Chapter 115

“Now then! This is the pride of Ulleungdo! The Wind Cave.”

As always, the Wind Cave was packed with people.

An even larger crowd had gathered in front of it, because the very thing that had restored the once-declining attraction to its former glory was there.

“This right here! Is the blue bug that stores Mana! The Blue-Glow Insect!”

At the guide’s booming voice, the many middle-aged men and women following behind him looked at the Blue-Glow Insect with great interest.

“Is this that bug they say makes you healthier if you touch it?”

To that, the guide replied,

“Yes, this is the one. We even have a saying about it. It’s the bug that makes a man who has lost his vigor at night no longer need medicine, and if a menopausal woman touches it, her husband has to crawl to work the next day!”

“Hahaha, my~ this guide really knows how to talk. Hahahahaha.”

The entire pitch used to explain the Blue-Glow Insect had changed.

The line, carefully tailored to appeal to the middle-aged men and women the guides usually disliked, instantly heightened the excitement among the middle-aged couples.

And as always.

The meddling hands of troublemakers were still just as active toward the guides.

“Oh my, handsome young guide?”

“Yes?”

A middle-aged woman approached the guide explaining the Blue-Glow Insect, wearing a suggestive smile as she moved closer and stroked his butt with her hand.

One of the kinds of troublemakers all guides hated.

The worst kind, the kind they tried their hardest to avoid.

However, the guide explaining the Blue-Glow Insect actually stepped closer to the troublesome woman and whispered,

“Would you like to find out for yourself?”

“Oh! Oh my~ Girls~ I hit the jackpot!”

“He’s handsome, and wow~ the young man catches on fast too~”

It was a completely different response from usual.

Ordinarily, when faced with a troublemaker, the standard response was to pretend to play along while clearly drawing a line.

Then, if they tried to cross that line, the guide would change the subject or politely refuse.

But the answer he had just given the troublemaker was like pouring gasoline onto a blazing fire.

And the result of that absolutely forbidden move was to feed the troublemaker, whose excitement had already been sky-high.

Squeeze.

“Really? You said it, right? You can’t take it back now~”

The troublemaker, who had been stroking his butt, grabbed it tightly with the expression of someone who had fallen head over heels.

“You’re the one who seduced me. I’m not responsible for what happens next~”

The middle-aged woman’s actions grew bolder.

However, whatever he was thinking, the guide only smiled and began doing the very thing he absolutely should not have done.

“Then shall we… go have a little talk inside that cave?”

“Oh my! I don’t know~ You’re so bold.”

Just as he was about to lead her into the Wind Cave, his hand lightly brushing over the back of the hand still gripping his butt.

“Guide Kim!”

At the sound of someone calling out, the guide who had been about to enter the Wind Cave with the middle-aged woman stopped in his tracks.

From afar, he could see someone calling his name while approaching.

“Huh? Department Head!”

“He’s your department head?”

“Yes, our PR Department Head… ah, not anymore. Our Branch Manager now.”

The former PR Department Head, and now the Branch Manager of the Ulleungdo branch.

He strode toward them, his face flushed as though he were suppressing his rage.

Just from the sound of his footsteps, it was obvious he was furious.

“Branch Manager! Hello. I’m working hard!”

But despite the Branch Manager’s intimidating aura, the guide smiled brightly and even waved his hand.

At last, the Branch Manager arrived right in front of him.

Putting on a forced smile for the tourists, he said,

“I’m very sorry, but may I have a word with this guide for a moment?”

Since the Branch Manager himself had stepped in to say so, many of the tourists looked toward the guide.

The guide nodded and smiled at the middle-aged woman he had been talking with.

“I’ll be right back. Would you mind looking around this area for about ten minutes? Let’s meet back here in ten minutes!”

Then he began following the Branch Manager, who was heading toward a corner.

= = =

Stepping inside a door marked with the warning, “Authorized Personnel Only,” the Branch Manager turned around and glared at the guide with a face full of rage.

Then he spoke an unexpected name.

“Kim Sang-gyu, I’m pretty sure I told you yesterday that you were fired. So how are you working here as a guide?”

“Ah~ that? I got along with my coworkers yesterday, and they gave me my job back.”

“They gave you your job back?”

One of the Branch Manager’s eyebrows shot up, then dropped again.

“On whose authority? I, the Branch Manager, fired you and rearranged all the guide assignments. So who the hell had the authority to give you your job back?”

