episode_0058

… … … … …

At the strong urging of the Sun, I gave her my home address. She drove her luxury sports car herself and dropped me off in front of my house.

“Thank you for… … sending me!”

“Thank you. I’ll come pick you up again tomorrow morning, so get ready.”

I came home and lay down on the bed, but I couldn’t fall asleep easily. Will I be able to get through tomorrow without any problems?

To be honest, it definitely seemed like a huge storm was coming, and I would be in the middle of it.

The next morning, I woke up early and got ready. I was a little tired, perhaps because I went to the beach with Taeyang yesterday, but I came to my senses thinking about what I would experience today.

As I waited, holding tightly in my hand the box containing the luxury bag prepared for the Sky President, not long afterwards, a horn rang outside. I looked out the window and saw Taeyang’s luxury sports car.

“Hey! Kid! Come down quickly!”

I hurried out of the house at the sound of Sun’s voice. As I got into the car, she smiled sharply.

“Are you ready? Today is going to be more exciting than yesterday.”

I barely smiled and nodded. Sun-nim started the car at high speed. Her driving skills were great, but she was going so fast that it was a little scary.

We barely talked in the car. I kept fiddling with the gift bag in my hand, feeling anxious, and Taeyang focused on driving with a strange smile on his face. Every time she glanced at me, my heart pounded.

After a while, we arrived in front of a store with a sign that said, ‘After thinking about it carefully.’

The store hadn’t changed one bit from what I remembered. It was still a cozy and warm… hole-in-the-wall store.

In fact, the hole-in-the-wall shop is a disguise, and is actually a weapons store.

“Are you here?”

“Yes. This is the Sky President’s store.”

Mr. Sun looked around the store for a moment and then raised the corners of his mouth as if he was having fun.

“Ha. A weapons dealer. And these aren’t ordinary weapons. I’m sure I’ll hear you say that, boss.”

“Uh, how about that… … .”

“You’ll know just by looking at it. Come on, come on in.”

I opened the door to the store while the Sky Manager watched from a distance. The inside of the store was as cozy as ever.

“Hey, Mr. Sky? Are you there?”

My voice echoed through the store. There was a moment of silence, and then I heard the door open from inside.

Slowly, the Sky Boss appeared from inside the store.

As soon as she saw me, her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. She froze in place, as if time had stopped.

“Da, you… … ?”

The voice of the Sky President was trembling. It seemed to be a mixture of surprise, joy, and some unknown sadness. Tears seemed to be welling up in her eyes.

I walked forward slowly and carefully. With each step, memories of the past came back to me.

The interview I had with President Sky, the president who was overly considerate of me, and even the way I cruelly rejected her attempts to dissuade me, saying it was burdensome, and left the store.

“Excuse me, boss… … It’s been a while.

… … I’m really sorry about that time.”

Naturally, my voice also trembled. I could barely hold back the lump in my throat.

“I’ve always felt sorry since I left the store like that last time. I’m really… … sorry.”

The Sky Boss still looked at me without saying a word. Finally, a tear fell from her eye.

“You, really… … .”

She finally opened her mouth.

“I’m okay. Just the fact that my son came back like this… … is enough for me.”

“Boss… … I… … .”

“Shh, don’t say anything. Just… …let’s stay like this for a while.”

We held each other like that for a while. I thought she was calling me by a strange title, but it was probably just her way of showing affection.

Some people call me a boy or a kid, but I guess I’m just a son… … Is that okay?

When she finally let me go, her eyes were clearly tear-stained.

“I think I owe you an apology too.

I was just trying to take care of you too much without thinking about how much of a burden you were.”

I shook my head hastily.

“No. The Sky boss treated me incredibly well. I just couldn’t accept it.”

“Then we both made a mistake. But now that we’re back together, that’s what matters, right?”

I took a deep breath and took out the gift from the shopping bag I was holding.

