“Mm…….”
“It won’t even take 30 minutes.”
“That guy too?”
Miro pointed at Hyungsik with his finger. Suddenly singled out, Hyungsik flushed red in embarrassment.
“It’s the three of us. Boss, that guy, me.”
Since Miro hated calling Hyungsik by name, Eunchan referred to him as ‘that guy’ while persuading Miro. Miro alternated his gaze between the photo and Eunchan, then soon nodded his head.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.”
After leaving even the luggage bag with the doll beside Miro, Eunchan gestured to Hyungsik with his chin. Hyungsik asked Eunchan with his eyes why he’d brought Miro, but Eunchan didn’t answer. After knocking, when he opened the office door, cigarette smoke flowed deep into his nostrils. The boss was talking on the phone indignantly, and on the desk, half-smoked cigarette butts filled the ashtray.
Hyungsik hurriedly opened the window to let out the smoke. Eunchan closed the office door, worried that Miro might smell it.
“I’m telling you I don’t know anything about it!”
Who’s he talking to? Eunchan and Hyungsik sat side by side on the sofa watching the boss frustratedly beat his chest.
“I don’t know. They’re not even our guys, so don’t go suspecting us for no reason. I’m hanging up.”
Eventually the boss hung up unilaterally. He picked up the cigarette pack to find remaining cigarettes, but inside was completely empty. The boss crumpled the empty cigarette pack and threw it in a corner, then let out a long sigh.
“What’s wrong?”
Worried that something had happened, Eunchan asked the boss.
“They caught one of the two guys who beat you up, but he’s already dead.”
“What?”
“They say he was found dead……. You guys didn’t do anything, right?”
With a hint of suspicion, the boss looked at Hyungsik and Eunchan. Hyungsik shook his head vigorously, and Eunchan also gave a negative answer.
“We only got beaten, we didn’t even know where those people were.”
“They haven’t caught the remaining one yet?”
One of the brothers was dead. There was no telling what kind of revenge the remaining one might take on Eunchan and Hyungsik. Since he had a dependent, Miro, Eunchan was even more worried.
“They’re looking for the other one. ……It might be the construction company.”
“Why the construction company?”
“They used tricks to get money for building that golf course there.”
“That was already resolved well. Surely they wouldn’t kill someone over that.”
Eunchan objected to the boss’s speculation.
“If they died because of that, aren’t we in danger too?”
The ones who profited between the brothers and the construction company were the third party—the errand center employees. Hyungsik asked in a frightened voice if they weren’t also in danger. However, neither Eunchan nor the boss could give an answer.
“How did they even know we took the money in the first place? Boss, you made that construction company excuse back then.”
“There must have been an informant inside, planning to split the money when the job was done. That’s not what’s important right now. This is like a bolt from the blue.”
“Hyungsik, you go home early and only take main streets.”
The boss lamented and Eunchan advised Hyungsik. All they could do was be careful on their own.
“What do you think about the lawyer?”
The boss started looking for Han Inju, the person who had been the biggest help in reaching a settlement with the construction company. He casually asked Eunchan about Han Inju.
“I told you before that he was strange.”
“Like, does he seem like he’d stab people in the back and could even kill someone?”
“I’m not sure about that……. You haven’t found anything either, Boss?”
“Nothing. That person doesn’t even have a criminal record.”
The subject of conversation had somehow shifted to Han Inju. Since Eunchan had been viewing Han Inju suspiciously anyway, the three of them wondered and suspected Han Inju.
“I’ve been saying he was strange from the beginning. Why would that person help us? We should be grateful if he doesn’t curse at us for selling his information.”
“That’s true. He had no connection to us but suddenly came and did work that wouldn’t make money for his company.”
“Now that I think about it carefully, I’m not sure if a legal team lawyer could have that much power either.”
Going back and forth with the boss, Eunchan laid out the suspicions he’d been having.
“But why would that lawyer kill someone?”
Hyungsik, who had been sitting quietly listening to the conversation, pointed out the most important thing.
“That’s another problem. That person has no reason to kill.”
“……That’s true.”
There was no reason for someone with a decent profession to suddenly kill someone. Eunchan leaned his head against the sofa and blinked.
“Didn’t he just die in an accident?”
“They say his face was completely torn apart. It’s not even a car accident, what kind of crazy bastard would cause an accident like that.”
“Maybe there was some other grudge relationship?”
“I don’t know. Right now the police suspect us, so you guys be careful with your actions.”
It was clearly murder, but they couldn’t figure out who. The boss urged Hyungsik and Eunchan to be careful with their actions so no false rumors would spread.
Could it be a fight between brothers? Just before coming to the office, what Eunchan had seen was Miro and his younger brother fighting. Eunchan thought of Miro sitting beyond the office door.
“But Kim Eunchan, what are you doing wearing clothes like this?”
As if he’d been wanting to say it all along, the boss smiled and pointed at Eunchan’s clothes.
“Boss, these are expensive. Hyung, I’ve been wanting to ask since before, where do you buy things like this? I want some too.”
Still thinking the clothes Eunchan wore were fake, Hyungsik asked with a subtle expression. Eunchan looked at the boss and Hyungsik with pathetic eyes for a moment.
