Chapter 254. The Matter of Making a Living (5)

White hair trimmed in neat bowl cuts. Loose white mourning clothes, matching from head to toe. Faces so identical, as though they’d been cast from the same mold. They were the ghost twins Eun-Ho had encountered at Namsan Tower.

“The twins?” Eun-Ho muttered.

“Eek!”

“M-monster!”

“Why are you here?!”

“Long time no see!”

Thanks to them politely letting him confiscate their proposal before, the trial had gone much more smoothly.

This might actually turn out easier than expected, Eun-Ho thought.

“My cute little twins,” Eun-Ho said warmly, stepping forward. “Have you been well?”

He had been lucky to run into them.

“Nice seeing you again,” he added with a gentle smile.

He was going for the image of a friendly neighborhood older brother, the kind who came home accomplished and treated the kids to a meal.

However, the twins flinched and began stammering.

“Eek?!”

“Eek?!”

“Why?”

“Why are you smiling?”

“That’s scary!”

“Yeah, it is!”

They even started backing away cautiously while watching his expression. Maybe the satisfaction he felt at catching them had shown on his face. They had taken quite a beating last time, so it made sense that his warm approach would feel unsettling.

“That hurts,” Eun-Ho said lightly. “I’m smiling because I’m glad to see you.”

“Glad?”

“To see us?”

“Of course,” he replied. “I was worried about how my cute little twins were doing.”

“Worried?”

“Really?”

Handling innocent little kids wasn’t difficult, especially ones whose weaknesses he had discovered once before.

He jerked his chin casually toward the clocks. “You two came to buy this, right?”

The twins hesitated, then reluctantly nodded.

“Yeah.”

“That one.”

Eun-Ho tilted his chin slightly, keeping his expression indifferent. “Hmm.”

His gaze drifted not at the twins, nor the clocks, but briefly toward the pocket where he kept his own items. The important thing was to make it all seem trivial. That way, he could smoothly slip in the real question later.

“By the way,” he said offhandedly, “isn’t collecting LP ridiculously hard?”

“Yeah!”

“So hard!”

“Totally!”

“Seriously!”

The twins nodded so violently their necks seemed about to snap.

While they were worked up, Eun-Ho casually probed further. “Oh right, how do you guys earn LP again? Is it the same way we do?”

He picked up a clock and pretended to examine it. In truth, he didn’t even know how they had earned theirs. Nevertheless, if he didn’t pretend, these adorable little ghosts would clam up out of fear of getting in trouble again.

“Us?”

“LP?”

“Yeah. You two,” Eun-Ho said.

If even one of them grew suspicious, the peaceful questioning phase would fail. He’d have to move on to harsher methods.

Eun-Ho deliberately avoided looking at them too closely. Fortunately, an answer came.

“No!”

“It’s different!”

So there isn’t just one way to earn points. Different jobs must have different methods, which means the company can control the total supply.

Several thoughts raced through Eun-Ho’s mind, yet his face remained calm as a tranquil lake.

“Really?” he asked casually, as if the thought had just crossed his mind. “How so?”

The twins gave their answers immediately.

“Work!”

“Yeah, we get it if we work!”

“Work?” Eun-Ho repeated.

“Yeah!”

“We’re good workers!”

Their voices rose higher and higher, pride spreading across their faces. Then, they planted their hands proudly on their hips and lifted their chins.

They seem really proud of that. Well, where else would they ever get to brag? Eun-Ho thought.

They were Ghosts and most people probably couldn’t even see them.

“Of course,” Eun-Ho said approvingly. “Just looking at you two, I could tell you’d be great workers.”

“Right?!”

“The monster’s right!”

“Full-time!”

“We’re gonna be full-time employees!”

Full-time employees.

The words stirred an old memory.

“Can I become a full-time employee?”

“You think so? Even graduates from major universities can’t find jobs these days. Even they are doing five or six internships.”

Eun-Ho glanced at the twins as they clenched their fists in determination.

“Yeah,” he said casually. “Looking at the full-time workers, it doesn’t seem that hard.”

