← The Guide Who Hides Their Power is an Otter
“Mm, mm….”
Humming to himself, he added to the entry.
Was invited to the Captain’s house and fed a meal. Park Gang-u cooked it himself. (Heisha)
For the first time, he’d been with him from beginning to end as a human. If he flowed into his heart little by little, as if stacking up achievements, then someday they would be able to pair, wouldn’t they?
‘Think of the kid who died torn apart!’
He had a friend who had died while guiding. The poor friend who had been torn to shreds by an esper he trusted was vivid before his eyes. He’d witnessed it with his own eyes, so it wasn’t as if he had no trauma.
“Still, he’s a good person.”
Heisha muttered to himself and scribbled beside it with his pen, as if doodling.
Park Gang-u. ?. A person who goes into gates alone to save people. Bad person? NO. Good person? Maybe… Is he only good to Hei? NO. He cooked for me today. It was tasty.
Looking at the messy scribble, as if it had drawn out his thoughts, Heisha let out a deep sigh.
“What would happen if Park Gang-u found out?”
He was this set on it, but if Park Gang-u said no, he’d have nothing to say. That thought made him a little glum.
‘Still, I’m probably the only one thinking this way.’
‘If I keep pushing forward, it’ll get better.’ He clenched his fist tight. He put the diary away and set it back on the nightstand.
Ding. Ding.
At the broadcast sound announcing lunch, he stepped out the front door.
‘Lunchtime, food, food.’
Heisha scurried along, humming low enough that it was barely audible. He went in front of the elevator, pressed the button, and stared at the red numbers.
Perhaps because it was lunchtime and there were many people, the numbers coming down with a stutter dropped sluggishly. The elevator arrived, and Heisha, squeezing in among the people, let out a sigh.
The hellish Korean elevator.
It was hard to believe that with this many people living here, there was only one elevator. That was why it broke down often, too, but ever since a notice went out telling people to use the stairs rather than adding more elevators, no one said anything about it anymore. So the only answer was to cram yourself in with all your might.
“Guide Heisha.”
“Ah. Hello.”
They were guides he’d run into a few times while going to the field without deployment orders. They’d treated him like a lower life form for being C-rank, but though he’d been wary of their suddenly changed attitude for a moment, Heisha soon adapted and enjoyed their goodwill.
“Going to eat?”
“Yes.”
Recalling a conversation later, shared while patting his shoulder, they called it ‘loyalty.’ After that, a few guides would greet him like this whenever they ran into each other.
“Want to eat together?”
“No!”
Since he ate with mounds of rice piled on his tray, he didn’t have enough time to eat together and get up while minding the people around him. Koreans ate rice at nearly the speed of drinking. He’d heard they shortened the time spent eating because break time was insufficient, but they ate so fast it was a wonder they didn’t choke.
“Still, thank you for thinking of me.”
At the unhostile smile, the guides weren’t uncomfortable either and laughed along. In the warm atmosphere, the elevator doors opened at the basement cafeteria.
“Enjoy your meal.”
“Thank you. Enjoy yours!”
Heisha stood in the very last line after all the guides got off. Since he ate twice as much as others, he felt more at ease getting served in the line at the very back. Most people were startled when they occasionally saw Heisha floating at the back, so now it had become a habit.
‘Rice!’
Back home his mother had made rice for him, too, but the staple had mostly been bread. He was eating so much here it felt like he might eat a lifetime’s worth of rice, so anyone who knew him would probably faint in surprise.
Since it was self-service, he stabbed the rice paddle with all his might into the fluffy rice. A white mound of rice formed on the narrow tray. He repeated the same action twice more.
“Has a ghost who died without eating rice possessed him?”
Someone was behind him. Heisha instinctively set down the paddle and moved forward to the next section.
‘I’m supposed to scoop one more time to do it properly.’
His body had moved because he’d adapted to Korean hurry-hurry culture.
“Heisha. If you pile rice like that, where are you going to put the soup?”
“Huh?”
It was Captain Park Gap-cheol. Relieved that it was someone he knew, Heisha went back to the rice section and picked up the paddle.
“Not having soup?”
“I just need to take lots of side dishes.”
“With rice piled like that, it’ll get stuck in your throat.”
“I don’t usually eat soup. Captain, is that all you’re having?”
Park Gap-cheol let out a laugh, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“This is a standard meal, Heisha. You eat like that and don’t gain weight? I’m jealous. It’s good to be young.”
“I’ve gained a lot of weight since I came here.”
“How skinny were you before?”
“About ten kilos lighter.”
“You were an anchovy. A total anchovy.”
