Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Transport Team (1)
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Park Sunja, the woman who called herself a White Tiger spy, had left words that cluttered my mind.
The warning that Dongto was suspicious weighed especially heavily on my heart.
In truth, the idea that Dongto was suspicious had crossed my mind in a corner of my thoughts.
Transport Team.
The structure that made it hard to meet other teams.
The item rental system.
"..."
It was hard to shake the thought that there might be something else behind Dongto.
Hiding my complicated expression as best I could, I entered the area where Team 15 was.
Perhaps because my face looked different from usual, Han Sora approached me first.
She looked at me with worried eyes and spoke.
"Minjun, is something wrong? You don't look so good. Did you... break something at the training ground? It's okay~ I won't make you pay for it."
Her words brought a slight smile to my face.
That nonchalant comfort was definitely soothing to me.
"It's nothing, just... a lot on my mind."
"Yeah? If you have any worries, feel free to tell me anytime!"
As I sat down, Park Sunja's proposal came back to mind.
'A transfer to White Tiger.'
If I told my team members right now that I'd been scouted for an office job at White Tiger, what reaction would they have?
Was there a sweeter offer than this for my current teammates?
Even bright-looking Han Sora, calm-looking Seo Ji-hyun, and our team leader.
I knew best of all that they were all actually quite fearful.
But White Tiger was still suspicious.
The negative rumors floating around the anonymous community Monster Gallery were too unsettling to dismiss as mere gossip.
And above all, the past Interrogating Slab incident.
I remembered it clearly because I had been there at the time.
The sight of that Team 12 employee who had driven the slab berserk, screaming that he'd been betrayed by White Tiger, wouldn't easily leave my mind.
What had happened to him?
When I saw him at the practical exam site not long ago, he had looked so nonchalant.
"What kind of punishment did he get..."
It was hard to understand logically that even after that Team 12 employee, who claimed to be a White Tiger spy, caused such a commotion inside Dongto, there were no real repercussions.
Maybe something had happened that I didn't know about?
In the end, I pulled out my smartphone.
Rahee might know what had happened to that Team 12 employee.
[Rahee, about that Team 12 guy who caused trouble with the slab before... what punishment did he get?]
I sent the concise message and waited for a reply with a short sigh.
Whether she was busy or not, quitting time came before her response.
My head buzzed with all sorts of thoughts the whole way out of the office and home.
As soon as I opened the front door with heavy steps, I rushed inside like someone seeking salvation.
"Leo!"
My one and only family, Leo, who had been dozing lazily on the bed, lifted his head.
I quickly reached out and stroked Leo's head with my palm.
Petting Leo brought a sense of calm that cleared my cluttered mind, if only for a moment.
As I stroked his soft fur, I whispered softly, as if confiding a secret.
"...Leo, is Daddy stronger than you think?"
As if understanding what I meant, Leo let out a low rumble from his throat and burrowed deeper into my arms.
Yeah, Leo's on my side after all.
I chuckled and continued.
"I've gotten over my fear of monsters a lot now... but now there's another problem..."
With a sigh, I poured out my worries about Dongto and White Tiger.
Scouting offer, the suspicious two companies. Leo just blinked up at me.
Of course he couldn't understand, but I felt like I had to vent something to feel better.
"Leo, which do you think is better? Dongto? Or White Tiger?"
I asked half-jokingly, but the moment I said "White Tiger," Leo let out a small growl.
As if answering. I burst out laughing in disbelief.
"...Because he's a fellow feline?"
Thanks to Leo's reaction, my troubled heart felt much lighter.
When things got tough, Leo was the best.
After regaining some mental stability, I finally checked my vibrating phone.
It was a reply from Rahee.
[Choi Employee? Doesn't seem any different from before. He's still on Team 12.]
'No change?'
I stared at the message, feeling a bit puzzled.
I had thought there would at least be some punishment or measure taken, even if not resignation.
To handle the commotion from someone who claimed to be a White Tiger spy so lightly—what was Dongto thinking?
Did they just let it slide once?
I pondered for a moment before sending another message to Rahee.
[Could you message him and ask if he'd meet with me?]
I wanted to talk to him directly.
After sending the text, a forgotten fact suddenly flashed through my mind.
One of the rewards from successfully completing the casino quest.
The mysterious reward that let me view all posts on Monster Gallery.
At the time, I had brushed it off as useless, but on a whim, I decided to search.
