Chapter 22
Chapter 22
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Intern Kim Ha-eun
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22.
Intern Kim Ha-eun.
...
This was the one.
=======
/GRA Employee
Position: Intern. /Last position 'Deputy Manager'.
Title: Yandere Girl.
Employee Kim Ha-eun was quite quiet and introverted when she first joined GRA.
Always characterized by her long bangs hanging down and her soft, creeping voice.
Due to this personality, Intern Kim Ha-eun was pegged as the employee who would be killed first if thrown into a ghost story.
But contrary to that introverted personality, she recorded an exceptionally high success rate in ghost story missions.
She always returned covered head to toe in blood after finishing the subjugation, though. (
When asked whose blood it was,
she answered
that it wasn't hers.)
*Special Notes.
When deploying Employee Kim Ha-eun into a ghost story, always form teams of at least 3. (Reason unknown, but multiple cases discovered where only she survived when sent in pairs.)
tmi. Employee Kim Ha-eun always muttered in a small voice that her suit jacket fit too tightly. (
It was the largest size, she said.)
Record of receiving confessions from many male employees.
=======
Our GRA Agency's biggest problem child.
Yandere Girl.
Among the GRA Agency's many named figures, the main culprit behind the most incidents and accidents, and always topping the online popularity polls—Employee Kim Ha-eun.
Was standing right in front of my eyes.
“……A-Are, are you okay? Your complexion…….”
“!!”
I ended up showing it without realizing.
Cold sweat trickling down my cheeks and sweat soaking my entire palms.
Drip, drip.
My whole body was drenched in sweat.
But I never imagined I'd run into Kim Ha-eun in a place like this.
Of all those guys, why her... the one I absolutely shouldn't meet.
My luck is rotten.
Take back what I just said about forming friendly relations with GRA Agency people.
This woman is no good.
No, I must never get involved with this one, no matter what!
I hesitated.
For a moment, I glanced sideways at the entrance to the Ghost Story Pawnshop.
It's closed.
Damn!
Too late to run.
Then.
I pulled out the smartphone I'd pocketed and hurriedly checked the time.
AM 08:42
18 minutes left.
...God has abandoned me.
At my continued strange behavior, Kim Ha-eun looked at me with odd eyes.
Flinch!
C-Calm down.
I might just be overreacting alone right now. I haven't known Kim Ha-eun that long yet.
If I act any stranger here, I might catch her eye for all the wrong reasons.
Park Yeon-jeong took a moment to steady his breathing and calmly assess his current situation.
...Right.
Having sorted his thoughts, Park Yeon-jeong began executing his plan.
Striding steps toward Kim Ha-eun.
“W-Wait! Ah, I'm not ready yet...!”
As Park Yeon-jeong suddenly approached, Kim Ha-eun squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her pounding heart.
This was probably the biggest thrill she'd ever felt in her life.
...?
But contrary to Kim Ha-eun's expectations.
The Park Yeon-jeong who had been right in front of her moments ago had already moved to the counter, placed a red knife down, and said.
“How much for this!”
“...Our customer. You've got a tougher charm than I thought... I'm feeling generous! I'll knock off 500,000 won. Exactly 8 million won!”
...How does this guy know I have exactly 8 million left again.
He really has an uncanny nose for money.
But this works.
“I'll take it!”
“Thank you for your purchase!”
I handed the red knife—bought with my entire fortune—to Kim Ha-eun as I approached her.
“...Th-Thank... you.”
Kim Ha-eun stared at the knife with a dazed look, while the shopkeeper watched us with a pleased expression like he was viewing a drama.
“.........”
Soon after.
Hot.
With cheeks flushing bright red, Kim Ha-eun was fully prepared to thank Park Yeon-jeong, who had given her her first gift.
“......Kiss. Kiss.”
A sleazy middle-aged man's voice followed, but right now, nothing reached Park Yeon-jeong's ears.
“......Um, ex-excuse me! Hehe, if it's okay... your name......”
“Ah! Look at the time already? Sorry,
Ha-eun-ssi
. I think I have to go now, so I'll head out first.”
A man's urgent back vanishing out the Ghost Story Pawnshop door without a hint of hesitation.
Perfect!
This seals it.
Park Yeon-jeong left the Ghost Story Pawnshop as is, retraced his steps, and hurriedly fled the Seongsu Station area.
Along with the thought that from next time, he should change the timing of his visits to the Ghost Story Pawnshop.
After wandering the Seongsu Station area for a few more minutes.
Safely, when the time hit AM 09:00.
Like last time, his body had arrived at the library.
Only then did Park Yeon-jeong let out a sigh of relief.
He himself...
Completely unaware of the verbal slip he'd just made. The man fell into the serious delusion that everything had gone perfectly.
Unaware that the farewell gift he'd given
Would become a lifelong memory for someone.
Thus began the first meeting between Park Yeon-jeong and Kim Ha-eun.
*****
After Park Yeon-jeong bolted out in a panic.
...Sigh. Missed all the fun.
'Jang Sa-heon,' the owner of the Ghost Story Pawnshop, had just witnessed a budding romance
End in a sad finale in an instant.
