← The Guide Who Hides Their Power is an Otter
It was surprising that there existed a first person his ability did not work on, but his mood sank because perhaps the man’s head was so complex and confused that he could not get in.
Come to think of it, the floor was hard again.
“I want to sleep in a bed….”
He let it slide because the man would hate being alone. Heisha lay pressed close beside him, admired him for a long while, and closed his eyes.
***
Three mounds of white rice were piled high on a tray. Above them, grilled meat skewers and kimchi rose in heaps. Heisha carefully carried the tray, piled so high it seemed it would all come cascading down if someone bumped it.
He sat in the corner of a long, empty table, set the tray down, and sat on a chair. Then he lifted his spoon, scooped rice into his mouth, and chewed.
He left without a word again!
Last time, he had let him sleep at his own home and kindly moved Heisha back to his dorm room; this time he had moved him to a bed and left the house. He could not tell whether leaving again and again without a word should count as consideration, or whether he should feel hurt at him leaving without even a goodbye.
Still, I’m hurt. I slept on the floor with him.
He was concentrating on eating when suddenly a shadow fell in front of him.
“Is the food good?”
It was Park Gang-u. Heisha, startled, took the spoon out of his mouth. Because of the rice he had already put in, he could not speak and only blinked his wide-open eyes.
“Eat slowly.”
Park Gang-u sat across from him and set down a tray. When the two sat facing each other, the people sitting a little distance away whispered. Heisha chewed the rice hard, mumbled, and hurriedly swallowed.
“Don’t tell me you went out on a deployment?”
“I did not go.”
That’s a relief. If he had gone out in that poor condition, it would have been a disaster. Heisha stared at him. The corners of his eyes were a little red, but for someone who had sobbed, he looked fairly fine. He had had a fever, but it seemed to have gone down a bit now, which was a relief.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“I eat really slowly.”
His eyebrows rose as if to say, what does that matter? Heisha shrugged his shoulders, lifted his spoon, and focused on the rice again. He scooped rice into one cheek, then scooped kimchi into the other cheek and chewed them together. When the food broke into small pieces between his teeth and passed down his throat, his puffed-out cheeks deflated.
Then, feeling a gaze watching him blankly with a chin propped on a hand, Heisha drank some water and asked.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You have to eat to live. Eat.”
“I will make sure to eat the next meal.”
He couldn’t very well force him to eat when the man himself said he didn’t want to. Heisha went on eating his rice, but the other tray, left alone and uneaten, kept bothering him, so he kept glancing at it. The tray a short distance away slid over in front of him.
“Would you like this as well?”
Once again, he felt he had met a truly good partner to pair with. He acted after reading Heisha’s thoughts without a word said; if that wasn’t fate, how could they fit together so well?
“Thank you.”
Heisha smiled brightly, placed the two trays side by side in front of himself, and ate slowly. While Heisha finished eating, Park Gang-u did not speak to him at all, and when their gazes occasionally met, he looked elsewhere or at his phone, as if thinking he would disturb his eating.
“I finished eating.”
Only after filling his stomach did Heisha feel a little sheepish.
“You waited a long time, didn’t you? You didn’t have to wait, though.”
“Do you have anything scheduled today?”
He asked, glancing at the leather wristwatch he wore.
“No.”
Of course, he could go out on deployment, but with Park Gang-u gone, there was no real need to go out. All he could do at a scene was join the standby squad and report to the Captain on the condition of any injured esper.
“Why?”
“I have something to go to the sea for.”
Is this asking me on a date?
“Why, all of a sudden?”
“I received an order to investigate.”
Figures. Heisha stacked the emptied trays and tilted his head.
“But what kind of investigation?”
“The day we went to the sea, do you remember?”
There was no way he could not remember. It was the first trip to the sea he had taken as a sea otter since coming to Korea. It wasn’t long ago, so if anything it was even more vivid; it was not something he could have forgotten.
“Of course.”
“A gate suddenly appeared in that vicinity, and I am going to investigate it.”
Heisha smiled with his eyes opened so wide his pupils showed completely.
Con Man… no. The Center Director ordered it?
Instead of answering, Park Gang-u shrugged his shoulders. I told him to leave him alone, and he just had to give him work again?
‘Con Man, you still haven’t let go of Park Gang-u. I’ll have to rummage through your head sometime.’
He ground his teeth and gripped his tray tightly.
“Will you come with me?”
“I would… like that.”
