Chapter 66
Through the gap of my eyelids, the dim light made my eyes open involuntarily.
It was dazzling.
“…Wh, where am I?”
Han-sol was lying on the bed.
Riding on the rough iron-like sound flowing from her throat, the first thing that caught her sight was:
Pure white tiles and LED lighting.
How long had she been lying here. There was no strength in her body.
Her body was heavy.
She could barely move a single finger.
At best, all she could move was her eyeballs.
Han-sol slightly tilted her head, and the only new visual information she could capture was:
A woman wearing a black suit, looking down at her.
For a moment, it was like seeing the messenger of the underworld.
“It seems you’ve regained consciousness.”
The woman stared down at Han-sol.
“…….”
Although it was a face she had never seen before, Han-sol did not feel unfamiliar.
Rather, she felt familiarity first.
Perhaps it was because of the clothes the woman was wearing?
Lying on the bed, Han-sol barely moved her heavy lips and let out an iron-like sound.
And she put that word in her voice.
“…You’re from the agency, right?”
With Han-sol’s thin voice flowing out, the agency woman continued the conversation in a calm tone.
“You collapsed in front of our agency and lost consciousness. The treatment procedures are complete, so please do not worry.”
“……Thank you.”
They started with a brief greeting of thanks.
The agency woman was the first to lead the conversation.
Her voice tone sank even lower.
“I know this is not the right time to ask questions to someone lying in a hospital bed, but I would like to know… What did you see inside?”
“…….”
This person.
Already knows.
The fact that Han-sol herself entered a ghost story and came back alive.
Then.
There’s no need to hide.
Hiding would make things stranger.
As a minimum courtesy to those who treated her.
So, Han-sol first let out the word that came to her mind.
“……’Black Flame’.”
“?!”
“I saw a black flame inside.”
Her explanation continued after that.
The story of how the ghost story caught the ghost story and saved her as a human.
Even adding the fact that the power of the ghost story was overwhelmingly strong.
She carefully told the agency woman everything she remembered.
And the reaction of the agency side was:
With a pale complexion.
A gray shadow slowly descended on the woman’s face.
From the appearance of the agency person, who had turned into a dark complexion comparable to Han-sol’s startled look,
An anxious demeanor began to show.
She mumbled softly.
“…Quickly to the higher-ups….”
To her who seemed about to leave this place at any moment, Han-sol squeezed out her voice as much as possible.
And she said,
“Hey!”
At Han-sol’s voice, the woman’s attention was focused for a moment.
Han-sol did not miss this moment.
She squeezed her voice even more.
She put strength in her eyes.
“Could I… also work at the agency?”
“……Yes?”
It was a sudden request.
The female employee’s face was full of awkwardness at Han-sol’s unexpectedly sudden request.
The woman closed her mouth.
“Oh, that is….”
This was not something she could decide alone, not even being a Department head.
Tuk-
But at that moment.
With footsteps walking towards them.
“Are you Han-sol?”
A thick voice was heard.
A man with a sturdy build appeared and revealed his presence.
The first to react was the female employee.
“Ch, Department head Choi! What brings you here!”
“What could it be? I came to closely confirm something with Han-sol. You quickly go back and handle the pending work. If you want to leave on time today.”
“Yes, yes! Understood!”
As soon as Department head Choi’s words ended, the female employee hurriedly moved her steps.
For a moment, only silence remained in this space.
And the one who first broke that silence was:
Department head Choi.
“…You said you want to work at the agency?”
Did he hear her story?
Then.
The story Han-sol herself needed to bring up here was very simple.
“Yes, I definitely want to work in the agency….”
“Understood. I will convey this story to the upper management.”
“…….”
She was approved.
The story was concluded in an instant.
Because the story ended so quickly, a strange silence lingered in the air for a while.
But Department head Choi smiled a very kind smile and continued speaking calmly.
“We were going to suggest it first, but it seems we’re on the same page.”
An impression of being a good person was fully carried on his face.
Therefore,
She wanted to ask more.
Because the story was flowing smoothly in an unusual way.
He was obviously showing a different intention.
“…Though it’s not something the first person to bring it up should ask, may I ask the reason?”
There was no change in Department head Choi’s facial expression at Han-sol’s words.
He just quietly spat out his thoughts.
“…I can’t tell you everything, but for now, I can only say that it is related to the ‘Black Flame’ that Han-sol witnessed.”
“…….”
Han-sol heard that answer.
And closed her mouth.
It seemed that the reason the agency side was trying to pull her in was deeply related to this Black Flame.
But,
This was also what Han-sol wanted.
The Black Flame had uttered the name ‘Park Yeon-jeong’ from its own mouth at the time.
The ghost story that the name Park Yeon-jeong was mentioned from its mouth.
Park Yeon-jeong also heard this only as a story about how she was likely to be caught by the Black Flame Ghost Story.
It was a story about how the benefactor who saved her own life was in danger.
‘… This time, I will definitely repay that favor. Yeon-jeong.’
And this was also for Han-sol’s own revenge.
That cruel being who had used her as a meat shield.
That heinous individual who uses humans merely as tools, who is nothing more than harm itself by being alive.
‘I will definitely go and save them.’
While continuing this deep pledge to herself.
A person named Department head Choi, who had roughly finished his conversation with Han-sol herself, first moved his steps.
“If luck is on our side, I hope we meet again in the same workplace next time.”
He offered a brief farewell greeting.
With that short greeting, he leisurely left the hospital room.
