Cheongyeon, after greeting the owner, looped two plastic bags onto one wrist. In his other hand, he held a chocolate bar and gently peeled off the wrapper with his teeth.
This small snack was quite expensive. That was because there was no chocolate factory in Cheonghwajin, nor did the cocoa beans grow there.
It was a luxury he hadn’t tasted in nearly a year. Taking a bite, the sweet chocolate melted smoothly in his mouth, helping him forget the fishy smell of blood that had been tormenting him until now.
He wished Tae Mu-won would also be erased entirely from his memory while he was at it. He held the chocolate in his mouth for a long time, hoping he would never seek him out again, or cross paths with him anywhere.
However, the soft and gooey chocolate disappeared instantly. Feeling strangely ominous, Cheongyeon rummaged through the bag and took out another chocolate.
As the sweet taste spread throughout his body, he felt much better. He was just nearing the medicine shop, swinging the bags of tofu and rice and greedily finishing the chocolate, when a sweet, cool fragrance, carried on the wind, startled Cheongyeon. Simultaneously, his heart sank.
This was the very person he had wished never to meet just minutes ago. This was why he shouldn't have trusted Peira.
Boss Tae Cheon-oh had guaranteed that Peira wouldn’t look for him again, yet they broke their promise before even a day had passed.
Tae Mu-won was standing in front of the medicine shop, one hand tucked into his trouser pocket. He smoked a cigarette with his other hand, which was wrapped in a white bandage. Cheongyeon wanted nothing more than to drop all the plastic bags hanging on his wrist and run away.
His flashy suit jacket was nowhere to be seen, and he walked briskly toward Cheongyeon, wearing only a shirt despite the chilly weather.
Cheongyeon feared Mu-won would scold him for buying groceries with the money he’d given him, when he should have been tucked away in the corner of the shop, weeping. Cheongyeon discreetly moved the hand holding the bags behind his back.
“Which bastard?”
“...Pardon?”
“Who’s the bastard who took your money?”
Cheongyeon, completely bewildered, just shook his head. His money was safely tucked away inside his socks.
******
Cheongyeon’s sobbing kept echoing in Mu-won’s ears.
Tae Cheon-oh's words, that Cheongyeon had been alone since he was a child, also kept coming back to him. What’s the difference? Mu-won had also grown up enduring hellish hardship since he was young. Mu-won was chain-smoking one cigarette after another.
The stars, which had been densely packed above the glass dome of the botanical garden, vanished as dawn broke. Whether it was the sun or the stars, he had seen them ad nauseam even out at sea, so they elicited no feeling in him.
The damp sea breeze softly caressed the plants in the botanical garden. Mu-won briefly cast his gaze toward something small swaying under his feet. It was the blue, six-petalled flower he had flicked away. Half a day ago, there had been no sign of it growing back, yet a single flower was now in full bloom.
He thought its slightly swaying motion, even in a light breeze, was just like the herbalist.
“I’m still so… scared.”
Snap. Mu-won plucked the blue flower again. This time, however, he didn’t let the sea breeze carry it away; he held it tightly in his hand.
He walked straight out of the dome, not even bothering to pick up his suit jacket. He shoved the flower he was holding into one pocket. Mu-won easily realized where the persistently foul mood originated: he had been oppressing a poor, powerless herbalist who had nothing but his good looks.
But since when did he care about such things?
If there were guys that irritated him, he would just beat them up first, and he had even smashed the face of a guy with a cock who relied on his handsome face and offered his ass.
Stepping off the Peira, Mu-won walked aimlessly instead of heading toward the Sea building.
“Pffft! Where that bastard got such a huge sum from, I don't know, but he was fighting like hell not to be robbed, so I just, bam, took it.”
“Get lost, you piece of trash! Why are you bragging about stealing a kid’s money?”
“Oh, shut up! Spew out the liquor I bought you before you talk!”
Two drunkards carrying a liquor bottle staggered along, giggling and making loud noises. The increasingly boisterous drunkard, seeing Mu-won coming from the opposite direction, rolled his eyes, thinking he had found another easy target. But as soon as he recognized Mu-won’s face, he hurriedly lowered his gaze.
The drunkard said he’d taken a wrong turn and shoved his drunken companion into another alley. His companion, having already seen Mu-won, tightly closed his mouth and practically ran as he walked.
‘If you’re scared, you should just shut up and avoid me like that. Not cry like a bitch about being scared, without any pride.’
