PM Chapter 19

Chapter 19

“The boss…?”

“Yes.”

The man nodded and stepped inside the counter.

Heeseong suddenly felt overwhelmed. His chest tightened, and he quickly bit his lip. The boss had thought of him again—without even knowing that Heeseong had been planning to harm him.

Even if he was a gangster, he was kind and generous. And here he was, thinking of hurting such a man. Heeseong felt like absolute garbage.

Kyunghoon was flustered, watching Heeseong’s eyes turn red and his expression crumple as if he were about to cry. What did I do…? Did I scare him because I look too rough? Or… was he actually touched?

“Uh… Ahem. The boss said to give you this and not to be scared while you eat.”

Kyunghoon cleared his throat awkwardly and sat down in a chair. Then, as Daesik had instructed, he rolled up his sleeves to get to work.

“I’ll help you out with the work.”

Sniffling now, Heeseong bowed his head with moist eyes.

“Thank you. For the sandwich earlier too, and for giving me a ride.”

“…You should thank the boss, not me.”

“Still, you…”

The boss had definitely said his name. What was it again? Heeseong blinked, trying to remember, but fortunately, Kyunghoon spoke first.

“I’m Ji Kyunghoon.”

“Ah… Ji Kyunghoon-ssi, you still helped me.”

Kyunghoon, who had assumed there must be something special about the guy if Daesik was going out of his way to protect him, grew confused. The thick glasses that looked heavy on his face, the shaggy hair—there really wasn’t anything particularly remarkable. Honestly, he looked clueless and unimpressive. To put it bluntly… kind of like a dope.

“I’m Yoon Heeseong. I look forward to working with you, sunbaenim.”

Heeseong bowed politely as he introduced himself.

“Huh…?”

Sunbaenim? That came out of nowhere. And why was he saying he looked forward to working with him? Kyunghoon made a strange face.

“You started working before me…”

Heeseong gave his own reason. It didn’t feel right to call Kyunghoon by name when he had started first. At the kimchi factory too, they called those who got hired earlier “sunbae.”

Suddenly promoted to senior coworker, Kyunghoon was at a loss for words and just stammered. It didn’t feel right to tell him to just use his name, and more than anything, it was all too baffling. Was this seriously happening?

He had been surprised enough that Daesik was bothering to look after someone, but that person turned out to be this hopelessly clueless-looking kid? It didn’t seem real.

The truth was, Kyunghoon had already done a background check on Heeseong like Daesik had ordered. That was the day they ate jjamppong together.

That day, he’d reviewed Heeseong’s personal info and had clicked his tongue. According to the findings, there was nothing special about Heeseong’s past. Just your typical life of a poor omega—completely unimpressive.

He’d grown up being exploited in an orphanage, eventually ran off with his so-called brother, and worked at a kimchi factory. The only unusual detail was that the brother, a gambling addict, had recently disappeared. But even that kind of situation was nothing rare in his world.

Ah, there was one notable thing. The loan sharks—running a place with the cringe-worthy name of “Hope Lending”—were the creditors of that brother or whoever he was.

Of course, you couldn’t trust everything on a piece of paper. That kind of thing could easily be fabricated. So Kyunghoon had found Heeseong somewhat suspicious. At the time, at least.

“What should I do? Want me to take care of it?”

He had casually asked Daesik. But surprisingly, Daesik had shaken his head.

“Leave him. I want to see what he does.”

Usually, Daesik acted before the other side even realized what was coming. But this time was different. And as a loyal subordinate, Kyunghoon followed his boss’s orders.

Still, it was hard to believe. Honestly, hearing that the sun would rise in the west tomorrow or that dragons were real felt more believable than this.

Even if the idea was to keep an eye on him, this… this just didn’t feel right. Why go through all the trouble to keep such a clueless guy nearby?

Still, Kyunghoon didn’t treat him roughly or talk down to him. If Daesik had said to watch, then it meant he was giving him more chances than the others before—and that meant he was different from the ones they’d already gotten rid of.

