Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Temporary Part-Timer at the Fixer Agency (2)
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Unruly, shaggy black hair and a wrinkled suit that looked like it hadn’t been washed in ages.
He was quite tall with a small head, so if you looked at each feature individually, you might even call him handsome.
But that impression was effortlessly shattered by his perpetually annoyed expression and half-lidded eyes.
If I had to describe him, he resembled a job seeker who had given up on self-care after a long string of rejections.
Or perhaps an idler who’d been fired and hadn’t worked in a long time.
Facing him, I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed inwardly.
‘The protagonist… I’ve run into him.’
It was truly bewildering.
I’d caused all that chaos in the underworld just to avoid getting entangled with the protagonist.
And yet, the place Greg had led me to, hand in hand, was none other than the protagonist’s agency?
This was as jarring as being told you’re going out for pork cutlets, only to end up at the dentist.
But perhaps that dazed moment was my last golden opportunity to escape.
While I was stammering in shock, I somehow found myself seated on the guest sofa in the fixer agency.
With Raven and Alice across from me and Greg by my side.
The tension was so thick it was making my stomach churn; I was surrounded.
“…So, you want me to take in this kid?”
“Mm. To summarize, yes, that’s about it.”
Greg explained to Raven why he’d shown up so suddenly in the morning.
He said that due to the events of last night’s Bloody Night, he had to go abroad for a while.
He was asking if I, who would otherwise be left to wander with nowhere to go, could work here in his stead.
The sentiment itself was touching.
To think he would go to such lengths for an employee who had been working for him for less than a week.
Of course, it was less about feeling any deep affection for me, whom he’d just met, and more about responsibly looking after someone who would have been left high and dry.
Even so, it was a kindness so great I could almost call him Dad.
If only the offer hadn’t been to work at the agency of the very people I was trying to avoid…
‘Aaargh…! But, when I think about it, there’s no other option!’
On reflection, I didn’t really have a choice.
I was an unidentified person with a masked face, an illegal resident with no ID.
On top of that, I had dangerous psychic powers, and though no one knew it, I was currently in possession of the Tesseract.
Unless I went back to some back alley, found the cloth I’d discarded, and resumed my activities as a ghost…
Finding a decent job was next to impossible… no, it was simply impossible.
The only feasible way forward was to work under Greg’s guarantee.
Rationally speaking, I had to seize this opportunity.
But perhaps there were several aspects he found disagreeable.
Raven scratched his head and shook it, looking troubled.
“Hey, this isn’t a daycare, you know. It’s a problem to take in a kid with nowhere to go.”
“To be precise, the request was to hire her as an employee.”
“That makes even less sense! Hiring a minor is a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act!”
“I think it’s a great idea! Oh, does that mean Yuria will be my junior?! Oh my!”
“Hey, who said we’re hiring her? We’re not done talking.”
Raven lightly chopped Alice on the head as her eyes sparkled.
He glanced at me, sitting on the sofa and darting my eyes around, then turned to Greg and asked.
“Do you really have to leave her here? There are plenty of other places to work. Um… even for a minor, if you explain the situation, I’m sure someone would take her.”
“There is a reason she must be entrusted to someone reliable. The truth is…”
At Raven’s question, Greg carefully revealed that I couldn’t speak, had to keep my face covered, and had no identification.
My qualifications were so overwhelmingly negative that I’d be instantly rejected at the document screening stage in any normal job market.
Raven’s expression soured in real-time as if to say, *What did I just hear?*
“Ah, so what you’re saying is… you want us to hire a minor who can’t speak, has to cover her face, and has no ID—a completely suspicious individual—as an employee?”
“Mm.”
“Are you kidding me! There’s no way that’s happening!”
“She’s a good kid.”
“‘She’s a good kid’ isn’t enough to just brush this off! How can I just accept someone when I don’t even know what she’s about!”
Ah, so it’s a no-go?
Like a child watching their parents fight, I held my breath and let my shoulders slump.
…Well, if he thinks it’s impossible, there’s nothing to be done.
I wasn’t really expecting much, to be honest.
Pleading emotionally to change someone’s mind about something impossible wasn’t my style.
Come to think of it, this was actually a good thing.
Getting involved with the protagonist’s crew, who get caught up in all sorts of incidents, was something I wanted to avoid in the first place.
Right. From now on, I’ll think of it as me being the one who refused.
I wasn’t rejected; I did the rejecting. See the difference?
“Ahem…”
“Jin, isn’t Mr. Greg trustworthy enough? I’m sure there’s a good reason. Let’s at least give her a chance.”
“Quiet. I’m not interested in getting tangled up in troublesome business.”
“Don’t you feel sorry for Yuria! Are you really okay with this poor child starving on the streets?! You cold-hearted man!”
“Whose side are you on?!”
As Greg, at a loss for words, fell silent, Alice suddenly jumped in to defend me.
She glanced at me and gave me a little wink, as if to say, *Right?*
I was a little touched by Alice’s sudden show of favor.
To be honest, my impression from meeting her in person was that she was a bit of a dangerous person.
But maybe it was okay to change my opinion of her a little.
“Wait, how do you even know her name?”
“We met once yesterday at Mr. Greg’s shop. Right, Yuria?”
“…!”
“Good grief…”
Raven seemed to realize that Alice’s strong insistence stemmed from her love for cute things and looked at her with an exasperated expression.
Then, he glanced back and forth between Greg and me before clicking his tongue lightly.
“Tsk, fine. Well… I can at least conduct an interview.”
“Thank you, Raven.”
“No, I’m not saying I’ll hire her right away. I need to know what she can do before I can decide whether to use her as a part-timer or not.”
Raven replied coldly to Greg, who was already thanking him.
His words carried a firm resolve to judge me by his own standards, no matter what anyone said.
