Chapter 208. Joint Operation (7)
“Y-you just happened to see her?” Ji-Eun asked, stressing each syllable.
“Yes,” he replied, then added after seeing Ji-Eun’s doubtful expression, “we don’t know each other personally.”
Once he said it out loud, it sounded like an excuse.
“Anyways. Employee A is among these six,” Eun-Ho said.
There were two men and four women, and one of them was Employee A.
“Min Yeo-Jin said she thinks it’s a woman,” Sol-Ah said.
“We’re not one hundred percent sure about that. So let’s just investigate all six,” he replied. “But we’ll start with the women. Sounds good?”
“Okay, Mister,” Sol-Ah answered cheerfully.
The real problem was how to find her.
“She always did live broadcasts in the same environment,” he said. “It has to be either her home, or a studio set up close to it.”
Given how harshly they worked with barely any rest, they would have required a secure location even more.
“That makes sense!” Ji-Eun said. “To make it look like a dark studio, she’d need a place where no one could notice.”
As they reached that conclusion, Sol-Ah, who had been quietly flipping through the documents, suddenly looked up. “Look! These people all live in dorms.”
“Dorms?”
Not even company housing? How had this never been discovered? Dormitories were even more vulnerable security-wise.
“They don’t have homes at all?”
“No. Look over here...” While Eun-Ho was thinking, Sol-Ah spread all six sheets across the desk. Then, she began stacking them, one over another. “These two are in Building A. This one’s in Building B. This woman’s in Building C...”
After sorting them out, it seemed like the dorms were strictly divided by gender.
“The four women are in Buildings A, B, and C. And the two men are in Buildings D and E.”
“Ji-Eun, there was a dorm map here earlier, right?”
Ji-Eun handed him a stiff sheet of paper. “Oh, yes! Here it is!”
Upon unfolding it, Eun-Ho saw that it resembled the zoning maps posted on real estate office walls.
Ji-Eun said, “I didn’t notice before since I only skimmed it, but the dorm buildings are labeled from Building A to Building F.”
She was right. The map showed both the internal buildings of the Operations Bureau and the dormitories located far away.
Six people, five buildings...
Two women shared one building, while the rest lived alone, one per building.
“Shall we trigger it?” he said.
“Trigger what?” Ji-Eun asked.
“To see where the reaction comes from.”
***
This is insane!
Employee A, the owner of the channel, finally clutched the back of their neck.
[Observer#319928 is sobbing, asking what to do since her boyfriend is saying the one he truly loves is her.]
Just yesterday, they’d been nothing but pure frustration incarnate.
[She’s lamenting that her boyfriend was obviously tricked by a bunch of sly homewreckers, but finally came to his senses. Now she’s agonizing over whether she should meet him again.]
Today, out of nowhere, she was talking about forgiving her boyfriend. It was the emotional equivalent of force-feeding someone the most suffocating, unbearable frustration imaginable.
[Observer#58221 is screaming at her to wake the hell up, unleashing a storm of insults!]
[Observer#240831 is demanding she reveal the guy’s real name so someone can go slap some sense into him!]
Even the longtime regulars, who’d been lurking, were fully enraged now. This wasn’t going to die down anytime soon. What they wanted was something satisfying and refreshing!
[Observer#319928 begs everyone not to be too harsh on her.]
Yeah, this is just too much, thought Employee A.
At this point, the post itself didn’t matter anymore. They were about to roll up their sleeves and step in, deciding it was time to save at least one foolish soul.
Boom—!
Suddenly, a thunderous explosion tore through the once-quiet studio. The ground shook, both the walls and ceiling swaying. Unlike yesterday’s interruption, which happened all the time, someone had deliberately set off an explosion. Thankfully, it sounded to have ended with just one blast.
I’ve got a bad feeling about this...
Barely steadying themself, the channel owner hurriedly posted a notice.
[Notice!]
[Broadcast terminated due to personal circumstances.]
Two consecutive days of abrupt shutdowns... People must be confused. Still, I’m sure the observers would understand.
No matter how playful the channel might seem, they all knew this truth well. With just one incident, lives as fragile as theirs could be snuffed out at any moment.
***
Sol-Ah stared at the scattered bomb fragments at her feet. “So this is what you meant by triggering it?”
