Is this infiltration or employment? (5) – unedited
A cool breeze tickled my cheek, but it wasn’t strong enough to blow the paper, so I thought it’d flutter and fall down the stairs… Surprisingly, the paper floated in the air.
“Wow!”
“It’s magic!”
The surprise burst into admiration. For me, thanks to Merson, I’ve been observing magic, so I have developed the tolerance of not blinking an eye just for the magic of floating paper in the air, but I clapped and pretended to be surprised.
Guernia’s expression was strange. She seemed to like the reaction of the cheering people, but at the same time, she seemed to laugh at them. It was as if the unusual corners of her eyes were whispering, “Stupid peasants.”
As Guernia reached out her hand, the papers were scattered in the air like a magician throwing cards away. All of a sudden, a piece of paper took its place over each person’s head, and then slowly fell. A sheet of paper fluttered down over my head as well.
“All you people are going to be put into the banquet, and you will start training right away from tomorrow. Please refer to the simple precautions written on the paper. And today…….”
As Guernia clapped her hand, the annex door slammed open with a ‘bang!’. From the door, men in long coats and black tuxedos came out and bowed to greet Guernia.
“Move.”
As the order was given, they came down the stairs and, with their white gloved hands, grabbed the chins of the young men and women who had gathered to work, and began to swish them around. And they dragged some of them forward and made them stand in front of Guernia.
“Wh, what?”
Everyone was bewildered because they did not know what’s going on, so they had no choice but to let the attendants do what they were doing.
Why are we being dragged away?
I couldn’t see the situation well because of the attendants who rushed in from the front, but as they approached me, I was able to deduce to some extent. Only those with good facial features were selected and taken.
The attendants skipped by a fat man without even looking at him. All of us were not being respected as human beings, as if they were picking out high-quality items.
Suddenly, an attendant came closer to me. With a mechanical and indifferent expression, he raises his hand and grabs my chin. No, he was going to grab it.
“Ugh.”
“Don’t touch it.”
Merson grabbed the attendant’s arm and bent it down. The strength of his grasp was so strong that the attendant struggled to escape, but Merson did not budge. His face is crushed with pain.
“Me, Merson. Let go! Let go!”
I stopped him, lest things escalate. Merson then releases his hand. It must have been so swollen that it would be difficult to write for a few days.
Fortunately, Guernia didn’t seem to notice. It seemed that she was busy checking the appearance of the people who were chosen and moved forward, and the attendant with a broken arm did not even bother to inform Guernia.
Guernia seemed like a person who wouldn’t even blink an eye even if one of the attendants died. The attendant thinks so too, and even though he is angry, he doesn’t make a big deal out of it. The attendant stared at Merson for a moment, then lowered his tail like meeting an enemy.
Then another attendant came forward to me. Another spark flashed in Merson’s eyes, but this time I held him back.
The attendant grabs my chin strongly, turns my face away, and drags me out. Merson followed, and the attendant raised his arm and stopped for a moment, then saw his tall body and lowered his hand again.
“What is this?”
Guernia’s eyes turned to Merson. It must have been because of the cloth wrapped around him.
“Take it off.”
“No!”
His handsome looks getting exposed is another thing, but I don’t want his dark hair to be seen as much as possible.
“No?”
Guernia asked, raising her glasses. Even though there was not much of an action, I felt a sense of intimidation.
“He, he has head lice. He hasn’t been able to wash for a few days because of bad circumstances. I put that in place as a temporary measure… If you take it off, even the chief attendant will get affected too.”
The lie worked. Guernia took a few steps back and moved away from Merson.
“The next time you come, please come clean. You can’t work with a cloth on.”
“Yes.”
A hurdle seemed to have been crossed. Since we were standing at the very end, the screening process didn’t take long to finish.
Next, I started writing down the names on the list, and there was a separate list for those who went forward and the list for those who remained.
‘Erina Holden.’
‘Merson Holden.’
Let’s write it down, Guernia comes to speak to me again.
“Are you a couple?”
“It is now our third year.”
She giggles and moves her chin at the door. The smile was unpleasant, like dipping your feet in a muddy field of unknown depth, but I tried to ignore it, as I dragged Merson’s arm out of the room.
After completing all our duties there, we got a pass where we could enter at a certain time and hurriedly headed to the inn.