Morning Greeting
I drove the car as far up the narrow alley as it would go.
Then I threw the door open and started running.
It wasn't far.
I could see it.
So why did I feel so slow?
No matter how hard I ran, it was like I was stuck in place.
"Fuck!!!"
I cursed and pushed myself even harder.
Then—my hand closed around the door.
A thin, rectangular handle. A flimsy aluminum door with a pane of frosted glass.
Rattle!!
Locked.
But a door like this might as well not have a lock at all. I could get through whenever I wanted.
Crash!!!
My fist shattered the frosted glass, sending shards raining down.
"Mmph!!!"
"Mmph!!"
"Mmmph!!!"
Through the broken window, I could see them—three people crying with tape over their mouths.
"You fucking bastard...!!"
"D-d-don't come in!!!"
I reached through, unlocked the door, and stepped inside.
Crunch. Crunch!!!
Glass shards scattered across the floor splintered under my feet.
"D-don't come any closer! You son of a—bitch!!!!!"
"......"
He charged at me with a knife.
No matter how long I'd trained in combat sports, fighting someone with a blade was a different story. Even at the gym, when women came in for self-defense classes, the instructors always told them the same thing: if you see a knife, just run. Subduing someone armed is hard enough—and even if you manage it, you can get badly hurt. Or killed.
But this place was tiny. He couldn't even swing the thing properly. All he could do was stab straight ahead.
Which meant I only had to dodge once.
Just once.
"U-uaaah!!!"
I watched the knife as he came screaming at me and stepped back. The blade thrust forward—and missed me completely.
I snapped my right foot out, catching him across the side of the shin with the top of my foot.
A calf kick.
It doesn't look like much, but ordinary people go down from a single hit. It hurts—and it's a kind of pain most people have never felt in their lives.
Thud!!
"Aaagh!!!"
"......"
Even as he fell, I kept my eyes on the knife. Dive in too early and I could still get stuck.
The moment he was down and the hand holding the blade hit the floor, I stomped hard on his wrist.
"Gyaaaaah!!!!!"
He clutched the crushed wrist and rolled across the floor. I kicked the knife away first, then grabbed a fistful of his hair.
"F-fuck... ghk!!!"
Thud!! Thud-thud!! Thud! Thud!!!
I held him by the hair and smashed my fist into his face. Again and again.
I kept hitting him until Yoo Serin stopped me.
"P-please stop..! That's enough.... please stop....."
"Uuurrgh......"
"Hah.. hah.."
When I let go of his blood-soaked hair, strands caught between my fingers fluttered to the floor. I crouched down.
I had to check. That uneasy feeling I'd had earlier.
I pulled down the sock that came up to mid-shin—and there it was. A thick black band. When I turned it, a small rectangular device appeared on the inside of his ankle, where he'd twisted it out of sight.
Yeah. That was it.
I hadn't looked closely at the time, but the wrongness I'd felt looking at his back as he walked away—it had been that unnaturally swollen ankle.
"Huuu....."
Part of me wanted to beat him until he stopped breathing. Trash like this didn't deserve to live.
But that didn't mean I was going to become a murderer.
"Are you okay?"
I stood up and asked Yoo Serin.
"Oh no...."
"What is it? Are you hurt?!"
I'd asked if she was okay, but she didn't answer. Instead, she carefully took my blood-covered hand.
"Ah..!!"
"M-Mom! Call 911! Hurry!!"
"Okay!!"
Pain hit me all at once. The cuts from punching through the glass must have torn wider while I was hitting him.
But there was no need to call 911.
I'd already called on the way over.
The police, too.
I'd reported it on the way, and yet the police only showed up five minutes after everything was already over.
The ambulance even beat them there.
So the cops came over to me while I was getting first aid and started asking questions.
"So you're the one who beat him like that, correct?"
"Yes."
"Hmm... Well, there's an assault charge here, so you'll both need to come with us."
"Absolutely not! He needs to go to the ER and get stitches first!"
"Ah... Then Detective Choi, go with him. Bring them both in once he's treated."
"Yes, sir."
"Hold on. That sex offender bastard was about to commit a crime, and I stopped him—and he came at me with a knife. And you're telling me I'm the one facing assault charges?"
"We'll have to investigate the full situation, of course, but the fact of the assault is right in front of our eyes. There's nothing we can do about that."
"How does that make any sense?!"
"That's how it is, kid. That's the law."
"What kind of law is that..!!"
"Drop it, Minju. That's enough."
"But assault?! If it weren't for Oppa, who knows what would have happened to us!! You show up late and then talk about the law..!!"
"Ahem!!"
Under Minju's glare, the officer had nothing to say. He just cleared his throat and looked away.
Still—if that was the law, there wasn't much I could do about it.
"Counselor, it's me. I'm in Busan—think you could come down?"
