“Ah, no, that’s not it…”
“Hey, do I look easy to you? Huh? Do I look easy?”
The drunk man’s sneakers were already dirty with black charcoal stuck to them. The charcoal was dangerous, and his shoes were getting dirty too, so he shouldn’t kick it carelessly. Heewoo spoke with genuine concern.
“Your shoes are getting dirty…”
“No, you bastard. Who doesn’t know that? Don’t I know? Don’t I know?”
The man, his face turning bright red, stepped right up to Heewoo. The man, who was about the same eye level as Heewoo, poked Heewoo’s forehead with his index finger, tap, tap, as he spoke.
“You moron, these shoes, tsk. If they get dirty I can just sell them. Why? Because I can just buy new ones. Why? Because I have shit tons of money.”
“Ah… Still, there might be embers left in the charcoal, so it could be dangerous…”
“Hey.”
The atmosphere of the man who had been staggering drunkenly and speaking jokingly changed instantly. The man, positioned right in front of Heewoo’s nose, tilted his head crookedly and looked down at Heewoo. Every time he spoke, the smell of garlic, alcohol, and cigarettes from his mouth mixed haphazardly, flowing out as an indescribable stench.
The man finally began to slap Heewoo’s forehead, which he’d been poking with his index finger, with his palm hard enough to make thwack, thwack sounds. Heewoo, who endured by putting all his strength into his swaying body, lowered his eyes.
“You bastard, where do you get off talking back when an adult is speaking, talking back. Fuck, is that how your mom raised you?”
“Um, I’m sorry… Do your business, then I’ll be going…”
It didn’t seem like he could have a proper conversation with the man, and at this rate things seemed like they’d escalate, so Heewoo tried to leave quickly with good timing. After that, he could go to the owner couple and inform them about the drunk customer in the bathroom. It was when Heewoo quickly turned around to run away.
“Fuck, hey. You. Attention.”
He grabbed Heewoo’s nape roughly. His body, which had been about to rush forward, was restrained just like that, and Heewoo staggered, losing his balance. Then the man lowered his voice like a toad and shouted.
“Stand up straight! Attention!”
“Ah, ngh.”
At the loud voice, Heewoo, who hurriedly straightened his half-bent knees, trembled as he took the position of attention. Having been exposed to the violence of his drunk gambler father for a long time, Heewoo, even now more than four years after his father’s death, was still scared when older men shouted. So his current appearance was like a reflex action imprinted by fear.
The man seemed rather excited when Heewoo took the position of attention with a terrified face. The man, who had been staring at Heewoo, viciously kicked the back of Heewoo’s knee with the top of his foot.
“Urk, hng…”
“Well well, attention. Your posture’s breaking. Attention!”
Without even a chance to rub his numb thigh and the back of his knee, when he took the position of attention, the violence poured down again, precisely targeting his legs. The force, which had initially been just enough to break his posture, began to cross the line at some point.
Crack. Finally, the man’s foot properly kicked Heewoo’s leg.
Finally, Heewoo knocked over all the pile of charcoal he’d told him to be careful of and fell on top of it. When Heewoo’s appearance became a dirty mess from the black charcoal, the drunk man giggled and laughed.
“Ah, fuck, so funny. This bastard’s hilarious, does he really do everything he’s told? Huh?”
Heewoo, who had fallen, got up frantically and looked down at the pile of charcoal he’d destroyed first rather than tidying his dirty clothes. The boss would definitely be angry if he saw this. He’d said every time that cleaning up used charcoal was the most troublesome and annoying…
“Hey you bastard, before you worry about the charcoal, wipe the soot on your face. Ahaha, crazy. So fun… urk!”
The drunk man suddenly collapsed to the ground alone out of nowhere.
When the startled Heewoo turned around at the sound from behind, he saw some huge figure standing in front of that man. In the dark and musty space, there was only a dim bathroom light to rely on, but even in it, there was exactly one thing shining brightly.
Bright yellow golden eyes.
Golden eyes shining yellow like a beast’s flashed brilliantly even in the darkness. Heichi—he had appeared before Heewoo.
“What should I cut next?”
“Wh-what, ugh, what is this…”
“What I just cut was about eight bundles of blood vessels in the nasal cavity.”
Heewoo blankly stared at the man who was bent over, pouring blood from his nose like crazy. The small pool of blood drawn at his feet flowed along the low places and faintly reached Heewoo’s feet too.
To Heewoo, all of it felt like slow motion in a movie shown on television long ago. It wasn’t realistic at all.
“What, what is this, ah, hng… Am-ambulance. Someone please call an ambulance…”
The man clutching his nose desperately looked for an ambulance. What his gaze landed on was, perhaps naturally, Heewoo standing blankly. Ridiculously, he hoped for help, perhaps not even thinking about the fact that he’d been tormenting Heewoo until now.
