GGAS 4

For Ha Bomi, who commuted to Hau Group solely in pursuit of fun, a day like today was nothing short of terrible.

Just as she was about to recall which drawer she had put her resignation letter in, the door to the director’s office suddenly opened and Kim Gwanggong came out. Ha Bomi quickly raised the head she had been bowing down at the unexpected appearance of her superior.

“Uh, where are you going?”

“A meal appointment with Chairman Han.”

At those words, color returned to Ha Bomi’s face.

‘If this goes well, today might be fun too.’

“Why are you not getting up, what are you doing?”

Kim Gwanggong spoke with a frown.

“Going! I’m going!”

Ha Bomi answered while picking up the car keys with her right hand and slipping her left arm into her jacket. By the time she had grabbed her bag as well, Kim Gwanggong had already gone off far ahead, leaving her behind. But Ha Bomi was all smiles. There seemed to be a possibility that something fun might happen today.

***

Something did happen. Ha Bomi felt like dying now. Perhaps the egg sandwich she had eaten as a snack had gone bad, her stomach rumbled without stopping. Her hands on the steering wheel were trembling. Luckily, there were not many cars in the city hall parking lot, so parking was done quickly. As soon as Ha Bomi turned off the engine, she hurriedly looked back at the back seat.

“Um, Director. I urgently need the restroom…”

Kim Gwanggong had already been listening to Ha Bomi’s stomach orchestra for over thirty minutes. That was more than enough time to grasp the urgency of the situation.

“Go ahead. I’ll go to the pumpkin candy shop.”

“Yes, then I will see you in a little while!”

Ha Bomi flung open the car door and rushed off in search of the restroom. Kim Gwanggong sighed, then turned on his phone and opened the contacts list. It was so empty that it hardly seemed appropriate to call it an address book. At the very top was the name Kim Abang. He called Kim Abang. The ringtone did not even last long. That was because the moment Kim Gwanggong opened the car door and got out, Kim Abang picked up. From the other end of the line came several crashing and thumping noises.

[“Gonggong-ah, what’s wrong?! Hah, did you skip a meal??!”]

Although he had never once called because he had skipped a meal, this was always Kim Abang’s first line.

“No. I need something.”

[“Phew, that’s a relief! You still need to eat! So what do you need?”]

“Chairman Han’s regular store name and location. Grandma said to ask you.”

[“Ahhh, that pumpkin candy shop? Of course I know~. That place is…”]

“Yes?”

[“Wait! First, promise you won’t hang up the call until I tell you the whole way! Then I’ll tell you~.”]

“…….”

[“No hanging up after I tell you everything! Talk with me for two hours today! Promise? Promise?!”]

Kim Gwanggong rubbed his face with both hands.

“…I won’t hang up, so tell me.”

[“Yes! Good choice~. The road there is super complicated, without me you could ne~ver get there!”]

Kim Abang spoke in a somewhat swindler-like tone.

[“Where are you now? Parking lot?”]

“Yeah.”

[“Then do you see the mill from there? Go into the alley to the right of it.”]

Kim Gwanggong frowned. Every shop visible from the parking lot was a mill.

“Which mill?”

[“Come on~, you know the mill there! The one that makes the tastiest sesame oil in the market!”]

Since it was impossible for Kim Gwanggong to taste-test the sesame oil from all those countless mills, the explanation was of no use.

“Any other distinguishing feature?”

[“Hmm… Ah! The owner wears a cute apron!”]

He roughly looked around and saw one owner wearing a fruit-patterned apron, one wearing a heart-patterned apron, and one wearing a penguin-patterned apron. When Kim Gwanggong asked which of the three, Kim Abang answered that he only remembered it felt cute. After a moment of thought, Kim Gwanggong went into the alley to the right of the mill with the owner wearing a penguin-patterned apron.

“What’s next?”

[“Yeah, from there you’ll see a fruit shop, right?”]

