Chapter 34

Chapter 34

Strangely Thrilling

Crouching by the railing, I poked my head out.

Shashashak! Shak! Ssssk!

Poporu, the Demon of Kung-du, moved stealthily through the darkness.

He was advancing while using all kinds of cover and concealment, such as trash cans, cars, and trees.

‘Was he in Special Forces?’

His movements were so agile they were far from ordinary.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk! Look at that lousy seal, honestly.”

“What now? He’s doing well.”

“No, he can’t be seen by other people anyway. Why is he going like that? It’s only taking more time.”

Ah? She was right. I had forgotten for a moment.

It seemed Poporu had forgotten too.

Or maybe he was simply having fun playing infiltration.

In any case, Poporu, who had gone up to the house, showed us his plump thumb.

“Whew.”

I swept a hand over my chest.

It seemed Kim Se-yun was not hiding anywhere.

After placing Miniature Aris on my shoulder, I quickly climbed the stairs.

“By the way, Boss.”

“Yeah?”

“That woman who came earlier. Couldn’t you just meet her? How would she know whether we’re destroying the Labyrinth or creating it?”

“That’s true.”

“Right!?”

“True enough to get beaten.”

“Huh!?”

“I’m joking.”

I laughed faintly and recalled Kim Se-yun’s face.

At first, I had also considered pretending nothing was wrong.

But I gave up on that.

There was a reason that woman was the HR Team Leader at Kronos.

Kim Se-yun possessed unusual ideas and insight.

She was someone who caught everything others failed to see, even from small changes in expression or tone.

There was no need to invite trouble when I could simply avoid meeting her.

And there was one more reason I did not want to meet her.

“Why do you think Kim Se-yun came here?”

“Because she wanted to meet you, Boss?”

“Right? That’s why I’m not meeting her.”

“Huh?”

I raised the corners of my mouth.

“That high-and-mighty woman absolutely loves herself. Perhaps because of that, she somehow always tries to prove that she is right. If things don’t flow the way a person like that wants, what do you think will happen?”

“She’ll get really angry?”

“And the obstacle that caused that situation?”

“She’ll want to beat it to death?”

“That’s exactly it.”

Aris’s eyes shook violently.

“You’re deliberately not meeting her so she’ll want to beat you to death!?”

“Yeah. Seeing as she came alone, right now, this is probably still at the stage of personal suspicion. Suspicion that can’t spread any further unless she meets me. I’ll make sure it can’t go any further from there. I’ll make her feel suffocated.”

Cold sweat flowed down Aris’s forehead.

Boss Ryu Jin was grinning with the corners of his mouth raised.

She did not know what kind of relationship the two had, but this was tremendous malice.

Creeeak... Thud.

We entered the house and quietly closed the door.

Then we began moving busily.

“Pack that and this, then bring them over.”

“Understood, du!”

“What about this?”

“That belongs to the house, so leave it.”

We quickly packed my moving luggage.

How was I planning to carry all of this?

No problem.

Even if it cost some Magic Stones, I could just shove everything into the Labyrinth Personal Lobby.

Exactly thirty minutes later.

I looked at the luggage piled in the middle of the room.

Perhaps because I was the type who did not buy much to begin with, I truly had very little luggage.

[Entering the Labyrinth Personal Lobby!]

After collecting the Magic Stones accumulated through tax, I moved the luggage from the room into the lobby.

When I had packed even the last packet of ramyeon, the sound of a car came from outside.

Shashashak!

Poporu opened the door and went out, even though I had not told him to.

Before long, the door burst open, and Poporu ran in.

“My lord, du! It is that woman, du! She has returned, du! She is coming up the stairs, du!”

As expected of Kim Se-yun.

I could see her determination to meet me no matter what.

Let us see, let us see. The luggage was all moved. The cleaning was done well enough. I would contact the landlord tomorrow.

After completing the minimum checks, I opened my mouth with a solemn expression.

“Activate the emergency escape sequence.”

“Something like that existed in this cramped little room!?”

Aris’s eyes sparkled.

She had wondered why he was so relaxed even though the enemy was right in front of them.

It seemed he had prepared something in advance.

Rattle!

“Huh!?”

Aris wrinkled her nose at the window that suddenly opened.

He had called it something grand like an emergency escape sequence, but it was just leaving through the window!?

“What are you doing? I’m leaving you behind.”

“I-I’m coming!”

Ryu Jin slipped out and climbed down the railing with practiced movements.

‘I’ve definitely become lighter.’

Ever since I gained Poporu’s Unique Trait, my physical abilities had noticeably improved.

A height I would once have climbed down while trembling was now one I could jump from freely.

I entered the neighborhood alleys, which were famous for being complicated.

“Boss. Do you know the way here? It feels like a maze!”

Of course I did not.

Would a human who only went from work to home and home to work every day have had time to explore the alleys?

But it was fine now, because I had a high-performance navigation system.

“Steamed bun. Use Sky View and guide the way. We’re going out to the main road.”

“Wow, Boss, are you a genius? I’ll do it right away!”

Aris covered one eye and used Sky View.

“We need to go down the left road! This one is blocked!”

“Okay.”

I moved toward the place she pointed at.

“But Boss! Why is this fun?!”

“Is Aris the same, du? For some reason, my heart is pounding, and this is exciting, du!”

A smile formed on my lips.

It seemed I was not the only one.

Every day had been like a hamster running on a wheel.

