Chapter 656 – Room 301, The Cursed Room – ‘Origin of Species’ (3)
—
– Yu Songee
When I returned with the gray cat, thankfully, no one was home.
“Gray – that’s your name from now on. Got it? Just rest over there for a sec.”
After serving the sickly feline some fresh food, I checked Lee Eunsol’s reply.
“Teleotalk?”
She suggested we communicate through a kind of secure messenger.
Was this enough? I wasn’t sure, but no better ideas popped up.
As I installed the app, messages started flying in.
Eunsol: “Glad you reached out! Did you find anything?”
Songee: “I found a talking cat!”
Eunsol: “Already? Good job! Did you uncover anything?”
Songee: “Just got back. What about you?”
Eunsol: “Gathering suspicious info about Dad.”
Songee: “Did you find anything?”
There was quite a delay before her next message, so I guessed her thoughts were tangled up.
Eunsol: “I didn’t notice before, but looking with suspicion, I can see he spends a hefty amount every year in some unknown area.”
Songee: “How much?”
Eunsol: “At least 2 billion a year. It could even spike over 8 billion some years.”
2 billion at minimum, potentially 8 billion?
That was such a surreal figure it didn’t sink in well.
Eunsol: “He’s set up the accounting in a really complex way, so most people wouldn’t catch on. Those who do think it’s just typical slush funds.”
Songee: “Do you know what it’s being spent on?”
Eunsol: “No clue. Also, there are many strange gaps in Dad’s schedule.”
Following that, Eunsol listed the oddities she sensed regarding the Daeyang Group chairman.
There were unclear expenses in the tens of millions and mysterious schedule gaps that would sound bizarre to someone like me, who isn’t in the know about corporations.
Songee: “It feels like you and I are running entirely different scenarios.”
Eunsol: “Both a talking animal and a suspicious chairman are fishy, so what can you do?”
Songee: “Will it continue like this for a while?”
Eunsol: “Yeah. We’re both doing our best in our respective areas.”
Given there were only the two of us, it felt like even we were split apart. Is this really the best way forward?
Oh, I had something I was mulling over by myself? Time to spill it.
“There’s an administration bureau in Room 301. How about we actively seek their help?”
Songee: “Should we ask the administration bureau for help? They’d probably be interested in a talking animal too.”
Eunsol: “I thought about that, but I don’t know how they’d react to us.”
The dilemma of how the administration bureau would respond.
It was painfully clear that it was just the two of us in this situation; it made me wish for Ari’s presence.
If only Ari were here, she would’ve handled the Bureau stuff somehow.
Eunsol: “Our situation is different from reality.”
In reality, Ari was openly at the top of the administration bureau, and Kain-hyung and others were absolute forces even the Bureau had to watch out for.
In such cases, we typically wouldn’t find ourselves in a position of weakness.
Now, however, we were at a serious disadvantage.
Songee: “But me solving Room 301 with just us… I can’t shake the feeling if that’s even possible.”
Our capabilities felt far too low, and most importantly, there was no one good at physical fights.
Sadly, with just me and Eunsol, our combat skills might be less than Pero’s.
Eunsol: “Let’s do this. You deal with animal-related issues. I’ll look into the Bureau and the suspicious chairman.”
Songee: “You?”
Eunsol: “As you know, I’ve got a background in Daeyang Group.”
Sure, like Jinchul-hyung experienced, the Bureau could wipe out a conglomerate family in broad daylight if it felt like it.
But at least I thought they’d handle Eunsol with more caution than me.
Songee: “We’re splitting tasks now.”
Eunsol: “You handle the talking animals; I’ll manage contact with the Bureau and the sketchy chairman.”
As I was about to wrap things up, an unexpected remark came.
Eunsol: “There are a few individuals who have handled certain nasty tasks for us over the years.”
People who’ve taken care of the chairman’s various affairs for at least a few decades.
Songee: “Are they like butlers?”
Eunsol: “Similar. Should I send one over?”
That was an unexpected turn, and I was caught off guard.
Eunsol: “They’re tight-lipped. They won’t ask you anything and won’t blab about it either. I figured we could use at least one capable person.”
Eunsol seemed totally unaware, but this was incredibly intriguing to me!
Quietly handling all kinds of “complex and intricate affairs” in a conglomerate family?
That sounded straight out of a comic!
Songee: “Please send them over!”
Eunsol: “What will you tell your parents?”
Songee: “Don’t you worry about that.”
And thus, our first meeting came to an end.
We’d sketched out the basic plan.
I’d continue researching the phenomenon of souls trapped in animal bodies just like before.
And I quickly secured a solid lead with ‘Gray.’
Eunsol would investigate the chairman and try to contact the Bureau.
“…”
Forget the Bureau for now; how are our individual stories connecting?
A talking animal and a suspicious conglomerate chairman! There’s got to be a link between them.
First off, I should focus on my job.
“Gray, come here. Can you read Korean?”
*
Communicating with an intelligent cat wasn’t as easy as I thought.
First off, the power – ’empathy’ isn’t some telepathic ability that can be tossed around with chaotic beings.