[Deafening Bluff Charge]
- A bomb that makes a tremendous amount of noise but has almost no lethal power.
- Seems useful for bluffing when you have nothing else.
- Attack Power: one to five.
“Then what did you think I meant?” Eun-Ho asked.
“Blowing up the dorm building,” Sol-Ah replied.
“If we did that, they’d kill us.”
“Oh, right.”
There was no point in escalating things that far from the outset when this was already more than enough.
“And if the bomb had been too strong, we wouldn’t have been able to narrow it down,” he added.
“That’s also true,” Sol-Ah admitted.
Thankfully, the five dormitory buildings stood spaced apart across the wide grounds, which made the job easier.
The plan started at exactly twelve o’clock. They would first detonate a threat charge behind Building A. If the broadcast scheduled for noon failed to start, then that building would be the winner. Otherwise, they would move on to the next one, rinse and repeat. One by one, they would set off threat charges behind each building at ten-minute intervals, until Employee A reacted.
But there’s a chance she wouldn’t react at all...
Soon after, a notice appeared on the screen.
[Notice!]
[Broadcast terminated due to personal circumstances.]
The comments immediately flooded in, many of them saying that the streamer often shut things down abruptly. That was understandable though. Employee A had no choice but to be prudent, or she’d be in serious trouble if the company caught her.
And that worked in our favor.
The moment a threat charge detonated behind Building C, the women’s dormitory, a message arrived.
“It’s Yeo-Jin!”
[Min Yeo-Jin: Broadcast ended!
[Min Yeo-Jin: They shut it down all of a sudden!
“Huh?”
“This building only had one person, right?” Ji-Eun asked.
“Yes. It’s Leira. Room 3991 in Building C,” Eun-Ho replied.
“If it’s Room 3991, that’s not the thirty-ninth floor, unit ninety-one, but the third floor, room nine-nine-one, right, Noonim?”
“I think so.”
They had found her.
“Huh? This woman is—”
“Oh, Eun-Ho, she’s your ideal type, isn’t she?”
“No, that’s not it... Haa. Let’s go in first, before she runs.”
Click.
“Huh?”
The room they believed to belong to the prime suspect was empty.
“Was this the wrong place?”
It was a single-room unit without a bathroom or kitchen. Inside were only the bare essentials: an old desk buried under clutter, a bed with springs poking out, and a wardrobe so worn that crumbs flaked off its chipped corners.
The cramped space barely fit those three items. It seemed worse than a two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-won-a-month goshiwon.
“There’s no way she escaped already, right?” Ji-Eun asked.
“No, I don’t think so,” Eun-Ho replied.
[The Third Eye has been activated.]
Due to how small the room was, Eun-Ho found her at a glance. In just two steps, he was already at the back of the room, standing in front of the cluttered desk.
He called out to the woman who was definitely inside the room, yet invisible to the naked eye, “Leira.”
[Leira]
[Skills]
Miniaturization(Lv. 19)
Meditation(Lv. 5)
Flame(Lv. 11)
Endurance(Lv. 18)
Indomitable(Lv. 19)
Mercy(Lv. 7)
Leira was definitely there, without a doubt.
“Or should I address you as Employee A instead?” Eun-Ho asked.
Puff—
Then, a black box, slightly larger than a book, appeared. She shivered violently inside.
Eun-Ho locked eyes with the Thumbelina-sized girl, barely over one centimeter tall.
[Congratulations!]
[Team Trial, Find Employee A, has been completed!]
[The Labor-Management Cooperation Team has earned two Trial Reward Points.]
[The existence of the Labor-Management Cooperation Team has been reported internally to the Operations Bureau.]
[Operations Bureau personnel will no longer treat you as wandering merchants when approached.]
***
Staring at Leira, who looked part doll, part living cell, Eun-Ho asked in pure curiosity, “Isn’t the vibe different from the photos—”
Whether by his nasal snort or breath, Leira was swept up, staggering as she screamed, “Kyah! Man! If you breathe right in front of me like that, the wind will knock me over!”
“... Ah, I’m sorry,” he said reflexively, pulling back. “I’ll speak while facing this way,”
Leira’s voice came through as an extremely thin, high-pitched tone. “You don’t... to.”
