By Zephyria “You’re a mess, Hyung?”
“Yeah. You wouldn’t want a crazy brat coming into the Guild Leader’s office, would you? Just take the stuff with these guys.”
Eui-jae pointed to the company of dried fish strung out behind him. Sa-young’s expression hardened. He returned to his desk, fixed his gaze on Cha Eui-jae, and pressed the microphone button connected to the secretary’s office.
“…Tell the research team to take the new samples, and send a transport vehicle to the Management Bureau, to the Wave Guild’s front gate.”
―Huh, yes? A transport vehicle?
“One that can carry twenty Awakened at once. No, just tell them to bring the biggest one, they’ll understand.”
―…Yes, I’ll relay the message immediately.
Sa-young took his hand off the microphone button, placed both hands on the desk, and lowered his head. A deep sigh escaped his lips.
“…Messages.”
“Huh?”
Eui-jae blinked. Looking like he’d fallen into water and rolled around in dirt, he was a complete mess. Sa-young tapped the desk with his fingertips.
“Why aren’t you reading your messages?”
“…Did you send me a message?”
Sa-young looked up at Eui-jae with just his eyes. He’d sent a reply as soon as that crazy message arrived, and he hadn’t seen it? Sa-young’s lips twisted. So, he was going to play it like that.
“Aha…. Pretending you don’t know?”
“No, hey, what do you mean pretending? I really didn’t see it. My phone screen’s broken.”
Eui-jae took his phone out of his pocket and showed it. Just as he said, the screen was completely shattered, as if it had been hit with a hammer.
Sa-young glanced at the inside of the container, barely visible through the open door. All sorts of tools and weapons were scattered around the company of dried fish. There was no blood, but most of them were broken or bent.
“……”
Sa-young turned his gaze back to Eui-jae. His face was as handsome as ever. But his hair and hoodie were wet as if he’d been drenched, and his usually neat hair was a tangled mess, with footprints and stick marks all over his apron. He was a complete mess.
He didn’t know Cha Eui-jae’s true abilities, but there was no way an Awakened who could block Sa-young’s attacks would get beaten up to that extent and leave traces of a fight. In other words, he’d deliberately taken the hits.
“……”
In the meantime, Eui-jae was taking out a series of heavy black backpacks from his Inventory and piling them up in the Guild Leader’s office, finally setting down the one he had been carrying on his back. He was annoyed that Eui-jae himself never crossed the threshold of the door.
Just because he’d called him a crazy brat, did he think he was really one? Sa-young asked, not bothering to hide his irritation.
“What are you doing?”
“Just a sec…. Everything in these backpacks is medicine. I don’t know what the units are, whether it’s three or whatever. No, you’ll figure it out.”
“……”
“Hey, Romantic Opener. When do you think he’s going to pass out?”
“…Huh?”
“…Looks like he’s about to pass out.”
Choi Goyo was already lying face down on the floor of the container. Moreover, he was in a half-dead state, barely able to move his mouth. His eyes were glazed over and unfocused, like he was about to fall asleep. Eui-jae clicked his tongue and gestured to Sa-young.
“Come in and take this guy.”
Sa-young tilted his head slightly with a sulky expression.
“I can’t go in there.”
“Huh?”
“That door is one-way.”
“…One-way?”
“Didn’t Choi Goyo explain? That door, you can only go out, not in.”
Eui-jae looked at Romantic Opener, then at the door, then at Sa-young.
At this point, Sa-young could tell what kind of crazy thoughts Cha Eui-jae was having with that pretty face. Sa-young had no intention of hiding his already soured mood, like a dog baring its teeth.
“Why. Are you going to stay in there until Choi Goyo passes out?”
His neat face turned sullen. He usually made that expression when he was caught off guard.
“No, I just don’t see the need for me to go out there….”
“Ha.”
“Isn’t it over if I just hand over the stuff and these guys to you?”
“How are you going to get from Incheon to the Hanover Soup Restaurant? What, are you going to use the corporate card to call a taxi again?”
“With the late-night surcharge, it’ll take two hours… it’ll be a bit expensive.”
Eui-jae seemed to be seriously considering it.
Cha Eui-jae was a mess. That’s what Sa-young thought. Not only his current appearance, but his actions made it clear that his head was a mess too. He was unbelievably reckless, self-centered, the world’s biggest old-fashioned person, and acted dangerously as if he had extra lives.
“But still….”
Cha Eui-jae swept back his wet hair and smiled.
“I was pretty useful, right?”
And strangely….
Sa-young stared at his face as he bared his teeth and smiled, then turned away abruptly.
