When Kim Jeong-baek first came down to Cheongseri, Cha Eui-sung had assumed they’d be rubbing shoulders frequently in the same neighborhood.
That had been a misjudgment. Even though they lived practically next door, most of their interactions happened through phone calls or messages.
He’d stop by Kim Jeong-baek’s house once in a while, aware of how it might look to others, but really, all that meant was they’d moved their occasional meetings from a dingy office to Seo-ryong’s home.
Cha Eui-sung knew Kim Jeong-baek’s abilities and weaknesses inside out—but not his daily life. Nor had he ever cared to learn.
“I’m sorry to hear about that. I imagine Seo-ryong must’ve been upset.”
That held true—until one afternoon when Moon Tae-young cautiously brought it up.
“…Seo-ryong? I haven’t seen her today.”
Moon Tae-young, as if regretting the mention, suddenly started checking the educational tablet.
Reclining on the sofa, Cha Eui-sung narrowed his eyes.
“What’s going on?”
“It’s nothing serious.”
“You said it was regrettable.”
If Tae-young had assumed he already knew, then it clearly wasn’t a secret. But now he was clamming up, and that wasn’t like him.
…What is it?
If he wasn’t going to explain, then he shouldn’t have dropped a hint in the first place. Asking outright might get him nowhere, but ignoring it didn’t sit right either.
Let’s see. If something upset her at school around this time of year, it was probably just a scuffle at most.
But Moon Tae-young wasn’t some greenhorn teacher who’d get all worked up over a little kid fight.
Besides, even if he was the Demon King, Moon Tae-young was a professional through and through—he always drew a sharp line between being a teacher and anything else. He treated Cha Eui-sung strictly based on whether he was acting as Seo-ryong’s guardian or just another local resident.
If something had happened with Seo-ryong and he wanted to talk about it, he’d request a proper meeting. He wouldn’t bring it up when Eui-sung just wandered in and flopped onto the couch uninvited.
“Is it about me?”
The moment he muttered that, the hand holding Tae-young’s pen froze briefly.
That got Cha Eui-sung sitting up, the unease starting to itch under his skin.
He swiped the email he was writing away and opened his messages. Buried among a bunch of spam, the name he was looking for finally popped up.
<Kim Seo-ryong>
There was no simpler or more reliable way to check on Seo-ryong’s day.
She always sent in a daily report before dinner, and this time should be no exception.
Sure enough, the typing indicator was blinking at the top of the chat window.
She was in the middle of writing her report to him.
She must be deep in thought. She keeps stopping and starting again.
He felt like he was peeking in on someone’s private anguish. He appreciated the diligence, but wasn’t she taking a bit too long with this one?
Was she always this thorough with her reports? Didn’t seem like it. They never felt this carefully composed before.
When the typing stopped intermittently, Cha Eui-sung started to worry she might just give up and ghost him.
That, he did not want.
〉ㅇㅇㅇㅇㅇ_
He mashed some random keys to trigger the “typing” notification on his side.
As soon as it showed he was watching, Seo-ryong must’ve panicked, because a half-edited message got sent in a rush:
[Today during study time, Chansol-oppa said something rude about Little Uncle, and Min-hee told him to stop, but he kept going. So I said, ‘The gigolo is you, Park Chansol,’ and he asked why I was calling him ‘you’, so I told him it’s because he’s dumber, poorer, and gets worse grades than me. Then he got mad and came at me like he was going to hit me, so I—]
[This isn’t right. I’ll send it again.]
“……”
[Today’s studies were the same, but we fought. Chansol-oppa called Little Uncle a gigolo, so I told him, ‘The gigolo is you, Park Chansol.’ He got mad and came at me, so I hit him. He got a double nosebleed, and the teacher told me to have my uncle come tomorrow. Not Little Uncle, though.]
…Fuck.
Like a statue, Cha Eui-sung slowly turned his head with a faint creak, locking eyes with Moon Tae-young, who wore a very regretful expression.
Cha Eui-sung quickly gathered his things and shot to his feet.
“I’m heading out early today.”
“Cha Eui-sung.”
He heard his name called from behind, but his mind was already racing toward Kim Jeong-baek.
Without responding, he shut the door behind him and strode briskly down the hall.
***
Ding— ding— ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!
Kim Jeong-baek opened the door with a distinctly irritated expression, triggered by the impatient doorbell.
Without saying a word, he gestured with a quick shake of his head to keep quiet and let Cha Eui-sung inside.
“So, what’s this about?”
“I told her to send it later… Goddamn it.”
Cha Eui-sung walked through the living room like it was his own place and slumped into the first dining chair he saw.
Beneath the table lay a school backpack, carelessly thrown aside, still zipped shut.
Kim Jeong-baek glanced with a hint of frustration at the tightly closed door.
“If you’re not here to discuss a kid’s school life, let’s skip the small talk and get to the part about me.”
“I should be glad you don’t care, but that still sounds kind of insulting…”
“I’m sure you handled things with Seo-ryong just fine, Mr. Kim.”
“…That one doesn’t sound so bad.”
Kim Jeong-baek walked over with a complicated look and finally began to explain.
“First of all… Seo-ryong’s doing fine. She’s adjusted well and gets along with the other kids. Smart as a whip.”
“I know. She’s even made some friends.”
“She’s not the type to start fights or anything, either. Usually.”
