The next morning at dawn, Heewoo got up from his seat with puffy eyes. It was because he had fallen asleep without digesting the salty and spicy Chinese food he’d eaten late last night.
As soon as Heewoo woke up, he folded the floral cotton quilt he’d been covered with all night and thought of another person besides himself who had been covered by this blanket yesterday. Naturally, it was Heichi.
‘Didn’t you say you liked me?’
Flustered by Heichi’s out-of-the-blue certainty, Heewoo raised his hand and waved it while correcting his words.
‘Wh-when I said I liked you, it wasn’t that kind of meaning, just, it’s favorable feelings…’
‘Ah. I see. Just favorable feelings.’
‘Yes, yes.’
Heichi seemed somewhat disappointed after hearing Heewoo’s words, but Heewoo couldn’t lie either, so he was quite troubled. After that, the two who had been awkwardly holding hands naturally parted ways as time passed. Heichi had left.
The embarrassed Heewoo remained alone in the house and took a few sips of the boiled barley tea before falling asleep. After sleeping like the dead again, it was 4 AM when he had to go to work at the convenience store.
Everything about eating all the food he wanted at the Chinese restaurant yesterday felt like a dream. For the first time in a while, Heewoo prepared for work with a full stomach even without eating breakfast. Even as he tied his shoelaces and went outside where the biting wind was blowing, he was so excited that his feet naturally pattered.
“Good morning.”
What he encountered as soon as he went outside was naturally Heichi. Meeting Heichi just 4 hours after they’d parted, he was wearing a coat and suit with a design no different from yesterday but in impeccably clean condition without a single wrinkle, waiting for Heewoo in front of his house.
“Go…good morning.”
Heewoo, who awkwardly greeted him, stood beside Heichi in a quite natural manner. While going to the bus stop to catch the bus, Heichi guarded Heewoo’s side with his massive build as if blocking the pouring wind.
“Have you eaten?”
“Fo-food? Breakfast, not yet…”
“Then please have this.”
Heichi, who slipped his hand into his coat pocket, took out something rolled up in long silver foil. That food, familiar even to Heewoo’s eyes, was gimbap.
“Uh, where did you get this…”
“I obtained it from not far away. Please eat it while it’s warm.”
“…Thank you.”
The current time was 4 AM. No matter how specialized a restaurant was in breakfast, it was rare for shops to open from 4 AM, and moreover, there were no shops nearby where one could buy gimbap. Yet the gimbap Heichi handed over was surprisingly still warm.
Heewoo, who had been warming his frozen hands with the gimbap, stood it up vertically, then tore off the top part appropriately. And he pushed a big bite in from the bottom end.
The gimbap wasn’t the vegetable gimbap sold cheaply at stores recently that didn’t even have a single strip of ham. It was expensive gimbap filled with plenty of stir-fried beef that completely filled his mouth. Soon Heewoo’s both cheeks puffed up like a squirrel stockpiling food for the winter.
“Delicious…”
The gimbap truly disappeared in an instant. It was so delicious that he’d already finished one roll before even getting on the bus. As Heewoo crumpled the empty foil and put it in his pocket, he belatedly realized that he had devoured it all by himself without offering even one bite to Heichi.
It was really the first time eating gimbap with beef in it, so he unconsciously indulged his appetite. Heewoo, who began to feel self-conscious, observed Heichi’s complexion and then stealthily approached his side.
Then he slowly extended his hand toward Heichi’s hand. When he pushed just his index finger smoothly between the large hand hanging below, he felt Heichi take a deep breath. Heewoo, who raised his head, made eye contact with him.
“Uh, um, it’s because I’m grateful…”
The golden eyes he met were somehow full of surprised signs, so Heewoo felt awkward. He thought everyone would be happy if he held their hand, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. He was about to pull his hand back, thinking he should get permission before holding hands next time.
“Why.”
“Wh-what?”
“Why are you taking it away again?”
To be precise, it wasn’t ‘taking’ but ‘pulling back’. Thinking that as an alien he might be confused, instead of pointing that out, Heewoo scratched his head with his empty hand and said.
“You seemed surprised…”
“I want to stay like this. Is that okay?”
“Uh, yes, please do…”
“If you feel bad, please tell me.”