“What kind of fruit shop?”

[“The one with the prettiest signboard!”]

“Haa….”

This exchange repeated about five more times. Thanks to that, the journey to the pumpkin shop felt less like finding the way and more like a contest of matching Kim Abang’s taste.

But whether it was wayfinding or a contest, Kim Gwanggong succeeded.

“Master Lee Chunbok, 50 years tradition pumpkin candy. This it?”

He asked as he read the signboard.

[“Yeah, that’s the place. Our Gonggong is good at finding the way~.”]

Leaving Kim Abang’s praise behind, Kim Gwanggong ended the call. Then he entered the shop.

There was no one at the counter.

“Is anyone here?”

Kim Gwanggong spoke. It did not seem as though the shop was completely empty. He heard people chatting in the back.

“Is anyone here? Mr. Lee Chunbok?”

He spoke once more. Then a short elderly woman came out, lifting her feet as she walked.

“Why are you looking for that Lee Chunbok? He’s not here.”

“….? Isn’t this Mr. Lee Chunbok’s pumpkin candy shop?”

“Ah, that’s right. But Lee Chunbok isn’t here. He’s been gone for a while.”

“……?”

At that moment, another customer came into the shop. He was a pretty young man with pale skin and noticeable pink hair. He too seemed to have heard the grandmother’s words that Lee Chunbok was not there, and with a confused expression he glanced at the signboard outside.

“Isn’t this Lee Chunbok’s pumpkin candy? Did the shop change?”

“Ah, that’s the name of the old man who died. He’s been gone for a while.”

The grandmother answered as if bothered.

“Ah….”

The man’s pupils shook at the unexpected answer. The grandmother seemed to interpret it differently and waved her hand as if to reassure them.

“Well, at least he left the recipe for making the candy before he died, that’s a relief. Don’t worry. The taste is still as fine as jade.”

That was not the problem, but the grandmother was like a bulldozer. She pointed firmly at the pumpkin candy placed on the bench.

“One pack each for both of you? Don’t bother answering. There’s only one size anyway. I don’t sell by the box.”

The grandmother asked and answered herself, then put the packaged pumpkin candy into two separate black plastic bags and handed them to Kim Gwanggong and the man.

“Five thousand won.”

The grandmother didn’t talk too much and was and blunt. When Kim Gwanggong pulled out a card from his wallet, the grandmother shook her head.

“I only take cash!”

“…Seriously.”

And who was Kim Gwanggong? A man who in his entire life had carried bundles of fifty-thousand won bills but never once carried five-thousand won cash. What’s more, today Kim Gwanggong had not even a bundle of bills, only a single black card.

“What, you don’t have money?”

The grandmother reached out as if she was about to take back the pumpkin candy. Then the pink-haired man handed her a wad of one-thousand won bills.

“Here. Including his too.”

The grandmother withdrew the hand that was about to snatch back the candy and carefully counted the bills. Exactly ten.

“Mm, payment’s done. Off you go now. Come again next time.”

The grandmother spoke like a rapid-fire gun.

“Wait…”

Kim Gwanggong tried to say something, but since she had already received the money, the grandmother went straight back behind the shop without hesitation, leaving only the pink-haired man and Kim Gwanggong, who for the first time in his life owed five thousand won, inside the shop.

In the awkward situation, Kim Gwanggong brushed back his hair and took out his phone.

“What’s your name?”

Here is the translation following your rules exactly:

Kim Gwanggong asked the man. The man blinked.

“….? Eun Sanho.”

“Your main bank?”

“Nongh… no, wait a second. What are you doing?”

“A bank transfer.”

“Ah, you don’t need to give it back. It’s fine.”

“…I have five thousand won.”

Kim Gwanggong spoke. Then Eun Sanho smiled faintly.

“I know. And it looks like you have more than five thousand won. That watch looks really expensive?”

Eun Sanho gestured with his eyes toward the watch on Kim Gwanggong’s wrist.

