Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Volunteer Work
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Yoo Daon didn't go home.
To be honest, I stopped her. She was on my mind.
Song Arin? What sleep? She just brought a basket of fruit, nagged a bit, and left.
The day after my discharge, I kept my promise to Yoo Daon from the Mountain God incident and headed to a nearby bar with her after work.
"Did you hear about the volunteer work?"
Yoo Daon emptied her glass in front of me and blinked.
"Volunteer work? Is it that time already?"
"Yeah, you knew?"
"Yes, I knew."
Maybe because it's officially a public corporation, or maybe it's just a trait of K-Corp, but the Management Bureau always does volunteer work once or twice a year.
I went straight on volunteer duty right after joining as a newbie, and back then it was hauling briquettes.
"What is it this time? Hauling briquettes again?"
"Uh..."
Yoo Daon pulled out her smartphone, squinted at it, and started reading.
"The Containment Team, Management Team, and Security Team have their regular duties, so they're exempt from volunteer work."
That feels ominous.
"What about us?"
"HR Team... let's see... Ah! We're going to an elementary school!"
A sigh escaped me at Yoo Daon's words.
Elementary school volunteer work probably means educational volunteering. I remember the Finance Team did it last year.
But more importantly, I had to ask something else.
"Is the Team Leader going too?"
"Yeah, the Team Leader took the day off."
Come to think of it, he always takes vacation whenever volunteer work comes up.
I don't know about the year before last...
"Can I take it off too?"
"It's so soon that the internal system probably won't let you register vacation."
"Damn!"
Right. Our company is the kind of trash that requires a month's notice for vacation.
If I hadn't been hospitalized, I would've applied.
"Don't worry too much! You think something like the workshop will happen again?"
"I feel like it will."
I don't think I'm the type who attracts accidents.
But I'm starting to suspect the Management Bureau keeps sending us to places where accidents are likely to happen.
"Then we'll just handle it! We're good at that!"
Yoo Daon said confidently, clenching her fist.
"You should factor in all the twists and turns before we resolve it."
"With Jaeheon here, what's there to worry about?"
She poured me a drink with a casual expression.
"With Jaeheon here, we—no, I—won't worry."
"I'm worried."
"Don't worry, Jaeheon."
She cheered "Cheers!" and raised her glass. I clinked mine against hers.
The glasses chimed, and she flashed a bright smile.
"I've got your back, right?"
"You do feel reliable."
It applied to Jang Chaeyeon and Song Arin too, but Yoo Daon was the one I'd entrusted my life to the most.
"That's all that matters."
Yoo Daon smiled and tilted her glass again.
"Don't drink too much."
"Of course! I know my limits."
*
"Urgh... Jaeheon..."
"You said you knew your limits."
Yoo Daon couldn't even respond, just swaying in her chair at my words.
Her upper body shook precariously, like she was dancing.
"Alright. Let's go."
"...Don't wanna..."
I hooked my arm under her bright red face as she whined and supported her.
Come to think of it, she got like this at the HR Team dinner without Song Arin too. I forgot again.
As I grunted and walked her along, she seemed to sober up a bit. Yoo Daon cracked her eyes open and looked at me.
"Jaeheon?"
"Are you awake, Daon?"
"..."
She stared at me blankly, then looked down.
"Sober now?"
"..."
"Daon?"
"..."
Yoo Daon just stared at the floor expressionlessly, then blurted out one sentence.
"Why are you so nice to me?"
"Pardon?"
"Do you want something from me? I don't have much to give."
What was this all of a sudden?
From spending time with Yoo Daon, I'd realized she actually had really low self-esteem.
Unlike the quiet Jang Chaeyeon or the loud, opinionated Song Arin.
How should I respond?
After a moment's thought, I decided to be honest.
"What do colleagues expect in return?"
We'd come too far to calculate gains and losses.
If I'd just been an ordinary HR office worker without any incidents, I wouldn't say this.
But there had been too many events for that.
And Yoo Daon had been with me from the very start.
"You're good to me too, Daon."
"I'm..."
Yoo Daon opened her mouth, then closed it, quietly accepting my support.
After that, she said nothing until I got her into the taxi.
*
In the end, the day of volunteer work arrived.
"You're going on volunteer duty right after coming back? Seriously?"
"If your side had torn just a bit more, it would've been just the three of us. Talk about bad luck."
Ignoring Song Arin's teasing, I boarded the Management Bureau bus.
It was just a tourist bus labeled [Fun Sightseeing Tour], but still.
"Wow, so many people."
"It's mandatory. Except for those on leave."
I grumbled as I maneuvered my luggage through the cramped bus.
Faces of countless office workers everywhere.
The common thread: they all looked exhausted.
How is no one here looking normal?
