INV 26

As if he had remembered belatedly, Gwak Deukcheon let out a short “Ah.” of exclamation and turned his head.

“Hey. When you see your sunbaes, treat them with strict courtesy. If you try to act tough just because you’ve got connections, I’ll—”

At that, Chacha slowly opened his lips.

“…You’ll what?”

“…Oh my, I was just trying to show this precious person what a ‘family-like’ company is all about, sir.”

Gwak Deukcheon instantly wiped the “bored to death” look off his face and replied while rubbing his hands together vigorously, then walked with swift steps to the very edge of the office. Where he stood was a wall; there was no longer a path for them to walk through. Yet, strangely, Gwak Deukcheon began knocking on the empty wall—which at most had a few flickering post-it notes with schedules written on them—and spoke.

Knock, knock-knock-knock, knock.

“Hey. Open up.”

“…”

Kwon Yihyeon wore a pitying expression, thinking that Reaper Gwak had finally lost his mind.

Of course, it was his intention to tease him. Gwak Deukcheon, seeing right through Kwon Yihyeon’s shallow thoughts, raised and shook a fist as if he wanted to give him a good smack, but then winced and hunched his shoulders when his eyes met Chacha’s.

“Just wait. It’ll open in a bit.”

“…”

However, even after more than thirty seconds had passed, not a sound could be heard from beyond the door—no, the wall. There wasn’t even a tremor.

Kwon Yihyeon didn’t know what was what, but seeing Gwak Deukcheon get humiliated by a situation not going his way was quite funny.

But Kwon Yihyeon was not a simple-minded person who would laugh immediately just because something was funny; instead, he mocked Gwak Deukcheon in a different way.

‘Poor, pitiful thing, he’s gone mad…’

Kwon Yihyeon looked down on Gwak Deukcheon with a gaze of commiseration, and Gwak Deukcheon, huffing as if steam were about to pour from his head, pounded on the wall even harder.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

“Hey! You bastards! Are you determined to screw with me?! Can’t you see who the people standing behind me are?!”

Then, in an unexpected moment, a square crack appeared in the wall and a door that hadn’t existed opened; unable to control the momentum of his swinging fists, Gwak Deukcheon fell flat onto the floor. Thud!

“Ugh!”

“…”

Only then was Kwon Yihyeon able to peer into the true interior of the Underworld Company.

As it turned out, the offices they had walked through until now were nothing more than reflections in a mirror. They were illusions and phantoms.

It seemed that only this world inside the wall, now unfolding before his eyes, was the actual workspace touched by human—or spirit—hands.

The cold-faced office workers didn’t give so much as a glance to the measly intern who was trailing the Great King Yama like a servant. Had the Yama perhaps sent out a message for them not to mind him? Only a few people, who had been busy on their phones until just now and reacted irritably to the screaming, remained in their seats to glare at Gwak Deukcheon as he squawked at the gatekeeper.

“Hey, you! You should have opened it sooner!”

A large man whose entire body was made of strange rocks and boulders answered slowly, his mossy lips mumbling.

“Password… not heard…”

“Can’t you even calculate the importance of the matter? The Great, King, Ya, ma, himself is here, so does a petty password even matter, huh?”

As Kwon Yihyeon scrutinized Gwak Deukcheon’s tantrum—which looked like a farce at a glance—he realized one thing.

‘Ah, this man, he intentionally did that so he wouldn’t reveal it in front of me…’

He intentionally hadn’t said it. The password.

As for why he was bullying the gatekeeper while making a massive point of emphasizing Great King Yama, well. What was it? Was it to keep Kwon Yihyeon from knowing Gwak Deukcheon’s inner thoughts? Or was it another arrangement? Kwon Yihyeon focused his mind quite deeply to try and figure out Gwak Deukcheon’s motive, but soon decided to give up.

‘With that guy, he might just be throwing a fit because his mood is twisted.’

He hadn’t known Reaper Gwak for long, but for that, it was a clear deduction.

“Password… if not heard, no entry. This time… special, favor. From now on… no soup for you.”

“Ah, this bastard, what? No soup? After I fed, clothed, and housed you, you repay my kindness with enmity, hey!!”

“Repaying kindness… as a gatekeeper… currently. The disturbance is… Gwak, Deuk, Cheon.”

Whether Gwak Deukcheon and the gatekeeper were having such a conversation or not, Great King Yama seemed to be perfectly in sync with Chacha, catching ill-willed glares and acting as if he would deal out a severe flogging.

“You there, you. Why did you glare at Kwon Yihyeon?”

“Pardon? No, King Yama. I just…!”

“How dare you! This fellow, how impolite!!”

And Chacha was standing behind them, clapping his hands, pouring oil on the fire and fanning the flames.

“Hehe. You’re doing well. Scold them more. Cackle.”

Even if that excited face was handsome, it was beyond absurd. Kwon Yihyeon shook his head. At that moment, a woman over a partition holding a coffee cup looked at Gwak Deukcheon with a bizarre expression and, just like Kwon Yihyeon a moment ago, shook her head.

