Let's Have a Company Dinner
It had been three days since I infiltrated SHAS.
Whether it was good fortune or bad, not even the shadow of a monster had appeared inside the school yet.
The students were still taking lessons under the name “future officer candidates,” and while they did, I walked around like an ordinary janitor—scrubbing floors, sweeping the end of the hallways, and emptying trash cans.
Over those three days, I had grown familiar with the rhythm of this school.
At six in the morning, the training siren would blast, and the courtyard would smell of sand dust mixed with sweat.
Around lunchtime, the scent of military cafeteria food would rise, and every three times the bell rang during the day, the students would line up with military precision.
In all of it, I had become a human with zero presence, perfectly blended in.
I had even grown somewhat close to the fellow janitors.
Sometimes someone would tilt their head and ask, “Wait, there was a new guy here after all?” but I would casually deflect each time.
“My family scattered during the evacuation. Even so, I couldn’t just starve… so I came to earn money.”
In this monster era, such circumstances were common.
People patted me with pity and said, “A young friend is already so diligent,” and their suspicion would vanish.
Ironically, when the world falls apart, we trust each other more.
Humans are so precious that even lies become easy to forgive.
But the problem still remained with one person.
Captain Ha Min-ah, the woman who didn’t fall for the Cognitive Dampening Mode.
Fortunately, she was only staying here temporarily as a special lecturer.
Once her lessons ended, she would board the headquarters vehicle and leave immediately, which let me breathe a sigh of relief every single day.
I was the shadow. She was the hero.
I believed our worlds would never cross.
…Until the fourth morning.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to have a company dinner tonight?”
The words came from the head janitor, and a strangely cold premonition settled on the back of my neck.
“A company dinner… is it?”
I asked back, and the head janitor laughed heartily.
“Oh, I didn’t realize there was a new hire, huh!”
“Haha, sounds good. We were just discussing it, and the teachers are joining tonight too. Why should we miss out?”
The laughter flowed lightly, but I lowered my head for a moment.
Even in this world, there was leisure for something as ridiculous as a company dinner.
…No, thinking about it, that actually made more sense.
In a world where you never knew if you would die today, people forced themselves to make today feel peaceful.
If they didn’t even hold onto the illusion of being alive, their minds would break first.
So they tilted their cups, comforted one another, and laughed as if they were chanting, “We’re still okay.”
The janitors gathered and said.
Not just SHAS, but all the remaining organizations and companies held “survival commemorative dinners” once a month.
Forty years since the monsters had covered the world.
Over that long time, people had continued this ritual as a “trace of life” or “proof that we haven’t died.”
At first, they had gathered by rank.
Teachers with teachers, janitors with janitors.
But as people died and were replaced on the battlefield, even those distinctions lost meaning.
“What is this nonsense?”
“It’s just saying, let’s eat together as fellow humans. That’s what a company dinner is now!”
I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh at that.
Truly, humans are strangely resilient.
“Uh, so are we all heading out tonight with the remaining teachers and janitors at the school?”
“Well, yes! There’s a graduation ceremony day, but today we’re only internal staff.”
At that moment, one uncle added with a drunk voice.
“But there’s another special guest tonight, right?”
“Special guest?”
For a second, my chest felt like it had dropped.
A “special guest” at a company dinner… even if I hadn’t guessed, it wasn’t hard.
In my mind, golden hair flashed.
***
In the monster era when education had become a luxury.
The company dinner where the associates of SHAS, “the best military high school in the Republic of Korea,” had gathered.
I wondered where it would be held, but surprisingly, it wasn’t a grand banquet hall or a military mess hall.
On the edge of the street, an old tent and traditional street-food stall wrapped in transparent plastic.
Steam rose from the asphalt wet with rain, and the light came from a single orange bulb.
“Is this the company dinner place?”
I asked, puzzled, and the head janitor poured makgeolli with a wide smile.
“Haha, restaurant? We’re not even rich!”
“When monsters get a chance, they tear down buildings. Restaurants that still operate are for nobles only~.”
While saying that, he plopped down on an old plastic chair.
The wind that brushed the tent creaked, and the iron roof of the stall was faintly stained with dust from the monster’s remnants.
Only then did I understand.
This wasn’t a “modest dinner.” This was haute cuisine for the upper class of this era.
Concrete buildings had been smashed like Crisco due to frequent monster attacks, and formal restaurants had nearly vanished.
Yet the restaurants still operating were run by the wealthy who possessed a “money line that could swallow one or two monsters and still have money left.” A rare luxury in the world.