Again, the sound of the herbalist’s sobbing irritated him. Mu-won passed the Dandelion Tavern and gradually descended, lower and lower, into Sector E.
He naturally reached the front of Cheongyeon’s medicine shop and peered into the unlit interior. He was about to turn away when he suddenly kicked the medicine shop’s glass door. If he just walked away and avoided it, wouldn't it look like he was scared of the herbalist, just like those drunkards were of him?
He kicked it again, making a loud noise that sounded like the glass would break. However, the herbalist didn't even show the top of his head. Even if he was asleep, he should have woken up with that amount of noise. He even had a track record of saying he was diligent.
A thought occurred to him. ‘Could he be ailing, too sick to be conscious?’ Thinking about how sickly and trembling he had looked, it somehow seemed possible.
Mu-won pulled out a cigarette and lit it. He was going to pass the medicine shop, regardless of whether he was sick or not. Just after smoking one cigarette, that is.
Rustle, rustle. The sound of plastic rustling was heard on the quiet street. Someone carrying heavy-looking bags on their wrist was descending the hill he had just passed.
It was the herbalist, gorging on chocolate in one hand. Mu-won exhaled a cloud of smoke that looked like a cumulus cloud. He was so absurdly dumbfounded that he couldn't even swallow the cigarette smoke.
The medicine shop stopped dead in his tracks the moment he saw Mu-won. He hid the empty chocolate wrapper in his fist and concealed the plastic bags hanging from his wrist behind his back. His face, which had been relaxed and unguarded while eating the chocolate, tightened the moment he saw Mu-won.
Come to think of it, the money he gave him must have been at least twenty thousand Hwan... that was four times the monthly salary of a lower-ranking member of Peira, which was five thousand Hwan. Peira was known for paying even its lower ranks generously.
Yet, here he was, dangling a few bags, having only bought mere chocolate and rice. With enough money to buy everything in the shop, no less.
“Pffft! Where that bastard got such a huge sum from, I don't know, but he was fighting like hell not to be robbed, so I just, bam, took it.”
“Get lost, you piece of trash! Why are you bragging about stealing a kid’s money?”
Mu-won inhaled the cigarette smoke deeply. He didn't even remember what the drunken loudmouths looked like. His hand clenched, causing blood to seep out through the bandage again.
“Which bastard?”
“...Pardon?”
“Who’s the bastard who took your money?”
Cheongyeon shook his head, as if he didn't understand.
“The money... is fine.”
Crunch. Mu-won frowned. Cheongyeon looked back at the hill as if checking his escape route, then looked back at Mu-won.
“If the money’s fine, why are you shoveling that garbage into your mouth?”
“Did you... come to take the money back?”
The face that had been flushed while eating chocolate now turned stark white. It was natural for Cheongyeon to treat him like a thug. Of course, accepting it as natural didn't stop him from feeling annoyed. In the midst of this, the red scratch mark on Cheongyeon’s neck bothered him.
“I... I already spent the money you gave me.”
Where could he possibly have spent twenty thousand Hwan overnight? It was obviously a lie. He was being cunning, afraid Mu-won would take it back.
“On what?” Mu-won prodded, curious about what excuse Cheongyeon would come up with.
“...On contracting a house to move into.”
“Oh, is the real estate office open 24 hours?”
“Old Man Oh from the real estate office doesn't care about day or night if the job involves money.”
Cheongyeon’s retort was filled with sass.
Well, he probably needed that kind of boldness to live in Cheonghwajin. But a tingling sensation ran down the back of Mu-won’s neck. The guy who was bawling his eyes out, saying he was scared earlier, was now running his mouth just fine.
“And... the Boss of Peira promised that you, Mu-won-nim, or... Peira would never look for me again.”
Cheongyeon flat-out asked why he wasn't keeping the promise. The sound of the cigarette burning down in Mu-won's mouth hissed.
“Hey, what the hell are you?”
Cheongyeon chose silence, unable to understand what he meant by the question.
“Goddammit, where did the guy who said he was scared of me go?”
It wasn't like a Flower Clan member was showing off in front of him, having successfully hidden his identity. In the surge of heat, Mu-won pressed his temple hard with the bone of his bandaged hand. Since he wasn't a stubborn old man, he had to admit what was true. That his intuition was dead, and that this guy wasn’t a Flower.
Yet, Mu-won ultimately took out the blue flower he had brought in his pocket.