The group chat for Agents that Ms. Go Yeongeun showed me left a massive shock and a profound realization in its wake.
‘No wonder Agent Choi sent me to work with the New Investigation Unit so easily.’
Was it because my transfer to Hyunmoo Team 1 was already set in stone?
The consideration Agent Bronze showed by sending me to Ms. Go Yeongeun’s team today—was that also because today was my last day before heading to the Emergency Rescue Squad…!
‘This is unfair….’
No, if you only look at what’s on the surface, wasn’t the Singularity Agent Grapes created just a case of me being stubborn about staying one more day and getting infected while taking care of the kids?
That’s why I was feeling relieved, but apparently, since a Supernatural Disaster that had barely been undergoing regular rescue was suddenly terminated, and I was the only variable, I must have stuck out like a sore thumb.
And if that variable’s nickname is ‘King of Destruction Newbie’… has my image already been ruined?
It has!
‘Sigh.’
“…….”
“Um… Soleum? Are you okay?”
I nodded my head.
However, since I probably didn’t look very well, Ms. Go Yeongeun had a slightly worried look in her eyes.
‘It’ll be weird if I keep acting like this….’
I need to pull myself together before she finds out I’m a scaredy-cat.
I tried my best to act nonchalant and spoke in a calm, slightly regretful tone.
“The Emergency Rescue Squad is certainly a good team, but since I’m someone who’s better at paperwork than field work… I was a little taken aback.”
“…….”
“Yeongeun?”
“Um, well, yes….”
For some reason, Ms. Go Yeongeun’s gaze seemed to turn murky.
But in the very next moment, she began to speak words of comfort. It must have been my imagination.
“Well, looking at the big picture, it might actually be better. After all, to each team, one…!”
…?
The employee in front of me stopped speaking unnaturally.
Then she pressed the back of her hand.
The spot where Director Ho had placed a Binding Restriction.
“……!”
Someone is listening.
Pretending to have left their seat, someone in this office is listening to the conversation of the rookies.
I locked eyes with Ms. Go Yeongeun.
‘I mustn’t panic.’
Yeongeun was probably about to say something like, ‘Since one was assigned to each team, the balance is good.’
I naturally picked up the conversation.
“Yes. Every team has its strengths, so even if I… end up going to the Emergency Rescue Squad like this, I’ll work hard.”
“Yes. Let’s do our best…!”
Fortunately, the conversation ended naturally.
We both raised our hands and struck a ‘fighting’ pose like fresh-faced rookies.
Afterward, the topic naturally shifted back as Yeongeun introduced the work of ‘New Investigation Unit Baekho Team 2.’
‘Whew.’
Later. We ended up having to act as surprised as possible when we saw an Agent yawn and stand up from under a desk in a corner of the office.
“A-Agent?”
“Ah, sorry. I meant to just close my eyes for a bit… You’re the rookie too, right? You two are already close. Do well. I’m off today, so… yawn.”
“Yes. Thank you!”
After casting a warm gaze at us, the Agent left the office. I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.
‘Nothing was caught.’
Rather than eavesdropping… it seemed like they were just curious about the rookies and were listening in absentmindedly to see if there was anything they could help with. Regardless, it was true that I had to be more careful.
‘…Director Ho’s Binding Restriction did end up being helpful.’
Ms. Go Yeongeun and I didn’t utter a single word about the related topic after that and focused on the PC setup. Not long after, the other Agents returned from their field assignments.
“We’re back, Yeongeun!”
“Team leader.”
I ended up greeting them while standing next to Ms. Go Yeongeun.
The Team leader of Baekho Team 2 had a very jovial impression, and he chuckled heartily when he saw me.
“Ah, so this is the… um, new employee!”
“…….”
Did he… just hesitate because he was about to call me the King of Destruction?
If these people were all in that group chat, it might have already become an irreversible nickname.
‘Sigh….’
I never thought I’d say this, but I think I was less embarrassed when I was a supervisor in Daydream….
“You just returned from rescue duty the day before yesterday. I heard you did a great job. Today, just stay here without any trouble and see, ‘Oh, so this is what Team Baekho does,’ before you leave. Got it?”
“…Thank you.”
I almost ruined the character I had established.
