Episode 203
Episode 203: Greetings
“Anyway, hasn’t it been crowded lately?”
It is a period of chaos where evil cults who serve the beings of the abyss and other races that have infiltrated the other world run rampant.
Even criminal groups in collusion with such dangerous beings are waging a war-like struggle for hegemony in Paju.
Hospitals, undertakers, and arms dealers. And criminal brokers are experiencing a huge boom.
Despite the boom times, Vasilisa was somehow quiet.
It’s not that there are no people, but the only regulars you see are sitting around.
“Kim, Shinhwa, how are you?”
The cafe’s barista, Orb, says hello.
“What are you?”
And the short woman wearing a red leather jacket standing next to the orb, Curtain Caller, also greets me.
“Are you Kim Shinhwa?”
No, wait. That’s not a greeting.
“That’s right, it’s me. And don’t you usually say ‘Hello?’ to someone you haven’t seen in a while?”
“Since you wear a mask all the time, how do you know if what’s underneath the mask is the guy you met before or not?”
The curtain call is still spoken bluntly without saying hello.
‘Wait a minute, I don’t think this is just an argument or a joke?’
Curtain Call is truly putting me on guard.
Magical power even begins to focus on her legs. They say they will attack if necessary.
I found a more convenient way than getting into a useless fight.
“Tudor, please tell me it’s me.”
“Oh, Collie, this is Kim Shin-hwa.”
Tudor, a witch wearing a loose dress and a fancy conical hat, approaches, giggling.
“Are you saying Kim Shin-hwa is right? “The smell has completely changed?”
“That’s right, it smells much more attractive than before?”
“I guess I ate a lot of strange things while I wasn’t there.”
“Hmm, that’s right. “Honey, if you come up with something good, share it with me too.”
Unlike the curtain caller, who is still frowning, Tudor shows a subtle smile with a slightly flushed complexion. It’s a greedy smile as if trying to criticize a luxurious dessert.
“Is my evaluation over now?”
“Well, it’s okay if it’s Kim Shin-hwa.”
The curtain call immediately made me lose interest and turn my head.
“Honey, what did you do this time? The atmosphere has changed a lot. “Compared to when I first came here, it’s safe to say I’m a completely different person.”
Umm, what’s changed?
Well, there is something different. First of all, when I first visited Vasilisa, my charm was 16.
Now the charm is 20.
And the reason why the curtain call reveals aversion is probably because my body is imbued with the magic of the beings of the abyss.
“But why are there no customers?”
Tudor’s eyes narrow at my question this time.
“Hmm – it’s all because of you.”
“It’s because of me?”
I guess it’s fair since he said it was thanks to me when business was going well.
“Hahaha, the Foreigners Management Office came and went three times after that.”
Thirteen, who is always sitting next to Vasilisa, joins in without saying hello.
“Thanks to that, the suspicious friends ran away to another place for a while. How many days will it take to stabilize? Collie is also quite dangerous, but she is stuck because of the orb.”
“Now that I think about it, Kim Shin-hwa. “The orb became dangerous because of you?”
The curtain call comes out again, hissing like a viper.
“Why is it because of me? “It’s because of the Foreigners Management Office.”
If you receive a group cheer due to someone’s mistake, it is often the mistake’s fault.
But is it really the person who made the mistake?
Isn’t it wrong for someone to use one person’s mistake as an excuse to cheer up the group?
When I explained it like that, Curtain Call looked lost in thought for a moment and then spoke.
“That’s right, if that bastard with big eyes comes again, I’ll have to throw him away.”
“Honey, what are you doing? “Don’t indoctrinate Collie with dangerous ideas!”
Tudor hastily grabs my arm.
“collie! “If you do something like that and make an already noisy problem even more noisy, I know I’ll never see Orb again!”
“Oh, I won’t.”
“Yes, Collie. Anyway, see you later. Baby, stop chatting and follow me. “Now we have to talk about work.”
