WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Natty
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◈ How to Rewrite Ghost Stories ◈
Episode 40: Jangsalgot Submerged Site (2)
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[Assistant Manager, are you really sure you’re okay on your own? :(]
[I think it’d be better if we headed down there now. Please send us your location.]
My messenger went ping ping as worried messages from Section Chief Chae and Senior Associate Im poured in. Calming those two down was harder than planning an operation with the Corporation.
All that remained was dealing with the Jeweon County Governor and the event.
This was why the Ghost Story Records Corporation was needed.
‘So, could the Corporation cooperate as guides, safety officers, and fake residents?’
The event had to go ahead anyway, and the Corporation needed to monitor it too.
The Ansi unit would have to work in the area whether there were stranded people or not, whether the event went smoothly or not.
So there were people, there was a problem, and all they had to do was come up with a solution.
During the rehearsal the day before the event, they would deliberately trigger the Distortion.
The agents operating the sightseeing boat, the passengers, and the reporters would all be Corporation staff in disguise. They would resolve the problem cleanly through a Corporation recording operation, without a single stranded person.
The next day, they would wrap up an event with no problems and no ghost stories.
Everyone would be happy. Win-win.
‘Do you think the Corporation is your personal lackey? You’ve got some nerve.’
Mok Inha had looked ready to refuse with that fierce stare, but then broke into hearty laughter.
‘I like the operation. Don’t worry about that Jeweon County Governor. You just get your own work done.’
Apparently, the Corporation had all kinds of resources besides its cover title as the National Archives. Somehow, they had a no-bid service contract drawn up by the very next day, pushed it through in a flash, and confidently added Corporation staff to the contractor list.
That cut down on my work considerably. Jeweon County was providing the people, while the Corporation was providing the boat and equipment. It was practically a field assignment where I could coast without spending a cent on labor.
‘Coast? You call this coasting? Read all of this.’
Mok Inha copied the entire box of ghost stories and handed it to me. I had no reason to refuse. For someone starving for new ghost stories to collect, it was both a gold mine and an oasis.
‘At this rate, I might actually consider getting a job here.’
I even thought that for a moment.
Then, a few pages later, the gore photos started appearing one after another, and I changed my mind.
Wasn’t it only natural that ordinary people could never really get used to seeing corpses?
I had to squint as hard as I could and distract myself by telling myself it was part of a ghost story just to barely get through it as if I were watching a movie.
Even so, I was hopelessly weak when it came to real people.
‘Still, there won’t be any civilians this time.’
This was my chance to see with my own eyes how the Ghost Story Records Corporation, with all its impressive facilities and equipment, handled an operation. This time, maybe I could take it easy instead of running for my life.
The thought made my heart pound a little.
“Jaehyeon hyung!”
Black vans and trucks arrived one after another, and Choi Seongun was the first to jump out.
“Your clothes are a little different from last time.”
“Oh, those were regular clothes, and these are field uniforms. It’s my first time wearing one too... Does it look okay?”
“You look exactly like special forces.”
When I gave him a casual thumbs-up, Choi Seongun grinned. He really did look like a movie character, tall and slim in a black military-style uniform with an eyepatch.
“Where is everyone else?”
“They’re controlling the site. They told me to go ahead and observe the area first. How’s the water?”
“Could we swim across?”
Seeing the lowest water level and drought conditions that the news had been talking about every day was completely different in person. Not even mud remained on the cracked ground, which looked like a turtle’s shell.
‘That way is the new road, and that must be... the village entrance.’
I turned over the village photographs and maps from the Corporation archives, trying to judge the locations.
The village had fewer than a hundred households, so most of it had been paddies and fields. The house sites were not very large either.
“That’s strange.”
“What is?”
“The tree that should be there is gone.”
In the 1978 photograph, there was clearly a thick old tree beside the mountain path, on the low hill whose ridge began at the village entrance.
“...If someone cut it down, there should at least be a stump. Where did it go?”
