“Take care, then.”
Cheongyeon bowed, and Saturn assured that there was no need to worry, and he bowed back. Then, he coughed loudly for a while. The dry cough was so severe that Cheongyeon stared blankly, and Saturn turned to go.
“Hey.”
He grabbed him from behind, and Saturn jumped in surprise. What could possibly frighten him so much… Cheongyeon shrugged a little and smiled embarrassedly.
“I’ve already packed everything for you, so I don’t have anything else for you, but you seem to have a dry throat, so you can have some of this.”
Cheongyeon held out a small container of powder from inside the cash register. Saturn stared at the container in his hand, dumbfounded.
“It’s powdered ginger, and it’s good for your bronchi if you add it to warm water.”
It was the same ginger powder that Cheongyeon sometimes drank. Saturn’s eyes widened.
“You’re giving it to me?”
“Yes, although it’s not much.”
Saturn took it with both hands, and the small tin looked like a pea.
“Please… put in a good word for me.”
“Yes!”
Saturn nodded vigorously, implying he could trust him. Then he ran out of the shop in a couple of steps.
After letting out a long, rueful sigh, Cheongyeon sat down on a stool sticking out of the cash register. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that Saturn had opened a small container and was peering inside.
‘Does he think I gave him poison…’
He smiled bitterly because he had given it to him out of gratitude.
If he threw it away, he couldn’t help it, and got up to go to the real estate agency. Saturn then poured the small bucket straight into his mouth. While Cheongyeon was startled, ginger powder flew out of Saturn’s mouth.
He had definitely told him to take it with water…
He was worried that he would ask him what he had given him and that he might harm him. Looking back at Cheongyeon, Saturn pursed his lips. His nostrils flared as he tried to hold in a cough, and his eyes were bloodshot.
“If he does that, it might get into his respiratory tract…”
Alarmed, Cheongyeon rushed into the room to fetch water, but Saturn was no longer there, and the ginger powder he had furiously spat out had been scattered by the wind.
***
The last time Muwon saw a Hwa, she had jet-black hair and even blacker eyes. The Hwa were one clan, so shouldn’t they all look alike? It was a plausible assumption, but Muwon’s gut told him otherwise.
As for the rumour that they held up the continent, he had no way of knowing if it was true or not. However, the continent sank after the Hwa he knew died.
It could have been an incredible coincidence. Since the continent sank as soon as the Hwa died, it would be easy to turn the tables and create a legend that they were protecting the continent, but Muwon, who had seen the continent sink firsthand, was not about to dismiss the Hwa clan as a mere legend.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Kjf Zekbc, jgf sbe riffqlcu?”
Zekbc kjr rlaalcu lc tlr mtjlg, tlr ifur vjcuilcu bnfg atf vfrx. Lf vlvc’a wbnf abkjgv atf fcagjca. Ktf ybrr’r boolmf, bc atf abq oibbg bo atf Zjglcf Delivlcu, kjr bcis jmmfrrlyif ab Zekbc jcv Kjf Jtfbcbt.
“Cgf sbe riffqlcu?”
“Tfjt.”
Lf ifjcfv yjmx jr ojg jr tf mbeiv jcv mibrfv tlr fsfr. Dftlcv tlw, lc j agjcrqjgfca vlrqijs mjrf, rabbv rfnfgji wbvfir bo rtlqr wjvf bo ubiv. Cii bo atfw kfgf Kjf Jtfbcbt’r ojnbglafr.
“And the sleeping bastard answers?”
“Mhm.”
Tae Cheonoh clicked his tongue at Muwon, whose eyes were still closed.
“Then what’s with you and being here all this time?”
Muwon had spent more time on the Peira than he had in the Marine Building, and yet he had been stuck in the Marine Building for two days without going anywhere. Muwon was silent, letting Tae Cheonoh’s question be ignored.
“Oh, right. Saturn is waiting for you in the break room on the 13th floor.”
At best, Cheonghwa’s communication devices were walkie-talkies and landline phones. It was said that before the sea level rose by leaps and bounds, communication was much easier than it was now, but that was more than a few hundred years ago.
“Why.”
“This sleeping bastard only talks when he needs to.”
Muwon narrowed his eyes. His golden eyes were duller than usual, as if he was really sleepy. He pulled a cigarette and a Zippo lighter from his inside suit pocket. He flicked the lid of the Zippo lighter, and it made a sharp sound like a knife being pulled out of its sheath.
“Tae Muwon-ah.”
Muwon, who had leaned back in his chair, turned to Tae Cheonoh with only his gaze.
