“Yes. I mean, what? Sorry…Yes…I understand.” The call ended. For the most part, Chi-Woo had one-sidedly listened to the conversation, and he stared at his phone blankly after the call ended. Although they had agreed to meet, there were many red flags about this caller. For one, he wanted to meet Chi-Woo at the same café he had met Gil-Duk not long ago. It alarmed him that the caller spoke as if he knew Chi-Woo had been there. It was also strange that the caller was insistent on meeting him so soon. The whole ordeal just seemed far too suspicious. However, Chi-Woo couldn’t refrain himself from going, and the reason was simple: his brother was missing.
Truthfully, it wasn’t rare for his brother to go missing. It had been happening from time to time since Chi-Woo was young, and as he grew older, his brother’s disappearances only became more frequent. It was common for his brother to disappear without a warning; and they would hear nothing from him for a while until he suddenly returned. It could be the same story this time.
‘But something’s strange.’
Things were different. It didn’t feel like the other times his brother disappeared. When was it? Right, it was during his last month in the military. His older brother visited him out of the blue and handed him a bank statement with a large sum and a seal stamp. He told Chi-Woo the following words.
[Take care of mom and dad.]
When Chi-Woo relayed this message to his parents, they were baffled. They reported to the police about his brother’s disappearance, but the police didn’t even accept the case, much less investigate it. Chi-Woo and his parents were certain that his brother had been going overseas often because he worked for a foreign company, but upon further investigation, they found out that his brother had never even left the country once. Chi-Woo did everything in his power to learn more about his brother’s disappearance; he tried posting to internet forums, handing out leaflets, and posting missing persons posters all over the city. Yet, his efforts proved to be fruitless, and the deeper he searched, his brother’s whereabouts seemed to become more unclear. All this soon exhausted Chi-Woo. He felt like he was floundering alone in an open sea. It seemed like he was the only person looking for his brother. Yet, he couldn’t give up. At least for his heartbroken parents, he had to grasp onto any thread of hope. That was why Chi-Woo pushed himself to briskly make his way to his destination.
Chi-Woo soon arrived at the café, where he had parted ways with Gil-Duk.
‘I'm meeting a lot of people in this place today,’ he thought and sat at the exact seat where he had talked to Gil-Duk. Then, he lifted his gaze off the table and stared warily at the mysterious man who asked to meet him. Chi-Woo took an instant dislike to the man. He wore a pressed down fedora hat, pitch black sunglasses, and a mask that covered his nose and mouth. On top of that, his long coat covered his body from the neck down, reaching his calves, and he wore gloves on both hands. It was as if the man was advertising to everyone that he was a suspicious figure. Even when Chi-Woo ordered iced coffee for him —the man said he was thirsty— he drank it by sucking on the straw from under his mask.
“Haaaa!” When his cup was almost empty, the man pulled out the straw from below his mask and breathed deeply. “Sigh! Thank you. I wanted to talk to you as soon as possible, but I was so thirsty…Thinking of meeting you must have made me really nervous.” After placing his plastic cup down, the man leaned slightly towards Chi-Woo. Then, he nodded a couple of times and smiled while saying, “My goodness~ You really are handsome. As expected, even your appearance is something else!”
‘It’s like he’s doting on his best friend’s younger sibling.’ Chi-Woo wondered what the man was planning to tell him, but instead of saying anything, he arched his neck from side to side.
“Ah! That habit! Your brother also did that often! You guys really are siblings! Haha!”
Choi Chi-Woo stopped moving his neck. It was true. His brother sometimes arched his neck sideways for no apparent reason. If the man knew about this habit, perhaps… Chi-Woo felt a ray of anticipation rise in his heart as he said, “You told me you knew where my brother was.”
The man stopped laughing. “Yes. Um. I’m not sure where to begin…” Then, the man fixed his posture and continued, “I must confess I had a lot of worries before coming to Earth. I wondered if I should be so bold as to meet you, Sir Chi-Woo. And even if I did, I wondered if I could make such a request.”
Chi-Woo’s face stiffened. Coming to Earth? Was this man claiming to be an alien or something?
“But then, I happened to come by this,” the man said and searched inside his coat, taking out a piece of paper soaked with sweat. It was the missing person poster that Chi-Woo had posted everywhere for months in search of his brother.
“When I saw this poster, I became certain. Ah! Sir Chi-Woo also wants to help his brother! So that’s why I contacted you.”
The man’s explanation only served to fill Chi-Woo’s mind with more worries and questions. “Is my brother in trouble?”
