Safe and Sound

Safe and sound, safe and sound. That’s all I want. Inaction is bliss—that’s the phrase that describes me best. I’m Maeng Do-yun, a first-year civil servant. The township office, the community center—now renamed the Administrative Welfare Center—still feels exactly the same inside. A sudden vacancy in the back office thrust me into the role of administrative clerk in my very first year.

Yesterday’s overtime report draft. Checking who took annual or sick leave and reporting it to the township head. Compiling the weekly work reports—some teams never submit on time, and it makes me want to strangle someone. Distributing documents that come down from City Hall, dealing with the occasional staff member who argues it isn’t theirs. When the industrial team receives a civil complaint asking for a tree to be cut, the civil engineering guy complains he can’t go, so I end up going instead. I’ve fought with him over this more than once. I still don’t understand why it has to be me, but with so few men around, it became my job.

There’s too much work. I just want to hand out resident registration abstracts and call it a day. My twenty-seven-year-old passion? I already fed that to the dogs. I just want time to pass quietly without incident.

After reading the message, I gathered at the village hall early the next morning. The deputy township head showed his face for a second and vanished, leaving me in charge. I’m only a first-year, for crying out loud.

“Isn’t this a bit much?”

“Ugh! Aren’t you angry, Clerk Maeng Do-yun?”

I am angry. Just not for the same reasons they are. If I were on another team or higher-ranked, I wouldn’t have to be here either. If I held national-level power, I wouldn’t even need to show my face. I’m not mad that only men showed up. As long as I’m fine, that’s all that matters.

“We still have to do it… Let’s finish quickly. I’ll buy everyone warm coffee afterward. Just hang in there a little longer~!”

I smiled brightly and tried my best to soothe them. What choice did I have? When the boss says jump, you jump. I snapped a few photos of the damaged areas for the report.

“Huff! Huff!”

Even in the freezing winter, everyone was drenched in sweat while moving sandbags.

“Seriously…”

“Why is it always us…? It was the same during the last flood.”

“Right? Clerk Maeng almost got swept away by the rapids back then.”

Complaints echoed around me, but I silently kept hauling sandbags.

“Clerk Maeng Do-yun seems really quiet, doesn’t he?”

Of course I am. I have no intention of saying something unnecessary and letting it spread. I just want to live quietly, retire quietly, and collect my pension. I used to burn with ambition once. Unfortunately, I never found any real talent. Studying, sports, music, games—everything was just average. The version of me that once chased dreams and ambition quickly accepted reality. Ah, even a big corporation is an incredibly high wall in real life.

“Haha. I actually talk quite a lot.”

I answered with a gentle smile.

“Still, thanks to you being here with us, we finished pretty fast.”

Thanks to working all morning, we managed to fill in a decent portion of the damaged section. The contractors would handle the rest later.

“Here’s my card. Please go have some drinks at the café over there. I’ll just take a few photos and the report and head out.”

“Yes! Thank you for your hard work!”

I handed them my card and took pictures of the restored area. I was about to send the photos to the township head and deputy head when—

Rumble!

“……?”

Thunder? I looked up at the sky and saw it filled with dark clouds. Does it thunder in winter too? At that moment, the ground began to shake.

“Huh…”

Snow came tumbling down from the mountain. An avalanche looked strangely beautiful from this angle.

“Shit, this is messed up.”

And just like that, the avalanche swallowed me whole.

“Ah! Clerk!”

“Clerk Maeng Do-yun!”

The group heading to the café saw me being swept away and rushed over in panic. I must have been carried quite a distance, buried under the snow. After a while, I heard police sirens and fire truck horns. Crunch! The snow was dug away and I was pulled out. My damn body didn’t even have a single scratch.

“It’s truly a miracle. The dangerous parts had already been swept away during the last landslide, so only the snow hit you. Even that was dangerous, but it really is a miracle.”

Why waste a miracle on something like this? I could’ve at least lost ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an arm and won the lottery or something.

“Thank you.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen something like this in my medical career.”

It was my first time being caught in an avalanche too, Doctor.

“Still, just to be safe, let’s have you rest for a few days and monitor your condition.”

With the doctor’s note, I could take a few days off. On the first day, some colleagues came to visit. They were the ones I got along with relatively well. Far more people didn’t come. The township head and deputy head stopped by once, glanced around, and left after dropping a single line.

“Youth really is nice.”

“You’ll recover quickly, right? You absolutely have to prepare the meeting materials for next month’s village head meeting.”

Those old bastards. I hope they drop dead. No, wait. They’re my role models. I want to be just like them someday—pushing everything onto the people below me.

“Haha! Thank you! I’ll be back soon! Thank you for coming even though you must be busy!”

The words came out automatically.

“Ahem, right. Take care of yourself and we’ll see you then.”

“Yes!”

After those two left, no more visitors came. A miracle really is a miracle. Not a single part of me hurt.

“I’m bored.”

I tried catching up on OTT shows and playing mobile games, but I got tired of them quickly.

“Can I go for a walk?”

When I asked the doctor during rounds, he answered cheerfully.

“Of course! You’re perfectly healthy!”

Only two days after being buried in an avalanche, and I’m already fine. I wonder if anyone would believe that. I put on my long padded coat and stepped outside, feeling the winter chill anew.

“I should smoke a cigarette before going back in.”

While looking for the smoking area, I noticed someone had spread out a mat outside the hospital parking lot and was running a stall. If this were our center, they’d have been kicked out immediately. Maybe it was okay because there were so many elderly people around here. Curiosity got the better of me and I slowly walked over.

“Everything’s a thousand won! Just a thousand won!”

The old man running the stall had his hat and scarf pulled down so low that only his eyes were visible. An old radio, a lighter, hand warmers—various items were laid out on the mat.

“Hm?”

Something completely out of place caught my eye.

Hypnosis App Code

Was this what I thought it was? Strange—why couldn’t the elderly people see it? After all the old folks had left, I finally asked.

“Excuse me, sir. What is this?”

“Huh? Oh…? You can see it?”

What the hell? That was creepy.

“Yes, I can see it.”

“Really? Then will you buy it?”

“……Does this actually work?”

I asked with clear suspicion.

“Of course it does.”

“Then why aren’t you using it yourself, sir?”

I asked the most fundamental question. If it really hypnotized people, why would this old man give it to me instead of using it himself?

“Ah~. Unfortunately, I’ve never had a near-death experience.”

A near-death experience?

“You almost died recently, didn’t you?”

Was he talking about the avalanche?

“That’s exactly what you’re thinking. It only appears to people who’ve had that kind of experience.”

What kind of nonsense was that? Like clothes that only good people can see?

The old man opened a notebook. Inside was a single code written on the page.

“I’m only half-qualified, so I can see the book but not the code. That’s why I can’t use it.”

He closed the notebook and held it out to me.

“It’s only a thousand won anyway. You won’t lose anything by spending that much, right?”

“I don’t have cash on me.”

“Card’s fine too.”

Was this guy really a street vendor?

“Uh… then I’ll buy it.”

For a thousand ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠won, it seemed worth a shot. At worst, it would just be some fishing link or ad.

After I paid and took the notebook, the old man spoke with a relieved expression.

“I bought it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at an antique shop on a whim a few years ago, but it never sold. Funny, isn’t it?”

“Really? Why didn’t you get a refund…?”

“Huh? Ah~. When I went back to that shop, it was gone. They’d turned it into a pasta restaurant or something. Ran it for a few years. Strange, right?”

For some reason, I thought I smelled alcohol on him.

“Yep.”

“Heh, may luck be with you.”

I couldn’t agree more. I hope luck stays with me—and only me.