PM Chapter 14

Chapter 14

As noon approached, even the occasional customers stopped coming.

Heeseong pulled himself together, not wanting to burden Daesik, who had even promised to change out the fridge for him. He had dozed off in the morning—he couldn’t let himself nod off again at lunch.

But his eyelids betrayed his will and kept trying to close. Heeseong bit down hard on his tongue. It hurt so badly that tears pricked his eyes.

His thin eyelids trembled slightly. Still, he tried to remain composed. But his eyes were heavy, and his head kept drooping. Then—plop—he dropped his pen onto the floor.

The sound barely brought him back to his senses. As he hurried to pick it up, he accidentally knocked into the phone on the counter.

Crash. The receiver fell with a loud clatter, shocking him fully awake.

Heeseong flinched without realizing it, then belatedly understood how clumsy he’d just been. Embarrassment flooded him, and he wanted to disappear. The thought that the boss had probably seen everything made his face burn with heat.

Panicking, his hands became frantic. He quickly slammed the receiver back onto the phone, then bent down to grab the pen that had rolled under the counter—only to smack his head into the underside of the desk.

“Ugh…”

It hurt like hell. And now his face was flushed red on top of it.

Daesik, who had been handling something at his desk in the back of the office, had seen the entire commotion.

He raised a brow. Ha. He couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh. Watching Heeseong doze off, drop his pen, and flail around like that was hilariously pathetic.

He was clearly easily frightened, constantly sneaking glances for cues, but that didn’t mean he was good at picking up on them. His actions had an oddly clueless quality to them. Embarrassed by himself, Heeseong now hung his head with his face as red as a radish.

“I think I said I wouldn’t let it slide next time.”

Daesik spoke with a trace of amusement in his voice. At that, Heeseong flinched and glanced over, then bowed his head again.

“S-sorry.”

Heeseong’s heart pounded with anxiety. Was he going to be fired? He couldn’t have that… He looked nervously at Daesik, who then spoke with a stern expression.

“…Be here by 7 tomorrow.”

“Yes, thank you!”

Thank god. He wasn’t getting fired. Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Heeseong bowed his head.

As he watched Heeseong bow, Daesik suddenly furrowed his brow. Don’t tell me he’s a minor?

He looked soft and baby-faced, which made it confusing. He also acted a little slow, so the suspicion crept in. Heeseong had said he worked at a kimchi factory, but Daesik didn’t take that at face value. It was common in this industry to use kids barely past puberty in factories and bars. Very few people around here operated with any sort of common sense.

Daesik narrowed his eyes and asked abruptly.

“How old are you?”

Heeseong, who had just relaxed, blinked in surprise. Why was he suddenly asking about his age? Heeseong answered in a voice as small as an ant’s.

“…Twenty-one.”

Daesik squinted slightly. Twenty-one was still young, but somehow he doubted it.

“You really twenty-one?”

“…Yes, I am.”

At the question of whether it was true, Heeseong instinctively twitched his cheek and looked anxious. Had he done something wrong? Did he look too dumb? He worried. He was used to being told he was incompetent, stupid, or called names, so he tensed up naturally.

Even at the factory, he’d been told to act his age more than once. “You’re seventeen and don’t know this?” or “You’re an adult now, right? Why do you keep messing up?”—he’d heard things like that often. So whenever his age came up, Heeseong automatically assumed it was his fault.

Daesik stared at him, gauging him silently. Heeseong, all hunched over, was glancing up at him cautiously. Daesik clicked his tongue in disbelief.

All he did was ask his age—why was the kid so scared? Was it a lie, after all? Maybe he wasn’t even twenty yet. Daesik’s suspicion didn’t go away, and his eyes narrowed as he looked over Heeseong’s stiff shoulders and back.

Hunched over tightly, Heeseong bit his lip and gulped nervously. Surely he wouldn’t be let go just because of his age, right? The thought made him panic again. Even though Daesik had just said he wouldn’t fire him, who knew?

After growing up with hardship and constant exposure to violence, Heeseong had become even more fearful and withdrawn. He often assumed the worst whenever something happened. And since he was such a timid person, worrying over nothing had become routine. It was a habit ingrained from years of harsh experience.

Carrying a heart full of worries, Heeseong resolved not to mess up again.

At that moment, the elevator dinged, and several guests stepped out. At the same time, the hallway grew noisy, and a group came up the stairs from the basement.

“Ugh, I was just on a hot streak—why’d you have to call now! No sense at all!”

“Take this chance to clean out the lower guys.”

In an instant, customers swarmed the counter. One after another, they poured out their chips.

“U-um, you’re supposed to exchange those downstairs…”

“What did you say?”

“What are you talking about? Stop with the nonsense and just hurry up and exchange them.”

While the customers waved impatiently, the counter phone suddenly rang loudly.

“Uh…”

Heeseong panicked and flailed, unsure whether to answer the phone or deal with the customers—who weren’t listening to a word he said.

“Ugh, just hurry up and change them already!”

When Heeseong hesitated, one of the customers shouted angrily, letting his irritation show without restraint. Heeseong flinched at the fierce glare. The outburst scared him, and he shrank back. But still, he couldn’t go against what the boss had told him.

“Um, I-I’m sorry, but…”

Thud. Suddenly, a hand landed on his shoulder. It was Daesik. He had seen enough and stepped in.

Watching Heeseong flounder, Daesik furrowed his brow slightly. He’d wondered whether the kid could even do the job with nerves that fragile—and clearly, he couldn’t. He couldn’t even manage to say that one thing. Tsk.

He clicked his tongue internally but stopped there. Surprisingly, instead of scolding or firing Heeseong, a different idea crossed his mind.

I’ll need to put up a notice and have the basement guys give advance warning. That should cut down customers like that by half. It was another thought that would have made Kyunghoon lose his mind if he’d heard it.

Daesik, still holding Heeseong’s shoulder, picked up the phone and handed it to him.

“For anything other than stay extensions, just say you’ll confirm and call them back. Write down the room number.”

“O-okay…”

Looking like a frightened squirrel, Heeseong hesitated, then nodded. Meanwhile, the customer outside was still making a scene.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing?!”

“You little shit, I’m talking to you—!”

“You calling me?”

Daesik pushed Heeseong’s chair aside and looked out past the counter window as he spoke. The moment he appeared through the small opening, the customers’ attitudes shifted instantly.

“Ah! P-Pyo, President Pyo.”

“Whoa, President Pyo was there the whole time?”

Their yelling mouths snapped shut, and they smiled as if nothing had happened. The way their demeanor flipped like a switch was almost laughable.

“Forgot to give the heads-up, but you’ve gotta exchange chips downstairs now.”

“Oh, ah… really? Didn’t know, didn’t know.”

One customer sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and creased the corners of his eyes with a forced smile. Daesik shrugged his shoulders.

“Started today.”

“Ah, I see! Sorry about that.”

“Then we’ll go exchange them downstairs! Thanks for letting us know, President Pyo.”

The customers quickly apologized and shuffled away like they were fleeing. Daesik watched them silently until they disappeared down the stairs and then stopped paying attention.

Meanwhile, Heeseong was clutching his pounding chest and busy taking the phone call, completely unaware of the customers’ changed behavior or that they’d left on their own.

“Yes, this is the front desk.”

Unsure if he was saying it right, Heeseong tensed up. Fortunately, there wasn’t much fuss from the other end of the line.

–This is Room 506. I’d like to extend for one more night.

“Yes, understood.”

–Prepare the same stuff as before.

“…Okay.”

Stuff? Are they coming to pick something up?