CH-047

There was an incident that suddenly came to mind.

It was trivial, if one could call it trivial. But the prolonged torment I suffered from the Boss due to its aftermath was etched in my memory.

'There was a big commotion once because a spy had infiltrated.'

They said a single document had disappeared from inside the archives.

From what I heard, what vanished was bait information the Boss had mixed among the real information—in other words, not crucial information. It could have been passed over as a simple happening, given that there was no particular damage...

But that incident properly stimulated the Boss's paranoia. When they failed to find the culprit, they later even moved the hideout. Even after that, the organization members had to suffer from the Boss's suspicion for a while.

The heated organization members searched with fire in their eyes, but the culprit was never identified. They just dismissed it, saying it must have been the work of an outsider.

However, thinking about it now, the culprit was obvious.

'Jang Yijoong.'

When it came to spies, it could be no one but him.

Anyway, recalling old memories gave me a sense of how the current situation was flowing.

Jang Yijoong, who had been secretly in the hideout and was trying to leave. The repairman acting suspiciously obvious to anyone.

As I, who had regressed, acted differently from before, something had changed. Thus, the scene of document leaking, which had gone unnoticed in the previous life, was uncovered.

'To think I suffered so much because of such sloppy bastards.'

I scanned my opponent. He was quite tall. His posture was hunched, but if he straightened his back, he looked like he'd be about 2 meters.

Furthermore, his body was quite thick.

'He's a soldier, so that figures...'

What bothered me more than that was his face. With his hat pulled down low, plus a mask and sunglasses, his face was completely invisible.

'Imitating a repairman in such a suspicious getup?'

Either disguise perfectly, or don't disguise at all. He clearly trained his body a lot, but not his head. Just like Jang Yijoong.

I stealthily reached my hand toward the repairman's face, but the man smacked my hand away and pulled his hat down even deeper.

"I'm here to fix a short circuit..."

"I don't recall calling for something like that."

His voice had a sense of years behind it.

Without a hint of fluster, the repairman made a clumsy excuse.

"Someone else called me."

"Someone else."

"Yes."

Thinking the conversation was over, the repairman tried to slip past me. With a quick movement, I blocked his path.

Then, gesturing towards the communal kitchen, I smiled.

"You've worked hard, how about a glass of water before you go?"

"I'm fine. I have my next appointment."

"Come on, don't be like that."

The man closed his mouth as if troubled. Pretending to be oblivious, I kept pestering him without stopping.

This repairman was definitely Jang Yijoong's colleague, or at least an ally.

'Killing him would be problematic. Should I just take his baggage?'

Like pretending to let my guard down while fighting and letting him go.

As I was thinking about how to handle this, the repairman's bag suddenly caught my eye. A piece of paper was sticking out from a gap in the bag.

'The bait...'

They said it wasn't important information. Something flashed in a corner of my mind.

'Is there a need to forcibly take it?'

I reached my hand towards the bag. Unlike when he smacked away the hand going for his face, the repairman stood still, as if observing my action.

"You're rather careless."

Instead of pulling the caught piece of paper out of the bag, I neatly tucked it in.

"A tail was sticking out."

"......"

I took a step back and looked up at my opponent. Due to the combination of sunglasses and shadows, his eyes were completely invisible. But I had a strong intuition that our eyes met.

I formed my eyes into crescents to look friendly.

Had he noticed the silent signal?

"...Thank you."

The repairman, who greeted in a mumbling voice, pulled his hat down deeply once more. He quickly passed by me.

This time, I didn't block his path. Instead, I whispered as if letting it slip the moment he passed beside me.

"Tell Yijoong-ssi not to worry."

The steps that had been progressing unhindered faltered. But as if it had been my imagination, the man soon started heading towards the emergency exit again.

After confirming he had exited through the stairs, I roughly opened the nearest door I saw and went inside.

"......"

Immediately leaning my back against the door, I clutched my chest.

Thump.

"...Ugh."

As if giving a warning, my heart pounded ominously. The contract had been affected by the action just now.

It was an expected result. I took deep breaths calmly.

'This is for the good of all of us.'

Fake information like that, even if leaked, wouldn't damage the organization. But gaining the favor of the spy Jang Yijoong helps in the long run.

It was a case of giving flesh and taking bone. No, I hadn't even given flesh. I repeated that to myself as if brainwashing myself. As I quietly steadied my breathing, my heartbeat calmed down before I knew it.

"Phew."

I felt my legs would give out.

I wiped the sweat trickling down my forehead. Looking around, the place I had entered in a daze was the archives.

I was confident he took the bait info, but you never know. I meticulously opened the drawers one by one and skimmed through the documents.

'Nothing particularly missing...'

.......

'Hmm...'

...To be honest, I don't know even if I look. Reading words is boring. I decided to trust the fact that the contract hadn't killed me.

It was the moment I was about to leave the archives. A desk located in the corner, which I hadn't gotten around to checking, suddenly passed my view. More precisely, a book placed on it caught my eye.

"!"

Reflexively, I picked up the book. It had words written on it that I couldn't just ignore.

"Regarding Quests and the Settlement of Karma..."

As I pronounced the now-familiar word, a blue window appeared as if it had been waiting.

[Quest: Settle your Karma.

!Penalty will be applied if a certain amount of time passes without fulfilling the quest.]

[Karma: 57020]

The two words 'Quest' and 'Settlement of Karma' were blatantly in the title. As if it were luring me in.

I had investigated somewhat, but I couldn't find any cases of a quest window appearing in reality.

'Is it a novel?'

Though I thought it strange, I opened the book as if possessed. Eyes unaccustomed to reading hurriedly scanned the letters.

A moment later, the conclusion I reached was.

"...!"

***

"Interesting human."

The repairman took off his hat. The ash-gray hair pressed down by the hat ruffled up messily.

"Letting a thief who entered your house just walk away. As a watchdog, that's a disqualification."

Jang Yijoong was waiting behind the building. Looking back at him, the repairman snapped his fingers. Then, before they knew it, the two had moved into a dark room.

"He told me to tell you not to worry."

"Are you going to scold me?"

"No. I'm in a very good mood right now."

The repairman chuckled softly.

"Besides, he seems to cherish you quite a bit. If I scold you, won't he get angry?"

Jang Yijoong said nothing. The repairman, who had been circling the desk, perched his buttocks on it.

"This time's 'Owner' has a very kind heart."

"......"

"He doesn't suit Yoo Gyeong. It would be better for him to come over to the Association's side."

He licked his lips with a smile.

"He'll surely be punished if this gets found out."

The man, who had momentarily stopped breathing imagining that sight, shuddered.

"Finally... I finally found him."

Jang Yijoong opened his mouth.

"Are you sure?"

"The bait I left got a reaction too. I'm half sure."

The excited repairman hugged himself. In front of the man breathing roughly, Jang Yijoong's eyes sank.

"That such a kind human is the 'Owner.'"

"......"

"His smiling face was very cute too. Once caught, I'll lock him in a room... and dote on him, dote on him to my heart's content."

The repairman's face contorted.

"Heo-eok, heo-eok..."

It wasn't just his face. His head and body too. Everything that constituted the man began to crumble like a melting candle.

His liquefied lower body streamed down the desk. The sound of his breathing gradually changed into a beast's howl.

"Chairman, your transformation is collapsing."

"Ah. Aaah..."

The liquid that had been flowing down rose back up as if being sucked in. It was a grotesque scene, like time reversing. Soon, the being that returned to the form of the repairman grinned.

"I have a good feeling."

Slurp.

Smacking his lips, the Chairman laughed broadly.

"Shall we begin slowly?"