Nobody Here Backs Down

Inside the empty office, Section Chief Choi leaned in close to Sohee—so close that her face was nearly pressed against the transparent partition standing between them.

"...Everyone here would lose to me."

"...I'm sorry, what?"

When Sohee blinked at her in confusion and asked her to repeat it, the woman threw her head back and laughed.

"Haha! You have no idea how hard it is to get into the Wicheon Tax Division. I worked myself half to death to make it here. Even if every single employee at the Wicheon Happiness Center came at me at once, I'd beat them all. So don't you worry."

Section Chief Choi settled back into her chair as if nothing at all had happened.

"I'll drop by and see you soon, one way or another. Get home safe now."

Bye-bye. Waving cheerfully, she sent Sohee off, and Sohee bowed her head in a deep, respectful nod.

"Until next time. Take care!"

She had successfully paid her first tax. Her steps were as light as her mood as she reached for the handle of the Tax Division's door—and the moment she pulled it open, someone came rushing up and pressed right up against her.

Sohee's eyes went round with surprise as she looked up. There stood a familiar man gazing down at her without a hint of ceremony. Chunrok, the General Manager of the hotel across the street.

"Ah, I'm so sorry—"

"......"

"...I'm sorry, I—"

"Section Chief Choi."

...What?

Sohee, who had been mid-bow, slowly lifted her head toward him. He was already brushing past her, striding straight toward Section Chief Choi.

Just as her expression began to harden, Section Chief Choi's voice carried across the room.

"Mr. Chunrok?"

"It's been a while, Section Chief."

"Hasn't it? How long has it been, honestly? And to think you two showed up on the exact same day."

A crisp suit and tie, gleaming shoes, and hair combed back so neatly that not a single strand dared to fall out of place—Chunrok, General Manager of the RPR Hotel, turned his head to look at Sohee, who stood there awkwardly frozen in the doorway.

"Same day? Who is this, exactly?"

...Well, look at this. Not so much as an apology, and ignoring her to her face. Sohee straightened herself up and met his gaze head-on.

There was no way he didn't know her. They had never exchanged names or held a proper conversation, granted—but they were the managers of the only two lodgings in all of Wicheon: one hotel and one motel.

They'd locked eyes across the street more than a few times. And above all, hadn't he openly smirked at her just recently?

Sohee decided, giving him the benefit of the doubt a hundred times over, that this was simply their first proper introduction—and introduced herself.

"I'm So Sohee, manager of the RPR Motel."

"Ah. That place."

Only then did Chunrok nod as if the information had finally registered. And then, without offering a word of introduction himself, he planted himself in the seat in front of Section Chief Choi.

"Am I the only one getting introduced here?"

Sohee asked the back of his head. He turned just his face around and raised an eyebrow.

"How should I know?"

"...You asked because you didn't know?"

"I genuinely didn't."

Sohee was left momentarily speechless by the absurdity. So his playing dumb about her identity hadn't been an invitation to introduce herself properly—he really hadn't known?

So that's how it's going to be.

Sohee walked over, step by deliberate step, and planted herself directly beside him.

"Well, what can you do."

Chunrok glanced up sideways. There stood Sohee, blinking at him with wide, guileless eyes.

"I don't know who you are either."

The irritation in Chunrok's gaze dissolved in an instant. The sight of her straining her eyes, determined not to lose, was frankly hilarious. A rookie manager puffing herself up for a staring contest—it was almost cute.

Before he knew it, he had to clamp down hard on the corners of his own rising mouth.

"My apologies, then. Chunrok, General Manager of the RPR Hotel."

Sohee made a small oh of realization—and then burst out laughing.

"Ah, that place?"

"...That place?"

"Mr. Chunrok, what did you bring me today?"

Sensing the air between them turning frosty, Section Chief Choi smoothly redirected his attention.

Chunrok peeled himself away from the back of the client chair.

"Really, Section Chief, what's the rush? Neither this one nor that one has anywhere to be."

"Mr. Chunrok."

When he lifted his eyes to her, she flashed him a tight, pointed smile.

"Tired today, are we? Your words are coming out a bit... short."

Chunrok knew perfectly well the sanitized meaning behind her words—stop poking the hornet's nest and say it plainly—but he simply shrugged. Seated, he tilted his head back toward Sohee.

"Ah, no, I only meant that since we've met, we ought to have a little chat. Don't get the wrong idea, Ms. So Sohee."

The languid expression. The undisguised condescension. The half-hearted excuse. And layered underneath it all, a flicker of subtle hostility. It was a flawless preemptive strike, all aimed at Sohee.

Sohee said nothing at all. She simply dragged the chair beside her across the floor with a scrape, sat down next to him, and settled in.

A calm smile settled over her face.