“Boss, I prepared a gift as an apology. Here… … .”

Slowly, I took out the luxury bag that I could buy with the money that Sun-nim gave me. It was a luxurious bag with an elegant design. As expected, President Haneul’s eyes widened in surprise.

“What is this… … What is this… … .”

“This is my gift. I bought it at a department store.”

As I spoke, embarrassed, a slightly uncomfortable feeling welled up in a corner of my heart. In fact, I did not buy this bag with my own strength, but rather, it was bought for me by Taeyang, who was watching us from outside the store.

The Sky Boss took the bag carefully. There was clearly joy in her expression, but there was also a greater sense of embarrassment. Her eyes moved from the bag to me, and then back to the bag.

“This is… … I really appreciate it. But this brand must be incredibly expensive, how could you… … .”

The embarrassment in her voice soon turned to worry. To be honest, my financial situation was obvious, so it was a natural reaction for the CEO. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“By any chance… …you didn’t buy it with a loan or installment plan, did you? You shouldn’t have pushed yourself too hard―”

I hesitated to answer the concerned words of the Sky President. To tell the truth, I would have to explain the existence of the Sun, and although it was difficult to explain the exact reason, I did not think the Sky President would like it if I talked about the Sun.

But I felt like the CEO wouldn’t believe me if I lied, and more than anything, I felt uncomfortable. I could feel my palms getting sweaty.

“That, that… … .”

I tried to avoid eye contact while trying to mumble my words. But perhaps that made me look even more suspicious, as the warm yet worried eyes of the CEO continued to follow me.

At that moment, the store door opened and the sun appeared. Her golden hair was dazzling in the backlight of the sunlight, and she approached us with an elegant gait, a ferocious smile on her face.

“I enjoyed the touching reunion scene. It was so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes.”

Her voice was full of venomous sarcasm. The smile on her lips was beautiful, but her eyes were like those of a beast.

The expression on the face of the Sky CEO who welcomed the sun like that changed in an instant. The first thing that came to her face was anger, but it soon changed into a calm smile.

“Ah, are you a guest? Welcome. Welcome to ‘Thinking About It’.”

The voice of the Heavenly President was sweet as honey, but it was as deadly as the poison of a puffer fish.

Without even pretending to hear the greeting from the Sky Manager, Taeyang looked around the store and spoke.

“It’s a fun store. But what can you do in such a small store?

By any chance… … the hole-in-the-wall shop isn’t a front for illegal transactions or anything like that, right? ”

The eyes of the Sky CEO slightly opened after hearing the sun’s sarcasm. It was something I had never seen before, and I was afraid it would appear in my dreams.

“The size of the store and the value of the goods are separate. Even a small box can contain precious jewels. And the eyes that can recognize the value of those jewels… … are not something that ‘anyone’ can have.”

Sun-nim giggled after hearing the words of the Sky CEO. His laughter sounded like the sound of glass breaking.

“Oh, I see. But is that jewel really real?”

The tension between the two of them was so intense that I could barely breathe. Every word they spoke cut through the air like a sharp blade. The air inside the store seemed to freeze.

The Sky Boss answered, still smiling. Her voice was cold and sharp.

“The ability to distinguish between the real and the fake comes from experience. People like me can tell the difference pretty well.

And now, to my eyes, I see a very cheap counterfeit.”

The sun’s eyes flashed. Her pupils changed to reptilian ones for a moment, then returned to normal.

“Really? Then how do I look to your ‘experienced eyes’?

Doesn’t that seem like something you can’t handle? ”

A cold smile spread across the corners of President Sky’s mouth. She answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Do you really think so?

To me, it just seems like one of the more dangerous ‘things’ I’ve ever dealt with.

And things like that are usually… … it’s better for the world to destroy them.”

“Destruction… …It’s fun. But can it be destroyed?

Even if a half-man, half-bear thing were to attack me, I’d be burned before I could even reach it.”