Chapter 27- I Love You
…When did I sleep?
But somehow my body feels fresher than usual.
The start of a morning where all the accumulated fatigue seems to have disappeared.
Looking at the window with optimal condition, the sun already appeared to be high in the sky.
……Was 7 AM always this bright?
“……”
I immediately checked the time on my smartphone.
08:51 AM.
……What?
Until work time.
Just 9 minutes left.
…BOLT UPRIGHT!
I got up from bed as if springing up. I immediately went to the bathroom and finished a simple face wash.
It was really just a quick splash of water on my face.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap.
And toward the sound of a chopping board being struck coming from the kitchen, I approached and asked.
“Good morning, master……”
“Th, the black suit perhaps!”
“……I ironed it well and placed it in the living room. But why suddenly?”
“Thank you!”
Why indeed!
I’m late!
And truly as she said, I immediately grabbed the black suit that was ironed in the living room, and quickly changed into it on the spot.
I rapidly checked the wall clock hanging in the living room.
08:59 AM.
Just 1 minute before work time.
Fortunately, I finished all the preparations I could do in the meantime.
Breathing roughly from early morning, I put on black dress shoes at the shoe rack, now until Noise forcibly transports me.
Just 10 seconds left.
“Master?”
But the ghost woman looked at me with a puzzled expression at my appearance.
Just 8 seconds left.
Perhaps she is showing this reaction because she doesn’t know that I will soon disappear from this place.
To minimize any potential misunderstandings.
“Please don’t be too surprised if I suddenly disappear before your eyes. You can just think of it as a natural supernatural phenomenon.”
“……What?”
4 seconds.
Now the real countdown to ghost work begins.
3 seconds.
“But master.”
2 seconds.
“Today is……”
1 second.
“The weekend.”
“……What? Weekend?”
0 seconds.
……Current time.
AM.09:00:03
Despite work time clearly having passed, Park Yeon-jeong himself was still standing blankly in front of the shoe rack.
Bzzzt-
And along with the vibration felt on the left palm. A message had arrived on the smartphone.
——-
『To Employee Park Yeon-jeong.
Employee Park Yeon-jeong, do you know what day it is today? It’s the golden weekend! Aren’t you happy!☺ I’m leaving a message for the first time because I’m curious if you spent a good night♥ with her last night.
However, a promiscuous lifestyle can lead to decreased efficiency in the workplace, so I hope you kept it within reasonable limits. (I will also advise her of this.) Since this is your first weekend since joining, please rest well and let’s meet again next Monday.』
——-
…Is this a heaping bowl of rice?
The text was so densely packed that my eyes were strained.
But the key point here was.
The fact that this company worked five days a week.
My gaze, which had been awkwardly looking at the smartphone, slowly shifted to the ghost woman who was staring blankly at me.
“…I have prepared breakfast.”
“……Thank you.”
I carefully took off my dress shoes at the shoe rack and trudged toward the kitchen.
The breakfast that followed was, as expected, too delicious.
After finishing a simple breakfast.
I checked the message that had arrived so grandly once again.
And the sentences that caught my eye there were.
-Weekend.
-Good night with her.
-Promiscuous lifestyle.
Since Noise himself told me to rest on the weekend. Even if I spend the next two days like this.
Good night?
Promiscuous lifestyle?
I just passed out asleep yesterday.
Clatter.
I asked the ghost woman who was organizing the dishes I had eaten, in a way that wouldn’t be too rude.
“…Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“Last night……”
Crash!
Startled!
Suddenly the ghost woman who was organizing the dishes dropped a bowl.
The bowl fell straight to the floor and shattered.
“A, are you okay?”
“…………………………Last night.”
“Yes?”
“Why are you suddenly asking about last night?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing else. I was wondering if you came into my room last night……”
“No.”
“Ah………I see.”
A firm answer.
I also wanted to think that such a thing wouldn’t happen…… but.
Crash!
“A, are you really okay?”
“Please don’t worry about it. Master, please enjoy your weekend comfortably.”
“………”
…Clang!.
There definitely was something!
This person definitely came into my room.
There’s no doubt this ghost woman entered my room last night!
Come to think of it, on the first night, she had a history of paper terrorism against me while I was trying to sleep, this malicious ghost.
Crash!
No, what on earth happened last night to make you react like that!
I’m dying of anxiety.
It felt like I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep here today.
When I was seriously considering whether I should sleep somewhere else during the weekend.
“Master.”
“Ye, yes?!”
“……Actually, I did enter your room last night.”
As I thought!
You did enter!
Actually, seeing the reaction alone, it was almost a given.
But rather, such honesty increased the tension even more.
What on earth happened in the room last night. That so many dishes had to be sacrificed.
Gulp.
Park Yeon-jeong swallowed dry saliva, and the inside story of that day’s secret that flowed out of the ghost woman’s mouth was.
“……Ju, just ha, hands………just held hands………and slept.”
“………”
Ah, I see………do you think I would believe that!
Don’t lie!
Do you think all those dishes were sacrificed just to hear the false story that you just held hands and slept!
This ghost woman definitely. Still hasn’t told the real inside story.
I must find out.
“……Really. That’s all?”
“!!!”
Crash.
The sound of continuous breaking.
Crack!
As if no longer able to use her hands, the last remaining dish shattered into pieces.
The floor was already covered with shattered fragments.
An eerie silence.
…Just now, how many have I broken?
……The rigid body movements and inexplicable killing intent emanating from the ghost woman’s back.
!!
“Ah, ah! I-I see!”
I’m just not going to ask.
“Th-thank you for being h-honest with me!”
“……”
I quickly tried to defuse the situation.
