By Zephyria 
The man did not return to the hotel last night. Eun-myeong remained alone in the room, bustling about as he prepared to go out.
After washing himself clean, he creaked open the wardrobe. The space was filled with dozens of the man’s suits. Beside them, new clothes were hanging haphazardly. They were the clothes Bear had brought in last night.
Eun-myeong quickly picked up a pair of panties. He slid his legs through the holes and pulled them up.
Though he didn’t know the brand, they clung to his body in a way that proved they were incredibly expensive. However, the bottom was wide open, leaving him dangling. Eun-myeong’s face fell. How was he supposed to go outside wearing something like this?
He examined the other items one by one, but every single design was outrageous. There were ones with lace, ribbons, and even fishnet panties.
Finding them obscene, Eun-myeong bunched them all up like fists and shoved them deep into a corner. To think that the most modest pair was the one he was currently wearing—the one that was open at the bottom and flared to the sides. He let out a deep sigh.
Nevertheless, he stuffed his old clothes over the crumpled panties and opened the hotel room door with a creak. The thug mister who had been guarding the front before had vanished without a trace.
Eun-myeong stepped outside with quick, short strides. His small heart throbbed.
He didn’t know how many days it had been since he last stepped outside. Eun-myeong stared blankly at the surroundings, like a mole emerging from the ground.
The sky was bathed in soft sunlight. The cold had eased significantly in the meantime.
The first place Eun-myeong, now semi-free, visited was his home. With a creak, he opened the door and stepped inside.
A chill ran through his entire body. It was because the blood that had stained the yard had been completely wiped away.
“…….”
The cast net had been removed, and though he didn’t know what had been used to clean it, the dirt floor of the yard had been completely scraped away.
The man had never once lowered his gaze before others. It didn’t seem like the Boss had cleaned it; perhaps the thugs under him had done it?
Eun-myeong cautiously entered the dirty house. It was exactly as it had been the last time he saw it. In the center of the living room, a lampshade had collapsed, and shoe prints left by Bear were stamped haphazardly across the floor.
Eun-myeong stood there blankly, looking at the sight. The space was no different from a ruin. No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem like a place where a person could live anymore.
He soon let out a resigned sigh.
“Haa.”
And he began to pack his belongings one by one.
He had thought there was nothing worth taking, but upon looking, there were a few decent items. He packed his clothes and underwear. The unused bamboo salt toothpaste was still there, and his old toothbrush was in good enough condition.
He diligently and greedily packed the cast net as well. He broke into a sweat. He wrapped it all in a large cloth and slung it over his shoulder.
Meanwhile, the feeling of his private parts dangling through the center of the panties was more than just strange.
The next place Eun-myeong headed was the sashimi restaurant. He walked there slowly.
It was a distance he used to travel as often as eating, but today it felt so unfamiliar that his footsteps kept hesitating.
In the distance, the sashimi restaurant was unexpectedly lit. Eun-myeong approached slowly. He had imagined it would be a ruin no different from his own home, but customers were coming and going normally.
As soon as Eun-myeong opened the door and entered, Hyo-jin noona’s booming voice rang out.
“Welcome!”
Eun-myeong blinked and looked at Hyo-jin noona.
“…Hey, Eun-myeong.”
Hyo-jin noona froze in place, her face startled. Aunt Jeong-hye, hearing the words she had let slip unconsciously, popped her head out from the kitchen.
“What, Eun-myeong?”
Aunt Jeong-hye’s face had aged significantly in the meantime. As soon as she spotted Eun-myeong, she rushed out of the kitchen in her socks and embraced him.
“I thought you’d been sold off to some shrimp boat!”
She grabbed Eun-myeong’s cheeks, asking where her baby had been rolling around before finally appearing, wanting to see his face.
After catching up for a while, the three of them hurriedly scattered when a customer shouted, “Check, please!”
The shop still seemed busy. For the first time in a long while, Eun-myeong put on an apron and helped with the serving.
He set his bundle of belongings down in a small cramped room. They sat in a circle and ate sliced pears. The large, plump pears that couldn’t even fit in one hand were originally meant for customers, but the bruised ones were sliced and eaten by the staff.
“Since you and your noona disappeared one after another, I thought you might have run away.”
The slice of pear given to Eun-myeong was enormous. Eun-myeong opened his mouth slightly and took a crisp bite.
With him in the middle, the aunts added their comments one by one.