A daily life repeated endlessly without any particular change or stimulation.

After living like that, maybe because I was now doing a night escape that I had only ever seen in movies, dopamine was strangely circulating and heat was rising within me.

The dawn air that brushed gently across my cheeks felt extremely pleasant too.

I stopped walking for a moment and looked toward where Kim Se-yun was.

Then I quietly raised my middle finger.

Please, work hard and suffer.

---

In front of Ryu Jin’s house.

Knock, knock, knock.

Kim Se-yun knocked lightly and opened her mouth.

“Assistant Manager Ryu Jin. It’s Kim Se-yun.”

At the absence of a reply, she smiled.

“I know you’re inside.”

When she lowered her gaze, she saw the business card fallen on the floor.

It was the one she had wedged into the gap of the door before leaving.

On top of that, unlike earlier, when it had been pitch-dark, a faint light was leaking out from inside the room.

It meant he had crawled back in while she had stepped away to buy a snack.

Like a cockroach.

“I hope you won’t act like a child. As long as you live here, you know we will end up meeting eventually. We may not be people who are glad to see each other, but please come out for a moment.”

At the continued silence, she sighed.

This was already a neighborhood she did not want to stay in for long, yet he was even being this stubborn.

As expected, this human Ryu Jin did not suit her.

“Who knows? I might open up the blocked path for your career change, Ryu Jin. So if you change your mind, come out. I’ll wait.”

Kim Se-yun leaned against the door and leisurely sipped her coffee.

She was certain.

Ryu Jin would eventually crawl out with his own feet.

Why?

It was simple.

This side had everything that human did not.

Therefore, he would eventually come out and bow his head like a defeated dog, begging for a new job.

That was the natural order and logic of this world.

---

While Kim Se-yun waited endlessly.

At a certain five-star hotel located in Seoul.

“Huuuuu!”

“Huuuu, du!”

Ryu Jin and Poporu walked out from the billowing steam.

A private spa attached to each room. As expected, it was worth the high price.

“My skin is shining, du!”

“I know. You’re squeaky clean. Come here and apply lotion too.”

“It smells very good, du! The one we used at home was a little strange, but this one is nice, du!”

I looked at Poporu with sad eyes.

It was the difference between a cheap body lotion I had bought and used for over three years, and the lotion that came as an amenity from a five-star hotel.

The difference could not be helped.

I would make sure to pack it properly before leaving.

“Buuuurp!!”

A refreshing cannon sound came from somewhere.

When I went to the source, Steamed Bun Aris was sprawled out with her belly swollen like Namsan.

I had told her to order room service and eat on her own, and she had piled it up like a mountain.

“Boss. May I offer an opinion?”

“Go ahead.”

“Let’s just live here. It’s too nice. If you press a button, they bring delicious food.”

“I’ll consider it when I become rich later.”

I did not know whether she knew that what she had just eaten cost the price of dozens of chickens.

In any case, today, I had come for a hotel staycation, something I had never done in my life.

It was partly because I had not found a room yet, but if I had money, I wanted to spend lavishly at least once.

“The blanket is amazing too! Was a blanket originally supposed to be this soft and fluffy?!”

“It feels like my body is being wrapped, du! A deep sleep is reserved, du!”

Aris and Poporu rolled around on the bed with the happiest faces in the world.

Watching that made me think this.

Even if we could not continue hotel staycations, I should at least buy them good blankets.

Chomp, chomp!

I ate the still-warm room service with Poporu.

Snore, pheeew. Snore!!

Meanwhile, Aris had gone off to dreamland.

When it came to eating, playing, and sleeping, she was a friend beyond compare.

I stood and rolled Aris up in the blanket.

I was not trying to throw her into the hallway.

I was planning to go to Plum Blossom Venerable from now on, so I had wrapped her up so she would not wake.

“I’m full, du!”

“Poporu, take a pillow and blanket too. You can sleep in the Labyrinth Lobby.”

“Understood, du! I will pack my lord’s blanket too, du!”

“No. I probably won’t be able to sleep. Probably.”

Jin Hwayeon’s beating would obviously begin as soon as I entered.

Normally, I would have skipped today and gone tomorrow.

After all, my skin had just become squeaky clean from the hot spa.

But perhaps because of Kim Se-yun’s visit a little while ago, motivation was welling up inside me.

I wanted to grow stronger quickly.

Strong enough that even if Kim Se-yun, Kronos, or whatever else came rushing in droves, I could beat them all down.

“I packed everything, du!”

“Okay.”

Just as I was about to enter.

My eyes landed on the room service food that had not yet been touched.

Jin Hwayeon, whom one could practically say had come straight out of a martial arts novel.

Would Jin Hwayeon eat something like this too?

No, what did she even eat inside there in the first place?

At the rising question mark, I packed some for now.

If she said she would not eat it, I would eat it.

[Entering the Labyrinth Personal Lobby!]

“Good night, Poporu.”

“A true martial artist has no need for sleep, du! I will sit here and wait for my lord, du!”

Poporu wrapped the blanket around himself neatly and sat cross-legged on one side with a solemn expression.

Ddrrr... Ddrrrrr.

Perhaps because it was an expensive blanket, he fell asleep immediately.

I laughed faintly and used the Unique Skill Plum Blossom Venerable.

Now, let us go.

To get beaten.

And let us check.

Whether she could make me acquire what was called mana, or perhaps ki, with my own body.