Chapter 279: Guide
“Team Leader, where are we going?”
“Just follow me.”
The Team Leader started walking without another word, leading me along.
“Wait, what about the others?”
“Having those three along wouldn’t help. It’s not that they’re useless, it’s actually better if they’re not here.”
What kind of nonsense is that, really.
But the Team Leader’s expression was more serious than I’d expected, so I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
“Could you at least explain what this is about? It’s not dangerous, is it?”
“It’s not. Didn’t I stake my hair on it?”
We left the Management Bureau and headed for the underground parking lot. The Team Leader finally spoke.
“This is a story from when I was young.”
“Okay.”
“I was a Management Bureau employee back then too.”
“I see.”
I looked at the Team Leader, whose hair was now more than half gone.
I wonder if the Team Leader was also in HR when he was young? Not much is known about his past. Even when he did talk, he only ever preached to me about the importance of marriage and the happiness of having children.
“When I was young, the inside of the Management Bureau was breached once.”
“That happens every day.”
Has there ever been a time when the inside of the Bureau wasn’t breached? It’d be quicker to find a safe day.
As I nodded along to the Team Leader’s words, he looked at me.
“Anyway, there’s someone I owe a favor to from back then, and that guy asked for help.”
“Then why don’t we all go together, or maybe get help from some other people?”
Or what, is there some reason you can’t get help?
I’ve done similar things myself.
“…”
Without a word, the Team Leader held out his hand to me.
Thinking he wanted to shake hands, I reached out, but he slapped my hand away with a smack and sighed, tsk.
“Your gun, give me your gun.”
“No, Team Leader, you should bring your own gun.”
Getting a gun at the Management Bureau is easier than buying coffee, why are you trying to take someone else’s?
“It’s not for me to use, I’m telling you to leave it behind.”
“…Seriously?”
You’re telling me to leave my weapon behind right now?
“That’s a bit…”
“Just trust me.”
The Team Leader looked at me with a earnest expression and nodded.
“…”
Reluctantly, I handed my gun to the Team Leader. He threw it into a trash can.
With a thump!, the gun landed inside the bin.
“Jae-heon, do you happen to know any martial arts or something?”
“No.”
“Then what about hypnosis, or telekinesis, or killing people with your eyes, anything like that?”
“No.”
“So without a gun, you’re nothing, huh? Good.”
The Team Leader smiled a satisfied smile.
It stung my pride oddly.
“No, what is this about? Huh?”
“You’ll find out when we get there.”
The Team Leader nodded.
“It’s a residence that changes based on theæ¦å you personally possess.”
“Is it some kind of customized test?”
“It’s not a test, we just need to go find something hidden in there.”
“What is it? Team Leader, you’re not secretly doing something behind the Bureau’s back, are you?”
“I said no. Get in.”
The Team Leader sighed, opening the car door. A bright greeting sounded from inside.
“Oh, Oppa!”
Park Ye-eun was waving her hand with a smile.
“…You brought Ye-eun too? What are you planning to steal?”
“The place has a lot of stuff.”
“I had a feeling Oppa would come! The Team Leader asked me if I couldn’t fight.”
Do I really need to learn martial arts?
“What about the other three?”
“They were making a fuss about something with a flashlight?”
“What were they saying?”
“Why would I listen to that? Just asking to get scolded?”
Park Ye-eun grinned brightly as she looked at me.
“Yeah, good job.”
“Wear your seatbelts properly. Especially you, Park Ye-eun. You need to wear it well.”
The Team Leader said this and started the car.
Soon, with a powerful engine sound, the car started moving.
“Team Leader. If you’re going to hide something, you can hide it completely, and if the Management Bureau puts its mind to it, it can find anything, right? Just tell us straight.”
“…”
Without a word, the Team Leader drove, then looked at me sitting in the passenger seat.
“You’ve seen the things in the Management Bureau basement, right?”
“The isolation objects?”
“Yeah.”
The Team Leader nodded.
“But haven’t you ever thought it was strange?”
“What about?”
“There aren’t that many tool-type ones, are there?”
“…”
Well, that’s true.
In fact, the only tool-type isolation object I’d used was the butane gas canister.
“There’s a place where those tool-type isolation objects are gathered.”
“I understand.”
There’s a place where tool-type isolation objects are gathered. That makes sense. It’s a bit concerning that I didn’t know about it, though.
“Then why are we going there to find a person?”
“My friend is trapped there.”
“Huh?”
“You need a ticket to get out, and he says he dropped his.”
“Can’t you just tell the branch?”
“If they find out he lost it again, it’s dismissal.”
How many times has he lost it?
The Team Leader sighed and looked at me.
“Anyway, that place is… um. Only people with weakæ¦å can go. That’s why I’m only taking you two.”
Well. Jang Chae-yeon, Yu Daon, Song A-rin… even if we say she’s a bit iffy, they could be perceived as dangerous.
“Then it’s okay for me to go, right?”
“I guess so. I got a bit creeped out thinking about taking anyone else, but since it’s not like that with you and Ye-eun, I’m taking you.”
If the Team Leader vouches for its safety, it’s somewhat believable.
The car, which had been driving through the city center, entered an alleyway and soon stopped in front of a shabby building.
In front of the not-too-large building, ‘Ma’s Pawnshop’ was written in large letters.
“This is one of the entrances.”
The Team Leader muttered as he got out of the car, and I also got out, holding the manual.
“It’s okay to bring the manual, right?”
“I carried it around and was fine.”
If the Team Leader says he was fine, it should be okay…
I stared intently at the manual in my hand.
