Chapter 86:

Chapter 86:

Chapter 86

I checked my outfit as I looked at the office where the sun was rising early in the morning.

The drinking party that I had last night as a celebration ended late at night.

And what I learned there was that I was surprisingly good at drinking.

‘Who would have thought that the other three would fall before me?’

The most surprising thing was Shin Gareung’s alcohol tolerance.

She looked like someone who had been in social life for a long time and had been to many of these occasions, but she was the first one to retire.

She looked the strongest, but she actually showed the cliché of being the weakest.

‘At least Hye-rim was the strongest.’

Maybe it was because she was a collector or because of her constitution, she didn’t get drunk easily.

She was the one who fought with me until the end, and she was the one who left with Shin Gareung and Baek Seoryeon to Baek Seoryeon’s studio late at night.

‘I did a rough cleanup of the office, so I’ll leave the rest to Seoryeon.’

She must be suffering from a hangover, but that’s a separate matter.

Besides, I can’t call Shin Gareung and make her clean up, can I?

Above all, I’m busy today.

It’s been one day since I became an assistant.

Now, as assistant manager Kang Yu-hyun, I had to go back to the teller’s work again.

“Let’s go.”

[Ah. How are you so fine after drinking so much yesterday?]

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

I left the office with Baekryeon on my back.

The city where the sun rises is very busy.

People walk around the streets and cars fill the roads for work.

I moved through those people and headed for a certain world of thought.

[Where are you going? Aren’t you going to call Kang Hye-rim?]

‘No, I’m not. This is something I have to do by myself.’

[Ah. Are you going to see that woman from that time?]

I nodded.

Now that I’m an assistant, I can officially increase the number of contract collectors.

I already have a reliable collector like Kang Hye-rim, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to pick the second and third ones lightly.

‘I have to recruit her no matter what.’

[Tsk. What’s so good about that rude woman?]

Baekryeon grumbled, but that was because he didn’t know about Kwon Jia’s true ability.

I didn’t bother to explain it to him, saying that he would know when he saw it.

I arrived at the entrance of a world of thought.

Maybe it was because it was early in the morning, but I didn’t see any collectors coming and going.N0v3lRealm was the platform where this chapter was initially revealed on N0v3l.B1n.

I sat down on an empty chair and waited for time.

***

Near the entrance of a world of thought where people’s access was controlled.

Kwon Jia, who left early in the morning, found an unwelcome guest who came before her.

“Hello.”

“...”

Kwon Jia hardened her expression as she saw the man in front of her.

Why on earth is he here?

She didn’t have time to solve that question as the man smiled faintly and stood in front of her.

“The weather is nice today. Isn’t it, Kwon Jia?”

“Kang Yu-hyun...that’s what you said. What do you want?”

“Oh. You remembered my name.”

“Shut up and answer my question.”

Kwon Jia was not in a good mood.

She had something to do.

To do that, she needed to collect TP as fast as possible and become stronger.

She didn’t want to be bothered by such trivial things from the start.

If he annoys me a little more, then I’ll kill him.

Kwon Jia had a fierce thought, but Kang Yu-hyun didn’t seem to know that.

He maintained a gentle smile and said.

“Didn’t I tell you last time? I know that you don’t belong to any manager or clan yet, so why don’t you take this opportunity and sign a contract with our White Flower Management?”

“No thanks. Get lost.”

Kwon Jia left him cold words and passed by Kang Yu-hyun.

White Flower Management?

She had never heard of that name before.

It must be some insignificant place.

It seemed like they suddenly rose in ‘this round’, but she didn’t think much of them now.

Things didn’t always go the same way in the repeated worlds.

She didn’t like being affiliated with somewhere in the first place.

The moment she joined an organization, her freedom was practically taken away.

It was easier to be alone to move as she wanted and to achieve what she aimed for.

“Is it because you can’t do what you want?”

Kwon Jia spat out her breath and pointed her sword at Kang Yu-hyun’s neck.

It was a silent threat that she would stab him if he kept walking towards her.

Just before the unwavering blade touched him, Yu-hyun stopped his steps.

He lifted his finger and pressed it against Kwon Jia’s sword.

Swoosh.

The sharp sword, following Kwon Jia’s momentum, cut Kang Yu-hyun’s finger.

Blood dripped from the wound and flew in the air.

But soon, it turned into white letters and disappeared as if melting in the air.

Kwon Jia shuddered at the sight.

“What the...”

“As you can see, I’m not human.”

“What?”

“Let me introduce myself again.”

Kang Yu-hyun bowed his head politely.

“I’m a teller from the Story branch of Celestial Corporation. My name is Kang Yu-hyun, assistant manager.”

When she learned the true identity of Kang Yu-hyun, whom she thought was a human, Kwon Jia swallowed her saliva unconsciously.

Could it be, he was a teller?

“Are you willing to listen to my story now?”

As he asked her seriously, Kwon Jia was at a loss for how to react to this strange feeling that she had never experienced before.

***

I could tell that Kwon Jia was hesitating a lot.

I didn’t expect her to give me a positive answer right away.

But the fact that she was holding her sword and thinking after I revealed that I was a teller was a sign of a positive change.

I could easily guess what state she was in by looking at her reaction.

‘Extreme distrust of humans. On top of that, she can’t have a normal conversation in any situation because of her regressor trait.’

She was really the worst candidate for recruitment.

But if I wanted to be with someone like her, this kind of hardship was nothing.

Regressors are such beings.

They are the ultimate protagonists that I have to risk everything and bring them with me.

They have rich knowledge that others don’t know because they have experienced the events that will happen in the future.

They don’t act like rookies either.

And they have many ways to become stronger, so they are like perfect characters who can grow.

[What’s up with her? She’s taking too long.]

‘She doesn’t trust me completely.’

[Why? You said you were a teller, shouldn’t that make her more responsive?]

That’s what Baek-ryeon expected.

The name of a teller had a very high value on Earth.

Probably any collector would be ready to accept a contract from a teller as soon as they offered it.

And that was natural.

But Kwon Jia’s reaction was quite different from Baek-ryeon’s expectation.

On the contrary, I felt a hint of hatred from her when I mentioned that I was a teller.

And I had a vague idea why.

‘Regressors are those who have experienced the future. And if it’s the future of Earth...’

The end.

People who haven’t seen or experienced it don’t know how much the tellers exploited and used people there.

If Kwon Jia was a regressor, there was a high chance that she had witnessed that future herself.

It was natural for her to hate tellers.

But the reason why Kwon Jia didn’t attack me right away was because I was different.

I showed her that.

“Phew. If it’s hard for you to be honest, you don’t have to answer me right now. You need time to think.”

So I decided to give her some time to postpone her answer.

“I’ll leave you alone for today.”

When I tried to give up easily after coming this far, Kwon Jia was rather flustered.

“Hey, wait!”

“Then, I’ll see you next time.”

I disappeared from the spot before she could say anything else.

I teleported to one of the privileges that a teller had, [The Room of the Observer].

[What? You don’t have to ask more?]

“It was better to stop here for now. If I pushed her more, it would backfire.”

[That’s not like you.]

Not like me.

I smiled bitterly and didn’t bother to deny it.

‘But Baek-ryeon. You don’t know yet, but I didn’t just retreat without any plan.’

I muttered to myself so that only I could hear and opened the dozens of books that I brought with me.

The mysterious books that only I could see and no one else.

Yeah.

They were all taken from Kwon Jia’s bookshelf.

‘I’m not like myself if I don’t do anything and just leave.’

I wonder if she won’t charge me late fees for borrowing so much.