I bowed my head deeply, pretending to be timid, and suppressed the urge to give a crazy MZ-style response like I did during Daydream….
“Now, now. You can work next to Agent Peppermint today!”
And so, I sat in the seat of an Agent who was said to be off today and received a short business briefing from Ms. Go Yeongeun.
Whew.
“The task you’ll be doing today is a ghost story investigation… It’s not going out into the field, but working on the PC. It would be good if you could learn how to do the documentation afterward as well.”
“Um, are you the one teaching me, Agent Peppermint?”
“Yes. I’ve been handling this type of work a lot lately.”
Go Yeongeun added after a moment of hesitation.
“Well, ever since the Agent who went to the mart with me… um, acted impulsively, they’ve been giving me mostly paperwork-oriented tasks.”
Ah.
‘Since the rookie almost died because she was dragged in by a water ghost, did they separate her from field work for now?’
Of course, since Ms. Go Yeongeun is already a veteran of Daydream, it seems she quickly cut that Agent out of her mind and recovered….
‘They’ll probably return her to field work within a month here as well.’
In any case, if she kept handling the paperwork side like this, she might naturally gain access to the Management Bureau's secret archives in Gangwon-do at least once.
‘…I’m jealous.’
I wanted to take that route.
‘…No.’
It’s not too late.
‘I’ll make a proper appeal this time.’
Since it wasn’t a field deployment task, it was a perfect fit.
I’ll show them just how skilled I am at drafting ghost story-related documents…!
Especially.
The paperwork of the New Investigation Unit?
‘That’s tracking down ghost stories and writing them up.’
It was a job made for me.
I sat in front of the PC with a smirk.
“I’ll give it a try.”
So, the ghost story I had to track information on during my work hours today was….
[Do you know about the red clothes at Exit 4?]
A ghost story originating from an internet post.
The modern internet is nothing less than an incubator for urban legends.
All sorts of false rumors, hearsay, and ghost stories run rampant, spreading from mouth to mouth—no… from text to text, and beyond videos to videos, without being properly filtered for truth or lies.
That’s because people pull stories in directions that fit their own values.
In the direction they find most interesting, fun, and plausible.
And in the process of mutating and being regenerated, a few of those stories gain tremendous vitality.
Even though they clearly started from a lie.
For example….
Like this ghost story I’m investigating now.
[Do you know about the red clothes at Exit 4?]
Recently, eyewitness accounts of people seeing things like this next to subway station Exit 4 keep coming up.
(Photo)
Red clothes with the sleeves tied twice.
The condition is too clean to say they were thrown away, and the color is so eye-catching that it feels strange.
So there’s been a lot of talk about it being a sign for organ trafficking, someone being possessed by a ghost, the act of a crazy person, etc.
But it feels scary because it appears in too many places and feels like someone did it with a clear purpose.
I don’t know what the intention is, but the vibe is ominous. Testimonies of feeling sick or having nightmares after seeing it are also surfacing.
(Photo)
Has anyone here seen it too?
This was the most famous version that first appeared two months ago.
A ghost story about discovering something suspicious and eye-catching at subway Exit 4.
It’s an eyewitness account that combines the chill of encountering an everyday object in a bizarre way in an everyday space with the fear of the imagination.
It’s said that similar eyewitness accounts surged as it spread across all sorts of internet communities and SNS.
And now, two months later.
The urban legend has become a terror.
[Don’t touch the red clothes at Exit 4]
Testimonies that it’s bait for shamanic practices keep coming out.
They say it’s intended to make a ghost attach itself to the person who touches it.
-They made it red on purpose to lure people.. Please don’t touch it.
-Even getting close to it is probably dangerous. It looks like it’s for making a ghost mistake those clothes for yours. For people with weak spirits, just looking at it from up close can transfer bad energy.
-Just pass by pretending you didn’t see it. Don’t pay attention to it. There’s someone in the clothes.
-The sleeves being tied twice.. Ah, I have a bad feeling about this. If that’s the ritual I know, it’s not a method used by a typical shaman..
-That’s an object that shouldn’t be placed in crowded areas. Why would anyone do that? They’re going to get hit by a curse.
-If you tear the clothes open, hair or paper money will definitely come out. But you know you’re an idiot if you touch it to check, right? lol
This much is just what I found and screenshotted.
