Déjà Vu (1)
“…….”
A chill he couldn't name prickled over his skin.
Choi Yeon started to hunch his back, trying to slip out from under the uneasy feeling—
“I'm not about to dump work on you, so don't you go using that Presence Erasing skill.”
—and stopped mid-crouch.
Even a slave driver like Dongdae Chief Kim Jaesang wouldn't break his word once he'd said it out loud.
Choi Yeon straightened up and looked over the partition.
“Haha, when did I ever try to do that?”
“Just now. Five seconds ago. Six. Seven.”
“Misunderstanding. Total misunderstanding.”
“Aigoo…”
The Dongdae Chief let out a long sigh.
Misunderstanding, my foot. The second you so much as think about handing him a job, the kid's already folding himself in half…
He swallowed the rest of the complaint and got to the point he'd come to make.
“Heeseok. Yeon. That's enough for today. Go home.”
“Sorry? Do what now?”
“Go home. You've been at it all night.”
“O-oh… ohhh…”
Choi Yeon's face flooded with pure, unfiltered emotion as he stared at the chief.
The same man who usually threw himself bodily in the way of anyone trying to leave early was the one telling them to clock out first?
Never mind that Choi Yeon himself had been the one angling for an early exit to begin with—he'd already finished rationalizing that part, so the chief simply looked like a walking miracle.
Either way, he was so moved he started packing at top speed.
Gratitude was gratitude. Going home was going home.
Who knew when the man might change his mind and invent more work? Escaping before you got snared was the mark of a truly accomplished public servant.
“There'll probably be a bonus for the two of you over this, too.”
“What about leave?”
“Figured you'd ask. Leave is…”
Choi Yeon paused mid-pack and looked up at the chief.
Kim Jaesang grinned, and for some reason the expression set Choi Yeon's nerves on edge.
“Of course you're getting leave. About four days' worth.”
“Four days…?”
“Yep. Four.”
“……?”
What is this weird feeling?
Choi Yeon frowned at the nagging unease but finished stuffing his bag anyway.
An early exit should have had him floating, yet his chest felt oddly tight.
Was it just the awkward length of time? If they'd given him five days he could've skipped a whole work week, but…
…Ah. That was it.
He'd been muttering complaints under his breath when the real reason hit him.
He looked at the chief. That smug little smile said the man had already expected him to feel unfinished about it.
“Well, I can just tack on annual leave around the holiday, right?”
“You can use annual leave on a holiday?”
Choi Yeon's retort earned him nothing but a sly look in return. He already knew the answer; he just shook his head in resignation.
The holiday?
Maybe guild hunters got the day off, but for Dongdae Hunters it was just another workday.
Sometimes even busier than usual.
“…Still. Leave is leave.”
What was one day short, really?
He could feel the cheap ploy to make him burn his annual leave, but the fact remained: four days of not having to show up for work.
He would enjoy the vacation with the grace of a man who knew how to be content.
Zip.
Bag packed, Choi Yeon slung it over his shoulder and turned to say goodbye to the chief and Choi Heeseok—
“…….”
All three pairs of eyes dropped to the floor in perfect unison. Then, very slowly, they rose again.
Ding—the elevator arrived outside the door.
“Chief. Mind if I lock the door?”
“You think you can?”
“Really? Not even a little?”
“No.”
“Haa…”
While the deep sigh was still leaving his lungs, the door swung open. Kim In-beom, hand still on the knob, didn't come in; he stepped aside. A handsome man strolled in past him at an easy pace.
The man trailing the scent of coffee was Cha Jae-hyeok, leader of Nubyeok.
“Hello, Chief. Hunter Choi Heeseok.”
“Yeah, long time no—well, not really. Saw you for a bit last night.”
“True. It's been a while for you, though, Hunter. You've been well?”
“I have. You?”
“Same, thanks to your looking out for us. But…”
Cha Jae-hyeok pointed at Choi Yeon.
The second that fingertip found him, Choi Yeon's face crumpled.