“Come in before the door closes.”
“If I just throw these guys over there…”
“Just listen when I tell you once.”
He only listened when he raised his voice sharply. Only then did Eui-jae reluctantly push Choi Goyo into the Guild Leader’s office and drag the company of dried fish into the Guild Leader’s office.
The moment the last dried fish passed through the door, Choi Goyo, who had been stubbornly holding on, spat out his last death rattle.
“Gack.”
At the same time, the wide-open door disappeared, and the firmly closed door of the Guild Leader’s office returned to its place. Sa-young left Choi Goyo and the dried fish outside and returned. Eui-jae was still standing awkwardly, looking around.
“Should I go in for now….”
Sa-young asked, folding his arms.
“Why did you deliberately jump in?”
“Huh? I thought I might be able to catch a tail if I stirred things up.”
Eui-jae said casually and shrugged.
“But I didn’t get anything out of it.”
“You didn’t have to go that far. All I asked you to do was simple surveillance. We have other specialists to handle the suppression.”
“I could react faster than them today, though.”
It was true that Eui-jae’s actions were a great help. The Guild members of the Bureau of Rift Management or Wave Guild were chasing after the guys selling drugs, but they only went as far as chasing them. This was the first time they had rounded up all the guys involved in the deal and taken all the drugs. Now that they had obtained this much medicine, both the Seowon Guild and the Wave Guild’s research team would be able to extract quite useful data.
Sa-young gestured to Eui-jae.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
“Okay, I’m going. Hi Nexby, search for the nearest verse terminal.”
Eui-jae called Nexby on his cracked phone. Nexby was now practically his permanent companion. But Lee Sa-young glared at the phone with his head tilted as if something else was bothering him.
By now, Cha Eui-jae couldn’t help but notice that Lee Sa-young tilted his head whenever he was uncomfortable. He tried to pretend he didn’t notice, but in the end, Eui-jae couldn’t hide his sullen expression and asked.
“What is it now, you crazy brat.”
“No… I was wondering if you’re doing it on purpose.”
“Doing what?”
“Why are you looking for a verse.”
“I have to go home. If I’m any later, the verse will be cut off.”
“Looking like that?”
Sa-young scanned Eui-jae from head to toe. It was as if he was mocking him. Only then did Eui-jae look back at himself. Wet hair and a hoodie from being drenched, an apron full of footprints.
Cha Eui-jae was fine, but his visual wasn’t. He looked like someone with a serious story to tell. A nosy and kind person would definitely ask him what was wrong!
Realizing that, Eui-jae quietly put his phone in his pocket. And he sighed deeply and swept back his wet hair.
‘If I hadn’t been drenched, I could have just gone.’
No, now that he thought about it, he could use Silent Steps and go without being noticed. Just as Eui-jae was about to move towards the door, Sa-young took out a crumpled A4 paper from his Inventory. It was Hong Ye-seong’s emergency escape button that he had seen once before.
And before Eui-jae could refuse, Sa-young grabbed Eui-jae’s arm and tore the paper.
A moment later, the two were standing in front of the Hanover Soup Restaurant.
“…Isn’t that a valuable item?”
“It’s okay. There are ten in a set.”
“……”
Eui-jae opened the locked door of the Hanover Soup Restaurant with a sullen expression and entered. And headed to the side room.
The side room attached to the back of the store was filled with gift boxes he had received recently on one wall, and neatly folded blankets and pillows on one side. It was so small that Eui-jae couldn’t even lie down straight unless he cleared out all the boxes.
But this much room was enough for Eui-jae. He was grateful. In the Rift, he had been using Monster corpses as pillows and blood as blankets, so this was much better in comparison, wasn’t it? Walls and a ceiling, a place to lie down, blankets and pillows. It was a perfect Shield.
Of course, that was just Eui-jae’s opinion. Sa-young looked back at Eui-jae, wondering if a person could live normally in a place like this.
“You’re sleeping here?”
“Didn’t you do a background check on me? You saw me coming out of here back then.”
He was talking about the day he came early in the morning and suddenly sat in the hall. Sa-young retorted curtly at Eui-jae’s reproach.
“I didn’t know the room was in this state.”
As expected of the number one ranked, he grew up well. But Eui-jae didn’t bother to scold him, since he had been like that once too, and replied.
“It’s enough if there’s a blanket, a pillow, a floor, and a ceiling, what else do you need.”
“……”
“…Why?”
Sa-young was staring at Eui-jae. A displeased look began to appear on his delicate face.
“Do you have a hobby of self-harm?”