# 052. Day and Night (6)
In the end, Jaehee was dragged by Jeongwoo to a famous conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Jeongwoo had said it was popular on social media, and despite being slightly past lunchtime, there were still quite a few people there. Seeing this made Jaehee wonder if dungeons opening and everything else had been just a dream. Although he grumbled about why they needed to come to a place like this, once they were actually out for a meal, his mood improved.
Jaehee sat across from Jeongwoo and began devouring sushi. Truth be told, Jaehee was hungry too, so their table was quickly piled high with round plates like a small mountain.
“Hey, but seriously, what was that about earlier?”
“Huh? What…?”
No matter how much Jaehee thought about it, what happened earlier didn’t make much sense. While he couldn’t say he was particularly close with Lee Shinhoo, he had a reasonably good impression of him, and moreover, today was supposed to be about expressing gratitude. He couldn’t understand why Jeongwoo had behaved that way.
Annoyed at Jeongwoo for pretending not to know while clearly understanding what he meant, Jaehee kicked his leg under the table. Jeongwoo must have felt the pain, but he didn’t show it at all and instead pushed a plate of flounder sushi toward Jaehee.
“You like flounder, don’t you?”
Even when Jeongwoo was annoying, seeing him act like this made it impossible to stay mad at him. Looking at his smirking face, Jaehee couldn’t find any trace of the behavior he’d shown earlier at Guild Sahae.
Actually, Jaehee hadn’t thought Jeongwoo was truly angry back at Guild Sahae either. Jeongwoo wasn’t the type of person who acted on emotional impulses. Even when Jeongwoo’s actions might seem driven by emotions at first, when examining them carefully later, you could tell that everything was calculated in his own way.
It would be nice if he’d just explain clearly, but seeing him act so evasive made it obvious he had no intention of talking about it.
“…So I heard Manager Kim is moving too.”
“Huh? Really? Manager Kim lived in that apartment with the Han River view, right? Before the dungeons appeared, he was always showing off about how his property value had increased. He sold that apartment?”
“Yeah, seriously, this guy is so frustrating. Does property price even matter in the world we live in now? What’s the point of Han River views and all that? What’s important now is the King! King! All property values are being determined around Kings now. You know how quick Manager Kim is with these things, right? Even before, he somehow knew exactly which areas were getting redeveloped and moved accordingly. Plus, there’s not much time left before the Global Mission deadline. Just thinking about it makes me want to pull my hair out.”
“So where did Manager Kim move to?”
“Ugh, he was being sneaky about it. Apparently, he just sent his wife and child ahead first and kept his address registered at the old place.”
“Hey, that’s useless then. We need to know where they went so we can make a move too.”
“Wait. My wife is asking around now, and someone said they have a relative who’s a King. You need to move near where a King lives so your kids can at least go to school without worry. Everyone’s keeping it hush-hush, but remember what the Status Window said? Only Kings can avoid disaster.”
“That’s true, but can we trust someone who claims to know a King? Even if it’s true, isn’t it already too late for us to get in?”
“Who knows. But we should at least try what we can, right? If we just find out where a King is, we’ve got to grab their pant leg or kneel down or whatever it takes to be accepted. If not for me, then at least for my children…”
“Sigh, I don’t know how the world turned out like this. People used to complain about ‘Hell Joseon,’ and now it’s become ‘Hell Earth.'”
Jaehee, who had been inadvertently listening to the office workers’ conversation next to them, hung his head low.
Inwardly, Jaehee opened his Status Window and checked the Global Mission.
[♢ Global Mission: Become a King, or become a subject. ♢
Countdown D-6 (Progress: 62.1350%)]
With less than a week remaining, some Kings had recently started publicly recruiting subjects. However, it was still difficult for ordinary people to find their King. Even if they knew who was a King, it wasn’t easy to ask them to accept them as subjects.
“Jeongwoo, is there a limit to how many subjects a King can have?”
Jaehee whispered softly, worried that others might hear. Jeongwoo shook his head with a bitter expression.
“No, I don’t think there’s anything like that.”
“Then why are people so desperate to find Kings? If there’s no limit on numbers, they could just accept everyone, right?”
“There are various issues. First, having many subjects can be a burden for Kings. And of course, they want to accept people they can trust, people close to them, or people with abilities first. There’s also the fact that creating limitations makes more people flock to you. And ultimately, accepting subjects is solely the King’s choice, so no one can force or demand it.”
