IMTS 23

Chapter 23

The rules looked like a typical part-time job handbook, but the more she read, the more suspicious they seemed. Some of them almost felt like codes or secret warnings.

Finally, her eyes landed on the last rule.

“* Sometimes, people come to the wrong store. Always hand them over to the manager.”

Cheong-ah held the paper with the rules tightly at her fingertips, bringing it right up to her face.

“People coming to the wrong store?”

The rule implied that such people appeared fairly often. Perhaps these were the same people Yang Dong-jun had mentioned. And the managers knew this secret.

Her heart began to race.

It was both bewildering and thrilling.

A deep, tense confidence rose from her stomach and wrapped around her whole body.

“See? Looks like I found the right place. Guess I’m just lucky.”

Cheong-ah quickly started planning in her head.

Maybe she could tell the manager, “I came looking for Luna.” That might naturally lead her to the captain Yang Dong-jun had spoken about.

She briefly considered asking Park In-kyu for help.

But she dismissed the idea. He had already introduced himself as a detective and made contact with the boss.

Then what about Senior Seong-min?

That was equally problematic.

Oh Seong-min looked like a police officer from every angle, as if he had been born wearing a uniform.

In her mind, Cheong-ah’s plan had escalated to involving the roughest-looking team leader in Team 2, Jeon Hong-nam.

“Why don’t they assign us cute rookie cops instead? Team leader looks way too scary…”

Cheong-ah was deep in thought when a large shadow fell in front of her.

She lifted her head slowly, her neck straining to see.

And at the edge of her gaze, she saw:

“Oh, a new part-timer?”

A familiar face.

Cheong-ah blinked and studied him.

“…Min Yoo-shin.”

The name slipped out of her mouth without her realizing it.

“Hm?”

The man’s reaction was calm, almost unruffled.

For a moment, there was silence between them.

Cheong-ah couldn’t look away, wondering if she had misseen him. Then, the afternoon manager, Se-yeon, approached them.

“Ah, say hello. This is our night manager, Min Woo-jin.”

Cheong-ah’s eyes darted back and forth between the two managers, utterly flustered.

“Uh… yes? Manager?”

“Hi. So you’re Bok-seon, huh?”

The man introduced as night manager Min Woo-jin looked squarely at her and smiled. Cheong-ah had no idea what to say.

No matter how she looked at him, he resembled Min Yoo-shin.

Of course, his face was slightly different from the one she saw every day at the hospital.

Yet all of Cheong-ah’s instincts screamed that this man was Min Yoo-shin.

Se-yeon giggled at Cheong-ah, who kept looking at the night manager, lips barely moving.

“You were surprised, right? He’s really handsome.”

No, that’s not it.

“Our boss has incredible taste. I wonder where he found such a good-looking manager.”

This guy… he used to be a professor at Boksan University Hospital.

He shouldn’t even be here.

Cheong-ah raised her head and locked eyes with Min Yoo-shin.

“Min… Min Yoo-shin!”

He gave a sly smile.

“I’m Min Woo-jin. You’re talking nonsense. Don’t tell me you can’t understand me at work?”

Se-yeon laughed, patting his shoulder.

“Hey, don’t say silly things. Bok-seon did an amazing job!”

“Really?”

Cheong-ah’s expression betrayed her unease.

The man in front of her was definitely Min Yoo-shin.

If he wasn’t…

“…How does he know I’m Bok-seon…”

“Oh.”

He took the rules from her hand and laughed.

“You called me last night. ‘Hello, manager. This is Bok-seon,’ right?”

Cheong-ah’s eyes darted left and right as she tried to process everything.

“He seemed sociable, so I liked him.”

It was him—Min Yoo-shin—but staring at the face of someone claiming to be him only made Cheong-ah more confused.

What on earth was happening?

The man shrugged.

“Alright, enough playing around. Let’s work. Se-yeon, you should leave soon. Let’s finish the handover quickly.”

He gently pulled Se-yeon’s shoulder and headed to the counter, moving with the swiftness of a swallow.

Cheong-ah stared blankly at their backs.

“Min Yoo-shin can’t be acting like this… or can he?”

Honestly, she hoped he wasn’t Min Yoo-shin.

If he was, he would know she was a police officer, and he had apparently infiltrated PC Pop before her.

“Bok-seon! While I finish the handover, tidy up the empty spots!”

“Ah… okay.”

Cheong-ah grabbed a mop and moved, keeping a careful eye on the counter.

They checked the accounts and the stockroom, nothing unusual, yet Cheong-ah’s suspicion didn’t fade.

The handover didn’t take long. Soon, Se-yeon waved lightly and left, leaving Cheong-ah alone with the man claiming not to be Min Yoo-shin.

Cheong-ah glanced at him for a long moment.

Perhaps feeling her stare, he strode over with long steps and grabbed her wrist. Surprised, she turned her head and met his gaze.

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

His eyes were mischievous.

“Me? No, I’m not.”

“Hm.”

Indeed. Without the smile, his eyes were identical to Min Yoo-shin’s. But up close, the man had a subtle difference—a slightly different impression, especially the nose.

Min Yoo-shin’s features were a bit rougher and angled. This one’s nose was perfectly straight.

His teeth were smaller and more delicate. The sharp canines that showed when he smiled caught Cheong-ah’s attention for a while.

Honestly… he might be even more handsome than Min Yoo-shin.

“Wait… is he really someone else?”

Looking carefully, his face shape was slightly different. Cheong-ah, who compared crime suspect sketches daily, wouldn’t miss that.

“Yeah… it’s different. Huh, then why did I think he was Min Yoo-shin?”

She hesitated for a moment.

“Maybe you’re just so handsome I can’t stop looking at you?”

“….”

This man was even stranger than Min Yoo-shin.

Cheong-ah’s eyebrows furrowed at his shameless comments. He ignored her discomfort, snatched the mop, and laughed heartily.

“You don’t need to work nights. I’ll do everything.”

“….”

Seeing her troubled, he added one more comment for emphasis.

“I’ll handle the hard work.”

“….”

“Save your energy, Bok-seon. After we’re done, let’s go for a little welcome dinner.”

“A dinner?”

“Yeah. A quiet welcome party for you and me.”

“N-No way!”

Cheong-ah snatched the mop back and ran to the restroom.

Inside the small restroom, Cheong-ah scrubbed the mop as hard as she could. Cleaning was the best way to clear her mind.

“‘Quiet welcome party,’ my foot…”

The man resembled Min Yoo-shin, but wasn’t him. Her alarm bells rang—probably because he was just as unusual as Min Yoo-shin.

Pausing, she tried to organize her thoughts.

“Wait… this might actually be good.”

If he wasn’t Min Yoo-shin, she could flatter him, get close, and dig into the store’s secrets.

“Slowly get him on my side…”

Unfortunately, there was one problem.

Cheong-ah had no idea how to flatter someone effectively.