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Earth Hero’s Retirement Project 38

The Owner of the Fragment (8)

“Do we really have to go this far just to build camaraderie? It’s not like I’m staying long.”

“I mean, I could get by just coasting, but Seo-ryong needs to make friends, doesn’t she? But seriously, this village is so tiny—wasn’t that lie of yours a bit too easy to expose?”

On the way back, Kim Jeong-baek asked with a concerned look. Now that he thought about it, this was the first time he’d spoken about his mother to anyone other than Moon Tae-young.

“It wasn’t a lie.”

He answered vaguely, and Kim Jeong-baek’s expression shifted oddly.

“Wait, then you mean it’s actually… true? Want me to look up your mom’s records?”

“No. I don’t want that.”

He cut him off flatly. If Cha Eui-sung had ever intended to search for her records in the first place, he wouldn’t have started in some backwater village she barely managed to live out a quarter of her life in. He would’ve gone straight to the school she graduated from.

Ever since meeting Kim Jeong-baek, there was no need to waste time chasing shadows—he would’ve just handed over his information and let Jeong-baek do the rest.

He’d had plenty of chances. He simply chose not to.

“Oh, and the name’s fake. Don’t bother looking it up.”

“Come on, do I seem like the type to dig around in someone’s personal records after they asked me not to? Huh?”

“You kinda do. Sometimes.”

“Uh… how much do you know?”

“Stuff like, if a client request seems connected to another case, you broaden the scope and sweep in everyone, even outsiders? Or if you get a weird gut feeling, you pull extra info no one asked for and then don’t even report it?”

Kim Jeong-baek flinched like he’d seen a ghost. He muttered something under his breath and cautiously opened his mouth.

“…You know I don’t do that with you, right, boss?”

“I know. That’s why I’m saying be careful. If you poke the wrong thing here, you’re the one who might end up in trouble, not me.”

“Yikes.”

“I say this all the time, but I really respect your skills, Kim Jeong-baek. Just… don’t forget that’s why I give you these warnings.”

He shouldn’t have walked home with him. If he’d just driven the five minutes back by car, it would’ve been quiet. Now he’d said something that clearly made Kim Jeong-baek’s mood take off.

Cha Eui-sung half-heartedly responded to the man’s chipper tone while staring at the village dimmed under the night sky. The lights of the scattered homes reminded him of fireflies—and stirred in him a strange kind of nostalgia for a past he never had.

Her records… they must exist, of course.

She must have filed a birth registration here.

But not once since coming to Cheongseri had he ever felt the need to look for them.

The truth was, Cha Eui-sung didn’t want to know about her life.

It’d be a lie to say he wasn’t curious about where she grew up or how she came to have him. But he didn’t feel the need to dig it all up.

If there were stories she’d wanted to tell her only son, she’d have shared them already. They’d had plenty of time together before she passed.

So he figured, just like those stale old days when he was still a bottom-tier F-rank, maybe she had moments she wanted to keep buried too.

He didn’t want to pry open some long-sealed drawer and start leafing through her diary.

“I’ll head this way.”

“Sure, go ahead~”

Even though it was obviously the wrong direction from his house, Kim Jeong-baek didn’t bat an eye. He just danced off, bouncing with each step.

Only then did Cha Eui-sung brush aside the thoughts of his mother and check the message he’d been putting off.

[Are you off work?]

[Yes. There’s no need for you to come today.]

[Yes. There’s no need for you to come today.]

[Yes. There’s no need for you to come today.]

[Yes;; I won’t come then;;]

[Looks like there was some kind of communication error.]

It was a conversation with Moon Tae-young. He had sent a message before heading out for dinner, but the reply had only just come through—and it was the same message repeated three times.

No matter how he looked at it, there wasn’t anywhere in this area where the signal should’ve dropped. What the hell had he done to make the reception completely crap out like that?

And after what he’d said yesterday, the fact that there had been zero contact today because he wasn’t working overtime was also a bit ridiculous.

Thanks to that, Cha Eui-sung had spent the entire dinner gnawing on a chicken leg while his mind refused to let go of him.

He should’ve been the one doing the waiting, not me. So how did I end up tangled in this mess?

“Ah.”

He’d meant to give Moon Tae-young some time alone tonight. But screw it—he was too annoyed to let it go.

Cha Eui-sung walked for quite a while until he saw the familiar walls and rooftop. When he reached Moon Tae-young’s front gate and peeked inside, the lights were on.

He stood by the metal gate and called without warning. The phone rang barely a couple times before it connected.

—Yes.

Short answer. That’s how Moon Tae-young always answered his calls. Like they both knew who it was, so forget the pleasantries and get straight to the point.

Did he talk like this with other people too? Or was this his weird way of being… special?

“You got off work early today, didn’t you?”

—Yes. Is there something you need?

“Not really. It’s Friday, after all.”

—Right.

“I just happened to be passing by, so I thought I’d stop in—if that’s okay.”

—You just happened to be passing by, huh.

“I mean, yeah, it’s a little late, but it’s not like you’d be asleep already. And I’m not planning to stay long…”

—Hmm. I don’t know.

He paused, then gave an evasive answer. Eui-sung glanced beyond the wall and let his voice drop.

“If it’s a bad time, I get it. Honestly, I wasn’t really sure myself… just figured I’d try.”

—……

“I’ll go.”

Just as he trailed off and stepped back, he heard a low sigh through the receiver. After another pause, Moon Tae-young spoke again.

—Cha Eui-sung.

“Yeah?”

—You’re standing at the door, aren’t you?

“…You can hear me?”

—You could’ve just spoken out loud. No need for the call.

“Ah, uh…”

—Come inside. Don’t just stand out there looking like some weirdo.