As much as he disliked playing sides, making them feel like he was on their side was the fastest way to lower their guard.

“Right?”

“Exactly!”

Just as he thought, they were simple creatures. They nodded eagerly in agreement, even starting to grumble among themselves.

“Eyes!”

“Fun!”

Eyes?

“Unfair!”

“I’m jealous!”

The twins puffed out their cheeks and crossed their arms.

Wait.

“LP status,” Eun-Ho muttered quietly.

[Life Point(LP) Status]

- Current: 1.8 LP

- Total Accumulated: 1.8 LP

That was not the one he was looking for.

[Go to Shop]

[Usage History]

[Team Member Status]

...

Yeah. This one.

Eun-Ho clicked the Team Member Status. Then, the arrow flipped downward, changing from ▶ to ▼, and a list of text unfolded beneath it.

[Team Member Status]

1. Min Yeo-Jin(1.9 LP)

2. Lee Eun-Ho(1.8 LP)

3. Kim Ji-Eun(1.2 LP)

4. Yoon Sol-Ah(0.3 LP)

...

43. Myung Tae-Pyeong(0.1 LP)

Even a simple list of names and numbers revealed two crucial insights.

First, Min Yeo-Jin’s LP was higher than his, which meant LP was not determined by combat strength or rank within the company. Second, Swear-Master’s LP was abnormally low. Every other team member had around 0.2 or 0.3 LP, while he alone had 0.1.

When Eun-Ho combined that with what the Ghosts had said earlier, the source of the LP seemed to be the Eyes, the eerie eyeballs that connected viewers to the channel.

“Eyes!”

“Fun!”

“Unfair!”

“I’m jealous!”

As the one who managed Employee A’s channel, Min Yeo-Jin’s connection rate had to be the highest among them.

Meanwhile, Swear-Master was the only one to fail his performance evaluation during the Management Bureau’s OJT and had been reassigned to the Operations Bureau.

Swear-Master said he still finished the required hours, so maybe donations or viewer engagement factor into the LP calculation, Eun-Ho thought.

Eun-Ho suddenly remembered something the observers had once said.

“Why are you people even observing this?” he had asked.

[The Prince from the Bureau of Investigation says there isn’t really much of a choice.]

Then, another memory followed.

[The Newbie from the Bureau of Corporate Relations laughs, saying if they have to watch it anyway, they might as well enjoy a fun channel.]

Now it finally made sense. They watched through the company’s Eyes, earning LP from donations funded by their salaries. With those LPs, they bought the time to keep living. In other words, their entire survival depended on it.

No wonder it’s hard for them to openly oppose the company.

Then again, the special order had literally told him to unite the scattered hearts of the people. He had already suspected this wouldn’t be simple.

I’ll need to think this through carefully.

Still, thanks to these adorable little Ghosts, he had finally uncovered a clue. With that thought, Eun-Ho casually reached out and patted one of their heads as if ruffling a child’s hair.

He was just about to stand up when the Ghosts’ earlier words flashed through his mind.

“Yeah, we get it if we work!”

“Wait a second. Let me see your contract,” he said.

“Huh?”

“What?!”

“You said you’re dispatch workers,” Eun-Ho continued. “You must’ve signed a contract when you took the project.”

He had to confirm whether what they said was true. Besides, as both the Labor-Management Cooperation Team leader and the union leader, part of him genuinely wanted to check their working conditions.

“No way!”

“It’s a secret!”

The twins twisted away with their arms crossed. Perhaps the contract included some sort of confidentiality clause.

Still, Eun-Ho raised an eyebrow. “Really? The proposal you showed me before wasn’t a secret then?”

“I-I mean!”

“T-that was—”

It didn’t take long for the contract to end up in Eun-Ho’s hands. The problem was that the document he had snatched was, in a word, a disaster.

This contract constitutes a temporary labor agreement between the company (hereafter “Party A”) and Saetani (hereafter “Party B”)...(omitted) ... the terms of the contract are as follows:

- Contract Period: 1 year

Automatically renewed annually upon expiration. However, Party A may terminate the contract without notice if requested by Party A or if Party B fails to meet the year’s performance targets.