“Just out of curiosity, are you interested in the apothecary?”
“You have so much free time to talk bullshit?”
“I heard you asked them to help him move the apothecary yesterday.”
“Did I?”
“How would I know if you don’t know?”
“Then how the fuck do you know that guy?”
At Muwon’s rather sharp attitude, Tae Cheonoh picked up his coat, which he had casually thrown on the sofa. As he pulled out his cigarettes and fumbled for his Zippo lighter, Muwon threw it at him.
“Isn’t a guy like that kind of unsuitable?”
Tae Cheonoh replied with a cigarette in his mouth.
“Shall we call an old man then?”
“That won’t do.”
Tae Cheonoh inhaled and sucked in the smoke, “The apothecary is rather famous.”
“In what way?”
Muwon dropped his legs, and the back of his chair stood upright.
“That he’s ill-fated.”
“Fate?”
Muwon elongated the word.
“I heard that people who fall for the apothecary, whether male or female, do not end up well.”
It was about as interesting as bird piss in a boring car.
“And he even swindles?”
“Then that would be called charismatic and not ill-fated, wouldn’t it?”
“Aha, so that’s why you’ve been getting robbed by fucking charismatic bastards.”
Muwon laughed. The idea of an apothecary luring people in with his nice face and ripping them off? It was so amusing that it tickled his ears.
“You asshole, I’m just doing charity.”
“But why are you asking about the apothecary?”
Despite his smiling face, there was no emotion in his golden eyes as he looked at Tae Cheonoh, who had just finished his cigarette and took out another.
“I’m not interested in the apothecary, shit. There’s an abundance of people.”
“Interest? I have it.”
“Really?”
Tae Cheonoh looked at Muwon in disbelief.
“Maybe it’s just a ridiculous rumour, but an apothecary should be avoided at all costs. There aren’t many guys as pretty as him, but I don’t see the point in going into a burning house.”
“Wuss.”
“Hey, you little shit! Listen to me. He’s got a great history you know.”
According to Tae Cheonoh, Cheongyeon was raised by a florist who left alone at a young age.
When the florist needed money, she tried to sell him to a pirate, but the florist’s shop was unusually flooded that night and the owner drowned. After that, no one wanted to take him in because they thought he was ominous, so he was left to live on his own. And because he was always good with his hands, he began to gather medicinal herbs, preparing them and selling them.
With the money he saved, he bought the current apothecary shop when he was a teenager. So far, it was an inspiring yet pitiful life for a child.
“Don’t you think it’s a wonder that he’s still alive, given how bad the pirates were before we came here?”
Muwon had to agree with Tae Cheonoh’s words to a certain extent. After all, the life of a penniless beauty was inevitably unhappy.
“I heard that those who tried to play tricks on the apothecary disappeared without a sound, and there are many who suffered an untimely fate when they attacked him.”
Tae Cheonoh shuddered, and Muwon chuckled.
“Fuck, it’s quite an urban legend, isn’t it?”
“It’s not a legend, it’s real, okay? That’s why Cheonghwa Town’s bastards leave him alone. Even with that arousing appearance of his.”
“Is that so?”
Muwon glanced down at his lower half, then rose from his chair.
“That makes me even more convinced.”
“Of what?”
“He’s a Hwa.”
Muwon stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.
“Hey, Tae Muwon has lost his marbles. He’s not. Think about it. The only Hwa we know is like miserable-looking- Argh! Fuck, fuck! Fine!”
After narrowly dodging a flying ashtray, Tae Cheonoh shrieked.
“Where are you going now!”
Tae Cheonoh asked Muwon, who was putting on the fancy suit jacket he had taken off.
“To dote on Saturn.”
“You lunatic.”
Muwon roughly shoved the Zippo lighter Tae Cheonoh had thrown at him into the inside pocket of his suit. Leaving the boss’s room, Muwon took the old lift down to the thirteenth floor.
The Marine Building had a total of 20 floors, with floors 1-5 used by the lower ranks, floors 5-10 by the middle ranks, and floors 10-15 by the upper ranks. Floors 15-20 were reserved for Muwon and Tae Cheonoh, but in reality, only the 20th floor was frequently used by them.
When Muwon reached the 13th floor, he kicked Jupiter, who was lying in the hallway. Stretched out drunk, clutching a bottle, Jupiter woke up with a thick stream of profanity.
“Shit! Which fucker-!”
“Would Jupiter like to get his ass kicked?”
“…H- hyung-nim! No!”
Jupiter unclenched his fist and bowed as soon as he realized it was Muwon.
Saturn is too funnyyyyy