By Zephyria “Get dressed and ready.”
“Are we going to Teacher Jung?”
“Yeah.”
Whenever Mu-hae came to Starlight Road, he never forgot to stop by Teacher Jung’s.
Every time he gleaned the principles of how the world worked from him, he felt his not-so-wide field of vision expand little by little.
However, he couldn’t ask much about the story of Return flight, especially about the accomplices of the past. Unlike Director Gil, who he was always bickering with, Teacher Jung was a bit more difficult to deal with.
Above all, whenever that topic came up, he put up a wall with a smiling face. So, Mu-hae, quick-witted, went back and forth between the two, only throwing questions that would be accepted.
Clang.
As he entered the hospital, a man in a white coat walked out from inside, lifting the curtain.
Seeing him wearing gloves, he must have been treating someone. Mu-hae gestured towards the inside of the clinic, and Teacher Jung nodded, taking off his latex gloves.
“I’m done. Just go in and wait.”
Soon, a man with a bandage on one arm walked out into the lobby, staggering. He was a mercenary at first glance. As the guy raised his wrist as if to pay, he saw Mu-hae and his eyes lit up.
He seemed to recognize the protagonist of the recent sensational rumors. ‘Reliable young man’ Jin Mu-hae.
Of course, among them, he was just a mercenary who caught a lucky break, but anyway, he was definitely famous now.
Mu-hae didn’t want to get involved, so he put on a cool expression. Except for jackals, usually no one would cling to him like that.
“171 Deal. Don’t get it wet, don’t drink alcohol. Come back to get the stitches removed. It’s not my responsibility if it gets infected from you tearing them out.”
Teacher Jung recited the obvious precautions, and fortunately, the gaze soon disappeared.
But rumors would spread among the mercenaries again. That Jin Mu-hae was still in Starlight Road. That he came to the hospital with the tail he always brought with him.
“I told you to go inside.”
“I didn’t think the payment would take long.”
Only after watching the patient leave did Teacher Jung walk inside. Mu-hae followed behind, also taking care of the one who was blankly staring into the air.
Only after being warned once did he stop his clumsy act of pretending to sleep standing up.
Instead, if someone asked what he was doing, he started answering that he was just looking at the dust. Mu-hae thought that was better and pretended to be fooled.
“Are you going to be in the bed again today?”
Joo-oh asked, tugging at someone’s sleeve. Mu-hae exchanged glances with Teacher Jung, then shrugged and sat on a chair inside the clinic.
“Whatever.”
“Then I’ll stay with you.”
As he sat down next to him, Mu-hae familiarly took off the hood he had been wearing. The face that popped out at times like this was subtly fun to watch, even if he didn’t say it.
“I found more of my father’s records.”
Mu-hae started, turning his head. Teacher Jung, who had been watching them with his arms crossed, took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his glasses.
“Yeah. What’s it about this time?”
“Reset button. And a cooperative?”
“You’re only saying the key points, but you don’t understand it, do you.”
“I understand the general idea. It’s just that there are too many technical explanations attached.”
Teacher Jung sighed deeply. His face didn’t change, but he looked tired.
The man, putting on his glasses and gently touching the scar on his face, was lost in thought for a moment.
“Those records are for you. They weren’t written for you to understand the technical knowledge.”
“Then how am I supposed to investigate it?”
“It’s already been researched, so is there really a need to investigate it again? Your role is exploration and execution. I don’t expect you to discover and apply new theories like researchers.”
“……”
“You probably already know. Management and practice are completely different areas. You may not know how to catch and run from the Beast, but the Company that gave you the request is running smoothly, right?”
“Then those explanations aren’t for me.”
“They’ll be needed someday. If you ever have a working-level staff.”
Jin Seong-jo was the supervisor and researcher himself, but Mu-hae, who only learned about Return flight a few months ago, was in a very different situation.
Moreover, Teacher Jung’s field was far from Crystal Blue or mechanical devices. In short, he was saying that he had nothing to answer even if he asked, so skip it if it wasn’t important.
“Do you think I’ll succeed?”
“I don’t know. But if things get on track, you’ll have collaborators.”
“And that’s not you two.”
“Don’t be disappointed. There are constraints that make it impossible.”
Teacher Jung closed his mouth after telling him as if hammering in a nail. He didn’t say anything more about the ‘constraints’ he had mentioned in passing.
Jin Mu-hae obediently nodded and displayed the data he had received from him earlier on the tablet.
He had realized since he became independent that he couldn’t keep relying on them forever.
Besides, even if it wasn’t this story, there were plenty of things to ask Teacher Jung.
“I have one more question.”
He took out the hand he had put in his gown pocket as if telling him to speak. Mu-hae silently looked at him before slowly opening his mouth.
“Solar City. Do you know anything about it?”
Teacher Jung’s eyes quietly sank. As if he had finally received the question he had been anxiously waiting for.
He had a rare long conversation with Teacher Jung. By the time he left the hospital, the sun was setting.
If he had known it would take this long, he should have told Joo-oh to go to bed and rest. Then he could have eaten snacks or blankly stared into the air, doing whatever he wanted.
