The garlic field by the Nakdong River in Gangseo District.
As I waited there for a moment, the sun soon began to set slowly, overlapping everything with an orange glow.
For about an hour, I sat there eating my burger and playing with my phone, and for the time being, no one passing by entered my eyes.
Just to be cautious, I waited for it to get a little darker. Soon, the sun had set completely.
‘It’s already gotten so dark, even though it’s just past 7.’
Maybe because there weren’t any streetlights around.
The sun had already set beyond the horizon, and aside from the slight red glow still lingering at the corner of the sky, it was completely dark around there.
‘Let’s get started.’
I took out the folding shovel from my bag and positioned myself over the spot where the cash was buried.
‘Huu, huu.’
And then, with mechanical movements, I started scooping up dirt and piling it up next to me.
“Huuu, huu.”
Finally, it started.
Thump. Thump.
“Huff, huff.”
This was the first time in my life I’ve ever used a shovel to dig, but I dug away at the dirt vigorously, following the image in my mind as I thought ‘I think this is how it should be done.’
After digging for about 10 minutes, the pit was about knee-deep.
“Haa, haa… Huh?”
Thump-
The shovel hit something hard with a thumping noise.
I hastily swept my hand around the area, and sure enough, I saw something like the lid of a jar.
‘This is it.’
I quickly dug up the soil around it and opened the lid.
Inside the buried jar, there were layers of black plastic bags stacked on top of each other, and as I tore them open with my hands, I saw bundles of 50,000-won bills tied together.
Bundles of yellowed 50,000-won bills.
Hidden treasure in the field.
The coated letters on the surface of the bills reflected faint light, as if they were emitting a golden hue.
I hurriedly opened the zipper of my backpack and began shoving the bundles of money inside haphazardly.
“Haa, haa.”
I was excited.
F*ck, they’re all mine now.
I won’t give them to anyone.
‘No, it’s not that I won’t give them to anyone. I have to use it for the club activities as the club’s fund.’
But with the leftover money, I can also buy a few things I want, just as a side benefit.
“Haa, haa!”
I began shoving everything quickly, my movements getting faster as excitement rose.
As if I didn’t pack this wad of money into my bag quickly, something big was going to happen.
“F*ck, F*ck….”
With mechanical movements, as if I was possessed, I packed all the bundles of money into my bag.
“Huuu, huu.”
When I had stuffed about half of the money from the jar into my bag, the backpack was completely full.
‘This much is enough.’
I quickly gathered only what I needed without being greedy and retreated.
Then I closed the lid and started covering it with dirt.
Bam, thump-
My movements slowed down a little compared to before.
After covering the pit with dirt, I strapped on my bag and got up from my spot.
Ba-dump, ba-dump.
Before I knew it, my heart started beating so hard. It was pounding violently inside my ribcage.
I didn’t realize how excited I was because I was so focused on gathering the money.
“Haa, haa.”
Standing by the dark garlic field, I glanced around.
Darkness has descended over the vast plain.
There was absolutely no one around.
No one caught me doing the whole thing.
According to my memories from my previous life, there were no surveillance cameras or any security devices around there.
I waited a moment.
The heavy weight of the money was heavy on my shoulder as if pulling me down.
The bills seemed incredibly light when they were in my wallet, but now that they were bundled together, they felt surprisingly heavy.
It felt like I had stuffed a bunch of thick textbooks to the bag to its limit.
‘It must be around 1 billion.’
Standing in a quiet place devoid of any human being, I was carrying 1 billion won.
My heart was still pounding, no one caught me.
Suddenly, fear gripped me.
‘… End?’
This is the end?
It hadn’t even been 30 minutes since I started the job, and I didn’t even need to use the flashlight.
I opened my eyes wide like a saucer and scanned the surroundings, keeping a wary eye on the dark garlic field.
‘No one?’
Wasn’t something like a wiggling shadow ghost supposed to suddenly pop out from the paddy field?
And where’s the lunatic, who I thought would run out of that tile-roofed house that I had been worried about from the beginning, holding a Gramoxone bottle in his hand?
However, nothing like that happened, even by the time I had finished preparing to leave with the bag filled with money on my back.
‘… F*ck.’
At that moment, a single word flashed through my mind.
‘This is bad.’
Why is nothing happening?
I felt like I was already screwed.
I once had heard a story related to coding from my cousin, who is a programmer.
One of his colleagues had been coding diligently, working on a program, when suddenly he let out a scream and collapsed on the floor.
The reason was that the program was running too perfectly, without a single bug.
‘Shouldn’t he be happy when it works perfectly? Why did he scream?’