And decisively..
A person actually found hair and paper inside the clothes..
(Photo)
I don’t know what it is, but the vibe is really too strange. Everyone, be careful.
And this is the comment with the most upvotes.
-The person in that screenshot who checked the clothes is said to have gone missing..
└Is that for real?
└Crazy.
└It’s true. They said they sprinkled salt and did some kind of rite? in their own way. A post confirming all the salt burned up was uploaded, and there’s been no news since then.
└Huu ㅠㅠ
└F*ck, that’s terrifying lol
Even more brutal and chilling testimonies were revealed.
And the comment sections and quoted posts everywhere became a mess.
-I heard an obituary for the person who went missing was posted. Is this real?
-It’s that. The Wetuber who picked up the red clothes posted that they were hospitalized and kept having nightmares and asked for help.
-Fcking scary. Fck, can’t they find out who’s doing it?
-There are even shamans saying it might not be a person who’s leaving it there.
Reading this far makes it feel like a true ghost story with a truly chilling twist.
Red clothes are still being found at various subway entrances, and since there’s no room for public power to intervene, it’s the kind of ghost story where only those who know this fact live in constant fear, watching victims continue to emerge.
However, it doesn’t subside.
Because it’s currently ongoing.
-One more missing case added.. I think this needs to be reported.
-Red clothes found in places outside of Seoul too. (Photo) Is this a copycat or the real thing?
And people who used to consume horror stories on the internet with a bit of interest began to seek realistic methods as the bizarre and chilling nature of it felt more and more tangible.
Public power.
-Even if you report it to the police, they don’t really do anything. Honestly, it’s just clothes ㅠㅠ
And among the police, there are many who know what this is, so there’s an atmosphere of avoidance. They say it’s mostly the older police officers.
└We just don’t know, but there must have been quite a few cases like this since a long time ago.
Publicity.
-Can’t we tip off the news?
└I tried tipping them off, but it’s just treated as an internet hot topic at the end of the morning news. Even though I said there were actual missing persons, they treat me like an unemployed person making a fuss lol Ah lol
And even more realistic eyewitness accounts.
-I even talked to the Station Staff, but they said since it’s outside the exit, it’s not under the station’s jurisdiction. The day before yesterday, I saw them shouting and fighting with people. (Video)
-Someone was staring blankly at the red clothes and then collapsed. But no one helped, so an elderly person supported them and called an ambulance. What if something happens to that person too? I keep worrying..
-Stop taking pictures of the red clothes and uploading them to the internet. I think it has an effect indirectly too.
And finally, this internet urban legend flowed all the way into the Disaster Management Bureau.
Of course, most of these internet ghost stories are just stories created by coincidence, misunderstanding, and the ‘psychology of wanting to believe’ working together.
At first, it seems the Disaster Management Bureau approached it that way as well.
The problem was….
An Agent who witnessed the ‘Red Clothes at Exit 4’ attempted contact and sample collection.
Afterward, the Agent lost consciousness and was in a coma for five days. Symptoms of sleepwalking. The Dokkaebi Flame reacted hostiley. After regaining consciousness, the Agent repeatedly stated only the words, ‘I have to wear the red clothes.’
Afterward, the Agent jumped to their death.
They had confirmed that this ghost story was real.
Even all those rumors floating around the internet.
They were all true.
The Agent is in a stable condition after a memory partial erasure procedure. Currently hospitalized for treatment.
Discussion is underway to register ‘Red Clothes at Exit 4’ as a Supernatural Disaster. More case confirmations requested.
And thus, I, ‘Agent Grapes,’ was tasked with collecting various stories about these red clothes at Exit 4 from the internet….
In fact, registration is already a foregone conclusion, and they’re just asking me to pull more data from the internet that can support the registration.
It might be a bit eerie and scary, but compared to field work, it’s just a level of difficulty equivalent to reading ghost stories.
It’s truly a task for rookie training, a task to take a break.
But….
‘It would be a shame to end it there.’
Didn’t I clearly say?
I’m stronger at paperwork.
And… organizing an internet ghost story into a document?
‘This is truly my specialty.’
I’ll show you properly.
I placed my hands on the PC with a smirk.
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