My Apartment Is Gone? You're the One?
“Eh? Me? What do you mean?”
Portune Girl stared at me with a blank, confused expression, her mouth moving as if she couldn’t understand a word.
Jang Hyeryun-noona slammed the documents she’d just pulled from the envelope straight onto the table.
“Look at this. What on earth were you doing in Euljiro last week? Did you cause an accident while assisting another hero?”
Euljiro last week… that day.
The day the Central Monster Disaster Call Center was attacked and my apartment was reduced to rubble.
Portune Girl flipped through the papers and let out a small groan.
“Ah… that day…”
**
One week earlier.
Portune Girl sat at her office desk staring blankly at her phone.
She yawned once, then glanced at the operator seat where Hyeryun-noona sat and said, “Noona, any new requests or missions today?”
The reply came a beat late—probably because she had so much paperwork to sort.
“Yeah. None.”
I noticed a layer of dust on the desk.
She brushed it off with her fingers and asked, “What happened with the ads? The operators we can ignore, but there should be at least someone to take calls, right?”
“Yeah. None.”
That wasn’t dust—it was a pen line that hadn’t been erased.
“We weren’t given any work from the Central Center? They only give jobs to the ones they discriminate against.”
The sound of sorting papers stopped. A sigh followed.
“…What kind of mission could I even give an E-class? This time, let’s at least try to level up.”
Portune Girl pouted, then stood up.
“But even if I go there, it always fails. We have to make it through this quarter…”
The sound of her file folder being closed rang out.
“Yeah. That damned quarterly report has been dragging on for years. Fight!”
“Ah, noona, there’s a new Insta hot spot for matcha latte nearby. Want to grab a drink?”
“I’m good.”
Portune Girl pushed her chair in and headed toward the front door, turning back to say, “Aigoo. Then I’ll just expense it as mine?”
“No way.”
She opened the front door and kept muttering under her breath as she left.
“Che.”
**
In front of [Nile River Latte Specialty Shop].
It was one of those Insta-hot places, but the flavor reminded me of hot water from the Nile River.
Even at the off-peak hour, the line was surprisingly long.
“Everyone loves a hot spot. There are so many people…”
As expected, Portune Girl ended up at the back of the line.
Then I heard screams from the crowd.
“Kya—ack!”
“It’s a monster!!”
“Disgusting!!”
Whoosh-whoosh.
A swarm of giant flies zipped past overhead.
They were flying in formation at high altitude, buzzing like thunder.
Portune Girl watched them with wide eyes.
“These giant monsters in the middle of downtown…?”
Right after the swarm passed, citizens rushed over.
People who usually ignored a couple of monsters suddenly panicked.
Thud. Thud.
“Run!”
“Why aren’t the sirens—”
Citizens everywhere were sprinting, some tripping and falling.
One of them pointed and shouted, “There! There’s danger!”
Four flying monster insects had landed right beside the bus stop.
The people waiting for the bus scattered in panic.
The insects circled the fleeing crowd, their wings trembling as if ready to chase.
“Watch out!”
Portune Girl rushed forward.
To protect the civilians, she had to strike first. Because the flying monsters flew in from above, she had to hit them before they could take off.
Thud. Thud.
She took a big stride and prepared to leap.
At that exact moment, another hero took aim from the side.
He dropped into a low squat, arms stretched forward, neck tilted back.
It looked like a self-propelled rocket launcher.
Our eyes met.
His mouth moved.
“Fire!”
Rocket Launcher Man.
He could fire one powerful rocket, but he had to stay completely still.
That was why he always carried a portable chair.
Energy began gathering in his outstretched arms.
Portune Girl slowed her running pace.
“Ah, that one’s mine. Tsk.”
In her line of sight, another flying monster was streaking straight toward Rocket Launcher Man.
If she did nothing, it would hit before he could fire.
“Watch out!”
Boom.
Rocket Launcher Man lost his balance and crashed back onto his chair from the monster’s attack. His aiming arm tilted sideways.
But the energy sphere in the middle of both arms stayed perfectly intact and was about to launch.
Panicked, he shouted, “Aah! I can’t stop it!!”
His aim was exactly on the bus in front of the monster swarm.
Unfortunately, the bus had stopped briefly right in front of the swarm.
Suddenly, Portune Girl’s vision caught a little kid’s face pressed against the bus window.
“No!”
Her foot that had been reaching toward the bus stop twisted violently.
Thudda-dak.
With a screech of scraping asphalt, she was flung backward.