‘Think about it. It’s scarier not knowing why something is working than seeing an error and not being able to make it work.’
‘… Really?’
‘Imagine you’re assembling a car yourself and after struggling to put it together, you find that there are more parts left over than there should be. But the car still runs fine. Would you still drive it?’
I’m definitely screwed now.
I packed a whopping 1 billion won into my bag, but nothing happened.
‘F*ck, F*ck.’
I ran straight out of the garlic field.
Halfway there, I remembered the hamburger wrapper I accidentally left behind, so I went back to pick it up.
“Haa, haa.”
I must get out of here as quickly as possible.
Nothing really happened?
‘That can’t be.’
Rolling around for the past two months, I realized one thing.
In most cases like this, it was not that everything was truly fine and nothing happened, but rather that I had already got caught up in a trap I didn’t know.
It was much more likely that I got involved in another ghost story, and the thought made my head spin.
I quickly cleaned up all the traces I had left behind, like the trash and footprints, and hurriedly left the place.
Walking along the narrow cement path, the one I had just taken to get there, I once again reached the main road, and boarded the village bus coming in the opposite direction.
“Welcome.”
I glared at the bus driver, who greeted me leisurely, and tapped my transportation card.
‘No one is taking my money.’
I stood at the door instead of sitting down although there were many empty seats, thinking that I would get off right away if necessary.
An old lady by the window stared at me blankly, as if she was bored.
‘What are you looking at?’
I felt like I was carrying a time bomb.
Every muscle in my body was taut, ready to spring into action and run at the slightest touch.
[Hadan stop has arrived, Hadan stop.]
I immediately got off the bus and headed straight for the subway.
Standing in the subway would draw more attention, so I sat in a seat, but I still didn’t put my bag down.
Knock, knock-
Suddenly, a beggar pretending to be disabled limped in from the next compartment.
“Hello, passengers… I have a 7-year-old daughter who has leukemia-”
“I don’t have any money.”
I responded coldly and quickly moved to the next compartment.
With my senses on edge and a cold expression on my face, I stayed alert and sat for about 30 minutes until I arrived at Busan Station.
Fearing that a thief, a robber, a ghost, or a monster might be chasing me, I got off the train and rushed up to the surface and dashed into the train station.
“One ticket for the KTX to Seoul Station, please.”
“It’ll be 59,800 won.”
Just as I was about to take out my wallet, I suddenly realized that I didn’t have enough money.
“Just a moment.”
I turned around and quickly strode past the crowd, heading straight for the restroom.
I entered a restroom stall, locked the door, and took a few 50,000-won bills from my bag before putting them into my wallet.
Then I opened the door, walked out, and headed back to the counter to buy a ticket.
“Here it is.”
“Yes~ Here’s your ticket.”
“Ah, sorry, but I would like to buy one more ticket. For the seat right next to it.”
“Yes, just a moment.”
If someone were to sit next to me, I would be flustered the whole way.
With that thought, I went down the stairs with two tickets in hand and stood by the platform.
The KTX train just arrived.
As soon as the door opened, I stepped inside, quickly found my seat, and sat down.
Since I bought two tickets, the seat next to me was empty, but I still tucked my bag under the seat between my legs.
Then, I checked the time, it was now 8:30 in the evening.
It would be a little past 11 by the time I arrived in Seoul.
‘It was fast.’
I finished everything quickly.
Since I left home around lunchtime, by the time I return, it’ll have been exactly half a day.
Now all that was left was to wait patiently for the train to arrive in Seoul.
Pss-
Soon, with a hissing sound, the train doors closed, and the KTX slowly began to move forward.
As the speed picked up, the scenery outside quickly blurred by.
‘Goodbye, Busan.’
Only then did I feel a little relieved.
* * *
“Huu……”
Before long, I passed Busan, then Ulsan, and now the night train was relentlessly speeding through dark mountains, where not even the shadows of buildings that I saw during daytime could be seen.
The passengers were all asleep, so it was quiet all around.
I wondered if I was the only one who was being nervous for no reason.
‘Is it because things are going too smoothly?’
I let out a self-deprecating laugh.
‘I don’t have to live like that anymore.’
I wouldn’t have to live like that, trembling with tension and fidgeting all the time, anxious that something would happen at any time.
‘I have the cheat code to turn back time even if I die.’
Shouldn’t I just trust this and live a little more generously?
‘In the first place, having such a cheat-like ability and acting like a coward was the strangest thing.’
Using such a bold ability to grab 1 billion all at once!
‘From now on, let’s be more daring, and push forward without hesitation.’
It seemed like a lot of incidents have happened so far.
