INV 96

“Uh-huh, stay quiet. If you want to walk out of here with your limbs intact. I’ll let you go when the time is right.”

“We’re innocent! What’s the problem?! Is it about the bribes we took at the guest house?! I’ll even offer some makgeolli to the village guardian tree. Then it’ll be fine! You don’t… you don’t have to go this far!”

“Yeah, save the self-defense for court. We aren’t the types to listen to that stuff.”

“Shit! I’m losing it!”

The primary task of the underworld is trial. When the field workers bring in the deceased, Yama judges them according to the laws.

But who would listen if you just gave a deceased person a waiting number and told them to be quiet? Perhaps someone who died peacefully, but those scoundrels destined to be dragged straight to the Eight Hot Hells the moment they meet Great King Yama dream only of escaping by any means necessary. This is precisely where the necessity of office workers becomes clear. Those who assist the judge’s decision by listing the souls of the deceased awaiting trial and documenting every karmic debt from their lives.

Those are the administrative officers of the underworld.

“Are you kidding me! Seriously! You think we’ll just sit still? Where do you get off glaring at us, you low-ranking nothing!”

As it stands, it is difficult to become an administrative officer in Samra without significant guarantees. Whether it is through blood ties, school ties, or regional ties, one must sweep together every card they have just to narrowly become a low-level rookie hauling copier paper. They say field workers can make a name for themselves if they use their bodies well and have high spiritual power, but it isn’t like that for office workers.

Political power and background are more important than anything else.

Therefore, Kwon Yihyeon could understand the silence of his sunbaes.

“…”

“…”

While Gwak Deukcheon and Kang Taerim had been briefly called away by a summons from above.

In the office they had forcibly occupied through a show of force, there wasn’t a single “elite” employee with proper connections…!

‘I’m losing it.’

He had heard that Gwak Deukcheon’s team was a pit where all the famous trash and ruffians of Samra were gathered.

It wasn’t that Kwon Yihyeon knew the detailed past histories of his team members. From the moment he ceased to be Jae Angshin’s groom, he had lived for a specific purpose, and in that process, soft human relationships were the first thing he excluded.

He did not swallow the goodwill offered by his team members. Consequently, he also turned away from the tender emotions they revealed.

However, there were things Kwon Yihyeon did know.

“Anyway, where do you get off glaring at us, you damn fox!”

Jae Angshin, Chacha.

He is a fox yokai, and because of that, people began to mistreat fox yokai from the moment Jae Angshin first opened his eyes. Since then, from the point Jae Angshin attacked the celestial realm, a malice bordering on madness had descended upon the fox yokai; there were even rumors circulating now that all the fox yokai had fled to unknown mountain valleys.

In the midst of this, the sight of them pointing specifically at Assistant Manager Myo Woon, who was a fox yokai, and screaming was truly a tyranny befitting an administrative officer who had risen to a key position through political power—it was almost impressive.

At that moment, Assistant Manager Jeong Yujin stood in front of Myo Woon, blocking the way.

“Well, just, don’t speak like that…”

Her legs were trembling, and she huddled her body, unable to even make eye contact. He knew her to be someone who originally loathed facing conflict properly and preferred to evade things smoothly and vaguely.

This uncharacteristic behavior stirred a fresh impression in Kwon Yihyeon.

However, the members of Administrative Team 2 sneered relentlessly.

“What’s wrong with how I’m speaking? Who is your godmother? Huh? Who did you learn your work from?”

“I, I am not a divine disciple…”

“Oh, look at that! I guess you have no connections or anything to put forward as a master at a time like this. And you dare open your mouth with that background? I’m about to just rip that trap of yours open.”

When Gwak Deukcheon burst in holding his royal inspector’s plaque, they had all stayed as quiet as dead mice, but now that they thought the coast was clear, the bullshit was in full bloom. When tears finally welled up in Jeong Yujin’s eyes, Lim Muyoung, whose entire body was stiff with tension, took the women behind him. Then, as if volunteering to be the next target, Man Juhae spoke up with an incredibly tired expression.

“Your words have been quite harsh for a while now. Well, do you have some other ulterior motive?”

“Shut up! You cultist bastard.”

“…I’m not a cultist, okay? Does the Catholic Church look like a cult to you people?”

“If a defrocked priest is still walking around wearing a Roman collar, what else is that but a cult?”

By this time, the team members were all united in longing for Gwak Deukcheon’s return.

‘Shit. Why did the research team suddenly summon our Team Leader.’

‘They dumped the case investigation on us out of the blue, and now they’re interfering.’

Administrative Team 2 was Yu Jimin’s department.

The reason Gwak Deukcheon, having finished his brief Q&A with Yu Jimin, had rushed straight here was not to uncover some other corruption, but because the person Yu Jimin was said to hang around with was suspected of being the culprit.

However, Administrative Team 2 had not been informed of this fact at all, and they were therefore completely missing the point.

Taking advantage of Gwak Deukcheon’s absence to somehow coax, threaten, and manipulate their subordinates, and then, escape.

And then, destruction of evidence.

There was no way the “best-case scenario” for these administrative officers driven to the edge could be hidden from the team members’ eyes.

“No, what does it matter to you if I want to wear priest’s clothes?”