He felt bad thinking about it, but it really did sound like a mosquito’s whine. “Miniaturization. That’s your ability, correct?”
“H-how... you even know that?!”
Some parts keep cutting out.
That was probably because she was so small.
It’s really fascinating. But more importantly, she looks terrible.
He vividly recalled how the woman in the photos had gleaming platinum-blonde hair and porcelain-smooth skin.
However, the tiny person in front of him was different. Instead of elegant clothes, she wore a crude robe seemingly made from scraps. Her blonde hair was dry, split, and frizzy. Moreover, her dark circles stretched nearly to her jaw, as if she hadn’t slept in days. She gave off the vibe of a girl who had grown up in poverty.
Still, she looks more like herself in person.
“You’ve built yourself quite the studio,” he remarked.
“Studio? I have no idea what you’re talking about...”
“That black cloth over there. It’s your Eye, isn’t it?”
In fact, he had learned everything he needed to know. The only reason he still stood before the pitiful woman was because a chained trial had appeared.
[Team Trial, Persuade Employee A, has been activated!]
[Trial Name: persuade Employee A and obtain her signature.]
[Rewards: two Points, a small amount of fame, and the trust of employees.]
In other words, he had to persuade Employee A Leira and get her to sign.
Forcing it like before won’t work this time.
Therefore, he had no choice but to try talking to her.
“We’re from the Labor-Management Cooperation Team. May we speak for a moment?” he asked politely.
“I’m sorry, but... I’m not in... condition...”
At this rate, persuasion was impossible. Not only that, he couldn’t even properly introduce himself.
After judging the situation, he leaned closer again and made a courteous request. “I can’t hear you very well. Would you mind undoing the Miniaturization?”
Leira shook her head firmly. “I don’t want to. Plus, this is illegal... you know that, right? I don’t know... you’re here, but I don’t... anything, so please... leave.”
She kept playing dumb for a long while.
She has no motivation to talk.
It was a sigh-worthy situation, but he understood why she was reacting this way. In fact, he had expected this.
[Condition: failure if the company finds them first.]
The company was probably already looking for her.
Does she think we’re company lapdogs?
Before even thinking of persuading her, he knew he had to earn her trust. “You resemble your father quite a bit.”
Leira, who had been so resolute, tilted her head as if asking what he meant.
Eun-Ho continued, “You look exhausted. He would be worried.”
“What are you even say—”
Clink.
He then placed a ring set with a black gem on the desk. Leira stared at the ring, which was larger than herself, as if entranced.
“It’s a gift from your father.”
She flinched, trembling as she cautiously took a single step forward.
[Corrupted Monarch's Ring]
- A ring imbued with the Monarch’s lingering grudge.
- Absorbs the target’s stamina upon contact.
- Absorption rate: up to 0.1% of the stamina per second depending on the target’s defense power.
It was the black ring he had obtained from the King of the Desert.
“Where did... get that?! Who are you?!”
“I’ll explain everything once you’re back to normal size.”
Leira’s green eyes widened as she stared at him. She rubbed her eyes, looked again, and hesitated for a long time. “Please... so leave.”
Her voice sounded resigned. He had thought seeing her father’s keepsake would sway her heart.
“Leave?” he repeated.
“That way... I can... again.”
“I’ll stay quietly. I won’t interfere, so please feel free to grow back.”
At that, she bowed her head deeply, then lifted it again, buzzing like a screaming mosquito, “I need to get dressed.”
“Pardon? You’re already wearing—”
Oh, right.
The range of the Miniaturization skill applied only to her. The clothes she wore didn’t resize with her, which meant undoing the skill right now would be disastrous.
“If you grow and shrink repeatedly, your clothes would tear apart. Right,” he said, understanding immediately. “I’ll wait.”
Eun-Ho stood up and turned around.
Ji-Eun, who had been waiting, asked in a flustered voice, “E-Eun-Ho? What’s going on in there?”
“The princess needs some time to prepare. Let’s step out for five minutes.”
“The princess?” Ji-Eun asked, confused.
She wanted to know what was happening, what kind of relationship this was, and when they had grown so close. All of those questions filled her brown eyes.
Eun-Ho gave a rough explanation.
“I met a king once during OJT. And she’s his daughter.”
“Y-you met a king? What?!”
That didn’t clear things up at all, did it?