The beginning of the total f-up dates back to when I arrived for work at the Field Cleanup Unit.
Until then, everything was going smoothly.
“Alright, introductions, everyone. This is our rookie, Agent Hwagak.”
A scholarly-looking, middle-aged female boss introduced me and Jang Heowoon. We spoke to each other as if it were our first time and shared our agent names.
“Um, I’m called Grapes…. It’s n-nice to meet you….”
“…?! Hmph, cough, yes….”
For some reason, Jang Heowoon had a sudden coughing fit, but it passed without further incident, and everyone exchanged smiles and greetings.
The team leader of Jujak Team 2, which was the Field Cleanup Unit, was chatting with Agent Bronze. Having heard from him that I wanted to join her team, she dropped a few hints in the conversation.
“Haha, my kid is still a rookie too, so it would be great to have someone around the same age on the team.”
“Yes. I look forward to working with you.”
Thank you, Agent Bronze…!
I hid my desire to grin widely and instead hunched my shoulders, pretending to be nervous. Jang Heowoon looked at me and then hastily averted his gaze.
“Now, the place we’re going today… yes, it’s not difficult, so it should be perfect for two rookies.”
The team leader laughed and patted us both on the shoulder.
“It just so happens to be a ghost story where Agent Choi from Hyunmoo Team 1 just finished rescuing a civilian. Ah, Agent Bronze belongs to Hyunmoo Team 1—you’ve heard of them, right?”
“Yes…!”
I heard so much I practically almost had a membership forced upon me….
At any rate, the Jujak Team 2 leader gave us a clean briefing on the Supernatural Disaster we were to enter today.
And even safety precautions.
“If you feel like you absolutely can’t do it, just say so. Agent Grapes’ senior is on standby outside.”
“Thank you…!”
But that won’t happen.
I will definitely finish the Field Cleanup Unit’s mission perfectly and show them a perfect set of paperwork…!
Furthermore.
‘I’m familiar with this ghost story.’
No, it wasn't just familiar; it was practically intimate. So much so that it wouldn't have mattered if my Pop-socket was restored or not.
‘I watched people argue all night about how to finish this Dark Exploration Record.’
And because the ghost story had concluded in a way I found rational, I remembered it well as I had gone to work the next day fueled by dopamine.
Of course, it was the type of ghost story I feared the most.
But the ghost-like part was already over! No ghosts would appear!
In terms of cleanup, it was similar to the taxi from last time, but much better in the sense that no supernatural entities would jump out. It was literally just a field cleanup…!
“Wearing this makes me feel at ease.”
As he put on the white, quarantine-suit-like Agent uniform provided for cleaning, Jang Heowoon spoke in a bright voice.
“It really does…!”
It covered me from head to toe, giving me a sense of psychological security.
When I replied with a bright smile, Jang Heowoon’s expression became somewhat ambiguous for some reason. Was I acting too friendly…?
“Now, Agent Hwagak, let’s do one more field briefing.”
“Yes!”
Following the team leader’s instruction to encourage himself, Jang Heowoon spoke to me quite briskly.
“The Supernatural Disaster we have to clean up today is located in Dobong-gu, and the expected time for completion is 3 hours. Its characteristics are as follows….”
A clear description followed.
“A public phone booth that tells scary stories.”
A neighborhood in Seoul where the sun is setting. It stands alone on a remote roadside.
A dilapidated public phone booth.
Something rarely seen in Korea nowadays, it had a light blue roof.
Its Exterior was that of a normal public phone booth produced in the 1980s. It looked old, but when a call was attempted, it connected normally.
Several old phone number advertisement stickers, seemingly from long ago, were plastered messily on the walls.
Most of the Company names on the stickers next to the phone were no longer in business.
However, if one called the number on a 12cm x 7cm advertisement sticker finished in deep red and yellow that said ‘I will tell you a scary story,’ the phone would tell a scary story related to public phones.
(The number is 13 digits long, and it does not connect if one tries to call from another device outside the booth.)
Users of the booth testified to feeling an intense urge to call the number upon seeing the sticker.
The Supernatural Disaster occurred from there.
And the scary story in question would actually happen inside the booth.
Earlier this afternoon, the Emergency Rescue Squad rescued a civilian caught in the ghost story in that phone booth.
And so, we just had to clean up the eerie ‘site’ swept over by that ghost story….
The current situation was,
The inside of the booth was filled with bright red blood, which was bursting out and soaking the ground outside.
