The Porter (5)
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Contrary to Min-jong’s and Seung-ho’s worries, Victory Khan didn’t attack that night.
Min-jong needed his laptop to start writing the article, but Seung-ho could not leave him out of his sights.
Instead, they waited until early morning and called Eun-hye to bring them the laptop.
When she arrived, she greeted Seung-ho lightly and placed the laptop down.
Then, she started to question Min-jong.
Expecting that it would be a noisy and loud conversation between the couple, Seung-ho stepped out to call his mother for a while.
Not surprisingly, as soon as he closed the hospital room door, he heard Eun-hye’s raised voice.
Seung-ho paused for a moment as he dialed.
“Son?”
“Mother, were you worried about me not going home yesterday? I’m sorry.”
“No, no – did you have breakfast?”
“I’m going to get one now at a convenience store.”
“Ah, you should eat a heavy breakfast! Not from a convenience store.”
Fortunately, Seung-ho thought as his mother continued to nag, at least she was not asking about what happened yesterday.
He arrived at a convenience store and bought a sandwich and a pack of milk.
“Okay, take good care of Min-jong. Will you come home today?”
“I’ll be home late, mother.”
“Okay. We’ll eat dinner together if you come early.”
“Yeah, bye mother.”
After a long conversation with his mother, Seung-ho chewed on a sandwich and slowly walked back into the hospital room.
Somehow, the room is now filled.
Eun-hye left to prepare for work, but there were people from the Association inside, including Choi Yoo-il.
“What’s wrong?” Seung-ho asked him.
“Oh, thank you for your cooperation with the incident that happened yesterday, and I came here to check on you both. Min-jong got hurt because of the gate out; it’s natural for us to check in.”
Choi Yoo-il smiled as he said it, and placed a fruit basket and a set of drinks on a table next to the bed.
“Seung-ho,” he continued. “Let’s leave and talk for a moment.”
As soon as they stepped out, Yoo-il took out an envelope and handed it politely to him.
“That’s the price of the Gigantic Gorilla you caught yesterday.”
Seung-ho’s expression changed as he took the price of his labor. Inside the envelope was 10 million won.
Still, he did not say a word. He just leaned to the wall and stared at Yoo-il.
Yoo-il’s lips went dry with Seung-ho’s attitude, but he continued his pitch after a few coughs.
“Wo-would you like to join the Association’s special department? We will not let you down.”
Seung-ho dismissed him. “Special department agents move around a lot, right? I don’t intend to leave Seoul.”
He started to reach for the door handle to get back inside, but Yoo-il stopped him by using his body to block the door.
“You will work in Seoul only!”
Seung-ho paused a little, then pushed through the body blocking his path.
“You were dispatched late in the evening yesterday; I think the working hours are messed up. Overnight, an early morning like today…” he grumbled.
“No! You will get the same working hours as civil servants!” Yoo-il rushed to answer.
The offer was sweet, Seung-ho thought, but words were not enough to guarantee. He said as much as he continued to push through.
“Wait, wait! Here…” Yoo-il hurriedly pulled out a piece of paper. “Everything you want is here. It’s done.”
Yoo-il was breathless as he further explained. “I made a contract all night considering working conditions that you would like. Read it. You will definitely like it.”
Seung-ho took the paper and unfolded it. Aside from the conditions Yoo-il offered, the contract also stated that the service required is limited to supporting medium-sized local vehicles, support for rental apartments for Association employees, and delivering payments of mana stone costs according to monster level.
Seung-ho scratched his head because he is very torn to accept it. They were very good conditions in his favor.
“Why are you doing this?” he asked Yoo-il.
“Did you explode the Gigantic Gorilla’s chest yesterday and blow it up with magic power inside the Central Library?”
“Right.” Seung-ho nodded.
“I’m sorry if I don’t fully understand because I’m ignorant, but did you blow up the head and the chest near the elevator?”
“Yeah, how did you find out?”
“It wasn’t that obvious. However, the head and the body were at the center of the building, but there was a lot of blood near the elevator, so I guessed that’s what happened.”
“It wasn’t noticed, but my head was blown, but the blood was only gathered near the stairs, and I guessed it.”
Yoo-il’s theory was simple.
Seung-ho caught the beast by the elevator, blasted a powerful explosion to send the enemy away.
It was a power that was not only sufficient to kill the enemy, but to send it flying…
Considering the size of the Gigantic Gorilla…
Yoo-il composed himself.
“I’m the vice-chairman, and I would respect your decision if you didn’t want to take the offer.”
“If you can be honest with me, I will consider it,” Seung-ho replied.
“Sure, what is it? I will answer to the best of my knowledge.” Yoo-il’s heart rate increased as he anticipated the question.
“Are the gate numbers getting higher now?”
He sighed with relief upon hearing the question. “I have never heard of such a fact.”
“Good!” Seung-ho laughed.
Yoo-il can’t help but laugh in relief. “Let’s go inside so you can sign it. It’s uncomfortable to do it against the wall.”
