Chapter 36: Talent Scouting

“……Excuse me?”

I was speechless.

I was genuinely speechless.

No matter how many times I turned it over in my head, there was no other way to interpret what I had just heard.

— Do you want to work under me?

It was not something that could be said even as a joke.

Especially not in this company.

And even less coming from someone like Manager Moon Ara.

Although it was my first time meeting her, I already knew for certain that she was not the kind of person who spoke without thinking.

I looked at her with a bewildered expression.

“I… what you just said means…”

Before I could finish the sentence, Moon Ara smiled again.

That familiar smile.

That dreamlike, emotionless expression showed not the slightest hesitation as she repeated what she had just said.

“I asked whether you would be interested in working under me.”

Again.

As naturally as could be.

As if she were talking about the lunch menu.

As if it were not even a proposal, but something that would naturally be accepted.

I swallowed.

My mind was in chaos.

What did this mean?

A personnel reassignment?

A departmental transfer?

Could someone at the level of a team leader even make a decision like that?

Besides, in this company, the word “under” could mean far too many things.

I put my brain into overdrive and fell back on the basic pattern of social survival.

The polite version.

Courteous.

And without leaving sentences unfinished.

“First of all, I sincerely appreciate the offer, Manager Moon Ara.”

Then I added honestly,

“However, to be frank, I’m not sure I’ve achieved results significant enough to justify a transfer between teams. Nor have I made any particularly noteworthy contributions within Extraction Team 1. I have merely carried out the tasks assigned to me competently.”

Only after listening to me completely did Moon Ara very slowly raise the corner of her lips.

The sunlight reflected in her eyes.

And the inverted left eye gleamed briefly.

“Yes. That’s true.”

A firm and gentle affirmation.

And then, a brief silence.

She lowered her gaze, tilted her head slightly to one side, and made a gesture as if tucking her hair behind her ear.

At that moment, I understood.

My question had been too naive.

After several incidents, I had mistakenly convinced myself that they considered me an exceptionally talented employee.

“In fact, if we’re talking about results, you’ve performed below my expectations.”

Finally, she raised her head and looked directly at me.

And with a completely calm expression, she replied,

“I simply wanted to make the offer.”

“……”

I was speechless.

Literally.

There were no reasons behind that “simply.”

No criteria.

No conditions.

Just moments ago, she had been explaining organizations like the Anomalous Disaster Management Department, the Church of the Coming Feast, and the Erosion Alliance with terrifying clarity.

I never imagined that something as simple as “simply” could come from the same mouth.

I stared at her silently for exactly three-tenths of a second.

Then I muttered to myself.

‘Is she crazy?’

Although, thinking about it, that was probably normal.

If a human managed to become a manager in this company, perhaps going insane was an unavoidable requirement.

Outwardly, however, I showed no reaction.

Or rather, I couldn’t.

Because in this company, the way to find out who was truly insane was not to suspect that person.

It was to see whether you survived after dealing with them.

“We can discuss the details while we eat. I’ll treat you to something expensive.”

Moon Ara said, tilting her head slightly.

Her voice was as soft and calm as ever.

But somehow, it concealed an authority that was impossible to refuse.

A kindness you could not escape from.

A pressure that naturally forced you to go along with it.

Instead of answering, I nodded.

We headed toward a restaurant hidden inside a quiet and discreet alley.

The elegant marble sign bore Japanese characters.

And the interior had the atmosphere of an authentic traditional Japanese restaurant where guests were required to remove their shoes.

As soon as the door opened, the staff greeted us cheerfully.

“Welcome! Table for two?”

At that very moment.

A woman with completely white hair.

White eyes.

And, on top of that, an inverted eye.

Dressed in a coat made from skin that clearly did not belong to any animal.

Had just entered the restaurant.

And yet.

No one seemed to find it strange.

More precisely, it seemed they were incapable of recognizing it as strange.

No matter what she looked like, in the eyes of those people there was only a single social label.

“Customer.”

I took a seat, still confused.

It was a traditional Japanese floor-level table.

The smooth polished wood conveyed a cool sensation to my feet.