The problem was that because of the blood pouring out every time the man spoke, his teeth and mouth were all stained with blood. It was grotesque enough to make even Heewoo, who had been staring blankly, flinch.
“There’s no need to call an ambulance. The bleeding will stop before then.”
As soon as Heichi spoke, the blood that had been dripping down along the man’s blocking hand stopped. Heewoo thought he’d used telekinesis like he’d seen at lunch today. However, Heichi added very calmly.
“If I’d cut about two more bundles, your sense of smell would have been ruined, and if I’d cut once more from there, the blood would have flowed backward and you would have died.”
“Hii, hiiii… Save me, save me, please save me.”
“Do you want to live? Attention.”
The man, overwhelmed by Heichi’s killing intent, straightened his body at the single word “attention” that flowed out briefly. As if he’d forgotten that his face was stained with blood, blood dripped down the man’s chin unsightly. At least he seemed to have gone to the military, as his posture was sharp.
“At-attention.”
When he took the position of attention, Heichi strode up to him. By that point, even Heewoo felt like he knew what action Heichi would take next. It was when he tried to stop him out of concern.
“What on earth is going on here!”
The owner’s wife came running from inside the shop. It seemed she’d come looking since Heewoo, who had gone to empty the bathroom trash can, hadn’t returned at all. She discovered the collapsed pile of charcoal, the dirtied Heewoo, and her customer standing at attention covered in blood.
“H-honey. Honey! Come out here!”
“What. What’s going on again… What?”
When the owner couple witnessed the entire scene simultaneously, Heewoo froze stiffly and couldn’t say anything. When he bowed his head like a sinner, the owner couple just blankly looked at Heichi, Heewoo, and the customer.
When everyone was at a loss for words and engulfed in shock, Heichi, who stood alone calmly, looked at the man who couldn’t drop the position of attention and spoke quietly.
“Do you do everything you’re told?”
***
Ding…
The shoulders of Heewoo, who came out opening the transparent door under the old sign reading “Matgal Meat Restaurant,” were drooping. The current time was 10 PM. Considering Heewoo’s original quitting time was 11 PM, it was a very early time.
‘…Heewoo. You worked hard all this time.’
With one statement from the owner, Heewoo’s part-time job that he’d worked for three months ended. The man, who had always patted Heewoo on the back, saying that unlike other young kids, he was always diligent and worked hard, silently went to the counter after seeing Heewoo rolling on the charcoal, took out one million won, and placed it in Heewoo’s arms.
One million won, even considering there were only a few days left until payday, was much more than his usual monthly salary. It was when the surprised Heewoo tried to only take what he’d worked for and return the remaining money.
‘Customer, we’re sorry. We hired the wrong part-timer. We’ve dealt with it right now, so please…’
Since things had turned out that way, he thought being fired was natural. It was something he’d been prepared for. But seeing the owner, who had patted him on the back saying he lived diligently, push all the responsibility onto him, Heewoo quietly stepped back. The boss didn’t even ask Heewoo about the whole story of what had happened.
After being fired from his part-time job and coming out like that, Heichi was waiting outside. Heewoo stopped short when he saw him.
“…Is your part-time job. Over?”
Heewoo didn’t really know what had happened in the situation just now either. Roughly guessing, he only thought Heichi might have used his superpower. In Heewoo’s head, the pale complexion of the customer who had been bleeding like water still floated around.
Normally, he would have been extremely afraid of Heichi, who had made a person like that. But Heewoo somehow didn’t want to do that.
Because he knew why he’d done it.
Heewoo, who moistened his lips once with his tongue—lips that were so dry they were cracked white because he couldn’t even apply lip balm once—spoke.
“Um, um. Heichi-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Today…”
Meanwhile, Heichi was anxious in his own way. Considering the city time of the nation Korea on the planet Earth, Heewoo’s original quitting time was 11 PM. The reason he came out this early was probably because he’d been fired from his workplace because of him just now.
Heichi thought that perhaps Heewoo might hate him. Because recently, every time he met him, he, who wasn’t even an unawakened Esper, kept making mistakes. Of course, even if he went back to that situation again now, he wouldn’t be able to properly hold onto his reason.
“I’m sorry, but could I go back today…”
“Would you like to go eat jjajangmyeon… What?”
The two people’s voices overlapped simultaneously. Heewoo, who had preciously held the one million won in his arms, looked at Heichi with round eyes.
“Don’t, don’t you like jjajangmyeon…?”
Heewoo’s favorite food, the immovable number 1. Heewoo, who hadn’t even thought there could be a person in this world who disliked jjajangmyeon, asked in a trembling voice. Hearing that question, Heichi forgot what he was going to say and answered.
“I like it.”
Even though there was no food by the name of jjajangmyeon to be found in the knowledge he’d acquired.