"....Why is it that every time you go to Busan, something happens?"
"Haha... Good question."
"It'll take me at least three hours. Until I get there, do not give any statement whatsoever."
"Got it."
I went to the ER, got treated, and was taken to the station. Following his advice, I exercised my right to remain silent—until Park Daehan arrived exactly three hours and thirty-two minutes later. I gave my statement exactly as he instructed, and was released to go home.
"Um... will everything be okay..?"
"Yes. It should be recognized as self-defense. I'll be taking my leave, then."
"Thank you for your hard work."
"Not at all."
Park Daehan bowed to Han Jihyun and me in turn, gave a light nod to Yoo Serin and Minju as they bowed deeply, then climbed into a taxi and left.
"I'm so relieved.. I was worried we'd gotten you into trouble for nothing...."
"You already have."
"....I'm sorry..."
I held up my heavily bandaged hand, and Han Jihyun apologized all over again. I asked her, exasperated,
"I told you that no matter what happened, the first thing you needed to do was move out. Why on earth are you still living in that house?!"
"Th-that's.... if Serin said she wanted to be a singer.. I was going to look into places in Seoul... I'm sorry..."
"......"
Well. That shut me up.
If that was the reason, there wasn't much I could say.
"Let's go for now."
"Yes..."
We took a taxi back to the house.
And that was when the real problem became clear.
These people were way too optimistic.
"......"
"Serin! Minju! Don't touch anything! Mom will clean it up!"
"How are you supposed to clean all this by yourself, Auntie?"
"She's right, Mom. We'll help."
"You'll cut your hands!!"
"We're not little kids~ Hey Serin, what about the door?"
"Just tape newspaper over it. That's what we did last time when the typhoon broke it."
"Oh.... that's kind of hip, actually?"
"It is not hip..!!"
"......"
"......"
The words had slipped out before I could stop them. Yoo Serin and Minju, crouched on the floor picking up glass, both stared straight at me.
Seriously—how were they finding the bright side in this?
They'd almost been victims of something horrible, and the door—which had barely been a door to begin with—no longer even functioned as one, thanks to me smashing the glass. And yet all three of them were sweeping up shards off the floor, fully intending to sleep here tonight.
This wasn't optimism. This was a complete lack of common sense.
"Huuu... When I said we should go home, I didn't mean I was just dropping you off."
"Huh..?"
"Grab your school uniforms and a change of clothes. You're staying at a hotel for a while."
"A hotel..?"
"......"
"Whoa! Are we doing a hotel staycation??"
No matter how I looked at it, they were excessively positive.
Way too excessively positive.
Factoring in where Yoo Serin and Minju went to school, I took them to a hotel in Haeundae.
The best one—with the tightest security.
And since it was already so late, I stayed the night too.
So why was it this loud already?
Ding-dong~ Ding-dong~
The doorbell blared from first thing in the morning. I scratched my head and dragged myself out of bed.
Beep—
"Who is it?"
—It's me, Minju!
"What?"
—We've gotta eat breakfast~ Come on, Oppa, let's go get food~ Hee
"......"
They say you can't spit in a smiling face. Turns out that was true.
I had zero interest in breakfast, but if I said no she'd just keep ringing, so I shoved my hair down with one hand and stepped out into the hallway.
"Where are Han Jihyun and Yoo Serin?"
"Auntie already left for work, and Serin's just spacing out for a bit."
"She left for work? At this hour?"
"Yeah. She goes in before dawn."
"What kind of work does she do?"
"Right now she's doing parcel sorting. Not deliveries—just sorting packages."
"Ah... And Yoo Serin's spacing out?"
"Yep. Every morning once she's all ready, she zones out like it's part of her routine."
"......"
"So Oppa, you go grab Serin~ I'll head down first and get us a table~~ Oh! And try not to be too shocked. I made her look way prettier than yesterday, heehee~~"
"Hey, Minju... damn, you're fast.."
She was already halfway down the hall, vanishing around the bend before I could finish. I walked over to the room right next door.
And immediately got annoyed.
"After everything that happened yesterday, she doesn't even close the door..!!"
Even if she'd only stepped out to come get me next door, you still close the door behind you, don't you?
Once trainee life started, I was going to have to teach them basics like this before dancing or singing.
These kids had zero sense of caution.
"Ugh... Yoo Serin, let's go eat."
I called from the doorway, but there was no answer.
How hard was she spacing out that she couldn't even hear me?
"Excuse me for a second. Yoo Serin."
I pulled the slightly open door and stepped inside. I walked far enough to see the bed—and froze solid.
"Oh? Good morning. Did you sleep well?"
"......"
Yoo Serin greeted me so casually that my face went red and I spun right back around.
"Hm..?"
"Ahem! I'll just wait outside."
And then I heard it.
Yoo Serin's scream.
"Kyaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!"