Chapter 199
The first thought that came to Yu-hyun’s mind when he saw Demiarios, the head of the department, was ‘out of place’.
His existence was like an ink painting drawn over a photograph.
Aside from his appearance, which resembled a follower of an evil god from a certain outdated genre, he seemed to affect the surrounding environment just by being there.
What if the dark darkness had mass?
The scenery twisted around him, and Yu-hyun felt an illusion of being sucked in towards Demiarios.
Like a black hole.
‘This man is… the head of the Pentagram department.’
One of the eight heads among the departments that had only eight members each.
He had a completely different vibe from Celestina.
Celestina did not look like a head at all, with her casual and informal demeanor, but she had a ferocious beast hidden inside her.
Demiarios looked like he had released thousands of horrible bugs at once.
What made Yu-hyun more alert was that he did not feel any ‘signs’ when he appeared.
Yu-hyun managed his expression.
“So you are Demiarios, the head of the department. What do you want from me?”
Demiarios shook his beard and chuckled lowly at Yu-hyun’s question.
“It’s not such a big deal. I just wanted to congratulate you. Kang Yu-hyun, you got promoted today, right? I’m very surprised.”
Demiarios spoke while still leaning back.
It seemed like he was vibrating his tentacle part to transmit sound at a specific frequency.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen a teller get promoted so quickly. And I heard you don’t even belong to any department.”
“…Yes. I prefer to be alone right now.”
“You have a lot of willpower. It must not have been easy to get there on your own. I wish the guys in my department would learn from your spirit.”
The two red eyes on his octopus face curved like crescents.
Yu-hyun realized anew how someone’s smile could be so creepy.
Yu-hyun wondered what Demiarios’ ulterior motive was for finding him.
If he had to guess, it would be one of two things.
Either he wanted to recruit him by praising his abilities, or he wanted to warn him for interfering with their operations on Earth.
He did not think it was the former, since they had already become enemies.
‘He came at a strange timing. And he came all the way here, avoiding other people’s eyes.’
It was too coincidental to dismiss it as a coincidence.
Demiarios must have been waiting for this moment from the beginning.
In this situation, he had no choice but to confront him head-on.
‘Besides, I was curious about the head of the Pentagram department.’
The Pentagram department was the one that played a decisive role in bringing about the end of the world on Earth.
From Yu-hyun’s perspective, who wanted to prevent the apocalypse, they were enemies that he had to eliminate.
And Demiarios, the leader and brain of the Pentagram department, came to see him personally.
Yu-hyun thought that it would not be bad to extract some information from him, since he came all this way.
He pushed away the discomfort that stemmed from his instinct with his calm mind and reason.
‘Hmm?’
Demiarios let out an exclamation in his mind as he sensed Yu-hyun’s change.
It was his intention to raise Yu-hyun’s guard by making him feel his most explosive emotion: disgust.
He wanted to scatter his focus and then lead the situation to his advantage.
That was Demiarios’ usual method.
‘He regained his composure right away. It’s hard to believe that he was just a regular employee until recently. He didn’t get promoted just because he was lucky.’
Demiarios did not underestimate Yu-hyun.
Yu-hyun was a fierce beast.
He could bite him hard enough that even the other heads would not dare to touch him.
‘Interesting.’
Demiarios decided to raise his evaluation of Yu-hyun even more.
He was greedy.
If someone with that talent joined his department, maybe he could succeed him as the head someday.
But Demiarios knew that it was impossible.
As soon as he saw Yu-hyun’s eyes, he realized that there was no room for compromise between them, even at the minimum level.
‘That’s why it’s regrettable.’
He had to end such an excellent teller with his own hands.
Hiding his inner feelings, Demiarios asked in a calm voice.
“So? How do you feel about being promoted?”
“I’m happy. There’s no teller who doesn’t like getting promoted. I feel like I’m flying.”
“Hmm. I guess I asked something obvious.”
“But it still feels insufficient.”
“Huh?”
Yu-hyun did not hide his ambition.
Was it a simple bluff, or was he trying to provoke him?
Demiarios pondered over it and soon realized that it was meaningless.
“Well. It’s good to have big dreams.”
“Do you think so too, Demiarios?”
“Yes, I do. I still believe that I can do better.”
“Are you saying that as the head of the department? Do you want to become an executive?”
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“That’s one way to hear it.”
Demiarios smiled at Yu-hyun’s attempt to probe his intentions.
He was not mocking Yu-hyun.
He was enjoying the conversation itself.
There were countless invisible battles of wits between Yu-hyun and Demiarios.
Alisa was not oblivious to them, so she watched them with bated breath.
“So, are you interested in an executive position? Considering what you’ve shown so far, you might be getting some attention from the central office.”
Demiarios had learned something over his long life.
He could guess someone’s personality to some extent by just having a conversation with them.
Words are a means of representing one’s will.
Words contain will, and will is a collection of one’s thoughts, beliefs, and goals.
Inexperienced people provide clues about who they are with subtle tones, trivial gestures, and eye directions.
Without even realizing it themselves.
“I’m not even worthy of a manager position yet.”𝗻𝗼𝘷𝑒𝘭𝗯𝓲𝒏.𝓃𝑒𝒕
“Like steel.”
On the other hand, Yu-hyun was different from those inexperienced tellers.
He was skilled.
He hid his emotions, convinced his opponent with superficial reasons, and did not reveal the most important thing.