Returning to his boring daily routine, Jang Sa-heon propped his chin and blankly stared at the woman still unable to recover from the shock of rejection.
‘.........But, weird.’
Jang Sa-heon had a pure question about why that male customer had rejected this woman.
‘Normally, no man hates big-breasted women?’
With a decently pretty face, and that volume even in clothes larger than her frame.
Top-tier.
And the absolute best part was, of course.
That absurd chest size between them.........
Why on earth did he reject her?
The more Jang Sa-heon thought about it, the less sense it made why that man had dumped this woman.
As Jang Sa-heon reminisced about his own youthful days with many women, feeling regret over the two who couldn't connect.
“M-My, my name......”
“......”
“He... knew it.”
?
It was a very small whisper, but Jang Sa-heon had sharper ears than most and caught her creeping voice clearly.
“I never... told him...... but he already knew... me.”
“...”
As Jang Sa-heon quietly focused on the woman's voice, he felt an inexplicable strange aura emanating from her, wrapping him in a bizarre atmosphere.
“...Heehee. Heeheehee. Heeheeheehee...... Then, this gift... Hn, a proposal...? Heehee, heeheeheehee.”
“.........”
Ah, so that's why he got rejected?
Jang Sa-heon instantly understood
Why that male customer had fled this place so quickly.
But Kim Ha-eun was already lost in her own world, clutching the knife the man gave her tightly between her breasts.
Whispering in an even smaller voice than before.
“.........I love you.........”
*****
Static-
The now-familiar noise drew his head naturally toward the speaker.
[Welcome again today! Employee Park Yeon-jeong! It's already your third day on the job!]
Everything else is fine.
But I'd appreciate it if you'd drop that habit of counting days.
It somehow brings back PTSD from my trainee days counting down to discharge......
[......By the way.]
A slight tension rose at the Announcement Broadcast's sudden pause.
[It really suits you, that black suit. They say 'clothes make the man,' but that only works if your face backs it up.]
...Oh, about the clothes.
Was I too tense?
I responded to his compliment with a fitting reply.
“It's all thanks to Senior's utmost care.”
Static-!
The noise just now was harsher than usual.
[Hm, Senior...... Senior... Nice ring to it.]
[But I'd prefer if Employee Park Yeon-jeong kept things a bit more equal with me.]
At his words disliking stiff titles.
“Then, what should I call you......”
[Call me whatever's comfortable for you, Employee Park Yeon-jeong.]
...The world's hardest question appears.
The superior saying 'let's be casual' and forcing the most awkward dynamic, like 'just call me bro!'
“If you say comfortable......”
[Yes, just call me casually. Casually.]
Nothing comes to mind.
No good answer to smoothly get past this.
‘Call you casually?’
The names circling my head right now.
-Ghost Story Bro.
-Librarian.
-Broadcast Guy.
-Speaker?
-Brown......
Nothing, damn it!
A flood of bad options raced through my mind.
Static-
Noise brushing my ear in that moment.
Ah... Noise is annoying.
...No, i-zu.
Noise.
“Noise? Noise! Right, Noise!”
[Noise, you say?]
“Yes! How about ‘Noise’!”
A name I suggested because the sound of it wasn't bad. It might seem a bit half-hearted.
[Noise... Noise... Noise... Hm, not bad.]
[Since it's the result of Employee Park Yeon-jeong's deep thought, it can't be bad!]
With a twinge of conscience. I worried if he learned the original meaning, I'd face some mischief.
[Then, from now on, address me by putting ‘Noise’ first.]
“...Yes, got it...... Noise-ssi.”
[Hm, great ring to it. I like it.]
......If the name recipient says it's fine,
Then it's fine, I guess.
Putting the brief commotion aside, it was time to get to the main topic.
[Oh, before that.]
I'd expected him to jump straight into work talk, but Noise paused.
Rustle.
The White Librarian appeared before Park Yeon-jeong, holding a book.
She handed me the book she held, gesturing for me to take it.
I accepted it reflexively.
At first, I examined the book curiously, but when I saw the musical note on the cover.
‘This book couldn't be......’
Noise seemed to read my expression.
[Yes! Employee Park Yeon-jeong. It's exactly the book you're thinking of!]
-And the Performance Begins.
The first ghost story Park Yeon-jeong had entered before.
The first ghost story he'd captured.
[It was processed exactly one hour before Employee Park Yeon-jeong arrived. Why don't you open it?]
...Processed?
Noise casually dropped that he'd processed the same ghost story as me like it was nothing.
I gripped the cover and hesitated.
Nothing's gonna jump out suddenly, right?
What if that Conductor bastard pops out and messes with me? As I pondered briefly.
‘......Screw it!’
I squeezed my eyes shut and flipped the book open in one go.
If Noise told me to open it, he'd make me do it anyway, no matter what.
Not like it'll kill me.
Wide open!
Reassuring myself deep down, though my face was already pale with fear.
...........Hm?
For starters, nothing jumped out.
With this lukewarm reaction unlike my fears, Park Yeon-jeong slowly opened his eyes and peered inside the book.
The Conductor stood atop the book page.
“.........”
♪!!!
And that, too.
In an adorably tiny size.