Was there any reason to feel bad about holding hands? Of course, it looked a bit awkward for two men to hold hands, but right now it was 4 AM in the middle of winter. Which meant it was still dark because the sun hadn’t risen yet.
The two men stood holding hands until the first bus they’d been waiting for at the midwinter bus stop arrived. They also briefly let go while getting on the bus, then clasped hands again as if by promise when sitting in the very back seat.
“Um, Heichi-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“…But how are you always around me?”
While riding the bus, Heewoo asked what he’d been curious about. Now that he knew he was an alien and a person with superpowers, he thought it might be possible, but he was still curious.
Heichi, who had been looking only at the front of the bus while firmly holding hands, glanced back at Heewoo at that question, then turned his gaze forward again and said.
“I want to see you.”
It was somehow an embarrassing thing to say, but on the other hand, it also seemed like an arrogant statement meaning he could see him whenever he wanted to see him. With those words, the two didn’t have any conversation until they got off the bus, just holding hands.
* * *
Convenience store part-time work definitely wasn’t high in labor intensity compared to other part-time jobs. However, since he had to look after the entire store by himself, he inevitably had many encounters with customers.
Watching office workers with empty eyes no different from usual buying breakfast, Heewoo just wished for time to pass quickly. Until just a few days ago, he had hoped time wouldn’t pass because convenience store work was the easiest, but now he became impatient because it seemed like Heichi would be waiting for him after it ended.
When it became 8 AM, quite a few people had gathered inside the convenience store and it was bustling. Standing guard in front of the counter, Heewoo looked around at them and became curious whether there might be Guides among them too.
“Check out, please.”
Then one customer stood at the counter holding two triangle gimbap and one cup noodles. When he mechanically scanned the barcode and tapped the screen, the customer inserted their card into the card terminal on their own.
“Excuse me, where’s this new product?”
“Ah, that’s over there…”
“Do you have stockings here by any chance?”
Whenever it seemed leisurely, work always piled up at once. Heewoo saw customers looking for him here and there and left the counter as soon as he finished the payment. He was looking for the item the customer mentioned by going inside the display shelf when he thought he heard a ding-a-ling sound.
It was a normal thing for new customers to come while handling work. After finding the stocking display for the customer, Heewoo was about to return to the counter. That is, if he hadn’t bumped quite hard into someone behind him as soon as he turned around.
“Oh.”
Earlier, Heewoo had naturally taken off the old padding he’d worn to put on the convenience store vest that was his uniform, and the clothes he wore underneath were very thin. It was a t-shirt he’d been wearing since his student days, so the sleeves had become short and his wrists were exposed.
Because of that, the other person’s hand bumped into Heewoo’s forearm. Bare skin touched bare skin. Startled by the body heat that was not just warm but hot, Heewoo rubbed his forearm and looked at the other person.
“Ha.”
It was a face he’d never seen before. But one thing was certain—the man before his eyes was an Esper.
“What are you?”
“Um, excuse me, customer…”
“You’re Brown or higher, right? Huh? Fuck, there was treasure hidden here.”
The complexion of the Esper whose bare skin had touched his turned red and blue. His extremely excited face seemed both ominously angry and elated at the same time.
“Ha, this, why only now…”
Heewoo just watched the series of events with blank eyes. The roughly excited man grabbed Heewoo’s wrist and pulled him, and unpleasant warmth was transmitted over the touching bare skin. In the process, the items on the display shelf that had trapped the two people poured down in a mess.
“Why am I only discovering this now?”
“Um, I, please let go of this…”
“Can’t let go, fuck. How can I let go of this?”
The Esper didn’t even pretend to hear Heewoo’s request to let go. By the time he came to his senses, Heewoo was already almost crushed in his embrace. He truly voraciously groped here and there on Heewoo’s exposed bare skin, trying to make contact with as many areas as possible.
It was an act that was not just desperate but disgusting. At that moment, the news content that Heewoo had watched alone even after Heichi left last night came to his mind.
‘—According to investigation results, among the Guides currently existing on Earth, Grade 5 and above Guides preferred by Espers are very rare.’
‘—However, it is known that the number of Espers requiring Grade 5 and above Guides is quite substantial.’
‘—Accordingly, it is being suggested that if such high-grade Guides come into contact with so-called starving Espers, unforeseen problems may occur…’
