Chapter 114: Pack Mule
A memory surfaced from my childhood, of watching a kids' movie.
It was about children entering a living house and exorcising the evil spirits within.
I remember how much it scared me back then.
But now, witnessing a living house actually swallowing people firsthand, I felt I was about to remember exactly why I had been so terrified back then.
"..."
The walls, and the people who had become lamps.
Yu Daon stepped up next to Eileen, who was walking ahead.
"I'll go with you."
"It might be dangerous."
"That's why I'm saying I should go with you."
Yu Daon smiled, clenched her fist, and lightly thumped her own chest. Thump.
"I usually walk at the front in the HR Team too, you know."
"Quite the lively one, aren't you?"
"Age-wise, shouldn't Eileen be the more lively one?"
Judging by Eileen's words, she seemed to be speaking as if she were in her forties, even though Yu Daon was the older one.
"..."
At my words, she stared straight at me.
"Are you making a dig about my age right now?"
"I'm not making a dig."
"Is that so?"
She let out a deep sigh.
"Sorry. It's just that there are so many jerks around me who keep making digs about me being young."
"No, it's... It's fine."
It felt strange hearing the word 'dig' from a blonde foreigner younger than me, but still.
"Who'd want to act like a petty superior when you're dealing with monsters or isolation objects?"
"I can relate to that."
Song A-rin chimed in, as if sympathizing with Eileen's sigh.
"Can't they just let us work? Why do they have to exhaust people with issues outside of work itself?"
"Does that happen often?"
"All the time. The stress from a job usually comes from people, you know, not the work itself."
Song A-rin sighed, and Eileen also nodded in agreement.
"Our Team Leader wasn't like that, though."
"That's because your Team Leader is unusually cool-headed."
"Besides, that guy has no ambition for power in the first place."
At my words, Song A-rin nodded and replied, and Eileen also nodded as if she understood.
So that was it. Team Leader just didn't have much interest in that sort of thing.
-Squeak, squeeeak...
We moved forward slowly, looking around. Lamps that didn't fit the modern building swayed.
Every time I focused my gaze on one:
[Name : WJDDBSALS]
[Age : X]
[Specialty : X]
[Talent : Absorption]
[Background : This is alive.]
[Weakness : Being alive means it can also be killed.]
They were all the same, only the names were different. The lamps merely revealed their presence.
If my guess was correct, those were people who had become furniture.
I turned my gaze to Yu Daon.
"Ms. Daon, I'm really sorry to ask, but..."
"Should I grab that lamp?"
"...How did you know?"
"Because you kept staring at it, Mr. Jae-heon."
Answering as if it were nothing, Yu Daon raised her hand, grabbed the lamp's handle, and immediately frowned with disgust.
"Eugh..."
"Is something wrong?"
"No. It's just..."
Yu Daon muttered, unable to smooth her furrowed brow.
"The texture is incredibly weird. It's like touching human flesh. The temperature too."
"...Should we put that in a safe place for now?"
First off, if those things end up being manipulated by the house's will and explode or attack us like before, it would be a big problem.
And besides, the people who became furniture aren't guilty of anything.
"A safe place..."
Yu Daon muttered, then walked briskly to the entrance and placed the lamp down.
"This should be good, right? In case we need to grab it and leave. Not sure if we'll call for backup or not."
"Backup..."
The backup that was easiest to call and wouldn't cause trouble if called.
I immediately opened my smartphone and made a call.
"What."
After a short ringtone, Team Leader's blunt voice echoed in my ear, and I immediately explained the whole situation to him.
"Ah, shit, and you want me out of this pl-"
"It's an orphanage, and there seem to be children too, Team Leader. I'd appreciate your help."
"...I'll try to get there as soon as possible."
At my words, Team Leader sighed and said only that before hanging up.
"Team Leader said he'd take a look, so it should be fine."
If nothing else, he was incredibly good at looking after himself, so he'd handle it well.
"Ms. Song A-rin, there really are living people here, right?"
"...Yeah."
Song A-rin closed her eyes, concentrated, and then nodded.
"Not a jumbled emotion, but pure terror. That's an emotion only a person with an intact mind can produce."
"Then let's hurry a bit more."
And so, we advanced a little further into the darkness.
*
"I can feel it inside here too."
In front of a door marked 'Room 101', Song A-rin muttered with a serious expression and looked at me.
"Mr. Jae-heon, can you see anything?"
Yu Daon, holding the doorknob, looked at me.
"..."
I focused and stared at the door, but seeing nothing special, I shook my head. Yu Daon immediately pushed the door open.
-Squeak...
As soon as the door opened, with the sound of rapid footsteps, patpatpat, a person stood blocking our way, arms spread wide.
She looked about high school age. Had she just gotten out of school? She was wearing a school uniform, and her black hair, characterized by pink highlights, fell to her shoulders.
Her eyes shone with a strange blue light, and with those eyes wide open, she was glaring at me.
"Unnie!"
When I looked behind her, I saw young children looking at us with worried expressions.