"Now that you mention it, you're right. We're in more or less the same line of work, and we've had far too little contact, haven't we?"

And so began a battle fought without a single shot fired.

Chunrok had moved past mere displeasure into the quiet conclusion that So Sohee was a somewhat peculiar person. Any motel manager would have come in already bowing and scraping—but this one kept seizing the tail end of everything he said and refusing to let go.

Her character was plain to see. Once something caught her, she would pursue it with obsessive, unrelenting tenacity until it was done. No doubt it would be the same with her Hoe-Bing-Hwan work, too.

So that's how she managed to send even that supporting character back?

The thought only soured his mood further. And in the middle of all that, what on earth was she saying now?

"...The same line of work?"

She and I? In the same position?

Hah. Chunrok couldn't hold it in and let the laughter burst out of him. His broad shoulders shook for a good while before gradually subsiding, though the mirth refused to leave his eyes as he turned to Sohee.

"That's the funniest thing I've heard all week."

"What is?"

When she asked back as if she hadn't the faintest idea what he meant, the humor slowly drained from Chunrok's face. Sohee kept asking, her expression still perfectly innocent.

"Hotel or motel, we both exist to put characters through their Hoe-Bing-Hwan. Don't we?"

"Yes, that's right."

He stared at her levelly for a moment. Then he adjusted his posture and leaned in close, closing the distance between them.

"Right. Same goal, exactly."

"......"

"Except the scale is a little different, wouldn't you say? Where exactly is it written that a corner-shop owner and the chairman of a major corporation are equals?"

Sohee stared blankly at him for a moment—and then laughed out loud. Chunrok's brow furrowed involuntarily at the completely unexpected reaction.

"Oh—sorry. That was just too funny."

"Funny?"

"That's a strange comparison, isn't it?"

Sohee shot back, looking utterly incredulous.

"Where is this 'chairman of a major corporation' supposed to be? All there is here is two corner-shop owners."

"...What?"

"In this world called Wicheon, what exactly are we? Mighty beings? Please. We're hired hands—sanoBI, contract laborers paid to do the work that others can't be bothered with. Nothing more, nothing less."

Wicheon was the afterlife of fictional characters. Because the ones who created those characters were human, it fell to designated humans to send them through their Hoe-Bing-Hwan. The rule was simple: the one who began everything must also tie the final knot.

"Ahem. I should probably go use the restroom."

Section Chief Choi rose from her seat, thinking it best to vacate the room. Not that she intended to close her ears while she was in there, of course.

Thanks to the interruption, Chunrok just barely managed to smooth his expression back into place.

"Well, there's some logic to what you're saying. Thinking that way is probably good for your mental health."

Ha-ha-HA!

Sohee laughed again. This time Chunrok's eyes flashed as he turned to look at her.

"You're the one playing mind games with yourself. Because the idea of contract workers who took on outsourced labor suddenly putting on airs about rank and hierarchy is just... too funny. If we're keeping score, you're the one who tumbled down into this place and now talks like a self-made tycoon."

Chunrok's hand clenched into a fist without his permission.

"Ah, no, I'm not calling you a mere laborer. It's just that you were the one going on about chairmen, so if I'm going to use an analogy, that's where it lands. Don't get the wrong idea, Mr. Chunrok. I'm a humble contract worker of the exact same rank, after all."

Sohee gave her shoulders a big, exaggerated shrug—precisely the gesture Chunrok had made earlier. Those large, obviously calculated eyes looked, for a split second, so utterly innocent that Chunrok felt something inside him lurch.

He steadied his agitation, crossed his legs in one smooth motion, and regarded her coolly.

A fresh, youthful face. Long black hair with a healthy sheen. A blouse and two-piece suit of unremarkable quality but immaculately clean. Black flats, posture straight and unyielding. And those deep, dark eyes of hers.

There's a viper coiled up in there, isn't there?

He might have dismissed it as the cheek of a green rookie, but there was real mettle behind it. Apparently she was also the type who repaid every debt received, to the last coin.

Chunrok gave a gracious nod.

"Fair enough. I was being oversensitive. One pack of laborers, together at last."

Then, ever so slightly, he let the corner of his mouth curl upward.

"But tell me—is it acceptable, between fellow laborers, to stab each other in the back?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Tenesa. Ring a bell?"

This time Sohee stared at him in genuine shock. Tenesa, the supporting character of The Wizard Is Far Too Good at Farming, was a reincarnator she herself had sent back.

"What does Tenesa have to do with anything?"

"A supporting character who made the protagonist's seat wobble—and you ask 'what about her'?"

"...I'm sorry?"

"Ha. Unbelievable."

Chunrok made no effort to hide his irritation as he glared at her.

"Drop the innocent act. You reincarnated her for reasons that don't hold up to a second look, and you know it."