KEG 112
***
The district where I lived was severely shaken by the black flower’s attack.
Since the monster was a type that caused people to mutate, the scale of the damage was immense, and because it took so long to clear the gate, the nearby commercial district was completely devastated.
“I’m sorry, but our supplies haven’t come in yet.”
Today marked the fourth store where I’d been unable to buy cigarettes.
Convenience stores and supermarkets near my house were running low on supplies. This was because most of the goods had been stolen during the riots, or because panicked residents had been hoarding them.
The fact that fresh produce and some processed foods had spoiled or rotted due to the power outage also played a major role.
“When will the supplies arrive?”
“The roads are still closed. Our boss said she’d bring them herself by cart… haa…”
The convenience store clerk sighed. Upon closer inspection, I noticed she was wearing a school gym uniform, and judging by the family photo on the wall behind her, she appeared to be the boss’s daughter.
“I hear there’s been a surge in robberies targeting delivery trucks and merchants lately.”
“Yeah, I’ll come back another time.”
I cut her off politely, as she was bringing up a topic I wasn’t the least bit interested in. As I was about to step outside, I stopped in my tracks because of a white head bobbing next to me.
“Hyung, there’s ice cream in this fridge.”
“Ah~! That’s right! The power came back on a little early at our store! Since I’m a Guide, I asked my Esper friend to help out.”
I turned around and took another look at her gym uniform.
Baekseol Girls’ High School gym uniform.
It was a high school partnered with the Esper Academy.
“Hyung, buy me this.”
Baek Yejun held out a tub of ice cream. I hadn’t even been able to get cigarettes yet, and now he was pestering me to buy ice cream. My blood pressure spiked, and the back of my neck tightened.
“That rich little brat….”
“Is the owner here~?”
Just as I was about to say something to Baek Yejun, someone walked into the store.
The voice was loud, rough, and cocky, it seemed to declare, “I’m a piece of shit,” even after just a few seconds of listening.
“Hey there~ Only the little girl here? Aren’t you gonna say hi to the old man?”
“Hello….”
“I heard you’ve awakened as a high-class guide? If you succeed, kid. Don’t get all cocky, stay humble~”
“…….”
The cheerful-looking clerk’s face gradually turned ashen. I had a feeling something troublesome was about to happen.
I placed the cash for the ice cream on the counter, grabbed Baek Yejun’s arm, and headed toward the entrance.
Just as I was about to open the door and leave…
“Ah~ Wait a minute~ Where are you going~?”
…A heavyset man, who appeared to be part of the loudmouth’s group, blocked the entrance.
This time, I really did just stand there. I hadn’t done a thing, yet these assholes had come running right to me on their own. It was enough to drive me crazy.
“The price of ice cream went up; the money you paid isn’t enough.”
The sleazy guy harped on the price as if he were the shop owner himself. They should’ve just let us pass; they were picking a fight over nothing.
Anyway, these damn thugs and hoodlums need to be rounded up and taught some basic manners from scratch. It was bad enough that their work was rotten, but they were also showing off how lacking in basic manners they were in everyday life.
“If I give you more money, that’ll be fine….”
“Aah!”
Just as I was about to meekly hand over the money and leave, a scream erupted from inside the store. I turned around to see the clerk raising her arms to shield her face, while the sleazy-looking man stood in front of her with his arm raised.
“We said we’d supply the goods! You’ve been taking them just fine all this time, why are you suddenly acting like this?!”
“Ah, ah, you suddenly raised the delivery fees! We couldn’t afford it, so we canceled the contract, and that’s why my mom had to pull a cart out here!”
“You’re talking back to me!”
Outside, I saw a refrigerated truck with no company logo parked there. Judging by their mention of goods and delivery fees, they seemed to be “deliverymen.”
“You would’ve gone completely under long ago without us! And now you’re stabbing us in the back?”
Even in a world where monsters and contaminated zones appeared unpredictably, logistics must keep running and packages must be delivered.
The people who served as bridges between regions and between people. They were “deliverymen.”
“You were the ones who stabbed us in the back first! You colluded to jack up the prices!”
There was no substitute for “deliverymen.”
Even if robots delivered food and self-driving cars became commonplace, there would always be goods and places that ultimately needed to be transported by people.
“How dare you be so insolent when you’re the ones benefiting from our work! You bastard!”
They sometimes colluded to reap exorbitant profits and wielded their power as if they were some new social class.
“Do you think we’re just digging up the ground to make a living? Don’t we risk our lives?”
That was right.
