The incident began three days before the parade.
“…The parade?”
“Yes.”
“You’re participating, Teacher?”
“Yes.”
“Why would you do… something like that?”
Seo Seohui had been happily eating a lunch box of bulgogi over rice when Seo Gio delivered what was, for all intents and purposes, a notification.
“I’m asking because I’m not familiar with the details, but were you perhaps one of the Collectors’ Curators, Teacher?”
“I perform that role as well.”
“How did you end up doing that job too? Would you like me to report them to the labor office?”
“Does the labor office still exist?”
“That remark really drove home that you’re from an earlier time. Apart from my friends, hardly anyone has ever played along when I bring up the labor office.”
The labor office certainly no longer existed in this world.
“The Association handles that work instead.”
“Is there anything the Association doesn’t do?”
“The country would collapse without us, so you can assume we handle practically everything. Isn’t it tragic? Please look upon us fondly. This is how hard our lives are.”
“I already look upon you fondly.”
Listening to their conversation from the secretary’s desk, Kang Eunseong thought,
‘I want to cover my ears.’
Watching a strapping, 187-centimeter-tall middle-aged man whine with calculated precision while an even more robust young man indulged him was a lot to take in, even when one knew the circumstances.
The conversation continued even as Kang Eunseong quietly resigned himself to his fate.
“I thought I could hardly refuse to take part in an event like this.”
“I didn’t know you had this side to you, Teacher.”
“What sort of person did you think I was?”