Plin Ch 2.17

Ding!

I just got off work. If you come to the front of the house, please text me. —Sausage Seller 07:10

07:10 Ok, thank you. I’ll be there soon ^0^ —Sausage Buyer

After exchanging texts with the sausage seller, Plin put his hands in his pockets. It had been a bit warm for a few days, but now it was a cold evening again. He had only put his hands out for a moment to text, but the cold, like a freezer, quickly made them sting.

As he walked along the dark winter road, he suddenly took out his cell phone again.

He opened the messaging app and checked to see if there were any missed calls. No calls, no texts.

He had done the same yesterday. When he said goodbye after the visit, he clearly said, “I’ll call you, bye,” but he didn’t call. Earlier, too, he said, “See you at the evening delivery,” but when he went for the evening delivery, he wasn’t even there. When he asked the receptionist, he was told that an urgent meeting had come up.

It was ambiguous to say that he had lied about not contacting him when he said he would. It was just that he was at the very bottom of his priority list, so easily forgotten. He didn’t care, he really didn’t care, but sometimes he felt a surge of sadness.

Plin trudged along. The basket was light after the delivery, but his feet felt heavy.

He had been thinking all day. What should he do? At first, he thought about what he should do for himself and for Andrea. Then he thought about what he should do for the executive director. He didn’t want to hurt the person who said he was in love with him. He worried about how Ethan would use him as the executive director’s ‘lover’.

He was waiting for the executive director’s call, but he still hadn’t made up his mind. However, honestly, from the moment he left the office, Plin wanted to say yes.

It wasn’t even because he wanted to find Andrea. It was because the person who said he was in love with him had warm hands, and every moment they spent together was memorable. Honestly, it was a little fun and enjoyable.

The scheduled future, where he had to pay off his debt every month, was a bit overwhelming, and the reality where he missed Andrea, worried about him, and was scared of Ethan, didn’t feel real. But if he refused, he felt like he would never see him again. He wanted to borrow the power of impulse.

Lost in thought as he walked, he soon arrived at the entrance of Pinching Road Station, the transaction location. He had contacted the seller five minutes before arriving, so he could receive the goods quickly.

It was a very cold day. As soon as the seller recognized Plin, he handed him a plastic bag full of sausages with a blunt look on his face.

“Check the contents.”

“Yes. It seems like everything is here. Here you go.”

Plin rummaged through the bag, roughly checking the quantity, and then handed over the money.

“There’s one more item in there.”

“Yes? What item?”

“Someone asked me to deliver it as a gift. Then I’ll be off.”

He quickly turned and ran away. He looked a little scared.

“Ah, wait…”

The man’s attitude was very strange. Staring at his back, he rummaged through the bag. Just doing that, he couldn’t find the ‘gift’ that the seller was talking about. Plin sat down on a nearby bench and started taking out the sausages one by one. Foxes were inherently suspicious, so he even wondered if there were explosives or drugs inside.

While worrying about explosions or getting caught by the police, he also had the foolish hope that maybe the executive director had put a gift inside.

After taking out the last sausage, he found a small recording device at the bottom of the bag.

Goosebumps ran down his spine. It was Ethan. How did he know he was making a used transaction? He recalled yesterday evening’s memory and remembered that Ethan had contacted him right after he finished chatting on CARROT. …Could he be being bugged?

Ding!

At the cheerful sound of a text message, Plin shuddered.

Did you receive the item well? -E 07:30

It was the kind of timing that made it seem like he had been watching him.

***

Hugo was a person who naturally ran hot. It was partly due to his species having a naturally high body temperature, and partly because the main symptom of karmic pain was a burning sensation, so he preferred his surroundings to be cool.

“Ugh, it’s freezing.”

Nevertheless, waiting indefinitely in front of the fox’s house was painfully cold. He wondered if it was because they used cheap lighting, but even the lights from the sparsely placed shops on the street were dim. The generally desolate neighborhood seemed even colder. Of course, the fact that he was only wearing a thin coat for the sake of his ‘fit’ was also a major contributing factor.

“I can’t take this anymore.”

He took refuge in his car. However, he came out again in a few minutes. He couldn’t stand just sitting still and killing time when he should at least be looking to see if the fox was coming or not. So he would come out and wait, and when he couldn’t stand the cold anymore, he would crawl back into the car and warm his frozen hands and feet with the heater. He repeated this several times.

