By Zephyria After spending time with Ahn Seo-myeong, it was already past five o’clock. I could go back inside and continue playing card games, but for some reason my body ached. It didn’t seem like just walking around the yard would be enough anymore. Should I take a walk around the neighborhood? Something caught his eye as he was thinking. People were touching a pot in front of a large stove. It seemed like they were preparing dinner. Come to think of it, the kids enjoyed the scorched rice last time. Should I ask for a little more today? Just as he was about to turn around after a brief thought, Ki Jae-eon heard a troubled voice.
“Ah- I forgot to buy it.”
“Oh dear! How could you forget that!”
His steps stopped for a moment.
Suddenly, Aunt came to mind.
-‘Jae-eon, are your hands free? Can you go buy some radishes? You can buy some hotteok with the change.’
Ki Jae-eon slowly turned his head. He glanced at the people and carefully approached them.
“Excuse me…….”
“Oh my goodness!”
“Oh my, you startled me! -Huk, Young Master?!”
The people screamed, clutching their pounding hearts, and then widened their eyes when they realized it was Ki Jae-eon. Why is the youngest young master here with us? That was exactly the expression on their faces. They exchanged glances and discussed with their eyes why that human was here. Do you know Kim? No, what about Park? How would I know! Their eyes darted around busily. That’s because, although they had devoted themselves to the Gi Clan for a long time, they had never exchanged words with anyone except the mistress, Ryu Seong-hee, and the affable Ki Jae-ha.
Especially the youngest son of this house, ‘Ki Jae-eon’.
With a cold, expressionless face, few words, and a strange chill that ran down your spine when you got close.
There were so many rumors circulating around him that it was unsettling to even go near the second son of this house.
That was exactly what Ki Jae-eon was like.
People had been whispering that he had changed quite a bit since the ‘rumor that he was sick’, but I don’t know. He still felt difficult to approach.
“By any chance…….”
“Y-yes, yes, yes!”
The people flinched and took a step back.
They were instinctively trying to distance themselves, overwhelmed by Ki Jae-eon’s unique aura. It was almost a survival instinct.
In fact, it could be seen as a very rude attitude. But surprisingly, it wasn’t like they hated him outright. There was some validity to their discomfort. Of course. To ordinary people who had no spiritual power, Ki Jae-eon was not a very pleasant person.
‘He’s kind of creepy.’
Just like that.
The unusual energy he carried often felt strongly foreign to ordinary people. It was the same kind of fear as when you feel inexplicably afraid when you see a shaman with good Spirituality.
Anyway, they were all tense, wondering what Ki Jae-eon was going to say.
With a gloomy face, the first thing he said was.
“D-do you need someone to run errands, h-h-here?”
“Yes?”
The people made a dumbfounded sound.
A strange silence flowed.
Before long, the kitchen staff looked at each other and chuckled.
“I just heard a strange hallucination. The youngest young master is going to run errands?”
“Oh- I guess my ears aren’t so good because I’m getting old.”
“Ugh! Did I eat too much smoke?”
However, Ki Jae-eon relentlessly drove the wedge in once more towards the people who were pretending not to know.
“……I’m g-good at running errands.”
“……”
“I’m g-good at it…….”
A sad, dejected expression was a bonus.
‘It makes it seem like we’re the bad guys!’
In the end, the kitchen staff reluctantly wrote down a shopping list for Ki Jae-eon. But even as they wrote [Miree, acorn jelly, carrots-] they reportedly repeated “Ah, I really shouldn’t be doing this” endlessly.
“Hoo-!”
Clang! It was when Kim Ju-won, who had just finished working out, picked up a water bottle on the floor. He spotted Ki Jae-eon walking unsteadily in the distance. To be honest, he flinched a little at the sudden appearance of his gloomy face. Ugh, that bastard. I told him to make some noise when he’s around. Kim Ju-won thought that he might accidentally perform exorcism on him one night and took a refreshing gulp of water.
“Hoo, hey!”
He emptied a bottle cleanly and greeted him.
“D-did you work out?”
“Yeah, where are you going?”
“M-market.”
“Errand? Alone?”
“…W-walking, too.”
“That’s unexpected. I thought you’d go to a department store or something.”
“I l-like the market more.”
I’m going to buy this. Ki Jae-eon showed off the memo he was holding in his hand as if he was proud of it. He seemed to be in a good mood for some reason.
‘This bastard really likes running errands.’
Kim Ju-won’s lips quirked up at the sight of Ki Jae-eon, who was so different from his appearance. Kim Ju-won stretched briefly and swept his sweat-soaked hair back coolly. His handsome forehead was revealed by the bold gesture.
“Let’s go.”
“H-huh?”
“I’m going to do some cardio. Why, do you want to go alone?”
“I d-don’t mind, but….”
“Use me when you can. I have to be careful around you.”
I have to build up my forgiveness stack. Kim Ju-won smiled, revealing his white fangs.
“Hey, not that way.”
“…I-isn’t it this way?”
“Yeah. Come here.”
Incheon should be Ki Jae-eon’s territory, but somehow it was Kim Ju-won who was guiding him.
“I think it’s here?”
[Bari Market] A large entrance sign greeted the two.
“The market is really big.”
Kim Ju-won said, and Ki Jae-eon nodded.
The two strode inside. As expected of Incheon, there were noticeably many seafood corners.
“What’s mainly famous in Incheon?”