“Yes. Well, you know the current situation… and the stories that are going around.” The man spoke with a heavy tone, and Chi-Woo’s forehead wrinkled. He didn’t get what the man was saying at all. Yet, regardless of what Chi-Woo was thinking, the man fiddled with the poster and continued, “But I also have one thing I want to ask you, sir. What is your reason for posting this?”
“…Sorry?”
“Did you want somebody to help you? Does that mean there’s a force posing a threat to you, sir?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I have undertaken great risks to meet you, sir. Please tell me the truth. If there’s a force strong enough to threaten you, I must know of it beforehand.”
Chi-Woo was finally sure of it now. The man was speaking on a completely different wavelength from him. What if the man was serious? Perhaps he was mentally ill and set up an elaborate show to get a free cup of iced coffee. Chi-Woo’s expectations crumbled, and feelings of disappointment rushed into his heart. But still, in a final desperate attempt, Chi-Woo asked once more.
“Do you know my brother?”
“Ah! I just realized that I forgot to introduce myself.” The man stretched open his mouth awkwardly. “Yes, I know your brother very well. There was a time when I followed him around everywhere.” The man’s voice became sentimental. “Not only did your brother save me from a miserable death, but he took me under his care. I learned many great things from him. It’s only thanks to him that I am now recognized for my skills and actively working.” The man went on like a child bragging about his parents, “He’s a savior that most can only wish to have. I had no choice but to part ways with him…but I think of my time with him as a great honor and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Chi-Woo shut his eyes. Anger rose in his heart as he continued to listen. Finally, the little shred of patience he had wilted, and he said snarkily, “What did you do with my brother, exactly?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said you worked with him. What did you do?” Chi-Woo wasn’t actually curious about the answer. If the man spoke any more nonsense, he planned to kick him out of his seat.
However, the man’s response was strange. Although he had spluttered all kinds of incomprehensible statements well until now, he stammered like he received a great deal of shock.
“What…kind of…?” Perhaps the man didn’t expect such a question. He seemed too sloppy for someone trying to scam people.
“What…do you mean by those words, sir…?” The man barely managed to finish his question.
Chi-Woo gritted his teeth. His suspicions turned into certainty. “I asked you what my brother does for a living. I am asking you because I am curious, and I don’t know anything about it.” Chi-Woo wondered how the man would respond now. It was obvious. He would change the topic of the conversation or make up something feasible.
“Please give me a moment.” The man lifted both hands and lowered his head. “I am asking you in case…really just in case, sir.” The man’s breathing roughened, “Do you not know anything about your brother? Nothing at all?”
Choi Chi-Woo snorted. “I just know his birthday. Which elementary school he graduated from, his face, manner of speaking, favorite songs and food, and so on.” That was about the extent of Chi-Woo’s knowledge. Even as he listed this information, Chi-Woo realized that he didn’t know that much about his brother. It couldn’t be helped since the few things he thought he knew were proven to be lies.
“Not those things, but…ha, this is insane. What I mean is…do you not know what your brother does at all?”
“I heard that he works for some foreign company far away. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“A company? What about your parents?”
“My parents used to work for a company, but they are retired now.”
The man rubbed his temples harshly. “Wait. Wait a minute. A company? Was there a problem with the synchronization change?” The man suddenly rolled up his left sleeve. Then he tapped the air like he was typing.
“…What?” He asked in aghast, “Commerce? Besides that, the corporation’s main goal is seeking financial gains?” He suddenly tightened his fist and barked, “How could Sir Chi-Hyun be a mere salesman!?” The man heaved in obvious rage. “What do they mean by the greatest sales group on planet Earth? Which lunatic uttered such nonsense…?” Only then did he notice Chi-Woo’s expression. “Ah…”
The mask on the man’s face lengthened horizontally, as if his mouth was stretched wide open. “I-I can’t believe it…” The man clutched his head with both hands and groaned. “How could this happen… I thought it was strange…but I didn’t think it would be this much…”
“…”
“Then, did you perhaps…no, then, why…?”
Chi-Woo sat quietly like an audience watching an actor carry out his monologue. After trying to collect some information, the man was now having his own one-man show. There was a limit to how much Chi-Woo could endure even while considering his missing brother. He was sure that he was caught up in some sick joke. There was nothing more to ponder about.
“Does it feel good?” Chi-Woo glared at the man like he was pathetic.
“Huh, sorry?”
“Are you satisfied yet? Is it fun to prank a person, suffering from a missing family member?” Chi-woo asked coldly and got up from his seat.
“No! That’s not it, sir!”
