Chapter 67
Chapter 67
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 67
Chapter Title: Things I Can Do Near Home
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Things I can do near home.
I opened my eyes.
Still half-asleep, I turned on my phone while lying down.
I mindlessly scrolled through shorts, letting time slip by.
Then, arms crossed and staring blankly at the ceiling, the intercom suddenly rang.
“She’s here.”
I took the box inside and plopped down on the floor right there.
I ripped off the tape and pulled out the new game console I’d bought.
Now sitting in my chair.
I picked up right where my thoughts had left off from when I’d opened my eyes.
“…Mom’s birthday is in three days.”
I looked up, and the ceiling filled my view.
“Why did I say something like that?”
That thing I’d said back then.
‘I’ll buy you a full-course gift.’
Now the regrets were starting to pour in.
Gold necklace, Hanwoo set.
Each one was way beyond what my bank account could handle right now.
I casually turned on my phone and typed “Hanwoo set” into the search bar.
The decent-looking ones were mostly in the 200,000 to 300,000 won range.
If I sell a few carrots, I might manage this somehow.
The problem was—
The next hurdle was maou-level.
‘3.75g for 700,000 won…’
I stared at the number on the screen and let out a hollow laugh.
“It’s more expensive than my game console.”
If I think of it as one Hanwoo set per gram, it lines up roughly.
I had no idea how much gold the necklace would take, but it sure wouldn’t be cheap.
I opened the stock app.
The graph moved sluggishly.
[NovelP A] : +1.34%
I didn’t know much when I first started trading stocks.
But they don’t sell the moment you decide to sell.
And even when they do sell, the money doesn’t come in right away.
At first, even with the money there, I had to wait a week to get paid.
…And by the end of that week, the birthday would be over.
I glanced sideways—
My gaze drifted to the side.
A black suit hanging on the clothes rack.
[Black Suit]
[Description: A suit infused with warmth]
[Ability: Temperature regulation and self-repair are imbued within.]
An item I’d gotten as a reward from the last anomaly.
It still carried those memories from back then.
But reality is always harsh.
I muttered without thinking.
“That thing… I wonder if I could sell it.”
Kang Su-ji or Kim Sera might know something.
They’ve got wide connections in the anomaly world.
***
Anomaly Gallery Moderator.
Han Se-rim scanned the team members lined up in front of her, roster in hand.
“You’ve all properly prepared for the anomaly, right?”
It was a procedural question.
Just a formality check.
Instead of the immediate “Yes” or “Sure” that should have come back, an odd silence filled the hall.
No one met the Moderator’s eyes.
They turned their heads slightly or looked away.
“Mm…”
“Er-um…”
“Ahem… hrrm.”
Forced coughs echoed awkwardly.
And that wasn’t the only weird thing.
Every single one of them had exhaustion etched on their faces.
Dark circles hung heavy under eyes that blinked sluggishly.
As if they’d pulled an all-nighter doing something.
“…You. Information Junkie—no, Park Sihun. You tell me. Consumables… we have them, right?”
Her words wavered at the end.
Less a question, more a sense of foreboding.
In the tension like a gun aimed at his head, Information Junkie’s shoulders twitched.
He dodged her gaze every which way—
Until finally, he locked eyes with Han Se-rim right in front of him.
Information Junkie’s throat stiffened.
The sound of him swallowing hard rang out loud.
“…The truth is…”
Her eyebrow arched slightly.
“The truth is?”
“As it turns out…”
“As it turns out?”
Quiet repetition.
The suffocating air clung tight.
Information Junkie finally spat it out.
It wasn’t a lie.
“There was someone who seemed desperately in need of anomaly coins yesterday, so…”
A moment of silence.
Then a slow smile spread across Han Se-rim’s face.
Information Junkie felt a faint spark of hope at that smile.
‘Does she get it?’
But that was—
The calm before the storm.
As he started to relax, the Moderator’s lips parted slowly near his ear.
“Yooooouuuu idiot!! What kind of lunatic hands out anomaly coins just because someone ‘seems’ like they need them!!”
Her high-pitched yell tore through the hall.
Information Junkie flinched and tucked his head down tight.
“But… I don’t regret it. I thought they needed it, so I acted. I… yes. I stand by it.”
“Stand by it? Needed? You gave it away because they ‘seemed’ like they needed it? Who else would do somethi—"
That’s when it happened.
Awkward coughs erupted one after another around them.
“To be honest, Sihun mentioned it, but… I happened to have someone who really seemed to need anomaly coins too.”
“The 3rd Team Leader too? Me too. Honestly, that person’s eyes were just so desperate. I couldn’t not give it.”
One by one, excuses disguised as confessions chained together.
Han Se-rim’s eyes widened gradually.
And quietly, slowly—
She scanned the room.
Coughs echoed here and there.
And then, that’s when it happened.
Ding—
A short, sharp notification tone sliced through the air.
The silence shattered in an instant.
Everyone’s hands reflexively dove into their pockets.
And as if on cue.
Every head bowed at once.
Phone screens lit up the hall.
Information Junkie Park Sihun was no exception.
He checked the alert faster than anyone.
“Ah…”
The notification was bait.
[Title: Newb right now! Right now!!!]
