Chapter 149: Joint Investigation (3)

Su-myeon sighed as he looked at Cheshire, sprawled asleep on a bed in the infirmary again today.

He had heard that Geon-su had been discharged the day before yesterday and gone home.

But Cheshire, Mu-yeon, and Ryang were tangled together on one of the cramped infirmary beds as though the place belonged to them.

“It does seem a little strange. Ryang only just fell asleep, but....”

Jae-hak, who was in charge of the infirmary, spoke.

So that was why she had been draped so strangely over the other two.

When Su-myeon nodded, Jae-hak added,

“Both of them, Mu-yeon and Cheshire, stay sleepy for abnormally long stretches of time. Honestly, I don’t think there’s anything physically wrong with them, but whether it’s psychological. Or....”

Whether it was because of the ghost stories, even Jae-hak could not determine with modern medicine.

Even after regaining a human body, Cheshire still spent most of the day asleep almost like a cat.

Su-myeon had clearly told him he was free to go outside, go anywhere, do whatever he wanted.

And yet he refused to leave, like someone who felt an inexplicable sense of wrongness about himself.

To borrow the Red Queen’s cynical phrasing, he still was not human.

He was the remaining scraps of causality and self.

A recycled product.

And because of that, he could never become the same as a real human.

“.......”

Whether they knew about Su-myeon’s conflict or not, the three slept on without a care in the world.

Su-myeon simply stood up again.

“Didn’t you come because you had something to say?”

When Jae-hak called after him, Su-myeon waved a hand to say no.

“I’m leaving work early today.”

“Ah, right. Here. Take these with you.”

Su-myeon did not refuse Jae-hak’s consideration as the man piled various nutritional supplements into his hands.

He had told him over and over that there was no need for this, but Jae-hak never listened.

At this point, Su-myeon was closer to simply being too tired to stop him.

Even if he took them home and ended up throwing them away because he could not be bothered to take them.

'You saved my life. I’d feel uncomfortable if I couldn’t even do this much for you.'

Su-myeon had decided to understand Jae-hak’s position at least a little.

Listening to one heavy story after another from complete strangers had left him more exhausted than expected.

Rubbing his forehead, Su-myeon left the Governance.

***

The next day at the Governance.

Ryang was in excellent condition again today.

The world of humans really was best when it was noisy and bustling.

That bastard Jang Bok-eum was supposedly a Director, but he looked busy enough to die.

Ryang welcomed the noise.

And seeing that bastard suffer from being so busy was satisfying in its own way.

“....”

On top of that, foreigners were even walking around above her house now!

They carried a completely different aura from people across the sea, and Ryang found them so fascinating that she was seriously considering going over and yanking out a fistful of hair just to take a look at it.

As Ryang wandered around outside the infirmary for the first time in a while, a yellow-haired foreigner with strange-colored eyes stopped in front of her.

“...A child?”

Rachel stared at Ryang with wide eyes as though she had just seen someone who should not have been there.

And because Rachel’s Korean was extremely fluent, Ryang looked at her with even greater interest.

“Where are your parents? Your clothes are really pretty.”

The first question made Ryang wonder what exactly she was supposed to do with that.

But she liked the second one.

“Ahem. Thou hast somewhat of an eye, I see.”

“So, little one. ...Where is your guardian...?”

But Ryang had no interest in continuing the conversation.

Rachel tried to ask another question, but Ryang did not even listen to the end.

She stuck out her tongue once and scampered off toward the basement.

Rachel was left behind, baffled, and merely shrugged.

***

The time they had clearly agreed to gather and resume the meeting was ten o’clock.

Ten in the morning.

Su-myeon had, in his own way, chosen as early a time as possible.

“They came two hours early.”

“Those people seriously think you’re some kind of god now, Chief.”

“Honestly, I kind of understand why.”

Su-myeon felt faint listening to Ju-hee, Mi-ae, and Du-pal whispering to him in a little cluster.

Of course, based on what he had heard yesterday, their knowledge of ghost stories was extremely limited.

So from the basic concept of causality to items, the Heartphone, and other unusual details.

Receiving knowledge that only Su-myeon himself knew might well have felt like getting a glimpse into an entirely new world....

'...Still, they’re agents from other countries.'

He had expected them to react with at least some restraint.

But Rachel and Kurosaki’s reaction when they saw Su-myeon arrive at work went far beyond anything he had imagined.

The way they waved furiously at him through the conference-room glass, trying to get his attention, made them look almost like fans who had spotted a celebrity.

“......Anyone coming in with me?”

Feeling burdened, Su-myeon awkwardly asked for help.

Ju-hee nodded.

“I’ll go in with you.”

So this was when having someone like an older sister came in handy.

Su-myeon nodded at Ju-hee’s words and entered the conference room with her.

He did have Han-su, who was like an older brother....

But Han-su was currently at his desk, practically shoving an entire roll of gimbap down his throat whole.

Given his personality, there was no way he would be any help in this kind of social situation.

“.......”

Han-su held out an unopened new roll of gimbap with an expression that seemed to ask, Want some?

Su-myeon shook his head.

After patting the coffee machine once for already having made his coffee, Su-myeon headed for the conference room with only the cup in hand.

***

To Rachel, Han Su-myeon gave off a somewhat irritable impression.

His sharp-looking eyes.

His tired expression.

His flat, unvarying tone.

Even the way he looked at everything as though he had very little interest in any of it.

But the documents she had received yesterday had been more than enough to completely change her image of him.

He was clearly an extremely modest person.