From between Rocket Launcher Man’s arms, uncontrolled energy exploded with a crackling roar.
A blinding light wave surged toward the bus.
It was about to fire.
Portune Girl clenched her teeth and threw her body into the air.
She had to twist the trajectory of those arms no matter what.
But the distance was too far.
Her toes grazed the rocket launcher’s forearm by a hair’s breadth.
“Hyaaa!”
In mid-air, she forcibly twisted her waist.
Even as her balance collapsed, she desperately swung her remaining leg.
Boom.
It was a weak kick that barely caught the edge with almost no weight behind it.
But it was enough to yank the trajectory.
Thung.
The instant the arm lifted, the suppressed energy exploded outward.
Kukukukung!
A massive energy sphere skimmed the bus roof with a flash.
The sphere sliced through the air, passed behind the bus, and slammed straight into the opposite office building’s exterior wall.
Kwaaaang!
With a deafening boom, one entire side of the building vanished.
Shards of glass rained down, and concrete fragments flew everywhere.
Kwaaaaah!
Portune Girl rolled across the floor from the shockwave and, on one knee, barely lifted her head.
Rocket Launcher Man behind her was frozen, eyes vacant.
Through the billowing dust, the office building with a huge hole in the middle slowly came into view.
Then they both slowly turned to face each other.
“Ah…”
“Eek…”
Sirens wailed in the distance.
Wee. Wee.
**
“So that’s what happened…”
Portune Girl stopped speaking, and Hyeryun-noona pressed her like a judge.
“Tell me! How was it handled?”
Portune Girl continued in a voice that was sinking deeper and deeper.
“Well… luckily no one was injured at the office building and the bus was fine too. Rocket Launcher Man thanked us and said the agency would take responsibility, so it was wrapped up…”
Hyeryun-noona rubbed her head with one hand and squeezed her eyes shut.
“What kind of point of contact is that?! We need something in writing!”
Portune Girl’s voice sounded like it was reaching the bottom of a well.
“That’s… right when the Central Center called… I rushed over there. And it was total chaos everywhere, so…”
Then she suddenly sat up straight.
“What the hell is that rocket guy! He’s claiming responsibility like it’s his!”
Everyone fell silent.
Was it me who called that day?
Everyone looked at Portune Girl, then at Hyeryun-noona, eyes darting around.
Of course, I was looking too.
Hyeryun-noona sighed heavily, then lifted her head and gestured toward Inseo.
“Ah, Inseo did a great job on the mission today. I’m sorry, I only just realized. Thank you for your hard work.”
“Ah… thank you.”
At that moment, Hyeryun-noona’s eyes widened as she looked at Inseo. She pointed at his shirt and asked, “Why are you wearing such a weird top over there?”
“Ah… um…”
No. Not even you can tell, can you? My hot item.
Aigoo. But Inseo’s face turned red again.
Inseo who’s been suffering because of my clothes.
Very sorry.
It’s not about the clothes right now.
Hyeryun-noona in front of me kept sighing.
“It’s fine, Inseo. That’s not the problem now. What do we do…”
Ah.
So that’s why Portune Girl showed up immediately that day.
The Euljiro area where the large-scale monster incident happened was absolute chaos.
Unfortunately, I got entangled in it.
I slowly looked at everyone and said, “The agency or insurance company will probably try to split the responsibility. That’s usually how these things go.”
Hyeryun-noona lowered her hand from her forehead and glared at me.
“Right. So we were hit with an 80-20 split, and the 20% is over 36 million won!”
“Eek.” More than a month’s worth of sales. Higher than the amount I’m supposed to increase by 50%.
Portune Girl shot up.
“I refuse! Which company is that? I’m going there right now to protest!”
She looked at me.
Why are you looking at me?
Are you asking me to find the company?
Now that things are like this, I’ll let it slide.
You’re probably fuming inside.
I quietly took the documents Portune Girl was holding and flipped through them.
I’d handled a lot of mediation cases when I worked at the Central Call Center.
“Fortunately, it’s not a final decision yet. We have seven days to submit objections. So we can’t just charge in—we have to prepare properly.”
In other words, don’t go flying in like a moth.
No.
Better not to get involved.
I’m not an expert.
I glanced sideways at Hyeryun-noona.
“Of course, noona has probably handled more of these than I have…”
“No. I haven’t handled any.”
I only care about the sales figures.
What?
No experience?
“Eh?”
Hyeryun-noona crossed her arms and sighed dramatically.