Park Gap-cheol shook his head slowly, scooped up some side dishes roughly, and gestured at Heisha.
“I’ll sit over there, so sit across from me.”
“You want to eat together? You don’t mind?”
Heisha was a slow eater and didn’t want to make anyone wait, but the Captain seemed to have something to say. Reading the room, Heisha neatly piled up tteokbokki, stir-fried pork, kimchi, and braised soybeans, then heaped the side dishes that hadn’t fit back on top of the rice.
“Are you going off to war?”
“What?”
“Never mind.”
“Hm.”
“Captain. I really do eat very slowly. So I’ll eat alone. Can’t we talk after the meal?”
As if he’d been hit right where it hurt, Park Gap-cheol closed his mouth, tray in hand.
“Let’s meet at the cafe in the sky lounge. I heard there’s hardly anyone there these days.”
Park Gap-cheol’s expression changed subtly. Quick on the uptake, and quick with news, too. He began to wonder if all that dim, bright-eyed behavior was actually an act.
“Ah, ah, ah—choo!”
Heisha couldn’t spray a sneeze into the cafeteria air, so he set his tray down on an empty table and covered his mouth as he sneezed. His nose tickled like it was about to run any second.
“It’s nothing big, so I was going to say it quickly.”
He didn’t see why it had to be now, but most of the squad members were eating together and the empty seats were all off by themselves.
“I feel like I’ll choke if we talk while eating…”
Heisha didn’t like talking over a meal, but it was the Captain’s request, so he agreed. He nodded and sat down side by side with Park Gap-cheol.
“Guide Heisha.”
The Captain murmured in a quiet, low voice.
“When people talk, they should sit facing each other.”
“I’m worried rice will spray.”
“From me? When I eat and talk…”
“No. From me.”
Park Gap-cheol rubbed his forehead with his hand, looking put out, and sighed. Of course. As if a kid like this could be acting.
“Heisha.”
“I’m listening, so keep talking. I eat slowly, so I have to start now if I’m going to get out when the cafeteria closes.”
“…That so?”
He picked up his spoon, then set it down again midway. He didn’t look like he had any appetite left.
If you’re not going to eat it, give it to me. He’d get scolded if he said that, wouldn’t he?
Park Gap-cheol clasped his rough hands together and stared into space. For a long while he said nothing, then at last he broached the subject.
“Made any friends yet?”
Crunch, crunch. Heisha shoveled rice into his mouth and only shrugged his shoulders.
“They’re scared you’ll die if someone so much as taps you, so they don’t want to get close. Because if you die, they’d have to honor you. Ah. To honor someone means to mourn them. Mourning is…”
“I know that much.”
Talking while eating was newly difficult.
“So everyone’s on edge. It was like that before you came, so I hope you won’t take it too badly. You’re someone who’s going back anyway, and the biggest reason is they don’t want to get close and then be sad before that.”
Heisha nodded vaguely. He wasn’t depressed or struggling. He’d just been a little lonely without friends. Hearing Park Gap-cheol’s words made his heart feel lighter.
Though those bastards who cursed at him probably weren’t thinking that way.
There were people like that guide he’d seen at the reservoir, so maybe it was a personality problem. Heisha pushed rice into both cheeks, chewed thoroughly, and swallowed.
“By the way, you’ve gotten pretty close to Park Gang-u.”
Without answering, Heisha just looked at him blankly and scooped rice into his mouth with his spoon.
“If you’re close enough to go to his home together, that says it all.”
How does he know that far?! Startled, Heisha stopped eating and stared at Park Gap-cheol.
“Actually, I have a favor to ask. You must have met my son. Park Yo-han.”
He’d thought it was just something he’d said, but he really was his son.
“I’d like you to keep it a secret that he’s there.”
The outskirts. An ability user, not a civilian. A building with no windows. He’d more or less figured it out the moment he saw it.
“I stayed here to protect that. I still am. And Park Gang-u… that kid, too, a big part of it is my fault.”
What is this out-of-nowhere talk? Heisha narrowed his eyes and chewed his rice thoroughly.
“I volunteered to play the villain, but I never thought it would come to this. When the gate burst, the thought of somehow surviving outweighed the guilt of having survived in that place. I had to at least protect my family.”
This didn’t seem like something to hear over a meal. Heisha thumped at his tight chest.
“Park Gang-u probably hates me. He must resent me. He probably thinks I raised him on dirty money. He might think it’s selfish of me to hide my son and live like this, too. But even so, I had no choice. Even if you call it my greed.”
Park Gap-cheol poured out something that may have been a lament or may have been something else, all in a rush, and sighed.
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