GSGW c264
Chapter 264
A Catastrophe-Level ghost story.
In the middle of the underground station in Segwang Special City, I came face to face with someone I never expected to see.
My mouth opened reflexively, barely managing a filtered form of address.
“…Goral?”
“Wait.”
Go Yeongeun, wrapped in a worn padded jacket, scanned the surroundings with tense eyes.
The same decaying casino scenery.
And then—
The dealer smiling brightly when our eyes met.
Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae’s head.
"......"
"......"
“This way.”
Go Yeongeun suddenly grabbed my arm and started running. I hurried after her—and realized something.
‘…Some are missing.’
Some of her fingers were only shaped with bandages.
A chilling thought crept in.
‘How long has she been in this casino?’
“Haah…”
She finally stopped in a corner of the slot machine room, next to a broken vending machine, and let go of my arm.
Only then did she speak.
“That dealer… that is Supervisor Dolphin, right? From the elite team.”
“Yes.”
“I knew it.”
Her expression darkened.
“I had a feeling. The way she spoke—it felt familiar…”
But then, with unavoidable tension and faint hope, she asked—
“Then… has the company taken control of this ghost story? Like… an entry route or a way to clear it…?”
I shook my head with difficulty.
“Assistant Manager Dolphin got caught up in this ghost story for personal reasons. I came in on my own as well.”
“…Ah.”
Her face fell.
After a brief silence, she continued.
“So she’s not Supervisor Dolphin anymore—Assistant Manager now.”
“…I heard she was promoted a few months ago.”
“A few months…”
She lowered her head.
“Time really has passed that quickly.”
“Goral.”
This wasn’t good.
“What exactly happened to you?”
“......"
She closed her mouth.
But then—why was someone who had been working normally at the Disaster Management Bureau here in Segwang Special City…
‘Wait… why have I never tried to find out what happened to Yeongeun…?’
A cold chill ran down my spine.
I should have looked into it at least once while at the Bureau—but I never even thought to.
The same symptom as when thinking about Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae.
Forgetting.
Something that happened to those trapped in Segwang Special City.
‘Damn it.’
…For a moment, I wondered if she might be a hallucination or some anomaly—but no. It really seemed to be her.
And there was only one plausible reason for her to be here, in the middle of an unrecognizable, sealed Catastrophe-Level supernatural disaster.
…Just one.
Something I had used too.
“Goral. After using a Wish Ticket… did you wake up here?”
"......"
She answered abruptly.
“I don’t know.”
“…What?”
“I mean… I did use a Wish Ticket. But here, I…”
Her face twisted in confusion, before she quickly steadied herself.
“No—that’s not important right now. How long have you been here?”
“In Segwang Special City?”
“No. This body casino.”
Keeping her gaze fixed on the missing persons clinging to the slot machines, she explained quickly.
“If you stay too long, your thinking starts to change—like a gambling addict. So you shouldn’t stay longer than a day. You have to leave, stay outside at least as long as you were inside, and then come back…”
“How do you know that?”
“That’s… something I should explain outside.”
She glanced again toward the casino entrance.
“If it’s just you, Roe Deer… it’s fine. There’s a shelter you can stay in.”
“….!"
“For now, it’s better to regroup there and then talk again about Assistant Manager Dolphin.”
‘A shelter?’
If something like that existed in the subway, that was a relief.
At the very least, it meant she had managed to survive.
But—
“I didn’t come alone.”
“…What?”
At that moment—
“Roe Deer.”
"...!"
She wasn’t the one called, but she flinched and turned around in shock.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon was already standing behind us, his reptilian face as expressionless as ever.
“Se-Section Chief?”
“Goral.”
Section Chief Lizard recognized her immediately.
And then came a barrage of questions.
“Has Daydream Inc.’s branch secured this Darkness and deployed you into it?”
“N-no…!?”
“Are you exploring of your own will?”
“No!”
“Have you currently lost more than 12% of your body?”
"......"
She hesitated, then answered with difficulty.
“…Yes.”
“I see. Take this.”
Without another word, Section Chief Lizard pulled something from his pocket.
A pale green liquid, shimmering like new sprouts.
“This is…”
Her expression changed the moment she saw it.
Daydream Inc.’s C-grade regeneration potion.
Section Chief Lee Jaheon held out the item provided by Ho Yuwon and gave a simple instruction.
“After consuming it, provide all information you have regarding the casino’s usage and environment.”
“…Understood.”
Unable to refuse, she extended her trembling, bandaged hand.
In that moment, through the gap in her padding, I caught sight of her ear.
‘…It’s gone.’
Her left ear was missing—only a bandaged void remained.