“I bought it for the lowest price on the internet.”
There was no need to tell them the truth. Eunchan didn’t even know where these came from.
“Oh, and Boss, there’s a customer outside. I brought him, but we’re going to leave together later.”
“Who?”
“The person who commissioned the stalker case.”
He informed the boss of Miro’s presence. He planned to leave before lunch.
“Um……. I shouldn’t say this, but you know that person, he’s kind of strange. Scary.”
When Miro became the topic, Hyungsik hesitantly spoke up. Eunchan nodded in agreement with Hyungsik’s opinion. He himself sometimes got chills when seeing Miro’s strange behavior.
“You remember what I said before? Don’t be alone together with just the two of you.”
“Yes, I’ll be careful. I don’t think he likes me.”
It’s not that he doesn’t like you, it seems like he hates you. Eunchan swallowed his words while patting the back of Hyungsik’s head.
“Back then when hyung collapsed and I called an ambulance and went to the emergency room, that person was waiting there. His eyes turned fierce blue and he got angry at me…….”
“He got angry?”
Eunchan, who had never once seen Miro excited or angry, asked in surprise.
“Yes, he said if something happened to hyung, he’d kill me. He calmly told me ‘You, die.’ It was really creepy.”
“Originally quiet people are more dangerous. When they snap, they kill people.”
The boss, who had been quietly listening to Hyungsik’s words, chimed in with a cackle.
“I’ve never once seen that person get angry.”
He was someone who only smiled warmly every day and was desperate to put something in Eunchan’s hands and feed him.
“Have you gotten close? I tell you to work and you’re sitting around making friends, you little shit.”
“Give me workers’ compensation.”
When the boss scolded him for not working and playing around, Eunchan pointed to the bruise on his face and the wound on his head.
“How much was the hospital bill?”
“How much was it?”
Come to think of it, they’d never paid the hospital bill. Eunchan turned his head to ask Hyungsik, but Hyungsik didn’t know either. Then the only one left was Miro.
“Miro-ssi must have paid. We’ll settle that later, give us paid leave.”
“What paid leave? If you want to rest, take unpaid leave. You’re not even that hurt.”
“Have you ever felt your life threatened?”
If it hadn’t been for Hyungsik, Eunchan might have really died. When Eunchan protested, the boss responded with a ‘sue me’ attitude.
“That’s why I’m telling you to rest. But can you even rest? How long are you going to drag out that stalker case? Did you meet the lawyer again? There’s no progress on the work, no progress. Are you playing around?”
The boss crossed his arms, gesturing with his chin at the clothes Eunchan wore. Since nothing had actually been resolved until now, Eunchan just kept his mouth shut. It didn’t look like there was anything more to squeeze out of the boss.
“I’ll use my vacation days all at once later.”
“Sure.”
The conversation ended without gaining anything. When the discussion was somewhat wrapped up, Hyungsik began asking the boss about the customer who had come yesterday, as if he’d been waiting.
“Boss, did Choi Hanul come yesterday?”
“That idol? Yeah, he came briefly and left.”
The boss expressed disgust, saying the young punk was quite picky.
“Since hyung is busy, I’ll handle it with Boss, right?”
With expectant eyes, Hyungsik urged the boss.
“What’s the case?”
Recently they’d been dealing with construction companies, lawyers, and rich people, but originally they were an errand center that found people who ran off with group savings money, threatened people to pay back money, and got called for contract work. Curious about what kind of business would make an idol kid come all the way here without thinking about his image, Eunchan asked the boss.
“He wants us to find someone.”
“What, it’s not even separated families, everyone wants us to find people.”
Sick of finding people, Eunchan frowned.
“This one’s normal. He says there’s a friend he was close with in the past but he doesn’t know how they’re living, so he wants us to find them.”
That much was an easy request. Eunchan encouraged Hyungsik to do well, then stood up from his seat.
“Then I’ll get going.”
“Work, don’t play around.”
“Look more into Han Inju. And it’d be good if you could also look into Kim Noeul while you’re at it.”
Han Inju seemed like someone who would have something if you dug into him. Eunchan asked the boss without giving up his suspicions to the end. Leaving the two in the office, Eunchan came out first and found Miro dozing off with his face down on the desk.
‘You, die.’
The words Hyungsik had said while imitating Miro came to mind. Such an exaggeration. There’s no way Miro actually did that. He was a man who only trembled even in front of his rampaging younger brother. Eunchan approached Miro’s side and carefully shook his shoulder.
“Miro-ssi.”
Just calling his name once softly, Miro smoothly opened his eyes at that call. His pupils resembling sunlight and rose-colored lips drew a round line. Eunchan, his gaze stolen by Miro’s smile, just stood there blankly.
“Eunchan.”
In all his life, there was no one who called his name as much as Miro did. Miro clasped Eunchan’s hand. Miro’s pale and cool hand took away Eunchan’s hot warmth.
“……Let’s go grocery shopping.”
Unable to even pull his hand away, Eunchan lifted Miro up. It was fortunate that the boss and Hyungsik were in the office and didn’t see this scene. Gathering up the luggage bag and Miro, Eunchan hurriedly left the office.
