I’m Obsessed With the Suspect - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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22

“Yes. Hello, are you the manager? I’m Sergeant Park Inkyu from Violent Crimes Unit 2 at the Central Police Station.”

While Inkyu’s several questions continued, Cheong-a pretended to be awkward while examining the inside of the counter.

However, there was nothing particularly special.

As Cheong-a glanced around the counter, her mind wandered to thoughts about why the voice she had heard earlier sounded so familiar.

It was definitely just a very brief word, but it wouldn’t easily leave her mind.

“Ah, yes. Thank you for your cooperation. No. This seems sufficient. Yes, yes. Please go in.”

Inkyu, who had finished the call, extended the receiver toward Cheong-a.

Cheong-a awkwardly took it and hung up the phone.

“Thank you very much for your cooperation… I’m grateful.”

“…Yes.”

At Inkyu’s voice with clenched teeth, Cheong-a smoothly averted her gaze and answered.

“Well, I have that sundae matter near Yongsoncho intersection, so I’ll be going now? If you have any other information, please let me know?”

It was a signal to finish up here and meet at the sundae gukbap restaurant at the intersection in front of Yongsoncho Elementary School.

“Ah, yes. Yes. Take care!”

Cheong-a bowed deeply to Inkyu as he left the PC bang.

As soon as Inkyu left the store, clicking footsteps approached Cheong-a. As Cheong-a had expected, the owner seemed to have been watching them both on CCTV screens from somewhere in the store.

“Your name is Bokseon?”

As she smiled with narrowed eyes, her long eyelashes fluttered gently.

“Ah, yes. Yes!”

“I’m suddenly sorry about that.”

“It’s, it’s okay.”

She held Cheong-a’s hand tightly while continuing in a troubled voice.

“I get queasy around scary-looking men.”

Smooth and soft hands wrapped around her skin. As she smiled bashfully with an embarrassed expression, Cheong-a’s heart melted without resistance.

Right. This was because Inkyu hyung looked scary.

Whatever it was, it was definitely Park Inkyu’s fault.

“Ah, right! Is it because he’s a violent crimes detective? I found him a bit scary too!”

***

Cheong-a entered the sundae soup restaurant and looked around for Park Inkyu.

Then she walked toward a man with a menacing back sitting in a corner seat inside.

“Auntie, one large special!”

At the loud voice, the burly back turned around.

He seemed quite curious about what conversation Cheong-a might have had with the owner there. His gaze remained fixed on Cheong-a without wavering.

“What happened?”

Inkyu pulled out a chair to make room for her. Cheong-a plopped down in the chair and first emptied her water glass.

“What do you mean what? That was the place we got information about from Ppaldae.”

Cheong-a shrugged her shoulders, and the sundae soup she had ordered was set on the table in less than a minute.

“PC POP PC bang…!”

Cheong-a looked around as if there were listeners nearby. Only after confirming there were no familiar faces did she show a relieved expression.

“She said I could work part-time there?”

A slow, very thin voice came from Cheong-a. Then her outstretched hand suddenly grabbed Park Inkyu’s hand. Inkyu’s pupils shook mercilessly.

“Bokseon seems like someone who’s really quick at reading situations, so I like her. I like that kind of thing. Ah, sorry for the late introduction. I’m Rachel, the owner here.”

A voice exactly like the PC bang owner’s flowed from Cheong-a.

Park Inkyu could immediately tell that Cheong-a was imitating her.

“But we’re only looking for night shift part-timers. Would that be okay?”

Cheong-a said exactly that and let go of Inkyu’s hand. Then she began eating the sundae soup placed in front of her.

Only then did Park Inkyu come to his senses and speak in a flustered voice.

“Part-time at a place like that? Are you in your right mind?”

“I’ve even worked as a sanitation worker, so what’s the big deal about a PC bang part-time job? I’m just moving locations and doing the same undercover investigation!”

Park Inkyu’s hands pressed firmly against his temples.

“Will it work…?”

“What wouldn’t work?”

“You told the owner there that your name was Bokseon.”

“Yeah. Why?”

The moment the words were spoken, Cheong-a looked at Inkyu with an “oh no” expression.

Park Bokseon was his older sister’s name, and she had borrowed it on impulse. For Inkyu, this might not be a pleasant matter.