"..."
A semi-transparent window floated above her head.
[Name : Park Ye-eun]
[Age : 17]
[Specialty : Pack Mule]
[Talent : - ]
[Background : After losing her mother in a traffic accident and her father in a certain incident, she found herself in the Management Bureau's orphanage when she came to her senses.]
[Weakness : She is an ordinary human. Stab a vital point and she will die.]
"..."
Park Ye-eun.
So this student was Park Ye-eun.
As I kept looking above her head, she stared straight at me and opened her mouth.
"Who are you?"
"Uh, well, you see..."
How should I explain the Management Bureau?
"Well... um, we came to rescue you..."
"The Management Bureau?"
For a moment, I wondered how this kid knew about the Management Bureau, but then I remembered she said the man from Gangseo University Hospital saved her, so she must know about it.
"...That's right."
Only then did her face relax.
"Kids, this man says he came to rescue us."
'Man'? I'm still in my twenties.
"Really?"
"Uh, uh-huh. That's right."
Hope filled the children's expressions.
"Can we get out now?"
"Of course you can."
I spoke kindly to the children, and Park Ye-eun looked at me.
"This place suddenly became weird."
"Became weird, how?"
"Suddenly the walls came to life... The teachers were evacuating us when they got caught. Didn't something happen to you on your way here?"
"We came here without any trouble, perfectly fine."
"That's strange..."
Park Ye-eun muttered as if intrigued, then raised her head to look at me.
"I'd like to get the children out first, if possible..."
"That's the right call."
As long as we don't know what might happen here, we can't stay in this place recklessly for long.
"...You came to rescue the children now, right?"
"Yes."
Well, strictly speaking, we also came to capture someone.
"There are still more children in the back. The teachers said they were moving the children to a safe room earlier... I think we should head there first."
"It might be dangerous."
"It's okay. I, well, um. I have my own methods."
She hemmed and hawed several times, and I recalled the phrase 'Pack Mule' I had seen earlier.
I had no clue what it meant.
"Alright. In that case... someone needs to escort the children."
According to Park Ye-eun, we can't just send the children alone. We need someone who can escort them well and also respond effectively if something goes wrong.
"Ms. Chae-yeon. Team Leader will probably be outside, so please take the children to him. If it's not dangerous, please rejoin us."
"Got it."
As if she had predicted her name would be called, Jang Chae-yeon nodded and looked at the children.
"I'll take you."
"Thank you, pretty unnie!"
The children bowed their heads and greeted her.
Why is Jang Chae-yeon 'unnie' and I'm 'mister'? Despite my sense of injustice, Jang Chae-yeon wore a faint smile and gestured for the children to follow her.
"Then, be careful."
"It's fine. There are still three of you left."
"Even so."
"Don't worry."
Waving her hand, Jang Chae-yeon headed in the opposite direction with the children.
"It's this way."
After watching the children disappear, Park Ye-eun stretched out her hand and began to guide the way.
"Let me tell you what happened first."
"Okay."
At my words, Park Ye-eun took a breath and opened her mouth.
"We heard from the director that a guest had suddenly arrived. Then this place suddenly started feeling cramped... The walls started grabbing and swallowing people, and the teachers ran away with the children."
"Suddenly?"
"Yeah, if I had to say... I heard he brought some kind of pinwheel."
"That pinwheel must be the problem."
"First, let's check the safe room. The teacher said that place is relatively safe."
The remaining people nodded, and Park Ye-eun took the lead and started walking.
"...You are from the Management Bureau, right?"
"That's right."
"What's good about being in the Management Bureau?"
"What's good about it?"
How should I explain?
While I was choosing my words, she spoke up.
"I want to join the Management Bureau too."
Park Ye-eun walked beside me and muttered.
"My dad saved me and disappeared, and I heard later that place was Gangseo University Hospital."
"I see–"
"And I heard. That my dad died there."
"...I see."
"I want to join the Management Bureau and get revenge."
"..."
What should I say here?
While I was pondering, a path piled high with junk came into view.
Junk piled up enough to block an entire wall.
"...A barricade?"
From what? And how did they pile up so much in such a short time?
As I looked at the barricade with a face full of questions, Park Ye-eun, with a grunt, rolled up her sleeves.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to move this."
"How do you know who piled this up?"
"I piled it up myself?"
"...Did you have a lot of time?"
"Ah..."
At my words, Park Ye-eun made an embarrassed face, cleared her throat, and looked at us.
"Don't tell anyone about this."
-Crack!
A strange sound came from her slender, rolled-up arms, and then,
"Hup!"
Park Ye-eun lifted the pile of junk with both hands and hoisted it onto her back.
Half the mountain of junk was transferred onto her back like a load.
"Grrn..."
Then, like a woodcutter carrying a load of firewood, the heap of junk rested on her back.
"...I, uh, found out I can carry loads like this?"
The dissonance of a high school girl, years younger than me, looking at me while carrying a mountain of luggage.
Park Ye-eun. She was literally a Pack Mule.