Will it really be okay?
-Chwararak!
As if reading my mind, the manual opened.
[Manual for Office Workers]
[PMB - Manual’s Scope of Use]
1. The manual can enter all Management Bureau facilities.
2. The same applies to the personnel carrying this manual. Please enjoy your exploration of the Management Bureau within the scope of your guaranteed safety.
3. If a guide should visit, please welcome them happily.
So it says. But what’s a guide?
Holding the manual, I followed the Team Leader and Park Ye-eun. The Team Leader stopped in front of an elevator.
“Let’s see…”
The Team Leader frowned and muttered, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket.
“Ahem, ahem.”
After reading it, the Team Leader pressed a bell-shaped button. Simultaneously, a Beee-! sound rang out, followed only by a crackling static noise.
“On the third floor, a family lives; on this floor, a lonely one lives. And on the first floor, we live.”
After the Team Leader cleared his throat and spoke, the elevator began to move. Park Ye-eun’s eyes sparkled as she looked around.
“Wow… Wowaah… It really feels like a secret organization.”
“It is a secret organization.”
She really acts like a kid at times like this.
I smiled a wry smile as I looked at Park Ye-eun, but when the elevator doors opened, I turned my gaze forward.
“Let’s see. How amazing…”
“…”
My words trailed off. Park Ye-eun also stared blankly at the corridor ahead.
A corridor that looked so old it made me wonder if I’d come to the wrong era stretched out before us.
“…Are we really in the right place?”
Park Ye-eun clung to my side, grabbing my arm. The Team Leader started walking as if it were nothing.
“Yeah, this is it.”
With every step the Team Leader took, a creaking sound echoed from the wooden floor.
“Why does this place feel so…”
“Old? Well, it was made a long time ago.”
The Team Leader shrugged in response to my question. At the same time, a creepy feeling made me look up.
“…”
Nothing was visible.
“Oppa, did you feel that just now?”
“Yeah.”
Park Ye-eun looked up at me, still holding my arm. I looked back at her and nodded.
“There’s something.”
“Yeah. There is something, but since you two are fine here, it’s okay.”
The Team Leader replied nonchalantly and began crisscrossing the corridor.
“Let’s see. Here it is.”
Soon, the Team Leader stopped in front of a wooden door, grabbed the handle, closed and opened his eyes, then roughly opened the door.
“…”
No one was there.
Only a single refrigerator stood there.
“…It’s cold.”
Park Ye-eun muttered, rubbing her arms.
She was right.
It was quite cold.
“…”
The Team Leader stared intently at the refrigerator, then turned his gaze to me and Park Ye-eun.
“You two wait in this corridor.”
“Huh?”
“I’m going to take a quick trip inside the refrigerator.”
At the Team Leader’s words, I looked at the refrigerator. Soon, a semi-transparent window appeared.
[Name: Refrigerator]
[Age: Created 23 years ago]
[Specialty: Confinement]
[Talent: Confinement]
[Background: They used this refrigerator when they ran away.]
[Weakness: Break it.]
While I was reading the semi-transparent window, the Team Leader opened the refrigerator door.
An abnormally strong chill swept into the room. The Team Leader stepped inside without hesitation.
“Wait in the corridor. If something unexpected happens, Jae-heon, you handle it.”
“Okay.”
“I’m going.”
The Team Leader disappeared into the refrigerator, leaving only me and Park Ye-eun behind.
“Let’s go out.”
He said to wait in the corridor, so there must be a reason.
I took Park Ye-eun out, and the two of us stood again in the dark corridor.
“Oppa.”
“Yeah.”
While leaning against the wall to kill time, Park Ye-eun looked at me.
“How’s company life?”
“Aren’t you my boss?”
What a strange question.
I looked at Park Ye-eun with a bemused expression. She gave an awkward smile.
“I don’t have anything particular to talk about… You already know all about me. But it also feels a bit weird for me to ask about you.”
I looked at Park Ye-eun.
Still a young kid. Yet a kid who’d been through so much.
She was the kind of kid who was better at giving up what she wanted than at saying what she wanted.
It was the same with Eileen. She’s a bit better now, but…
At times like this, what an adult should do is set.
“A kid your age already worrying about others. I’ll tell you a story from when I was young.”
“Oh, really?”
“There’s really nothing much.”
And so I began unpacking the bundle of stories for Park Ye-eun, starting from the Butterfly Dream Incident.
Park Ye-eun was a good audience.
During the dangerous parts of the story, she listened with wide eyes, fists clenched tight. When I told a fun story, she clapped her hands and laughed as if she found it entertaining.
“So anyway-”
-Squeeeak…
In the middle of me excitedly telling her about the Troupe Master, the sound of a door opening came from far down the corridor.
“…”
“…”
Park Ye-eun and I exchanged glances.
“Stay here.”
“L-Let’s go together.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“I’m scared of being alone…!”
Park Ye-eun gripped my arm tightly. With no choice, I took her with me as we walked down the corridor.
-Squeeeak…
-Squeeeak…
The sound of doors opening one by one grew closer.
I don’t even have a gun.
I bit my lip slightly. Park Ye-eun squeezed her eyes shut.
-Tap… tap…
Along with a sound like a small child walking, a small shadow appeared.
A light shone, and someone appeared.
“It’s me.”
A familiar voice rang in my ears.
Dark blue hair fluttered.
Standing before me was my Childhood Friend, looking exactly as she did when she was a child.
“They said to welcome the guide when she comes.”
She pouted her lips.