Completely unaware of Kyunghoon’s thoughts, Heeseong rummaged through the envelope he’d brought and pulled out two ice creams, handing one over.

“Let’s eat together, sunbaenim.”

“Ah… Sure…”

Caught off guard, Kyunghoon found himself eating ice cream with Heeseong. A guy who’d been throwing punches since his teenage years, a 15-year veteran gangster—this was the first time in his life he’d felt so confused. He’d never felt anything like this before.

As he looked at Heeseong smiling, eyes crinkled while eating his ice cream, Kyunghoon narrowed his gaze.

Maybe… maybe he had it all wrong. Maybe this wasn’t just some clueless dope. Maybe this kid was playing a deeper game than anyone realized.

“Look into Hope Lending and that Jangseong Ilil Lending place too.”

“Yes, sir.”

Either way, it was necessary to find out whether he had ties to Jangseong as well.

After eating the ice cream, Heeseong felt a little better. The soft, sweet treat slowly melting on his tongue seemed to melt away his worries and concerns too. It helped that he was naturally simple-minded.

Of course, that didn’t mean he had forgotten everything. Threats from the gangsters and what he was supposed to do to Daesik—those weren’t the kinds of things you could forget just because you wanted to. It was just that the mess of thoughts crowding his head had shrunk, pushed aside by the presence of ice cream.

In truth, it had been years since Heeseong had last eaten ice cream. Those bastards had starved him until his belly stuck to his back, and ice cream was out of the question. So it was only natural that a bit of sweetness would ease his worries.

How did the boss even know melon flavor was his favorite?

Something tightened in his chest at how Daesik remembered even such small things. Licking at the treat, Heeseong suddenly felt like he was about to cry and sniffled hard to hold it back.

Still, since the ice cream had lifted his mood, he focused on sucking it slowly, like a piece of candy. He tried to make it last, but the long bar shrank pitifully fast. Before he knew it, only the stick remained.

Tch. Clicking his tongue in regret, Heeseong glanced toward the bag with the remaining ice creams.

“If you want more, feel free to have another.”

“Oh, no. It’s fine.”

He had to save some for the boss. Even though his eyes were clearly filled with longing, Heeseong firmly suppressed his desire.

He looked around and carefully placed the bag of ice creams into the old mini fridge nearby.

Kyunghoon frowned at the sight.

“That fridge is broken. They’ll melt.”

“Still, it’s cooler than outside, so maybe they won’t. The boss should have some too.”

“Ah… I see.”

Kyunghoon thought about telling him not to bother, but something told him it wouldn’t help, so he just kept his mouth shut.

Even if the boss really was the person those men had mentioned, Heeseong was determined to work as hard as he could. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure if he could go through with the job they gave him, and the thought of doing such a thing to the boss made his stomach turn. More than anything, he didn’t want to cause any more trouble for him.

Just as he finished his ice cream and was wiping his hands with a wet tissue, customers arrived.

“Two nights, please.”

“That’ll be 100,000 won.”

The customers, who looked like travelers, frowned when they heard the price.

“That’s expensive. Can’t you give us a discount?”

Heeseong apologized with an uneasy smile.

“I’m sorry. I’m just a staff member…”

“…Here.”

As he reached out to take the money and hand over the key to Room 601, Kyunghoon stopped him and instead handed over the key to Room 204.

Heeseong glanced at him, and Kyunghoon shook his head slightly.

When the key was finally handed over, the woman clicked her tongue and scowled.

“No rooms on higher floors?”

“Uh…”

“I’m sorry. They’re already reserved.”

As Heeseong fumbled for words, Kyunghoon smoothly stepped in to help. He bowed slightly and explained the situation with ease.

“…Fine.”

The woman gave a short nod and took the key.

As soon as she left, another woman approached from behind—tall, neatly tied hair, and wearing sunglasses.

“Room 710.”

TL/N: Mass release coming up