I jumped up and sat at the computer. I logged into Monster Gallery and typed the word that was bothering me most into the search bar.
[White Tiger]
Pressing enter brought up a similar screen as before.
Still, posts mixed with criticism and curses about White Tiger company. But looking closely, faint gray posts that I hadn't seen before were interspersed among them.
Each post title had a dim [Deleted] tag.
It seemed I could now see deleted posts too.
With trembling hands, I started clicking on the deleted ones.
But their content was quite different from what I'd expected. Contrary to the previous critical posts, most were talking about White Tiger's positive aspects.
[Deleted] White Tiger acceptance review! Prep was tough, but welfare is top-notch. Item support seems like the biggest perk.
[Deleted] As a newbie, my mentor takes good care of me, easy to adapt. Good atmosphere, and teams are divided finely for specialization—
[Deleted] Transferred from Dongto, it's definitely more systematic and better. Recommend.
Ordinary stories about a good company.
Employment success stories, job satisfaction reviews, that sort of thing.
"Why on earth?"
Why were these normal, positive posts deleted?
The critical ones were left intact, while only the good ones seemed selectively removed—it was unnatural no matter who looked at it.
I suspected someone was deliberately creating negative public opinion about White Tiger and blocking positive info.
Just then, my phone buzzed briefly. A new message from Rahee.
[He says he wants to meet and talk directly too. What should we do?]
He wanted to meet me? I hesitated for a moment, then made up my mind.
Meeting him might give me a clue to this confusing situation.
I replied to Rahee. We'd meet.
On the appointed day, I arrived at the cafe, the meeting place, with some tension.
The weekday daytime cafe was relatively quiet, and I spotted a man already seated at a table by the window.
It was Team 12's Choi Employee. When he saw me, he stood up and bowed politely.
"You're Kim Minjun, right? Thank you for coming."
As soon as we sat across from each other, Choi Employee bowed deeply again.
"Really... I'm sorry about that time. And... thank you so much. If it hadn't been for you, Kim Minjun, me and my teammates probably wouldn't have survived that day."
His voice carried sincere apology and gratitude.
I quietly accepted his apology and thanks.
Honestly, we had been in real danger because of him, so I deserved this apology.
So I made a proposal.
"I'd like you to answer the questions I'm about to ask honestly from now on."
"Yes, yes. Of course. Ask anything. I'll tell you everything I know."
Choi Employee let out a sigh of relief and nodded readily.
I got straight to the point.
"The slab incident—was it really on White Tiger's orders?"
At the mention of White Tiger, Choi Employee's eyes flickered for a moment.
He hesitated briefly, then slowly opened his mouth.
"Honestly... I'm not entirely sure. One day, I got an anonymous message. It said if I handed over Dongto internal info, they'd transfer me to White Tiger's marketing team as a reward. Making the slab go berserk was one of the instructions in that message. They didn't explicitly say they were White Tiger, but based on the circumstances... I just assumed it was them."
His answer was vague.
Far from the certainty of Park Sunja, who was convinced she belonged to White Tiger.
I moved to the next question.
"After that incident, what punishment did you get from Dongto?"
At my question, Choi Employee glanced around briefly and lowered his voice.
"This... I was strictly told not to tell anyone else... but I'll tell you, Kim Minjun. Actually, it wasn't a big punishment."
He smiled awkwardly and continued.
"Just once, tomorrow, I have to take on a scouting mission ahead of the Transport Team people to secure their safety. Recon the danger zone first. ...Though it's called a danger zone, from what I heard, it's already a safe place where no threats appear, so no need to bring items. It was so light, I was surprised too."
Choi Employee smiled faintly, but I couldn't.
Transport Team. The moment that word hit my ears, a chill ran down my spine.
The "safe" Transport Team from the underground hotel that I had foolishly joined in the past without knowing.
The one that was anything but safe despite the name, essentially just bait.
And the Dongto Transport Team that even my teammates, who had been at Dongto longer than me, had never heard of.
It had come out of Choi Employee's mouth.
Unlike Choi Employee, my expression grew more serious.
I pulled out my phone and, like before when I joined the Transport Team, searched for the part-time job.
"...It's there."
[Simple Loading/Unloading]
[Qualifications: Physically healthy individuals]
I found that familiar yet eerie job posting.
"Choi Employee."
"Yes?"
"Make sure to bring items."
Tomorrow happened to be my day off too.