After leaving the morgue, the two headed for the parking lot in silence.
Once inside the car, Lee Kanghyun sank into the passenger seat and fell deep into thought.
How the hell am I supposed to clear my name?
No matter how hard he racked his brain, he could not come up with any particularly good solution.
Lee Kanghyun had never been the strategic type to begin with. He hated complicated things, and whenever a problem came up, it was much easier to crush it with overwhelming force.
He was the classic type whose body was strong enough that his brain never had to work very hard.
Ah… my head hurts.
Should I just say fuck it and flee the country by sea?
He seriously considered it.
Maybe I should ask Seo Jihun to get me a boat and just run overseas.
But the practical thoughts that followed immediately plunged him into despair.
Packing his things. Meeting a broker. Traveling in the middle of the night to board a boat. Spending several days getting seasick on a rocking vessel. Arriving in a foreign country, acquiring a new identity, and living in hiding. Learning the language….
Just thinking about it was so troublesome he felt nauseous.
Everything went dark before his eyes.
Can’t I just sit here, do nothing, and live by breathing? Why is life this exhausting?
Lee Kanghyun stared blankly at the car ceiling like a man who had already lived out his entire life.
His expression looked as though his soul had left his body.
Kang Yujun, who had been glancing sideways at him, let out a deep sigh.
Click.
Kang Yujun leaned over and fastened the seat belt for the absentminded Lee Kanghyun.
“Let’s eat first. Even thinking needs carbohydrates.”
“Forget it. I’m not hungry.”
“Eat anyway. You’re already pale and skinny, but right now you look like you could make friends with a ghost.”
Kang Yujun lightly ignored Lee Kanghyun’s refusal.
He had absolutely no intention of letting him starve to death.
He familiarly tapped the navigation screen.
—Destination: S Hotel. Route guidance will begin.
“Are you insane?”
The instant Lee Kanghyun saw the destination, he reflexively reached out and hammered the cancel button.
Tap tap tap tap!
—Route guidance canceled.
“Ah, why?! It’s quiet there, and it’s nice. I’m trying to feed you something expensive so you can get your strength back. Why are you canceling it?”
Kang Yujun protested as though genuinely wronged.
Lee Kanghyun, however, stared at him with a dead-serious expression.
“Have you looked at me right now and you’re still talking about a hotel? It’ll look great when the headlines say a murder suspect is going in and out of hotels and living it up. You trying to hand reporters something else to tear me apart over?”
“Who cares? Who’s going to say anything? I’m right here.”
Lee Kanghyun gave him an exhausted look and entered an address into the navigation system himself.
“Shut up and go here.”
“Where’s here? XX-dong? Isn’t that the neighborhood where your old studio apartment was?”
“Yeah. Quit talking and drive.”
Not long afterward, a gleaming imported car worth hundreds of millions of won squeezed its way into a narrow, steep alley.
The concrete under the tires was uneven, the utility poles leaned at odd angles, and garbage bags were piled around them.
Only after they had driven quite a way uphill did Lee Kanghyun gesture for him to stop.
“We’re here. Get out.”
“Here?”
Kang Yujun frowned as he looked out the window.
What he saw was a shabby little diner whose sign had half its lettering peeled away.
To be frank, it looked like the building might collapse at any moment and nobody would be particularly surprised.
“Kanghyun. Seriously? This place?”
Lee Kanghyun did not bother answering.
He pulled a hat from the glove compartment, tugged it low over his face, and got out of the car.
Rattle.
He strode over and familiarly slid open the door.
Kang Yujun followed him inside, still grumbling.
The restaurant was cramped but quiet.
It was well past lunchtime and sitting in that awkward midafternoon lull, so the only customers were the two men who had just walked in.
“Two set meals, please.”
Lee Kanghyun dropped into a seat in the corner as he ordered.
The elderly owner straightened her bent back as she came out from the kitchen. She gave the two men a quick glance, then indifferently tossed them wet towels.
“Water’s self-service.”
Kang Yujun’s eyes widened when the woman showed no reaction whatsoever to seeing him.
“Huh? She’s not surprised?”
Usually, when people saw Kang Yujun’s face, screaming and running over for an autograph was practically standard.
Even if they did not go that far, most people would discreetly pull out their phones for a picture or keep sneaking glances at him.
But the elderly woman merely continued putting side dishes onto plates, completely uninterested in them.
“You’re way too full of yourself. Stop assuming everyone in this country knows who you are.”
Lee Kanghyun lowered his voice and added,
“There are barely any customers around this time, and the owner here hardly watches TV. She doesn’t give a damn about nobodies like us Hunters.”
“Oh.”
“So while we’re eating, nobody’s going to pay attention to me. Let’s just eat in peace. Especially you. Don’t talk to me either.”
