Evil Organization’s Extra Mr. A

[ 24th Chapter ]

I received my paycheck. Although I hadn’t been working for a full month yet, the café didn’t calculate salaries individually; instead, they paid everyone’s monthly wages at once on the settlement day.

The amount wasn’t large, but having money in my pocket was undoubtedly a good feeling, and I enjoyed my weekend part-time job more than usual.

“Are you really that happy about getting your paycheck?”

Of course, there was someone who was even happier than me, so my joy wasn’t obvious. In fact, even though I was happy, I didn’t show it outwardly. Yura hummed happily while working, clearly showing her joy.

“Of course. Who wouldn’t be happy to receive money?”

Yura’s statement was 100% correct. Though I didn’t express it, I had spent all day thinking about what to do with the money from my paycheck. The pay from Spacystro was generous, and it didn’t cause any issues with my living. But the café pay was an additional income earned while doing surveillance work, wasn’t it?

“Yeah. Let’s order some delicious food when we get home.”

We chatted while leaving the café after work, and I frowned at the damp weather ahead.

“It’s humid. Is it going to rain a lot tomorrow?”

“I heard it won’t rain much.”

Like me, Yura had been thinking about the rain. She checked the weather on her smartphone, and I looked over to see what she was checking.

“Oh, it’s not going to rain much, but it’ll drizzle all day… It’ll be heavier in the evening.”

I’m not particularly averse to rainy days. Besides, the moderate rain cooled down the hot summer weather, making it quite welcome.

“If it rains, won’t there be fewer customers?”

I said to Yura, hoping the café would be less crowded, but she shook her head.

“No. When it rains, it gets busier.”

“Why?!”

I had simply thought people wouldn’t come out if it rained, but the opposite was true. People who came out would look for indoor places, including the café.

Plus, because of the rain, the floor gets dirty, so there’s more cleaning to do, and when new supplies arrive, you have to move them in the rain.

Just as I was getting used to the job, I faced a new change due to the weather, and I sighed thinking about working tomorrow. It seems like a part-time job at the café isn’t right for me.

“I thought it might be a bit easier with the rain, but it’s completely messed up.”

“Do you want to grab a drink after we finish tomorrow?”

“Together?”

“What’s wrong with that? We did it last week too.”

Of course, we only happened to meet and ended up drinking together.

Yura seemed to want to celebrate receiving her paycheck and drink with a colleague who works the same hours. Traditionally, gatherings should be fun, but the last time we drank together, Yura’s mood wasn’t great, so I couldn’t create a pleasant atmosphere.

“Don’t drink too much. Don’t pass out like last time.”

“That’s ridiculous. I skipped my part-time job on Monday because of a meeting, and now I missed the Monday meeting. If I don’t drink, I’ll feel sad.”

From the last time we drank, I felt that she drinks better than I do. While I’m not sure how much control she has, if we have a big game, I’ll definitely be the first to pass out, so I need to stay alert tomorrow.

“Then let’s drink after we finish work tomorrow!”

“Okay. Okay.”

I waved to say goodbye and headed in the opposite direction. Out of curiosity, I turned back, and Yura kept waving until she could no longer see me.

“Go home!”

I shouted loudly as the distance grew, and Yura waved one last time before heading in the direction of her house. After confirming her departure, I went back home.

Even though she is a surveillance target, our relationship had become like friends. There was no problem with this, and since I was already treating her informally, I accepted the current situation.

Becoming friends with her didn’t negatively affect my surveillance. Although it was strategically useless information, I could often hear the internal atmosphere of HunterKiller through her. Since making up with Yubin, she had been pretending to be another part-time worker and talking a lot about the atmosphere, and things were gradually improving.

However, while Yubin frequently talked about Yura, Yura mostly discussed HunterKiller as a whole, so I wasn’t sure how much Yura thought of Yubin. I decided to ask her about it while we drink tomorrow.

The Sunday part-time job was chaotic as Yura described. Even before I arrived for the afternoon shift, the café was already full of customers, and there was a constant stream of people coming and going, making the dishes pile up non-stop.

The counter was even more chaotic, and Yura, who didn’t fit well in the kitchen, had to go outside to clean up. It was utter chaos.

Working without a break, I lost track of time, and only when it was almost time to leave did I finally get a moment to relax.

“Man, there are so many.”

I glanced at Yura, who was sitting and resting, and finished tidying up the dishes. Although the air conditioning made me sweat-free, I still felt drained.

“At least we’re almost done.”

“Has it already been that long?”

Yura, like me, hadn’t noticed the time passing, and she looked surprised when she checked the time.

“I can’t wait to drink. We should drink heavily.”

Seeing her declare that she would drink heavily already, I could only think about how I needed to control her to survive.