Suddenly, Seung-ho grabbed the doorknob and pushed the door.
“What- you said it was good?!” Yoo-il yelled.
“I said it was good that gate numbers are not increasing.”
“No, you said you would consider it?”
Seung-ho pushed the door open and gestured for the Association members inside to go out.
“That’s all for today. The patient needs to rest, so please leave.”
Yoo-il gripped his temple with his right hand, as he used her left to gesture at the members.
“Let’s leave.”
The Association members walked out, with the last one gently closing the door behind him.
Choi Yoo-il couldn’t believe what happened, as the group walked briskly out of the hospital.
He stayed up all night to make a contract, only to be rejected like that… how could he report this…
“Sorry, Captain?” One of the members nervously approached him as he gripped his throbbing temples.
Cho Yoo-il turned to look at the man.
“What is it?” he snapped.
“Do you still have the receipt for the fruit basket we brought today?”
* * *
“It’s going to hurt them a bit,” Seung-ho thought as he sat inside the room. He knew they devoted every effort to offer him that good contract.
But no matter how good the offer as a civil servant is, compared to his current life as a free hunter, he will be like a caged bird.
Also, Choi Yoo-il’s answer about the gates, that he never heard of the fact wasn’t definite.
Min-jong looked at his troubled face. “Were you scouted?”
“Yes. Are you writing the article now with your hand’s condition?”
Min-jong had the laptop on his stomach, while his little finger hit the keys.
Seung-ho sighed at how his friend looked.
“I think I’ll finish this by lunchtime.”
“Are you sure you will be safe after writing it all down?”
“I don’t have the intention of revealing anything yet… I left out a lot of details.”
Seung-ho realized something.
“Hey! Wouldn’t it be dangerous for my parents, too?”
He snatched Min-jong’s laptop. Min-jong hurriedly tried to stop him by grabbing the laptop, but it was unavoidable.
“Hyung, brother, it’s not! This time I am writing an article to live, but there is nothing that may be connected to you. Read it. I wandered on the Internet, and what I saw in the previous news, I added a few hints…”
Min-jong hurriedly pointed to the laptop’s monitor.
“Finish it soon, then. I’ll have to leave before lunch because I’m going to re-measure my grade in the afternoon. I need to read it before you post it.”
“I see.”
Min-jong’s article, written only in boredom, without evidence and just subtle hints – it was good bait to fans of Drachsh and netizens.
The hyenas and crows rushing to this bait will be their protective shield.
Seung-ho felt his phone vibrate.
-Kim Seong-ah: Uncle, what are you doing?
-Lee Seung-ho: Min-jong is in the hospital. But why?
-Kim Seong-ah: Will you come today? Yesterday, I thought you would come for lunch and asked mom to make an extra share.
Seung-ho wanted to apologize. He promised Lee Min-ju he’ll come, and totally forgot about it.
-Kim Seong-ah: Uncle, your answer is late? Forgot?? Huh??
-Lee Seung-ho: No, I think I have a little work to do today.
-Kim Seong-ah: Ah… Huh…
-Lee Seung-ho: But I’ll go there as soon as possible, don’t worry
There was no more reply.
Seung-ho sighed and held his temple, but he had no choice but to quickly receive a re-measurement.
“Is the Central Branch close here?”
“Absolutely.”
Min-jong replied without taking his eyes off the monitor.
“Are you done with the article yet?”
“What?! Not even 10 minutes passed!”
* * *
The man approached Drachsh, who was playing with the children for a while.
Photos of him hanging out in a nursery school, or photos of him making donations to children gave Drachsh a good image, and he made sure he does this regularly.
The man approached him. Drachsh had a child sitting on his lap, playing with a doll.
“Drachsh.”
Drachsh didn’t turn to look. Instead, he spoke to the child.
“Anna? You have to talk to that friend for a while, can you go now?”
The child nodded sweetly and grabbed the doll. Then, she ran somewhere.
“Khan, loosen up your face. The children will get scared of you. What’s up?”
“I failed. The target began to be vigilant, and day-to-day surveillance is now impossible.”
Drachsh’s mask cracked slightly, but he kept smiling generously. They are still in the nursery school, after all.
“The reporter friend released an article, but it’s all speculation right now,” Khan continued.
The mask which had already been cracked couldn’t seem to hold it in any longer.
“Mister~”
The child who had left with the doll suddenly barged in, giving Drachsh a flower-shaped piece of paper.
At that point, Drachsh knelt down on one knee to reach the child’s eye level and pretended to be amazed.
“Oh… what’s this?”
“It’s a gift! I made it.”
“Thank you.”
Fortunately, because of the child’s interruption, the mask slowly began to return to its original shape.
Drachsh stroked the child’s head. The child smiled back before running away once more.
“Schedule next week, Korea,” he said bluntly, looking away.
Khan nodded.
“What do we have there…” Drachsh murmured.
No one answered.