After the hustle and bustle settled down for a while, I had to sit in Tudor’s office and listen to his nagging for a while.
“Anyway, I’m dying because I don’t have enough people to use it, so don’t involve Collie in it.”
“Do you think they do anything other than attack the helistick?”
“What are you talking about? Kohli also has a team he works with. “I’m not a wanderer like you, wandering around without friends.”
“Ha, but you still do everything.”
Moreover, it is true that he is a swordsman of great skill.
“Things are generally getting more nasty these days. Little things rarely come in. “When there is a fight, companies or organizations fight each other, and monsters and cultists have become completely powerful, so unless you are someone of your level, you can’t do anything on your own.”
“Oh, I see.”
It is not true that there are no high-level solvers who can exert group-level power on their own. There are still a lot of guys out there that are even stronger than me right now.
“Those guys are often wanted criminals. “When the Foreigners’ Management Office started coming and going, I went somewhere else.”
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So Vasilisa is suffering from a double manpower shortage.
However, Tudor does not seem to be very dissatisfied with the current situation.
“Kkalkkal, if you have free time, you can just play. Now, this is the data I requested.”
Thick folder.
It is titled [Paju Central Hospital Closed Ward Admission and Discharge Records].
“Hmm, thank you.”
“Hehe, yes. Now, the delivery is over and-”
Tudor smiles brightly and takes out a document.
“Please do this while I’m here today. “It’s something we can do right now.”
“Ugh, what is it? In the end, it makes you work.”
“oh? “Didn’t you come to work?”
Looking at the documents, it doesn’t seem like a big deal.
An incident where a large number of monster egg nests occurred in an area scheduled for reconstruction.
A large spider-like monster, presumed to be the mother of the egg nest, appears.
“It is an unfortunate incident that cannot be reported to the Foreigners Management Office due to the circumstances of the building owner.”
“It’s a shame, what’s the shame?”
Because the building was not acquired legally, it cannot be reported.
“Other people may have a hard time, but if you go and bang, it’s over, right? Please do something. “If we can’t find someone by today, we’ll move on to somewhere else.”
As Tudor said, this isn’t a very difficult quest.
However, the problem is that it’s already been over 26 hours since I couldn’t sleep… … .
I remember the message ‘Get some sleep’ that I saw in my notebook earlier.
“Well, okay. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Hurray! Baby the best! And take this with you on the way.”
A new folder is added in front of me.
“What’s this?”
“What is it? There are other requests that still have to be accepted. “If there is something you want to do, please choose one of them and tell me.”
When I glance at it, I see a request that is due tomorrow.
“I can’t do it tomorrow because I have other things to do. “I’ll do today’s task because it’s simple, but I’ll do the next task in about three days.”
I opened the folder and returned all but the ones with enough dates left.
“iced coffee! It’s disgusting! In the past, Kim Shinhwa was much more pure, kind, and cute! “Now you have to become a loser!”
At the same time, Tudor is struggling with his body lying down on the backrest. The sight of it grunting while waving its long limbs is quite a comical sight. I burst out laughing.
“ha ha ha-”
“what? “Did you just laugh?”
“uh? why?”
“I think it’s the first time I’ve seen you laugh so loudly.”
“Um, is that so?”
I unconsciously pulled my hand to touch the corner of my mouth…
Of course, there is a mask around the mouth. It’s already been almost a year since I walked around wearing a mask. If it’s new, it’s new, but somehow it feels strange.
“The atmosphere has changed. Well, if we go as Corley said, we won’t know even if the person below changes to someone else.”
Tudor says with a meaningful smile. That sounds somewhat creepy.
“Take care of yourself. “I don’t have to say the famous saying, ‘What about people who keep looking into the abyss?’
These are the words of Friedrich Nietzsche.
‘He who fights monsters must be careful not to become a monster himself during the fight. If you look long enough into the abyss, the abyss will also look into you.’
In the original world, I was not a very cultured person.
