Episode 50
Of course, Kang Min-ah had never handled a hammer well enough to become comfortable with it.
Like other office workers in Korea, she rarely handled tools herself. Occasionally, when a light bulb went out in the house, she would step on a chair and change it, but there was absolutely no need to use a heavy tool like the hammer she was holding.
Even more so if you are using a hammer as a weapon like now.
Kwasik.
“…Ha….”
The breath coming out was trembling.
“Were there any more vines?”
“…It’s similar in color to your grass, so it’s hard to see…”
“We need to move as quickly as possible.”
Kang Min-ah nodded slightly at President Garam Yoon’s words.
It’s still bright, but judging from yesterday’s experience, there’s a high chance that it will get dark quickly. It was as if black paint had been dissolved in murky water and it became evening in an instant. It won’t be much different today.
“How much further do we have to go? “I don’t know the way, so I keep asking.”
“are you okay. Originally, the park itself was large, so there were many people who didn’t know the way, and it even changed like this. If it were the same as before, we would have arrived at the small lake within 3 minutes, but….” “
….”
“As I said before, the park has changed a lot.”
Kang Min-ah responded to her words in a weak voice.
“…Yes.”
Kang Min-ah was timid and easily scared, but she was not a bad person.
She was curious and often noticed. Kang Min-ah had a decent level of observation, and since she had risen to the position of head of a large company, her brain power could not have been bad. In order to take care of bad-tempered bosses and clumsy employees, you had to be able to judge the situation clearly.
From her perspective, the current situation was full of a deep sense of discomfort.
‘…How do you know the way?’
I continued my thoughts, hoping that this was a question rather than a doubt.
‘Does it make sense that I can give directions like this so naturally, even though I know that the park has changed a lot?’
It was strange.
In her view, President Garam Yoon was showing contradictory behavior.
I already said that the park has changed a lot. It means that he clearly knows that it is not the park he remembers, so why can he give directions so calmly?
She should have shown at least some hesitation or apprehension, but she didn’t. She didn’t look dazed as if possessed by a ghost, nor did she mechanically lead the way like a guide robot, but she was definitely filled with a sense of discomfort as she fumbled her way to the lake. It was a strange feeling that suddenly gave me goosebumps.
However, the problem was not the sense of discomfort felt by President Garam Yoon itself.
“….”
“Oh, there it is. “Just across this wooden bridge is a small lake.”
“…thank god.”
The question was whether the source of that sense of discomfort was conscious or unconscious.
Of course, if that sense of discomfort is a conscious action, I don’t know what the result will be, and if it’s unconscious, I don’t know what the calculated value should be. I didn’t have time to find out anything like that. Because my head was already spinning and my breath was shaky.
But on the one hand, instinctively and on the other hand, inadvertently, I had that thought.
‘…the monster…’
isn’t it?
“Watch your step. From what I remember, there seemed to be some rotten parts…”
“…Oh, thank you.”
Kang Min-ah tried to turn her gaze to look at the intern who was following us.
“Yeonseok, you too be careful.”
“…yes.”
“…If you were feeling really uncomfortable, you should have let it rest. Sorry.”
When I felt some pity and offered a small apology, he shook his head with a pale face.
“No no no! “How can I send the chief alone…!”
“…I’m not alone….”
“Ah, anyway. But I have the best strength…”
Kang Min-ah laughed awkwardly at the words he hesitated as if making excuses.
“Ok, thanks.”
It was always embarrassing and embarrassing to see the other person’s emotions revealed so clearly. Especially when you include the fact that the other person is a student much younger than me.
Noh Yeon-seok was an intern who came to work through a connection between our company and the university. Of course, I was told that this was an exceptional pilot as their company was not an ordinary company, and that if it did not seem to have any significant effect, they would abolish it within a time or two, but they were still sent to our department, aren’t they? Kang Min-ah also had no choice but to pay attention.
There were times when I was embarrassed and embarrassed in many ways when I was at the company, but it was also true that I was gaining strength from seeing him in this situation.
‘I too…’
The fact that I have a responsibility to protect and lead someone.
As they were manipulating the hammer, which was stained red from the vine’s fluid, a familiar voice came among them. It was a voice full of faint interest.
“You two get along well. “You said Noh Yeon-seok was an intern, right?”
“Ah yes… I am learning a lot from Director Kang.”
“Look at you praising Mina. “You are such a sweet person.”
The intern blushed at the mischievous joke that was not rude, and Kang Min-ah laughed awkwardly again. Strangely, the feeling wasn’t so bad that I was embarrassed myself.
“Yeonseok has a good personality. “You do what you’re told to do well…”
“Thank you.”
“Actually, I was a little surprised. Mina, since your company is a company, I haven’t heard much about interns… Didn’t they originally hire interns?”
“That’s right, most people come in as experienced workers.”
“I heard that our school used a lot of effort this time. “With the intention of trying to do something in conjunction…” “
I think it would definitely give students some breathing room if there was something like that. “It’s even such a big company, right?”
I felt this before, but regardless of the current feeling of discomfort, President Garam Yoon was a good conversation partner. Rather than not crossing the line, I could feel her consideration in the way she didn’t even approach the line at all.
The voice was moderately high and moderately calm, and the actions of not making eye contact in an unreasonable way lightened the atmosphere very naturally.
As the casual conversation continued, President Garam Yoon slowed down.
“So this is….”
“….”
“Yes, you’re here.”
widely.
I hear footsteps stopping.
“This is a small lake.”
“Ah…”
My eyes hurt like that.
The breathtakingly clear smell of water gnaws at my lungs. The lake, reflecting the all-white sky, sparkled with an eerie bright light.
