# Chapter 49
Why do people have to leave their beds?
As the time to go out approached, useless thoughts occupied my mind. I lay with my arms neatly placed on my chest, checked the time on my phone three times, and only then was I able to leave my bed.
“Habin, it’s time to go!”
My dad’s loud shout came through the door. I missed the timing to answer since I was changing clothes. Thinking ‘I’ll answer after I change and go out,’ I picked up the top I had prepared the night before.
While I was putting my head through the sweatshirt, the door opened. Turning around in an awkward pose at the unexpectedly opened door, I saw my dad standing there with chopsticks in his hand.
“Were you changing clothes?”
“Yeah. I missed the timing to answer.”
“You’ll eat before going out, right?”
“Of course.”
After finishing this brief conversation, my dad closed the door and left, and I resumed getting dressed. After leisurely changing clothes and gathering my things, I went outside to find everyone sitting at the dining table.
“What’s this, Lee Yumin, you’re going out too?”
“Unlike some people, I have lots of friends.”
“Hitting me with facts.”
I asked one question because she was wearing outdoor clothes instead of pajamas, and I got a verbal jab. I felt a phantom pain in my solar plexus and was lightly rubbing it when I was told to sit down and eat quickly.
“You’ll come home early today, right?”
“I don’t have any plans, so I’ll come back after finishing the store cleanup.”
“Are you sure you’re not going unnecessarily when you’re busy?”
“A first-year high school student has no reason to be busy.”
“Look at Yumin. She’s busy even though she’s just a middle schooler.”
Lee Yumin, who was eating a bulgogi patty, looked up at me and smirked. I felt a surge of anger as I realized the many meanings contained in that single smile, but I held it in since we were eating.
“If it’s too hard, just don’t do it and come back, okay?”
I wondered what would be difficult about leisurely organizing things alone in a store that wasn’t even operating, but I obediently nodded.
I finished a bowl of rice cleanly amid the occasional conversation and got up from my seat. It was time for me to leave for my appointment with my uncle.
I gave Yumin’s head, who was still eating, a meaningless tap and headed for the front door. I heard her complaining behind me, but I gracefully ignored it.
“I’m going now.”
After properly putting on my shoes by tapping the floor with my toes, I shouted loud enough to reach the dining table. I opened the front door and left, hearing faint responses.
It was a 30-minute bus ride to my uncle’s store, so I put in my earphones and zoned out. Fortunately, the bus I needed to take arrived not long after I got to the bus stop.
Killing time by occasionally checking my phone and looking out the window, I soon arrived at the stop where I needed to get off. I walked diligently toward the building with the pool hall. I sighed at the fact that the pool hall was on the third floor of a building without an elevator, but with no other choice, I had to walk up the stairs.
“I’m tired, so tired.”
Even though I hadn’t done anything, fatigue was washing over me. After entering the store’s security code and opening the locked door, I found no less than ten boxes stacked at the entrance.
“…Didn’t he say it was just a little?”
Ten boxes is a little, really?
Since I couldn’t back out after already agreeing, I found a knife at the counter and opened the boxes. With paper cups, snacks, and drinks, I wondered when I would finish organizing it all.
Since no one was around, I turned on music loudly through the speakers and moved diligently. When I had finished about half and needed to go to the bathroom, I stepped out of the store and heard a loud noise.
“What’s going on?”
Even though the shopping area was usually noisy, it wasn’t to this degree. The continuous disturbance, mixing horn sounds and shouts, didn’t fit this place.
Unable to contain my curiosity, I looked out the window and saw five or six motorcycles and people holding wooden clubs chasing someone. Moreover, they were all wearing school uniforms, making it immediately obvious they were high school students.
‘I thought they were cracking down on motorcycle riding! I thought they weren’t using things like wooden clubs!’
My eyes shook with shock. I tried to back away, not wanting to get involved in such a fierce situation, when I realized the face of the person being chased looked familiar.
“Kang Jinwoo?”
What on earth happened to put him in that situation?
Beyond being dumbfounded, I couldn’t pretend not to have seen it once I knew the person being chased. I thought about contacting Kwon Dojin, but there was no guarantee Jinwoo would be okay until he arrived.
“Ugh…”
I really didn’t want to get involved. Even as I made a sad face, I quickly went down the stairs. When I was looking out the window, Jinwoo was coming into the alley that led to the building stairs, so I could meet him if I timed it right.
The moment I opened the stairwell door, I was lucky enough to see Jinwoo passing by, so I immediately reached out and grabbed him. He reflexively tried to shake me off, probably because he was being chased, but I gripped tightly and barely held on.
“Come this way, quickly.”
“You-“
Jinwoo looked surprised, but there was no time to explain as the guys on motorcycles were watching us. I pulled Jinwoo’s arm and quickly climbed the stairs.