“I told you. My coworkers.”

“On whose damn authority!!”

The Branch Manager’s shout rang out loudly.

For a brief moment, Kim Sang-gyu’s body flinched.

“You startled me.”

“I am the Branch Manager of this Ulleungdo branch. Your jobs? Your salaries? I’m the one who gives those to you! And what? You ignore my orders and cover each other’s shifts? Do you think sane people do that!?”

It was then.

The door opened, and every employee working as a guide appeared.

Every single one of them had come in.

“Wait, if all of you are here… then the guide for the guests outside is…”

As the Branch Manager stammered in astonishment, a sound that would only drive him even crazier followed.

“That isn’t what’s important.”

“What’s important to us is Guide Kim Sang-gyu here.”

It was the voices of the guides, defending Kim Sang-gyu.

So flustered that he could not even believe what he was hearing, the Branch Manager burst out laughing.

“Ha, hahaha, you crazy bastards have clearly lost your minds. Hahahaha, since when were you all so close? Ha, hahaha, you people who would lick boots just to work a little longer, just to climb a little higher, hahaha.”

Then, in an instant, the smile on the Branch Manager’s face, who had been laughing like a two-faced demon, disappeared, replaced by an expression as cold as a merciless killer’s.

“For now, go back to work. This Kim Sang-gyu that you’re all protecting? You can have the job you want so badly too. Fine, I’ll even give you special permission just for today. But…”

Smirk.

“You people have misunderstood me very badly. Ha! Good grief.”

Unable to stand still, as if in utter disbelief, the Branch Manager opened the door and started walking out.

Then he stopped, glared once more at Kim Sang-gyu and all the guides, and left without another word.

Not even a second had passed since the Branch Manager left.

“Our King.”

The guides who approached Kim Sang-gyu all knelt on one knee and bowed their heads.

Then they cried out,

“We must make that man one of us.”

“If only we can make him like us, our future work will become much easier.”

At the incomprehensible words of the guides, Kim Sang-gyu spoke.

“No, I’m not going to make the Branch Manager like you.”

“Given his personality, he will never just sit still.”

“If things stay like this, he’ll throw all of us out.”

“Please, make that man like us!”

Despite the guides’ desperate pleas, Kim Sang-gyu shook his head.

Then he spoke to all the guides.

“I know exactly what the Branch Manager is going to do. There is absolutely no way he can take the ‘Nest’ away from me. So don’t worry and just listen to me. Understood? My friends?”

At Kim Sang-gyu’s confident words, all the guides lowered their heads.

Then, in a single voice, they shouted,

“Yes, our King.”

Standing before the kneeling guides, Kim Sang-gyu stared at the door the Branch Manager had gone through.

A deep smile spread across his lips as an order flowed out of him.

“Just endure it a little longer. In just a little while… there will be a way to protect the ‘Nest’ I am all so worried about.”

“Everything will proceed according to the King’s will!”

= = =

The sun had set, and it was time for the Wind Cave to close.

At 10 PM, when all the guides and employees had finished their work and were getting ready to head home.

The bus for the dormitories arrived, and from it stepped the Branch Manager and a large group of strangers who had come with him.

“Oh? Branch Manager!”

When the cleaning supervisor, who was in charge of the cleaning staff, greeted him, the Branch Manager waved his hand dismissively.

“Go and rest. I have no business with the cleaning crew.”

“Is that so? Then those people are…”

“Ah~ these guys? Since you’re here, you might as well say hello. They’re the new guides who will start tomorrow.”

“Yes…”

The cleaning supervisor was momentarily startled by the sudden and unbelievably drastic personnel change.

Then, noticing the current guides coming down from a distance, the cleaning supervisor quickly bowed his head.

“We’ll be heading in now.”

“Right, go and get some rest. Don’t get caught in the crossfire.”

“Yes, sir.”

The cleaning supervisor was quick-witted.

Sensing that a storm was about to break out here, the cleaning supervisor forcibly led the curious cleaning ladies away and hurried them onto the bus.

“Hehehehe.”

The guides who had just finished work could be seen coming down from a distance.

“Hahahahaha!”

The moment the Branch Manager saw them, hearty laughter burst out of him.

Kim Sang-gyu, whose eyes met the Branch Manager’s, walked slowly over and stood confidently in front of him.

Then, as always, he smiled.