Then, Raven, who hadn’t looked at me directly until now, faced me and asked.
“First… what’s your name?”
“Yuria.”
“How old are you?”
“That’s a secret.”
“…What are your special skills?”
“She has excellent calculation skills and is highly observant. She’s particularly good at sensing what a customer needs and bringing it before they even have to ask.”
“Experience… wait, why are you answering everything? Are you her guardian?”
Raven stared at Greg, who was answering the questions for me, with a look of disbelief.
It was the kind of look one gives an overbearing parent obsessed with their child.
But Greg answered his question confidently, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Because Yuria can’t speak. I was simply answering on her behalf to facilitate the process.”
“What’s the big deal! It’s your fault for asking questions that can’t be answered with a simple yes or no, Jin!”
“Haa… Fine, I get it. Both of you, just be quiet for a moment. I need to communicate with her directly.”
Putting pressure on Raven without me even saying a word!
Having Greg beside me and Alice diagonally across from me was incredibly reassuring.
But I couldn’t just sit back and rely on others forever.
You only know how well someone can ride a bike after the training wheels come off.
Thanks to the two of them, my nervousness had vanished somewhere, and I cracked a small smile under my mask.
I faced Raven, feeling much more at ease.
“Alright. If you were to work here, what exactly could you contribute?”
Raven asked with a rather serious expression.
It was a necessary question.
Greg’s request wasn’t for him to feed and house me for a month, but to hire me as an employee.
And to be treated as a paid employee, I naturally had to demonstrate my worth.
So, I had to prove what I, a mere child who couldn’t even speak, was capable of.
‘It would be simple if I showed them my psychokinesis… but that’s not an option.’
I had decided to draw a clear line between myself and Raven and Alice.
They were undoubtedly among the handful of genuinely good people in this city.
Raven, despite his demeanor, was a sucker who would offer his help and affection to anyone.
And Alice was just a kind person, like a puppy in human form.
All the more reason for us not to get entangled.
They were the protagonists who would have to struggle to solve the problems of the original story.
And I had my own issues to deal with, like my psychic powers and the Tesseract.
This was just a chance encounter, a connection that would last for about a month and then fade.
I had no intention of burdening them with my baggage.
Therefore, using my psychokinesis and creating unnecessary complications was a mistake.
I could accidentally reveal that I was the ghost Alice was looking for, leading to a complex situation.
‘In that case, my skills without psychokinesis… I guess this is the only thing.’
Having made my decision, I shot up from the sofa.
Then, giving Raven a look that said, *Watch me closely,* I did.
I scanned my surroundings and walked over to a large pot in the corner of the reception room.
I stared intently at the plant in the pot…
Then I plucked off a leaf that had a tiny black speck on it and confidently presented it to Raven.
“Huh?”
“This is…”
Raven and Alice looked utterly confused.
The two took the leaf and examined it from front to back, then their eyes widened in shock.
“…A camera?”
“Aah! Sis!”
That’s right.
Cleverly hidden and attached to the leaf was a micro-camera.
Raven’s expression soured as if to say, *This again?*
Alice, meanwhile, covered her face with both hands, looking like she wanted to die of embarrassment.
There was a reason for their reactions.
The culprit who installed this camera was none other than Alice’s older sister, Sakuragi Lily.
In the original story, she was more of a supporting character than a main one, but she was a dangerous woman—a rare female mechanical engineer with a penchant for stalking Raven.
Thus, finding her micro-cameras hidden all over the agency was practically a daily occurrence.
I had simply guessed its location based on my memory of the original story.
Whether he knew this or not…
Raven, who seemed to be deep in thought, asked me with a hint of suspicion.
“Do you know about the others, too?”
“…!”
Of course!
I nodded confidently, then moved around the reception room, finding all the hidden micro-cameras.
Under the sofa, on top of the light fixture, in the corner of the ceiling, under the snack basket, between the screws of the table.
In no time, I had found over six micro-cameras.
In truth, I had subtly used my psychokinesis in the process.
By spreading my psychokinesis out thinly like a sheet of paper, I could vaguely sense the locations of the tiny cameras.
Of course, I only used it for detection and removed the cameras by hand.
This was my unique camera-detecting technique!
What do you think? Impressive, right?
I proudly puffed out my chest and flashed a V-sign at Raven.
“How did you know all of this? Yuria, you’re amazing!”
“Hmm, the power of keen observation, I see.”
“No, this is beyond mere observation… How on earth did you find them when they don’t even reflect light?”
But my moment of pride didn’t last long.
Alice, whose eyes had been sparkling at my performance, suddenly pulled me into a hug.
The sweet scent of peaches filled my nose, and I was pressed against the uniquely soft and plush body of a woman.
Was the stimulation too much for me? My brain automatically short-circuited.
This… this is too intense!
“Jin! Hire her right now! Our Yuria will definitely be a huge help! We can’t let this kind of sharp eye go to waste! Quickly, quickly!”
“You won’t regret it. In fact, my shop’s sales sextupled. She’s a good luck charm.”
“Haa… It’s not like I was planning to give her any major tasks anyway…”
As I was being held in Alice’s ample embrace, my soul half-departed, Raven, scratching his head, finally relented.
“Fine, whatever… You said for a month? I guess a month will be okay… But no extensions beyond that! Got it!”
“Yay! Yuria! That’s great!”
“Mm, thank you for granting a difficult request.”
“Are you listening? No extensions! I’m making that clear!”
While Alice rejoiced, Greg gave a stoic nod, and Raven fretted.
I, feeling both pleased and dazed, thought quietly from within Alice’s embrace.
‘No, this is all great, but. Please let me go…’
Crowley Fixer Agency, temporary part-timer confirmed!
Should I be happy about this?
I couldn’t help but tilt my head in wonder.