After changing clothes for work, I waited for Yura, who was taking longer than expected.

“Huh? A? Aren’t you leaving right away today?”

“I’m waiting for Yura.”

She approached me despite the preparations already being made, and she straightforwardly told me what was happening.

“You didn’t use to date before.”

“We’re not dating.”

I smiled at her, cutting off her misunderstanding. Since I needed to hide it from Yura, it was assumed inside the café that I didn’t have a girlfriend, leading to frequent misunderstandings that we were dating. I always denied these, but it seemed others were just saying it for fun.

“Where are you two going?”

“Yura suggested having a drink.”

“Aah~”

I saw her nodding meaningfully and raised my voice to Yura, who hadn’t shown up despite the considerable time that had passed.

“Hey, Yuyeon! Are you not coming?”

“Let’s go!”

She answered from inside the warehouse with a louder voice and hurriedly opened the door and came out.

“What? Did you think we were going on a date?”

Yura was wearing a white sheer top that revealed her undergarments and a short denim shorts, and the part-timer working the evening shift couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

“It’s not because of him. I dressed up because I like it.”

I understood why she would exclaim. The slightly loose sheer top and the denim shorts that showed her legs accentuated her curvaceous figure.

Of course, I also put some effort into my outfit today. Black slacks, a simple white T-shirt, and a mint green shirt on top. It wasn’t anything special, but it didn’t look incomplete anywhere.

I didn’t particularly care about going out to drink with Yura, but I didn’t want to hear my clothes weren’t good like Yu-bin said.

“Did you bring everything?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I brought everything.”

Women are such fascinating creatures. Is it necessary to fuss over your hair just to go out for drinks with a friend? Seeing her fixing her hair in the warehouse, she had untied her messy bun and neatly braided it before entering.

With everything prepared, Yura and I went outside. It was still raining, so we took an umbrella and headed towards the station. Since I didn’t know any bars near the café, we followed Yura’s guidance to the place she chose.

“Chicken feet?”

“Chicken feet with soju!”

We arrived at a popular chicken feet restaurant, which was packed with customers. Despite the early evening, there were still empty seats available. Without much thought, we followed Yura to the place she picked and sat down after being guided by a staff member.

Following Yura’s suggestion, we immediately started drinking and ordered our food.

“Do you come here often?”

“No. I’ve been eyeing this place for when I come with friends. Usually, I just drink alone at home.”

I wondered if she never drank with friends before last week, but then remembered that our meeting last week was rare. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if she had any other friends.

“Don’t you drink with anyone else?”

“After leaving society, I promoted myself as a hyper-human, so who would drink with me?”

Since I heard about the men around her last week, it made sense that she didn’t have anyone to drink with. But suddenly, a question popped into my mind.

“Do you not drink with your boyfriend?”

Hadn’t she never drunk with any of the twenty boyfriends she had changed?

“Uh? No, we did! Yes, we did!”

Seeing her speak loudly while trying to hide her panic, it seemed she rarely drank with her boyfriend. It was puzzling how she managed to drink alone all this time while enjoying it so much.

“How did you start liking alcohol if you didn’t have a chance to drink with others?”

It wasn’t inappropriate to ask, so I bluntly asked. Yura sighed and held out her glass for a toast, and I poured another shot of soju. The aroma of the liquor tickled my nose.

“I didn’t go to college and started working as soon as I became an adult. All the people I met were terrible, so I got angry and started drinking alone, and I got hooked.”

Finally, the puzzle pieces of my curiosity began to fit. As she said, she had just entered society, but the people she met, especially men, only approached her based on her appearance and left upon hearing she was a hyper-human.

Stressed, she had become dependent on alcohol, eventually becoming a regular drinker.

“So you went to a bar. Did something crazy happen there?”

With her mouth open, Yura started rambling like she did when working, starting with the story of how she drank at a bar.

When she went to a bar, the men who wanted to hunt her were just ordinary guys, and ultimately, she ended up choosing to go home since there was nowhere else to drink.

“My friends are in college or working. We don’t have time to meet. So I just thought I’d go with them later. That’s why.”

So that’s why she invited me to drink together. It wasn’t because of my appearance that she cared about her appearance, but because she had finally decided to go to the bar she had been wanting to visit for a while and had prepared herself seriously.

“It makes sense. There’s no reason for café people to go drinking together.”

It makes sense that they can’t go together unless the café is closed.

“How is the café atmosphere? Is it still good? How’s the relationship with Red?”

Curious about whether she also liked Yu-bin as Yu-bin thought, I finally brought up the topic. Yura nodded as if it was obvious.

“Yeah, we’re good. I wondered why our relationship wasn’t better.”