“…….”
“…….”
Wow.
‘I want to run away.’
But if I can’t do this, they’ll suggest I resign.
I swallowed hard.
“Let’s go in.”
“Ye-yes….”
Jang Heowoon, who was also weak against blood, looked like he was about to faint, but as he was also a spy, he couldn't back down.
So the two of us approached the phone booth with stiff movements.
The receiver was dangling from its cord, dropped on the floor, and it seemed as though the blood had poured out from there….
“I will… take photos….”
“A-ah… yes!”
I lifted the camera and zoomed in, centering the phone booth.
‘…Something is floating on the blood.’
It was an organ.
Goosebumps erupted.
‘Please, just stop.’
Th-think. The civilian was rescued safely, so that’s no different from a prop. Right, just think of it as entering a haunted house….
‘Haunted houses are scary too!’
Just endure it!
I scolded myself and lowered the camera, having barely managed a burst of shots. Beside me, Jang Heowoon approached the booth with stiff steps, opened the door, and inserted the ‘cleaning device.’
Misfortune Swallower.
Exclusive Equipment for the Field Cleanup Unit that looked like an industrial vacuum cleaner began to steadily suck up the blood.
However, due to the limited size of the intake, we had to manually collect anything ‘larger than that.’
“…….”
“Are you, um, alright?”
“Yes, yes… since, my whole body, is covered….”
Direct contact without a barrier would have been the ultimate ordeal.
Together with Jang Heowoon, who fortunately hadn't fainted, I entered the booth and began cleaning.
Holy f-….
Suppressing my curses, I grabbed the intestines and rounded organs and put them into the dedicated collection bin.
Since there was no immediate danger to my life, I was sober enough to calmly and fully savor the horror in its entirety.
I couldn't stand this more…!
‘Save me.’
Physiologically, I ended up squeezing my eyes shut a few times.
Watching that sight, Jang Heowoon marveled even with his pale face.
“Um, you look very much like you're acting—no, like a proper rookie…!”
“…….”
“Ah, in a g-good way.”
“…Thank you.”
I’m not acting….
Suppressing words I couldn't say, I continued cleaning quickly and mechanically. Ugh.
Fortunately, the blood inside the booth drained away easily.
And perhaps thanks to the effect of the protective-suit-like Uniform we were wearing, the work proceeded more smoothly than I had thought when I first saw the state of this crazy booth.
‘Don’t look too closely.’
Trying my best not to think about how I’d have to count how many organ pieces there were once we finished, I cleaned up the ghost-story-style filth inside the booth.
Next, I’ll spray the Disinfectant….
Next……
“Pardon?”
“Yes?”
“Just now, what were you saying to do next….”
Ah. Did I perhaps speak my thoughts out loud because I was so nervous…?
Next i…….
“…….”
“…….”
We slowly turned our heads.
The head of the phone, which had been submerged in blood, was revealed as the vacuum sucked the blood away.
The clinging blood was dripping down—drip, drip—to the floor.
Drip. Drip.
It revealed.
A clean speaker.
[To hear the next scary story, please press 4.]
Thud.
The booth door closed.
“…!!”
[To hear the next scary story, please press 4.]
We reflexively moved away from the phone.
From the phone, the mechanical static noise characteristic of a recorded voice playing automatically could be heard.
“The phone, it hasn't hung up yet…!”
Beep.
A short electronic sound.
…One of the number buttons on the body of the public phone was pressed by itself.
The first button in the second row.
4.
Ring-ring-ring-ring!
[I will now tell you the next scary story….]
I ran to the phone.
And reflexively, like a madman, I pressed the pound key repeatedly and shouted into the receiver.
“The date is currently March 7, 202X. There’s no way there would be a public phone booth in Dobong-gu. That’s a truly scary story, isn't it?”
[]
“I’ve already heard the next scary story!”
The call stopped.
‘Now…!’
“Agent, this!!”
I almost called Jang Heowoon by his real name as I grabbed the body of the public phone with both hands and lifted it into the air.
“…?! Wh-what,”
“Get out of the way!”
And then I threw the whole thing at the glass booth door.
“…!!”
CRASH!!
The booth door shattered, and the public phone rolled onto the sidewalk. And with every roll, it broke more and more, emitting a mixture of eerie recorded screams, button sounds, and dial tones before….
It vanished, leaving only black ash behind.