“Did the Vatican tell you that?”

“Why is that coming up here?”

“You punk, are you going to keep acting like that even in front of Great King Yama?”

“…Guarantee the freedom of religion!”

“Freedom of faith and freedom of dress should be different! Where does a Reaper get off wearing a priest’s outfit! It’s bad luck!”

“Our Team Leader gave me permission, okay?!”

Man Juhae pretended to be suddenly enraged to buy time.

The opponent was plotting an escape anyway. They would try to discourage and browbeat them into compliance. Rather than that psychological war, an atrocious debate on whether a Reaper is allowed to wear a priest’s collar would be more fun.

But Administrative Team 2 wasn’t Team 2 for nothing.

“How long do you think Gwak Deukcheon is going to look after you pieces of trash?”

“…”

The Team Leader of Administrative Team 2, as expected of someone with max-level political power, knew exactly how to poke at a person’s weaknesses.

“The reason Gwak Deukcheon can’t do more important work in higher places is because of his idiotic habit of trying to look after every single one of you hangers-on. You know? If you had a conscience, would you be sitting there getting in the way instead of helping your benefactor? You leech-like parasites.”

“…”

“Even so, I’ll give you lot the first and last chance of your lives to be helpful to Gwak Deukcheon. All it takes is one phone call. It’s nothing else. Just a call. That’s not so bad, is it? If you think something suspicious is going on, you can just take the phone back. Don’t be so cold over a mere phone call. It’s because Gwak Deukcheon is currently doing something he shouldn’t be doing. Do you know who is above me? You’d die just hearing that person’s name. That’s the kind of person they are. So don’t make half-baked judgments and bring the phone.”

“…”

“Hurry!”

The team members remained silent, and to say it again, Kwon Yihyeon could understand the silence of his sunbaes.

In the end, this was the kind of time where the youngest had to take the initiative.

Kwon Yihyeon let out a deep sigh and rummaged through the basket where the administrative officers’ confiscated phones had been placed.

“Oh, yes! Finally someone who listens! Bring that red case over there. No, not that one! I said the hard case isn’t mine! Why are you so slow on the up—…!”

Thwack!

With a forceful sound, the head of the Team Leader of Administrative Team 2 snapped to the side. It was nothing major—just that he had been smacked in the temple with a cell phone.

Kwon Yihyeon adjusted his grip on the phone, and the Team Leader raised his head in disbelief.

“Ugh, ugh…! Crazy! You hit me? Do you know who I am…!”

“The hard case is quite solid, you see.”

Kwon Yihyeon smiled brightly.

“It’s great for hitting.”

“You crazy bastard! You, you-you-you, what do you think you’re doing!”

Belatedly, the sunbaes rushed at Kwon Yihyeon and began to pull him back.

“Hey! Did we come here to make everyone our enemy? No, right?!”

“Yeah, calm down!”

“This is a decision that should only be made once the Team Leader or, huh? At least the Manager gets here! We shouldn’t act recklessly!”

Kwon Yihyeon kept letting out sighs.

“Sunbaes, you guys were blowing up buildings three years ago—what are you so scared of?”

“That was then, kid!”

“And now is now!”

Admittedly, those three years were harsh. They were a poisonous stretch of time, enough to discourage even sunbaes who used to fear nothing in the world.

Kwon Yihyeon was silent for a moment.

But he did not keep his mouth shut for long.

“You sunbaes aren’t from elite backgrounds, that’s for sure. You don’t have backings or connections. To be honest, there were many times I wondered what kind of nerve you had to live without hiding such temperaments.”

“…”

“Since this is a collection of social misfits, after all. If it weren’t for the Team Leader, you would have been fired long ago…”

“…”

“It’s not exactly a set of conditions that makes it easy to stand tall before the world, is it?”

“…”

“But I’m no different from you sunbaes.”

At those words, Jeong Yujin reflexively countered.

“What kind of deception is this, coming from an ‘insider’…”

“…For starters, could you at least remember that I have a history of being dumped and having an engagement broken?”

Kwon Yihyeon smiled awkwardly and explained it wasn’t a deception. Of course, even so, the team members could have countered endlessly if they wanted to…!

At a bad time, the Team Leader of Administrative Team 2 cut in.

“A sinner of humanity who woke the disaster, and you dare… you dare hit me?!”

“Yes. Should I hit you once more?”

“What a crazy bastard…!”

“I’m sorry, but my family home is in Keunsan.”

Since I’m the only employee among us who has even a single requirement to claim to be “elite.”

Kwon Yihyeon grinned and shook the phone.

“Well? Shall I hit you again?”

⋆˙⟡

Right at that moment, Gwak Deukcheon was having a strange conversation.

“You actually went through with torture? Are you crazy? Hey. I told you I didn’t need it. Do I look like a joke to you?”

“Calm down. I ask this as your former pupil. Punish us after you have heard what we extracted.”

“…”

If he went this far, he couldn’t just ignore it. When Gwak Deukcheon turned his head from Geom Biyeon to glare at Ma Sukbun as if he were going to kill her, she spoke with a stiff expression.

“They say that for the next target, they are aiming for Jae Angshin’s groom.”

“What are you talking about? It’s been ages since that guy got dumped.”