I Returned, and Now I See Strange Things-Chapter 10: An Easy Job

Once her hair was rinsed and dried, her appearance had changed so much that she was nearly unrecognizable.

Even Hyeyeon, who’d been fiddling with her smartphone behind her, had widened her eyes in surprise. That said it all, didn’t it?

"How do you like it?"

The person who had styled her hair grinned widely.

...To be honest, she wasn’t thrilled about the body that had changed so drastically, but since it at least looked nice, she was satisfied. As the saying goes—good-looking rice cakes taste good too.

"...Looks good."

"Try not to go around looking like before, and stick with this."

...See, it’s not that she wanted to look like that, you know?

There’s a whole backstory behind it.

Do you know how many triangle gimbap I could buy with the money it costs to get my hair done here? Even if you convert it into ramen, that’d keep me fed for quite a while.

But since she couldn’t exactly say something that pitiful out loud, she just gave an awkward smile.

When she stood up and walked over to Hyeyeon, the girl’s previously gloomy eyes were now sparkling brightly.

"Why were you going around like that?"

"...I had my reasons."

She’d assumed Hyeyeon was just creepy, but apparently she had a kind of cute side too.

Somehow, the distance between them felt a lot shorter.

Just then, Hyesung came through the door.

"Geez, what’s with the line—was it the Great Wall or something? Does no one have a job─"

He blinked as he walked in holding a paper carrier in one hand.

"Uh... where’s the person you were with?"

He stared blankly at Hyeyeon, then looked back and forth between her and the protagonist, blinking as if to say, Wait... is that...?

The protagonist nearly chased after him to kick him in the shins but held herself back upon spotting the coffee in his carrier.

When she raised her foot, Hyesung looked at her with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"Uh... no way."

"Yeah, it’s me."

"Whoa, why were you walking around like that? You look amazing!"

"...."

Should she kill him or let him live?

Maybe he sensed her dilemma, because he awkwardly smiled and handed her one of the drinks.

...His ability to read the room was disgustingly sharp.

That aside, the coffee he gave her was good. Sweet and just right.

Its name was something like... iced black glay... why was it so long?

Whatever.

Not like she needed to memorize the name when she wasn’t even sure she’d get to drink it again.

She sucked down the coffee and got into Hyesung’s car. He sat in the driver’s seat, Hyeyeon in the back.

And of course, she sat in the passenger seat.

It had been a while since she’d ridden in a car, but... it didn’t move her much.

Once the engine started and the car got going, Hyesung spoke up.

"Come to think of it, we haven’t formally introduced ourselves yet, have we?"

"Hm... guess not."

"Well, I’ve seen your name from your ID, but still... if we’re gonna be working together, we should at least introduce ourselves, right?"

So he’s more formal than expected.

This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.

Well, that’s not a bad thing.

"Shall we?"

He giggled like something had really amused him.

"What’s so funny?"

"...Nothing. Should I go first? My name is Han Hyesung—I go by my real name for my streaming. And the gloomy one in the back is my little sister, Han Hyeyeon."

"Hey, you wanna die?"

"She might look like that, but she’s hiding a savage personality."

The way they bickered, it was like they were genetically programmed to be enemies—real siblings, through and through.

Watching that peaceful scene made her smile. But then Hyeyeon’s voice, sulky and disgruntled, came from the backseat.

"...Pretty sure we already introduced ourselves."

"Ah."

Ahem.

She cleared her throat first.

It really had been a long time since she’d introduced herself to anyone.

She’d come from a world where knives flew before names were shared... so it felt weird. Her face even itched a little from the awkwardness.

"Haha, I thought you were shy. I really thought you were a ghost."

So much for reading the room—he sure knew how to talk himself into a beating.

Or maybe it was a streamer thing? He really looked like someone who deserved to get smacked around on camera.

"I’m driving, you know."

"...."

Yeah. On those shows, isn’t this when the chat pays to hit the guy?

He must make good money.

She gave him a cold smile and opened her mouth.

"Um... Ayun."

As for her job... full-time bum.

"Uh... that’s it? What about your last name?"

"...Bo."

"Sorry?"

"Bo! My last name’s Bo!"

She could clearly hear the stifled snickering.

She couldn’t punch the guy while he was driving, and she couldn’t hit a girl younger than her either—so she clenched her fists and trembled with rage.

After laughing for a while, Hyesung finally spoke up with a teasing grin.

"So should I call you Ayun noona?"

"Huh? Noona?"

Hyeyeon’s voice rose faster than hers. Her eyes were round with shock.

