SBTGC 12❄️

Chapter 12

I sat down weakly in my chair and stared at the empty table. The man across from me tilted his head slightly, trying to meet my eyes.

“Would you like some snacks?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“Something to drink?”

“I’m fine with that too.”

“Hmm…”

He pursed his lips at my answers.

“I’ll just order whatever I think is best.”

With that, he picked up his phone and sent a message somewhere.

A moment later, the same staff member who had guided me to the room came in carrying a tray. Soon, two cups of coffee and an assortment of finger foods were placed on the table. Mini tarts, donuts, pies, financiers, chocolate-coated cookies…

Normally, I would have happily eaten them. But this time, nothing caught my eye.

“Alright then. Shall I introduce myself first?”

As soon as the staff member left, the man promptly introduced himself.

“My name is Baek Hwa-kyung.”

Baek Hwa-kyung continued with a smiling face.

“Officially, I’m part of the Management Support Division, but what I actually do has nothing to do with that. Honestly, it’s practically a parachute position.”

A parachute position? Like a nepotism hire?

I suddenly realized that the man’s surname sounded familiar. His appearance was far too youthful. His attire didn’t suit the company. Yet here he was, sitting before me as an interviewer: Baek Hwa-kyung.

Baek…

*’Founder Baek Hae-jun.’*

What the hell.

Could he be from the Satva family?

“There are people who study hard and still struggle to get into a position like this. Saying it like this makes me sound like a jerk, right?”

At the end of his sentence, Baek Hwa-kyung wrinkled the bridge of his nose and whispered.

“But I hope you don’t think I’m too much of a fraud. I’m more objective than I look, you know.”

Baek Hwa-kyung immediately got to the point.

“Ms. Sena… you’ve already met Genzer, haven’t you?”

I didn’t answer the question. It felt as if Genzer’s instruction to me back at Rajatart—not to answer him—was still in effect.

Baek Hwa-kyung didn’t mind and asked again.

“What did he say?”

“…He didn’t say much.”

“Haha. He must have said something, then.”

*I… probably should have just kept my mouth shut…*

“But I can tell you much more, and in greater detail, than Genzer can, you know? Since you’ve already met him, you probably know this, but he likely told you only what he wanted to, while attaching all sorts of conditions. Right?”

Judging by how he spoke, he seemed to know Genzer inside out. As I’d thought before, they must have known each other for a long time.

Though I couldn’t say they were on good terms.

“I can tell you everything, Ms. Sena.”

Baek Hwa-kyung leaned forward, propping his chin on one hand.

“You can ask me anything you’re curious about.”

An openly favorable attitude. A gentle tone. A soft smile.

Anyone hearing those words would probably be completely won over, but I knew better. I knew what intentions were hidden behind that smile. And what he was capable of doing to me.

If Genzer and the pseudo-religious group were after me, this man’s goal was probably just as obvious.

I stared at Baek Hwa-kyung silently before asking.

“And the price?”

“The price?”

“The price for hearing your answers.”

At that, Baek Hwa-kyung’s eyes curved elegantly.

“Saying that means you haven’t made a contract with Genzer yet, right?”

“……!”

“If you’d already finished talking with Genzer, you wouldn’t have any reason to ask me about the price.”

Having been seen through immediately, I was at a loss for words. I just blankly stared at Baek Hwa-kyung’s smiling face.

*Just who is this guy?*

“Hmm. I won’t lie and say I don’t want anything at all. It’s true that I want to work with you, Ms. Sena.”

After saying that, Baek Hwa-kyung suddenly stuck out his lower lip, pouting like someone genuinely disappointed.

“But the word ‘price’ is a bit much, isn’t it? I really did just want to have a conversation with you today, purely and simply.”

Purely?

I frowned and asked.

“Then you could have done it differently. Why disguise it as an interview?”

“Haha! Are you saying you would have responded if I’d just asked for a normal conversation?”

