episode_0040

As I was about to pick up three unopened cup noodles and start walking, a question arose.

“Hey, Letel. Can I just take this? Don’t you need to bring the cooked cup ramen?”

“Huh? That wasn’t written down, right?”

“Yeah, but I’m a little anxious.”

I took another look at the paper with the list of ‘jobs’ written on it.

[2. Please deliver three cup ramen to the ‘security guard’]

“What if I take it raw and then attack you for giving it uncooked cup ramen?”

“That seems too paranoid…”

“I hope you say it’s prudent.”

“Uhm…then why don’t we do both!”

“both?”

She fills the coffee pot with water, turns it on, and busily unpacks the cup ramen.

“If I take both the cooked and the uncooked ones, won’t you make your own choice?”

“I think that was just a flag remark…”

“Eh. It’s okay. I’m not dying.”

“……”

She calmly recited the line that would rank number one in a man’s last words and poured the water as soon as it boiled.

“I’ll take this! Now let’s go! To get points!”

“…Ha~ I don’t know. If something happens, I have to protect you?”

“Ahaha! Do you not believe in my skills? If you don’t agree, I’ll just get rid of you! Unless something outside the standard like a ‘horrible conglomerate’ pops up, I can beat everyone!”

“A non-standard entity…?”

What on earth did we meet?

If Letel were to say something like that, it must have been beyond my imagination… It’s frustrating that my memories are completely gone.

After about two minutes, she gestured at me, floating three cup ramen noodles cooked with her ability.

“Follow me, Hangil.”

“Okay, okay…”

Holding three cup ramen, I followed her, feeling a little anxious.

“By the way, what kind of supernatural entity is the ‘guard’?”

“Huh? Well… to put it simply, it’s just an ordinary monster. A monster given a mission by an ‘ordinary small business’? That’s what it feels like.”

“…I think I heard it for no reason.”

plod along.

Inside the dark company, only our footsteps echo quietly.

“Hmm. I want to find it before the ramen gets fried…”

Letel, who was walking with steaming cup noodles floating in the air, swept up her red hair to expose her ears and cupped them with her hands.

“What are you doing?”

“Huh? Well, I’m looking for a ‘security guard.’ It’s easy when you hear the sound.”

“sound?”

I tilted my head and listened to what she said.

And, it wasn’t long before I realized what she meant.

Jalang-. Jalang-.

The sound of a bundle of keys resounding clearly.

The distance seemed quite far, but there was no problem in determining the location.

“It looks like he’s upstairs.”

“Go, go together.”

I hurriedly moved my legs to follow her, who was almost running.

Jalang-. Jalang-.

As the distance gets closer, the sound of the bundle of keys becomes clearer and louder.

“Oh, there it is.”

“……”

And, finally, we encountered the ‘security guard’.

“Sooo…”

The ‘security guard’ was so tall that he tilted his head crookedly and looked down at us with his ear pressed to the ceiling.

It reminds me of Slender Man and Palcheok Ghosts, which were once popular as horror materials.

Rather than being skinny, it gave the impression that he had a decent amount of muscle.

“…hmm.”

Although he was tall, the intimidating feeling felt from his appearance was no joke.

It had rough skin that seemed to be covered with non-woven fabric, there was no hole in the area where the left eye would be, and the only eye that was left was abnormally large.

It also had no nose or ears, but a snake’s tongue flickered between its large, long lips as if it were its body.

“Mr. ‘Security’! I brought you cup ramen! Here you go! Which one would you like?”

“Sooo…”

Contrary to his appearance, the ‘security guard’, wearing a neat uniform, slowly moved his flashlight to illuminate the cup ramen and then selected the cooked cup ramen that Letel had left in the air.

“Oh…cooked cup ramen was the answer.”

“I know.”

While trying to keep his eyes on the ‘security guard’, he stared at the steaming cup ramen and opened his mouth wide.

My shoulders are shaking at the sight of its ferocious appearance, with sharp shark-like teeth growing all the way to the roof of its mouth.

