060. Promise
060. Promise
The meal appointment had originally been made only with the police chief.
But I already expected that Eight-Nine-Two would come along.
Since Eight-Nine-Two was the police chief's daughter.
So from the start.
I'd been thinking of the appointment as being with both the police chief and Eight-Nine-Two.
‘...But I never expected her to bring soldiers along.’
I didn't know why she'd brought them.
Were the soldiers just out on leave and they'd run into each other by chance?
While I was mulling that over.
Eight-Nine-Two, who'd come right up to me, called my name again.
"Right. Gye-Swaeri-hun."
And in that moment.
Smack!
Eight-Nine-Two got slammed hard in the back of the head by her mother, the police chief.
"Park Gyuri! What's this 'son of a bitch' to a man! Watch your mouth!"
"Ah! Why'd you hit me! I didn't say son of a bitch, I called him Gye-Swaeri-hun! It's just a nickname so mom, butt out!"
She deserved the hit.
Who told her to call me that shit in real life?
Oh. For the record, Park Gyuri was Eight-Nine-Two's real name.
A name that really fit her nickname.
"Ugh, my head's gonna go stupid..."
Maybe the spot she got hit was stinging.
While Eight-Nine-Two was rubbing the back of her head.
I ignored her and exchanged greetings with the police chief beside her first.
After that.
Eight-Nine-Two gestured at the soldiers behind her and explained the situation.
"Anyway, Se-hun. The girls behind us are from my squad, they came out on leave today..."
"Yeah? So you brought them along while they were out on leave?"
"No, that's not it... I'm not lying, I really just ran into them here. I was surprised at first too, honestly."
"Gyuri's telling the truth. We really met by chance."
It didn't seem like a lie.
Since the police chief also backed up Eight-Nine-Two's story.
Even if I couldn't trust Eight-Nine-Two.
I could trust the police chief.
Then the police chief and Eight-Nine-Two carefully asked for my understanding.
Whether those soldiers could also join us for the meal.
Well, it didn't bother me, so I accepted them joining without any complaint.
At that, Eight-Nine-Two looked at the soldiers with a triumphant expression, and the police chief bowed her head once more to apologize, looking sorry.
"I'm sorry. If it were anyone else, maybe, but I couldn't just not buy a meal and send off my daughter's subordinates after running into them..."
"It's fine."
She was a person with a lot of heart.
Seeing that she was trying to buy a meal for the soldiers with her own money.
If I were in the police chief's position.
I'd have just coldly handed over some cash for food and sent them on their way.
I figured this must be the difference in character.
‘But I was the one paying for this...’
She apparently didn't know that fact yet.
And seeing how she was now, probably.
If I said I was paying, the police chief would definitely refuse firmly and insist on paying herself.
Her personality looked exactly like that.
‘When the meal was nearly over, I would say I was going to the bathroom and pay in secret.’
I'd already come up with a plan.
I was the one who received help, so of course I should treat them to the meal.
Because taking someone's help and then getting a free meal on top of that was shameless.
Anyway, I also exchanged greetings with each of the soldiers behind them.
Since they were people I'd be eating with from now on.
And they were also Eight-Nine-Two's subordinates.
‘One of them had familiar tits. The person I saw during the march, probably?’
A soldier named Cha Yu-ri stuck in my memory.
Because of her abnormally large chest.
‘Impressive even on a second look. Would getting hit by those send you to your grave?’
As I stared openly at her chest, Cha Yu-ri tilted her head and asked.
"Uh... What's wrong? Did something get on my chest?"
"Ah. No. I was just looking at your rank insignia."
"Your rank insignia?"
"Yeah. You were a private back then, but now you're wearing a private first class insignia. Just thinking time really flies."
"Ahh...! You even remembered my rank too... Heh heh."
Cha Yu-ri's mouth split wide.
And her face turned as red as a ripe persimmon.
She seemed happy that I remembered her.
As an aside.
Cha Yu-ri had apparently been the worst screw-up in her unit back then.
But then at some point she suddenly had a complete turnaround and started taking military life seriously, and after a person named Sergeant Woo Myung-ja was discharged, she'd reportedly even become an ace that So-ri occasionally heard about.
‘Well, everyone's a screw-up when they were a private. I cussed out my officers and seniors right to their faces the second I got to my permanent unit.’
Most people were clumsy when first dropped into an unfamiliar environment.
Anyway, she was doing well in military life now, so that was a relief.
*
*
*
While we entered the restaurant.
I tugged at Eight-Nine-Two's collar, pulling her toward me, and spoke quietly.
"Eight-Nine-Two."
"Yeah?"
"It's been bothering me for a bit, why do you keep speaking down to me?"
"All of a sudden? I've always spoken down to you, remember? I spoke down to you in chat, and when we did the video call I was speaking casually too, why bring this up now?"
"Is a stream the same as real life? Wanna die?"
"Uh... Then should I use polite speech, or...?"
"No, forget it. I'm more comfortable with casual speech than polite speech anyway."
"...This guy's a real fucking lunatic. Why'd you start shit then?"