It just did not show because he pretended otherwise and kept downplaying himself.

'He learned the concept of causality by personally going in and out of ghost stories and hearing it from someone inside one of them, didn’t he?'

He really was extraordinarily brave.

The only figure from a ghost story Rachel knew personally was that horrifying Robin Hood she had seen.

That made Su-myeon’s nerve in actually trying to converse with beings like that seem even more remarkable.

And he had even negotiated with them to obtain useful special “items” from inside ghost stories.

“I can’t believe it. That there are beings among them you can actually communicate with.... And the fact that you managed to obtain something meaningful from them is honestly incredible.”

“It even says that physical injuries can sometimes recover in reality if the right items are used in the right combination.”

When Kurosaki eagerly joined in praising Su-myeon, Su-myeon glanced sideways at Ju-hee.

Ju-hee answered in his place.

“That’s right. Chief Han’s left eye here is like that too.”

“No....”

Don’t say things like that.

Change the subject or something.......

When Su-myeon tightly gripped Ju-hee’s arm and whispered to her, Ju-hee belatedly made an expression of realization.

Rachel understood Ju-hee’s feelings perfectly.

Apparently, Su-myeon did not particularly like being praised for his accomplishments.

But if someone like that were Rachel’s own superior?

She would probably boast about him hundreds of times over.

Even so, Rachel’s gaze remained drawn toward Su-myeon’s gray eye.

She had avoided bringing it up properly because she had wondered whether he had been injured in a ghost story, or perhaps suffered some unusual illness.

So that was what it was.......

“Anyway, okay. I understand everything now. Why only Korea has been able to bring ghost stories to an end. What we’ll be doing if we enter one together. What we’ll need to do. I understand all of it.”

Rachel immediately changed the subject for Su-myeon’s sake when she saw how uncomfortable he was.

But Kurosaki still seemed curious and carefully asked again,

“But really... did you replace that eye with another item inside a ghost story?”

When Su-myeon fell silent at Kurosaki’s question, Kurosaki timidly added,

“No, I’m just extremely curious. It’s fascinating.... I’m sorry if that was rude. Yes. Let’s get back to the main topic.”

“Well, my eye isn’t exactly like that, strictly speaking....”

Since Kurosaki had even apologized, Su-myeon seemed to feel a little awkward about leaving it there and started to explain.

Then he shook his head.

“It’s roughly similar, yes. Anyway, this is an item too, and my vision is better than it was with my original eye.”

Su-myeon stressed that even then, it had only worked because luck, timing, and the right item materials had all happened to line up.

Then he changed the subject.

“What you need to remember is that if you enter with me, you’ll be using some of those items yourselves. The Heartphone. You checked that section too, right?”

Rachel and Kurosaki nodded at Su-myeon’s words.

“It really is like a game.”

“Right?”

At Kurosaki’s mention of a game, Su-myeon showed a rare flash of genuine interest.

But it did not last long.

“You’ll be seeing it for yourselves on this cruise. So make sure you’re familiar with it beforehand.”

When Su-myeon said there would be no time to explain things once they were inside a ghost story, Rachel’s expression grew tense.

Then she spoke carefully.

“To be honest, on our side, we’ve never deliberately entered a ghost story on purpose.”

There was only one way agents ended up entering ghost stories.

While trying to find even the slightest trace of a missing person, they would accidentally get pulled inside.

“When that happens, the survival rate is only in the single digits. In fact, I haven’t entered another ghost story since what happened to me as a child.”

At Rachel’s words, Kurosaki said Japan was no different.

“It’s the same for us. At first, we also tried somehow to create rules and distribute them, but....”

Neither America nor Japan had anyone special like Su-myeon.

So all of those attempts had ultimately failed.

A method that only produced more victims could not continue for long and was eventually abandoned.

For them, the best they could do was patrol the areas around known ghost-story sites and linger nearby in hopes of minimizing casualties somehow.

“.......”

Su-myeon’s expression turned somewhat uncomfortable at their words.

He took off his glasses and wiped them.

“So when your agents entered a ghost story... the survival rate was in the single digits?”

Rachel nodded, feeling somewhat ashamed.

Just from the documents, she could tell that the number of times Su-myeon had entered ghost stories was already well beyond what could be counted on one hand.

Compared to that, she....

“And even so, the two of you crossed an ocean and came all the way here to help resolve one of our country’s ghost stories?”

Hearing Su-myeon continue, Rachel felt even more uncomfortable.

That was, on the surface, the purpose for which she had come to Korea.

But what her homeland wanted was perfectly clear.

Extract their method somehow and apply it to ending ghost stories in America as well.

Strictly speaking, she had come here as a kind of spy.

“Great. Now I feel even more responsible for the price of both your lives.”

The wording was sarcastic, but it seemed Su-myeon truly did feel that much pressure.

Su-myeon seemed like a genuinely good person.

“I heard that the agent fatality rate in Korea is zero percent. Is that true?”

At Kurosaki’s question, Su-myeon glanced at Ju-hee.

Ju-hee nodded.

Su-myeon rolled his eyes as though thinking it over, then nodded as well.

“I think so. At least, I brought all the agents back.......”

Su-myeon corrected himself in the middle of speaking without thinking.

“We all managed to escape together.”

He seemed unaware of just how much hope those words gave the agents.

Rachel hardened her resolve to extract every bit of know-how she possibly could from him.

If she could do that, then many people in her own country might be able to return to their families as well.

And she sincerely hoped for one thing.

That her own school, too, would someday become a ghost story that could be resolved that way.