Bailonz Street 13-Chapter 235.2

And, that evening.

Just one ordinary routine event returned, detailed enough to feel believable.

The Happy Ending Sect’s meal time.

“Let us share happiness.”

“The gaze of Ireum-nim.”

Here, every morning and evening meal required full attendance. Everyone sat and ate together. No exceptions.

Even those contaminated by ghost stories sat side by side with the new initiates.

Incidentally, across from me sat the school uniformed officials… ugh.

‘At this rate, they’d probably kill an initiate and say they made them happy.’

I swallowed the retort and kept quiet.

Soon the meal began.

I sat still, glancing at the exposed cement walls and ceilings of the underground bunker, then looked down at the table.

Canned rations.

“Can’t eat?”

I turned my head.

One of the uniformed officials was leaning on a hand, looking at me.

Then she tapped the boy next to her, the one who looked exactly like her.

“Hey, hey, what do dragons usually eat?”

The boy just shrugged. She smacked his back lightly, then smiled brightly at me.

“Ah. Should introduce ourselves! Introductions are important… Right, I’m Lee Seoyu, and this is Lee Seobin. We’re twins. I’m the older sister!”

She beamed.

“Some people call me ‘Isseoyu~’ in the Chungcheong dialect!” [1]

So cheerful.

Which only made it more awkward.

This normal, sunny demeanor from someone who had killed without hesitation, brainwashed through hallucinations and whispers, and tried to abduct others.

That unsettling casualness of giving real names inside a ghost story. And…

‘They really are twins.’

Now that I was here, I recognized them…… They’re the Happy Ending Sect twins who had appeared in several Church of the Luminous Unknown tales.

I’d even seen their faces on a few WeTube thumbnails.

Though this was my first time hearing their actual names.

“Do you maybe eat, like, something unusual? Human brains or something? Or livers?”

But looking at them like this, they really just seemed like high school students.

So after some hesitation, I asked at last.

Reason for outfit choice

“Ah, my school uniform?”

Her head fell off.

“Curious?”

And it rolled across the table.

Long hair tied with a red ribbon wriggled on the tablecloth.

“Are you reallyreallyreallyreallyreally curious?AreyoucuriouswhyImwearingthis?Reallyreally?Really?”

No.

I think I’m good…

Polite remark for table manners.

“I see! I see!”

‘Just drop the subject, please…’

Maybe because they’re insane, there’s never any warning.

I’d wear out mentally before I even found a way to return to a human shape.

Everything was just tiring and… overwhelming…

Then.

Thud.

“Aigoo…”

On my right.

The old woman sitting next to Ho Yoowon bumped his arm and spilled her water cup.

His clothes got wet.

“Oh no, are you alright?”

But instead of checking the water on his sleeve, Ho Yoowon immediately moved to help the old woman up. He cleared the table in front of her and wiped her clothes.

…He’d go that far?

“What a good person.”

“A good person.”

…I felt eyes on us.

From every table, whispers spread as they watched Ho Yoowon’s actions.

‘……’

That evening, Ho Yoowon seemed to chat softly with the old woman, and before long, he went so far as to invite her into his ‘quarters’.

“I’ll tell you an interesting story.”

No one stopped him.

[Oh. I can feel the audience’s anticipation.]

Yes.

Anticipation.

One of the Happy Ending Sect’s officials, who had introduced herself as Lee Seoyu, whispered as we walked away.

“If you’re going to make Grandma Kim Bokja happy, be sure to tell me in the morning. We have to hold the ceremony for her!”

……

My stomach lurched.

But I didn’t stop Ho Yoowon.

‘It must be for information.’

If anything went wrong, I would step in myself.

So I slowly followed after him as he supported the old woman toward his quarters…

And we entered.

Bam—

But the moment I shut the door and leaned against it.

Ho Yoowon released the old woman and stepped back.

And the old woman straightened up without difficulty, standing tall.

‘…!’

She spat out a round glass-like bead she’d been holding in her mouth. Immediately, her form shifted and hardened…

A cold, tired look.

Eyes as sharp as a hawk.

Pale face, short blue hair.