“Sooo…”

He made a small noise, lifted up three cup ramen at once, and tilted them towards his mouth.

Gurgling!

“Gulp, gulp, gulp…!”

“Wow… isn’t it hot?”

The ‘security guard’, who literally drank the ramen, quenched his appetite and held out his hand to me.

“Huh? Do you want this too?”

When I was suddenly presented with cup ramen, he skillfully tore off the package and sprinkled soup powder on the raw ramen.

“Bad deuk! Bwagak! Kwaddeuk!”

Then, he started chewing it harshly.

“Paggeuk! Ppagak…gulp!”

The ‘security guard’, who quickly ate three pieces of raw ramen, stared at us with his only eye and stretched out three fingers with strangely swollen joints.

“Well…three.”

“yes?”

“I will answer three questions… anytime…”

Jalang-. Jalang-.

After saying that, the ‘security guard’ started patrolling again.

“……”

“……”

Ratel and I looked at each other for a while, mulling over what the ‘security guard’ said.

“Answering questions? What does that mean?”

“I don’t know… Well, it’s probably not a bad thing. Rather…”

[You got 5 points!]

“Oooh! I got it again! It’s not much, but where is it? Ugh… Today is a really lucky day!”

“Why are you scattering flags like that…?”

I shook my head because I felt the ominous feeling growing every time she spoke.

“Now the only things left are numbers 3 and 4?”

[3. Please tell the ‘office worker’ in the bathroom that he can leave work now]

[4. Please repel the ‘intruders’ with the ‘guards’]

“Which do you think would be better? Letel.”

“Well… should we start with number 3? I think we’ll probably have to fight for number 4.”

“I think we’ll have to fight three times.”

“Oh, you never know. If I tell you that you can leave work, you might be happy and disappear, right?”

“I hope so… By the way, where is the bathroom where the ‘crying sound’ comes from?”

“It doesn’t matter where. It appears randomly anywhere.”

“Really? Then let’s go somewhere nearby.”

We headed to the bathroom with her and were torn between the men’s and women’s bathrooms.

“Hangil. What do you think about going into the bathroom that matches your gender?”

“Let’s split up? I absolutely hate it.”

“Same goes for me. Well, let’s go into the men’s restroom first! I was actually curious what it looked like! Is it true that if you lift the third urinal, you will see an entrance to the men’s lounge and billiards room?”

“Where on earth did you hear that? That can’t be possible.”

When I turned on the light in the men’s bathroom and entered, an ordinary scene that could be seen anywhere unfolded.

“Oh… it looks like this~ Is this the third urinal? Huh? Hangil! How do you lift this?”

“No, did you really believe it? That’s a lie.”

“Really? Oh, that’s boring…”

I opened the toilet stalls one by one, but I couldn’t find anything and I didn’t hear any crying.

“It’s not like he won’t show up, right?”

“Hey, it was done by an ‘ordinary small and medium-sized company’. Is that really possible? Now let’s go to the women’s bathroom.”

“okay.”

However, no abnormal phenomenon occurred even after looking around all the women’s restrooms.

“So, if this happens, do I have to go to another bathroom?”

“Maybe so? It’s a little annoying… huh?”

We, who were heading towards the stairs, stopped at the same time.

“Sooo…”

This is because the ‘security guard’ was standing behind the stair passage.

“What? Mr. ‘Security’! Did you run out of cup ramen? Shall I get you some more?”

I clicked my tongue as I watched Letel speak in a friendly manner.

I don’t know how they can do that.

I get scared just by looking at it.

“Sooo…?”

The one eye of the ‘security guard’ who looks this way stares down intently.

“…?”

At this point, I felt a strange sense of discomfort.

Isn’t there something that should be there?

“Well…”

Startle!

After reading the intention of attack from the ‘security guard’, I grabbed Retel’s shoulder tightly.

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

“Retel. That ‘guard’…I don’t have the key.”

“…what?”

“I can’t hear the keys! That’s not a ‘security guard’!”

At the same time that Retel’s expression changed, the ‘security guard’ took a step closer.

Because the guy is so tall, just one step shortens the distance by a few meters.