If the company felt displeased or if performance fell short, the contract could terminate immediately.

- Compensation: based on Article 9 (base compensation by project type), but subject to change depending on Party A’s circumstances.

Besides having a completely flexible salary dependent only on the company’s circumstances, they also had a garbage comprehensive wage system, with no allowances whatsoever.

- No hourly wages, overtime pay, or holiday pay will be provided.

- Party B must faithfully comply with Party A’s requests. Conversion to full-time employment may occur in the future at Party A’s discretion.

It all wrapped up with a vague promise with no guarantee.

“This is basically a slave contract,” Eun-Ho said flatly.

Even exploitative clauses had limits. Ten years ago, even the worst contracts in his old world weren’t written this badly.

“Slave?!”

“No!”

“That’s mean!”

“You bad monster!”

The innocent twins exploded in protest when Eun-Ho laughed in disbelief.

“We’re employees!”

“We earn money!”

“A hundred years of experience!”

“We even have juniors!”

Eun-Ho sighed. “So at first they told you if you worked hard, you’d become full-time employees, right?”

“Rig—”

“But if you do well, suddenly the company says business is tough. And if you do badly, they say it’s your fault.”

“How do you know that?!”

“Monster! Are you a genius?!”

How would I know? Because I’d lived through it myself.

“That’s what a slave is,” Eun-Ho said. “You idiots.”

“Monster!”

“You’re mean!”

“Slave!”

“That’s a bad word!”

Eun-Ho hummed thoughtfully, looking down at them. “Hey. How about you two come work under me instead?”

***

“Sir!”

“Mu Ah!”

Mu Ah, the director of the Operations Bureau, was a man who lacked nothing. He was born above ten thousand others, second only to one. Living his entire life in such a position, it was only natural.

Everything he desired had always been within reach. Even the things he did not want still appeared before him. His wealth was as vast and bottomless as the sea.

People were the same. Whenever he reached out his hand, they clutched it in rapture. They hovered nearby, hoping their sleeves would brush against his. Women spent night after sleepless night waiting for him to visit, illuminating the Operations Bureau day and night.

“How are we supposed to reduce manpower any further?! We’re already working eighty hours a week with three shifts!”

“What do you think you’re being paid for? Cut some of those useless operational costs.”

“Enough already! There’s a limit to what’s reasonable!”

“Hah! You idiot! Who told you to look after the underlings? You were parachuted into that seat, and now you think you’re actually the leader?”

However, it was power without meaning.

“Isn’t the director of Operations basically just a figurehead?”

“Right. Aside from lifting women’s skirts, what can he actually do?”

“His bloodline is his only talent.”

“Tsk. If they say jump, we jump. Nothing we can do.”

In the end, all that wealth and glory was nothing more than sand. They’d scatter and fall the moment he opened his fingers.

“Sir!”

“Mu Ah! Come over here!”

Therefore, he sank deeper and deeper, imprisoned inside the kingdom he himself had built. He chose not to see, not to hear, and not to speak. He was imprisoned inside the kingdom he himself had built. He chose not to see, hear, and speak.

Every minute, every second, he drifted between pleasure and boredom. Just then, that man named Lee Eun-Ho appeared.

“I am a murderer. I am a thief, a robber, and a gambler. I am not standing before you because I am pure or strong. I stand here because I am weak and because I am desperate.”

That sounded off to him. If one was truly weaker than everyone else, then one should lie flat on the ground, groveling lower than anyone else. That was the order of this world, the very foundation that held it together.

“What we are about to do is not a pure and noble festival. It is a bloody war. A seizure of power. A revolution. If we must stain our hands with blood, then we will. If we must shed tears of blood, then we will.”

The man was so foolish that he couldn’t even see a step ahead, yet his words were very bold. It was a declaration born from unwavering conviction, and words spoken by someone who believed completely in himself.

“Isn’t he an idiot? Revolution?”

“What a waste of a handsome face.”