Someone I knew.

‘…!!’

Assistant Manager Eun Haje.

‘Wait a second.’

What’s happening?

My brain froze, unable to process the situation.

And then, like a bolt of lightning, realization struck.

‘No wonder he helped the old woman.’

Assistant Manager Eun Haje had infiltrated this Happy Ending Sect facility disguised as an old woman…!

And there was only one person who could’ve arranged that.

Ho Yoowon!

“So you sent someone in, and then you came in yourself too?”

“No. It’s coincidence. I didn’t expect to meet you like this either.”

“Sure, sure. Of course.”

Assistant Manager Eun Haje collapsed into a seat with a wet splat.

Then, after briefly showing an expression that looked like she wanted to sock Ho Yoowon, her eyes lit up as she noticed the bruise on his face.

“Director, you got hurt?”

“Ah. This one’s hand is a bit heavy…”

[How shameless.]

Exactly.

The finger Ho Yoowon used to point at me naturally drew Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s gaze in my direction.

She nearly went pale, but steadied her breath and asked calmly.

“…Isn’t this a Security Team member?”

“That’s right. And in fact, Falcon-nim also knows this person.”

“……”

Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s eyes sank.

As if recalling the names of all the Field Exploration Team staff she had worked with… and their fates.

But before she could finish that thought, Ho Yoowon spoke first.

“Been a while, hasn’t it? This is Roe Deer-nim.”

Assistant Manager Eun Haje froze.

Her gaze left Ho Yoowon entirely and fixed on me.

Her mouth opened.

“Roe Deer?”

……

Yes, Assistant Manager.

I shaped the letters with smoke.

‘It’s fine.’

In fact, I was in a better state than when I had met with the Security Team members.

I was in a state where I could think clearly again, and I was freer than when I’d been in the isolation cell.

To meet Assistant Manager Eun Haje at eye level, I cautiously sat down at the doorway as well.

I forced myself into the tone I’d used before.

I made a mistake and it caused problems, which is why I ended up like this, but it’ll be fine.

I’m looking for a way to recover.

“……”

Assistant Manager Eun Haje stared at the floor. Her face, hidden by hair, was momentarily out of sight. Then.

“Right. Roe.”

She met my eyes again. Her face had all agitation wiped clean. Only composure remained.

“Of course you can recover. Hey, having ridiculous side effects from Darkness is part of becoming a true Daydream employee.”

She tapped my arm that lay inside the black smoke.

“You’re clever, so there’ll be another way. Think about what you want to do once you recover.”

……

Thank you.

“Thanks for what? Hey. I’ll just stand next to you whenever you want a cigarette.”

I don’t think that’s possible, but…

Anyway, I was able to talk a bit more about the events that had happened and about Assistant Manager Eun Haje grumbling that she couldn’t smoke while disguised like that.

It was a short but fairly pleasant time.

Hearing that I had worked with Supervisor Park Minseong even brought a faint smile to her face. Of course, it vanished when we returned to the main topic.

“Ms. Falcon, I didn’t call you here just for idle chatter with Roe Deer-nim.”

“Sorry.”

Assistant Manager Eun Haje apologized immediately, though there was still an expression like, ‘What are you going to do about it, prick?’ left on her face.

Hm. Unexpectedly, we seemed to have grown fairly used to one another…

‘I was worried last time when this scumbag even managed to control Assistant Manager Eun Haje’s body.’

It was a relief to see Assistant Manager Eun Haje behaving in character.

‘Still, I should check on her later.’

For now, this first.

Assistant Manager, were you sent here under Director Ho’s orders?

Note/s:

[1] Chungcheong dialect – The people of Chungcheong, a province in the west-central region of Korea (where Daejeon is located), speak in a relatively calm and friendlier manner. With how they soften their words, the sentence ending -yo (-요) tends to be changed to -yu (-유).

Lee Seoyu is pronounced iseoyu (the L isn’t actually there, just a romanization thing that started in the west) and if you pronounce it as isseoyu (있어유), it means “(it’s) here”. No pronoun or subject marker, so it could be applied to anyone/anything. ↵

Salt Goblin

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