Chapter 152.2

 

The receiver was dangling by its cord, barely hanging on, and it looked like the blood had started spilling from there…

“I’ll take pictures…”

“Ah, y-yes!”

I raised the camera, zoomed in with the phone booth centered in the frame.

‘…There’s something floating on the blood?’

Organs.

Goosebumps ran down my back.

‘Please.’

Think. The civilian was rescued safely, so that stuff might as well be props. Yeah, just pretend I walked into a haunted house…

‘Haunted houses are scary too!’

Anyway, suck it up!

I scolded myself and finally finished the burst shots, then lowered the camera. Next to me, Jang Heowoon stiffly approached the booth, opened the door, and inserted the ‘cleaning device’.

Misfortune Swallower.

It was a special device of the Site Cleanup Unit that was shaped like an industrial vacuum. It efficiently sucked up the blood.

However, due to the size of the entrance, ‘anything larger than that’ had to be manually collected by us.

“……”

“Are, you okay?”

“Y-Yes… We’re, um, fu—lly covered, so…”

Yeah, direct contact without a protective barrier would be the absolute worst.

Fortunately, Jang Heowoon didn’t pass out, and the two of us entered the booth to begin cleaning.

What the hell…

Swallowing curses, I picked up the entrails and round organs and placed them into the designated collection bin.

There was no actual danger to our lives, so I got to fully experience the fear in its purest form, completely conscious and calm.

I can’t take this anymore…!

‘Help me.’

I squeezed my eyes shut several times out of sheer revulsion.

Seeing that, Jang Heowoon, pale-faced, offered a kind of praise.

“Um, you’re doing a great job… You really seem like a proper rookie…!”

“……”

“Ah, I-I mean that in a good way.”

“…Thank you.”

I’m not acting…

Holding back things I couldn’t say aloud, I continued the cleanup quickly, mechanically. Uuugh.

Thankfully, the blood inside the booth was vacuumed up easily.

And maybe because of the protective suits we were wearing, the job was going far more smoothly than I’d expected after first seeing that insane booth.

‘Let’s not look too closely.’

I tried my best not to think about how we’d have to count how many organs were recovered when this was over, and I thoroughly cleared out the ghost-story filth inside the booth.

And then, spraying disinfectant…

 

Next……

 

“Huh?”

“Yes?”

“Just now, did you say what we’re doing next…?”

Ah. Did I accidentally say my thoughts out loud from too much tension…

 

The next thing is……

 

“……”

“……”

We slowly turned our heads.

The top of the phone, previously submerged in blood, was being revealed as the vacuum sucked it up.

The clotted blood splashed and dripped to the floor.

Drip. Drip.

And then it revealed—

A clean speaker.

 

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

 

Thunk.

The booth door closed shut.

“…!!”

 

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

 

We instinctively backed away from the phone.

That gritty, mechanical buzz of a pre-recorded message played from the speaker.

“The call didn’t end…!”

Beep.

A short electronic tone.

…One of the buttons on the phone body pressed itself.

First of the second row.

4.

Brrriiing!

 

[Let us tell you the next scary stor—]

 

I rushed the phone.

And reflexively slammed the pound key, yelling into the receiver like a man possessed.

“Today is March 7, 202X. There are no public phone booths in Dobong-gu. That’s really scary, isn’t it?”

 

[]

 

“I already heard the next scary story!”

The call stopped.

‘Now…!’

“Agent, this!!”

I almost shouted Jang Heowoon’s real name and grabbed the body of the phone itself with both hands, lifting it into the air.

“…?! W-What are you—”

“Get back!”

And I threw the entire thing at the glass door of the booth.

“…!!”

CRAAAASH!

The door shattered as the phone slammed into the pavement outside. With each bounce, it broke apart further, emitting strange recorded screams, button clicks, and connection tones all jumbled together…

And then it vanished, leaving only black ash.

“…Huuhk.”

“Ha… haaaaah…”

Jang Heowoon and I collapsed to the ground.

The glass booth we had entered was gone without a trace. The space around us was wide open, and even the collection bin we’d filled with blood-soaked organs was now perfectly empty.