Hyesung explained Hyeyeon’s confusion.

"Yeah, she’s older than me. Not that it means anything to you, since you’re already talking down to your own big brother."

"What the hell."

In the rearview mirror, she saw Hyeyeon staring at her in utter shock.

Well... she did look a bit young.

"Uh... then I guess I should be calling you unni, huh?"

Noona... Unni... neither sounded good to her. But it’s not like she had any better alternatives, so...

She wasn’t the type to get hung up on titles, so she decided to ignore it.

Setting aside how weird she felt about it—

"Call me whatever. Now that we’ve done intros, can I talk casually with you?"

"Ah... sure, go ahead..."

"Heh heh..."

With the awkward introductions out of the way, it was time for the real discussion.

"You remember what I mentioned earlier, right?"

"Uh... sort of. So what exactly do you want me to do?"

"It’s nothing big."

Her role in the next content was... essentially a “consultant with spiritual sight.” Someone who could supposedly see things and confirm whether ghosts were present or not.

Which was fine in itself, but—there was one big problem.

"Do you think people will believe me?"

"That’s... honestly, probably not."

"Then why do you even need me?"

Exactly.

As she’d said before, she was someone capable of seeing herself objectively.

She really could see things—but making others believe that was a different story.

At that, Hyeyeon started rustling around in the back and pulled out something that looked like a remote. It was divided into five color-coded sections, from green to red.

Clearing her throat, Hyeyeon began explaining.

"This is an EMF detector... it’s not very well known in Korea, but it’s a device commonly used abroad to detect ghosts."

...There’s a gadget for everything now, huh.

So doesn’t that mean they really didn’t need her? They could just bring someone else and have them wave this around. Heck, even Hyeyeon could do it from the back and it’d probably light up just fine.

As she tilted her head in doubt, Hyesung smiled and continued.

"Well, proving that you can see stuff will come with time... but honestly, that’s not the main reason."

"Huh?"

To put it simply, Hyesung’s reason was this:

The abandoned hospital they visited last time?

He picked it without thinking much because it had already been chewed ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) up, spat out, and wasn’t dangerous anymore—no one had gotten hurt there in ages.

But then something actually happened, and the protagonist had clearly seen it.

So maybe there’s something to her... and if so, that could be huge.

That was his reasoning.

...It was blunt and straightforward—and she kind of liked that.

If he’d gone on rambling in circles like he did in his text, she would’ve scowled at him.

To be honest, she still didn’t know why that ghost had suddenly appeared at the hospital... but she decided to see it as a golden opportunity.

Which meant it was time for the most important question.

The real reason she’d come this far.

"How much are you paying me?"

"Ah..."

After a fierce back-and-forth, they reached a satisfying agreement.

Okay, thank you.

It wasn’t enough to bet her life on, but as a kind of freelancer deal, it was a pretty good result for her current situation.

Maybe now she could afford to buy a rice cooker.

"So... should we talk about the content we’ll be filming?"

"Yeah."

"Hyeyeon, you’re up."

"What, you’re outsourcing that too?"

"Hey, didn’t I give you extra allowance already?"

With a sigh, Hyeyeon finally set down her phone and began explaining.

What they were doing this time was simple.

They’d cut open a doll, stuff it with rice, then add fingernails, hair, blood... then give it something sharp to hold, and play tag with it.

The name of the game: Hitori Kakurenbo (ひとり かくれんぼ).

In Korean: One-Person Hide and Seek.

...Listening closely, it felt... strange.

This was less of a “game” and more like—

[It resembles a curse ritual, though it lacks key components.]

Aslan suddenly chimed in. Trust a death knight to perk up at a grim topic.

You goddamn pedophile.

Anyway, just like Aslan said—it felt more like self-cursing than a game. She remembered seeing something similar in Entera.

Though in that case, it wasn’t self-directed—it was a truly malicious curse meant to harm others.

Still.

This felt like a dumbed-down version. A sloppy, amateur curse ritual full of holes.

She doubted anyone in their right mind would try something like that—but apparently, this had been a viral trend both in Korea and abroad. There were even tons of firsthand stories about people trying it.

...The world was full of people who’d clearly lost their minds.

"So who’s doing it?"

Hyesung replied with a sulky look.

"...It’d have to be me, right?"

"Why are you stating the obvious? You scared?"

"Hey! Han Hyeyeon!"

...What a sweet pair of siblings.

In any case, the execution date was this Saturday.

At Hyesung’s place.

The protagonist and Hyeyeon would be on standby.

But really, it was just an amateur curse ripped from the internet.

She figured it’d be an easy job.