“If you go into the building, there’s nowhere to run!”
“I have a plan, so stop arguing and follow me!”
Running up three flights of stairs naturally left me out of breath. Newly aware of my disastrous fitness level, I opened the pool hall door and went inside. I locked the glass door and then closed and locked the iron door behind it.
Then I picked up my phone from the counter and turned off the music that was inappropriately playing in the empty store.
“Is it okay for you to just come in like this?”
I looked at Kang Jinwoo with envious eyes as, unlike me, his breathing wasn’t labored.
“This is, huff, my uncle’s store-“
“Your physical condition is seriously concerning.”
I felt a surge of anger as Jinwoo looked at me pitifully. But since my lack of fitness was a fact, I had nothing to say.
As I was catching my breath, I heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, making all sorts of commotion. They must have come up late because they had to park those noisy motorcycles. They probably also thought there was nowhere to run now that we had entered the building, as Jinwoo had first pointed out.
Jinwoo, who had been looking relaxed, immediately hardened his expression and looked at the door as soon as he heard the footsteps.
“This way.”
I obediently moved at his action of pointing behind himself with a low voice and hid behind Jinwoo.
“Where the hell is that bastard Kang Jinwoo hiding?”
“Did he go into a store?”
“Yeah. But there was no one there.”
I heard banging sounds along with all sorts of swearing. They must be hitting the railing or something with the wooden clubs they were holding.
“What about here?”
I instinctively realized they were referring to the pool hall. Even though I knew in my head that they couldn’t come in since we had already closed the door and securely locked the iron door, fear was still fear.
“It’s obviously not open. How could Jinwoo get in?”
“I guess you’re right?”
Jinwoo, who had been tense with me, let out a sigh of relief as the others easily dismissed their suspicion. Feeling relieved along with him, I kept my mouth shut until everyone at the door disappeared.
“I thought you were a complete coward.”
“I am a coward, so please be quiet. My heart is still pounding.”
I made a sad face while clutching my thumping chest. It was only because I knew him; otherwise, I would have shut my eyes tight and pretended not to see anything.
As I was squatting with my head down, I felt warmth on the top of my head. When I raised my face, Jinwoo stroked my hair a couple of times with a subtle expression.
“Thank you. I got away easily thanks to you.”
“Yeah.”
Hearing those words made me feel completely relieved. I was additionally glad that it ended without any serious incident.
“By the way, where’s Kwon Dojin?”
“At home, I guess?”
“What? You’re not together?”
“Is there any reason I have to be with Kwon Dojin on weekends too?”
“You were always together, so I thought it would be the same this time.”
Were we together that much?
I looked back on the past days, but there didn’t seem to have been anything special, so my question remained. Jinwoo waved his hand, saying never mind.
“But why were you being chased by people like that, sunbae?”
“I had a conflict with Hae-in sunbae.”
“Huh? Just for that reason?”
“It might seem like ‘just that reason’ to you, but it’s quite a sensitive issue in the ranking. It would be different if I had subordinates like him, but I don’t have that anymore, right?”
The ranking system really is good for nothing. I clicked my tongue at this brutal world and picked up my phone.
“You know who those people are, right?”
“I do, why?”
“Let me at least tell Kwon Dojin. I heard they were supposed to crack down on things like wooden clubs and motorcycles.”
“Oh, that? That’s just Baek Han and Kwon Dojin enforcing rules. Who follows that these days?”
I parted my lips at this new fact. So it is a real thing after all. Should I be grateful that there are people who actively enforce the rules?
“Would it be useless to tell him?”
“It would be useful. Kwon Dojin and Baek Han have the strongest influence.”
I was nodding at Jinwoo’s words when I suddenly paused. I just realized something—why am I accepting this so naturally? They say humans are creatures of adaptation, but I wasn’t even fazed by such cringeworthy statements.
I pressed my forehead, trying to remember when this started, when I got up at Jinwoo’s call, dusting myself off.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing. If it would be useful, I thought I’d at least tell him, so could you tell me who they are?”
“Sure.”
I handed my phone with the notepad open to Jinwoo, who gave a brief answer. He showed a moment of hesitation before firmly setting his expression and moving his thumb.
“I think there were more than this.”
When I took back the phone Jinwoo handed over and skimmed through the personal information, there were only a few people. I recognized more than five people, but the information written down was at most four.
“That’s enough. We usually just catch the ringleaders. It’s too exhausting to catch everyone one by one.”
“That makes sense.”
I nodded in understanding and texted Kwon Dojin. I felt a bit sorry to contact him like this from Saturday afternoon, but what could I do?
For my own safety in a potential situation, the wooden clubs and motorcycles needed to disappear.