Jeongwoo smiled a little as he said this. The smile looked so lonely that Jaehee turned his head away.
Seeing people frantically searching for Kings made his head complicated.
Until now, he had only thought about how being a King would help his family. Psychologically, there was still a barrier to accepting others as his subjects. Even now, he thought it would be enough if just his family was safe. He had intentionally tried not to think beyond that.
But hearing these conversations made him uneasy.
“Jaehee, let’s get going now.”
Seeing Jaehee’s expression darken, Jeongwoo grabbed his hand and pulled him up. Jaehee pretended to give in and took Jeongwoo’s hand. Before leaving the sushi restaurant, Jaehee glanced at the office workers at the next table. They were ordinary-looking salarymen that could be seen anywhere.
Even people like that all have to find a King.
What should he do? His thoughts grew complicated.
Jaehee and Jeongwoo walked to the subway station entrance without saying a word.
The subway, which had once stopped operating, was now running again except for some lines. Perhaps because they were in a busy area, there were quite a few people inside the subway.
“This station is Jamsil, Jamsil Station. The doors will open on…”
Listening to the familiar subway noise and announcements, Jaehee sank back into his thoughts. While pondering about Kings and what he should do going forward, he snapped back to reality when he realized Jeongwoo was calling him.
“Jaehee, are you angry?”
Seeing Jeongwoo fidgeting, it seemed he thought Jaehee was angry because he hadn’t heard him speaking. Jaehee was about to say no, but changed his mind and nodded.
“Because you don’t tell me anything. Then you suddenly go to the guild and pick a fight.”
“No, that’s not it… That was just.”
“Fine, I won’t force you to say things you find difficult to talk about. But tell me what you can. Does that Seongyakseong refer to Constellations? Then are you in danger too?”
“No… I mean, yes. Seongyakseong does mean Constellation, and I do have a Constellation. But it’s not necessarily dangerous. Remember I told you before that I had a master who helped me become a Zero? That’s my Constellation.”
“Then why were you so angry with Shinhoo-ssi? If your Constellation is fine, couldn’t Shinhoo-ssi’s Constellation be fine too?”
Jeongwoo firmly shook his head at Jaehee’s words.
“That’s not the case. My Constellation isn’t dangerous because our goals align. But other Constellations are different. They’re greedy. They wouldn’t make contracts without purpose. Just look at Kim Shin this time. In a way, Kim Shin was used by his Constellation. The more he used that black flame, that power, the more Kim Shin’s body was transformed into a vessel. The contract was made without proper explanation.”
“Jeongwoo, then aren’t you in danger too? The flame, you also…”
“No. Contract conditions are all different. I’m fine for now.”
“Then are all other Zeros bad people? Because they made contracts with Constellations?”
“N-not necessarily… Some became Zeros through their own power alone. But still, Constellations are…”
“Jeongwoo, I don’t know why you’re so averse to Constellations, but let’s not judge people before we’ve experienced them firsthand.”
“Jaehee, but this…!”
“The same goes for Shinhoo-ssi. You created that hostile atmosphere, which is why things turned out that way. Actually, the atmosphere was fine at first, wasn’t it?”
“Do bad people walk around with ‘I’m a bad person’ written on their faces? You… your problem is that you trust people too easily. People are… people, Jaehee.”
Jeongwoo got emotional and was about to say something, but then closed his mouth.
Jaehee looked at Jeongwoo and snickered. Did Jeongwoo think he was a mother hen and Jaehee was a chick?
“You think I trust people easily? No way. A suspicious coward like me? Jeongwoo, I’m just saying don’t judge before experiencing something firsthand. Same with Shinhoo-ssi. When have I met him enough to trust him? I just think from his perspective, today must have seemed ridiculous. If you both made contracts with Constellations, but yours is okay and his is bad? That’s why I’m saying, let’s just have some flexibility in our thinking.”
Jeongwoo bit his lip tightly. Jaehee leaned his head against Jeongwoo’s shoulder. He could feel Jeongwoo taking several deep breaths.
“…Okay. I got it.”
Jaehee grinned and patted Jeongwoo’s butt.
“Good. Our Jeongwoo is so good. Next time you meet Shinhoo-ssi, apologize and get along well, okay? Like you said, since you’re skilled, if Shinhoo-ssi tries anything funny, you can teach him a lesson.”
“…Okay.”
Seeing Jeongwoo’s face turn red, Jaehee giggled and playfully smacked his butt again, making silly jokes.