But when I think back, I still haven’t figured out how to defeat the Demon King, which was the real challenge.
‘At best, I’ve only found out about the religious organization and a suspicious multinational corporation.’
From now on, with the mindset that I have nothing to lose, I thought it would be a good idea to push forward at full speed.
“Hoohoo……”
I patted my chest in relief.
‘Lee Joon, you idiot, what the hell are you afraid of? Nothing happened.’
Nothing happened. Nothing happened. Nothing happened……
‘Yes, this is it!’
This is it!
I didn’t know when the Demon King might strike again, but when that happens, I could just find another way to deal with it.
In just one hour, the train would arrive in Seoul, and then I could hide our treasure in the safest place in the world.
‘The safest place in the world, where no one can touch it and only I can manage it.’
A vault that no one can steal from, a place that no one can reach—my very own safe.
It’s in the school clubroom.
As soon as I get off at Seoul Station, I had planned to take a taxi to the school.
‘There should be a security guard around at this time.’
High schools usually have two guards on shifts, one for the day and one for night.
One of them is the school security guard working during the day and known as the dayshift guard.
‘The same guy who made a fuss blocking the entrance during the opening ceremony.’
The other one is the night shift security guard.
I only knew he existed, but I’ve never actually seen his face.
‘Since it isn’t possible to have evening self-study sessions during the holiday, I don’t have any reason to be at school late.’
Strictly speaking, the two of the security guards have slightly different duties and were treated differently, but we just lump them together and call them security guards.
‘It’s nighttime now, so the night shift security guard will be there.’
Of course, I had no intention of openly walking past the main gate security office with this bag of money.
Those security guards might be in cahoots with the organization Dogma of Void, so I planned to avoid any exposure as much as possible.
‘The laughing woman climbed over the wall next to the cafeteria and entered the school before.’
It was a route favored by the ghosts, maybe I can use it too.
Judging by the fact that she wasn’t caught, it seemed there were no CCTV cameras in that area.
If I followed her way, I should be able to get into the school without being noticed.
‘Even if I get caught, well, it’s my school and I’m just going there. What’s the problem?’
There shouldn’t be a problem.
If I succeed in sneaking into the 5th floor and to the clubroom like that, I could also level up my clubroom and upgrade the Space Expansion function.
‘I’ve been saving up my points just for that, not wasting them unnecessarily.’
At first, I thought about investing my points into the Ghost Story Acquisition Skill ability, but the garlic field incident suddenly came to mind and I prioritized my current idea instead.
‘And the reason I’m thinking of upgrading my clubroom is-’
“Excuse me.”
At that moment when I was lost in thought, a neatly dressed beautiful attendant walking down the aisle approached me.
“I’m checking everyone’s tickets, would you mind showing your train ticket for a moment?”
“Ah, yes, yes.”
I quickly took out my train ticket from my pocket and handed it to the attendant.
The attendant gently took the ticket with her hand painted in soft pink nail polish.
She quickly checked the machine terminal in her hand and my ticket alternately, then furrowed her brows slightly, as if she was a bit troubled.
“Excuse me, but it seems like this seat is for another passenger……”
“Ah… yes?”
The attendant, noticing my confused expression as if I couldn’t understand what she was saying, looked at me apologetically and widened her already large eyes, almost like a puppy’s.
“It seems one of our staff made a mistake and issued the ticket twice. What would you do?”
“Oh, that’s……”
“I’m sorry, but would it be alright if I guide you to another seat?”
“Yes, yes, that’s fine.”
“This way please……”
The attendant gestured for me to follow with a neat and orderly movement.
I stood up from my seat, hugging the bag with the bundles of money close to my chest.
‘She’s not trying to steal my money, is she?’
Just as my mind was finally calming down, anxiety began to creep up again.
The beautiful attendant with a neat high ponytail, wearing full makeup and a uniform that would make every man swoon, was now nothing more than a suspect in my eyes, someone who might try to steal my money.
‘No, I’m just being too paranoid.’
The attendant didn’t even see what was inside the bag, how would she even try to steal my money?
Being too aware of that would only make me look suspicious.
‘The way I’m holding the bag right now is already suspicious. It gives off the impression that it’s something very important.’
I cautiously lowered the bag of money I was holding in my arms, fearing that someone might snatch it the moment I got a bit distracted, and adjusted my position to hold it more naturally with one hand.
Even so, my eyes quickly scanned every corner of the cabin while following the attendant, keeping my gaze on her silk uniform.
Soon, we left the cabin and entered the middle aisle between the compartments.
The attendant gave a pretty smile as she opened the door to the women’s restroom.
“You can go in here.”
