episode_0003
by admin
# 3
‘I think I’ve seen it somewhere….’
The face of the hero reflected on the screen seems somehow familiar. Dazzling golden hair and blue eyes that seem to contain the sea.
“I wasn’t crying. I was just lying down because I was too tired. You got it?”
… The guest who came last night and the hero began to overlap in my mind.
“Oh no. No way.”
I shook my head, thinking it must be a mistake.
They are definitely similar, but… what should I say about the customer who came to the store and that hero? The atmosphere is different.
That hero with a cold impression at first glance and the guest who came last night. They don’t match well.
‘… What was the name of the guest who came last time? It seemed to have a similar sound… .’
Well, it must be the same person. Why would someone like that hero come to a store like this?
‘But surely… .’
Just in case, I was thinking, I should go home and look it up on the Internet…
“Excuse me. Are you open for business here?”
“Ah. I do!”
“Thank goodness, guys. It’s open here!”
For some reason, customers came to the store. There were as many as four of them.
“There’s a store in a place like this. That’s lucky.”
“It’s a little creepy… . Hey, take care of the guy next to you. He’s staggering.”
‘What is going on…’
After that, a few more customers came and the store enjoyed its first prosperity ever… and in the midst of all that, I completely forgot about Yunseol.
***
As we live in this world, there are bound to be a few, or even dozens of moments when people get frustrated.
For example, you might meet a comrade in League of X asking about your parents’ well-being, or you might get on a bus and run out of money.
There are times when you pour cold water into cup ramen or when the new clothes you bought don’t fit.
And one more thing.
Ring ring.
…there are times when I wake up to the ringtone of an old feature phone that is more than five years old.
‘what….’
The moment I was about to go back to sleep, thinking, “Is this spam?”
Ring ring.
The bell rings again.
Ring, ring, ring.
“Oh, really.”
Be prepared. I’m going to show you firsthand how cruel a person can be when his or her sleep is interrupted.
I opened my phone, expressing my condolences in advance to the person who would have to bear my anger.
“Who… Ah.”
[hey.]
[Are you alive?]
[Keep in touch. I have some business in your neighborhood today, so let’s meet up this afternoon.]
The culprit who woke me from my deep sleep was one of my closest friends.
He originally lived a little bit away from me, but it seems like he happened to come here for some reason.
“What time is it now? You’re texting… Ah. It’s 11 o’clock.”
I usually wake up at 10 even if I go to bed late. This is later than usual. In a way, this text message served as an alarm bell.
Let me just let you have a look this once.
Boom. Boom. I replied to my friend that I understood, then got out of bed, hesitating.
I look in the mirror nearby and see myself looking a little ugly. How long has it been since I last saw my friends? If I go out looking like this, they won’t contact me again.
“Heh heh.”
Well, I don’t really think so.
“Ugh.”
After a quick stretch to wake up, I forced my languid body to the bathroom.
***
The meeting place is a noodle restaurant near my house.
This is a place I frequent often because it offers a lot of ingredients for the price.
‘hungry…’
As I enter the store, a delicious smell tickles my nose. My mouth is already watering.
As I was looking around, feeling hungry, a familiar voice called me.
“Hey! It’s here.”
A man waving his hand so I could find him.
The guy’s name is Kim Woo-jin. He was a guy I had known since high school.
Judging from the way he was dressed in a suit, he must have been on a business trip.
Knock knock
I sat down across from the guy at the table he was sitting at and said hello.
“Long time no see.”
“Kiya. Long time no see. I’m seeing Dohan before I die. Next time, I’ll see you at my funeral?”
“Haha… .”
I have nothing to say. He’s called me several times, including today, but he’s always made excuses and avoided me.
Then it would be normal for contact to become less frequent or even cut off.
This guy in front of me keeps contacting me without getting tired of it.
It was a blessing.
“What are you looking at?”
“No. I just thought you shaved your beard.”
“Hey. Are you a little more handsome?”
“…The shit has gotten worse since I last saw it.”
I’m sorry to say this, but honestly, it’s hard to say that he’s handsome.
“Bad boy.”
I asked Woojin, who was pretending to shed tears as if he was hurt.
“Let’s order first. What do you want?”
“Hey. I’ll have noodles separately.”
