Bailonz Street 13-Chapter 247.2

“Ready?” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

“Yepp!”

Hearing the team’s voices, Eun Haje lifted her hand toward her lips, then remembered she had no cigarette and lowered it.

The involuntary abstinence had been dragging on, but nothing was more pressing than the present situation.

We could actually die here.

Pooling together whatever they could monetize to at least attempt some plausible escape, they’d shoved it all into the kid’s hands when he said he ‘might have something’.

Amazingly, Kim Soleum had closed his eyes for a moment… and actually came back with something effective.

“This one definitely doesn’t borrow power from another numinous being~ Right, Bronze?”

“…Yes.”

And exquisitely spot-on, at that.

Even more surprising, after all that money and goods we’d scraped together from everyone, he returned them intact.

– I found another way to pay.

“……”

Whether that could be believed was something to ponder later. First, they had to escape before they could grill him.

“Then let’s move out.”

Now, with all discussion finished, the group set off toward the platform.

‘And the team lineup…’

Well, not bad.

All a bit of a hodgepodge, but still.

Holding the very rear was the surly-looking young man from the Disaster Management Bureau.

He’s called ‘Agent Bronze’, it seems.

Though Eun Haje teased those guys as geezers, this kid was actually a decent sort.

‘A bit straight-laced, but that tendency shows up in those who haven’t been soaked too long in society’s grime, and often means a good heart.’

His resentment toward Daydream is plain, yet he keeps it tamped down, maintains courtesy, even shows a measure of empathy. Standing at the back like this, he even gives off a whiff of public spirit.

‘And paired with him is Sir Highborn Civil Servant…’

Agent Choi.

He’s near the very front.

“Grapes-ie, careful.”

Playing it off as nonchalant, but you can tell. Being dropped into a high-grade ghost story tied to his own bureau, anxious with so many civilians to protect.

It’s also pretty obvious he’s trying to soothe and subtly steer the broadly neutral Kim Soleum.

‘He’s exactly like a detective offering carrots to a delinquent youth.’

No idea what kind of killer ‘spy persona’ Roe put together to get him that far, but for now Eun Haje was just watching. She and that guy were fellow smokers, after all.

And standing beside Agent Choi…

“Oh. The pollack’s working nicely.”

Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae.

As expected of a Daydream elite.

Slightly unhinged, but highly competent.

Eun Haje had a hunch that a single slip of the tongue could make that elite employee turn hostile on the spot, but she had too many years under her belt to overthink that kind of thing.

For now, she was being oddly friendly to everyone in the group.

Especially… to Kim Soleum.

“…….”

And Kim Soleum was standing at the very front of the group, holding the odd little carving he’d obtained, the evil-warding pollack talisman.

– I was told that this pollack woodblock will ward off ill fortune for anyone within five paces until it breaks. Since I bought it, I’ll carry it and move.

– Eyy~ Normally, with things like this…

– There is no ‘normally’. It’s my item.

– ……

‘This punk.’

The kid knew how to protect his own item.

It was also the kind of judgment typical of a competent person who finds it simpler to do it himself. Fastest-track promotion, A-grade Dream Essence extracted from irregular ghost stories. Of course, he hadn’t lost his edge.

Thus, with silk threads tied strand by strand around each finger as if he would never let go of the item, Kim Soleum moved through the fog.

And then.

‘…!’

As he walked between the trees, mold began to bloom on the evil-warding pollack swaying from his hand, as if it were rotting.

‘So that’s the sign that it’s starting to break?’

Once it was completely covered, the trees with hanged corpses would probably start drawing close again, or the bizarre hallucinations and voices would resume.

Its rate of decay was… faster than expected, but it still looked like it would hold out long enough to complete the ‘objective’.

Though it seemed worse because they’d poked at it earlier.

If they weren’t careful, someone might not make it back to the stairs in time this round.

Just then, when she resolved to hurry—

“Found it.”

“…!”

Under the protection of the evil-warding pollack, Agent Bronze, scanning the surroundings with the glass-like instrument that had finally begun to function, announced it.

‘Good.’

Familiar with subway layouts, they’d already marked candidate spots, but this was quicker than expected.

“Let’s move.”

The five of them moved in step, almost at a sprint along the shortest route.

Their target was…

“Over there.”

Transit card reloader.

– What do you think?

– Considering the lights are on and the announcements are playing without issue, I think anything that runs on electricity is likely still in operation.

And, just as they’d guessed.

Amazingly, the screens of the two transit card reload machines left like oddities among the trees were lit.

“…….”

She heard small, held breaths around them. Tense, Eun Haje reached out a hand.

‘Can’t very well make the guy holding the pollack do it.’

She wasn’t holding a transit card, though. In a ghost story, expecting the machine to connect to a card company and deduct money would be asking too much.

What they meant to use was a different function of the machine.

And, written right there in the nameplate above the unit…

Single-Use Ticket Vending · Card Reload Device

The issuance of single-use transit cards.

Five of them, to be exact.

Thuck.

Thuck.

Thuck.

Thankfully, the machine swallowed the bills they fed it and successfully spat out five single-use transit cards.

‘It had been a gamble whether it would take cash.’

And fortunately, the gamble paid off.

Eun Haje was the one who’d insisted, ‘There are no certainties here, so we’ve got to place a bet,’ with a bright grin.

“Let’s move quickly.”

As soon as she swept the change into her pocket just in case, the group quickly moved again at Agent Choi’s signal, who had already spotted their next destination.

The most important spot in this exploration.

The ticket gates.

“…….”

In the fog, several gates installed like randomly placed fixtures were likewise lit.

‘Huu.’

Eun Haje steadied her breath and thought it through.

With no supplies to speak of, how were they supposed to exorcise this fog-choked, insane concourse?

What the agents called a ‘closure’ was, at the moment, a hopeless goal.

So in the end they’d have to clear it in true Daydream fashion.

And a ‘clear’ means…

– Typically, clearing a ghost story means escaping from that location.

– Right.

– But we can’t go out there.

Because the odds were overwhelming that it was a hellscape. A full-blown annihilation-sanctioned ghost story.

However, since this place was a station, there was another way to depart…

– In the end, the only choice left is the train.

The subway.

– The train passed through without stopping. But there was definitely a condition then.

– …! It was because there were no passengers. Then perhaps…

– Correct, Agent Bronze.

“This side is the entrance.”

Agent Bronze spoke, having determined the entrance and exit direction of the turnstile. After a look passed between them, Agent Choi stepped up first and tapped his single-use card at the gate.

Dee-ring.

– Let’s see what happens if we’re counted as passengers.

Next, the rest of the group moved through the ticket gates as quickly as possible, one by one, each holding a transit card. When Kim Soleum, who was carrying the talisman, stepped forward, an almost complete silence fell.

And when everyone had tapped their cards and entered inside the gates.

♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪♪

A tune began to play.

An announcement.

It echoed from far away. From the platform.

The train is approaching.

“…….”

Passengers, please observe proper etiquette and board safely.

There was no announcement about passing without stopping.

Which meant…

“Run.”

The group bolted for the platform like mad.

Salt Goblin

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