Park Gang-u could not quite bring himself to hint that, investigation or not, he wanted to go together, so he rolled his innocent eyes and avoided his gaze.
“If you feel the work is unfair, you do not necessarily have to come.”
“No!”
He had to go. Even if it was an operation to screw over the Center Director, absolutely.
“I’ll go with you.”
Bzzzzt.
Just then, the phone in his pocket vibrated. He had kept it turned off for about half a day, so the Center Director’s texts had piled up like a mountain, and this was the brief moment he wasn’t looking at them. Heisha took out his phone and tapped the most recent notification.
[To my office.]
It was such a brief text he was about to skip over it, but before leaving the cafeteria, he met the Center Director’s wide, staring eyes over there. Two fingers pointed at his own eyes, then turned toward Heisha.
Just try not coming.
If you’re going to threaten me, threaten me properly. Heisha grabbed his tray and stood up.
“I’ll go see the Center Director for a moment.”
“Shall I go with you?”
“Why?”
Does he think I’m scared of the Center Director? Heisha snorted a laugh.
“I’ll be right back. Will you be in the underground parking lot?”
“I will.”
When Park Gang-u answered, caught off guard, Heisha took his tray and returned it. Resolutely leaving the cafeteria, he walked toward the elevator.
‘I’m going to come back after turning his hair into a complete mess.’
If the man thought things would end with three cheers of Long Live Heisha, he had picked the wrong person. Heisha went straight to the Center Director’s office. Getting off the elevator, he walked with light steps to the office door and knocked.
“Come in.”
Hum, hum. Heisha’s humming grew so loud it leaked out of the office.
“I’m here.”
As soon as he entered the office, he did a somersault and transformed into a sea otter.
“Heishak!!”
The Center Director, who called his name with an accented pronunciation, frowned as if angry, his brow creasing deeply.
“If you keep doing this, I will send you back to your home country.”
“Is that a threat? Holy, Jesus!”
“Heisha. Do I look like I’m joking right now?”
…
“I’ve never joked either.”
“If your home country finds out you recklessly used your ability on me, you…”
“Lee Moon-soo.”
Heisha cut him off and uttered a single name like a magic spell.
“Are you really going to fight with the Prime Minister?”
“Heisha!”
“We finished that conversation back then. Park Gang-u already knows I look like this too.”
Heisha sat on the leather sofa and groomed himself leisurely.
“What else did you order Park Gang-u to do? There are other people you could send for that, so why do you keep sending Park Gang-u? Should I really turn your head upside down once?”
“Heisha. Let me ask you seriously. If you pair with Park Gang-u, will you put an end to it?”
Why is he suddenly taking a low posture? Heisha, on guard, opened his mouth toward him.
“End what? That ominous plan to destroy this country?”
“Yes. That plan.”
The Center Director covered his mouth with his interlaced hands and continued.
“But the part about possibly going back to your home country is true. It seems your home country, not me, is trying to take you back.”
“Why?”
The number of overseas Koreans, including Korean Americans, who had come down to Korea was not many at all. Judging by the fact that he never ran into any of them, they were few enough that there was about one assigned to each unit. He had had no way of knowing how they lived, since their buildings and units were entirely separate.
“How would I know? So prepare yourself mentally.”
“Even if I end up going tomorrow, I’m going to finish pairing with Park Gang-u before I go.”
“You’re going to take him with you?”
The Director smiled with his eyes folded.
“Yes? Try taking him, if you can.”
Knowing that if Park Gang-u were taken away Korea would be finished, the man’s relaxed smile was worse than a devil’s.
***
The dreary underground parking lot. Park Gang-u, who had been leaning against a jeep with his arms crossed, staring into the distant empty air, confirmed Heisha approaching and pushed off from it. At his oddly listless, trudging steps, his eyebrows rose.
“Did something happen?”
“Ah. No.”
The Center Director’s threat to send him back to his home country was not very scary. His contract period still remained, and if he said the secrecy clause had been removed verbally, there would be no problem. But it was a different matter entirely when the home country itself spoke of it.
‘I’ll have to call my friends later.’
If the contract were voided tomorrow and a recall order dropped, he would have to go right away. At this rate, his only option was to appeal to Park Gang-u quickly and pair with him.
“Did you wait long?”
There was no rush yet, so he planned to persuade him slowly while showing him his guiding and his power. If Park Gang-u knew it helped him, his heart would gradually turn too.
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