By Zephyria 
Eun-myeong’s shoulders slumped. When he regained his senses and looked around, the room was a disaster, as if a storm had swept through. Dirty footprints were stamped haphazardly all over the place, and everything from the wardrobe to the dining table seemed to have been overturned.
What on earth was happening to Noona? Why were those thugs looking for her?
The Eun-joo noona he knew was absolutely not the kind of person to harm others. She considered causing a nuisance a sin and cherished even a single grain of someone else’s rice.
“…….”
Where… where could Noona have gone? It would be a relief if she had run away as the thugs said, but what if something bad had happened…? A chill ran down his spine, giving him goosebumps.
“…Ah.”
What should he do? Eun-myeong paced the house anxiously, picking at the hangnails by his fingertips.
Then, he lay flat on his stomach on the yellowish linoleum floor. He poked his fingers tentatively into the dark gap visible beneath the wardrobe. It was empty; there was nothing to grab.
He opened and closed the refrigerator door for no reason. Just in case, he stepped up on a chair to check the top of the fridge.
Nothing. There was no trace of Noona anywhere. She had left absolutely no word.
Noona was the type to always say she was going somewhere, even when going to the public bathhouse on weekends, or even for a quick trip to the supermarket in front of the house to buy ramen. Anxiety seeped into his skin and pierced his chest. His heart beat erratically.
“…The, I should go to the sashimi restaurant.”
As his thoughts continued to drift in a negative direction, Eun-myeong smacked his temples with his fists and quickly straightened his bent knees to stand up. If not at home, she might have left something at her workplace.
Since he was stupid anyway, he wouldn’t gain anything by just crouching here and digging deep into his thoughts.
Eun-myeong hurried his pace. As he walked through the dawn, the pungent, fishy smell characteristic of the seaside stabbed at his olfactory senses. Humidity clung to his cheeks like spiderwebs.
Soon, the sashimi restaurant came into view in the distance. It was already bustling from outside. This place, ‘Emperor’s Palace Fisheries,’ where Noona and he worked, was a famous spot that attracted the most customers among the sashimi restaurants in the area.
Drrrk, he opened the door and stepped inside.
“Oh, Eun-myeong!”
Hyo-jin noona, who was serving, widened her eyes. Her short bobbed hair swayed.
“What brings you here?”
A welcoming smile graced her face as she approached, rubbing her hands on her apron. She was asking why he had come to work on Wednesday, the only day of the week he could rest. Eun-myeong hunched his rounded shoulders.
He rolled his eyes, gauging Noona’s reaction. She looked clueless, as if wondering why he was acting that way. Her expression certainly didn’t look like she had noticed the CEO was gone.
Eun-myeong didn’t forget to check the status of the other people in the restaurant. Every one of them seemed preoccupied with work. Seeing the atmosphere was no different from usual, he let out a secret, deep sigh of relief.
“Uh, yeah…, I left something in the breakroom.”
Eun-myeong answered vaguely.
“Sorry, Noona, I’m in a hurry right now, I’ll find it quickly….”
“Ah, okay, okay!”
Fearing that prolonging the conversation would make him seem suspicious, he made up a random excuse. Then, he quickly turned around and hurried toward the narrow passage next to the restroom.
Once inside the room, he closed the door tightly, cutting off the outside noise.
A space of barely one pyeong. The window was so small that it smelled musty. Staff lockers were lined up against one wall. The cabinet Noona used was locked.
‘What do I do….’
Looking closely, the lock was so old that it seemed it would open if he just poked around the bottom a bit. Eun-myeong stealthily stepped out of the cramped room and grabbed a lime-green starch toothpick from the counter. When he gently poked the bottom of the lock with it, click, the lock opened quite effortlessly.
With a pounding heart, he opened the door. Screeech, a worn metallic sound leaked out.
“…….”
Old clothes, worn-out slippers, pain relief patches, even hair ties. It was utterly shabby, as if a clothing collection bin had been moved inside.
Eun-myeong held the meager clothes for a moment before putting them down. As he cleared them away one by one, there it was—a notebook hidden buried inside. It was a diary he had never seen before.
He carefully picked it up and turned to the first page.
[January 8th: Snow Crab 18, Red Crab 38, Horsehair Crab 15]
“What is this…?”
Next to it, addresses were written, likely shipping destinations. Among the restaurant’s menu, the crabs were famous for being full and sold well, but there was no reason to list the crabs separately like this.
Eun-myeong flipped through a few more pages. The pages fluttered.