As I habitually scanned the names floating above people's heads,
"...?"
Something odd caught my eye.
A man.
Not emaciated, but extremely thin.
He looked about my age, and his unfocused eyes stared into the distance.
That's common for everyone in the Management Bureau, so no standout features.
If anything, a sense of incongruity.
He felt different from normal people.
Naturally, my eyes drifted to the info above his head.
[Name: Kim Wanwoo]
[Age: 28]
[Traits: -]
[Talents: -]
[Background: 326]
[Weakness: You have already received a warning.]
An uneasy feeling made me look down,
And as if he'd anticipated it, the man was staring right at me.
His lifeless eyes fixed on me, forcing me to look away.
I quick-stepped past him and sat with Song Arin in the back. Jang Chaeyeon and Yoo Daon were in the seats ahead.
"...Do you know that guy?"
"Who."
I pointed at the man who'd stared at me earlier. Song Arin squinted at him.
"...Yeah. I do."
"How?"
"He's like you. There was an incident at another branch when I was there. He's the sole survivor, they say."
"..."
"They say he's really lucky, or has good instincts. Rumors that he senses disasters coming his way in advance."
I glanced at the man.
Sitting there with unfocused eyes.
What was that number in his background? And what did "already received a warning" mean?
"Management Bureau people... wouldn't harm other Management Bureau people, right?"
"If they want to get fired, sure."
Be careful.
I reaffirmed to myself and turned to look out the window.
"How's the wound?"
"It's fine."
"Good. Be more careful next time."
"I'll try."
Song Arin rested her chin on her hand and followed my gaze out the window.
"But we're really not Containment Team, right?"
"I told you, no. The Containment Team's out in the city today suppressing a new containment object. Wanna go?"
"I'll pass."
I killed time with pointless banter with Song Arin as the bus slowly headed out of the city.
[Finance Team, please disembark for factory labor volunteer work.]
[Marketing Team, please disembark for containment object feeding duties.]
Each stop, teams got off one by one, and finally, Kim Wanwoo—the man to watch out for—disembarked with his team, leaving just the four of us.
Amid the eerie atmosphere,
[HR Team, please disembark for volunteer work.]
The bus stopped, and a mechanical voice came over the speaker.
"Let's go."
As soon as we got off, the bus drove away.
Yoo Daon looked at me curiously.
"Does the bus come back after volunteer work?"
"Yes. It'll be here in about a day."
"A whole day?"
"That's how it always is, right?"
Surprisingly, even the briquette hauling took all day, and we slept at grandma and grandpa's houses.
I looked at the school in front of us.
A small elementary school. Not abandoned, but didn't seem to have many students.
Low birth rates, huh? Might be an easy gig.
As soon as we entered, a friendly middle-aged man greeted us.
"Heh heh, welcome. I heard you were coming for volunteer work."
"Yes, well. That's right."
As if it were natural, the three stepped back, leaving me to speak for the group again.
"Welcome. Our janitor caught a bad cold a few days ago... I need someone to cover night shifts for a day or two."
"Pardon?"
Wait, isn't elementary school volunteer work supposed to be teaching kids?
I turned to the three, who all wore equally dumbfounded expressions.
"Um, we thought it was teaching the kids..."
"Hm? But we were told..."
The man rummaged in his pocket and pulled out a paper.
[Our staff will assist with various tasks.]
It even had the Management Bureau mark, visible only to employees.
I recalled Yoo Daon's words.
'We're volunteering at an elementary school.'
Isn't elementary school volunteering common sense for education?
"It's fine. Nothing major—just keep an eye on the doors at night and watch for suspicious people."
The principal smiled warmly, and I turned only my mouth toward Song Arin while staring ahead.
'We can't bail, right?'
'Yeah, right.'
At her cold reply, I turned back and nodded with a forced smile.
Whatever weird stuff happens now, it's just how it is.
I'd brought my gun just in case, and Song Arin and Yoo Daon had theirs too, so we'd manage somehow.
*
"...Damn."
I hurriedly raised my hand to open the door above my head.
I'd been staring down at the door for a while; now I had to look up.
-Thud thud thud thud!
Something running down the hallway.
I quickly hid in the janitor's closet and peered through the crack.
Something crawling on all fours opened a classroom door and entered.
It had long hair and dragged a small child with black hair tangled in its locks along the floor, wildly scanning around before exiting.
I strained to see its head through the crack, but nothing. No translucent window above it.
Since I got this ability after the college entrance exam... maybe that's why.
As I emerged from the closet and scanned the classroom, I spotted a mirror.
A tired-looking kid with a complicated expression stared back from the reflection.
"...We're screwed."
I muttered, and the kid in the mirror said the same, sighing deeply.