They were undoubtedly people who deserve to be treated with respect. Just like Hunters, they do work that was indispensable and absolutely necessary.
But how far should that respect go? What level of compensation and treatment is appropriate?
“Hey, are you ignoring me?”
I’d been lost in thought for a moment and had forgotten about the big guy standing in front of me.
Feeling he’d been ignored for quite a while, the big guy grabbed my shoulder with a look of dissatisfaction. He squeezed hard enough to hurt.
The only silver lining was that he was an ordinary person, not an Awakener.
“Hyung, should I tear it off?”
Baek Yejun, who had been watching from behind while eating ice cream, asked. He was probably referring to the big guy’s hand on my shoulder. I bent my knee downward to shake off the big guy’s grip.
“Stop acting up and let’s go home.”
“Okay~”
I managed to get out of the store. I was just wondering if I’d actually be able to make it home when…
Crash!
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
This time, Baek Yejun was the one who got grabbed.
Of all people, he had to touch that guy. Baek Yejun was not the type to kill anyone, so he probably wouldn’t end up murdering him, but he definitely picked the wrong person to mess with.
“You guys! I’m going to call my friend!!”
The clerk inside the store screamed.
“You know my friend, the A-class Esper? He’s totally badass…!”
Smack!
“Kyaah!”
Baek Yejun got slapped.
Why is this guy getting hit when he didn’t do a thing?
Rather than being angry, I was just wondering why the hell he got hit.
“Sir, don’t ever come back to this store. Unless you want to get roughed up. Got it?”
Ah, so it was for disrupting business.
The biggest blow to a business owner is losing customers. They’d gone beyond just giving the owners a hard time, now they’d started beating up customers too.
What a bunch of rootless trash.
“My ice cream….”
Baek Yejun stared at the ice cream that had fallen to the floor as he took the blow. Then, he looked at the person who had hit him.
The whole thing happened so quietly that it sent a chill down my spine.
Baek Yejun slowly raised his hand.
A hand that sparks lightning with the slightest movement.
A hand that can easily tear through the skin of an ordinary person.
The hand of a high-class Esper is a weapon.
Tap.
“Yejun.”
I grabbed Baek Yejun’s hand.
It wasn’t a conscious decision. I did it because I felt like everything would go to hell if I left him alone.
“I’ll buy you another one.”
Only after I spoke did the dazed look in Baek Yejun’s eyes fade.
Ever since the Black Flower Incident, Baek Yejun had been acting a bit off. Maybe it was from fighting for a whole month, or perhaps he’d gone through something that dealt him a psychological blow. He often showed signs of anxiety, something completely out of character for him.
He’d always been an unstable person at heart. Those traits were coming to the surface a bit more clearly now.
It was as if cracks were forming in the wall of pretense and hypocrisy that made up his very being.
“You bastards really think you can ignore me!”
The heavyset man blocking the door lost his temper.
It seemed like no one else besides me had noticed Baek Yejun’s current instability. Maybe it was because he’d been acting so quietly. Even so, how could they not see this?
“Hey! Can’t you hear me?!”
Thud!
“Ow!”
“I hear you just fine, you son of a bitch.”
I punched the man in the solar plexus. I’d already been annoyed by his ear-piercing screams. Since the opportunity had presented itself, I figured I might as well beat the shit out of him.
Thud!
“Are you bowing to me?”
“Ugh, are you gonna let go of me?!”
I grabbed the big guy – who was bent over at a 90-degree angle after getting punched in the solar plexus – by the hair and lifted him up. The smell of cigarettes wafted from between his clenched, yellow teeth.
The smell of cigarettes…
Sniff, sniff.
“What, what…?!”
It’s the smell of cigarettes.
He’s a smoker.
I couldn’t be happier.
“What kind of cigarettes do you smoke?”
“What…? M-menthol…”
“Nice.”
Just right.
It was exactly the kind of menthol I love.
Smack!
I struck the big guy’s jaw with my knee. His eyes spun around, and he slumped over. I pinned the big guy to the floor, straddled him, and rummaged through his pockets.
“Sangcheol…!”
A scruffy guy from the big guy’s group, who’d been watching from behind, rushed over.
I pulled a pack of menthols cigarettes from his pocket and looked up at him. Just by looking at his face, you could tell he was a chain-smoker.
Maybe if I beat him down too, he’d have something good on him too.
“Come on.”
I said to the man with a smile, and he lunged at me.
A few punches and kicks, followed by cries of “I’m sorry,” filled the convenience store.
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