[How unfortunate. She paid with an ear at the exhibition too—it seems she’s grown accustomed.]
‘No…’
[Hm?]
Logically, it might have made sense to sacrifice a part she had already lost once—but being injured in the same place again could just as easily deepen trauma.
Perhaps because of that, her hand trembled as it moved to open the potion immediately—
“Wait.”
I stopped her.
“It might not work.”
“…What?!”
“Did you exchange your missing body parts here in the casino?”
“Not all of them, but… yes.”
"......"
In that case—
“You saw Assistant Manager Dolphin earlier, right? Her entire body was made of other people’s parts.”
“…Yes. Probably taken from people who pawned them here—…!”
Mid-sentence, realization dawned on her face.
That’s right.
“From what I saw, the body parts exchanged in this casino still function normally even after being taken away. Which means—”
I looked at Section Chief Lee Jaheon’s gloved hand, missing a ring finger.
“It’s not just the physical ‘flesh’ being traded. It’s the function itself being handed over to the casino.”
"......."
“There’s a high chance the regeneration potion won’t work properly… Even if the flesh regrows, the function might not return.”
At that moment—
As if confirming my deduction, a notification appeared on my phone.
Body Casino Coin Exchange Policy: All exchanges must be conducted by selling parts of one’s own body, and any body part sold in this process is permanently lost.
'...!'
Was this updating based on what I had just figured out?
Come to think of it, new pages had appeared before—when we entered the station, or when we checked the notices.
‘Like a game help menu…’
Anyway, I tore my eyes away from the smartphone and continued.
“I just wanted to warn you so you wouldn’t panic if the potion doesn’t work.”
That’s usually how the rules of a ghost story worked.
‘Unless something even stronger than this casino is interfering…’
It might not be as overwhelming as the Catastrophe-Level horror outside, but this casino was still a powerful and vicious ghost story in its own right.
In that sense, expecting a mere C-grade dream essence potion to work properly was probably wishful thinking.
“…Then, if it’s alright, could I hold onto the potion and use it at a better time?”
“Yes. Provide the information.”
“Of course.”
With a pale face, Go Yeongeun nodded quickly and tucked the bottle away.
Then she asked,
“Are just the two of you here?”
“There are more. Even in this room—”
Ah.
“Come to think of it, Section Chief, where’s Goat?”
“At the second row of slot machines, 14th position.”
Both our heads turned at once.
Sure enough, over there, Baek Saheon was standing by a machine, watching a missing person operate it.
He seemed to be analyzing the pattern using his eyes, or checking accumulated failed attempts—but he didn’t even glance our way.
“…Should I drag him over?”
“No! That’s fine. Um… then are there only three of you?”
“…Six in total.”
Right then, I spotted figures approaching from the slot machine room entrance.
“Assistant Manager Eun Haje and the agents.”
“Oh, so everyone’s here—”
Agent Choi raised a hand when he saw us—then froze when he noticed Go Yeongeun in her padded jacket.
The next moment—
“…Agent Peppermint.”
He recognized her.
Go Yeongeun instinctively tried to hide her face by pulling her hood lower, then seemed to give up and stayed still.
‘Ah…’
She must have tried to hide on reflex, afraid of being exposed as a spy—then realized it no longer mattered.
Two agents approached quickly, their expressions hardened.
“Why are you here…?”
“......"
“We heard you cut off contact after submitting your resignation. Then your official discharge notice came through…”
“I assume you already know I was a spy planted by Daydream Inc.?”
“…….!"
Agent Bronze’s eyes trembled as he looked at Agent Choi.
Agent Choi gave a bitter smile.
“I had my suspicions.”
"......"
“It’s fine. It wasn’t confirmed. You applied for resignation right after Grapes disappeared, so it just looked that way. And it’s not like you leaked anything critical anyway.”
“Then… if it’s not too much to ask…”
Go Yeongeun lifted her head and spoke stiffly.
“Could you share a way to escape this subway?”
"......"
“I just… can’t find a way out…”
…She must have assumed that since both Daydream Inc. employees and Disaster Management Bureau agents were here, they had already secured an escape method.
A reasonable conclusion. But—
“At present, there is none.”
“…What?”
Agent Bronze answered in a firm voice.
“We entered through a special method. We intend to return using a method unavailable to others.”
“Ah.”
I quickly cut in.
“But we’ll look for a way for you to get out, Agent Peppermint.”
“Of course we will.”
Agent Choi’s voice was steady—reliable. But—
“......"
“…No. Don’t worry about me for now.”
“….!"
Her voice was worn down.
