Earth Peace Research Institute 1

Chapter  1

The moon looks unusually large and red today.

“Wow.”

I never expected to see such a moon when I casually looked up at the sky while heading home after finishing my part-time job.

The red moon floating in the pitch-black night sky without a single cloud felt extremely out of place. I remember hearing that when the moon gets closest to Earth during a full moon, it’s called a supermoon, and I thought this might be one. I stopped for a moment and took out my phone.

“It’s not capturing properly. Tsk.”

I tried to capture this rare moon with my phone camera, but maybe because it was the cheapest budget model, all I got was a speck that looked like dust rather than the moon. Giving up on taking a photo, I instead sent a KakaoTalk message to my younger sister Jaeyeon, who was probably in her night study session at school.

[Me: JaeyeonJaeyeonJaeyeon]

[Me: Look at the sky. The moon is huge today]

[Jaeyeon: Moon? Suddenly?]

[Jaeyeon: OMG what. This is crazy. It’s fucking huge]

I let out a chuckle at her reply that came in less than a minute.

“This kid is on her phone instead of studying.”

[Me: Now that you’ve seen it, go study. Stop looking at your phone]

[Me: Back in my day, I couldn’t even imagine looking at my phone during night study]

[Jaeyeon: What the hell. Are you being a boomer?]

[Me: Hahahahaha]

Although I jokingly told her to study, my sister, who always maintained top grades in her school, was the only thing I, who had nothing, could be proud of.

[Jaeyeon: Are you done with your part-time job?]

[Me: Yeah, heading to the bus stop now]

[Jaeyeon: Okay, see you later]

[Me: OK OK]

After ending the conversation by exchanging emoticons with Jaeyeon, I walked to the bus stop.

“It feels unusually eerie today.”

Despite it not being particularly late, there wasn’t a single person at the bus stop. Though I usually walked this route without much thought, maybe because of that strange moon, the surroundings felt gloomy today.

I rubbed my cooled forearms and checked the bus information display. My bus was scheduled to arrive in 20 minutes. Since it was longer than I expected, I sat on the bench and fiddled with my phone.

[2 unread messages]

There were two SMS messages that I hadn’t noticed while chatting with Jaeyeon. Checking the arrival time, I saw they came when I was busy working.

I immediately clicked on the message icon. They were likely spam messages, but due to my personality, I always kept my phone notifications clear and usually checked these alerts right away.

(Ad)

Dear ‘Son Jaeo’, how have you been?

I’ll invite*you to a HOT/place

A place-where^you-can-see-pretty^sisters

Only▶♡M ▶♡E ▶♡N▶♡ click▶♡!!

Access%now: http://xxxx.xxxx.xx

My eyes wrinkled in disgust as soon as I read the message. I knew it would be spam, but I didn’t expect it to be obscene advertising. Moreover, it even included my name, which made me uncomfortable and annoyed.

“How the hell did these bastards get my name…”

I momentarily raged at my personal information that had probably been spread to countless places and become public property, then checked the next message. Fortunately, the next one was from my main bank. Come to think of it, today was the day my phone bill would be deducted. Since the amount was the same every month, I read the text without much thought.

[WEB Sent]

03/09

Phone bill

56,000 won debited

Balance 783,200 won

“Huh?”

My hand gripped the phone tightly as I checked the account balance. Something was off. I strained my eyes and checked the numbers again.

780,000 won? Why is there only this much left?

The amount deducted was the same as usual, but the balance was different. It was only the beginning of March, but the first digit of my remaining money was already down to 7. Compared to last month’s financial situation, it was about 500,000 won short. I checked the message once more, not believing it, but the numbers on the screen didn’t change.

“Ah… now I understand why.”

After wracking my brain for a while, I finally realized why this amount was left. Last month, I had suffered from severe flu and ended up taking a week off, which was the cause—that week’s wages were missing. The thought that I had to make do with this money for a little over a month made my heart sink.

To someone else, 780,000 won might seem like pocket change, but this was money for my and Jaeyeon’s livelihood for a month. Not “living expenses” but “survival expenses.” Just one word difference, but the weight and pressure were completely different.

This is bad. Should I take on more part-time work?

I couldn’t help but sigh when I thought about the expenses for this month. Rent and utilities. And I also needed to give Jaeyeon her allowance…

My head throbbed. On top of everything, the landlord had already informed me that from next month, the renewal month, the rent would increase. In many ways, there were many expenses, but I had no money at hand. I’d probably need to either increase my part-time work or quit the café job and find something with higher wages. Though I wasn’t sure if there would be a place that paid more than minimum wage.

“Let’s start looking.”

As they say, strike while the iron is hot—I immediately accessed the part-time job search app. Now that I was turning 24 this year, I knew I should stop hopping between part-time jobs and get a proper job. But I didn’t have the time and leisure to prepare for employment like others. Proper job preparation was only possible with someone supporting you from behind.