“…Either way, I cannot accept without compensation.”

Kim Gwanggong spoke stiffly, giving off the impression that he might hand over an ATM itself at any moment.

Eun Sanho didn’t thought of getting the money back, he rolled his eyes with a“hm.”

“If you insist… since I gave it on my own, it feels strange to take something in return, so just… if you see someone in trouble next time, help them. Like I helped you today. Let’s call it even. Deal?”

Eun Sanho extended his hand for a high-five. Caught off guard, Kim Gwanggong ended up meeting his palm. The smack echoed through the shop. He let out a small laugh, then gave a slight nod in greeting.

“Then please enjoy the pumpkin candy.”

Leaving Kim Gwanggong standing frozen in an awkward pose with his hand still raised, Eun Sanho went out, got on the bicycle parked outside the shop, and sped off just as the grandmother had. Kim Gwanggong had no chance to say anything more.

***

“Did you buy it?”

When Kim Gwanggong got into the car, Ha Bomi looked at him through the rearview mirror and asked.

“Rather than buying it, I could not make the payment.”

“Eh? Isn’t that pumpkin candy you’re holding? What… did you steal it by any chance?”

Kim Gwanggong frowned.

“Do I look like a thief?”

“No~ of course not. A thief is, like, that guy over there running off with someone else’s bag…, huh?”

Ha Bomi suddenly jumped in surprise.

“Isn’t…isn’t that a thief? Someone’s chasing right behind him too. Looks like a theft!”

Indeed. Just as Ha Bomi said, two people were in a chase in the distance. One of them seemed to have stolen something.

“Ah, they’re coming this way?”

Kim Gwanggong silently watched the two as they drew closer. The thief was someone he had never seen, but the pursuer was someone he had met before.

“Stop right there!”

It was Eun Sanho, the pink-haired man, who was chasing the thief.

Of course the thief did not stop, and the distance between Eun Sanho and the thief only grew wider. Eun Sanho clenched his teeth.

‘I have to catch him…!’

The thief glanced back to see where Eun Sanho was. But at that moment, right in front of the thief, a car door suddenly swung open.

“Urk…!”

The thief crashed into the door like a bull and was sent sprawling pathetically to the ground.

“Uh…?”

Eun Sanho, who had been running at full speed, slowed down a little. That was because the person stepping out from behind the opened door looked somehow familiar. The spotless shoe landing elegantly on the ground, the sleek black suit and crisp white shirt worn without a flaw, and the slightly fierce but handsome frown, without a doubt, it was the man he had seen earlier, that….

“Main-bank man…?”

Eun Sanho muttered, looking at Kim Gwanggong. Kim Gwanggong glanced at the thief lying unconscious on the ground, clicked his tongue once in displeasure, and then turned his gaze to Eun Sanho.

“Did that help?”

Kim Gwanggong asked. By then Eun Sanho had reached the front of the car, and while catching his breath, he nodded.

“Good. Secretary Ha?”

“Ye-yes?”

“Stop taking pictures of the thief lying there and contact the police.”

“Ah, yes…!”

Ha Bomi, who had been excitedly taking pictures saying it was another new record today, hurriedly closed the camera app and dialed 112.

“Yes, hello. Is this the police station? Yes, it’s just that my superior caught a thief. Haha, yes…”

The statement at the police station ended quickly thanks to Ha Bomi’s excellent memory and remarkable eloquence.

“You should have been a professional witness rather than a secretary.”

Kim Gwanggong said to Ha Bomi as they left the police station.

“It’s fine. It’s plenty fun as it is now.”

Ha Bomi made gave thumbs-up and winked. Since she said she liked it that much, Kim Gwanggong did not suggest a job change any further.

“Then shall I drive you to Santiano now?”

Ha Bomi asked.

“Oh? You’re going there? What a coincidence. I have an appointment there too.”

Eun Sanho said with delight.

“Oh, then shall we go together?”