“Uuuuh… I’m the ‘security guard’. Follow me for a moment.”

The intent to attack was still visible in the eyes of the guy who spoke in a strange tone.

“…I’m sorry, but that won’t work?”

When Retel blocks my path and makes a cold expression, his mouth twists to reveal sharp teeth.

“Kaa…aaa!”

I thought he would say at least a few more words, but he didn’t say any more and rushed straight ahead.

Using its overwhelming height, the two arms come forward in dizzyingly wide circular motions, and the sharp teeth extend their abnormally long neck even further.

“joy.”

But unfortunately, such physical attacks did not work on Letel.

Sigh!

When she snaps her fingers, a concentric wave of space passes by.

“Uh-uh…Uh-huh…?”

Fuwaaa!

Immediately afterwards, his body broke into pieces and lay scattered on the spot.

“You’re fussing over something that’s nothing. Hangil, let’s go.”

“Oh, that’s right…”

After passing over the completely silent corpse, we casually headed to the downstairs bathroom.

Although you appeared with great atmosphere, you left in vain.

Even if the opponent was bad, it was too bad.

To be honest, it was a monster that I could easily deal with even if I was alone.

It may have hurt a little, though.

***

“Ah~! Why isn’t it coming out?”

I visited all the bathrooms in the building, but the ‘crying sound’ mentioned in the overtime manual was not heard anywhere.

“Isn’t this a scam!? What if Ji ordered it and kept it secret?”

“Ji, calm down.”

“You look like you’re calm now!? It’s not like you’re training a damn dog! What on earth are you doing?!”

When she shouts loudly, the sound echoes in the quiet company building.

“Damn…it seems like it only appears when certain conditions are met. Uhm…ah! That’s right! I got a great idea!”

She, who was wheezing and worrying, suddenly smiles brightly and her eyes sparkle.

“What?”

“You’re asking the ‘security guard’! You said you’d answer three questions earlier, right?”

“…Is that what you meant?”

“Or what else! We’re just grasping at straws! Let’s go!”

“Wow!?”

She held my wrist tightly and started flying quickly towards the place where the key sound was heard.

Jalang-. Jalang-.

The ‘security guard’, who was walking with long legs and shining his flashlight here and there with slow movements, stopped on the spot and stared at us when he spotted us.

“Hello! Mr. ‘Security’! I’m here with a question!”

“So…ask a question…”

“The sound of crying in the bathroom! How do I make that sound go away?”

“You mean the ‘office worker’ locked in the bathroom…?”

“Yeah! That!”

“…when he sees the work, he starts crying…”

“job…?”

We gave him a puzzled look, but he muttered as if it didn’t matter.

“Two left…”

Jalang-. Jalang-.

After leaving meaningful words, I looked at his back as he walked away with the sound of the key and made eye contact.

“Retel. I think this is the same case as the woman who appeared on the monitor…?”

“Yeah. I felt that way too…”

After being silent for a while, we frowned at the same time.

“Hmm, I don’t want to encounter that kind of group…”

“Me too. It’s so pitiful that I feel pity for it. Ugh, why on earth would an ‘ordinary small business’ do something like that…”

When I returned to the office with Letel constantly clicking his tongue, I took a piece of paper with a report form written on it.

“Is this okay?”

“maybe.”

As soon as I headed to the bathroom, the response came back.

-Huh…Huh, huh…

“……”

“……”

The sound came from the men’s bathroom, so we walked in silence.

-Ugh, huh…I don’t want to work anymore…Ugh…

As expected, it was of that type.

Letel tapped my shoulder and stepped forward.

“Hey, are you there?”

-Huh, huh…

“They say you can leave work now~”

-Huh…? Am I really…?

“Then it’s true~ I’m not lying, so don’t worry.”

-Ah…I’m off work, thank you. thank you…!

After a heartfelt thank you, the crying stopped.

[You got 2 points!]

“…I know. Even if I leave the management bureau, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to become an ordinary office worker.”

I deeply sympathized with Letel’s words, so I nodded my head loudly.