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Chapter 25
When they went down to the first floor, Gil Seyeon, who had been lingering in front of the stairs, clasped both hands tightly and pleaded.
“Please don’t quit!”
“Pardon? Why would I quit?”
“The team leader is total crap.”
When Morae couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter, Gil Seyeon’s expression relaxed.
“Shall we grab a cup of coffee?”
“Sure.”
The lounge was wider than expected. Thanks to the sunlight streaming in through the large glass windows, it was bright even without the lights on.
Every piece of furniture looked luxurious.
From the coffee machine placed against one wall to the refrigerator, the plush sofa, and the low table with its natural wood texture—none of it looked like the kind of equipment a company would normally use.
“The lounge is really nice,” Morae said as she sat down on the sofa, and Gil Seyeon nodded.
“Right? I was surprised too.”
“Aren’t the other employees’ lounges like this?”
“Of course not. This table alone costs fifteen million won. No sane company would put something like this in an employee lounge.”
“Then why only here…?”
“Who knows. Maybe the support team messed up the order.”
Just then, Gil Rohan brought over cold coffee. Morae smiled and greeted him.
“Thank you, I’ll enjoy it.”
“……”
Gil Rohan’s face instantly turned bright red. The change was so fast that it surprised anyone watching.
As Gil Rohan bowed his head deeply and hurried out of the lounge, Gil Seyeon clicked her tongue.
“Mr. Gil Rohan is really shy. He’s been working for years, but he’s still like that.”
“You’re family, but you speak formally to him?”
“Only at work. Oh, right—Mr. Gil Rohan and I are D-rank teleporters. You’re an Awakened too, right, Morae?”
“I’m a tamer. E-rank.”
Gil Seyeon’s mouth fell open.
“A tamer? No way—how could someone this talented! Morae, let’s work together for a long, long time. Please don’t ever quit.”
Morae had wondered if Gil Seyeon would be disappointed by the lowest rank, but there wasn’t a hint of that.
Still excited, Gil Seyeon bounced on her feet and briefly explained the work.
“You’ll naturally learn the rest as you go. It’s not difficult, right?”
“That’s true.”
“You just have to be careful of the team leader. I don’t know why he takes out his frustration over being demoted on us.”
“He was demoted?”
“Well, you could call it a demotion if a C-rank fire mage gets assigned to some random job. Then again, a pet kindergarten isn’t exactly a core department of the Ability Administration either.”
So that was why she’d said that if connections really mattered, no one would stick him in a place like this.
Contrary to Gil Seyeon’s worries, Morae was unfazed.
Compared to the awful clients she’d dealt with over four years as a freelancer, Oh Changseok was fairly ordinary.
“He doesn’t seem like such a bad person,” Morae said.
“Who, our team leader?”
“Yes.”
“That can’t be right. Didn’t he make you stand there while he ate candy? Didn’t he talk about ranks and look down on you?”
“He did, but that level is fine.”
When Morae shrugged, Gil Seyeon’s eyes filled with deep emotion. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Morae changed the subject.
“There are only four employees?”
Gil Seyeon’s face darkened rapidly.
“There was one more, but they left. To another department.”
“Why?”
“Why do you think? They got pushed out by someone’s hysterics.”
It seemed one employee hadn’t been able to adjust to Team Leader Oh Changseok’s personality and had transferred.
“Then until now, the three of you were working?”
“You wish. Mr. Gil Rohan and I did everything, just the two of us.”
“Ah…”
Even if it hadn’t officially opened yet, it wasn’t a workload two people could handle. There was a reason they’d been so happy to see Morae.
“What about requesting more staff?”
“The team leader said he’d handle it, but there’s still no word. We need to be fully staffed before the official opening…”
Gil Seyeon crunched the ice as if venting her frustration.
“At least the work environment is good, so I endure it. Sometimes you even get to see celebrities. If it weren’t for that, I’d have handed in my resignation already.”
“Celebrities?”
“Oh, you wouldn’t know yet, Morae. You see Building 8 over there? That whole building is housing for the special teams.”
No wonder there were so few people commuting this way.
“Even within the Ability Administration, S-rank hunters are like rare animals. You usually can’t see them, but here you can.”
“Have you seen Special Team One too?”
“Of course. Everyone except Hunter Gyeon Suho. Oh, and I haven’t seen Hunter Odoa either—he works from home.”
Morae knew that Gyeon Suho had moved residences because of a stalker intrusion incident when he was nineteen. Any fan would know that much.
She just hadn’t known the location.
“So that’s Building 8….”
Then that meant she could see Gyeon Suho coming and going from the dorms?
Ah, she was so glad she’d taken this job.
Her heart swelled. Just as a satisfied smile spread across Morae’s lips, the lounge door flew open and Gil Rohan rushed in.
“O-outside…”
“What is it? Did someone come?”
When they hurried outside, a group of burly men had poured into the lobby.
