Chapter 180 – What the Hell Is Identity?
It must have been about 5 minutes since I started driving.
Kim Jin-seok asked me in an anxious voice.
“Um… This manager? Where are we going?”
“There is a quiet cafe I know well. I’m going to have a calm conversation over a cup of coffee there, do you have any problems?”
“I don’t have to go far… There are plenty of cafes near my office anyway, right?”
As Kim Jin-seok said, there are many cafes near the company.
Among them, there are many places where private space is prepared as if to talk comfortably.
“But what if someone hears you talking around the office?”
“Uh… What the hell are you talking about…”
“About what Manager Kim is doing with Yuri Shin. “
At my words, Kim Jin-seok’s eyes changed slightly.
The secret has suddenly been revealed, so be careful of me.
“Oh, or should I say I do it with all the kids?”
His eyes changed once again.
From bewilderment to caution, and this time fear in his eyes.
I stabbed it, but it was the same.
“Everything, you… What do you know…”
“Let’s go talk, go. It’s going to be a long talk.”
Having said that, I shut my mouth.
Kim Jin-seok was still looking at me from the side, and he moved his gaze from place to place and was lost in thought.
There must be a lot of stabbing and fear.
And if you let yourself think for a while in such a state, you’re bound to shrink a lot on your own.
‘This will make it easier to talk.’
It hurts a little because it seems like you’re threatening me for nothing.
Please forgive me for saying this because not a single lie should be mixed with the story I have to hear from now on.
***
That’s what I said, but the place we arrived was a cafe only 10 minutes away.
It was a quiet cafe that I found while searching for a place to play outdoors with Haeun for a while. Thanks to the obscure location, I couldn’t see any company or people in the industry, so it was a perfect place.
“Slurp…”
There, I sat at the table with Kim Jin-seok and stayed quietly for about 5 minutes while drinking coffee.
He also sipped coffee with me, but barely drank.
Anxious place.
And if you’re anxious…
“…Where, how far do you know?”
You have to open your mouth first.
It has amplified my anxiety so far, in a state where the fear of me has already grown in my imagination.
“Um, how far do you think you know?”
“Don’t play with words, Manager Lee. Even if you pretend to know me and try to threaten me…”
“Just like on the rooftop, you often do ‘that thing’ with Yuri out of sight, or you do ‘that thing’ not only with Yuri but also with the other kids… I know about it.”
“!?”
“Can I tell you something else?”
“…”
At my words, Kim Jin-seok drank the coffee like water.
Even in the cold winter, thanks to the iced americano, he was able to cool down and drink water.
“How did you know that…?”
I can’t say that I hit it because I had a similar experience.
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
“…What do you want from me? Is it money? If it’s the money I saved, I’ll give it a drill…”
“I told you. I want to talk.”
I leaned toward Kim Jin-seok.
“Please answer honestly the questions I ask you from now on. Kim Jin-seok, do you have ‘that app’ by any chance?”
“That, that app…? Do you even know that?”
After all, this person also has an app.
“Could it be that you and the chief secretary are on the same side…”
“Are you writing right now?”
“That’s it, yes…”
Kim Jin-seok nodded slowly.
Compared to the bewildered attitude he had shown so far, he was a little calmer.
“By the way, wasn’t this already said five months ago?”
‘Five months ago? Unlike me, it must have been after talking with the chief of staff right away.’
“Oh, did you test it? Whether I’m talking to someone else or not, to verify that…”
“Similar. So, let me ask you the next question. “
Unlike me, did you have direct contact with this man?
Why did I contact you late? What was different?
I’m a little curious about the reason, but let’s find out now.
The things to ask from now on are important.
“Do you remember the first time you used that app… Do you still remember it?”
“Oh, of course. Are you going to double-check your first report?”
“What was it like?”
“That’s it… Maybe… It was a report that the app’s performance was worse than expected. I tried to keep them sane, and although they obeyed my words, the rebellious child was particularly resistant…”
It’s similar to when I wrote it to Haeun. There is no difference between me and the app.
“What about when you wrote to yourself?”
“To me? Are you using this on yourself?”
“Haven’t you ever? Like testing it first.”
“Of course not. How do I write this to myself? I couldn’t figure out who I was, and above all, it was hypnosis…”
No, isn’t it usually awkward to write to others?
This is completely different from me.
“Who was the first one to write?”
“It was glass.”
“What orders did you give?”
“I asked you to put your palms together. Well, I pretended to be joking for the sake of testing. I pretended to be doing magic, saying ‘There is magic like this these days~’. It’s like saying, “I told you to keep your palms together, but if I give you an order, you won’t be able to take your hands off me.”
I remember seeing a magician doing something similar on TV a long time ago.
After calling the guests up and making them put their palms together, ‘From now on, you can’t lift your palms without my permission! Come on, take it off!’ It was magic that commanded.
It was a kind of magic where the guest whimpered and couldn’t take his hand off, but when the magician allowed it to come off, he said, ‘Wow, that’s amazing!’
“Do you remember that time, Yuri?”
“Is that right? I’ll have to ask, but…”
“After that, did Yuri-san ever have any problems with her memory? He seemed like something that would make you think that way.”
“Well… I don’t think there’s ever been such a thing… But, didn’t you report this just last month? Overall about how the kids are now…”
“It’s just a separate check on her memory.”
