Ch.584Chapter 22. The Price of Labor (16)

Late afternoon, Namhae Expressway.

Vroooom—

The exhaust roars roughly.

The car rattles and shakes with the sound of an engine that doesn’t seem well-maintained.

“Sorry, it’s shaking pretty badly.”

“That’s why I said we should take the motorcycle.”

“Take a motorcycle on the national highway? No thanks. We can’t talk properly on a motorcycle.”

“We could talk using magic power.”

“No. I want to talk normally with our actual voices.”

Baek Seol-hee gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, focusing straight ahead as she drove.

“You have the mental capacity to talk?”

“Of course. You think an S-class can’t multitask this much?”

“Doesn’t seem like you can.”

“Shut up. Instead of chattering away next to me, massage my thigh.”

“Are you crazy?”

I immediately scolded Baek Seol-hee.

“What kind of driver asks the person in the passenger seat to massage their thigh? Don’t you know about safe driving?”

“What could be safer than an S-class maintaining a constant speed in the second lane?”

“You could at least ask me to massage your shoulders, but your thigh? Are you a pervert?”

“Yes. It’s my car and I want it, so what’s the problem?”

Baek Seol-hee patted the white steering wheel with her hand.

“I like everything about this car except the manufacturer. I just don’t get to drive it often.”

“Didn’t Haeguneul give it to you?”

“I got it through the Hero Association. Not directly from Haeguneul.”

The car Baek Seol-hee was driving was Haeguneul Motors’ flagship vehicle.

She didn’t buy it herself.

It was a car given to her through the association, and according to her, she was using her driver’s license for the first time in about a year.

And she really was driving safely.

She maintained a steady 90 km/h on the highway, focusing only on her driving regardless of other cars zooming past.

“At this rate, we’ll arrive by evening. Ms. Baek Seol-hee, you’re not having indecent thoughts, are you?”

“What indecent thoughts?”

“We’re not going to Yeosu for fun, we’re going for work. You’re driving slowly on purpose to arrive late, aren’t you? Isn’t that usually a man’s trick?”

“Whatever, Taejo.”

“Wow, you actually said it.”

Baek Seol-hee twisted the corner of her mouth proudly.

“Listen, Do Ji-hwan. When a woman says ‘overnight stay’ instead of ‘day use,’ shouldn’t you just obediently follow along?”

“We could make it a day trip, or even finish in 10 minutes if we opened a dimensional gate.”

“You keep talking like that? Fine, let’s do this.”

Baek Seol-hee turned on her right blinker and steered the car to the right.

“…You.”

“Should I buy you coffee?”

“What’s with the ‘noona’ talk? I’m not trash enough to make a pregnant woman buy me coffee.”

“Nobody knows I’m pregnant anyway. That’s how it is with ability users, right? It doesn’t show on the outside.”

Baek Seol-hee lightly pointed at her abdomen.

“Hey, do you not want to go to Yeosu with me?”

“Of course not. If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have asked you to come with me in the first place.”

Screech.

The car stops in the parking lot.

Baek Seol-hee pressed the Seonbital mask I handed her onto her face, and lightly brushed her hair with her hand.

Whoosh.

Her white hair instantly turned black, and she immediately opened the door and stepped outside.

I also put on a Seonbital mask and got out.

Despite being a weekday afternoon, there were many people.

Nearly half of them were wearing Seonbital masks, even small children.

Problem, one occurred.

“The line is long.”

“The Haeguneul boycott movement, it’s no joke when you see it firsthand.”

There were many people, but their movements were heavily biased.

Apart from those going to the restroom, everyone else was buying food at the rest area, but there was one place everyone completely ignored.

“Can you see the part-timer’s expression? He looks like he’s reached enlightenment.”

“It’s nice not having work, but that’s the face of someone worried about their future. I know it well.”

“You do?”

“Of course.”

I took Baek Seol-hee’s hand and walked toward the empty place, the Haeguneul cafe.

Murmurs.

People whispered as they watched us.

Without needing to listen closely, I could guess what they were saying.

“A clueless couple wearing Seonbital masks and using the Haeguneul cafe.”

“Oh, they say they’re a couple. They’re actually married.”

“Maybe they’re having an affair?”

“How can you say something so harsh?”

Baek Seol-hee lightly pressed her Seonbital mask as she stood in front of the cafe.

“Um, would you… like to order?”

The clerk looked at us, rolling his eyes left and right.

“Not many customers, right?”

“Ah, yes. Well… considering what happened. Hahaha.”

The clerk scratched his cheek and laughed bitterly.

“It’s a bit awkward as an employee, but I’m wearing this too while working.”

The clerk rolled up his sleeve and pointed to his wrist.

On his wrist, the screen of his Taegeuk Watch displayed a Seonbital.

“Some people ask if it’s okay for a Haeguneul cafe employee to do this, but honestly, I feel the same as everyone else. Anyone would be upset if their salary didn’t come in. Especially when credit card bills are still being charged…”

“Oh my, really?”

Baek Seol-hee was genuinely surprised.