Snap!
But I think I just heard something breaking again….
Hoping it was just my imagination, my impromptu survival sensor activated reflexively.
“B-but! If you want to hold hands, just tell me and I’ll hold your hand anytime!”
“…………….”
……………..
The sound of something breaking stopped.
Did it… work?
More importantly, what did I just say?
I can’t remember.
My back is currently soaked with cold sweat to the point where I can’t even remember what I just said.
Although the killing intent from earlier was no longer felt from the ghost woman’s back, this aspect was enough to create an inexplicable tension.
“……Promise.”
She finally spoke.
The trembling from earlier had disappeared from her voice. A voice that seemed quite stable in tone.
“……You have.”
“Yes! Of course!”
I forgot what I said.
But I’ll definitely keep that promise!
Clatter.
The sound of organizing dishes returned to normal.
This means.
Things worked out, probably?
“Master.”
“Yes!!”
I reflexively responded to her call without even realizing it.
A scene like watching a well-trained pet.
“Since it’s the weekend, why don’t we go out for a walk?”
“Ah. S-sure? Since it’s the weekend after all!”
Standing up.
I immediately got up from my seat and headed toward the front door again.
This time, the ghost woman didn’t come to see me off.
“Have a nice time.”
“Yes!”
And so, Park Yeon-jeong rushed out of the house as if escaping.
‘I just want to go to work.’
I desperately wanted to go to work.
I want to see you again, Mr. Noise.
*****
Click.
With the sound of the front door closing.
Thud.
A young woman collapsed onto the floor, her legs giving out beneath her.
She didn’t even have the strength to properly see him off.
……Haah.
The woman was excited.
Because he had given her permission to hold his hand.
She was happy.
She felt like she was going crazy.
From the moment he said those words, she felt like she would go mad wanting to interlock fingers with him.
“……Master.”
Haah……haak.
Her heartbeat, which hadn’t stopped since last night, made it difficult to breathe properly.
She didn’t want her master to see her face in such a broken state.
Squeeze.
She tried to forcibly stop this pounding with one hand pushed into her chest.
But the more she tried, the deeper her longing for him grew.
The woman once again.
The fact that it was him, not someone else.
The fact that he had caused her the pain of pounding in her heart.
The fact that he was her master….
She was grateful.
*****
Shudder.
A chill running down my spine.
Is someone talking about me?
At most…….
Probably the ‘Team R employees’ I met before and the ‘Ghost Woman’?
And probably the latter with high probability.
I did leave the house as if being chased according to her words.
But I have nothing to do.
Intensely so.
It’s been only 3 days since I entered this world teeming with ghost stories, and many things have happened.
From being forcibly employed at an exploitative company run by ghosts.
To being chased by teddy bears.
…Well, they’re my favorite ones now.
And meeting a crazy conductor who uses people as instruments.
And killing people like some kind of game while claiming to grant wishes.
Of course, among these numerous encounters, there were also good meetings.
The most representative good example is.
The man with the title of the only normal person in the GRA agency.
Department head Choi Kang-in.
An employee I’d like to meet again during the process of conquering the next ghost story.
He was like a human totem that forcibly increased the survival rate when with him.
Conversely,
The GRA agency person I never want to meet again is.
Intern Kim Ha-eun.
Although <Ghost Story Record Storage> records her as a capable employee who will eventually rise to deputy Department head level.
This woman, Kim Ha-eun, unlike Choi Kang-in, is like a grim reaper who always sends employees assigned to her team to their deaths.
Moreover, among the contents recorded in Kim Ha-eun’s character profile:
=======
/Kim Ha-eun
Intern Kim Ha-eun developed deep affection for her colleague Intern Jung Da-eun, who had been kind to her. So, she confessed her honest feelings to him.
This is the story of her first love.
=======
Originally, attachment is an emotion that can arise regardless of gender ratio, so that can happen.
But usually, such attachments are not bidirectional.
They are more likely to be one-directional.
Intern Jung Da-eun also pushed away Kim Ha-eun, who expressed deeper feelings of attachment than expected.
So, what was Intern Kim Ha-eun’s next reaction after hearing an unfavorable answer from her first love?
1. Cry.
2. Hold on.
3. Stab Jung Da-eun with a utility knife.
The answer is….
Thud!
3.
She immediately stabbed a utility knife into Intern Jung Da-eun’s heart.
Thanks to the utility knife’s characteristically shallow blade thickness and the lack of strong stabbing force rather than slicing, Intern Jung Da-eun was able to save his life.
But afterward, Jung Da-eun entered a ghost story and met his death.
The obvious development that Intern Kim Ha-eun was among the personnel list for that ghost story exploration.
I think this explains sufficiently why I don’t want to get involved with this woman named Kim Ha-eun.
So the story is that it’s a top priority not to get involved with that woman Kim Ha-eun…….
Grab!
?
I raised my gaze, which had been absent mindedly looking at the ground while walking, with the sensation of bumping into something.
The all too familiar scenery of the station.
<Seongsu Station Exit 1>
…Is this homing instinct?
But more than that.
Didn’t I just feel the sensation of bumping into something?
“Ah! S-sorry…….”
Squeeze.
Along with a strong force as if something that suddenly bumped into me was strongly hugging me.
When my gaze slowly fell downward.
A glamorous woman was tightly hugging Park Yeon-jeong himself.
“…L-long time no see. Hehe.”
“………..”
A woman with thick black long hair, flashing her characteristic red inner light in my arms.
If someone saw us, they might misunderstand us as a couple, two people showing affection in broad daylight.
A woman blushing in a man’s arms and a man…
……Save me!!!!
I sent a silent request for help.
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