Therefore, this phrase is just something I saw at a glance somewhere on the Internet and was spread by the intelligence stat.
I thought of several things at the same time for a moment and then answered.
“I’ll be careful.”
* * *
The point at which Kim Shin-hwa moved to resolve Tudor’s request.
“Ugh… … .”
Jang Hyeon-deok put down his smartphone with an anxious expression for a moment.
“Ah, Mr. I watched this video for no reason… … .”
Jang Hyeon-deok lies in bed and covers his head.
While searching online for information about possession and psychics, I came across a video of an obvious ghost story.
The ghost story video streamer’s comment in the video lingers in my head.
‘Ghosts cannot enter the room unless you give permission.’
Come to think of it, the wizard said something similar, right?
‘Unless you give permission, the insignificant ghost won’t even be able to approach.’
His tone was to reassure people, but if you turn his words around, doesn’t that mean that ghosts that aren’t trivial can approach you?
“Oooooh!”
I tried making strange noises to relieve my anxiety, but even thinking about it, it just felt pathetic.
“Yeah, yeah. “I guess it’ll be okay.”
Squeak- Squeak- Squeak-
“Hi!?”
Suddenly, footsteps are heard from the hallway.
Did you hear the sound of stepping on the stairs?
no. The sound of footsteps clearly started somewhere in the hallway.
Kim Shin-hwa is still out.
Then, the only one possible is Heo Sang-hyun.
In Jang Hyeon-deok’s mind, the image of Heo Sang-hyun secretly climbing up the stairs, muffling the sound of his footsteps, comes to mind.
‘why?’
Thump thump thump-
knocking sound.
“Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok. Mr. Hyeondeok.”
“yes? Yes? yes?”
“Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok. Mr. Hyeondeok.”
What, what? Why is that guy like that? No, wait. Is this really Heo Sang-hyun’s voice?
No, something is strange. A dull voice without any emotion. Could it be that something is imitating Heo Sang-hyun’s voice?
Or is Heo Sang-hyeon, possessed by a ghost, knocking on the door?
Rattle rattle rattle-
The sound of a door handle turning. I locked the door earlier.
“W-Why are you being so scary?”
“Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok. Mr. Hyeondeok.”
No, it’s not Heo Sang-hyun’s voice. The voice heard outside the door gradually begins to change into a woman’s voice.
“Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok , Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok, Mr. Hyeondeok.”
“Ugh, wow!?”
At that moment, a voice outside the door shouted, “Aunt!” I hear a voice saying:
Quaaaang!
The sound of an explosion follows.
A brief silence.
“Jang Hyeon-deok!”
This is a more familiar voice.
“Wizard! “Wizard!”
It’s the wizard’s voice!
You came to the rescue at just the right time!
A voice ‘that feels like Kim Shin-hwa’ is heard again from outside.
“What are you doing, you idiot? Why did you lock the door? Are you okay? “Open the door!”
I feel like something similar to this has happened in the past?
I could have made a more rational decision, but the fear and confusion that surged in, and the hope that suddenly came to me.
It would be impossible for Jang Hyeon-deok, who only has the mental power of an average person, to make a more cool-headed judgment.
“hey! “Hurry up and let me in!”
“Oh, okay! Come on in!”
Jang Hyeon-deok’s answer failed.
Permission to come in.
Jang Hyeon-deok hasn’t opened the locked door yet… … .
kkieeeeek-
The door opens by itself.
And the thing on the other side of the door is not Kim Shin-hwa.
A strange woman whom Jang Hyeon-deok had never seen before spoke to Jang Hyeon-deok with a smile that split her ears.
“thank you. “I’m going in.”
“yes?”
Heo Sang-hyeon can be seen lying on the floor behind the woman.
Heo Sang-hyeon’s warning suddenly comes to mind.
‘There are no living women in this house. Even if you hear a woman calling you, just ignore it.’
Did you say aunt?
With that thought in mind, Jang Hyeon-deok’s vision goes dark.
fantasy,
