Chapter 41
Understanding the Universe (5)
“…It’s difficult.”
Park Ji-woon murmured softly, as if replaying my words.
Then he began tapping the table very slowly—tap, tap.
It was a steady rhythm that felt like he was either collecting his thoughts or measuring time.
After moving his lips in hesitation for quite a while, Park Ji-woon let out a sigh and asked,
“…May I ask for your reason?”
It was a polite, well-mannered question—but strangely enough, it felt the most out of place among everything he had said so far.
Hesitation.
His expression was complicated, as though I had no idea what kind of calculations were running through his head.
“A reason? Well, do refusals really need explanations?”
I shrugged and asked back.
“That sounds like an intention to violate the law.”
“That wasn’t my intention. But if you think about it, I suppose it could sound that way?”
“You should answer carefully. I haven’t yet reached a judgment on what kind of person you are.”
The sharpness of his words sounded like a final warning, and I fell silent.
How much more did I need to say before he dropped his suspicion…?
Yeah. I do look extremely suspicious right now.
Well—fair enough.
Unless I told him everything about my circumstances, there was no chance Park Ji-woon would understand me. In fact, the possibility was approaching zero.
Of course, as someone who had lived an ordinary life, the odds of me breaking the law were usually low.
But even so, I had already violated regulations like “Prohibition on establishing unlicensed commercial zones within the Babel Tower” and “Mandatory prior reporting when entering newly discovered tower floors.”
Still, that was something I had no choice but to accept after becoming an unheard-of title holder called Open Market Administrator.
That didn’t mean I could confess that I’d been secretly going back and forth between new floors.
So I decided to push forward with the concept of a shamelessly cheerful merchant.
“All of these conditions are meant to be negotiated, right? But the last one is something I simply can’t accept.”
“So when you say you ‘can’t accept it’… that means there’s another reason.”
This is why I hate perceptive people.
I tilted my head slightly and changed the subject.
“If—just if!—I end up having to act against regulations due to unavoidable circumstances, I’ll make sure to inform the Babel Administration first! So neither of us feels uncomfortable!”
As I passionately rattled on, Park Ji-woon frowned.
“That would be a unilateral notification, not prior reporting.”
“Isn’t that better than you finding out later and feeling stabbed in the back?”
“And isn’t the core flaw of this deal the fact that even that promise can’t be trusted?”
Does this man physically malfunction if he doesn’t end his sentences with ‘isn’t it’?
He was rigid to the extreme—beyond just being inflexible.
But I’m on the shameless side.
I protested with an aggrieved tone.
“Isn’t that hurtful, Manager? We’ve been talking for so long, yet you don’t trust me at all?”
“It hasn’t even been thirty minutes.”
“Come on, thirty minutes is more than enough. I totally trust you, you know?”
“How can I trust you when I haven’t learned anything about you at all?”
Park Ji-woon was thoroughly steeped in distrust toward me.
If someone was that inflexible, poor Lee Haewon was the only one suffering.
I leaned forward, mirroring his posture.
From this close, I could see a faint red hue lingering in his eyes.
If I let my guard down, it felt like I might be mesmerized and dragged into danger.
Who would’ve guessed that behind those thick glasses hid such dangerously alluring eyes?
Get it together, Lee Haewon.
Don’t get swayed by some middle-aged man’s gaze!
Instead, I smiled softly and whispered,
“I didn’t lie. It’s true that I’m not dangerous.”
I spoke slowly, deliberately, as if chewing on each word.
Even inside the guide center—supposedly the safest place in the world—the tension grew taut.
No matter what I said, he wouldn’t fully trust me.
So I added one last line, unhurriedly.
“I want to maintain a very positive relationship with the Babel Administration.”
Whether to the Babel Administration or to South Korea itself, the fact that I could bring clear benefits didn’t require trust—it was simply true.
And the tension between someone who came knowing that, and someone who had already known it, didn’t need to last long.
After staring at me for quite a while, Park Ji-woon muttered dryly,
“It would be best to end the discussion here.”
“Huh? So it’s a no-go?”
“Not exactly.”
He cut himself off, pressing a hand to his forehead.
His bony fingers seemed to reflect his hypersensitive personality.
“Other matters beyond the conditions discussed so far… will require separate deliberation. This isn’t something I can decide on my own.”
Whew. That was close.
I let out a breath of relief too quiet to be heard.
“I’ll come back again.”
I almost reflexively said I’d rather not, but my shallow rationality stopped me.
“Please contact the guide center in advance before coming. I’ll give you an answer then.”
“One last question.”
“Go ahead. Since the deal concluded successfully, I can answer one question as a courtesy.”
“Courtesy…”
A deep fatigue settled over Park Ji-woon’s face as he muttered incredulously.
Given how recklessly I’d responded, he must have been exhausted dealing with me.
But the question this serious man asked was even more outrageous.
“Are you human?”
…Excuse me?
My thought process froze from sheer disbelief.
I barely managed not to stammer as I asked back,
“What do you mean?”