While waiting, he thought. Has the fox made a decision? I doubt it.

“There he is.”

Good eyesight comes in handy at times like this. He could see the white fox coming from the lower part of the neighborhood, carrying a basket and a plastic bag and trudging through the snowy road.

He even put on his ear muffs. A scarf, a thick padded jacket, he’s really bundled up. His movements look sluggish, which is a bit funny. He should just roll here. He looks like a small bear, a baby polar bear.

Even though it was just a fox slowly approaching, he was amused and poured out his commentary.

When Plin was about 100 meters away, Hugo pretended to be nonchalant and looked down at his shoes. He wanted to appear like a leader who was agonizing over how to grow the company in this highly competitive industry.

“Hngh, why is the Executive Director at my house again?”

The fox was unexpectedly brazen like this from time to time. He asked for the reason before even greeting him. How sad.

“I said I’d hear your answer in the evening.”

“Ah, that… Come in for now. This neighborhood is cold, isn’t it?”

Even though Hugo was freezing to death. His hands were so red they were almost purple, and he felt like his ears were about to fall off. The cold that permeated every part of his body was unfamiliar to a chaebol like him.

Plin put his hand near the collar of his sweater and took out a chain necklace. He opened the door with the key dangling from it.

The fox’s house was freezing, but it was much better than outside. The studio-type house, which had no separate rooms, was not very narrow. There was a kitchen, and a large plywood table in the living room area.

There were two chairs facing each other at the table, so they sat there. So he does invite people to a house like this. Hugo thought he should see how many sets of tableware there were later.

“Actually, I still haven’t decided yet.”

Plin’s nose was red from the cold. He was making that detailed sniffing motion again, as if a canine were sniffing. It was probably an expression of some emotion, like embarrassment or excitement.

“I knew it. You don’t know how big of an opportunity you’ve grasped right now.”

It was as he expected. Ordinary people often fail to grasp the heaven-sent, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities simply because they are afraid of the unfamiliar. It would have been impressive if he had said yes right away. It would be late to realize that that was an opportunity only after everything had passed. The fox was a very ordinary, no, below average commoner, so he must have a lot of fears.

“I know. But…”

The fox hesitated. Waiting was the one thing he hated. Hugo crossed his legs and tapped his foot, saying,

“I won’t offer twice.”

He needed to put pressure on him since he was hesitating over an obvious choice. He was planning on offering a hundred times if he really refused, though.

“Yes. Me neither.”

“Huh…?”

“I won’t say it twice either. So… please listen carefully.”

Plin clenched and unclenched his fists. He was breathing heavily, too. Hugo swallowed. The way he was prefacing it, it seemed like he was making up his mind, one way or the other.

“Okay.”

“I!”

Plin yelled.

“What the, you!”

As Hugo jumped up, the chair he was sitting on fell to the floor with a thud. He ran to Plin and cupped his small face.

“Y-Yes? Why…?”

Plin just blinked, not knowing why he had suddenly rushed to him. Meanwhile, twin streams of blood flowed down his nose.

“You’re having a nosebleed, a nosebleed!”

Dark red droplets fell onto the plywood table. Only then did Plin realize the situation, and he hurriedly tilted his head back, pointing to where the tissues were.

“The tissues are over there…”

“Don’t tilt your head back. It’ll flow back. This is precious…”

He lowered his upper body, kneeling on the floor in front of Plin. He looked up at his face and gently scolded him, like a close friend would.

“What on earth have you been doing outside to get a nosebleed?”

“Just, the usual…”

“Don’t talk.”

He felt his face approaching. And then, slurp. Something warm and moist touched him.

“Uh, um—.”

Plin’s eyes widened, and he looked at him in disbelief. He started at the chin, where the drops of blood were falling, and licked it up, then he licked at his philtrum, which was covered in blood.

He tried to push away Hugo’s shoulders, but his strong shoulders didn’t budge. Meanwhile, the hand supporting the back of his neck was careful.

The sight of the executive director looking down was unfamiliar. His jet-black hair was wavy, and his sharp nose, seen from an angle, was prominent. The blood was still flowing, and he sucked it up as if drinking the flowing blood from his chin, then licked his philtrum with a chomp.

He was startled by the wide, hot tongue that licked above his nostrils. He tried to pull his body back, but his trapped body wouldn’t budge.