Don't Feed the Professor! - Chapter 38

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“I apologize for receiving you so hastily. The matter is quite urgent.”
He spoke with minimal courtesy. Yet the woman still did not raise her head.
Had she truly lost her mind? Or had these men already laid hands on her?
Either way, the situation had become tiresome.
Kang Do-jin sighed.
“Kim Hyun-ju, I need you to tell me everything you know about your daughter. Lee Yu-ri.”
“Don’t hurt her.”
It was then that the woman, who had been silent as death, suddenly cried out. Kang Do-jin regarded her with a puzzled expression.
Of course, it was a natural thing for a parent to say. Yet for some reason, an odd sense of discord crept over him.
The woman lifted her head. Her wide eyes were glazed with terror. She repeated in a voice hideously low:
“You mustn’t hurt her…… You can’t let her be harmed.”
“…….”
He glanced toward the Loan Shark, but the man merely wore an uneasy expression.
Kang Do-jin cleared his throat.
“……If you cooperate with us, that won’t happen. Your daughter is currently beyond our reach.”
“…….”
“We are investigating how she managed to reach that place. And once we learn those conditions, we plan to send people immediately to retrieve her.”
A complete lie, of course.
The Chairman would send people to the Castle, but certainly not to rescue some worthless girl.
Valuable personnel couldn’t be wasted on such a thing.
Once they learned the entry conditions…….
“There are no conditions.”
“……What?”
Still trembling with fear, the woman spoke:
“The Castle…… chose her…… There’s nothing we could do…….”
Had he ever mentioned the Castle to this woman? He looked toward the Loan Shark, who shook his head with the same baffled expression.
Unsettling. When Kang Do-jin gestured, the Loan Shark hauled Kim Hyun-ju to her feet and dragged her before him.
“Listen well.”
Kang Do-jin looked down at the woman with cold eyes.
“Tell me everything you know about Lee Yu-ri. The longer this conversation goes on, the worse it is for you and your daughter.”
But Kim Hyun-ju seemed not to comprehend his words at all.
A hopeless household, Kang Do-jin muttered. Of all the debtor scum to stumble upon, it had to be this troublesome sort.
If things went this way, the next Castle Entry would depend entirely on luck. But deploying mercenaries under The Organization would carry too much risk.
And even for outside personnel, The Organization’s control meant restrictions on operational range…….
“Ah, ah, Director!”
It was then that the woman shoved the Loan Shark away with tremendous force. She pushed back a man twice her size and seized Kang Do-jin’s expensive suit jacket.
“Promise me.”
“……?”
“Promise you won’t hurt her. If you don’t, then we, all of us……!”
A piercing ringing cut through—Kang Do-jin flinched. From the reactions of the Loan Shark and Kim Hyun-ju, everyone in the room seemed to experience the same phenomenon.
“Ah……, aaaah……!”
Focus drained from Kim Hyun-ju’s eyes. The grip on his jacket went slack, and thin blood began to trickle from her nose.
Kang Do-jin barely caught the woman’s shoulders as she collapsed.
He checked her pulse—fortunately, she was still breathing. She appeared to have entered something like a Trance State.
“……You said Cult?”
The Loan Shark, who had been standing vacant, suddenly snapped to attention and nodded.
“Yes, yes, that’s right. Should we dig deeper?”
“…….”
An instinct told him this was not work to be left to such men.
He would have to handle it himself.
“You two are done with this. Keep quiet about it from now on.”
“But sir…….”
“Detain this woman for now. I’ll send someone soon.”
Cleanly ignoring the Loan Shark, who seemed to have much more to say, Kang Do-jin left the Logistics Warehouse.
The less one knew about the Castle, the better—that much he believed.
But somehow, he had a premonition that this case would grow far larger than he’d anticipated.
In any case, it was plainly a losing venture. This ill-fated debtor would almost certainly be dead the moment she entered the Castle.
At best, all that could be salvaged was a corpse.
“Good grief…… What am I doing all this for, over a dead girl…….”
He left the Port with a bitter laugh.
* * *
“The Uniform suits you well.”
“Ah, thank you, ma’am. Um, you are the owner, right?”
“Call me whatever feels comfortable.”
The woman smiled warmly.
Goldilocks—that was her name and the name of this shop as well.
When I mentioned I was looking for part-time work, she’d agreed far more readily than expected.
It turned out she’d been in a bind, having lost a staff member recently.
‘That Bear Costume…… it must’ve been replaced, huh?’
“But why are you so tense? You didn’t seem like that type before.”
“Ah…….”
I fidgeted awkwardly with my Uniform collar.
“The truth is, I’ve never worked somewhere so visible before. Even at restaurants, I always worked in the kitchen. Never did any serving…….”
“My goodness, why? If I were the owner, I’d definitely put such a cute employee where everyone could see.”
I glossed over it adequately, but the real reason was different.
Working in a place where people constantly passed through, I feared the Loan Sharks might burst in at any moment and cause a scene.
Somewhere along the way, I’d come to think of myself as someone belonging to dark, cramped spaces.
Yet now, in the realm of these strange beings, here I was working in such a bright place—ironic, truly.
“You memorized the staff rules, yes?”
“Yes, I’m confident when it comes to memorizing things.”
“Exactly the kind of talent we need.”
Goldilocks patted my shoulder and returned to the kitchen.
‘Is she really human…… or not?’
She seemed ordinary enough on the surface, yet it was impossible to know. In fact, one had to wonder how an ordinary human could even open a shop like this.
“Lee Yu-ri.”
‘…… Now they don’t hesitate at all.’
Turning around, Mallo was watching me from a window seat.
He wore a t-shirt and jeans today, and his hair was loosely tied as if he’d come straight from the Research Laboratory, with glasses on.
If not for the Lab Coat draped over the chair across from him, he’d have looked like an ordinary student out for lunch.
‘…… No, he’s not ordinary at all.’
Despite there being nothing particularly impressive about the setting, the air around Mallo’s seat seemed subtly different.
If Mallo hadn’t suddenly smiled at me, I might have stood there gawking for quite some time.
“Stop staring and come take my order, would you?”
Right. Stick to the manual, just the manual.
I approached Mallo’s table. I withdrew a pen and order pad from my apron with a click and smiled brightly.
“Welcome. I’m Amelie, and I’ll be helping you with your order today. Have you decided on what you’d like?”
Of course, Mallo never answered right away. With detached eyes, he scanned the menu and asked:
“Has anyone been bothering you?”
“It’s my first day working. You’re my first customer.”
“Well, that’s an honor.”
From the expression he wore, looking up at me that way, he clearly wanted to tease me.
Hmm, I let out an unnecessary cough.
“Um, so you don’t come here often? Do you need a separate menu…….”
“What, are you rushing me?”
“Take your time looking, sir!”
Mallo laughed softly.
“Still, I’m a bit worried. Rules exist in places, not in people, after all.”
“I appreciate the concern, but I’ve been through plenty of experiences. Anyway, what will you have?”
“Apple pie and coffee.”
“Hot coffee, right?”
“Yeah. How’d you know?”
“You’re sensitive to cold, Professor. And speaking of which, I notice you’re not wearing your Cardigan today.”
“Someone borrowed it and never returned it.”
“……I’ll return it to you tomorrow. Should I bring it by the Research Laboratory?”
“Better not. By the way, where are we going for tomorrow’s practical session?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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