My Childhood Friend’s Stock Will Never Fail Chapter 62

Unable to bear it any longer, Youngsook smacked Jaemin on the back of the head. Apparently, she had found explaining the recipe over the phone too frustrating, so she had ended up coming over and making it herself.

 

Jaemin’s eyes flashed with anger as he swallowed the watermelon in his mouth and glared at Youngsook.

 

“Mom!”

“There’s nothing you won’t say in front of the kids! Have some dignity!”

“What did I say? Was I wrong? They’re sharing a room, so what? And you know it’s partly your fault that I’m an idiot, right? It’s because you smack me on the back of the head all the time!”

“Then stop doing things that make you deserve a beating!”

 

“Well, is it okay for you to hit me in front of the kids?”

 

The two immediately resumed their heated argument. Yoohee and Joohoon could only stare blankly, unable to find a chance to intervene. Just then, Haeseop came back with more watermelon and gestured for the two of them to get up first.

 

With no choice, they took the tray Haeseop handed them and returned to the annex room.

 

“……If it gets too uncomfortable later, I can sleep out on the porch or something.”
“What?”

 

Yoohee was startled by Joohoon’s words and set down the watermelon.

 

She had her reasons, but she couldn’t understand why Joohoon was going this far to avoid sharing the room with her.

 

‘Do I talk in my sleep or something?’

 

Lost in thought without realizing how serious her expression had become, Yoohee heard Joohoon continue in a much gentler voice.

 

“It’s because I’m not confident.”

“Huh?”

“We said we’d take things slowly and get closer.”

 

Then he kindly placed a piece of watermelon from the tray into Yoohee’s hand.

 

“I can’t let you run away.”

 

Joohoon murmured the words as if talking to himself.

 

Run away…… Who’s running away?

 

Yoohee was left staring blankly, unable to understand what he meant. Just then, Ppiyak poked its head over the open doorway. Apparently, it had been playing around in the yard, because patches of dirt were stuck to its pink feathers.

 

“There’s some dirt on its feet.”

 

It was telling her to wipe them.

 

“Oh, I’ll clean Ppiyak’s feet.”

 

Yoohee took out a wet tissue and wiped Ppiyak’s feet. She also cleaned the dirty patches of feathers, and just then, Haeseop appeared beyond the open door.

 

“How is it? Did you get some comfortable rest?”

 

Flap!

 

The moment Ppiyak saw Haeseop, it struggled desperately to escape Yoohee’s grasp. Like a chick that had seen a predator, it hurriedly scurried away and disappeared between the luggage bags.

 

Was it because Haeseop said he was going to slaughter a chicken for dinner tonight?

 

“Lunch break is over now. We should slowly head back to the center.”

“Ah, yes.”

 

Following Haeseop, Yoohee and Joohoon got up and prepared to leave. What Joohoon had said earlier……

 

Well, it probably didn’t mean anything.

 

***

 

When they headed to the center, which was only a ten-minute walk away, the atmosphere was a little more relaxed since it was right after lunch break.

 

“Welcome. I’m Han Suin. Just call me Suin. Everyone here doesn’t really care about titles, so feel free to speak comfortably.”

 

Suin, who had previously tried to stop Youngsook and Jaemin’s argument, was the first to greet the interns.

 

She didn’t seem much older than Jaemin, but her calm manner of speaking and scholarly glasses that made her look like an archaeologist made her seem much more mature than him.

 

“Having interns join our team? That’s something you don’t see every day.”

“Exactly. Thanks to them, the team atmosphere will feel younger.”

 

The other team members nearby chimed in with bright smiles. Most of them looked to be in their mid-thirties to around forty.

 

To them, Yoohee and Joohoon seemed incredibly young, which seemed to make them look at the two of them even more fondly.

 

After exchanging greetings with the team members, Haeseop led the two over to the seats beside Suin with a pleased expression.

 

“Suin, could you take care of the interns?”

“Sure, I will.”

 

Suin nodded without complaint. Haeseop praised her for being reliable as expected, then returned to his desk.

 

“Just think of me as an older sister. If there’s anything you don’t know, ask me.”

“Ah, okay.”

“You’ll be working here from now on. Since it’s your first day, I’ll show you our team messenger first. Turn on your computers.”

 

Yoohee and Joohoon each took their seats and turned on the computers on their desks. As the brand-new computer motors began to hum, Suin stood up and adjusted her glasses.