“I know that too, so cut the preamble and just get to the point.”
“Damn, fine. Anyway, there’s this one kid who’s been giving her a hard time. Kept bothering her about you.”
“Me? Why me? I’m not even their age.”
Sigh…
“Quit dragging it out.”
“Have you heard the rumors going around town?”
Of course not. Eui-sung gave him a look like he’d just asked whether the sky was green, and Kim Jeong-baek sighed again, longer this time. What followed—delivered with a mix of scolding and disbelief—went so far beyond what Cha Eui-sung had imagined, it nearly stunned him.
It had already been a few months since Cha Eui-sung moved to Cheongseri. Not a short amount of time, yet his interactions with the locals were practically nonexistent.
He came and went from Seoul often, frequently leaving the house empty, and unless it was to meet with Moon Tae-young, he barely even stepped beyond his fence. Even when he ran into people on the street, he rarely spoke—hell, he barely even nodded.
It hadn’t always been that extreme. But after Moon Tae-young discovered he was an Awakened, Eui-sung’s instinctual wariness kicked back in.
So much so that most of the townspeople hadn’t even heard his voice. At this point, they might believe he’d dug a cave into the mountain and gone full hermit. And honestly? Eui-sung didn’t have much ground to argue with that perception.
Unusual appearance, suspiciously young age, standoffish attitude, living like a vagrant.
With those four traits, he’d hit every mark on the “sketchy outsider” checklist. Naturally, bizarre rumors started to spread.
“A thug? A fugitive?”
Compared to the rest, the rumors that he was some troublemaker banished to the countryside by a chaebol family, or an illegitimate heir in exile, were practically flattering.
People whispered he was a washed-up celebrity hiding out for rehab, or a scam victim fleeing loan sharks. Others claimed he was the con artist, laying low after pulling a big one.
There were even tales about him being a gigolo who used to entertain high-society women, until something went wrong and he had to disappear.
What the hell is wrong with these people? When the whole town was already buried in summer farming work, how did they find the time to concoct and pass around this nonsense? The more he heard, the more times he let out exasperated shouts of “Ha!”
What pissed him off the most was that no matter the rumor, he always ended up as some loser on the run.
“I never even showed my face, so how the hell are they coming up with this bullshit?”
“That’s exactly the problem. This isn’t a packed city apartment or something. It’s a small village where everyone knows everyone else’s business. And apparently, you haven’t even said hello to anyone.”
“Why should I? I’m just here to stay quiet until I finish what I came to do.”
“Well, your look isn’t exactly subtle. Let’s be honest—you don’t really fit in around here.”
Son of a… Seriously? They all trusted Moon Tae-young with their kids, and he wasn’t exactly what you’d call “normal” either.
“Besides, people say strange noises come from your house. And when they try to sneak a peek, they claim you’re already there, staring at them like a ghost.”
“Why the hell are they snooping into someone’s private life in the first place?”
“And then there’s the time Grandpa Hae-jung said he passed by your place, saw the door open, greeted you—and you just shut the door in his face.”
“…Are you seriously taking their side right now?”
Cha Eui-sung might’ve kept his distance, but he never shut a door in someone’s face.
Still, as he bristled and mentally plotted out defamation lawsuits, he paused and tried to think.
Hmm… now that I think about it, I did turn back a few times right at the front gate because I forgot something.
Maybe someone was out there then. Maybe he heard them—maybe he didn’t. But realistically, he’d just ignored it.
Because he didn’t want to deal with anyone.
“…Hmm.”
At this point, even Cha Eui-sung had to admit he’d gone a little overboard avoiding people.
“In small towns—anywhere in the world—people live tight-knit lives. You’re just a city boy who doesn’t get that.”
“Doesn’t mean they should be spreading this kind of crap.”
“Most people didn’t say anything. It’s just that the rumor snowballed into something ridiculous. You know how it goes.”
He did know. That’s why he used to manage his reputation meticulously. But he no longer had any need to climb the ladder, and he figured it didn’t matter if a few backwoods folks didn’t like him.
“I still get lumped together with you, so I’ve been telling people—yeah, he’s a bit odd, but he’s not a bad guy. And thankfully, Seo-ryong’s teacher put a stop to any uglier talk before it could spread.”
“…You mean Moon Tae-young?”
“Yeah. You two are about the same age, and people know you talk sometimes, so a few busybodies were prying. But he just flat-out shut them down without explanation, and that kind of defused it.”
“……”
“Still, when the adults are gossiping, kids pick it up too. One of the sixth-graders teased Seo-ryong about it, and that’s what started the whole mess. So, bottom line—you’re not completely blameless here.”
Even if he said that, his expression clearly read: This is all your damn fault.
Cha Eui-sung rubbed the back of his neck, trying to get his emotions under control, and glanced at Seo-ryong’s closed door.
He wasn’t sure whether to be proud or not. Technically, they were a makeshift family unit, so it made sense that she’d get angry about it.
Still, the image of Moon Tae-young’s flustered face flashed in his mind, and it made his stomach squirm.
“…Haaah. First, take Seo-ryong to the hospital. Get a full diagnosis—even for the tiniest scratch. Use that for the response—”
“She’s the one who hit him.”
“…What?”
“Seo-ryong’s the one who threw the punch. And what kind of ‘response’ are we talking about for a kids’ scuffle, anyway?”
“…Can I get a glass of water?”