I had to stand alone in the world since my adolescence. This was because I lost my parents in an accident when I was in middle school. After moving around between relatives I didn’t even know with my younger sister, we finally entered an orphanage that had no room to look after me. In such an environment, there was no one I could rely on. Since becoming an adult, I had to take responsibility for and solve financial matters alone.

Sometimes it was sad that I had to stand alone at such a young age, but I didn’t lament my circumstances. Rather than spending time feeling sad and wronged, it was more helpful in life to grit my teeth and earn even a penny more.

“Hmm. Mmm.”

The more I read the job postings, the more involuntary sounds of displeasure escaped my lips. I had made up my mind to even do short-term physical labor jobs, but perhaps because the weather hadn’t warmed up yet, there weren’t any suitable jobs posted. Other jobs were not much different from my current café part-time job.

“Maybe I should apply to be a Guide. …Haha.”

Though I said it as a joke, I couldn’t help but laugh hollowly. A Guide? Absurd.

I heard that unlike Espers, one could become a Guide without awakening. But very few people knew the conditions and methods to become a Guide. Becoming a Guide was almost impossible, especially for ordinary people like me—it was a story from another world.

“Then is a loan the only option left…”

After pondering the types of loans I could get, I immediately shook my head. Even though I lived modestly, not having debt was my pride and principle. I couldn’t take out a loan just because I was short on money. It’s not like this was the only time in my life I’d faced hardship. In times like these, I had to harden my resolve and somehow find a decent job.

Steeling myself, I went back to scrolling through pages when I suddenly stopped, having discovered something. A job post on page 15 that read “Hourly wage: 25,000 won” caught my eye.

“They’re paying this much per hour?”

This amount was more than double the current minimum wage. Moreover, it wasn’t even a day labor job but an office assistant part-time position. The moment I found this part-time job with incredible, seemingly impossible conditions, my heart pounded for a different reason than before.

Thinking I absolutely couldn’t miss this opportunity, I clicked on the post faster than anyone else.

Company Name: Earth Peace Research Institute

Wage: 25,000 won per hour

Work Period: 5 days a week

Working Hours: Flexible depending on tasks

Job Description: Task assistance and miscellaneous duties

Preferred: Early to mid-20s welcome

Hello~!

We are the Earth Peace Research Institute, protecting your peace.^^

We’re looking for someone who can work with us like family and friends! There aren’t any particularly difficult tasks, and anyone can apply, so please show lots of interest~♥

The moment I read the posting content, my chest, which had been full of excitement, turned cold.

“This is suspicious…”

It was extremely suspicious.

First, the company name was very dubious, and the post content was so casual it was hard to believe an employee wrote it. Plus, they welcomed naive early to mid-20-year-olds who wouldn’t know anything. Anyone could smell the strong scent of a cult or pyramid scheme.

Now I understood why this part-time job was pushed to the back pages despite its exceptional conditions. No matter how good the conditions, no one would work at a suspicious, unknown cult research institute.

I felt like a fool for rushing to check the post, afraid someone else might take it.

“Sigh. Let’s just go home.”

I looked up at the bus display again. Strangely, the bus arrival time on the display hadn’t decreased but remained the same as before. Since this was a fairly common error, I sat quietly in my seat waiting for the bus without much thought.

I closed my eyes for a moment and organized what I needed to do when I got home. I’ll make a late-night snack for Jaeyeon, take a hot shower, and also need to look for a new part-time job…

“Phew.”

A sudden wave of fatigue brought on a headache. I’ll just rest tonight and go to the labor office early tomorrow morning to look for work. That way, I should be able to find at least some short-term manual labor. Life goes on somehow, doesn’t it? There’s no law saying you have to die just because you’re short on money.

I slapped my cheeks lightly with my palms to psych myself up. Trying hard to gather my strength like that, I waited for the bus.

“…?”

Suddenly feeling something strange and odd, I raised my head. Looking around, I realized that at some point, all the cars on the road had disappeared. Yet just a moment ago, many cars had been passing by.

This wasn’t the only strange thing. I also felt a sudden chill. Although it’s the season change with big temperature differences between day and night, it wasn’t cold enough to see my breath.

228 Bus: 20 minutes until arrival

The display was still frozen. It was as if the bus stop where I was sitting was cut off from the rest of the world, with time standing still. I felt goosebumps from the unfamiliar sensation in this familiar space. When I habitually checked my phone, I saw a message I’d never seen before: “Service Area Departure.”

“What is this…”

Instinctively knowing I shouldn’t stay here any longer, I hurriedly stood up. At that moment.

Gooooong—!

A heavy and large resonating sound came from nearby.

Author: Hyacinthus B

Hyacinthus