“Do you think you are the first one to pull a prank like this? You damn scamming bastards—.”
Bam! Ring, ring!
The loud sound of bells suddenly rang from the café’s entrance. Chi-Woo’s gaze whipped to the door in reflex, and he frowned when he saw a person with light-brown short hair, a beret, and white clothes. A woman had suddenly burst into the door and was huffing in anger.
“W-what? How could you?” The startled man became even more shocked.
The woman seemed to pause when she saw Chi-Woo, but as soon as she saw the man, her eyes burned with rage.
“You. Crazy. Bastard!” After letting out harsh insults, she angrily stomped towards him. “In the end, you had to…!”
Judging by how Chi-Woo could even hear her grit her teeth, she seemed filled to the brim with rage from head to toe. Chi-Woo clenched his fist to guard against the newcomer, but he wasn’t who she was after. The woman roughly grabbed the man’s nape and pulled him back.
“Get going. Why aren’t you moving faster? When we return, I’m going to fucking kill you.” Surprisingly, the woman’s frail hand was able to easily drag away the giant man.
“Ah, no! I haven’t finished talking ye…!” The man tried to resist with all his strength, but he wasn’t able to match the woman’s strength. “Your older brother is not something like a salesman!” Even while being dragged out, the man shouted with all his might, “Neither are your parents!”
“Why don’t you shut the hell up!?” shouted the woman, but the man wouldn’t give up.
“Sir Chi-Woo, you need to…”
“Shut up, ack!” The woman screamed as she tried her best to cover the man’s mouth. He seemed to have bitten her hand hard if the way his mask crumpled was anything to go by.
“You need to find out the truth! Sir Chi-Woo’s family is—umph!” The woman quickly covered the man’s mouth with her palm. In fact, she had used both her hands to stop him from talking as she hurriedly dragged him out of the door.
“Umphh!”
Chi-Woo watched the whole scene play out and scoffed in astonishment. ‘What a show.’
He was also suspicious of the woman. She probably had been secretly watching them outside, and when she saw that it was getting disadvantageous for the man, she quickly intervened and got him out. If she and the man were in cahoots, this whole situation made sense. After all, the giant of a man couldn’t be that easily dragged away, could he?
“Where might you be going?” Chi-Woo had no intentions to let them go easily like this. Even if he had wasted his time, he was going to at least get the price of the man’s iced coffee from them. “Stop right there, miss.”
The woman stopped momentarily, but she soon went back to dragging the man out with even more force like she didn’t hear anything.
“Miss, I told you to stop.”
She pushed her back hard against the glass door. It was when the door opened half-way and the bell gave out a small chime—
“Hey.” Chi-Woo discarded all formalities, and his voice dropped low. “You deaf?”
At that moment, the woman completely stopped moving. “…Ah?” A startled look appeared on her face as if she couldn’t understand why she had stopped.
“Yes! That’s it!” The man used this opportunity to break free of the woman’s grasp and shouted again, “You have the authority and justi-umph!”
Of course, the man was soon silenced again. Chi-Woo brushed his hair back in annoyance. His luck today was truly rotten; it was only fair for him to make these two bastards suffer as he had.
“I can easily guess what type of people you two are.” Chi-Woo glared at the man and woman and said, “It seems like you two work together to act out a skit and rip off money from people down on their luck.”
“No! I’m —” The woman shouted as if she was being wronged.
“Shut up.” However, Chi-Woo calmly cut off her words.
“No! I’m - I’m not in the same team as this guy! Instead —”
“I said shut up. Does it sound like a request?” Chi-Woo spoke in an authoritative tone.
The woman’s complexion paled at his chilling command. “No, this shouldn’t…” She slightly faltered, and one of her arms began to slowly fall.
“Move it!” The man pushed her away roughly and got up. “Sir, wait. I can finally understand your reaction a bit now. And why did you stare at me like I was crazy the whole time?” The man didn’t care about fixing his mask as he continued, “If you don’t know anything, this situation will obviously be very confusing and sudden for you, but even then, there’s something you must know.” The man finished quickly and said, “Sir, your older brother is a hero.”
“He’s…what?”
“He’s the hero of heroes, the greatest hero.”
Chi-Woo was about to say something, but ended up gaping at the man because of those outrageous words. He thought he had misheard for a second.
But without paying attention to Chi-Woo’s reaction, the man continued talking as if he was revealing an amazing secret. “And—” He repeated himself with a resolute voice, “Sir, you are also a hero.”