“Do you know how many people are trapped in this subway alone? …If the Bureau could rescue them, they would have done it already.”
“......"
The agents’ faces stiffened.
Because it was the truth.
At present, there was no method for those physically trapped in Segwang Special City to escape.
“Still… I thought I’d ask. There are so many capable people here, so…”
Then, as if pushing away her fear, Go Yeongeun steadied herself and changed her tone.
“For now, you should focus on rescuing Assistant Manager Dolphin. …You’re trying because the escape method you can use would work on her too, right?”
“Yes.”
Section Chief Lee Jaheon answered immediately, and Agent Choi followed up gently.
“…Then do you know how she became a dealer? Even a small clue or theory would help.”
Go Yeongeun raised her hand and pointed.
“She was probably aiming for that.”
The banner.
Royal Casino Limited
Premium Item
Emergency Exit — 10,000 coins
That famous item that lets you leave anywhere! A high-end mobility solution for busy ■■ modern people, a luxury for the top 0.01%!
“That’s the only hope people see here. Countless people have gone after it.”
“......"
“…Including Agent Perppermint?”
“No.”
She paused, then continued.
“…When you see enough failed cases pile up, it becomes harder to try.”
Her gaze shifted toward the addicts filling the slot machine room.
“But it seems Assistant Manager Dolphin did try.”
“How do you know?”
“I heard rumors.”
From who?
However, Ms. Go Yeongeun continues her story.
A few days ago, there were rumors about someone new winning huge amounts of coins at the Body Casino…
“At first, they only exchanged coins for food and water. But one day, they exchanged another body part to get more coins—and then used that to win hundreds of coins in the dealer room in a single day.”
“…!!”
“So I came here to check. But by then…”
“By then?”
“They had already entered the VIP room.”
"......"
“They had earned over 1,000 coins.”
So she couldn’t confirm it then, and returned today. And—
“…You saw that person become a new dealer.”
“Yes.”
Assistant Manager Dolphin.
“Most likely, she lost everything in the VIP room. Or became severely contaminated.”
"......"
Then, after observing her carefully, Agent Choi spoke.
“We did find the rest of Dolphin’s body parts in the pawnshop display.”
"...!!"
“They were stored deeper inside, separately. No wonder they were hard to spot.”
“How many?”
“Hard to say exactly. But… elbow, hand, left foot—we confirmed those.”
I almost asked how he identified them, then remembered who he was.
‘He identified me just by the veins in my wrist.’
The same method could be applied to a Daydream Inc. employee he's been with for more than a day.
But—
“The parts stored deeper inside couldn’t be purchased individually. The notice said they’re ‘special items.’”
Special items.
Then—
My eyes met Agent Choi’s.
“Are they used in games in the VIP room?”
“…That’s very likely.”
After all, it seemed certain that Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae had lost most of her body in the VIP room and become a dealer.
Tension filled everyone’s faces.
In that case—
“If we want to restore her body as much as possible, we need to enter the VIP room.”
"......"
“That won’t be easy.”
Assistant Manager Eun Haje spoke, pulling a cigarette to her lips before putting it away again.
“First, we’d need to make 1,000 coins. And gambling… isn’t something you go into expecting to win.”
"......"
“That’s how people end up losing everything—houses, land, even signing away their bodies. You know that, right?”
Of course.
“But Assistant Manager Dolphin made over 1,000 coins in just a few days.”
"...!"
“And she was in a far worse condition than we are.”
Given her personality, she probably wasn’t a habitual gambler. Meaning—she wasn’t some skilled professional.
[Indeed, even for a talented gambler with luck, that would be difficult. Such an unnatural winning streak… oh.]
[Perhaps she added a bit of magical seasoning.]
Exactly.
“There must be another method—one that guarantees a high chance of winning.”
A way to exploit the loopholes in the ghost story’s rules.
That was exactly the kind of capability expected from an elite team member.
So—
“Let’s find that method first, build up 1,000 coins, and enter the VIP room.”
“…Yes.”
Tension settled over us.
At that moment—
BZZZZZT!!!
“...!"
We turned our heads.
A slot machine lit up, spewing lights and music.
A jackpot.
And the person sitting before it front of it, grabbing the coins and some 'prize' spewed out by the machine with an excited expression.
‘Baek Saheon!’
He had finally won.
But—
“…That.”
Every single person in the slot machine room turned to look at him.
And then they charged.
"...!!"
Baek Saheon frantically scooped everything into his arms, then locked eyes with me.
And without hesitation—he ran straight toward us.
‘Hey!!’
/tn. This reminds me of when he chased after Sol when he had the tape connected to the serial killer mountain lodge LOL
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