 

“You’ll need to sign up first. There’s also a mobile app, you know? You can use the app to check in and out when you’re commuting. As for how to download the app……”

 

It was easy to see why Haeseop had entrusted the two interns to Suin rather than Jaemin. She explained all the basic information clearly and efficiently.

 

“You’ll also get gate signals through this app. Of course, they don’t come very often.”

“They don’t?”

 

Yoohee was a little puzzled. The centers she knew were always frantically busy waiting for gate signals. Even if things were much better than in her previous life, centers were generally places that operated at a hectic pace.

 

“Oh, you didn’t know? Our team rarely gets dispatched to gates. Most of the time, we spend our days sitting here and working.”

“A workplace like this exists?”

 

Come to think of it, the only sound in the center had been the tapping of keyboards. There wasn’t a single person who looked rushed as they leisurely drank their coffee.

 

A peaceful center where the only sound was typing.

 

I wonder why they even had vacancies for interns here.

 

Perhaps it simply hadn’t gained much attention because it was overshadowed by the centers in Seoul that had famous Espers.

 

As Yoohee blinked in surprise, Suin briefly glanced toward an empty seat by the window.

 

“Ah, and there’s one person who didn’t come in today.”

 

“Are they taking a day off?”

 

“They take days off like they eat meals.”

 

Unlike before, there was a sharp edge to Suin’s voice.

 

“…Excuse me?”

 

“He’s the only A-rank Esper on our team… Anyway, you don’t need to worry too much about him. He’s always running back and forth to Seoul because he’s supposedly busy, and honestly, I’m not even sure how capable he really is. Anyway.”

 

After her curt explanation, Suin went back to teaching them how to upload reports to the computer. Once Yoohee finished following her instructions, Suin nodded and changed the subject.

 

“I heard you’re staying at the team leader’s house?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Mrs. Youngsook and Jaemin fight pretty often. You saw them this morning, right? That’s just their daily routine, so don’t be too surprised.”

 

“Ah…”

 

“Jaemin’s the type who needs a lot of looking after. Still, he’s better than someone who never shows up at all.”

 

It was obvious that she was taking a jab at the A-rank Esper who hadn’t come in today.

 

“I’ll send you some materials through the messenger. Just look through them and familiarize yourself with everything today. There’s no need to overwork yourself on your first day.”

 

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

 

Suin returned to her desk with a very dependable senior-like smile. Not long afterward, the files she had sent arrived through the center’s messenger.

 

Yoohee glanced toward Joohoon. He was also diligently checking his email while staring at his monitor. Yoohee opened the gate records file and scrolled through the long list of documents.

 

‘Let’s see… The last gate that opened was… last month?’

 

According to the records, they cleared a gate about once a month, or twice at most.

 

‘The Awakened who contributed the most…’

 

Along with a description of how each gate had been cleared, the name of the Awakened who had contributed the most—in other words, the MVP—was listed at the end.

 

But the name somehow looked familiar.

 

[Choi Doyoung (A-rank Esper / Assistant Manager)]

 

This had to be the A-rank Esper Suin had mentioned. But where had Yoohee heard that name before…?

 

Ding.

 

Just then, someone entered through the center’s door. It was an unexpected arrival since lunch break had already ended.

 

“Ah, it’s so hot I could die. This is why I hate summer.”

 

For a moment, Yoohee wondered if he was a celebrity. He had an unusually striking presence.

 

His hair was dyed blue, and he was wearing sunglasses. Unlike the others here, who were dressed comfortably, the man was wearing a dress shirt and slacks.

 

“I finished work a little early, so I came back. Nothing happened while I was gone, right?”

 

The man took off his sunglasses as he caught his breath from the heat. Revealed beneath them were his small eyes.

 

‘Huh…?’

 

Those narrow eyes looked strangely familiar. After blinking three or four times, Yoohee suddenly connected the face to the name.

 

“Senior Do young?”

 

It was Choi Do young, the older boy from her hometown who had gone with her to the movie set when they were children.

 

Do young’s gaze turned toward where Yoohee was standing. For a moment, his small eyes widened in surprise, and he looked just as shocked.

 

“Yoohee…?”

 

Then, as if to make sure, he rubbed the corners of his eyes with his fingers.

 

“Are you… Im Yoohee? The only daughter of the Im family?”

 

What were the odds of such a coincidence?