By Zephyria There were three things he learned while starting his unwanted life at the main office.
First of all, these guys are hopeless cases below standard, no matter how nicely you look at them.
“You called me to ask about something like this?”
Ki Jae-eon coldly looked down at the messy solution that was held out to him. Then the child awkwardly raised the corners of his mouth and smiled brightly. “It’s homework that I have to do by today, but I haven’t been able to do it yet. I’m not a Curse Unraveling specialist either.” He rolled his eyes and looked around, and Ki Jae-eon wanted to shout, “Give it up!”
“……”
“You’re the only one I can ask… Ehehe.”
“Hyung? Am I your hyung? How long has it been since I told you to use the right title? Have you forgotten already?”
“Ah! Yes, s-senior!”
A headache throbbed.
‘Is he a goldfish?’
He rarely raised his voice, but he was yelling every day since he came here.
Ki Jae-eon glared at the child with contempt.
Putting aside the fact that he was stupid, he had no manners.
That wasn’t just about this one blockhead.
The entire main office was hopeless. The level was too low compared to Heavenly Land. They didn’t even have the basics.
He was suffocated by being stuck in a terrible room, so he crawled out… but it would have been better to just stay there.
Every time he came out, they rushed at him, asking him to explain this and that? And it wouldn’t be so bad if it was a plausible problem.
These blockheads were asking very basic questions.
Once, he endured the rising nausea and comforted himself, ‘They said we were close,’ and somehow gave an explanation, but these stupid things came back the next day with the same problem. The misery at that time was really, how should he put it? It felt like he was sitting a gorilla down and teaching it arithmetic? He didn’t expect anything in the first place, but he didn’t know it would be this bad. If it were Heavenly Land, they would have been expelled long ago.
“You.”
“Yes?”
“It’s not a good habit to rely on others.”
“Oh… Yes!”
“But so how do I solve this?” The child laughed.
Did you even hear what I just said?
Ki Jae-eon looked at the child like a bug living in the sewer.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“What are you trying to learn? Don’t bother trying. Do you think your skills will grow significantly if you learn just one thing? No, I guarantee you’re not suited to be an Exorcist. If you go into battle like that, the day will come when I’ll be exorcising you. Don’t blame me later for not convincing you to give up sooner. If you don’t want to die young, find another job and make a living. Ah— no. That’s it. Where’s your hometown? Go find your parents wherever they are. No matter how I look at it, I don’t think you’ll be able to live as a human being with your abilities.”
Ki Jae-eon took a short breath with a relieved expression. He finally felt a little better.
“…Hic.”
Leaving the child frozen by the sudden barrage of harsh words, Ki Jae-eon added one last word just before turning around.
“Be grateful, it’s advice.”
After that, thanks to the fact that he shattered the hearts of each and every child with words like ‘it’s a waste of time’ and ‘realize the reality,’ which were written as advice but read as harsh words, no one applied for one-on-one tutoring anymore. In that way, Ki Jae-eon immediately proved the ‘rumored rudeness’ with words that were like daggers. That was also a talent.
And the second thing he learned.
This place was a daycare center, not an Exorcist training center!
“Who wants a snack!”
“What are we eating!”
“Waffles~ We have to meet the minimum order amount. Who’s coming!”
“Hey, let’s play a game!”
“Well, so euhehehak…!”
Through the loud noise, the sound of sharply turning pages rang out!
“Ha, heop. Hey, guys, let’s be a little quieter…”
“Huh? Uh-huh.”
“Yeah, guys, shh shh!”
The children, sitting in the living room, reading, were watching Ki Jae-eon’s mood and adjusting the volume. It was all thanks to the effect of his personality. But even so, the unique mental chaos didn’t disappear.
‘A disorganized rabble… disorder.’
Ki Jae-eon took his eyes off the letters. It wasn’t an environment to read a book.
He couldn’t find any rules at all.
‘It’s like a flea market.’
Above all, the worst thing was the filth.
At the main office, they bathed in a bath that was shared by two to five people. When he saw that sight for the first time, he was horrified and pulled his foot out, and then the guy who came in behind him said in a bewildered tone, “We all scrub each other’s backs, why are you shy?”
‘I scrubbed your back?’
Thunder struck above his head.
That’s crazy. No, the past me is crazy.
What kind of mind did I have to commit such a filthy act!
