Grrrrrrowl.
Lee Heewoo was startled by the sound from his stomach and clutched his belly. Of course, that didn’t stop the sound, but he was worried that other customers might hear it.
Today was when he returned to work at his original part-time jobs. After finishing his dawn convenience store shift, he was now at his lunch shift at the soup rice restaurant. The peak lunch hour had passed, so the interior was much more leisurely.
The problem was that it had been nearly 48 hours since Lee Heewoo had eaten. Normally he should have eaten a disposal lunch box or triangle kimbap from the convenience store, but since the convenience store had been closed for three days, there were no disposals.
On top of that, during the three days of rest at home, his rice ran out completely and there was nothing left to eat. The one ramen he had, he’d boiled with lots of water on the first day of rest and had long since divided it over three meals. Since he was off from his part-time jobs, idly resting at home with nothing but eating became poison to him.
“More kkakdugi here, please.”
“Yes!”
Lee Heewoo hurried over, grabbed the kkakdugi bowl the customer requested, and returned to the kitchen. Looking at the appetizingly arranged kkakdugi, his mouth filled with saliva. If only he could scoop just one spoonful of rice with kkakdugi on white rice.
That would be really nice.
“Customer, your kkakdugi.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Lee Heewoo delivered the kkakdugi to the customer while firmly pressing down his hungry heart. As soon as he turned around, loud sounds were coming from his stomach. It was when he was gently rubbing the protruding rib area, hoping it would quiet down even a little.
“Heewoo, did you eat lunch?”
At the boss’s voice from behind, Lee Heewoo’s eyes widened. The boss was sticking his head out from the kitchen, looking at Lee Heewoo. Lee Heewoo firmly pressed down his excited heart and shook his head no.
“Then let’s eat together. You’re going straight to another part-time job after this ends, right?”
“Ah, ah…! Yes, yes.”
“Set up a spoon in front so we can eat together. I’ll bring it out.”
Fortunate. Really fortunate.
If he’d gone straight to his next shift at the cafe without eating anything like this, his vision might have turned pitch black from the low blood pressure he often experienced. Lee Heewoo couldn’t calm his flushed face and set two sets of utensils on the table with a reddened complexion.
Originally, the boss of ‘Today’s Soup Rice’ didn’t provide lunch to part-timers who only worked 4 hours. Since the working hours were too awkward, he wanted most part-timers to take care of eating on their own before coming to work. It was also because they’d get sick of eating soup rice every day.
So it was an unexpected meal… Lee Heewoo, seated, gulped at the sight of the hot soup rice approaching before his eyes. He couldn’t even remember when he’d last eaten a proper meal like this.
“Kkakdugi? Kimchi?”
“Kka-kkakdugi…”
“True, I find kkakdugi tastier too.”
Soon the boss sat across from him. The soup rice restaurant boss hadn’t known Lee Heewoo for very long. In the first place, Lee Heewoo had started working part-time at this soup rice restaurant less than a month ago. The two began eating in an awkward atmosphere.
Unlike what he used at home, stirring the hot soup rice with clean, new-looking utensils made his saliva seem to drip. Lee Heewoo couldn’t endure the still-steaming soup rice any longer and scooped up a spoonful, pushing it into his mouth. Then he scrunched up his eyes because it was too hot.
“Hey hey. It must be hot.”
“It’s, it’s fine.”
When it’s been two days since he’s eaten, how could heat matter? Lee Heewoo raised his other hand that wasn’t holding the spoon and waved it around to reassure the boss. Soon, busy spoon work began.
He ate the soup rice with plenty of kkakdugi piled on whenever he had a chance. The unfortunate thing was that Lee Heewoo’s stomach, which had been eating small portions for a long time, had shrunk considerably, so from when about 1/3 of the soup rice remained, his stomach became very full. However, Lee Heewoo felt even a single grain of remaining rice was precious, so he lifted the entire earthenware pot and drank it down.