[July 9th: Snow Crab 112, Red Crab 41, Horsehair Crab 79]
.
.
.
[August 13th: Snow Crab 221, Red Crab 128, Horsehair Crab 129]
Most of it was like that. August wasn’t even snow crab season, yet the quantities had increased. The shipping destinations were nationwide, without exception. Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Busan, Cheonan….
What on earth was this? It was pure confusion. Eun-myeong carefully closed the notebook and slid it inside his zip-up hoodie.
Screeech, after carefully closing Noona’s cabinet door, Eun-myeong stared blankly at the name ‘Lee Eun-joo’ written in small letters.
It had been over five years since she started working at this restaurant, yet these were the only belongings she had. His nose felt a sudden sting.
“…….”
Eun-myeong left the room with moist eyes. As he found and put on his shoes, he realized he had rushed out so urgently that he was wearing slippers without socks.
He slid into his slippers and trudged across the shop. Even in that short time, all sorts of smells flooded his nose. He could even smell the old tin tables. Despite being only a half-Omega, he had the nose of a bloodhound when it came to scents.
Then, before he could take a few more steps, Eun-myeong came to a dead stop.
“Uh….”
His round eyes landed on the entrance. There was something piercing through all the jumbled smells in the shop and entering his nostrils. This violently fierce scent was definitely….
Warning bells rang in his head. He knew he had to avoid it immediately, but like a water deer facing a fast-moving car, Eun-myeong stood frozen.
Drrrk, the sound of the door scraping was heard.
A man of immense height stepped inside, pushing aside the curtain with his palm. His bulk was nearly the size of the door itself. It was definitely that huge Bear he had seen in the yard.
And the next to enter was that man. He walked in, bathed in the light of the cheap lamps. His suit, worn like armor, had a smooth luster like the fur of a black lion.
“Look at those people….”
Broad shoulders, a buzz cut that was excessively short, an incongruous black suit, and chunks of gold hanging from a thick neck.
Anyone could see they were involved in that kind of world; people instinctively lowered their voices and hunched their necks. Silence fell over the once-bustling shop.
Eun-myeong froze completely.
“H-how many in your party?”
Hyo-jin noona, who had been standing still for a while, approached them, creaking like a robot.
“Two.”
When Bear held up two fingers, Hyo-jin noona guided them to a seat.
“Please come this way.”
The two sat at a four-person table. Even so, their bulk was so immense that the table looked cramped. Eun-myeong just stood there, frozen like a stone.
“W-what would you like to order?”
As Hyo-jin noona asked cautiously, a few words of conversation were exchanged at the table.
“The pale kid, is that Eun-myeong?”
Hyo-jin noona glanced back and looked at Eun-myeong. A mix of bewilderment and a questioning look was written all over her face. Soon, she approached Eun-myeong.
“Eun-myeong, do you know them?”
Noona whispered softly. Eun-myeong couldn’t bring himself to answer and could only stare at the table where the man sat. He couldn’t even make eye contact with the man, but he knew instantly. He knew the man was looking at him.
“They’re looking for you….”
He could feel Noona’s awkwardness.
“Should I tell them again that today is your day off…?”
“No, Noona….”
That man had been staring only at him from the moment he entered the shop. He must have come knowing that Eun-myeong worked here.
“I’ll go.”
Eun-myeong took the menu from Noona.
The minute it took to walk toward the man’s table felt as if it were being stretched out like taffy. A violent scent gouged into his nostrils. A thick body scent that only grew more intense. His legs felt as if they were trembling.
“C-customer, w-what can I get for you….”
He barely managed to stand before the table. As expected, he still couldn’t meet the man’s eyes. Eun-myeong was staring intensely only at the man’s waist.
A leather belt was tightly cinching the man’s thick waist. Below that, his thighs were puffed out like tires, straining the dress pants to their limit.
“If you have the snow crab, one bottle of soju is on the house….”
He rattled off the script he recited mechanically whenever customers came. Before he could even finish, the man pulled a cigarette from his pack and put it in his mouth.
Bear, who was in front, quickly flicked the lighter’s wheel to light it for him. The man frowned one eyebrow and took a deep drag of the filter.
“On the house…,”
“Baby.”
The low voice emanating from the front cut his words short.
Eun-myeong slowly lifted his head. His gaze moved slowly past the man’s chest, which was straining the shirt, and landed on the nape of his neck where a couple of buttons were undone. He could see a silver necklace fastened there.
Phew, cigarette smoke was exhaled.
“We meet again, Baby.”