Bathing is something that can only be done naked. That means I was naked and rubbing each other’s bodies with those blockheads.
He naturally imagined himself mingling with naked guys.
‘Ugh! Disgusting… I feel like I’m going to throw up.’
His stomach was completely upset.
‘How long do I have to stay here?’
It was when small mental damage was accumulating.
An incident finally broke out that forced him, who was enduring even stress headaches and trying to adapt to life at the main office in order to carry out his mother’s orders, to explode.
That was none other than dinner time.
“Everyone, eat!”
“Thank you for the meal!”
“Jae-eon student, eat a lot too~!”
“…Yes, thank you for taking care of me. I’ll enjoy the meal.”
In fact, he had no appetite at all, but Ki Jae-eon bowed awkwardly, as if it was difficult to maintain a surly attitude even towards adults, and ate the soup first, as he always did at home.
And then the vegetables, without making any chewing sounds. It was also forbidden to drink water often in between.
But for some reason, his hands kept stopping and moving unnaturally. It was as if a habit he had maintained for a long time had been completely forgotten. Was this also an aftereffect of amnesia? But he hadn’t forgotten the order itself…
‘It’s strange. It’s like my body isn’t mine.’
He was feeling a strange sense of alienation when it happened.
“Um… hyung, no, senior.”
The child sitting in front of him suddenly smiled and called him. Ki Jae-eon raised his eyes and stared at the child instead of answering. What is it now. His unwelcome expression represented his inner thoughts.
But the child was persistent. He should have been intimidated by the cold eyes, but not at all.
Rather, he blushed and even let out a happy laugh.
Was it because he had been despised so much lately? He opened his mouth in a cheerful voice, as if that level of annoyance was nothing.
“Even if you can’t remember, your taste will be the same!”
The child gently picked up a thick rolled omelet and placed it on Ki Jae-eon’s rice bowl.
Warm rice, and on top of it… consideration for someone. No, now it’s just an omelet with saliva on it.
‘What is it.’
[This is especially for you, hyung?]
[Don’t be shy and eat!]
[Hey, don’t overdo it and bother Teacher Yeong… garbage can.]
A sharp pain shot through Ki Jae-eon’s head. Through the dizziness of the spinning world, he heard a faint laugh.
[Th… Thank you.]
It was ‘me’, faintly pleased as if embarrassed. Yes, it was definitely ‘me’, but not me… Something disgusting.
Fragments of memories, almost within reach, surfaced and then sank again.
It was an extremely unpleasant sensation. Ki Jae-eon flinched and lowered his head, feeling as if ants were swarming all over him, nibbling away. A cold breath escaped through his tightly closed lips.
What is it? What is it? What is it?
-[Jae-eon Oppa.]
It’s so noisy, I could die.
Shut your mouth. Please, just shut up!
[Jae-eon Hyeong.]
Why am I yours…!
No, no. I don’t know you. Don’t look at me like that because I don’t know you.
What are you expecting?
Who are you looking for in me?
Shut up, stop chattering.
My head hurts. My head hurts. My head hurts!
“…Shit.”
The feeling of memories that weren’t his rummaging through him as they pleased was truly repulsive. A physiological revulsion crawled up from the tips of his toes.
A sense of disgust that would soon paralyze his reason.
“It’s two per person, I’m giving them out.”
“Wow! That’s so unfair. Are you trying to score points by yourself?”
“Give us some too~.”
The atmosphere brightened in an instant.
A scene he had seen somewhere before.
But to ‘me’, the people, the air, the gazes, the voices, the intonations, the way of speaking, were all unfamiliar.
“…Shut up!”
Bang!
His fist, slamming violently on the dining table, remained embedded there, trembling.
“What the hell are you doing?”
A voice, colder than ice, burst out roughly.
“……Jae-.”
“When did I ever say I liked this kind of thing? Enough is enough!”
Rolled omelet? I never said I liked it. It’s fishy and squishy and disgusting! Ki Jae-eon, like someone extremely agitated, spewed out incoherent words, grabbed the rice bowl roughly, and threw it into the sink.
The process of the food, barely eaten, turning into food waste was vivid.
The sound of the porcelain rice bowl colliding violently echoed through the kitchen. Startled by his sudden behavior, the frozen people could only stare at him with blank expressions, unable to stop him.
“……”
Ki Jae-eon hesitated, looking at the only the cafeteria Aunt, then bit his lip tightly and turned away.