Then, with a cold face, she began to stride over.

“Team Leader.”

“Oh, oh, Assistant Manager Woon. Why. Did something happen?”

“Something… no, never mind. All team members have stopped work and are on standby. Please just go without making a scene.”

“Listening to you, Assistant Manager Woon, it sounds like I’m a prisoner being escorted.”

Gwak Deukcheon got up even as he said that. Dust even flew off his old suit as he brushed it down, having rubbed it against the floor repeatedly. Kwon Yihyeon realized something strange at this point. He wasn’t about to state the obvious fact that Gwak Deukcheon was a madman. Gwak Deukcheon had been crazy from the start. Rather, it was that the atmosphere inside the company regarding Gwak Deukcheon and “Assistant Manager Woon” was quite interesting.

‘Wow. It’s prickly…’

He wondered if the piercing glares were being cast because they were the team that had accepted Kwon Yihyeon, or if the “Haetae Department” had originally boasted a unique, notorious reputation.

If his boss wasn’t a capricious person like Gwak Deukcheon who peers into others’ hearts at will yet remains fastidious, he would have gladly used his right as a newcomer to pretend to be oblivious and ask.

Unfortunately, Kwon Yihyeon’s boss is Gwak Deukcheon. That is a reality that cannot be undone.

“Don’t look at me so crookedly and just keep up… please.”

By the way, should he bring Chacha with him every day when he comes to work? He is a Jae Angshin with quite a suitable effect for being carried around like a keychain. To think he makes it so no one can speak rudely to him. Isn’t that the greatest fortune a “parachute” hire could receive?

‘And taking a parachute hire as a team member is something any team leader would hate to do.’

Imagining that perhaps Gwak Deukcheon had been forced to take on Kwon Yihyeon after losing out in company politics, Kwon Yihyeon stepped forward after his boss. Step, step.

Assistant Manager Woon glanced at the following Kwon Yihyeon.

A faint but confident smile was hanging on Kwon Yihyeon’s lips.

It wasn’t that he was imagining something particularly pleasant. Kwon Yihyeon knew that even if he were transferred to another team, there wouldn’t be any fool who would welcome him.

At the same time, Kwon Yihyeon knew very well that the first impression in human relationships is about spirit, and one must never lose in spirit no matter what.

It meant that while he shouldn’t start a power struggle since he was a new intern, he also knew it wasn’t good for the first impression to look intimidated.

Kwon Yihyeon wanted to live here, regardless.

He liked the Underworld Company, and he was excited to have taken his first step into an occult world. He wanted to do well. Since he wanted to do well, it was only natural to try and look good—this was what Kwon Yihyeon was thinking.

‘Not that anyone would look at you favorably for it.’

Assistant Manager Woon thought cynically. She liked the guts it took to smile despite the hostility from the surroundings, but as long as his contractor was Jae Angshin, she felt she could never truly accept him as a team member.

The team members had all talked about it together. Excluding Gwak Deukcheon, they had shared a drink amongst themselves and lamented over why their team had to take on such a guy.

Of course, they couldn’t say anything because they would be beaten with a scabbard if they protested to Gwak Deukcheon—and at the same time, since they were all people who owed a debt of gratitude to Gwak Deukcheon, they couldn’t easily commit an act of rebellion against him. But their hearts were all the same. They absolutely, absolutely had no intention of being nice to the intern. The fact that Jae Angshin was following behind changed nothing. The covenant they shared was firm, and the years they had spent together supported it.

Eventually, Assistant Manager Woon, who had led them to a secluded hallway, pointed to a door where a tattered piece of paper with “Haetae Department” handwritten on it was barely clinging on with green duct tape.

“This is our department’s office. You remember the way here, right?”

“Yes.”

Kwon Yihyeon answered readily. Assistant Manager Woon was a bit flustered, but assuming he surely wouldn’t have remembered, she muttered to herself to wait and see tomorrow.

She seemed unable to imagine that Kwon Yihyeon had actually memorized the route.

“I suppose there’s no need to guide you twice.”

“Yes. Thank you for the kind guidance.”

Kwon Yihyeon smiled brightly.

“…”

“…”

Chacha, the only one who knew this wasn’t a comment meant to genuinely screw with the other person, was doubling over with laughter by himself.

“Ahahahahat!”

“…Ahem. Hmmm. Well then.”

In the hallway where the laughter of the Jae Angshin rang out clearly, Assistant Manager Woon stiffened her blunt face even more menacingly and turned the doorknob. Screeeech. The hinges made a creaking sound, and through the gap of the opened door, the interior view was revealed.

There…

“Wow! Hello! Mr. Intern!”

“Let’s get along well in the future!”

“Welcome, welcome! Very welcome!”

The heinous team members, who had atrociously betrayed Assistant Manager Woon, were standing there holding a lettering cake to celebrate the intern’s welcome party.