The lake, which shines a beautiful white jade color that cannot be seen in reality, is like a work of art made of glass, and the sight of the surface of the lake shaking without wind is extremely unrealistic.
beautiful. Refreshing and clean. Inside the transparent lake, surprisingly, there were pebbles that were shiny with water. It was white and transparent, resembling the color of the sky and lake.
Kang Min-ah, who was speechless for a moment, opened her mouth with difficulty.
“…You are pretty.”
It was the first adjective I uttered since coming to this world.
“Yes, it’s pretty.”
“….”
“…It didn’t shine this much before…”
There was a faint regret in President Garam Yoon’s voice as he said that.
Are you missing the world before it changed like this? If so, Kang Min-ah could have defended her thoughts. It was no wonder that I longed for the comfortable and peaceful real world rather than the unrealistic beauty before my eyes.
However, Kang Min-ah kept her mouth shut due to the strange feeling of discomfort she felt through her fingertips.
“….”
“You’ve become really pretty.”
Unlike before, when her voice was clear, it seemed hazy, as if she was possessed by something, so I couldn’t figure out what she was regretting.
Kang Min-ah slowly opened her mouth.
“…Let’s put water in it first.”
We had to somehow bring us back to reality.
“Yeonseok, can you give me the bottle you picked up earlier?”
“Oh, I will do this. “Once you put all the water in it, it will be heavy.”
The intern who said that was holding a 2L bottle of soda in his hand.
When you enter the supermarket, it is a bottle of that size that is placed in a cool place, not in the refrigerator, but at room temperature.
President Garam Yoon said while looking at that.
“But I’m glad I have a disease like that.”
“…It’s difficult to keep going back and forth here… so it’s definitely a good thing.”
“The problem is that we haven’t found the can yet…”
she continued.
“…Is there a glass bottle? “Why?”
He probably seemed a little embarrassed.
‘…But really, why is it there?’
Actually, if you think about it, the 2L soda bottle they picked up on the way was also strange. Usually, when I drink a drink at the park, I drink it from a can from a vending machine, but I don’t bring a drink this large.
In the same vein, the bottle that CEO Garam Yoon was looking at was a bit strange. In the past, glass was often used as a bottle for cola or cider, but these days, even that is plastic. Moreover, a wide container like that is usually used in bakeries to store jam….
“….”
“….”
“…Good things are good, right?”
President Garam Yoon concluded their questions.
“Well, since there are vines crawling around, this is…”
“That’s right, it’s not that strange.”
As Kang Min-ah and the intern nodded, CEO Yoon Garam smiled shyly and said.
“Yes. Plus, I was a little nervous about the can.”
“why?”
“Because it is so thin, I thought it might melt in the fire…” “
…I guess not that much?”
A shocked expression was formed.
If the heat of a bonfire is strong, how strong will it be to melt an aluminum can? Even if you tried to melt it, it was impossible. At best, it will be a little crumpled or mushy.
When I gave him a strange look, worried about the purchase, President Garam Yoon gave an awkward smile.
“Well, if you boil water, it might taste like iron, right?”
“That’s… right.”
That was a bit worrying.
Kang Min-ah nodded and motioned to the intern, and Noh Yeon-seok followed her to the lake. Immediately after, President Garam Yoon also joined us.
“….”
The water in the lake rippled calmly, but no monsters were visible nearby.
“…Didn’t you say there were fish living there?”
“Yes, I don’t know because the green algae was so severe in the big lake… but it was definitely there in the small lake.”
“But there’s nothing.”
There was only sparkling lake water.
At those words, CEO Garam Yoon kept his mouth shut and intern Yeonseok Noh turned to look at her, but that didn’t mean there was any particular policy. In any case, I had no choice but to bring water.
Kang Min-ah looked back at the intern while adjusting her grip on the hammer.
“Yeonseok, can you get me some water?”
“yes yes.”
He carefully dipped the mouth of the bottle into the lake.
“….”
Water fills it like a transparent pebble rolling into it. There was not even the gurgling sound that is commonly heard when pouring water into a bottle with a narrow mouth.
Perhaps because of my mood, I could hear the sound of the porcelain bowl clattering, and I could see the flow of water flowing into the transparent bottle like a haze blooming into a flower. The water droplets were lightly sparkling along the flow.
Finally, I carefully lifted the bottle filled with water and said,
“…Ah.”
The sparkle of the lake has disappeared.
“It’s a little disappointing.”
“Yes, she was pretty.”
Intern Noh Yeon-seok set the bottle aside and received another bottle from CEO Yoon Gar-ram. Since I was already here, I was planning to bring water with me in the bottle of water I already had and the glass bottle I had just picked up so that I could take as much as possible.
After filling the empty bottle with clear lake water, washing the glass bottle once, and filling it with water again, the purpose of their visit to the lake had already been achieved.
Kang Min-ah quickly nodded and took a step back.
“Then let’s go back now. We have to go before it gets dark.”
“Well, it’s difficult to make a bonfire here.”
“I don’t know how to make a fire that can be carried around in the first place…”
Before coming here, they were given a lighter by Manager Lee Jae-heon, but it was probably given to them just in case and not with the intention of using it. There was no change in the fact that we had to return before evening.
They took a container filled with water and quickly left the place, but before they could put their feet on the wooden bridge.
Kang Min-ah turned around and looked at the small lake.
“….”
A strangely transparent and pure white color.
Below the lake, which was clearly illuminated, there were numerous pebbles laid out, and they had the color of grass blades, like glass. The trees surrounding the lake are drawn on the surface of the water and capture your attention like a painting.
It was indescribably beautiful, but….
“….”
“Master?”
“…Let’s go, Yeonseok.”
…because it’s too clean.
It was a little scary.