Only the roar of the vacuum sucking up empty air echoed through the space.

‘Huuu…’

Possessed phone booth… dismantling complete.

‘That scared the hell out of me.’

I nearly ended up in a horrific situation.

I was just glad the resolution method for this ghost story wasn’t all that difficult.

‘By creating a contradiction, like letting it know I was already involved in a phone booth-related ghost story, and then tearing out the phone and throwing it outside…’

Since the ‘scary story’ only has effect within the booth, it naturally dissipates once removed.

It was a supernatural disaster resolution method that essentially made the ghost story consume itself.

‘I always liked that kind of method personally… It’s kind of amazing I actually got to use it.’

“Agent Grapes!!”

I could hear my senior agent running toward us.

They must’ve been shocked when the phone booth suddenly disappeared. Yes, Agent Bronze, I managed to escape safel…

“……”

No, wait.

So there was a senior agent on standby outside the whole time.

‘Didn’t that mean I could’ve just stayed put…?’

And more than that.

‘I didn’t clean up the site. I erased the site entirely… didn’t I?’

I looked up.

Agent Bronze, who had come running, was staring at us in stunned silence.

“……”

“……”

“Did you just… destroy the phone booth?”

 

Ah.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Bwahahahaha!!”

“……”

“That wasn’t cleanup, that was annihilation! Destruction King Rookie! Agent Grapes!”

Agent Choi, laughing like a madman, gave me a huge thumbs-up.

“Yeah! Ending a supernatural disaster is the ultimate cleanup! You did great, hoobae-nim!”

I wanted to punch him just once.

‘Hah.’

I forced down my sigh and irritation, holding back my right hand as it tried to give another unsolicited thumbs-up.

…I still remember the awkward tone of the Vermilion Bird Team 2’s leader as he talked to Agent Bronze after I wrecked the phone booth.

 

– It was pretty impressive, but… Well, it could’ve been dangerous. I feel like someone with a calmer personality might be better suited for our team.

– ……

 

Of course, I couldn’t exactly say, ‘I saw the countermeasure in the Dark Exploration Records, so I knew it was completely safe.’

In the end, my actions were interpreted as a timid rookie making a bold, somewhat risky decision based on instinct and inspiration during a brief moment of confusion.

And thankfully, it worked out!

Of course, successfully resolving the supernatural disaster was a major achievement, so I think I was recognized for that part at least…

……But the final assessment went like this.

 

– Yeah, that rookie agent’s a perfect fit for your team, Agent Bronze! The Dispatch & Rescue Unit!

 

Grghhh.

…Jang Heowoon, who had been nervously looking on from behind, had the look of someone thinking, ‘Sure, but wouldn’t Agent Roe Deer be better suited for a different role?’ It’s seriously driving me nuts.

‘…But I could’ve handled the paperwork really well!’

There was no site left to clean, so there was nothing to document.

And with the ghost story completely resolved, I… became the subject of the report, not the one writing it.

…Even just now, I was even interviewed for testimony… by Vermilion Bird Team 2’s leader…

“……”

“Ahem, but hey, you broke the ice with that rookie from the other team, right? It’s good to know people outside your squad. Makes it easier to ask little favors.”

Which brings us to why I’m currently with Agent Choi.

“Whoops! My bad. I forgot your team assignment hasn’t been finalized yet. I got ahead of myself~ …But hey, you’re with us today, right?”

Yeah. Because my next assignment’s already been decided.

…As a rookie agent, I’m doing three weeks of rotational duty with various teams.

Which means…

“Welcome back to Black Tortoise Team 1!”

Yep, I get to do another round with the Response & Rescue Unit.

Apparently, the incident I caused gave HR just the nudge they needed to justify assigning me back here ‘one more time, just to see how it goes’.

‘Agent Bronze…’

He must’ve tried to shield me, but the logic of ‘this is something rookie agents should experience’ was too strong to overcome.

“Man~ some rookies have all the luck. You get to work today with a team that fits you perfectly~”

“……”

Agent Choi smiled cheerfully, rubbing his hands together.

“Today, you’ll get to do a super fulfilling trio mission with us!”

Please save me.