Clack-
The hospital room door closed.
A quiet stillness arrived.
The face of a man who had been wearing a smile in front of Han-sol until now was completely covered with a black shadow created by backlighting.
A faint resonance flowed from within that darkness.
“… You again.”
Beep-
Along with the smartphone vibration passing through his trouser pocket.
Department head Choi brought the smartphone to his ear.
“Confirmed. This time too, it was that ‘Black Flame’ guy.”
-… Now, we can no longer… delay…
With the female voice coming through the speaker, Department head Choi implemented the established reporting system according to the procedure.
“Then… I will designate the ‘Black Flame Man’ as an upper ‘S-Grade’ from this moment.”
———=
/Ghost Story Journal
[Black Flame Man]
:Identification Code Cd-S-███
———=
… Thump!
!
With the trembling spreading through my body, I opened my eyes.
My body felt… lighter than expected.
The word ‘refreshed’ fit perfectly.
When my gaze fell on the surrounding environment after raising my upper body.
Splash-!
Water sound?
I was currently… sitting on a small wooden boat.
And completely alone.
Considering my two legs that flew towards the smiling mask are still perfectly attached,
This is.
Maybe…
Indeed that?
Samdo River.
I’m… dead.
This time, I’m definitely dead.
Without having time to put any other excuses in my mouth, it seemed I was definitely dead this time.
And before losing consciousness.
The last memory I have is.
Simultaneously spitting out a large amount of blood and the noise that brushed past my ears was the last thing.
I still feel like my ears are ringing.
But I definitely remember the last voice of the noise.
-Make sure to take notes! Employee Park Yeon-jeong.
I don’t know what to take notes about… but it happened anyway.
Mr. Noise, you died.
The memories we’ve built together, I don’t think I’ll forget.
Those memories…
In a good sense.
In a bad sense.
Anyway, let’s not get entangled in the next life.
… Absolutely not.
Wobble-.
On the small boat where the calm water surface rippled, my gaze turned to the surroundings again.
An endless lake and the thick fog floating above it.
That scene exuded an absolutely mysterious atmosphere. If it were a tourist spot, it would definitely have been very popular.
Well, the entrance condition is ‘you can only enter if you’re dead’, though.
Splash-!
Not long after, a surface that looked like a shore came into my sight.
The small boat slowly approached that surface.
Thud-
With a small collision.
It stopped right there.
The boat no longer wanted to move. As if telling me this was truly the destination.
But…
‘Can I really get off?’
It was a natural doubt.
A slight unease crept in.
No matter how much of a ‘ghost’ I had said goodbye to in this world, the fear that comes from something new never seems to change.
After blankly staring at the lush grass for a while.
Rustle-
?
In a space where it seemed no one would exist, a sound of stepping on the grass tickled my eardrum.
Rustle-
Moreover, that sound.
Was incredibly close.
The sound of footsteps was getting closer.
Someone was approaching Park Yeon-jeong himself. In normal circumstances, he would have already run away.
But he… waited.
It just seemed like his body was telling him to do so instinctively.
-Wait for those footsteps.
-Warmly welcome the one coming to find you.
It seemed to be saying that.
His body was too heavy.
He couldn’t move even a single step.
Rustle-
Stopping the footsteps.
The one who revealed their existence before his eyes.
Was truly an unexpected being.
A small child was standing there.
A slender girl child wearing a red robe was standing in the grass.
The robe’s length draped down to her ankles, covering half her face.
Through the gaps in the red robe, a slightly thin skin and brown-colored hair caught his eye second.
The mysterious girl child with large eyes was blankly staring at him on the boat.
… She smiled.
Not at anyone else.
Towards him on the boat.
A cold smile that absolutely could not come from a child spread across her pure white skin towards Park Yeon-jeong himself.
“Are you alone too?”
“…”
As the cold air flowing out quickly seeped into the ground.
The grass on the ground froze because of that cold air.
He closed his mouth.
For some reason, He felt he should.
With my mouth firmly closed, and no response coming.
Rustle-
The child in the red robe came closer to him, without hesitation grabbing his left wrist.
And again, a faint smile spread across her lips caught his sight.
“Let’s go.”
“Oh, no, I…”
The force with which the child pulled my left arm was not very strong.
I could have easily shaken it off.
I could have shaken it off right now.
But,
My body naturally followed that child.
As if my body was telling me to follow that child.
All my consciousness was telling me to follow the child before my eyes.
And we ran across that vast grassland.
Endlessly.
Boundlessly.
Heading into a space filled with thick fog.
And when the child’s thick lips fell again.
The child asked my name.
“What’s your name?”
“… My name is.”
In response to the child asking my name, I said:
“‘▓▓▓▓▓’ is my name.”
I don’t remember what I exactly said.
What did I say?
I just felt I needed to instinctively spit out this name.
Not any other name.
The name ‘▓▓▓▓▓’.
The child who heard my name.
Also told me her name.
This time, the voice did not have coldness.
Warmth was soaked in the voice.
The voice was truly…
Warm.
“My name is ‘Eve’.”
A very faint smile was carried in the voice of the child who introduced herself as Eve.
And we hid our bodies in the thick fog.
And soon.
The gradually thickening fog first swallowed the child before my eyes.
My consciousness also ended there.
It was not unpleasant.
Far from being unpleasant, it was just a sensation of falling into a deeper sleep once more.
Like that, I.
Closed my eyes again.
“Let’s meet again. ▓▓▓▓▓.”
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