The stall we were sitting around now was the gourmet restaurant of ordinary people who had survived in this world.
“These days, this is considered luxurious.”
The janitor uncle poured half-brewed soju with a laugh.
“Without the Navy, Air Force, or Marines, monsters are everywhere. Food ingredients are worth gold. A street stall these days is almost Michelin-starred by old standards. Michelin!”
Indeed, that was right.
Since I had come to this world, thanks to cheat mode, I hadn’t felt hunger even once.
That was why I hadn’t realized the true “value of food.”
Meanwhile.
“Is it all right for me to be at such a precious gathering?”
“Of course, Captain Ha Min-ah!”
“On the contrary, it’s our honor. Being able to share a cup with the ‘Goddess of the Dash’!”
“G-Goddess of the Dash… Please stop with those overly romantic nicknames. Just hearing them makes my face burn.”
The tent flap lifted, and between the salty wind came a shadow with golden hair.
The light reflected on the plastic curtain swayed along the crisp lines of her uniform, and the shadow on the ground sharpened with each step she took.
Truly… how could a woman in a military uniform be so beautiful.
In that moment, I finally understood why she had earned the “goddess” nickname.
Captain Ha Min-ah gave a shy smile and took her seat with the polite demeanor of a new short-term teacher.
“Even so, thank you for setting up a seat for me. In that spirit, I’ll drink until I drop tonight!”
“Oh! Good!”
“The hero’s spirit!”
Glasses clinked with a clear ring.
Orange light spread inside the old tent, and for a little while, it felt as if monsters didn’t exist in the world.
Hoo… by the way… she had come as a one-week special lecturer and had only been here four days, so she shouldn’t have been this natural, yet Captain Ha Min-ah had completely dominated the table in just a few minutes.
I was a janitor who barely survived by playing it safe, but the moment she entered the room, she made the air her ally.
…As expected, heroes are a different breed.
If he was truly the “human of light,” then I was the one who had crawled into the shadows to hide from that light.
“Aigoo~ Captain Min-ah, I’ll pour one for you this time.”
“Thank you.”
“Haha, me too! Honestly, seeing young and capable officers makes me feel admiration.”
“Not at all, sir.”
Captain Ha Min-ah gently received the cup and bowed her head.
“Sir, you’ve been teaching future officers here even after being a colonel. You’re far greater than me.”
Every line of conversation flowed smoothly.
She didn’t get arrogant when praised, and her face didn’t flush even as she downed the drink.
I burned my throat with every sip, but she emptied her cup four times without her eyes wavering.
“Amazing. As expected, a goddess is a goddess for a reason.”
I muttered while fiddling with my cup.
“Good. Let’s stay completely hidden like mice today. The Cognitive Dampening Mode won’t break that easily, right?”
As if in this world right before the apocalypse, I listened to the story of how “dried rat meat” had actually been made into rat jerky, while spending time in a strangely salty scent.
“Aigoo, I’ll be going first~.”
“Haha, me too! Everyone, enjoy the food!”
The people around began to leave their seats.
The teachers with flushed faces from alcohol and the janitor uncles who staggered while dividing the bill.
I had to slip out too.
I was supposed to be the first to disappear as the shadow.
But.
I hadn’t expected this.
The fact that “roasted sparrow” and “fried catfish” had become popular snacks in this world!
Moreover, everyone was casually picking at them with chopsticks.
The janitors had sworn that the rat jerky was “safe for hygiene,” but my stomach from a normal world could never accept it.
So I just emptied my cup and watched.
It was the moment I was about to get up when, of all times, “roasted sparrow” came out.
The scent was… better than I thought.
When the fried catfish came as a bonus, strangely, the chopsticks moved on their own.
“Wow, is this really catfish? It’s surprisingly crispy.”
In the end, bite one, bite two.
As I ate like that, my cup was empty again.
“Damn, it’s delicious. That’s why everyone gets fat.”
That was when.
“Would you like me to pour you one?”
The familiar voice.
I reflexively looked up.
“Y-Yes?”
The liquor bottle tilted in front of me.
The beer foam gently filled the cup.
—Captain Ha Min-ah.
There she was.
I hadn’t realized that the woman I thought would be laughing among the teachers had somehow come to my table.
Under the faded tent light, her golden hair swayed like foam in the glass.
“To your health.”
She gently raised her cup.
In an instant, my cup and hers clinked—!
A short, clear sound.
And after that, all that remained was my heartbeat.
‘Why is she coming to me?’
Cognitive Dampening Mode