Moon Ara sat elegantly on her knees.

With her back perfectly straight, she opened the menu.

“Kohada sushi.”

“I… will have flounder.”

Moon Ara turned her head slightly toward me.

And smiled just a little.

She pressed the call button beside the wall with her left hand.

And the order was placed without any further words.

Then came that moment of silence before the food was served.

And she spoke again.

“First.”

As she removed her chopsticks from their wrapper, she continued.

“I thought that if Manager Myeon had personally recruited you into Extraction Team 1, there might be something special about you.”

She gently rubbed the spot where the sushi would soon be placed with her fingertips.

As if she were cleaning a table that did not even have any dust on it.

A completely unnecessary gesture.

Slow.

Deliberate.

“Whatever it is, I’ll find out eventually.”

Then, after a brief pause, she turned her head toward me and smiled.

“And the second reason…”

Her eyes fixed on me.

“Is that I like you. You have the kind of appearance I like.”

I couldn’t react.

My brain stopped for a moment.

I processed those words exactly as I had heard them.

And then I slowly arrived at a conclusion.

‘She’s definitely crazy.’

It was a conclusion I was completely convinced of.

All of our previous conversations only served to reinforce it further.

But I didn’t say it out loud.

Because if I blurted out a “Are you crazy?” here, they would probably dismantle me before they dismantled the sushi.

At that moment, a wooden tray carrying our food arrived silently.

The employee withdrew after greeting us politely, and the grain of the fish gleamed softly atop the plates.

A set of kohada sushi.

A set of flounder sushi.

There was no problem while I was chewing it.

But every time I swallowed, I felt a chill run down the back of my neck.

It was as though the sushi wasn’t entering my stomach, but going directly into my head.

As if she had no interest whatsoever in the chaos raging inside me, Manager Moon Ara continued eating calmly with her chopsticks.

“Security Team has many external assignments.”

The explanation began suddenly.

Without any context.

As if the proper time to continue the conversation had simply arrived.

Moon Ara picked up a piece of sushi with her chopsticks, lightly dipped it in sauce, and brought it to her mouth.

Her thin lips moved slowly before she continued.

“The Order Control Room is divided into the Security Team and the Audit Team. Director Go Gyeol is in charge of the Audit Team, and I lead the Security Team.”

I nodded while carefully lifting a piece of flounder.

Moon Ara’s explanation was orderly and calm, like a formal transfer of job responsibilities.

“It’s easier to think of us as handling problems both inside and outside the company. Internal security. Containment room control. Response to violations of internal regulations. Internal management. Sealing external dimensional distortion zones. Support for off-site operations. Field response.”

She paused and took a sip of water.

During that brief movement, I observed her eyes.

The inverted left eye showed no emotion whatsoever.

And that made it even more frightening.

“A rift may not be visible. Nor does it necessarily have to manifest as a dimensional entity or a distortion zone. It can also affect immaterial domains, such as people’s memories, locations, or even history.”

She continued speaking slowly.

“That is why the Security Team resembles a cleanup crew more than a response team. We seal rifts, prevent leaks, and restore what has collapsed.”

While carefully chewing the flounder, I thought.

‘Going outside to seal rifts?’

For a moment, I imagined the scene.

An abandoned, distorted building.

Intangible light spilling out from everywhere.

Talking trees.

Weeping alleyways.

Twisted skies.

And me in the middle of it all.

‘Maybe extracting dimensional entities in Extraction Team 1 is better after all.’

Without realizing it, I set my chopsticks down on the table.

A deeper sigh than I expected escaped me.

As if she had read my reaction, Moon Ara slightly raised the corner of her lips.

A look that conveyed its message perfectly without the need for words.

She picked up another piece of sushi and brought it to her mouth.

Beneath the heavy lighting of the elegant restaurant, her white hair swayed silently.

I took a sip of water and breathed calmly.

I still couldn’t truly enjoy the sushi.

Moon Ara elegantly lifted her chopsticks and said.

“Think about it carefully while you eat.”

I nodded.

Purely out of survival instinct.

***

The meal ended quietly.