It’s more about conveying the heart, not clear intentions.
Thanks to that, I could sense how deeply Gray was suffering and grieving, but specific info exchange was tricky.
Second, Gray’s mental state wasn’t exactly stable.
Being trapped in an animal’s body must feel torturous; it was like trying to talk to someone who’s been tortured for over a year!
“Take it slow. Do you understand what I write?”
Also, he seemed to grasp spoken words but couldn’t write anything down.
Even when seated at the keyboard, he didn’t know which button to press; it was like talking to a functional illiterate.
Maybe his brain couldn’t handle a human consciousness within an animal form?
Not sure about that.
“If your head hurts, eat first.”
After some serious care, with clean food and warm water, only then did bits of information start oozing out.
“So… you’re saying you woke up in the cat’s body about two years ago?”
– Meow!
He didn’t remember the exact date, but he did recall enduring two brutal winters.
“Were you a person before that?”
The moment I asked, a surge of intense emotion hit me.
Even with empathy, understanding was complicated, but I gleaned some background info.
“Your name is… Park Jinho? Park Jiho? Park Jihu? Sorry if I’m mixed up. Before becoming a cat… you were in your late teens? Early twenties? It’s vague.”
By the time night fell, I’d pieced together most of what Gray remembered.
“You woke up in a cat’s body around two years ago. Before that, you were a male between 18 and 21 years old. Your name was Park Jihu, right? You lived near the coast in Gangneung, Gangwon-do.”
Upon learning this, another thought came to mind.
“How about we check your house? Have you ever been back?”
– Meow!
Desire was there, but apparently, he’d never had the chance.
In cat form, there was no way to use transportation or walk from Seoul to Gangneung on little cat paws.
A natural question arose.
Two years ago, Park Jiho’s spirit was trapped in this cat’s body.
But what happened to Park Jiho’s original body?
In a vegetative state?
Already dead?
Or…
“I need to see for myself.”
Today was a no-go; I’ll check it out tomorrow.
Surely the world won’t collapse overnight.
Late that night, Mom and Dad came back.
Both seemed like they had something to say to me, but when I said I was heading to bed, they didn’t push it.
*
The next morning at 6:30 a.m., I quickly got ready to head out as the sun rose.
My parents were shocked to see me up so early, but I didn’t feel the need to explain in detail.
Unexpectedly, a variable suddenly stopped me.
— Click!
The door wouldn’t open!
“What’s happening?”
It wasn’t a malfunctioning door lock, yet the door stayed shut.
Baffled, I gripped the doorknob as Dad approached.
“Why is this happening? Songee, stand back for a moment.”
“…”
— Thud!
“What’s going on? Did the door lock break?”
After over 10 minutes of arm-wrestling between three of us, the door finally opened.
“Phew! Got it, got it.”
“… I’m heading out.”
“Songee, um, meeting a friend again? Bringing Pero along?”
“Yep.”
“You’re going out this early? When will you be back – Songee!”
“See you later!”
After wandering over 10 minutes from our apartment, I waited at the meeting spot I promised Eunsol I’d be at in the morning.
Soon, a black sedan rolled up.
— Weeeee!
As the window rolled down, a sturdy middle-aged man in his early fifties appeared.
He definitely looked like some kind of security team leader.
“Is this Miss Songee?”
“Yep.”
“I’m Kim. I heard from the lady. Please, hop in.”
“Okay, I’ll call you Mr. Kim from now on – huh?”
— Click!
Strangely, the car door wouldn’t budge.
I tried pulling a few times, but it wouldn’t budge an inch.
Mr. Kim gave an incredulous look.
“It was fine just this morning, what’s going on? Sorry.”
“…”
By this point, I was starting to feel something was off.
Random malfunctions like the door lock malfunctioning without a warning.
The car door refusing to open for no good reason.
Is this just coincidence?
Put separately, it’s just a typical everyday occurrence, but the sequence felt weird.
Regardless, the door eventually opened.
— Thud!
“Oh dear! It’s opened. I’m sorry for not checking the state of the vehicle beforehand. My bad -”
“It’s okay.”
With a final apology, Mr. Kim really went silent, just like Eunsol said, he seemed to be a man of few words.
I’d caught a look at the general rundown during our late-night communications.
According to Eunsol, Mr. Kim thinks of me as someone akin to an administration bureau agent.
Would it be easier for me this way?
It would definitely blow the Bureau’s mind, but then again, this guy isn’t likely to verify my ID with the Bureau, so it’s probably fine.
“Head to this address, please.”
“Gangneung’s Gyeongpo-dong? Could you give me a more specific address?”
“I’ll need to check it out when we get there.”
“Understood.”
*
Oh no! Songee is out of control!
It’s clear she just doesn’t get the warning by locking doors!
Do I really have to intervene more aggressively?
It was tough enough locking the door! I swear, it’s like I’m possessing a ghost-level influence here!
Hah! Not being able to see the whole picture inside while having no control from the outside? It feels just like that!
I’m sure there’s gotta be a way! There must be!
—
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