“Haha, is it that delicious? You ate it so clean. Won’t even need to wash the dishes.”
“Yes, yes…! It’s delicious. Really delicious.”
He didn’t know if it was delicious because he was hungry, or if this soup rice was truly delicious. But seeing the boss looking pleased at Lee Heewoo finishing his meal cleanly, Lee Heewoo also gave a thumbs up.
—Delivery Family, order!
A delivery order came into the relatively leisurely store. Lee Heewoo, who’d just finished eating, hurriedly got up, put away the bowl he’d eaten from, and started preparing the packaging. The boss, who had been eating his soup rice half-heartedly as if sick of it, also went into the kitchen and was cooking soup rice.
After finishing that order, it was 3 PM. It was when exactly one hour remained until the end of his shift. Since it was a time when hardly anyone was eating, there were no customers in the store.
—…is. The extraterrestrial lifeforms called ‘Espers’ who visited Earth several days ago are continuing their search to find so-called ‘Guides.’ Regardless of marital status, it’s been reported that this includes married women and married men as well.
The anchor’s voice came from beyond the store TV that was usually left on. Lee Heewoo, who had been wiping each washed utensil with a dishcloth, also blankly looked at the screen.
“Huh, the world really is ending.”
The boss from the kitchen came out while wiping his wet hands on his apron. He put his hands on his hips and focused on the flowing news. Then he suddenly spoke to Lee Heewoo, who was sitting in the back.
“You heard too, right, Heewoo? Those Esper things or whatever going around looking for Guides.”
“Guides…? I, well…”
“You don’t know? It’s chaos around these days. They say there are a few people on Earth who are Guides, who have the power to purify. Those Esper things came all the way to Earth to find their ‘match’ among them.”
“Ah, really…”
Even hearing that, Lee Heewoo didn’t have any particular thoughts. He thought it was a story from another world. While mechanically responding to the boss’s words, his fingers wiping the utensils didn’t stop.
“But when they find that match, or destined Guide or whatever, the Esper’s eyes go crazy, they say. They don’t distinguish between married women or married men. They don’t care about gender or age or anything.”
“Then what do they do…?”
“I don’t know either. Someone I know right now was identified as a ‘Guide’ and some Esper is following them around…”
The boss’s voice, which had been continuing in a stream, suddenly lowered. Even though he was in a store with no one else, he lowered his voice as if telling a secret.
“They act like they’d give their liver and gallbladder. The problem is that that Esper is a woman, and she’s already a married woman.”
“Gasp, then they’re both women?”
“Yeah. So.”
Even though Korea has become much more open compared to the old days, the fact was it was still conservative about matters like being gay or lesbian. But from what he heard, those Espers who came looking for their ‘match’ didn’t seem to care much about gender.
Lee Heewoo, who had been wiping utensils while giving appropriate responses, also started to feel curious by then. Lee Heewoo asked while picking up the next utensil.
“Then that person’s husband, is he okay with it…?”
“Of course he’s not okay! That household is in chaos right now. Lucky or not that they’re DINK… If they’d had kids.”
Aside from the battleship floating overhead, he’d thought it was no different from usual, but that seemed to be only because Lee Heewoo was isolated from the world. Knowingly or unknowingly, the world had been turned upside down.
When Lee Heewoo, who’d finished wiping all the utensils, gathered the utensil holders from each table and organized them one by one, it approached roughly 4 o’clock. Lee Heewoo untied the apron he’d been wearing and greeted the boss.
“Um, Boss…”
“Yeah yeah, sure. Time’s already gotten like this. Then see you tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
Lee Heewoo, who’d finished organizing until the very last moment, put on the worn padding he’d come in wearing and went outside. Ding-a-ling, when he opened the door and went out, a cold wind came rushing. Without a single glove, he crumpled his whitened, curled-up hands into his pockets and hurried his steps.
It was a 30-minute walk to his next part-time job location, Cafe Bonita. He had to move busily to arrive without being late.