He could be a director teller, not just a manager.
“But they might offer you some favors from the central office.”
“Then I’ll have to refuse. Favors are against the company’s rule of fair competition.”
“Giving some benefits to someone with outstanding abilities is something that an organization should do. Clinging to one rule only leads to decline.”
“Is that your opinion?”
“Even the chairman would say that.”
Alisa felt dizzy watching the exchange without pause.
‘The level is different.’
The conversations she had with the tellers and collectors she had met so far were nothing but child’s play compared to this.
They hid daggers in their arms and urged each other to reveal what they were hiding first, while denying that they had anything.
She felt suffocated just by watching.
She couldn’t imagine how this fight would end.
“Do you think we need some changes in the rules?”
“That depends on how you think about change. Fixing something unfair to something proper is not change, but something that should be done naturally.”
“Even if you borrow the hands of others for that?”
“If we can solve it ourselves, there’s no need for that. But if we’re short of hands, getting someone’s help is not something to be ashamed of.”
“What if that person is a wicked villain who deserves no mercy?”
“Even if someone is called a villain by others, if they help us, they are not a villain to us. An organization does not run on emotions. We join hands when we need to. That’s the attitude of someone who stands in a responsible position.”
“I see.”
They looked at each other for a while. Neither of them looked away.
Alisa felt an endless tension rising in this suffocating silence.
There was a terrible monster between Yu-hyun and Demiarios, slowly growing bigger.
It was then.
“What are you doing here?”
A third voice interrupted.
“Who is this?”
Demiarios did not show any sign of being annoyed by the intruder.
“Isn’t this the head of the Celestial Bing department?”
“Demiarios.”
The red-haired beauty, Celestina, stared at Demiarios with narrowed eyes.
She couldn’t believe that Demiarios himself had moved and faced Yu-hyun.
She felt a strange anxiety and looked for Yu-hyun, and that turned out to be right.
“Why did you show up in this peaceful place today? You’re usually not even seen outside. Aren’t you busy cutting off your tail because of what one of your managers did?”
“Tail? That has nothing to do with me. And I don’t have to have a reason to go outside.”
“Really? It’s a well-known fact that you never move without a reason.”
“That’s a rumor. I just came here to check out the rumor of a great teller.”
“Then, you’re done now?”
Celestina did not hide her hostility towards Demiarios.
She showed her sharp teeth and warned him.
“Why don’t you get out of here now? I have something to talk to this junior.”
She looked like she would resort to violence if he didn’t back off.
Demiarios glanced at Celestina with a dull look for a moment, then turned his back.
“I was going to do that anyway, without you saying that.”
He disappeared from his seat like black smoke as he finished his words.
Yu-hyun sighed in relief as he confirmed that Demiarios was gone.
Alisa, who had been sweating profusely, barely managed to stop herself from collapsing on her legs.
Celestina scratched her head roughly as if she was annoyed.
“Hey. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. Alisa is…”
“I, I’m fine too.”
“Phew. That damn octopus. He really makes me nervous. He didn’t say much, did he?”
“No. Except for trying to intimidate us a bit.”
“That’s a relief. There are quite a few new tellers who went crazy after talking to him. Some of them even lost their minds, you know. He’s a walking disaster. Don’t try to talk back to him, just avoid him if he comes near.”
“Phew, yeah. Thank you for your help.”
Yu-hyun felt mentally exhausted.
He wanted to go home as soon as possible.
Then he realized what he was thinking.
‘Home?’
He called White Flower Management his home.
Yu-hyun found that fact amusing.
‘Yeah. That place is my home now.’
The place where he had to go back.
The place where his precious people were.
The place where he could feel the word that he thought he could never say again with his family.
Yu-hyun realized it for the first time.
***
“You’re late.”
Seo Sumin, who was waiting for Yu-hyun’s return, didn’t hide her displeasure in her voice.
She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. Judging by her reaction, she seemed to have waited for a long time.
“You said you would come back early after the promotion ceremony, but do you know what time it is now?”
“I’m sorry. I had some work to do.”
“Did you have something like a dinner or something?”
“Haha.”
Yu-hyun felt like he was tasting the feeling of a husband who came home late after a dinner and got scolded by his wife, but he had no choice but to say that.
He actually met Celestina after Demiarios by accident and got delayed.
“You agreed to learn Seven Demons Black Sky Divine Skill from me today. But how can you come back when the sun has passed the zenith and the afternoon is almost over? You make your master so anxious. You’re such an unfaithful disciple.”
“Uh… are we already in a master-disciple relationship? Did I bow to you?”
“No need! Just follow me to the training ground!”
Yu-hyun had no choice but to follow Seo Sumin to the training ground, since he was late and it was his promise.
“By the way.”
Seo Sumin, who was walking ahead, said without looking back, what she had been thinking for a while.
“You’ve changed quite a bit since you left and now.”
Yu-hyun knew what she meant.
Yu-hyun was promoted from assistant manager to manager.
This meant that his rank as a teller had risen by one level.
“Yes. I got promoted, after all.”
The rise in rank as an existence meant that he had become stronger than before.
And, there were changes that came with it.
The amount of power that Yu-hyun possessed increased, but more importantly, the depth of the stories that he had also became much more profound than before.
‘And… Baekryeon’s new function was unlocked.’
Yu-hyun checked the information of Baekryeon, which was still in the form of a brooch.