Normally, Kang Yujun would have complained that Lee Kanghyun was being cruel and started pestering him.
This time, however, he obediently kept his mouth shut.
Without saying anything, he took a spoon and chopsticks from the utensil holder, laid them on a napkin, and placed them in front of Lee Kanghyun.
Lee Kanghyun really did look exhausted.
This entire situation was clearly tormenting the otherwise indifferent man far more than he let on.
Kang Yujun was not immature enough to keep grabbing at him and joking around when Lee Kanghyun was genuinely struggling.
No words crossed the table.
The silence stretched on.
It felt strangely unfamiliar for Kang Yujun, whose usual state was noisy, to be this quiet.
The last time Kang Yujun had gone completely silent in the car, Lee Kanghyun had felt suffocated.
Strangely, now it was comfortable.
Not uncomfortable at all.
What’s different this time?
Lee Kanghyun was thinking about it seriously when the food arrived.
At the diner, where the set meal changed daily, today’s menu was grilled salted mackerel cooked to a golden brown.
Lee Kanghyun stopped thinking.
My head hurts. I’m just going to eat.
He tore off a large piece of mackerel and brought it to his mouth.
……!
The salty, savory flavor spread across his tongue.
Life began returning to Lee Kanghyun’s eyes.
It’s good.
His chopsticks started moving just a little faster.
Across from him, Kang Yujun laughed as he watched Lee Kanghyun shovel rice into his mouth until his cheeks were full.
“Is it that good?”
“Eat your own food.”
Lee Kanghyun shot him a glare.
Why is he laughing while watching someone else eat?
He did not understand.
Once again giving up on ever understanding Kang Yujun, Lee Kanghyun lowered his head and focused on his meal.
In no time, his bowl of rice was empty.
Only a bare mackerel skeleton remained on the plate.
With his stomach full, the nerves that had been stretched razor-tight seemed to dull a little.
He looked across the table.
Kang Yujun had cleaned his dishes too.
“Let’s go.”
Lee Kanghyun stood and walked toward the battered wooden desk near the entrance that could barely be called a counter.
The elderly owner, who had been washing dishes in the kitchen, noticed them and came out while pulling off her pink rubber gloves.
As Lee Kanghyun watched her approach, he casually shoved a hand into the coat pocket of Kang Yujun standing beside him.
His hand rummaged roughly around inside.
But there was nothing there.
“What the hell? You didn’t bring your wallet?”
Without hesitation, Lee Kanghyun pulled his hand out.
Then he shoved it straight into Kang Yujun’s pants pocket.
When Lee Kanghyun’s hand slipped deep along the inside of his thigh, Kang Yujun’s entire body went rigid.
“Hey! Wait! What—what are you doing?!”
Kang Yujun nearly jumped out of his skin.
His face turned scarlet in an instant.
He hurriedly grabbed Lee Kanghyun’s wrist and tried to pull his hand out.
“Hold still for a second. It’s rude to pay by card at a place like this. We should give her cash.”
Lee Kanghyun ignored him and continued feeling around inside the pocket.
Then his fingertips brushed against something heavy and substantial.
“Then what’s this in your pocket…?”
Thinking it might be the wallet, Lee Kanghyun absentmindedly started to grab it.
His hand stopped.
The texture was wrong.
It did not feel like leather.
It was large and firm, and strangely warm….
“…….”
“…….”
A heavy silence settled over the cramped diner.
Kang Yujun’s face was red enough to burst as he stared pleadingly at Lee Kanghyun with an expression that looked close to tears.
Only then did Lee Kanghyun realize that what he had almost grabbed was not a wallet.
Very slowly, very carefully, he withdrew his hand from the pocket.
Lee Kanghyun’s face flared red as well.
Fuck. Holy shit… what the hell was that…?
Only the elderly woman remained completely oblivious as she stared at them and asked,
“You paying or not?”
Her scolding finally snapped Kang Yujun back to reality.
“Ah, y-yes! Of course! Here!”
With trembling hands, he pulled his wallet from the inner pocket of his coat.
So that’s where it was….
He should’ve said something sooner.
Why didn’t he say anything and stop this from happening?
Lee Kanghyun shamelessly blamed Kang Yujun in his head.
Kang Yujun hurriedly pulled out a card and handed it to the woman.
He was in no state of mind to look for cash.
His first priority was getting out of this suffocating space as quickly as possible.
The elderly woman took the card and inserted it into the machine, apparently uninterested in the bizarre behavior of the two idiots in front of her.
“Don’t take things too hard. One way or another, you find a way to keep living.”
“…What?”
Lee Kanghyun blinked at the unexpected remark.
Don’t take things too hard? About what?
Wait. Did what just happened look like something other than me searching his pockets? Like some kind of intimate, secret touching?
People say old folks are more open-minded these days. Is that what this is?