“Could it have rotted away after being underwater for decades?”
Even then, the stump should not have vanished too. An odd uneasiness lingered in my mind.
‘It’s all because of that dream.’
A nightmare I had after seeing a horror video and an actual ghost. An indoor space that was somehow outdoors, where a huge tree shook with human heads hanging from it like gourds. There had definitely been writing carved into that tree...
“Ready to go in?”
When I turned around, a tall young man with the look of a delinquent smiled broadly and held out a hand.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Lee Gangrim from Haetae Section 1. Can I speak informally?”
Familiar faces appeared behind him. Seo Taegyeom, Section Chief Mok Inha, Officer Ryu Hyeon-u, the Ansi officer I had seen when my memory was erased, and even Section Chief Seon-u In.
“Is this some kind of entry operation where our lives will be in danger?”
“Of course not. There are more people staying outside. Only these two teams are going in.”
Seeing all the people I had only briefly run into before, dressed in matching black uniforms and carrying radios, batons, and other gear, did not make me feel reassured so much as intimidated.
“Right... Then let’s go over it one last time.”
Maybe because so much time had passed, only a small number of people had signed up to visit their hometown. The sightseeing boat was a small vessel with a capacity of thirty people.
“First, Seo Taegyeom and Ryu Hyeon-u will go ashore. Once they confirm there is nothing wrong, Lee Gangrim, Choi Seongun, and Seon Jaehyeon will enter.”
“The remaining personnel will prepare to record outside the site and stand by in case additional entry is needed.”
After the final check, Seo Taegyeom handed me a blue radio.
“I heard you have a goblin-fire lantern. Take this radio with you.”
“How do I use it?”
“If the goblin fire is lit, you can communicate with the relevant people even inside the Distortion.”
Now that I looked, blue light surrounded all the other people’s glossy black equipment. Flashlights, radios... What was that? A lightsaber?
“Cool, right?”
Maybe Lee Gangrim noticed where I was looking, because he curled his lips into a grin and waved the suspicious item. It looked halfway between a collapsible baton and a flashlight, its blue wick glowing.
“This is a goblin club that pours out gold bars every time you swing it.”
“...Really?”
“I’m kidding.”
My expression went flat. Lee Gangrim giggled again.
“Don’t be too disappointed. There are places where physical exorcism works, you know.”
“Enough small talk. Everyone, take your positions. We’re moving out.”
Seo Taegyeom left in a small boat with Ryu Hyeon-u. Those of us following behind would use the sightseeing boat intended for the actual event.
“Do physical exorcisms work on ghosts?”
“Hm? No. We don’t usually perform them. More often than not, it just makes things worse.”
“Then how do you prepare for threats inside a ghost story... a Distortion?”
“You’ll see this time!”
They could have just told me. Everyone around me had a talent for stopping halfway through an explanation. Then I would foolishly take the bait because it sounded interesting, only to end up stranded in the ghost story of my life.
[No abnormalities. The follow-up team may enter.]
Seo Taegyeom’s voice came through the radio with the all-clear.
“All right. Shall we go too?”
Lee Gangrim took hold of the sightseeing boat’s controls. With a dull vroom, the boat slowly cut through the water. Choi Seongun and I leaned near the rail, ready to jump overboard at any time.
“Hyung, it’ll still be a while before sunset, right?”
Choi Seongun asked out of nowhere. It was four in the afternoon.
“Right?”
“There wasn’t an eclipse forecast today, was there?”
“There wasn’t. Why?”
“Then what’s that?”
Choi Seongun pointed beyond the village, now bare of water. Something white was writhing there. What was it? A cloud? Fog? Or a kunekune?
‘Neither.’
It was too low to be a cloud, too dense to be fog. And it was moving like something alive.
Was it coming this way?
“Watch ahead!”
Lee Gangrim’s shout struck my ears like thunder. At almost the same moment, white smoke swept in and engulfed the boat.
A cold that chilled me to the bone slipped through my collar. Fog covered every direction, narrowing my vision until I could not make out even an inch ahead.