Of course, even without that, Joo-oh stubbornly stayed by Mu-hae’s side and did everything. He took out his usual fried meat sandwich from his hood pocket and munched on it, constantly looking up at the ceiling like someone with a problem.
He also hummed any song in a very small voice that didn’t interfere with the conversation. Every time, it was only Jin Mu-hae who was embarrassed. It was only once or twice that he poked his side to tell him to be quiet.
When you think about it, he was doing all those things quietly and calmly, so it was hard to get annoyed…
In the meantime, Teacher Jung treated two or three more patients who came and returned to Mu-hae whenever he had time.
He didn’t tell him a lot about Solar City, but every time Mu-hae’s guesses went in the wrong direction, he shook his head and corrected him.
It wasn’t enough explanation. But it was a much more efficient time than guessing alone with the content that appeared sparsely in his father’s records.
“I’ll be going.”
As the sky outside the window gradually turned redder. Joo-oh followed Mu-hae, who was saying goodbye at the door.
Before leaving the hospital, Joo-oh ran into the room with the bed and was fiddling around for a few minutes.
It was because Teacher Jung said he could take a few puzzles. The man, who had been waiting with a blank face all along, suddenly started to choose the metal pieces in a hurry, his red eyes shining brightly.
What was so interesting about the shabby puzzles with wires, chains, and small pieces of metal?
Hidden… his muttering lips were reddened with excitement.
Just as Jin Mu-hae was about to turn the doorknob. Teacher Jung, as he often did, quietly observed Joo-oh and then spoke quietly.
“So, what’s your relationship now.”
“With what.”
“Joo-oh. Weren’t you two something?”
Mu-hae suddenly felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up at the gentle question.
His heart sank as if he had been caught doing something secretly wrong, and he immediately shook his head.
“What relationship? We’re just business partners. We just live together.”
“Hmm……”
“Look at his condition. Doesn’t he not have the intelligence to have a relationship?”
Like Mu-hae’s excuse, Joo-oh was fiddling with the metal pieces, regardless of whether they were talking about him.
He was so focused on the trivial puzzle that he looked more out of it than when he was blankly looking at the ceiling earlier.
Teacher Jung slightly twisted one corner of his mouth. He carefully scanned Mu-hae up and down and muttered so quietly that it was barely audible.
“Well… I think he’s smarter than you.”
“……Yes?”
“He seems to have a good sense of judgment.”
At the same time as the meaningless words, click. Just then, two strangely twisted wires were neatly separated from Joo-oh’s hand.
As if trying to remember the shape, the man carefully caressed the separated parts, then smiled and turned his wrist to restore the puzzle to its original state.
“This is fun.”
“Isn’t it?”
Teacher Jung responded with an inscrutable agreement.
“I’ll give you a Gift next time too.”
The excited man’s appearance calmed down as Teacher Jung put his hand on his head. His beautiful eyes were gently lowered as if telling him to stroke him quickly.
Jin Mu-hae tried to suppress his raised eyebrows and nudged Joo-oh.
“Don’t bother busy people, get out.”
He looked back and forth between Mu-hae and Teacher Jung, and soon pouted his lips and turned his body.
“Jin Mu-hae has to come out quickly too.”
Clang.* Joo-oh opened the door and disappeared with an expression that said he was making room for him.
Mu-hae felt strangely thirsty and avoided Teacher Jung’s persistent gaze.
“Mu-hae. You know.”
Teacher Jung muttered quietly, putting his empty hand back in his gown pocket.
“He. He taps his feet whenever you give the wrong answer.”
Unlike you, as if he understood my explanation after hearing it once. It felt like the content he didn’t even add was ringing in his ears.
Jin Mu-hae eventually raised one eyebrow slightly. The knowledge that Teacher Jung told him was mostly in the form of questions and answers, and it was difficult to proceed if the other person didn’t digest it properly.
Just like the interests of people living in the world, it wasn’t a problem with a clear answer like 1+1, so complex reasoning was needed…….
That guy who was called a baby Jin Mu-hae understood and reacted to that?
It was like a hamster that he thought was lacking and had been neglecting suddenly turning on the TV by itself and reading economic and social issues. In an instant, his spine tingled and a subtle shock swept through his head.
“Anyway, that’s it. So, are you staying here today?”
“……No. I have to go back to Jaegang District.”
“Go carefully. There’s a lot of talk about you in this neighborhood these days, so stay there for the time being.”
Teacher Jung nodded and turned his body. Mu-hae also nodded and moved his frozen feet to leave the hospital.
“Jin Mu-hae.”
Joo-oh, who had been waiting outside, quickly approached and grabbed his arm. Still with a blank and clear face. He looked detached from the surroundings, as if he had been dropped into an incompatible world.
A faint sweet smell wafted and lingered fragrantly at the tip of his nose. Mu-hae was about to put a hat on him, but for some reason, he stroked his fluffy hair.
Heh. The head that rubbed against him with a smile was round and warm. Jin Mu-hae habitually touched his cheek and deeply covered his face with the hood.
Complex feelings flashed through his head. It was a very strange and unsettling feeling, as if he had heard an absurd slander.