—Posted by: Organism
I wonder what you’re up to right now lol
[Upvotes 1][Downvotes 341]
[Crazy Woman] : …I’m gonna kill you.
[Narita] : It’s already the 32nd time! If you were in front of me right now, I’d snap your neck with my bare hands!
[Information Junkie] : And you call yourself human? How could you bait Newb like that? Where’d you sell your manners—
As he typed out his furious comment.
Information Junkie Park Sihun’s face went deathly pale in an instant.
Manners?
…Come to think of it, he’d just been getting chewed out by the lab director moments ago.
And now, one alert rings, and he ignores his boss to check his phone?
This was uncovereable.
At minimum, a month of Han River coffee punishment.
Fancy calling it coffee.
It was just water flavored with coffee essence.
And every morning, the Moderator would brew it herself and hand it over.
She’d watch until he finished every last drop before heading back to the lab.
With trembling eyes, he cautiously lifted his head.
At the end of that gaze.
Stood the petite lab director.
But there.
Was no furious lab director.
Head bowed.
She was tapping away at her phone harder than anyone.
She looked just like…
A hamster desperately protecting its sunflower seeds.
No.
More than that—
Their eyes met for a split second.
They both froze solid.
The air felt like it flash-froze.
Those brief few seconds.
Felt bizarrely stretched, like minutes.
Soon, the Moderator’s hand moved like lightning.
Her phone vanished into her pocket.
Ahem.
A small cough escaped.
Then, awkwardly averting her gaze, she forced a calm voice.
“…Th-this time, there’s a reason… it couldn’t be helped.”
Han Se-rim sighed and continued.
“I’ll let it slide this once. No bad intentions. Don’t let it happen again.”
She closed the roster and looked up.
“And for the consumables… requisition them from the Management Bureau’s dedicated warehouse in my name. Of course, don’t forget to restock after using them.”
A brief silence.
She rolled her shoulders lightly.
“…Today’s emergency inspection ends here. I have business to attend to, so that’s it.”
With that, she vanished into the hallway.
Moments later, a text arrived.
[Chat ban has been lifted.]
The price of the secret.
Information Junkie had learned a secret he’d take to the grave.
***
Selling the suit was basically off the table.
Kang Su-ji said the procedures were way too complicated.
Registration, inspection, certification.
Those three words alone broke my resolve.
“…Better not to sell it.”
Laziness won out.
Instead.
I decided to look for a part-time job.
I’d been putting it off originally, worried about getting kidnapped like in that New Employee First Day Anomaly.
But after that day at the shaman’s house, my thinking completely changed.
The shaman said it too.
And remembering how I got swept into an anomaly right in front of my house like a kidnapping, I was convinced.
Whether inside the house or out, it made no difference.
Anomalies come to you—you can’t avoid them by hiding.
I immediately opened a job site and searched for part-time gigs.
No places that feed you.
Short-term only.
And things I could do near home.
I found two spots.
Convenience store part-time and cafe part-time.
I sent in resumes for both.
They said if I passed the interview, I could start right away.
***
Morning.
I sat at the breakfast table, took a bite of toast, and sipped coffee.
This was my last meal.
Out of habit, I opened the Anomaly Gallery.
To check the news too.
Going straight to the gallery right after escaping an anomaly felt off.
…Like some kind of cooldown period.
Once connected, the first thing that caught my eye was the sponsorship coins.
Similar to last time.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Sponsorship Details]
[Sponsored Coins] : 1210
[30% Fee] : -363
[Acquired Coins] : 847
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Cheers along with a flood of sponsorships.
Thinking back to that ‘spicy’ first time I entered the Anomaly Gallery.
Surprisingly, the people here aren’t so bad.
My gaze drifted down.
And, as always.
Below that was the vicious fee breakdown.
More than that.
I wondered if it was okay for these people to throw so much.
Sure, I get swept into anomalies often and earn, but.
Do others do the same?
No point dwelling on it.
This time, I didn’t leave a thank-you post.
Instead, I quietly muttered to myself, ‘I’ll use it gratefully,’ and dove into the gallery.
That’s when.
A notification pinged in my ear.
Private chat.
The sender was a familiar nickname.
[GambleBlack] : Ahem.
[GambleBlack] : Ahemmm!
You’re definitely using voice input for that.
I chuckled and replied.
[Newb120053] : You called?
I hadn’t built much connection with GambleBlack in the last loop.
It wasn’t a loop where I needed his help.
So it was natural to feel a bit distant.
We hadn’t even had a proper talk in this loop.
But it didn’t matter.
[GambleBlack] : You learn it living long enough. You just get a hunch about these things.
[GambleBlack] : But it’s weird.
[GambleBlack] : Why is it that even facing death, I don’t think you’ll die.
[GambleBlack] : Well then.
[GambleBlack] : As long as it’s not goodbye.
[GambleBlack] : You’ll always be my disciple.
…Memories can just be rebuilt.
The chat pinged then.
I blanked out for a second.
Just like last time.
The master-disciple bond was established the same.
Only.
The positions had swapped a bit.
[GambleBlack] : Master Do-shin!
[GambleBlack] : Please take this lowly one as your disciple!
…Master.
I think the roles have reversed.
“Ah.”
I looked down.
My toast had fallen to the floor.
I covered my face with my hand.
Gotta change clothes.
Butter everywhere.