“Wasn’t that just internet rumors?”

“Ah, you must not use a Haeguneul card. Yes, the charges went through. The Haeguneul card server is in Jeonju or somewhere.”

“……”

“People who know better schedule their payday with their card payment date, but now they’ve suddenly become delinquent payers. Haha, they were crying and laughing about possibly having to pay late fees.”

“That sounds like Haeguneul. Anyway, could we get this and this?”

“…You’re actually ordering?”

The clerk turned pale when I pointed to the menu.

“Um, didn’t you come for an interview?”

“……? We came to order drinks at a cafe, what interview?”

“Well, um, people from places like Joseon TV have been coming to interview and such…”

“I see.”

Anyway.

“There are people making money off Haeguneul’s downfall. Even as Haeguneul collapses, problems arise.”

“……”

Under her mask, Baek Seol-hee’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Not just because of people making money as cyber wreckers off Haeguneul’s downfall, but because she detected people in the distance pointing their Taegeuk Watches at us and taking photos.

“What I said as a joke became reality. A clueless couple using the Haeguneul cafe.”

I pulled Baek Seol-hee’s shoulder and patted her.

“It’s okay. They won’t be able to upload it anyway.”

“Because your company will handle it?”

“Something like that.”

Even if they took photos, those photos would never be uploaded.

They would either be hacked by a mysterious hacker and uploaded without the photos, or if someone posted a story titled “[OO Rest Area Clueless Couple.txt],” the post itself would soon be taken down.

We couldn’t control those who saw the posts during the brief time between upload and deletion, but it wouldn’t really spread as public opinion.

“Your drinks are ready. Um…”

The clerk placed our ordered drinks in front of us and carefully opened his mouth.

“Thank you so much for ordering.”

“There’s no need to be that grateful…”

“To be honest, thanks to you, I’ve just met the franchise fee quota.”

“……”

There was a hint of resentment in the clerk’s voice.

“The executives at headquarters made the mistakes, but we workers are suffering the consequences. …But we still have to pay what we owe, and with the Haeguneul boycott… sigh.”

“…What in this country isn’t Haeguneul?”

Baek Seol-hee scanned the parking lot with cold, sunken eyes.

“Even just looking at the cars here, 90% must be Haeguneul cars.”

“Exactly. Oh, for payment…”

“With this.”

I took cash out of my wallet and handed it to the clerk.

“By the way, did you know? Since Haeguneul headquarters froze up, ‘The Company’ from America is trying to enter the Korean market.”

“……Pardon?”

“Buy stocks. When you get your severance pay, invest in The Company.”

I handed one of the drinks to Baek Seol-hee, and together we headed back to the car.

“…Why don’t you tell me to invest? You told that clerk.”

“Ms. Seol-hee, you’re already rich.”

“Even if I’m rich, more money is always good. Money is only a problem when you don’t have it.”

“It sounds strange coming from you… wait.”

I let go of her hand and firmly grabbed Baek Seol-hee’s wrist.

Beep…

Just as I suppressed the area around Baek Seol-hee’s Taegeuk Watch with magic power before it could sound loudly.

EEEEEEEEE!!

Villain alerts rang from everyone’s Taegeuk Watches at the rest area.

“Wh-what?!”

“A v-villain?!”

“Could it be Seonbital?!”

Most people were tense.

But some actually cheered at the villain alert.

“Where’s Seonbital! Destroy Haeguneul!!”

Some were shouting for Seonbital even though it wasn’t clear if Seonbital had appeared.

“…There don’t seem to be any heroes nearby.”

“Right. If it were just a C-class, they could handle it from a distance, but the problem is the one coming over there…”

“At least A-class.”

Baek Seol-hee took a light sip of her drink and placed it on the railing beside her.

“What the hell is he doing…?”

“Don’t use magic power. It would be troublesome if your hero dispatch alert goes off, so let’s check carefully.”

“It would be problematic if the confirmation signal comes from here.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t. Hmm…”

Emergency alert.

A-class villain, [Haepaja] has appeared.

Special note: Wearing ‘Jungtaal’.

“……Haepaja?”

A villain with a codename I’ve never heard before.

Based on the special note, Jungtaal—a mask from Hahoe masks representing a monk.

“Hiding their identity to commit villain acts… ugh.”

Several cars entered the rest area at tremendous speed from the direction we had come.

They seemed to be driving at over 100 km/h into the rest area entrance, but they were actually “fleeing into” the rest area.

CRASH!

With a loud sound of something falling over, a car trying to enter the rest area flipped upside down.

“…What is that guy doing?”

“What else? A madman doing mad things.”

On top of the overturned car, a man wearing a monk’s mask and robes struck a pose like a martial arts monk from a wuxia novel.

“So Haepaja means ‘Haeguneul car destroyer’?”

“That villain’s codename needs to be changed.”

Junkyard Monk.

“…Though calling him a ‘monk’ would be unfair. To hooligans.”

The beginning of Haeguneul’s downfall.

As expected, one of the concerns we had has materialized.

Haeguneul is being smashed.

Haeguneul’s cars are.