Or rather, the act of eating ended.

But I couldn’t say that I had tasted anything.

The flounder was tender.

The pickled ginger had just the right amount of sharpness.

But that was only what my tongue remembered.

I didn’t even have the mental room to think about whether the food was going into my mouth or my nose.

Throughout the entire meal, I kept thinking.

About Manager Moon Ara’s words.

About her expressions.

About that strange kindness.

And about that absurd proposal to seriously consider a departmental transfer.

‘The Security Team.’

Becoming Manager Moon Ara’s direct subordinate.

I was convinced that the way she looked at me could not be limited to a simple professional relationship.

There was an intention.

And there was also an emotion.

‘The problem is that I can’t interpret either the intention or the emotion.’

Did she genuinely like me in a rational sense?

What nonsense.

When we left the restaurant, the midday heat wrapped around my skin once again.

It felt as though the senses numbed by the air conditioning were slowly thawing out.

Moon Ara walked ahead of me toward the far end of the alley.

I followed her for a few steps and then spoke cautiously.

“Manager Moon Ara.”

She tilted her head slightly.

Her white braid fell over her shoulder.

I hesitated.

A brief silence followed.

And finally, I spoke.

“Thank you for the offer. Truly. It was an honor I didn’t deserve.”

Moon Ara looked at me silently.

Under the direct sunlight, her white eyes shone with a transparent brilliance.

And within them, I could not see my own reflection.

I breathed softly.

And continued.

“But after thinking about it again, I’ll stay with Extraction Team 1.”

Only after saying it did I realize how firmly rooted that decision was within me.

Moon Ara watched me for a few moments.

Then she nodded calmly.

It was not resignation.

Nor disappointment.

Simply acceptance.

“Alright. Then do that.”

She replied briefly before resuming her walk.

As I walked beside her, I thought silently.

Supervisor Shik, always growling.

Assistant Manager Son, who played rock-paper-scissors with his own head.

Manager Batori, whose body sometimes sprouted eyes, mouths, and tentacles.

Director Mok, who used as many roots and vines as limbs.

And Manager Myeon, whose interior was impossible even to imagine.

All of them were grotesque monsters imitating human beings.

Extraction Team 1 was a terrible department.

A place where they faced dimensional entities every day.

A torture chamber where human sanity was constantly eroded.

And yet.

‘I guess I’ve grown attached to them.’

Only a month had passed.

But during that time, I had regained a sense of belonging that I had completely forgotten.

My dry and empty years in the military.

My unpleasant discharge.

And the resumes that were rejected over and over again.

I, who had always been someone out of place, had been accepted there.

Perhaps even acknowledged for the first time.

Of course, in exchange, my ears had been pierced, my brain tampered with, I had been examined by a doctor with tentacles, my superior had licked my forehead, and I had watched a boss blow up the head of a member of my own species.

But even so.

Right now, it felt as though that crazy Extraction Team 1 was the place the world had prepared for me.

‘Of course, that’s assuming they continue not to kill me.’

Then I remembered something.

Manager Moon Ara’s words.

— If Manager Myeon personally recruited you into Extraction Team 1, I thought there might be something special about you.

I thought about Manager Myeon.

His seven faces.

His strange silence.

The form he had taken when he neutralized The Portrait of a Dismantled God.

Even after working with him for a month, he still felt far more distant than the rest of the team members.

And the fact that he had personally hired me for Extraction Team 1 still bothered me.

‘It couldn’t have been without a reason.’

If there was a reason, sooner or later it would come to light.

Whether it was a good reason or a bad one.

And whatever it was, staying in Extraction Team 1 would give me a better chance of discovering it and surviving.

Above all, no matter how much I thought about it, provoking Manager Myeon’s displeasure never seemed like a good idea.

I took another step and silently reaffirmed my decision.

Then I cast a discreet glance at Manager Moon Ara, who was walking beside me.

She was still wearing that dreamlike smile.

I couldn’t tell whether my answer had pleased or disappointed her.

But at the very least, she was smiling slightly.

So I, too, raised the corner of my lips by barely a millimeter.