“I actually thought it was for the best.”
“What sin did those poor kids commit to be tied down like that, tied down.”
It felt like watching a morning soap opera.
From the conversation, he learned that the sashimi restaurant had been closed for a long time. The bastard of a previous owner had caused a massive accident, gone bankrupt, and disappeared.
Though he had been the owner they worked with for decades, he had been inherently vicious, so instead of expressing regret or worry, everyone seemed to welcome the news, saying they knew that bastard would end up that way.
He had wondered if there would be even one person questioning the sashimi restaurant owner’s whereabouts, but it turned out to be a completely baseless worry.
Fortunately, the restaurant, which Eun-myeong expected to have been abandoned, had been bought at a very low price by some female owner.
“The new owner is busy, huh? How come she hasn’t come down from Seoul once?”
“I saw her face once, and she’s incredibly beautiful. Like a celebrity.”
“She’s a bit strange, though. She seems like a nutcase too.”
Aunt Jeong-hye circled her finger by her temple.
“When I said I’d work hard, she told me to just work moderately according to what I get paid.”
“Well, that’s good for us.”
“What do you mean good? I saw that woman get out of a thug’s car last time.”
“Which thug?”
At the word ‘thug,’ Eun-myeong’s head naturally turned. His eyes widened further at the words that followed.
“You know, that thug who used to spend a million won a day at our restaurant. The one who looked for Eun-myeong every time he came.”
They were definitely talking about President Kang Pyeong-won. Did he sell the place to someone he knew? Eun-myeong thought slowly.
“Right, he got out of a fancy car that makes your eyes pop, and get this—he actually opened the car door for her himself.”
President Kang opened the car door? As someone who knew the man, Eun-myeong blinked, unable to even imagine such a testimony. He himself had always been grabbed by the scruff of his neck and thrown out of the car like a hunted animal.
Eun-myeong slowly set down the pear he had been chewing. A sticky sweetness pooled in his mouth. However, his mouth felt too dry to eat more, so he just swallowed hard.
“The woman got out, swept her long hair back like this, and walked into the shop with a click-clack. They’re both tall and handsome, so they looked good together.”
Aunt Jeong-hye vividly imitated a woman in heels entering the shop, shaking her hips. Then, another aunt beside her asked.
“So what, is that guy doing this with Eun-joo and this with the owner?”
At that, Aunt Jeong-hye slapped her knee with a loud thwack!
“Exactly, that rotten bastard! I knew it!”
She then claimed that physiognomy is a science and that she was a half-shaman, harshly cursing that such a man would surely be a loafer living however he pleased unless he met a woman who could truly tame him.
Eun-myeong let out a deep sigh inwardly. No, I’m telling you, it’s not with Eun-joo noona…
“Still, it’ll be convenient since the new owner is up there in Seoul.”
Indeed, if the owner was far away, it was better for the employees as they wouldn’t be nagged as much. The previous owner of the sashimi restaurant didn’t even work, yet he would drop by occasionally to nag people about sales, which had been driving them crazy.
But.
The man had also not returned to the hotel for a while. Had he gone to meet the woman they were talking about?
What if he had someone else he was seeing? Eun-myeong didn’t know what to do with the guilt.
On the other hand, he felt it was unfair. He didn’t know how the man could act so much according to his looks. If he had someone he was seeing, he should have remained chaste; why did he persist in doing such perverted things to him?
“Sigh.”
Eun-myeong let out a small sigh. A lonely piece of pear he had left behind sat on the plate. It bothered him slightly, but he didn’t reach for it again.
It was quite late by the time he returned to the hotel room, and as expected, the lights were off.
Eun-myeong unwrapped the cloth and spread the cast net all over the room. He spread the net inside the sophisticated room where it absolutely didn’t belong and quickly began to squeeze the water out.
He focused so hard that he broke into a sweat. Working with his hands for the first time in a long while made him feel like life was worth living.
The man did not return to the hotel that day either. The thought crossed his mind that he must have gone to meet that woman. Along with the thought that he might never return to a rural corner where a country bumpkin like him resided.
Then what would happen to him? Worries about his living situation slowly reared their head.
As worries began to open the floodgates one by one, they were hauled up in a row, as if caught in a net.
What had happened to noona by now? Their conversation had ended like that. And what would happen to Jjangja…
His mind was so troubled and complex that Eun-myeong ended up letting his hardworking hands drop onto his thighs.