“Even so, I’m the representative. How am I supposed to do all this? There was a separate department… it’s gone now, but…”
I looked around.
Everyone looked utterly defeated.
Even Ho-eun, who was usually so talkative, had her mouth shut this time.
Did she read my mind? Just then, Ho-eun raised her hand.
Come on, say whatever you want!
Her raised hand pointed straight at me.
Eh?
“Since you’ve worked at the Central Call Center for a long time, you’ve probably handled a lot of these mediations, right?”
Ah. No.
Not that kind of thing.
All eyes turned to me.
I gave a bitter smile and said quietly, “Ah. The thing is, I wasn’t the one in charge—I just helped mediate.”
Click.
Ho-eun’s two hands covered mine. She looked around and said, “See? See? We have our own savior here!”
I looked at Ho-eun’s small hand covering mine.
I lifted my head.
Ho-eun’s bright smile came into view.
Her touch was quite warm.
But what?
Savior?
Then I slowly looked around.
Inseo said expressionlessly, “…I believe in the operator.”
Hyeryun-noona placed one of her hands on top of Ho-eun’s hand that was covering mine and stared straight into my eyes.
“Jiwu, please handle this.”
Portune Girl was the only one leaning back in her chair, sitting quietly.
…
I turned my head completely to the left and stared at Portune Girl.
You have to help too.
Come on.
Did Portune Girl notice my gaze? She flinched.
Then slowly, her right hand moved.
She lightly tapped the top of Hyeryun-noona’s hand among the stacked ones.
“W-well… um… please… help me.”
Smirk.
I faced Portune Girl directly.
“With what?”
She squeezed her eyes shut and said, “P-please negotiate!”
As she pulled her hand out, Ho-eun laughed and said, “Noona, you have to be polite when asking for help. Hohet.”
Her face was bright red right next to me.
This was enough.
She was already shaken by the accident and struggling more than anyone—I didn’t need to push her.
And if I couldn’t guide the negotiation properly, I’d be the one embarrassed.
I stood up and moved to the operator seat.
“Alright, let’s take a look. We also need to check the CCTV from that day. Let’s start with what we can do here and submit a formal complaint to the association or insurance company.”
Behind me, Ho-eun and Hyeryun-noona’s voices followed in turn.
“Boss is the best! Hit.”
“Jiwu, what kind of data should we prepare first?”
I’d seen the overdue utility bills briefly last time.
If this dragged on, I’d get recognized as a regular employee, but my company would disappear before I could even collect anything.
This is important. Very important.
Let’s do this hard, Kang Jiwoo!
But the amount was huge. The 20% share was that high.
“Is this amount excluding our insurance? It came out like this?”
“Yeah, Jiwu. Our situation is a bit… difficult for A-class insurance companies…”
Aigoo, they’re small. No wonder they charge heavy monthly premiums.
Let’s check the exact location.
“Okay, then first check the address. You said it’s nearby, right? Where?”
Behind me, the sound of papers being shuffled rang out several times.
A moment later, Hyeryun-noona’s voice continued low.
“…Um, Cho-dong. Makneung-gil 2-gil… 1001.”
It’s right in front.
“Yeah. Cho-dong? That’s close… Makneung… uh?”
Eh? I’ve heard this address before.
Suddenly, I remembered the memory of stamping the seal that day.
The day my apartment was first born.
[Seoul, Jung-gu, Makneung-gil 2-gil 1001, Hanbyeol Office Building 403-ho.]
This is…
My brain froze.
No way. There aren’t even two addresses on Makneung-gil 2-gil 1001 in the world, right?
There’s only one, crazy person. It’s an address.
Hyeryun-noona’s voice came from behind me.
“Why? Jiwu.”
My precious house.
Five years of harvest. My living room. My room. My bathroom.
I shot up from my seat like a zombie.
“Jiwu?”
The place that had vanished without a trace moments ago flickered on the monitor screen.
I slowly turned my head and looked back.
The four women who had been covering my hands and creating that cozy atmosphere just moments ago were now staring at me intently.
Especially her.
The one who contributed the most to destroying my house.
Portune Girl.
“This…”
My voice trembled.
Portune Girl tilted her head curiously.
At that moment, the thread connecting my sanity snapped.
“My apartment!!”
I shouted as if possessed, and everyone in the office turned to stare at me in shock.
I flapped the documents in my hands like a madman and rolled my eyes.
“MY HOUSE WAS BLASTED TO HELL!!!!”