KEG 39

As soon as I stepped out of the establishment, which was filled with a scent so pungent it gave me a headache, I could finally breathe properly.

“The name is so unique that I found it right away.”

The man introduced himself as Coco.

“His name sounds just like a movie star’s. I figured he must be handsome, so I contacted people right away~”

The reason was strange, but as long as the outcome was good, that was all that mattered.

With Coco’s help, I made my way out of the establishment and into the boarding house where he lived.

“Is Go Philip working at an illegal guiding establishment?”

To clear up my doubts, I cut straight to the chase.

“I heard he used to work there.”

“Why the past tense?”

“Because he doesn’t work there anymore~”

So it was a waste of time. Actually, it was for the best. I should pull out of that den of perverts and look for somewhere else.

I’d rather have my blood spill and my flesh torn than be used like this and consumed as an object of lust.

“Do you know where he is now?”

“Why should I tell you?”

That meant he knew. It also meant, “If you want to know, make me want to tell you.”

“Aren’t you a Guide?”

Coco paused at my sudden question.

“Huh?”

And made a dazed sound.

He was complicating a situation that was already complicated enough.

I’d prayed so hard for people to be simple.

“Negotiations are between equals.”

I stood up and looked down at the small, skinny Coco.

“You should’ve at least carried a knife.”

I pressed my forehead against Coco’s. My reflection flickered in his pupils.

It looked like the threat was working.

“Do you like getting hit too?”

Conversation is tedious, and schemes are cumbersome. Violence and intimidation are intuitive and convenient.

In the world I’d lived in, this was the truth.

“Do you fight a lot?”

A one-on-one confrontation in a cramped, airtight room.

Weight class, momentum, terrain. No matter [visit our site]what I considered, one arm was enough. I didn’t feel like I was going to lose.

“Ugh… ngh… I’m sorry…”

I was waiting for him to attack first, but Coco started sobbing and soon began blinking back tears as he begged for forgiveness.

“I was just joking… Sniff.”

He was a bigger wimp than I thought.

Maybe I’d lost my touch after dealing with nothing but rough, tough guys. He was the one who helped me escape, and yet I was thinking of fighting him.

I felt like a real jerk. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

“Don’t cry.”

I pulled a cotton handkerchief from my pocket and handed it to him. Coco sniffled for a long time as he clutched the damp handkerchief.

Unable to bear watching him any longer, I handed him three more handkerchiefs. Only then did Coco speak up.

“These are kids’ handkerchiefs? Do you have kids?”

“I don’t have kids, but I’m divorced.”

My ex-wife was pyramid schemes.

“Ugh~ there it is again. There’s not a single person in this line of work who doesn’t have a story~”

Once he let down his guard, Coco continued talking about Go Philip.

“He didn’t go to places that do second rounds (after-hours entertainment); he just worked as an escort. For about two years.”

“He’s a deserter. I don’t think he’d work under his real name, are you sure this is the person I’m looking for?”

“Yes. Go Philip, alias Yeppi.”

Yeppi… Why do all these names have to be so lame?

First Coco, then Yeppi, at this rate, we’ll end up with Badugi next.¹

“Drinking, feeling miserable, feeling lonely. When that happens, they end up exposing their wounds to the people around them. That’s just how it is. Everyone has moments when they get overly honest.”

Coco sat down on the small bed. Then he patted the spot next to him.

“His last whereabouts… one day he just stopped coming to work.”

“He was normal, then vanished one day?”

“People who go missing are not rare in this line of work.”

An industry where everything was laid bare with an almost uncomfortable honesty. Yet, it was a place where you couldn’t trust a single word of it.

A place where truth and deception awakened when everyone else was asleep.

They existed everywhere, yet you couldn’t see them anywhere.

“So, you don’t know where he is?”

Coco grinned and showed me an address on his phone.

It was the address of a guesthouse in Haenam, Jeolla Province.

“He kept talking about wanting to visit the Ttangkkeut Village. Since he couldn’t book a bus or a room under his own name, he borrowed another worker’s name to make the reservation here.”

“So you know where he was but nobody went to look for him?”

“Why would we go? It’s not like he stole money and ran away.”

A relationship thinner than a banknote.

They were neither friends, nor family, nor lovers.

