a stamp off and popped it into my mouth.

“…!!”

My vision lowered.

It dropped even more suddenly than when I turned into a child, plummeting to the floor.

My waist bent and I stood on all fours.

I felt fur, my ears rose, and a strange sensation like having long whiskers.

‘A cat?’

I tilted my head up.

I thought it might have been more useful to turn into a pigeon since it could fly. But at least I avoided becoming a cockroach or a rat, so psychologically, it was a relief…

…

‘Huh.’

In my sight, the golden city was crumbling.

The dazzling blue sea, the sparkling fairy-tale-like brick houses and boulevards, the beautiful banners—they all lost their light, faded, and were ruined.

And then, strange things began to appear. Rusted metal pipes, broken flickering streetlights, half-destroyed buildings, graffiti made of blood and filth. A grotesque, swelling, ulcerous mass pulsing between the cracks in the bricks and streetlights! The space is contaminated with it! It’s strange! It’s strange! It’s everywhere! I’ve been… contaminated…

Spit it out!

I have to spit the stamp out. Something’s wrong…

…

No.

‘That’s… not it.’

It was the shock of falling from a blissful place… to a dreadful place.

I hadn’t been contaminated.

“Phew.”

I took a breath.

I adapted to the environment, and the panic started to subside. Shivering, I looked around with a clear mind, now free from the child form.

The grotesquely collapsed civilization and city, now riddled with infected biological tissue masses.

This was the description I knew.

Yeah. The “Shimmering Dragon Palace” wasn’t a ghost story that wasn’t recorded in the Dark Exploration Chronicles.

It just wasn’t the version I knew.

What I knew was…

…

The horrible ghost story of the Dream Corporation.

======================

Dark Exploration Chronicles / Ghost Story [Mermaid Grave] : A ghost story appearing in the , identification code Qterw-C-1642 from Dream Corporation.

A ghost story of a bizarre city sunken under the sea.

The victims are chased by grotesque creatures and, if caught, are sucked dry of their blood and mucus until they die.

======================

The city had already become a ruin, and from the records left behind, it could be inferred that it had been destroyed by a biological disaster.

Seeing the stark contrast between the once-beautiful city’s traces and the current apocalypse, destroyed by a horrific biological disaster, was a strange kind of treat.

The city’s records referred to the biological disaster as mermaids, which is why it was registered in the database as the "Mermaid’s Grave."

So… the children of the Shimmering Dragon Palace here.

In the heart of the city, there was a grotesque mass that served as the core cluster of the “biological disaster-mermaid” infection source, and the infected fluids pouring out from it relentlessly chased after the explorers.

If caught, the explorer becomes infected and becomes a host for the mermaids.

I staggered on all fours through the broken streets.

Scattered around the dark, deep-sea streets, I could see corpses, stiffened in strange postures, being dragged along by strange ulcerous masses.

No… half-living people, half-corpses.

They moved like dolls, stiffly swaying as they walked.

‘The water fountain decoration dolls.’

The children

Come get your honey!

From soldier dolls to elephant dolls, the various decorations.

‘They were once human.’

People who were infected after being drawn into this mad ghost story.

Then the honey coming out from the faucet near their stomachs was….

In reality, it was the blood taken from people’s stomachs by those ulcer-like masses.

‘…Ugh.’

I ran.

Kicking off on all fours, I dashed through the corrupted, grotesque ruins of the old sunken city, wrapped in rusted machinery, squirming with infected life.

And then, I arrived at the heart of the city.

…What was once the beautiful Dragon Palace, now, what I saw was….

A cluster of massive ulcerous masses.

Thump, thump.

The pulsations reached here, hanging from the collapsed buildings, massive and grotesque, resembling avant-garde sculptures. The fleshy, filthy, reddish, green, and pink masses of flesh hung from the ruins, pulsing as if alive.

And at the front, a bulging egg-like mass with tentacles attached.

When viewed with familiar eyes, its silhouette reminded me of something.

The statue of the mermaid princess.

The infected fluids extract the blood and mucus from the explorer-hosts and supply them to the city’s core cluster, and the cluster spits out infectious mucus and debris.

The debris consisted of fibers and plastics that couldn't be digested.

Yeah.

…The honey offered by the children at the statue in the Shimmering Dragon Palace? Those toys, clothes, and storybooks were the old belongings of the missing people here.

They just appeared that way to the children, deceiving them.

This ghost story.

And it was infecting the children. The grotesque infectious fluids, commonly referred to as baby mermaids in the Mermaid Grave’s Dark Exploration Records, were eventually….

Eventually….

“……”

No.

‘This… this is…’

I need to retreat. I can’t meet any children in this state. I staggered and barely managed to turn around.

At that moment.

Uuuuuuuuugh!

With a strange sound, the ulcerous mass on the ground shot slime at me.

“…!”

Infectious slime.

If that sticks, I’ll also get a faucet attached…!

‘Damn it.’

Fortunately, being a cat, I could run fast.

Adapting quickly to the cat’s body, my four legs sped through the dust-covered, rusted alleyways. Maybe that’s why Agent Choi had recommended it.

‘Anyway!’

So, so now what?

What do I do with this?

Should I tell the agents? If I do, how much should I tell them?

How do I proceed with the rescue? No, is it even right for the agents to stay in their child forms?

Is the child’s appearance really safe?

Choosing to live here rather than turning into foam seemed like the better option, but now….

“This way. No baby mermaids.”

…!

“Move.”

“Yes, sir!”

I stopped in my tracks.

Three figures had entered the alley.

Calm tones. Familiar words from the exploration records. Addressing each other by ranks.

…It’s Dream Corporation.

‘Has the field exploration team come in…!’

Right, since most of the long exploration records registered with that company were written by field team employees, it was no surprise that I could spot one of the company’s people here.

…In that case.

Maybe I can use them.

‘If they’re from Dream Corporation, they should at least have one or two pieces of special equipment.’

There might be a way out of this. Or maybe an idea…!

Even if not, having more cards to play was definitely necessary.

‘Let’s go.’

I held my breath and approached the alley where their masks and suits passed by.

“…Right.”

“Oh, this one.”

Their conversation reached my sensitive hearing, and as I rounded the corner, the three figures finally came into view….

...

Familiar masks.

“…Hmm. Doesn’t seem useful.”

“Eh? I think it could be worth money. I’ll take it.”

Goat Baek Saheon, Pony Kang Ighak.

And….

“Quiet.”

Butterfly, Assistant Manager Jin Nasol.

“……”

‘Damn it.’

What a terrifying lineup.