However, Park Inkyu shook his head as if that wasn’t what he meant and ladled some of his sundae into Cheong-a’s empty bowl.

“You don’t need to read my mood. The approval for that identity from above was only for the Seojeong Power Clean undercover investigation.”

“Ah. That shouldn’t matter. The owner didn’t request any ID or anything like that, right? She said the hourly wage is 20,000 won.”

Seeing Cheong-a’s giggling expression, Inkyu furrowed his brow deeply.

“Really suspicious. Well, the way that owner dumped the investigation on you was quite artful.”

That’s because hyung’s face looks too scary.

Cheong-a was about to answer carelessly like that, but then gulped and swallowed her words.

“Uh… that, that was true.”

For the night undercover investigation, she would need a lot of cooperation from Park Inkyu. There was no need to hurt his feelings unnecessarily.

***

PC bangs have no days off.

24 hours, 365 days. Because they run continuously, they said they work in three shifts.

Cheong-a’s work hours were assigned from 8 PM to 2 AM. There was a note that it might be a bit busy, but that wasn’t important.

Cheong-a left work right on time, had a hearty dinner, and then went to work at the PC bang.

And she was able to witness a scene where nearly 200 seats were packed full of customers.

‘Were there this many gamers in Korea…?’

The thought that the high hourly wage was suspicious quickly disappeared from her mind. With it being this busy, if they only paid minimum wage, all the part-timers might run away.

Even though there were three staff members, there wasn’t even time to properly learn the work. Cheong-a took charge of cleaning seats that customers had left while reading the situation, and energetically carried food made in the kitchen.

A moment to catch her breath came after 10 PM.

A loud announcement echoed through the PC bang. It was asking minors to leave the store.

Then most of the people who had been there quickly got up and began leaving their seats. The manager checked the IDs of the remaining customers, and the other staff and Cheong-a diligently organized and cleaned the empty seats.

“Wow, Bokseon must have PC bang experience, right?”

10:23 PM.

Only then was Cheong-a able to have what could be called a proper conversation with the staff.

“No. This is my first time… Hehe. Please teach me a lot.”

“Really? You adapt so quickly I thought you were experienced. I’m Hwang Seyeon, the afternoon shift manager. This is Min Ji, and this is Hye-rin.”

The owner’s words about getting queasy around scary-looking men didn’t seem to be completely false. The staff were all gentle and pretty-looking women.

Especially Seyeon, who was the manager, was really someone anyone would consider beautiful.

“Ah. Nice to meet you, I’m Park Bokseon.”

The four people bowed to each other in greeting.

“Bokseon seems to have good work sense, which is nice. You just need to learn the kiosk for payments, and the manager handles settlement so you don’t need to worry about that. For food… there’s no time before 10 o’clock, so you can learn from the night manager later.”

“Ah, yes yes.”

Cheong-a diligently wrote down the rapid-fire explanations in her notebook.

“These two part-timer friends are getting off work now, and the night manager comes in around eleven. I need to check the settlement now, so you can read and review these work rules.”

“Thank you.”

The glossy coated paper the manager handed her had a full A4 page of work rules written on it.

“You’ll be fired immediately if you don’t follow these, so read them carefully. Ask if there’s anything you don’t understand.”

“Ah, yes.”

Cheong-a said final goodbyes to the staff who were hurrying to get off work. Then she took the work rules paper and sat down in an empty chair next to the counter.

Looking around the store, there seemed to be no one who looked like they would leave their seat anytime soon.

Cheong-a shifted her gaze to the paper with the work rules.

“…”

* Please be punctual. Especially please observe your leaving time!

It was quite an unusual clause.

Most stores would have written content about not being late, wouldn’t they? Anyway, this seemed to be why the part-timers hurried to leave work so quickly.

* Please keep the sign at the very bottom on 24 hours at all times. If you find it turned off, please report it to the Manager immediately.

* Please immediately transfer customers who ask about games we don’t service to the Manager. -The list of currently serviced games can be found in the Game list file on the work PC desktop.

* Don’t answer the phone until it rings more than ten times >【 We get a lot of prank calls ㅠㅠ</p】

Cheong-a’s grip tightened on the paper with the work rules written on it, and her nose began to twitch.

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