“This one doesn't look like he's been well. He just nabbed a Jeokryeohui officer—I figured he'd be bouncing off the walls over the bonus and the leave.”
“I—I was, until just now.”
“So why the face?”
“You seriously asking?”
“Yeah.”
“It's you. Looking at your face ruins my mood.”
“Is that right? Then maybe you're the weird one, Yeon.”
“What?”
“Everyone else seems to like looking at it.”
“…….”
Choi Yeon had nothing.
When a face that stopped people cold just by walking down the street said something like that with a straight back, what exactly were you supposed to answer?
Anything he threw back would only end up in his own face.
In the end he changed the subject.
“Enough chatter. Why are you here?”
“I've got a proposal. Chief, you free for a minute?”
“Sure I am. Coffee… looks like we won't need any, though.”
The chief's eyes had found the cake box and coffee carrier in Kim In-beom's hands.
Kim In-beom walked over to the table in the corner, set everything out, and arranged it with quick, practiced movements.
In moments, a Basque burnt cheesecake sat in the center with three cups of coffee around it.
Feeling oddly like the place had changed ownership, the chief sat down with Choi Heeseok. Choi Yeon, who had been quietly trying to slip out, got snagged and forced into a chair.
“My early exit… my early exit…”
Everyone ignored him with warm, familial affection as he kept muttering the same thing.
If they answered him every time, the conversation would never get anywhere.
The chief opened.
“First time back at the Dongdae since that day, isn't it?”
“That day” meant six years ago.
The night Choi Yeon had gone to wipe Nubyeok out and failed…
Cha Jae-hyeok understood and nodded. Only something like this would bring a man who never set foot near the Dongdae all the way here, and he was ready with the answer to the unasked question.
“We're thinking of expanding Nubyeok's territory.”
“…….”
The chief's nose wrinkled. The sweet smell of the cake teased at him.
But he couldn't bring himself to pick up the plastic fork on the table.
“You want to expand your territory?”
“Yes.”
“That's a surprise. I thought we'd been getting along just fine.”
“I thought so too.”
“So why say something like that?”
The chief fixed him with a sharp look. Cha Jae-hyeok held the gaze without flinching, that same peaceful smile still in place.
Between the two quiet right-hand men, only Choi Yeon sat there flailing with the fork in his left hand.
If you're going to block my exit, at least let me eat in peace!
“…Fine. We've lived side by side this long—least I can do is hear the reason. Talk.”
“It's simple. If you want to protect something, more people is better, right?”
“…You talking about Seonhwa Orphanage?”
“And Seo-Daejeon Park.”
“…….”
The chief's back left the chair. Thoughts crossed in his head the way his arms crossed over his chest.
After last night, the orphanage made sense… but why Seo-Daejeon Park?
“I hear Chae-eun goes to Seo-Daejeon Park to play every single day. We'll keep an eye on her for you.”
“Chae-eun… why would Nubyeok—?”
“Hm?”
The chief's head tilted. Cha Jae-hyeok's tilted with it.
Then four eyes rolled sideways and caught Choi Yeon, frozen with his fork halfway to the cake.
Ah. Right. I forgot to mention it.
“Looks like Yeon never told you.”
“…Hoo. What happened?”
“Yesterday—”
“Chae-eun's artifact reinforced the orphanage barrier.”
Choi Yeon cut in fast.
He was hiding the part where the artifact had only lent the mana and he had been the one who actually fixed it.
If word got out that he could reinforce barriers, the chief would start shipping him out on every barrier-related job, wouldn't he?
Things were already weirdly busy these days. He could not afford to get any busier.
Had the gambit worked?
The chief, apparently none the wiser that anything had been left out, asked in a thoroughly baffled voice,
“What d'you mean, the artifact reinforced the barrier?”
“Yes. The sprout part of the artifact started shaking, so I held it up to the barrier focus, and then…”
“And the barrier got reinforced?”
“Yes.”
“How in the— Jae-hyeok, is this kid telling the truth?”
“Well… yes.”
It was true enough.