From a third-party perspective, it seemed the team HunterKiller wasn’t bad, just not close. The person involved felt the atmosphere was bad, but each person’s perception is different. If Yura thinks that way, then it’s valid, but from my perspective, they aren’t bad, just not close.

“Lucky.”

“…You’ve always taken Red’s side. Are you interested in Red?”

I nearly showed my surprise when I reached for water, but I calmly drank and set the glass down.

“How could I be interested if I don’t even know her?”

“That may be true, but Red is our leader and the youngest. After getting to know her, I found out she has a lot of cute sides.”

Indeed. I’m sure I know her better than you after three years.

Especially in bed… No, forget that.

As we drank more and more, the empty bottles piled up, and the alcohol buzz increased.

I somehow managed to stop Yura from drinking too much and continued the conversation, trying to keep her as controlled as possible. We had been drinking for about three hours.

“Let’s move somewhere else or go home.”

“Alright!”

Thanks to drinking moderately, I wasn’t drunk yet, and Yura was only at the point where she felt good. Going for a second round wasn’t a problem, but since there was nowhere to go, I thought it was best to head home.

“Should we split the bill?”

“No! I’ll pay.”

When I reached for my wallet, Yura, carrying a crossbody bag, rummaged through her bag to take out her wallet.

“Just split it. We drank together.”

“No, no.”

It seemed she wanted to end the gathering she created by herself, as she kept rummaging through her bag to stop me from paying.

“Huh?”

Her voice, which had risen due to the alcohol, suddenly returned to normal, and Yura’s face cooled down.

“Why?”

“My wallet is missing?”

After drinking well, suddenly realizing her wallet is missing. It doesn’t matter about the bill. Paying once won’t cause problems for my household, and I had drunk enough to be satisfied. The problem was where her wallet was.

“Oh!”

Yura, who had been pondering, suddenly widened her eyes and looked at me.

“I left it in the warehouse.”

I sighed and could only rub my forehead.

“Weren’t you wondering if you had packed it earlier?”

“I thought I did! And you rushed me.”

She playfully hit my arm, but it didn’t hurt. It felt more like a playful tap, and she seemed amused by the situation.

“I’ll pay the bill, so go get your wallet and head home.”

“There’s cash in my wallet. I’ll give it to you right away, so let’s go together.”

“It’s fine. Give it to me next week.”

“Let’s go together!”

Yura grabbed my arm and started shaking it. I couldn’t find a way to resist, so I agreed to go to the café with her. Resisting here would only lead to more persuasion from her.

It was raining more heavily than when we came, and we continued chatting under the umbrella. Of course, Yura led the conversation, repeating several times how she enjoyed drinking with her friend at the bar.

Rather than repeating the same thing after drinking, it seemed she was genuinely happy and wanted to talk about it repeatedly. Though I wasn’t drunk, I felt light-headed from the alcohol, and I smiled watching Yura excitedly talk.

“Let’s go through the back door.”

Although we had an umbrella, we decided to go through the back door instead of the front to avoid wetting the floor and because her wallet was in the warehouse, which was relatively closer.

As we approached the back door to enter the café, we both stopped simultaneously at the sound of voices coming from inside.

“Doesn’t she really dislike you?”

“She really hates it. Even if the time slots are different, she has to switch shifts when she comes in, so she has to see her every time.”

The voices belonged to the two people working the evening shift, and the one calling her “sister” was the woman who had jokingly asked me earlier if Yura and I were dating.

The moment we heard their voices, the conversation felt like it shouldn’t be overheard, but my body didn’t move despite my thoughts.

“The hyper-human is smiling insincerely, acting like they’re close. How can you like that?”

“True. Did you see her when she left earlier?”

“I did. Didn’t she just break up with her boyfriend recently? Why is she acting like this?”

“I heard from the girl working the counter in the afternoon that she’s flirting with guys in the kitchen.”

“How disgusting. Maybe she’s possessed since she can’t meet men.”

“The girl working the afternoon shift also hates her. They say she chased away guys who tried to enter the kitchen.”

My senses snapped back to reality as if they had been floating. It felt like the alcohol in Yura’s body was dissipating, and my rationality was returning.

Not knowing what to say, I turned to look at Yura, whose eyes were unfocused, staring into nothingness. Seeing her trembling lower lip, she dropped the umbrella she was holding, and I realized I needed to stop hearing this conversation.

Who could have predicted this?

Who could have foreseen this outcome?

I grabbed her hand and immediately led Yura away from the spot.

Her unfocused gaze was directed into the void, and I couldn’t bear to look into her eyes anymore.

Who could have anticipated this?

Who could have known this would happen?

Standing still, I held her hand and quickly led Yura away from the scene.

Her unfocused gaze was directed into the void, and I couldn’t stand to look into her eyes anymore.