While I whispered with Eight-Nine-Two like that, the soldiers walking ahead of us glanced back and I heard their conversation.
"Wow. They must really be close. If they're sticking together like that and even whispering in each other's ears."
"I'm, I'm jealous..."
"He's seriously so fucking handsome."
"They're not dating, right?"
"Say something that makes sense. The guy isn't blind, why would he date the vice squad leader?"
"That's a fair point."
No matter how you looked at it, after all.
Eight-Nine-Two definitely had the upper hand with these soldiers.
Of course, it wasn't like she was being disrespected.
It just felt like she'd knocked down the wall of rank just enough and was getting along with them like real sisters.
‘Eight-Nine-Two was rough around the edges but seemed kindhearted, I supposed.’
Eight-Nine-Two was different from other officers.
Because she didn't throw her rank around and act authoritarian.
But the military was the military.
And an officer was an officer.
So she thoroughly maintained the hierarchy of command.
She was a rarely-seen, true officer.
"Se-hun. After lunch, wanna go on a date with me?"
"Fuck off, dipshit."
Except for being a man-crazy horndog.
***
Around the time Gye Se-hun was eating with Eight-Nine-Two.
On Gye Se-hun's stream, Gyejipsa was enthusiastically running a game broadcast.
【Reformed Guburi】─No, dipshit, why would you go in there?
【Reformed Guburi】─lol Bubblegum's so fucking bad too, seriously.
【Reformed Guburi】─Gyejipsa, you got someone else to hit master on your main, right? A master can't even smurf on a side account? lol
【Reformed Guburi】─Just quit the game. lol
［Yiik...! Guburi shut up!］
【Reformed Guburi】─K. lol
【Hottie Licker】─Guburi backseating so damn much. Lick.
【Se-hun Defense Force】─What tier is Guburi even, acting like that? lol
【Min-ji】─Bronze maybe?:3
【BigGirl】─I think you said platinum before.
There were still 14 viewers in the stream, but most of them had the broadcast on and weren't actually watching.
【Min-ji】─But the chat really died down:3 Totally different from when Se-hun is here lol
【Reformed Guburi】─Because Gyejipsa's game streams are boring. lol
【BigGirl】─I think it's fun.
And when Gyejipsa lost the game and moved on to the next round.
Only a single viewer remained typing in chat.
【Reformed Guburi】─No! You're not responding to the gank, what the fuck are you doing!
Every viewer except Guburi had gone into lurking mode.
***
When the meal was nearly over.
The police chief suddenly got a look on her face like she'd remembered something and spoke to me.
"Oh right, Se-hun. If you can help it, it'd be best to avoid doing outdoor streams for the time being."
"Huh? Why's that?"
"The thing is, actually... A man went missing in our area recently."
"Missing? I didn't see any news like that."
"The investigation is still in the early stages, so we're not sure yet if he just ran away or got caught up in a kidnapping or an accident. I'm only telling you, Se-hun, so you can't go talking about this elsewhere, alright?"
"Ah, yes."
It was a grim world.
Come to think of it, recently.
There'd been that hitchhiking robbery-murder case too.
It wasn't like our area was cursed or something, but I couldn't figure out why such terrible cases kept happening one after another.
"Se-hun, don't worry. If anything happens to you, I'll come running in an instant to protect you."
Eight-Nine-Two, who was sitting next to me, said this while sending a wink.
It was a cringey line.
If you were gonna deliver a line like that, at least swallow the food in your mouth first.
Seeing her do that while smacking her lips disgustingly made her look really pathetic.
"Oh! Vice squad leader's so cool!"
"Wow, you've gotta hit lines like that to get a man, huh."
"Maybe Sergeant Park Gyuri's constant claims that she's popular with men weren't a lie after all..."
"Honestly, if she just grew her hair out, she'd be on the pretty side."
I didn't know what the soldiers were cheering about this time.
Had they seriously thought that line just now was cool?
No matter how I looked at it, they didn't seem to be brown-nosing.
‘These girls were never getting a boyfriend...’
I shook my head slightly.
And after finishing off the remaining food.
I asked the police chief once more about the missing person case I'd just heard about.
"But where exactly did that man go missing?"
The area we lived in was fairly broad compared to other areas.
So for now, it was best to know exactly where the disappearance had occurred.
Since it'd be safer to avoid that area.
"Hm...? Missing...?"
But the reaction was a bit strange.
The police chief just blinked as if she had no idea what question I was asking.
The others were the same.
Everyone was staring at me like I was a weirdo.
"...Why are you all acting like this?"
I asked again.
At that, Eight-Nine-Two scratched her head and answered carefully.
"Uh, Se-hun?"
"What?"
"Who said someone went missing all of a sudden?"
"What are you talking about all of a sudden? Just a moment ago the chief said a man in our area went missing. You heard that too and said you'd protect me."
After saying that, I slowly looked around at the people around me.
Every single one of them had a dumb look on their face.
"I said something like that? No, more than that, there hasn't been a missing person case in our area recently, Se-hun..."
"I didn't hear that kind of talk during the meal either..."
"Me neither."
Except for me.
Everyone had lost their memory of the missing man.