Chapter 11 — Officer Kim Yeonhui
“Ah, the weather is really nice...”
The next day, I was finally free from my diarrhea and on my way to work.
Unlike my stomach, which was still covered in dark storm clouds, the sky was clear and bright.
On a day like this, I should have been happily heading to work.
Unfortunately, I was terrified of facing the old-fashioned team leader who was definitely going to curse me out for skipping work without permission yesterday.
—I heard you suffered because of the Hell Incense.
Arang suddenly contacted me.
Ugh! Don't even mention Hell Incense. Just hearing those words makes me want to throw up now.
Hell Incense was something I never wanted to see again for the rest of my life.
But why are you suddenly contacting me?
There was no way Arang would contact me for no reason.
—Ah... well... I wanted to thank you for the birthday present...
Ah... I guess Jeonghu delivered it. Sorry. You know I'm broke, right? So the present probably wasn't anything impressive. I hope you liked it.
—Hehehe. Of course I liked it. So does that mean I'm twenty-six years old starting today?
That's right. You're not some ancient old lady anymore. You're a young maiden in the prime of her life.
The present I had asked Jeonghu to give Arang was a bouquet of twenty-six flowers.
I had told him to choose the prettiest flowers in the Underworld, and apparently, Jeonghu had better taste than I expected.
There was also a congratulatory card.
I had asked him to write:
Being over a thousand years old is cheating. So I'll subtract a thousand years and say Arang is twenty-six.
—Thank you. I was really happy. I hope you have a good day today too.
After that, Arang went silent.
Seeing that she was in a good mood made me feel like the present had been worth it.
My own mood improved as well.
Then... should I test out Black Spirit Movement Technique?
I was curious about the ability I had gained after leveling up yesterday.
Among the techniques included in Black Spirit Movement Technique was Rising Dragon Flight.
Arang had told me that at my current level, I could jump about twenty meters into the air.
Naturally, I wanted to test it.
Like Spider-Man in the movies, I slipped into an alley where no one was around.
The building inside the alley was three stories high.
It looked to be roughly fifteen meters tall.
“One... two. Rising Dragon Flight!”
I bent my knees and jumped with all my strength.
“Whoa!”
My body suddenly shot upward.
I flew past the height of the building and kept rising.
Arang hadn't been lying.
After landing on the rooftop, I used Rising Dragon Flight again.
My body soared into the sky.
“Whoa! This is awesome!”
Jumping another twenty meters above the rooftop gave me a clear view of the streets below.
The people walking along the road looked tiny, almost like matchsticks.
“Huh? What's that?”
While I was still in the air, I noticed Detective Park walking together with a woman.
I landed on the rooftop and looked again.
There was no mistake.
The man happily chatting with the woman while walking beside her was definitely Detective Park.
“Detective Park, come see me in the break room for a second.”
After getting chewed out by the old-fashioned team leader for skipping work yesterday, I approached Detective Park.
“Are you trying to take your anger out on me because the team leader yelled at you?”
“I'm not that kind of person. Do whatever you want. If you don't want to come, then don't. This is a democratic society. Everyone is free to make their own choices.”
“No. I'll come.”
Detective Park reluctantly got up and followed me.
It seemed he had finally figured out what kind of person I really was.
More specifically, he'd learned that I could hold a grudge for a very long time.
“Here. Have some coffee first.”
I bought a cup of coffee from the vending machine and handed it to him.
“Why are you acting like this? You're making me nervous...”
Come to think of it, I couldn't remember ever buying this guy even a vending-machine coffee before.
“Detective Park, you know I'm a dignified bachelor, right?”
“Dignified, my ass...”
Before this bastard started going off-topic, I decided to get straight to the point.
“Did you get yourself a woman?”
“Huh? I don't have a girlfriend.”
“Stop lying. If your girlfriend has a friend, introduce her to me. I'm getting sick of convenience-store lunchboxes.”
To tell the truth, I had reached the age of twenty-nine without ever having a girlfriend.
I had absolutely no idea why.
I wasn't lacking in anything, after all.
“I really don't have one.”
“Hey! I saw you coming to work with a pretty woman this morning.”
“Ah... Officer Kim?”
“Officer Kim?”
“You know, the female police officer working in the Community Guidance Division.”
“Oh, really?”
According to Detective Park, the woman's name was Officer Kim Yeonhui.
And apparently, she wasn't his girlfriend.
Recently, strange things had been happening around her, so she had asked Detective Park for advice.
They had become closer because of that, but according to him, they weren't dating.
Hmm... So they're at the stage right before becoming lovers.
Just look at that expression on his face. He definitely has feelings for her.
“But what kind of strange things are happening?”
“Well... Officer Kim lives alone in an ordinary studio apartment. But lately, whenever she gets home, she feels like someone has been inside.”
He lowered his voice.
“And even when she's sleeping, she feels like someone is watching her. She said it's frightening...”
“So you stayed at Officer Kim's place yesterday?”
If she was scared while sleeping and asked a man for help, wouldn't that mean she wanted him to stay beside her?
Considering that I'd seen them coming to work together this morning, it certainly seemed possible.
“I stayed there, but nothing happened! I just slept on the floor... Huh?! Wait, you can't tell anyone about this! Got it?”
“Three free meals of pork belly with three bottles of soju each time. Deal?”
If he wanted to stop my mouth, which tended to sway in the wind like a reed, this was the minimum payment required.
“...Fine.”
Detective Park answered in a defeated voice.
It was understandable.
I had dirt on him now.
“So nothing happened yesterday?”
“I told you nothing happened! How many times do I have to say it?”
“Idiot! I'm not talking about that.”
His excessive reaction actually made me wonder whether something really had happened between him and Officer Kim yesterday.
“Ah... There was something a little strange.”
Detective Park scratched his head.
For someone almost as smart as me, he seemed unusually flustered.
“What happened?”
“The cats cried like they were going crazy all night. It was so loud that I could barely sleep.”
“Hey, what's strange about cats crying at night? I heard they make a lot of noise when they're in heat.”
“Well... they're stray cats that Officer Kim takes care of. She gives them food and water.”
He frowned.
“She said they normally never cry that badly.”
“Hmm... Really?”