The sprout on the artifact really had thrashed around, and Choi Yeon really had pressed it to the barrier focus.
With a few bold omissions, the barrier had been properly reinforced.
Cha Jae-hyeok, who had no particular interest in the parts that had been cut, steered them back to the point.
“If that had been the end of it, we would've let it go.”
“But?”
“The artifact activated on its own. Completely outside Chae-eun's will.”
“…….”
“If that keeps happening, it's going to draw the wrong kind of eyes, don't you think?”
He wasn't wrong.
Most people wouldn't assume a little girl was walking around with an artifact, but once you started attracting attention, sooner or later someone would notice. Or several someones.
“So you want to stretch your territory all the way to Seo-Daejeon Park? To protect Chae-eun?”
“Yes.”
“…And this has nothing to do with wanting the artifact for yourself?”
“Please. If that were it, I wouldn't have come to see you at all.”
“Fair enough.”
The chief smiled with only his mouth.
In truth, the question hadn't been only about the artifact.
It had also been about wanting the girl herself—Park Chae-eun.
Cha Jae-hyeok had almost certainly heard the real meaning, and the answer he'd given worked for both.
Whether it was the artifact or Park Chae-eun, if he'd truly wanted either one, he wouldn't have bothered showing up today to talk it out.
“…….”
“…….”
Kim Jaesang did not take the answer as empty talk.
This was the same man who had once gone out of his way to tip him off about Lee Chae-young. The same man who had said he only wanted to protect the streets, not pile more chaos on top of them.
Would Cha Jae-hyeok honestly want an artifact that would only create bigger chaos?
No. The answer came at once.
The years of peaceful coexistence only made the words more persuasive.
The chief's eyes curved into crescents. He had decided to trust him.
“All right. With a reason that good, I can't exactly turn you down cold.”
“Thank you.”
“Don't mention it. But…”
Only then did the chief pick up a fork and reach for the cake. On the way he roughly knocked Choi Yeon's fork aside—the one that had already been busy eating.
“You know Seo-Daejeon Park falls under Munhwa-dong's jurisdiction, right?”
“I do.”
“And you know that if anything goes wrong, we can't smooth it over for you?”
“Of course.”
Cha Jae-hyeok said it with absolute confidence.
The chief took it as confidence that he would behave carefully enough not to start any trouble with Munhwa-dong.
In reality, it was confidence that he could clean up whatever trouble did start.
“Idiot. What the chief means is don't cause trouble in the first place.”
“Ah.”
“Try to keep a lid on it. The Munhwa-dong bunch are a joke, but poking them won't do you any favors either.”
“Got it. I'll hold back.”
A few times, anyway.
—The unspoken addendum somehow managed to be audible. The chief heard it too, and squeezed his eyes shut.
But—
“…This is damn good.”
—it didn't last long.
The firm, savory richness melting on his tongue blew the worry and the fretting clean away.
It's not even our neighborhood. Who cares? No—actually, this works out fine.
Those bastards had been milking the six-year-old story of his “incompetence” ever since. About time they got a taste of something themselves.
“So is that the only reason you came today?”
“Yep.”
“…I see. That's what he says, Chief.”
“And?”
“C'mon, you already know. It's fine, right? Can I go home now?”
“…….”
Meeting Choi Yeon's eyes, the chief stuffed a big bite of cake into his mouth.
Well. He'd already given permission once. What did it matter now?
They'd worked through the night, and the conversation was finished. He could let them go.
“Fine. Give it everything you've got and get out of here. Before I change my mind.”
“Th-thank you…!”
Choi Yeon shot to his feet as if following orders to the letter. He grabbed the bag he'd dropped when they dragged him over, slung it back on, and bolted for the door.
Halfway there, his head dropped. So did the heads of everyone still sitting at the table.
“My early exit…! My early exit…!”
Thud. He sank to the floor.
Why! Why is everyone showing up in droves today of all days!
While he screamed on the inside, ding—the elevator arrived with a sound that felt exactly like déjà vu.
“Should I just lock it now…?”
Choi Yeon meant every word.