“If you aren’t human, you don’t have to answer.”
After throwing out such a ridiculous question, Park Ji-woon remained completely calm.
Were there seriously non-human beings mixed into South Korea?
…I desperately wanted to ask outright, but I was currently playing the role of a suspicious administrator whose identity was unknown.
Abandoning the concept now felt risky.
So I shrugged and answered,
“I’m human.”
At that clean reply, a strange light passed through Park Ji-woon’s eyes—eyes that had looked tired the entire time.
I had no idea why that was so reassuring to him.
Suspicious. Very suspicious.
For someone as fragile as me, the world was full of far too many suspicious things.
Still, for today, I didn’t want to think any more.
With a hint of laughter in my voice, I added,
“I don’t lie.”
* * *
The moment Park Ji-woon closed the guide center door behind him, I groaned and threw off my mask.
“Haaahhh….”
The guide center maintained a pleasant temperature, yet inside the mask, cold sweat had pooled.
Alexandro asked with concern,
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Just a bit drained.”
Park Ji-woon had said he’d prepare the documents and return later.
When I met him again, I planned to introduce myself as Haewon Martinez—a surname or two wouldn’t matter.
I’ll just go with it.
He must have grasped a rough idea of who I was, so the next meeting would likely be smoother.
As Alexandro, the intermediate administrator, tidied up the chairs and table, he muttered his impressions.
“He was a strange one. I couldn’t sense the aura people normally have.”
It seemed Alexandro had been just as tense as I was.
Come to think of it, even after a full thirty minutes of conversation, I still couldn’t draw any conclusions about Park Ji-woon.
How could someone stay that calm?
For thirty minutes straight, while being constantly provoked?
Honestly, I almost wanted to applaud his retreating back.
“Still, I think things wrapped up fairly well. We didn’t lose anything.”
“You were impressive too. How you managed to speak so offensively—it was truly remarkable.”
“Right? I was terrified at first, but halfway through I just started talking like I owned the world.”
“Haha, so that’s why. I nearly forgot we were on the same side and almost attacked you.”
Alexandro laughed heartily, slapping his thigh.
“…What?”
“Hm?”
“…Excuse me?”
Look at that shameless attempt to brush it off after saying something like that.
Truly befitting of a Friendly Market intermediate administrator…
That was when it happened.
Ding!
[Open Market Administrator ‘Lee Haewon’ was not beguiled by ■■■■■■.]
[This achievement has been unlocked for the first time in the ‘Dimension–Earth’.]
“What is this now?”
“My apologies. I misspoke.”
“No, not you.”
“…You called me ‘sir’ again.”
I stared wide-eyed at the sudden notification window.
I’d seen something about achievements during title awakening before, but I thought that was a special one-time event.
Babel has achievements too?
I clicked my tongue at the tower, which was like an onion—layers upon layers no matter how much you peeled.
Let’s think.
As Alexandro admitted, Park Ji-woon was someone impossible to read.
Yet through him, something had looked at me—and even tried to beguile me.
Was that red aura I saw earlier related to this?
Just as I thought—it really was dangerous.
I’d sworn to control the board, yet I’d nearly ended up dancing in Park Ji-woon’s palm.
“I really need to be careful around Park Ji-woon…”
As I muttered and shook my head—
“So, what will you do now? If he’s bringing documents next time, it may take a while.”
“Oh.”
Alexandro was looking at me with an oddly forlorn expression.
“Now…”
What did I need to do next?
I considered it briefly, but the answer came quickly.
“I need to go to the 51st floor.”
“Again?”
Alexandro asked in surprise, setting down his broom.
“Didn’t you fail to ask that manager about the 51st floor as well? You still have no information, don’t you?”
That was true.
Originally, the plan was to gently probe Park Ji-woon for information on the 51st floor, then march in like a triumphant general armed with intel.
But Park Ji-woon wasn’t that easy to deal with.
If I’d asked about the 51st floor, he would’ve been certain.
That the Friendly Market’s administrator intended to help clear the 51st-floor scenario.
“So what?”
I shrugged.
If I couldn’t learn about the scenario?
Then I’d just keep entering until it started in the human domain.
A fifty-fifty miracle gacha!
No reason to avoid it.
A person needs to know how to think positively!
“Is there really a reason you must go that far?”
I hesitated for a moment.
“There’s a Babel Tower on the 51st floor, and I need information about it. A tower from a dimension that’s already been destroyed.”
“….”
I answered calmly, but faces surfaced in the corner of my mind.
The beastkin who had treated me kindly—Echo and Onak.
We hadn’t spent that long together, yet I couldn’t shake my curiosity about whether they’d survived.
Still, I didn’t want to reveal such feelings.
Showing weakness could become a liability.
So I grinned and added,
“If I do that, our dimension won’t be destroyed—and neither Alexandro nor I will lose our home.”
Alexandro didn’t ask any further questions.
As I stepped outside the guide center, I waved lightly.
“I’ll be back.”