I jotted down the address Coco had shown me and asked one last question.

“Why are you helping me?”

Coco laughed. Then he pulled out a military dog tag from his neck.

“Guides have to help each other out.”

***

Inside the late-night bus heading to Haenam.

Most of the passengers seemed exhausted and had fallen asleep; some were even snoring. I also had pushed my body to the limit all day, and my eyes were starting to close.

“Are you sleepy?”

If it weren’t for the stalker next to me, I would have slept soundly.

“Why are you always following me?”

I raised one hand and rubbed my eyes.

“Is that a habit of yours? Rubbing your eyes when you’re tired and annoyed.”

“Just ignore it…”

“Hey, keep it down. Everyone’s trying to sleep.”

As we began to talk, a passenger in the back seat spoke sternly. I shut my mouth and buried myself deep into the bus seat. I turned my head toward the window and blinked slowly.

“I got home after work, and my hyung was packing his bag.”

Two hours earlier, Baek Yejun had returned home after clearing the dungeon he’d been commissioned to raid.

At the time, I was packing my bags, planning to stay in Haenam for a few days, and he had walked in on that scene.

“I didn’t even eat.”

“You can eat by yourself.”

How old are you that you can’t even eat by yourself?

When I first took him in, he’d just shower and go to sleep, but at some point, eating was added to the routine. And to make matters worse, I had to eat with him.

“I’m hungry….”

He had been starving for days in gates without complaining, yet now he was acting pitiful. I rummaged through my bag and handed him the tangerine Kim Hwanhee had given me.

“I need to eat a proper meal now. This won’t fill me up.”

A fresh scent wafted from the bastard, who was grumbling. I could hear the sound of peeling, so he was probably going to eat the tangerine.

“You ruined me, Hyung. You kept cooking meals for me, so now I’m a pig.”

Was it really my fault for cooking when he asked to eat together?

Isn’t that guy the one who used to insist a crumb of a cookie was a meal?

“I usually did not eat at home either.”

It was dark outside, so I just stared at the pitch-black window. My reflection and Baek Yejun’s were visible in its mirror-like surface.

“If it was not for you, I would not eat.”

He finished peeling the tangerine and pretended to say a prayer before eating.

“If I have to feed you, I guess I have to keep living with you.”

“Then pay your rent.”

A halved tangerine pressed against my lips.

“Seriously? I can stay as long as I pay?”

I took the tangerine from him. Then I turned around, shoved it into the loudmouth’s mouth, and covered it with my palm.

“Just shut up.”

He looked up at me with wide eyes and nodded. As I leaned back against the seat again, I felt his fingers tapping my shoulder. Annoyed, I tried to brush him off, but he grabbed my hand instead.

“Ah, damn it, just…”

I tried to clench my fist in response to his pestering, but he pried my hand open, and I felt his fingers w visit our site riting something on my palm.

–What did you do today?

I was sick and tired of it. Now, rather than being angry, I was fed up. I could barely move my finger to write on his palm.

–Yeah

Through the window, I could see him smiling with his eyes closed

–Did you work?

–Yeah.

–Are you really tired?

–Yeah, yeah.

–I’m tired today too.

He leaned his head against my shoulder. He was breathing slowly, and it looked like he was about to fall asleep.

–Can’t you just tell me where you’re going?

“Get lost.”

“Shhh-!! I said be quiet!”

I answered reflexively and got scolded by the person in the back seat again. I could feel Baek Yejun shaking as he tried to stifle a laugh. Then he grabbed my hand and wrote again.

–You said if we eat together, we’re family.

That was something I’d said at the gate a while back.

How many families don’t tell each other where they’re going? I had plenty to say, but I couldn’t be bothered to write it out.

–We’ll see.

He seemed satisfied and drew two smiley eyes on my palm.

–Let’s grab some food when we get off.

–Okay.

–What are we going to eat?

I was starting to feel annoyed and sleepy. I needed to get some sleep and shake off this fatigue so I could find Go Philip.

I had no intention of collapsing from exhaustion while tracking him down. I pressed my lips to his ear and whispered.

“Udon.”

Then I pulled away, crossed my arms, and leaned my head against the window. I closed my eyes, feeling the cool glass cool my forehead.

“Good.”

With that murmur, I drifted off to sleep.