“Excuse me! Two bowls of Sundae Gukbap!”
Actually, you don’t have a choice.
“ Sons.#◦
“You think you saved money thanks to me.”
The difference is as much as a thousand won.
“Wow. Thank you very much. Anyway, is there anything different than before?”
“Heh heh.”
After that, we chatted for a while until the menu came out.
The guy in front of me suddenly started looking at me with serious eyes.
“… .”
“Why?”
Are you going to ask me to lend you money? Then I guess I have no choice but to say goodbye here…
“Next Wednesday. Do you know what day it is?”
‘Next week… ah.’
…I guess it’s a good thing he didn’t ask me to borrow money. No, maybe that would have been better.
After hearing what he said, I finally understood why he had come looking for me.
“… I guess I should show my face soon.”
Woojin scratches his head and smiles awkwardly. This guy must have had a hard time getting the words out… but,
“I’ll think about it.”
“How many years has it been already? I bet he misses you too… ”
“Fuck. What the. ”
… I couldn’t hold back the emotions that were reflexively bursting out and ended up swearing.
The friend in front of me did nothing wrong.
And that guy who died after failing the hero test a few times. He probably didn’t do anything wrong.
It was my fault. I was a retard who entrusted my dreams to someone I didn’t want to go to, and I felt betrayed by them, so I didn’t go to see them on the anniversary for years.
“… I’m sorry.”
“Well. You can swear. Hey, but look at that.”
Woojin awkwardly changes the subject when he apologizes for swearing.
On the TV screen the guy was pointing to, an interview with a hero who had subdued a group of villains who were robbing a bank was being broadcast.
The face was familiar. It was the hero I saw yesterday, Yun Seol.
‘And then I realized I forgot to search it on the Internet… … .’
“… Then, the last question. Yoon Seol has been very active recently. Some people are evaluating him as a hero who will lead the next generation. What do you think?”
“Hmm. I don’t think I’m at that level yet… but I’ll try to live up to the expectations of those who think of me that way.”
The hero on the screen continued speaking in the same stiff and cold tone as last time I saw him.
Huh?
“Kiya. Isn’t she really pretty? If you meet a woman like that, you’ll have nothing to wish for… Are you in love? Why aren’t you saying anything.”
The atmosphere was definitely different. But when I heard the voice, it became certain.
“Please give me the strongest drink in this store. Something that will make me completely drunk. So I can’t come to my senses.”
“… It was real?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden? Hey, the noodles are here. Let’s eat.”
It seems like a hero has come to my store.
*
After breaking up with Woojin, I returned home, threw on some clothes, and turned on my old computer.
A computer that works and runs smoothly. Since I got it for cheap, it took quite a while to boot up.
The reason I turned on this computer after such a long time was to look up information about Hero Yunseol.
Actually, I wondered if it really mattered whether the person who came to the store was a hero or not… but I couldn’t help but care.
In this day and age, villains have become rampant since the emergence of this ability.
The heroes who deal with them, who cannot be dealt with by existing public powers, have almost celebrity-level recognition. Famous heroes are even more so.
… and one of them came to my store. And as my first customer. How strange.
When you type the word “Yunseol” into the familiar green search bar, articles and photos pour out.
There were several fan cafes, and the largest fan cafe had over a hundred thousand members. The number of Instagram followers was a whopping two million.
however…
“What kind of anti-cafe has 20,000 members?”
I looked into it because I thought he was someone who had a lot of gossip, and I easily found scandals and controversies involving bullying with male heroes that I knew.
‘It’s not easy.’
After that, I continued to do some light internet searching and found an internet article related to the interview I had seen at the store during the day.
[Hero Yunseol, “I don’t have the feeling of being the next generation representative hero. I’ll just try.”]
Since I already knew the content of the article, I just skimmed through it.
[Yoon Seol pretending to be humble is disgusting, I like it]
– Likes 4828 / Dislikes 3201
[A bitch who only looks at handsome male heroes is the next generation’s representative hero? This country is ruined, lol]
– Likes 3392 / Dislikes 2821
[This comment has been deleted due to inappropriate expressions being detected.]
– Likes 2991 / Dislikes 1217
… the comment section was amazing.
0 Comments