A freezing cold silence passed between them. The man caught his breath with a stiff face, and the woman tightly shut her eyes. Chi-Woo struggled to recover his jaw, at a loss for words. He experienced with his whole body what it felt like to become speechless when one heard something so astonishing. The café was also quiet. A few customers were staring at them while holding their breaths, and the part-time worker was nervously dialing 112 to call the police.
“What, is he a hidden son of a chaebol family?”
“Are they shooting a drama?”
Chi-Woo’s face reddened from all the voices whispering behind his back.
“I understand, sir. You probably think I’m blabbering nonsense.” The man spoke again after a short silence. “I thought that there might be some unexpected circumstances, but…I hadn’t anticipated this in my wildest dreams.” He continued with a gloomy expression. “I can’t believe that you’ve been living like an ordinary person without knowing anything.”
“…Drop it, and make a decision for yourself.” Chi-Woo cut him off. “Give me my money back, and we’ll go our separate ways, or we can finish our conversation in the police station.”
“Sir, money?”
“I’m talking about the coffee. What I paid for the iced coffee.” Chi-Woo indicated with his chin the plastic cup the man had emptied. “Normally I would just move on, but I can’t let this pass after hearing and seeing all your bullshit.”
Chi-Woo stretched out his hand as he continued, “Think of this as your last opportunity. Give me 5,000 won.”
The man looked at Chi-Woo’s outstretched hand in a daze. “…No wonder. I guess there’s no point saying anything more in this situation.” The man responded with a bitter smile and turned back to the now frozen woman.
She glared at the man as if she wanted to kill him, but took out a 5,000 won bill from her wallet.
‘Will you look at that. I knew it,’ Chi-Woo smirked as he saw the man take the 5,000 won from the woman.
The man didn’t immediately give him the money. He took his time as he rolled his sleeves, tapped his elbows, and touched the 5,000 won. Chi-Woo had enough. He was about to snatch the money bill when—
“Sir, I apologize if what happened today was unpleasant for you.” The man slowly walked towards him and humbly bowed while handing him the money.
“You should live honestly.” Chi-Woo grabbed the 5,000 won bill and shoved it into his pocket. “Don’t try to scam people who are already having a hard time. What you two are doing right now is a sin. It’s going to all become part of your karma.” Then he placed the money in his bag and said, “You think I’m lying? Then continue to live like this and kick the bucket. You’ll spend the rest of your afterlife in regret.” Chi-Woo turned away after giving them a good verbal lashing. He didn’t want to be in the same space as them for even a second longer.
“Sir, since you don’t believe me even after I said all this…,” the man continued with a face full of resolve, “I will show you.”
“What?”
“I’ll give you a demonstration and explain again.”
Chi-Woo, who was about to pass the man and go on his way, let out a laugh.
“I’ll do whatever is necessary to guide you, sir.”
Chi-Woo planned to quietly part ways, but even till the end, this guy refused to stop.
“I will guide you to where you should rightfully be.”
“Crazy bastard.” Chi-Woo snorted and flung the glass door open. He took one step outside when—
Flash!
A flash of light suddenly filled his vision. Chi-Woo only noticed something was off after taking two more steps. The sound of cars and people walking in the streets disappeared.
‘What…’ These weren’t the only things that changed. ‘Where…is this…?’ There was a circular arched ceiling, and the space was surrounded by white walls with no patterns. No matter how he saw it, he was no longer in the café, nor was he anywhere near a street.
‘I was definitely…?’ Chi-Woo’s eyes widened as he looked back. The café had completely disappeared, and there was now only white space. ‘I need to be calm.’ This whole situation was extremely shocking, but Chi-Woo calmed his breathing while trying to process his thoughts. There were two reasons why this could have happened: he was either dreaming, or bewitched. Regardless of what had happened, he needed to wake up. He was about to slap his cheek as hard as possible when—
“Sir, how is it?” A low voice rang in the space.
Chi-Woo whirled around, shocked. He doubted his sight as he looked at the giant man looking down at him.
“You must be dizzy, right? I hope you understand since this is your first time connecting.” The man’s size was threatening, and when he talked, Chi-Woo saw that his teeth were sharp and pointy like a piranha’s.
“But you will soon—"
“Who are you?”
“Sir?”
“Who are you, and where am I?”
Without saying anything, the giant man extended his hand and grabbed a fedora out of thin air before placing it on his head.
Chi-Woo’s mouth slightly gaped open as he saw the man also take out a long coat from the empty space.
“Perhaps—.”
“That’s right.” He was one of the two swindlers Chi-Woo met in the café. “Sir, I told you,” the man with the fedora hat easily replied, “That I would lead you to where you rightfully belong.”