“What brings you here at closing time?”

“Ah~ you see, I was very busy today because of what happened this afternoon.”

“Then shouldn’t you be going to bed?”

For a moment, irritation flashed across the Branch Manager’s face at Kim Sang-gyu’s faintly mocking tone.

But then the Branch Manager’s smile bloomed again as he shoved Kim Sang-gyu’s shoulder.

Then he raised his index finger, pointed at the surrounding guides, and shouted,

“Congratulations! Kim Sang-gyu! Thanks to you… I was able to fire them all.”

He had said he had been busy all day, and it seemed he had worked very hard indeed.

“You all might not know this, but our company really hates unions that threaten to shut down business. But today, what do you know? You all pulled the exact same stunt a union would. Thanks to that, the people at headquarters got very angry and decided to fire every last one of you.”

“Is that so?”

“You know, these days the trend is youth. But when I look at you guides, you’re all old and drab. But look over here.”

The Branch Manager pointed behind him to the people who had followed him.

They were all youthful men and women in their twenties with fresh faces and bright eyes.

Just looking at them made one feel younger.

“Thank you, Kim Sang-gyu. Thanks to you, we’re trying to keep up with the trend too. And I’m being sincere. I was annoyed at first, but now I’m actually grateful. Alright, kids! Get on the bus.”

“Yes! Branch Manager!”

At the Branch Manager’s single command, the youths all boarded the bus that was supposed to carry home the guides who had just gotten off work.

“Close the doors! Let’s go!”

Even the employee-only bus shut its doors and left for the dormitories where all their belongings were.

Soon after, another vehicle arrived.

From inside, two men who looked like security guards stepped out and handed a car key to the Branch Manager.

“Well then, goodbye now~ Let’s never see each other again~”

“Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Thinking he had gotten his sweet revenge, the Branch Manager happily opened the door to his car.

“Huh? Who just said that? Was that you, Kim Sang-gyu?”

“Yes, it was me.”

The Branch Manager tilted his head.

Then he laughed as if he were looking at a lunatic.

“Hahahahaha, what a crazy bastard to the bitter end. That guy really is an idiot, hahahahaha.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The Branch Manager, who had already gotten into the car, rolled down the driver’s side window and shouted,

“Hey, security!”

“Yes, Branch Manager!”

“If you see Kim Sang-gyu’s face tomorrow, throw him out. If he still clings on, call the police and hand him over for obstruction of business.”

“Yes… understood.”

The security guards, who had known him for a long time, responded with grim expressions.

“Well then~ Sayonara~”

It was then.

“I’ll see you tomorrow with a smile, Branch Manager.”

Does he really think he’ll see me tomorrow?

“What a genuinely defective bastard. It’s almost pitiable. Tsk tsk tsk.”

Looking at the broadly smiling Kim Sang-gyu, the Branch Manager now wore an expression of pity.

Then, shaking his head, he drove off and disappeared.

And so, the only ones left were Kim Sang-gyu, the other guides, and the security guards.

“I’m truly sorry to say this, but you have to leave now. I’m very sorry to have to say this.”

The security guards bowed their heads with deeply apologetic expressions.

“You’re only doing your job.”

“We’re sorry we couldn’t be of more help.”

“No, I’m the one who should be sorry.”

“Pardon?”

“Or maybe not. Maybe I’m actually helping you?”

They were puzzled by the strange exchange, but only for a moment.

Kim Sang-gyu raised both arms and spread his palms toward the security guards.

Then his eyes turned a dark bluish color, and in an instant, he pulled two Blue-Glow Insects out through his palms.

Buzzzzz.

From the moment they burst through his palms to the moment they entered the mouths of the startled security guards, about two seconds passed.

“Uwaaack!”

“Ugh! Uuugh!”

Kim Sang-gyu’s eyes returned to normal, and as he watched the security guards being infected, he said,

“Welcome. To becoming residents of my ‘Nest.’ We’re going to get close now.”

The security guards twisted and writhed, vomiting as they did.

Watching them with a smile, Kim Sang-gyu suddenly shouted to the guides,

“Guides?”

“Yes, our King.”

“Digestion complete?”

“Twenty-four hours have passed.”

“Alright, then…”

The eyes of Kim Sang-gyu, who was always smiling, darkened into a bluish hue, and for the first time, a chilling expression appeared on his face.

“Let’s change into younger clothes.”