“That could be the case.”
Still, I took the note back from Agent Choi and held onto it.
“Oh~ you’re keeping it?”
“Yes.”
I lowered my head, slightly embarrassed.
“There might really be a hidden distress call in it sowhere… I figured I’d at least take it and check it out myself.”
“……”
Agent Choi didn’t ask why I wasn’t reporting it to my superiors, either.
The Supernatural Disaster Managent Bureau wasn’t the kind of organization that had the luxury to leisurely analyze a mysterious note left behind by so unknown person after five years of abandonnt.
There were way too many ghost stories out there currently killing people.
Even a brand-new rookie would know that vague cases like this would always be deprioritized.
Agent Choi himself had literally just said so.
Still… I made one last move.
After hesitating, I held the note back out to him.
“Um, sunbae-nim, if you happen to have ti later… would you mind checking it just one more ti…?”
“…!”
Truth was, as long as I morized the contents, the note itself wasn’t essential.
And because of its nature, there was no issue entrusting it to a bureau agent capable of identifying ghost stories.
“Sure. I’ll take another look.”
“Ah, thank you, sir…!”
I handed it over without hesitation. Hopefully, this would move further out of the circle of suspicion.
After that, the atmosphere between us softened a bit.
“Not bad, right?”
“Yes. Thank you…”
Under Agent Choi’s watch, I barely managed to acquire one of the items I’d wanted to buy.
That was rough.
Not just because of the surveillance. Choosing the item itself was hard too.
Most of what you could get here ca from standard ghost story settings.
Which ant, these weren’t items refined by a major corporation or filtered for custor safety by aliens.
They co with horrific side effects.
That was the premise.
They weren’t objects made for humans to use conveniently in the first place.
And plenty of the sellers weren’t in their right mind either, so the things they offered often weren’t sane, either…
What was surprising was that Agent Choi wasn’t just supervising—he genuinely tried to help .
“This place is exactly like Hanyang. [1] The kind where you get robbed in broad daylight, you know? If you watch how your sunbae-nim does it and follow along…”
…Didn’t always work, of course.
“…Soone already bought it.”
“……”
“N-No worries! The next one’s good too! Onward to the next arm~”
Still, true to his veteran status, he knew the origin or specific side effects of items I didn’t, and helped make careful ‘purchases’.
Yeah. That was all great, but.
He made buy sothing he knew.
In the end, he guided my actions under his control.
Whether that was a strong sign of suspicion or genuine concern… even I, who’d tracked Agent Choi’s entire history in the , couldn’t tell.
‘Honestly though, I was pretty much playing into it since I’d wanted that item anyway…’
The scary part was that, even if he hadn’t guided , I probably would’ve ended up buying it while crying inside.
I touched the item in my pocket and let out a sigh.
‘Huu…’
Agent Choi stayed with until right before his ti limit ran out, and even saw off afterward.
Waving the piece of paper I’d bought as he did.
“Then I’ll take another look at this note and return it to you later, okay?”
“Yes. Thank you…”
Honestly, there was no need for him to return it. I’d already morized it.
And there wasn’t even a point in him checking it either.
Because…
That note wasn’t related to any ghost story to begin with.
‘A psychological trap.’
Because it was a marketplace frequented by ghost-story-related figures, of course you’d assu any ssage was ghost-related.
But it wasn’t.
If anything… yeah.
It’s a ‘legacy’.
* * *
Let’s go back to that note again.
Reviews
All reviews (0)