“…Haaah.”
“Whew, whew….”
Jang Heowoon and I slumped down.
Before we knew it, the glass booth we had entered had also vanished. The surroundings were wide open, and the bin where we had collected the blood-soaked organs was also clean and empty.
Only the loud noise of the vacuum cleaner sucking in empty air could be heard….
‘Phew….’
Haunted phone booth… demolition complete.
‘That was terrifying.’
I almost suffered a terrible fate.
It was just fortunate that the method to conclude this ghost story wasn't that difficult.
‘By informing it that I’m already experiencing a ghost story related to public phones, I create a contradiction, and then by ripping out the phone body and throwing it outside….’
Since the ‘scary story’ is only effective inside the booth, it naturally disappears.
It was a Supernatural Disaster conclusion method that made the ghost story consume itself.
‘It was a method I personally liked, so it’s strange being able to use it like this….’
“Agent Grapes!!”
I could hear the senior agent who had been on standby running toward us.
He must have been surprised by the sudden disappearance of the phone booth. Yes, Agent Bronze, I escaped safely….
“…….”
Wait, hold on.
The senior agent was on standby outside anyway.
‘Then… would it have been fine even if I’d just stayed still?’
And another thing.
‘Instead of cleaning the site, I… completely removed it?’
I looked up.
Agent Bronze, who had run over from outside, was looking this way with a dazed expression.
“…….”
“……."
“Did you just… smash the phone booth?”
Ah.
“Bwahahahaha!!”
“…….”
“Not a cleanup, but destruction! The rookie King of Destruction! Agent Grapes!”
Agent Choi, who was laughing like a madman, gave me a thumbs-up.
“Yeah! Concluding a Supernatural Disaster is the true cleanup! Well done, Hubae!”
I wanted to punch him just once.
‘Ha.’
I suppressed a deep sigh and my irritation as I held down my right hand, which wanted to reflexively give a thumbs-up back.
…I remember the voice of the Jujak Team 2 leader, who had spoken to Agent Bronze with a reluctant tone after I smashed the phone booth….
-It’s quite impressive… but, well, it could have been dangerous. I think it might be better if a more calm-tempered agent joined our team instead.
-…….
Naturally, even if my mouth were torn open, I couldn't say, ‘It was completely safe because it was a countermeasure I’d already seen in the Dark Exploration Records’….
In the end, my actions were taken as those of a timid rookie who, in a slight state of delirium, made a bold and somewhat dangerous decision through intuition and inspiration.
And that fortunately worked out!
Of course, concluding the Supernatural Disaster itself was a staggering achievement, so the ability itself seemed to have been recognized….
……But the evaluation ultimately turned out like this.
-Yes, Agent Bronze’s team would be perfect for that rookie! Emergency Rescue Squad!
Uuugh.
…I saw Jang Heowoon watching me from behind, looking restless, before his expression changed to one that seemed to say, ‘Well, Supervisor Roe Deer is better suited for somewhere else than here.’ I thought I was going to lose my mind.
‘…I could have done the paperwork well, though!’
Because the site had completely vanished, there was nothing left to clean up.
And since the ghost story was completely concluded, I… became the subject of the paperwork instead of the one filing it.
…Just now, I came back from having my testimony collected for data purposes……. By the Jujak Team 2 leader….
“…….”
“Kuk, still, you got to know the rookie on that team. It’s convenient to have someone you know on other teams. It’s good for asking light favors and stuff.”
So why am I meeting Agent Choi now?
“Ah! Sorry. Your team hasn't been officially decided yet. I was getting ahead of myself~ …But since you’re working with our team today.”
Right. Because my next assignment had already been decided.
…As a rookie agent, I am in the middle of experiencing various duties from different departments without distinction for three weeks.
Which means….
“Welcome back to Hyunmoo Team 1!”
I could also be put back on Emergency Rescue Squad duty.
And because of what I did, it seems the human resources department found the suggestion to have me try an Emergency Rescue Squad mission one more time very persuasive.
‘Agent Bronze….’
He seemed to have tried to block it, but since it was something a rookie agent naturally had to do, he seems to have been outmatched….
“Wow~ Some Hubae is lucky. Getting to work with a team that perfectly fits his aptitude today~”
“…….”
Agent Choi stood before me, grinning and rubbing his palms together.
“Today, Hubae~ will be doing a very fulfilling 3-person regular rescue mission!”
Save me.
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