Baek Hwa-kyung, who had been smiling brightly, shook his head.

“Come on. Honestly, that’s not true.”

“What…”

“Regardless of my intentions, back then I suddenly shoved a gun in your face. Who would want to talk to someone who tried to shoot them? It might be a bit underhanded, but this way is better.”

…How irritating.

But since he wasn’t wrong, I couldn’t argue back.

“And like I said earlier, this really is an interview. It’s just not the ordinary position you applied for.”

As he spoke, Baek Hwa-kyung lightly swayed his body from side to side. He looked like he might start humming at any moment.

“Anyway, we’ve met again like this.”

The smile at the corner of his mouth deepened.

“Wouldn’t you say this is fate?”

*It’s not fate—it’s a bad fate.*

I barely suppressed the urge to bolt from my seat. Leaving now wouldn’t get me anything anyway. Even if I left, Baek Hwa-kyung would try to contact me again at any time. Just like Genzer and those pseudo-religious fanatics.

If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better for me to make the most of this situation?

…He did say I could ask anything.

Alright. Then let’s start with that ‘gun’ story you brought up first.

“Why did you try to shoot me with that gun?”

I tried to ask as calmly as possible. And perhaps sensing that I had decided to engage in conversation, Baek Hwa-kyung smiled even more brightly than before—several times more radiant.

“Ah. Didn’t Genzer tell you about that?”

No. I didn’t even get a chance to ask.

Baek Hwa-kyung explained without attaching any conditions.

“You know that Myeong Sena can just enter Rajatart on her own, right? I imagine Genzer must have mentioned that.”

“Yes.”

“When people like us enter Rajatart, we use a machine. It’s a special device, um… How should I explain this?”

After a moment of thought, Baek Hwa-kyung spoke.

“It temporarily turns your physical body into something like a soul?”

…Like a soul?

“How is that possible?”

“You’d have to ask the person who made it about that. Though you can’t, since they’re currently missing. I don’t know the principle either.”

He held his white, delicate hands up side by side in front of his eyes.

“Anyway. After going through that process, even if you’re not a soul, you can exist in Rajatart.”

Then he waved his left hand while talking about the physical body, and his right hand while talking about the soul.

“But since we’re only pretending to be souls, we’re still connected to reality. We’re different from souls that are ‘actually’ separated from reality. This is closer to imitating death, not biological death.”

Then…

“When returning to your original body…”

*Clap!* He clapped his hands together.

“You need to deliver a shock like this. With enough intensity to feel like death.”

Hearing that sent chills down my spine.

“S-so that’s the way to return?”

“Yes. An ordinary shock won’t let you return to your original body.”

Baek Hwa-kyung smiled.

“Of course, you wouldn’t need that process, Ms. Sena.”

It was too terrifying a statement to make while smiling. But I quickly understood the horrifying explanation.

*That’s right. That’s what happened back then.*

When we were being chased, Genzer and I had jumped out of the moving car. If it had been reality, it wouldn’t have been strange for one of us to be seriously injured or dead. But Genzer and I only felt a brief jolt and were completely unharmed. That kind of shock—at least within Rajatart—couldn’t even be considered a shock.

“Even when using a gun, there’s a specific place you need to shoot. Especially for people like us, it’s like… we’ve developed a resistance, so even shooting the body or limbs only results in a jolt.”

Baek Hwa-kyung tapped his own temple.

“For delivering a direct shock, the head is perfect.”

So that’s why Genzer was fine even when he was shielding me back then.

“I was going to send you back first at that time.”

Just as a few of my questions were being resolved, Baek Hwa-kyung muttered as if talking to himself.

“It’s a shame. Timing is such…”

*He talks as if he’d lost a captured prey right before his eyes.*

So, that day, when Genzer shot me in the head, it really was to send me back. But that didn’t make it any less frightening.

*These crazy bastards… If that was the case, they should have explained it first!*