Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Secret Room (2)
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Click.
After a moment's hesitation, I stepped cautiously into the room and spotted Nuri rolling around on the floor, gnawing at a blanket.
'Hmm.'
At first glance, nothing particularly stood out...
As I casually scanned the room, my eyes landed on a series of photos plastered across a bulletin board on one wall.
'...'
Vulture, meerkat, penguin, deer, sea otter.
Photos of creatures from land, sea, and air, all banking on cuteness as their main appeal. It wasn't hard to guess Cha Se-ra's tastes just from that.
And seeing my own photo tacked on at the end made me feel like I had a rough idea of how she viewed me in her mind.
'Is that all?'
Honestly, nothing impressive. I even felt a bit let down.
This was pretty light stuff compared to serious hobbyist photographers—it was just neatly decorating one corner of the room, nothing more.
"Meooow."
Nuri, who'd been tumbling nearby, signaled she wanted to play, so I shook the feather toy I'd snuck in and started circling the room.
That's when my gaze fell on a row of albums neatly lined up on the lower shelf under the desk.
'Hmm.'
Truth be told, I was just satisfying a bit of curiosity; I had no intention of prying too deeply into Cha Se-ra's private space.
But...
[Red-Headed Small-Eyes]
[Hummingbird]
[Chinchilla]
[Marten]
[wldks_08]
'...?'
Once I saw those disastrous album titles, skipping them and moving on was no longer an option.
I opened the first one, "Red-Headed Small-Eyes"—vulture shorthand—and couldn't help letting out an impressed murmur at the surprisingly high quality.
'...She did a great job.'
It was packed with photos that looked like they'd been taken in the wild.
Notes filled the margins with observations from her watch sessions and personal impressions, letting me glimpse the joy and effort she'd poured into it.
'Hmm.'
After flipping through a few more albums, I realized I needed to readjust my opinion of Cha Se-ra a bit.
She approached even her hobbies with a seriously passionate attitude.
Setting everything else aside, that alone deserved applause.
Thud.
Slide.
The real issue was this one: the album named after my Clam account ID, wldks_08.
I pulled it out and flipped through a few pages. Right away, photos from the early days of my account popped up.
'...She transferred them perfectly.'
Like the other albums with notes on habits and behaviors, mine was crammed with similar observation logs.
For example, the type or brand of clothes I wore that day, predictions about my tastes.
Even physical stats like build, weight, height. It gave off a strangely subtle vibe.
"Ah."
Was that how she managed to get clothes that fit me perfectly last time—by obsessing over useless details like this?
One lingering mystery solved crystal clear. I nodded, feeling relieved, and kept browsing.
"Meeeow."
"Hold on. Just finishing this up."
Flipping further revealed more photos from my Clam uploads, as expected.
But there weren't that many to begin with, so what explained this album's massive thickness?
As I sped through the pages, the answer dawned on me soon enough.
'...?'
Pictures of me in poses and actions I'd never seen before.
For a split second, I wondered what they were, but then it hit me.
They were the embarrassing trial-and-error shots from my subscriber-plan photo session—the ones I thought I'd deleted for good. All preserved here.
'Hmm...'
I was sure I'd wiped them clean. How did she recover the data?
Out of sheer bafflement, I searched online and learned that most deleted photos from digital cameras could be recovered with high probability—I just hadn't known.
'Aigoo.'
I should've experimented with a digital camera; I never imagined such a blind spot existed.
But Cha Se-ra being Cha Se-ra, she must've known recovery was possible yet played innocent and dejected in front of me.
I mentally downgraded my earlier upgraded opinion of her and bumped up her provisional threat level by a notch.
'Still, she's dedicated.'
As Bucheon's ruler and the 21st-century pharaoh, I could magnanimously overlook a subordinate's minor indiscretion with a lord's grace.
Still, it was creepy as hell. As I flipped on, the photos that appeared in the latter half left me utterly speechless.
"...?"
Yeah. My trial-and-error shots.
Meaning, the shameful ones where underwear, navel, side, or armpit accidentally showed up. Cha Se-ra had collected and preserved every single one without fail.
'Uh, um.'
Was this woman insane?
Even with my lordly magnanimity, this felt straight-up perverted.
And why speculate on some useless underwear brand? I tried to make excuses in my head, but no—this was just creepy.
'...Should I toss it?'
I seriously considered it for a moment but decided to let it slide for the sake of my perfect crime.
Instead, I pulled out my smartphone, snapped pics of the album's contents, and saved them safely in my gallery.
If Cha Se-ra ever betrayed me down the line, she'd have to brace for all her misdeeds exposed to the Korean hunter world.
"Meowww."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go."
Continuing the exploration didn't seem healthy for my mental state, so I neatly returned the albums, stepped out, and shut the door.
Vowing to bury today's secrets deep in a corner of my memory.
#
A little time passed, and morning arrived on the third day of Cha Se-ra's absence.
No news yet, so the raid would take a bit longer.
I gathered the piled-up food waste and recyclables to take out, grabbed what I needed, and headed outside.
Rumble...
Ding!
I got off the elevator and neatly sorted the trash at the apartment's recycling station.
As I returned to Cha Se-ra's door, I faced one major issue I hadn't anticipated.
'Hmm.'
The door lock password Cha Se-ra gave me before heading to the dungeon.
I'm no idiot—I'd saved it in my phone's notes app, but for some reason, I couldn't find the memo anywhere.
'...What was the number?'
Beep.
Bzzzt.
Beep.
6824. Wrong.
Then 6324? Nope.
Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzt!
The ominous warning beeps started. One more wrong try, and the whole neighborhood would see my pathetic ass failing at a door lock.
"......"
I stayed calm.
I'm a grown adult; no way I'd panic over something this minor.
But thinking about it, wasn't this a pretty dire situation?
'Hmm.'
I quickly checked the door lock gallery, but it was a dead community with no regulars.
Call a pro?
A quick search showed they needed ID or lease proof to confirm residency.
'Hmm...'
Wait, was I really screwed?
Cha Se-ra and I weren't relatives or anything, so I had zero authority here.
Worst case, I could head home and wait for her, but poor Nuri, left alone inside, might face forced fasting.
Ding!
Title: Guys guys guys what do I do???
— High School Dropout Middle Schooler
Looking after a friend's house and cat while they're away on a business trip, but I forgot the door lock password and can't get in ㅠ
Is there really no way around this???
??
Why post an actual cry for help? lol
Agh, what an idiot;
This is peak idiot behavior...
If it's a friend's place, you can't even call a pro without proof. Should've written down the password instead of trusting a dropout's memory
Saved it in notes, but it didn't save properly
If all else fails, smash it quietly, open it, and buy a new one. When else are you gonna use that Awakener perk?
Even I thought that made sense, but my strength stat was no different from a regular person's.
Cognitive abilities and reaction speed felt enhanced enough, but raw muscle power or physical prowess? Hard to tell.
I'd heard some could reinforce their bodies with mana, but I hadn't pulled it off yet. Physical solutions were out.
'Hmm.'
They say even a wrong path leads to Seoul eventually. Maybe summon wind from the balcony to press the buttons?
As if. I'm no wind wizard; that'd just wreck the place faster than punching buttons.
'...I'm screwed.'
Aigoo, Nuri!
Self-reproach for not double-checking notes aside, I racked my genius brain for realistic fixes.
I had to find a way back in before Nuri, trapped inside, ran out of food and water.