That face, that voice, and that gaze felt filthy, just like ants slowly crawling up the top of his foot.

“Tsk.”

“If my words have stirred your minds and your hearts, the world has already changed.”

You know nothing. You haven’t even managed to lick the outer surface of the company, thought Mu Ah.

Disgust welled up inside him. He was just a bastard who fed on the company’s wages, who grew strong using the company’s power, and who ate and slept within the company’s walls.

“Mu Ah! You look scary!”

“So scary!”

He thought that a dog that failed to recognize its master had to be crushed underfoot. He was determined that if the old man wouldn’t step in, then he would do it himself.

Thinking that, Mu Ah unconsciously relaxed the crease in his brow. Just then, an ear-splitting alarm blared.

Beeeep—!

It came from the detection sensor he had installed.

“Ah!”

“That scared me!”

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

[Warning!]

“Director! This is—”

[Corporate regulation protection protocol has been activated.]

[Location – Wailing Castle]

“I’ll go myself.”

“Excuse me?! You mean on your own?!”

“Just wait quietly.”

Waiting quietly meant keeping silent about the situation until the director had full control of it.

However, the man only opened his mouth wider. “Wouldn’t it be better to report this to the Chairman—”

“Hey you.”

The man’s urgent sentence was cut cleanly in half.

“You seem pretty close with the old man.”

“Huh?!”

“Even my abilities didn’t work on you. Seems like he’s been looking out for you.”

Confusion flickered across the man’s face, but only briefly.

“If I’m going to properly serve you, that’s only natural, Director. Please don’t say strange things and hurry up and report—”

“I know you’re acting as a spy,” said Mu Ah.

The bedroom which was normally loud with women’s laughter fell into suffocating silence.

Mu Ah rose with cold eyes. “If you don’t want to get fired, just keep your mouth shut.”

Not a single person in that room could stop him.

***

Puff—!

The two round desk clocks nearby began to turn transparent.

“Huup!”

“Huup!”

Then, the clocks were pulled straight into the twins’ pursed lips, as if being sucked into a vacuum cleaner.

“Fascinating,” Eun-Ho muttered.

“Monster too!”

“Try it!”

However, Eun-Ho had no particular desire to experience something like that. He waved his hand dismissively and turned away. “So, that’s everything you had to do?”

“Yeah!”

“All done!”

“Alright then. Let’s go.”

“Monster’s house!”

“Let’s go play!”

Whether they had actually understood what he meant by working under him or not, the twin Ghosts bounced excitedly as they followed him out of the watch shop.

Click.

When the door opened, a black floor stretched out before them. Along the circular edge of the floor, countless clock hands fitted into grooves, moving along their own separate paths.

“Is the Wailing Forest really a forest?”

“Is it big?”

“Is it wide?”

“Lots of rooms?”

The twins chattered endlessly. Behind them, the minute and second hands crossed paths briefly then drifted apart again.

Rustle—

A faint breeze brushed past like the hem of a flowing robe. Then, a sweet floral fragrance filled Eun-Ho’s nose. A faint current seemed to run through his arms and legs before all the strength drained from him. It felt as though he were melting apart, akin to a jellyfish drifting in the sea. Even his vision felt like it had been wrapped in thin strands of cotton candy.

“They say their bodies go limp and their minds grow hazy almost like being drugged.”

It was just as the chief secretary had described.

Eun-Ho stared through the pale haze, part mist, part drifting flower pollen. “Twins.”

“Hmm?”

“What is it, Monster?”

“There’s a castle in the center of the Wailing Forest. Go wait there. I’ll follow you.”

The twins’ eyes widened and they floated upward, circling around him.

“What about you?”

“Where are you going?”

“You’re not coming?”

“Let’s go together!”

“Unfortunately no...” Eun-Ho said.

The upside-down, bowl-cut head drifted right in front of him, so Eun-Ho grabbed it and pushed the Ghost back down to the ground.

“We’ve got a guest.”

“A guest?”

“Who?”

Rustle—

Eun-Ho’s gaze shifted. “The big boss around here.”