I wanted to check whether the loss of my memory was a side effect of the hypnosis app, but I guess I’ll need to meet Shin Yuri later.
‘Anyway, the overall condition…’
I need to hear what this is like.
There’s nothing wrong with knowing that hypnosis apps don’t have any side effects.
“Then what… Is there anything special about the kids who wrote it?”
“That’s it…”
In response to my question, Kim Jin-seok said something while questioning whether he was repeating what he had done.
Thanks to this, I got some information about hypnosis apps.
If hypnosis is applied frequently, the effect becomes stronger, and after becoming stronger, the person’s mind, such as liking, can be controlled even if not completely, and even that hypnosis does not work well if there is a resistant mind.
“Duplicate walk? Did that happen over and over again?”
“Yes, yes yes, I did… Is there something wrong?”
“No… I was just asking for confirmation.”
However, there were a few things that bothered me while I was listening.
Whether it was walking every day to update the hypnosis time, or repeatedly using it…
‘Isn’t this app supposed to have a cooldown when betting on someone else?’
Is there a difference between the app I have and the app this person has?
If I asked this person about that, I wouldn’t know anything, so I just skipped it for now.
“…All right. Then, check the children for memory problems. In both states, when I used it and when I was sane.”
Kim Jin-seok nodded at my words.
“And again, if anything special happens from now on, please share it with me. Including what someone has been in contact with.”
“Duplicate report… It’s not like that, you weren’t on the same side as your chief of staff. What the hell is your identity?”
He’s just a junior manager who joined the company later than you.
“…You know that the Chief Secretary isn’t the one who plotted this, right?”
“Yeah, she must be, there’s no way she could do something like that on her own… Ugh, could someone higher up…?”
Kim Jin-seok, who creates stories in his imagination.
Unlike me, this person seems to have never had a direct conversation with the CEO.
“That’s it. You need a supervisor, right? So keep it a secret from the chief of staff that you talked about this with me. Otherwise… You know?”
“…”
“Don’t feel pressured, just be friendly at work.”
Tuk-tuk.
As if threatening, I patted him on the shoulder and smiled slightly.
Anyway, it was to look meaningful, but I could tell from his shocked expression that my intentions worked.
Burrrr.
“I-I’m sorry… I’m on the phone right now…”
“Yes, take it.”
First of all, I think I have roughly figured out what I can find out about this man.
Now if I wait for this guy to check his kids memories and report back to me… Is it?
‘Something is unpleasant.’
I knew this and that information, but in the end, I couldn’t find out what I wanted to know, whether memories could be blown away with hypnosis applications, and how to retrieve those memories.
Should I take the risk and dig up the representative or Yoo Ga-hye…
“Yes, sir, I will go right away. No, I came out to take a break… Yes, yes, yes. Then yes…”
Beep.
“Me, manager. The chief secretary is calling…”
“I need to go back soon.”
He and I got up together and quickly left the cafe.
As we went out together, I put my arms around his shoulder and patted him, pretending to be close.
It was as if a bully ripped off his school days, and Kim Jin-seok, who was subjected to it, shuddered when he was a student who was ripped off by a bully.
…I’m doing this to scare you, but I’m stung for no reason.
***
After a while, inside Dao Entertainment’s Cool Nine’s practice room.
In the middle, 9 Cool Nine stood side by side, and the doctor was diligently checking the 9 in turn.
“Nothing special, status ok… You mean you’ve become almost completely obedient, right?”
“Yes, chief.”
Yoo Ga-hye and Kim Jin-seok, who exchange stories while leaving the doctor and her members alone.
“I now perform actions that Yuri vehemently refused to do until two months ago.”
“Hmm, in that case… At a pace that is applied every day for about three months, you will completely obey hypnosis…”
Yu Ga-hye, who was diligently taking notes on Kim Jin-seok’s words, stopped for a moment.
“What is the order? That I didn’t do it and then I did it.”
“That, that’s…”
“Anyway, it’s after I haven’t seen anything I can’t see about you and Cool Nine. Just say it.”
“Hey, it’s outdoor… Play… But…”
“…”
In response to Kim Jin-seok’s answer, Yu Ga-hye made a contemptuous and pitiful expression.
“It’s only at Secretary Yu that the check is over~”
“Good job, Doctor.”
Yu Ga-hye puts the paper she was writing in her words into the file as it is.
“Okay, keep doing what you want. We will receive regular reports next month as well… Only.”
Shocked at Ga-Hye Yoo’s last words, Kim Jin-Seok shuddered.
It was a tone I hadn’t heard before, and it was thanks to my uneasiness that one more word, unlike usual, was added.
“I hope you do your job well. I used to say that I was free to do whatever I wanted to do and how much I enjoyed it, but… But still, she’s acting as an idol. I have a desire to say that it is my duty, or to earn a living. It’s for the company.”
“Ah, I see. I will work hard…”
“Then stop. Let’s go, Doctor.”
Ga-hye Yoo left the practice room with the doctor at the end of those words.
“Keueu, our secretary Yoo is really nice.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“He even gave me advice to do some work~ Isn’t it necessary to give such advice in the first place? I just left it like this and just…”
“You have to give it a chance. That’s all.”
Yoo Ga-hye just said that and took a step ahead.
The doctor is such a troublesome type, she muttered and followed him.