“Nobody move!”
The fog felt solid, pressing against my skin. Every breath filled me with the suffocating, acrid sensation of water being forced into my lungs.
When I opened my mouth, bubbles came out. Through the murky haze, I saw Choi Seongun stand and approach Lee Gangrim.
Bubble, bubble.
Bubbles popped a few more times. They were nearly silhouettes now. Lee Gangrim’s silhouette disappeared from the cockpit.
“Careful...”
Thud!
With a dull impact, the boat that had been pitching stopped. The sensation of water rolling beneath us vanished, replaced by the feeling of the boat striking solid ground.
The engine stopped, and silence flowed through the fog in an instant.
“...”
Before I could say anything, a hand covered my mouth. I could just barely make out Lee Gangrim.
‘Don’t move.’
I barely managed to read his lips and nodded. Lee Gangrim stepped back.
Ring...
Riiing...
A telephone rang beyond the thick water fog.
It was the sound of an ancient public telephone, one I had never had the chance to hear before.
The fog thickened with the sound. My entire body grew heavy, as if I were sinking into white jelly, and my mind slowly went blank. A whirlpool spun in my muffled ears. The unpleasant sensation of being twisted inside a massive washing machine covered my body.
Shhhhh...
The pressure in my ears gradually faded. The fog weighing down my body began to fall away.
“...Rain?”
Rain was pouring down as if a hole had opened in the sky.
“Section Chief Seo Taegyeom?”
The rain came down so hard that even a shout at the top of my lungs could not carry as an echo. Then it gradually softened into a drizzle.
“Officer Gangrim? Officer Hyeon-u, Mr. Seongun!”
Then I drew a short breath.
The boat leaned over with its stern lodged in the embankment of a rice paddy. Ahead, a well-packed new road stretched into the distance.
At the corner stood an old bus stop sign reading Jangsalgot Bus Stop. Beneath utility poles with only a few wires hanging from them was a public telephone booth with peeling paint.
Instead of the fishy freshwater smell of dried water weeds, pungent smoke from a wood-fired hearth stung my nose.
[A ghost story is materializing!]
[A ghost story registered in the Depth Gauge has been detected. Loading related records!]
[Identifying the keywords of ghost stories currently available for confirmation. Accessible keywords: #Jangsalgot #memories #water ghost #conflicting opinions #closed village #ritual offering #folk religion...]
My phone started buzzing on its own, corrected the time, and began loading the countless ghost story materials I had crammed into my head in the form of blog posts.
April 17, 1981, 11:16 a.m.
‘Should I say we went back in time?’
Or perhaps this place was a fictional space from a ghost story, preserved on this day in 1981.
But the air and every sensation felt vivid, and when I stepped onto the ground, the feel of the soil beneath my feet was exactly like reality. The only signs that this was not reality were that the two people who had come with me were gone, and...
“Hertz.”
“I’ve been waiting, partner.”
Clear old jazz and a gentle voice reached me.
“Squeak!”
“?”
The hedgehog that had been hanging quietly from my phone made a sound, stopped being a keychain, and crawled onto my hand.
“What? Are you something that only moves inside ghost stories too, like Hertz?”
But that wouldn’t do. I gently petted and coaxed the hedgehog a few times as it tried to crawl onto my head, then put it in my jacket’s front pocket.
The hedgehog made a few little motor-like noises, then poked only its snout out and went fwee fwee.
‘I can’t exactly walk around a rural village as some suspicious person wearing a hedgehog mask.’
When I rubbed my wrist, I could clearly feel the bracelet. Thinking about it now, people apparently could not see this jewelry in reality, which was a relief.
Otherwise, people might think I was walking around at my age wearing edgy middle-schooler accessories.
‘...First, I should find the others, right?’
Hoping the others were somewhere nearby, I started walking along the new road.
Footnotes:
Kunekune is a Japanese urban legend involving a distant, white, writhing figure seen in rural fields.
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