Kim Ju-won asked as he looked around the market. Ki Jae-eon rolled his eyes and answered.
“Nohyeon or water specter?”
“No, you crazy bastard. Not specter.”
Kim Ju-won immediately made a disgusted face. Why is this guy’s head full of exorcism? Who would come if you recommended Nohyeon and water specter as Incheon specialties?
Kim Ju-won shook his head with a face that said he was an idiot for asking.
“Never mind.”
“Sorry. I d-don’t know well.”
“Hey, name three of Incheon’s representative tourist attractions.”
“……”
“Wow. Is this real? There’s Eulwangri, Wolmido, and Chinatown. Sigh, you bastard, you’re not from Incheon, are you? Tell me honestly.”
“I-I am. I went to elementary school near here, too.”
“Name two of your classmates.”
“……”
“Oh, this bastard isn’t! I caught you!”
Kim Ju-won pointed his finger at him, calling him a complete fraud.
I’m really from Incheon. Ki Jae-eon was so upset, but he had nothing to say, so he closed his mouth.
He was building up his resentment as he was seriously suspected of his origins throughout the shopping trip.
“…Jae-eon?”
Someone called Ki Jae-eon.
“Jae-eon, why are you here… what are you doing right now?”
It was his brother, Ki Jae-ha.
He was standing in a side street of the market with a heavy bag on his shoulder, as if he was on his way home from finishing a request. His eyes went to Ki Jae-eon’s hand.
“What’s all that in your hand?”
Ki Jae-ha frowned and approached Ki Jae-eon. As if he couldn’t even see Kim Ju-won, who was standing next to him, he roughly snatched the black bag from Ki Jae-eon’s hand. Rustle, rustle. Ki Jae-ha, who had checked the contents, suddenly stopped breathing. His face, which had a large crack in it, seemed to have received quite a shock. Before long, his broad shoulders and thick chest began to heave irregularly.
“……”
Ki Jae-eon and Kim Ju-won exchanged glances, feeling a strange chill in the air. Why is your brother like that? I d-don’t know. While their silent conversation was going on.
“Which bastard is it?”
A chilling voice flowed from Ki Jae-ha’s lips. Even the mighty Kim Ju-won flinched.
“Who dares to make you run errands like this?”
Ki Jae-ha threw the bag to the ground. The acorn jelly that he had carefully chosen was crushed with a splat. It was a very rough action that was unlike his usual self.
But right now, he couldn’t afford to care about such trivial images. That meant he couldn’t see anything in front of him. Of course.
His younger brother was being ignored right in front of his eyes!
Although he had temporarily stepped down from being the heir to the Gi Clan due to a problem, Ki Jae-eon was still Ki Jae-eon. He was a clear ‘Gi’ bloodline, and a precious being that no one should ignore.
‘How dare they treat such a child like a handyman?’
And that too, taking advantage of the fact that he was away?
This was a clear act of insubordination.
“Which… this, damn it!”
He couldn’t calm down at all.
Ki Jae-ha’s eyes flashed with a ferocious light. No matter how easygoing he pretended to be, he was still an aristocrat by birth. He hated his father’s way of dividing people by class, but he was just like him.
Well, he used to be kind to everyone, saying, ‘There’s no such thing as a lowly job,’ but when his younger brother was doing chores like running errands, he went crazy. He was a walking contradiction, no, an arrogant aristocrat with vulgar ideas.
But he had no reason left to realize his own contradictions. He was in a state of uncontrollable anger at the thought that his younger brother was being ignored.
“…Have they lost their minds?”
When Ki Jae-ha roared like an angry beast, Ki Jae-eon finally realized that his brother had seriously misunderstood something.
But before he could clear up the misunderstanding, his wrist was grabbed roughly. Come with me. Just as Ki Jae-ha, who was thoroughly angry, was about to drag Ki Jae-eon back home.
“You’re going to break his arm.”
Kim Ju-won stopped him. He cut off Ki Jae-ha’s hand with a firm motion.
“Let’s talk it out, hyung.”
Ki Jae-ha’s head turned. It seemed like he had belatedly realized Kim Ju-won’s existence. But the gaze he gave him was not very friendly. A deeply furrowed brow, as if looking at a bothersome bug.
“Don’t interfere.”
Kim Ju-won’s eyebrows twitched at his arrogant attitude.
“Oh, you’re just… talking?”
“……Haa, friend.”
Ki Jae-ha stretched out his tongue and licked the inside of his cheek, then put his hands on his hips. Friend, let’s move aside. Huh? A warning that was both soothing and dismissive.
Kim Ju-won, who thought it was a ridiculous threat, smirked as if to show him. He wasn’t one to be trifled with when it came to his temper.
“Ah, we’re friends?”
A perfect provocation.
It was the moment when Ki Jae-ha, whose patience had finally reached its limit, was about to quietly take off his wristwatch with a vein popping out on his forehead.
“I d-did it because I wanted to.”
Ki Jae-eon hurriedly stopped the two men.
“I a-asked them to give me errands to run.”
“……What?”
Ki Jae-ha’s expression twisted. What does that mean? You asked them yourself! It was a completely incomprehensible statement in his standards. That’s because why would you bother with such meaningless labor?
But before he could be greatly shocked by the unbelievable reality.
“So hyung can just g-go… you can go.”
A second shock washed over him.
Hyung, go…?
“He said you can go.”
Kim Ju-won, who was being cheeky, was a bonus.