A middle-aged man appeared, leading uniformed agents. When Gil Seyeon recognized his round, broad face, she bowed deeply.
“Director, hello, sir!”
Choi Manduk smiled warmly and raised his hand.
“At ease, at ease. I was curious how the opening preparations were going—hopefully I’m not interrupting.”
“N-no, not at all.”
After sweeping his gaze over the Gil siblings, Choi Manduk’s eyes stopped on Morae.
“But… why doesn’t this person have an access badge?”
“Kang Morae is starting today. We’re planning to apply for it within the day.”
“Oh? A precious new hire, is she?”
Morae quietly met Choi Manduk’s gentle gaze.
‘He remembers me.’
She’d thought they might cross paths at least once while working at the Ability Administration, but she hadn’t expected it on her first day.
“Hello, Director. I’m Kang Morae.”
“Very nice to meet you. May I call you Kang Morae?”
“Yes.”
Only then did she really take in Choi Manduk’s face.
Aside from more wrinkles and white hair, he looked almost the same as he had twelve years ago when he’d come to her hospital room.
Back then, when everyone else threw stones at her, Choi Manduk had been the only adult who stood by her side and blocked them.
Of course, at the time she’d thought he was just her father’s friend. Only later, when he became Director of the Ability Administration, did she learn who he really was.
That was why she’d always been grateful to him—especially now, for pretending not to know her even while knowing the truth.
“I’d like to shake hands with our new employee. Would that be alright?”
“Yes, Director.”
Choi Manduk took Morae’s hand and gently patted the back of it.
Watching this, the expressions on the Gil siblings’ faces became strange. The warmth in Choi Manduk’s eyes toward Morae seemed excessive.
Like an uncle looking proudly at a niece who had grown up well. In any case, it wasn’t the kind of look a Director would normally give to a low-ranking employee.
“I don’t know what the work is like yet. Is anything difficult?”
“Ah—”
Just as Morae was about to answer, a loud crash echoed from above. A moment later, Oh Changseok came tumbling down to the first floor.
“D-Director? Wh-when did you arrive?!”
He looked like he’d been sleeping; his hair was a mess. When Choi Manduk looked him up and down, Oh Changseok hurriedly straightened his clothes.
“I—I was just so absorbed in my work… P-please come inside first. Our lounge is very nice. Ms. Morae, go make some coffee.”
“Team Leader Oh, are you joking?”
“Pardon?”
“In this day and age, who says things like that? What if you get sued?”
“…Ah, y-yes! Th-that’s right. Ms. Morae, you know I was joking, right?”
As Oh Changseok flusteredly tried to cover it up, Choi Manduk turned his gaze back.
“Kang Morae, is there anything uncomfortable? Even something minor is fine—feel free to speak.”
Before Morae could answer, Oh Changseok quickly stepped forward.
“Uncomfortable? Not at all! Not even a little! We’re perfectly satisfied with nothing lacking, so there’s no need to worry, Director.”
“I believe I asked Kang Morae.”
“Uh…”
Oh Changseok’s face flushed with embarrassment. After hesitating, he stepped aside.
“M-Morae, the Director asked you. Hurry and answer.”
Anything uncomfortable…
Morae replied calmly.
“Today is my first day, so I don’t have anything to say yet. Would it be alright if I worked a few more days, identified any issues, and then reported them?”
“Hm? Hahahaha!”
Choi Manduk suddenly burst out laughing. Everyone stared blankly, not understanding, as he laughed for quite a while before patting Morae on the shoulder.
“Our employee seems to be very meticulous and serious. Very well—since I’m curious, make sure you tell me later.”
“Yes.”
“Then everyone, keep up the good work.”
When Choi Manduk withdrew with the agents, Oh Changseok clenched his teeth.
Just imagining how ridiculous he must have looked to his subordinates after being openly ignored by the Director made his blood pressure rise.
The Gil siblings were tolerable—they were D-rank teleporters.
But he couldn’t stand the thought of Kang Morae, an E-rank who’d gotten in through connections, laughing at him.
“From now on, Ms. Morae, you handle supplies management. Record everything in Excel every time something is used.”
Gil Seyeon cut in with a stunned expression.
“Team Leader, I’m sorry, but most of the supplies are disposable. It’s hard to check them every single time they’re used.”
“Kang Morae, can’t you do it?”
“I can.”
“She says she’ll do it. That settles it, right?”
When Oh Changseok went back up to the second floor, Gil Seyeon clenched her fist tightly.
“Morae, how could you say you’d do that! That’s basically the same as saying you have to log it every time you use a single sheet of tissue!”
“If I refused, I thought he’d just make someone else do it.”
She couldn’t argue with that—he was exactly the kind of person who would. Gil Seyeon’s eyebrows drooped.
“Morae, please don’t quit…”
Her face looked like a puppy caught in the rain, and Morae chuckled softly.
“I won’t quit.”