He let out a sheepish laugh with the phone still to his ear and opened the gate. From the lit-up house, Moon Tae-young was already walking out.

His hair was still damp, and he was wearing something comfortable. The thin t-shirt clung faintly to his shape, like he’d just stepped out of the shower.

“I just dropped by. You weren’t at school, so…”

At Eui-sung’s mumble, Moon Tae-young gave him a curious look. Judging by his expression, he’d probably thought about inviting him over at some point, but hadn’t expected him to show up the very next day.

“I know it’s late. But it’s Saturday tomorrow…”

They wouldn’t be seeing each other for at least two more days.

For such a shameless excuse, his tone was oddly sheepish. He’d even touched up his hair and clothes a little before dinner, so he looked more put-together than usual.

Standing there all neat and awkward, he could feel Moon Tae-young’s gaze skimming over him again and again. Then came the soft-spoken words:

“Just so you know, there’s nothing here to offer you.”

“Didn’t seem like there was much in the principal’s office either.”

“There’s not even tea.”

“Honestly, I don’t really like tea.”

As soon as the unspoken invitation was granted, his brown eyes lit up with quiet excitement. Moon Tae-young let out a resigned sigh and stepped aside to let him in.

The inside of Moon Tae-young’s home was exactly as he remembered. The living room was bare—like the idea of interior decorating had never even occurred to him.

The office chair near the desk was pulled out a bit, suggesting he’d been sitting there after his shower.

As he walked past, Cha Eui-sung lightly bumped the desk by accident. The mouse slid slightly, but the screen didn’t come on, even though the fan was clearly spinning.

“Go ahead and sit.”

“…Where?”

“Ah. Just a moment.”

Moon Tae-young disappeared through the back door and came back carrying a foldable table.

It looked practically new, like it had never been used before. He set it down in the narrow living room.

“I probably shouldn’t be the one saying this, but… is the floor your only option for lying down in here?”

“There’s a bed.”

“You don’t lie down unless you’re sleeping?”

At the silly question, Moon Tae-young made a face like he couldn’t quite understand it.

If it’s not for sleeping, why lie down?

For a split second, Cha Eui-sung got chills as the Hunter Association days flashed through his mind.

He used to live exactly like that—never wasting even a moment of rest. There was no time to lounge around when you were squeezing every second for survival.

At least back then, he wasn’t home unless it was to sleep. But this guy? He stayed here, in this empty place, all the time.

Maybe he saw the look of deep concern on Eui-sung’s face, because Moon Tae-young added after a moment,

“If it’s for relaxing, there’s an armchair in the bedroom.”

“The bedroom… I’ll just sit on the floor.”

“Whew… Hang on a second.”

He disappeared through the back door again. Sounded like there was a storage room back there—he was rustling around and dragging something out. A moment later, he returned with a massive plastic-wrapped object.

“You had a beanbag? Why don’t you use it?”

“I have a chair.”

“You like mint green?”

“It was a gift.”

The way he said it made it sound like even he found the color kind of overwhelming. He started rattling off the whole story unprompted—that it was nearly brand-new from a student’s moving house, that he didn’t use it but didn’t want to throw it out either.

Fine. Whatever. The important thing was that this sterile, psychopathic little home had finally made room for him.

Rustle. The cloudy plastic came off. Without complaint, Cha Eui-sung sank into the beanbag and looked up at him.

At last, he had a place to sit in this house.

“This is nice.”

“Glad to hear it.”

“You gonna put it away when I leave?”

“If you need it, take it with you.”

Cha Eui-sung shook his head and curled up. It was honestly a little small, but if he said anything, Moon Tae-young might replace it with some boring floor cushion the next time he came over.

“Go back to what you were doing.”

His voice was calm as he gestured toward the PC.

Moon Tae-young pressed a hand to his forehead, as if wondering how the hell he was supposed to ignore the giant human blob now occupying his living room—but then he seemed to realize that from Eui-sung’s position, he couldn’t actually see the monitor.

“There’s nothing going on tonight. Thanks to someone barging in uninvited. Next time, I’ll bring drinks or something.”

He turned his head, like it was nothing, but casually hinted at a next time.

Cha Eui-sung was smiling faintly, clearly enjoying lounging around in Moon Tae-young’s space.

“Or you could just come to my place. I’ve got a table, too. Couch and all. I won’t say anything if you want to lie down.”

Was he deliberately inching closer, one step at a time, like he was clearing some final boss stage?

Moon Tae-young seemed to pick up on it. He sank into thought for a while, then finally sat down at his desk again—spending a long stretch of time quietly facing him from across the room.

Levia
Author: Levia

Earth Hero’s Retirement Project

Earth Hero’s Retirement Project

Status: Completed Author:
The moment he’d always dreamed of has finally arrived. After struggling endlessly through hardship post-regression, he’s finally claimed the top seat at the Hunter Association! S-rank Hunter Cha Eui-sung was adjusting his suit, ready to walk toward the cheering crowd—   KWA-A-AANG!   —when meteors suddenly rained down from the sky.   [The world has been destroyed by the Demon King.] [New! A mission has been added.]   SAVE THE WORLD Protect the Earth!   “Wha—holy shit!”   With the end of the world comes a second regression. If he fails to stop the Demon King this time, this really is his last life. Now cast as the [Hero], Cha Eui-sung sets out in search of the [Demon King]. In front of a small, dilapidated school building in the quiet countryside village of Cheongseri, he spots a tall man.   ‘…Are we really letting the Demon King work as a teacher now?’   Forced to operate under a bizarre handicap that forbids him from harming the Demon King, can Cha Eui-sung stop the apocalypse and preserve his brilliant S-rank life?

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