Since the rushing wind was so strong, he couldn’t raise his head. His ear tips had already turned bright red and were complaining of pain, but it was so cold he couldn’t even feel that well. It was when he was moving his steps busily with his head deeply lowered like that.
Grab.
Someone grabbed Lee Heewoo’s padding sleeve. Lee Heewoo, who’d been busy walking, stopped in his tracks, startled.
“Excuse me.”
It was a low voice. When he slowly raised his head, a man taller than Lee Heewoo was looking down at him. But the clothes he was wearing were somehow familiar.
“…Who are you?”
“Ah, well.”
Where had he seen those clothes—they were similar to the clothes of the customer who came when he was working at the convenience store. That thing on his chest… He thought the color had been different.
“I’m an Esper… Are you perhaps a Guide?”
Again.
He heard the same question again. Lee Heewoo didn’t know what to answer and raised his head to look at the man.
“Ah, you don’t know… Um, you seem like a Guide. Would you hold my hand just once?”
A hand was suddenly thrust forward. Lee Heewoo blankly looked down at the stiff, large hand that approached again.
—
Are aliens really abducting people right now?
You know those aliens from the news a few days ago. Espers or whatever;
I’ve been browsing communities and there’s talk that they’re going around targeting married people ㄷㄷ (shivering)
Schools are all still closed.. fuck but why isn’t our company closed
Anyway this is just a meme right? If it’s real it’s fucking scary lololol
‣Likes(17)│Comments(8)
Anon1: I saw on the news too. They’re looking for Guides
Anon2: But why do they only look for married men and women lololol
⤷Anon8: A passing married man’s heart trembles
Anon3: No no no it’s not just married men and women, they say if you’re a Guide that matches them they don’t care at all
Anon4: For real so scary but in the midst of this our company not closing is scarier
⤷Anon7: Where’s the company? fuck no need to mention conglomerates, same here too
Anon5: If it’s real take my wife away…
Anon6: ?? Is this real or a meme, I’m confused
—
Breaking news: When Espers meet Guides they definitely try to hold hands first ㄷㄷ
Just watched the news and it’s real
When Espers find their Guides they try to hold hands first,,,
I heard that’s how they check the matching rate?
Is this a movie or reality lololololololol
News vans came in front of the company too;; reporters are swarming
Someone said they saw an Esper so everyone ran out for real it’s chaos
‣Likes(13)│Comments(8)
Anon1: If they hold hands like that and you’re a match you’re fucked
Anon2: What does it mean they can tell by holding hands lololololol are they reading palms?
Anon4: But honestly if they held my hand I’d be a bit fluttered
⤷Anon8: Bro should I hold yours?
Anon5: They’re not looking for Guides, that’s just dating
Anon6: They do it to kids too;; fuck does being an alien mean you can break the law
Anon7: Some kid held out their hand in front of the convenience store just now and I almost had a heart attack lololol
—
Espers go completely crazy when they meet their match
I heard from a reporter friend
When Espers really find their ‘match’ they act like they’ll give their liver, heart, everything
Their eyes just go crazy;
They’ll just give everything they have, honestly who wouldn’t fall for that?
Their planet has gold and diamonds overflowing so most of them are fucking rich
They say they’ll give all that, how can married women and men not fall for it lololololol
But once they’re connected, other people don’t even catch their eye
Yesterday on the news some Esper was like ‘only that person completes me’ blah blah
What is this really, this fantasy-like world lololol
‣Likes(10)│Comments(7)
Anon1: Ugh burdensome lolol
Anon2: At this point it’s a religion
Anon3: I want to be loved like that too.. but now by a handsome alien.
⤷Anon5: You know Espers are only super pretty and super handsome right?
Anon4: Yesterday someone on the street asked ‘Are you a Guide?’ so I ran away
Anon6: At this rate there’ll be a day when they marry humans
Anon7: Alien romance live-action let’s go lololol
