Bailonz Street 13-Chapter 227.2

Understood.

I figured as much. Naturally, I started going through options for what kind of bait to use next.

Then, suddenly, a new message appeared.

What do you want to know?

The heck is your angle? …is what he must be asking.

But I went ahead and asked the question I’d prepared.

I wanted to know if there are any new hires

or if previously employed people were rehired

and if you happened to recognize any

familiar faces, Mr. Civilian.

First, I needed to confirm Jang Heowoon-ssi.

I could ask Kwak Jekang, but I didn’t want that mad scientist catching wind that I was paying extra attention to Jang Heowoon.

‘That would only spark his curiosity.’

Even if he was technically bound by the ‘Red Finger’ curse, it wasn’t wise to give a nutjob like him motivation to look for loopholes. Especially when the subject of interest wasn’t myself.

‘Same reason I haven’t asked about Go Yeongeun-ssi or Assistant Manager Eun Haje.’

Of course, Baek Saheon wouldn’t cooperate for free either, so while I was deciding between the carrot or stick…

Give me some time.

I’ll check when I go to work tomorrow.

‘…??’

Did this guy… eat something weird?

I honestly couldn’t believe it.

Still, since he agreed, I wasn’t about to complain.

Thank you.

Yeah, don’t forget to show some appreciation

Have a decent item ready

And don’t even think about sending me

some lame coffee gift card or anything

Hey. I can’t even afford a coffee gift card right now…

I’m afraid that’ll be difficult.

I’m sorry, I’m not in a position to acquire

any items at the moment.

So you’re not even going to promise

to pay me back later? You’re completely clueless

and inflexible, yet somehow you’ve managed to survive

as an agent, huh.

[This man is a proper Grinch.]

My thoughts exactly.

Then I’ll compensate you later

when I can. Thank you.

‘Hmm.’

It seemed that ‘Agent Grapes’ had earned some degree of trust from Baek Saheon because of the Jisan Village case.

‘How did that happen?’

I’ve got no idea. This is completely unexpected.

‘…And I’m not even an agent anymore.’

Yet I was still able to communicate as one. It felt strange.

At any rate, I decided to wait for Baek Saheon’s answer to this first question.

Besides, I was in the phase where I needed to quietly continue my annex duties to progress to the next step.

[Now get some proper rest and prepare for tomorrow’s shift, Friend!]

Right.

And so, a few days passed like that.

I continued quietly working at the annex front desk, all while keeping up the unspoken pressure on the company that they must pay me on payday.

Incidentally, I’d also gone out to capture another Darkness in that time, and once again returned safely.

Since it was a Darkness listed on the <Dark Exploration Records> wiki, analyzing the manual with a clear head made it neither particularly dangerous nor difficult, especially with my dulled fear and blunted emotions.

Other than that, things were relatively peaceful. Surprisingly, Assistant Manager Lee Seonghae had stopped by several more times during our shifts at the annex, each time bringing snacks.

‘If I manage to locate and reconstruct my digestive organs someday, maybe I’ll be able to try some.’

For now, I handed everything over to the sergeant.

Baek Saheon’s paper boat still hadn’t responded. It seemed he hadn’t yet had the chance to check all the new recruits’ faces.

And so, time passed until today, when my shift setup changed slightly.

[Working alone, at last! Don’t worry about boredom, Friend. You have this quick-witted raconteur at your side!]

That’s right.

A solo night shift.

After I had spent over a week working quietly, the company seemed to decide, ‘let’s test things this far’, and stationed me alone at the front desk.

‘If it were me, I wouldn’t have risked it…’

But of course, this was a ghost story world’s company, so here we were.

The sergeant and Supervisor Park Minseong were both back to their original duties, ready to respond if I triggered a security alert.

And so I remained alone at the front desk, sitting in the carrier, its door open.

The result…

“……”

“……”

About seven out of every ten people approaching the front desk hesitated.

‘Huu…’

Thankfully, they’d had a few days to get used to seeing the carrier, or else I’d probably have already triggered a Security Team call.

“Uh… Mr. Carrier? Uh, Mr. Employee? I’d like access to Twilight-class ‘Self-Cookie’.”

Issuing access card 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

I used my smoke to write the words, and at the same time extended just my left hand from the carrier to scan and toss the employee their card.

“Th, Thank you…?”

Please use safely

I could hear murmurs of surprise about how efficient I was as the employees hurried down the hallway, almost fleeing.

That’s not something you should be saying so audibly in front of a carrier case suspected to be holding a Darkness…

‘Must be a new hire.’

There were a lot of them around.

It had been a few days since the new hire test, and this was about the time when the new employees were being shown around the annex and encouraged to use it on their own.

I’d been through that, too.

‘……And that’s when I got my personal equipment made.’

I remembered when my superiors at the D-squad had helped me back then.

‘……’

I was quietly passing the time with smoke drifting around me when the annex’s entrance doors opened, and another employee in a suit carefully stepped inside.

“Uh, hello…”

Another newbie, by the looks of it. A tall man.

But as he walked in, he froze when he saw me at the front desk.

‘Hm. Can’t blame him.’

Salt Goblin

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