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Chapter: 17
The Sangmaegwan Café on a Saturday morning was rather quiet.
The morning sunlight poured through the large windows, warm enough to make one forget the early spring chill in the mountains, and the clear blue sky felt refreshingly crisp.
Only a few tables were occupied among the empty seats, mostly by students who looked like high school seniors studying.
Hadam and Yuna had also taken a seat by the window, ready to start their studying.
A long time ago.
“Our meeting time was 9, right?”
“Yeah.”
Yuna’s irritated voice pierced through the soft background music, catching Hadam’s attention.
“We’re supposed to meet on the third floor of Sangmaegwan, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Do you know where that is in Sangmaegwan?”
“Yeah.”
“No contact from them yet?”
“Yeah.”
“Ha…”
Yuna scrunched up her face in frustration and opened her workbook.
Hadam wrapped both hands around his mug of rooibos tea and muttered,
“Sleeping in, huh.”
That short remark only fueled Yuna’s anger.
“If they couldn’t wake up, they shouldn’t have set the meeting in the first place. At least send a message. What a waste of time this morning.”
“Ah, right.”
Hadam hurriedly agreed with her, swallowing the now-cold tea.
It didn’t seem like Iggy (Do I-gyeol) would miss the meeting because of sleep. After all, he had been up early yesterday waiting, and he never dozed off during class.
Hadam fiddled with his phone in vain. The chat messages still showed as unread, no matter how many times he checked.
[We’ve arrived.] 8:55
[When are you coming?] 9:12
[Slept in?] 9:28
He had also called twice, so checking the phone would have gotten a reply in some form.
The problem was that even then—or afterward—Yuna’s anger wouldn’t be easily soothed.
“When we meet, I’m gonna punch him.”
“Why did I even bring the whole workbook? It’s heavy.”
“Ugh, the problems are too hard, makes me more annoyed!”
“Do I-gyeol, your pass is canceled. Totally canceled! No retakes!”
Yuna kept muttering, pulling at her hair.
Hadam, in truth, wasn’t nearly as annoyed as Yuna.
He didn’t have to wrestle with numbers while still half-asleep, and the weather was too nice to bury his nose in a book so early in the morning.
He absentmindedly admired the familiar scenery outside the window and muttered,
“It’s nice to just space out instead of studying.”
Yuna, who had been flipping through her planner over the workbook, paused.
She glared at Hadam with piercing eyes.
“You’re teasing me, aren’t you?”
“Yep.”
Hadam answered immediately.
Yuna’s gaze softened as she stared at him, and she ended up letting out a small laugh.
“I’m laughing because it’s ridiculous.”
“Who cares.”
She raised one eyebrow mockingly, yet kept smiling despite her disbelief.
Seeing Yuna calm down a bit, Hadam asked with a lighter heart,
“Are you going to keep studying here?”
“No, I’ll go to the library. I can’t concentrate here, and the music’s distracting. You going to the dorm?”
“Yeah. You go first. I’ll finish this tea first.”
“Okay. And if Do I-gyeol replies, tell him. He’ll die when he sees me.”
With a fierce expression one last time, Yuna quickly gathered her bag and left the café.
Hadam sipped the remaining tea and watched her walk past the school gates, becoming a distant dot.
Only then did he leisurely get up.
His destination wasn’t the dormitory—it was the security office.
Hadam first met Kim Hyun during the summer vacation when he was ten years old.
Whether it was a rock or a tree branch, he had tripped over something while playing alone. Suddenly, Kim Hyun appeared from nowhere.
Seeing Hadam crying for help, he silently treated the wound and escorted him home.
After that, Hadam didn’t see him for a long time and had almost forgotten him.
The second time he saw Kim Hyun was in second year of middle school.
Hadam had thrown away a friendship ring in a fit of anger after a minor argument with Yuna.
They reconciled within a day, but the problem was where he had thrown it.
It was outside the school’s boundary fence, a forbidden area, and there was no way to retrieve it.
While he anxiously whispered for someone to help and stomped his feet, Kim Hyun appeared with the ring in hand.
Hadam couldn’t bring himself to tell Yuna about the incident, so he kept the strange event to himself.
He almost forgot him again, until he met Kim Hyun in high school—at his parents’ memorial site, in front of the grave.
“Sir, do you know my mom and dad?”
Kim Hyun, holding a bouquet of yellow freesias, didn’t answer.
Instead, he quietly handed a handkerchief to Hadam, who was sniffling.
“Sir, how did you know I needed a handkerchief?”
“You said it out loud. That it would be nice to have one.”
At that moment, Hadam vaguely realized that the person in front of him wasn’t fully human nor fully beast, but some kind of strange being.
Kim Hyun never introduced himself, but Hadam could infer it from several clues.
His exact age was unknown, he disliked blood and red beans, and he liked buckwheat.
It was too simple and clear to be mistaken.
Kim Hyun was a goblin.
The security office was right next to the school gate, beside the alley leading to the parking lot.
A small wooden house with a tiled octagonal roof, not a single window, barely a single room inside.
Yet stepping inside, it felt like at least twenty pyeong (~66 m²), and Hadam always marveled at it.
Surprisingly, Hadam had never seen anyone else aware of the office’s existence.
Even though it was right next to the gate, there were no rumors about “Security Guard Kim Hyun.”
Of course, Hadam never mentioned him either.
Even without being asked, Hadam felt that keeping this “secret” was necessary to continue visiting him.
He glanced around and quickly opened the security office door. With no lock, it swung open easily.
Inside was always dark and quiet. A unique feature was the persistent smell of grass.
Hadam wondered if it was Kim Hyun’s preference or a goblin trait, but he never asked.
Kim Hyun avoided talking about himself, even about trivial things.
Wearing slippers neatly prepared as if expecting a guest, Hadam quietly walked in.
Turning right down a small corridor, he entered the living room. Kim Hyun sat cross-legged on a gray mat in the center.
“Sir!”
“Hadam, you’re here.”
He greeted warmly, but didn’t move, only opening his eyes briefly to speak gently.
Hadam flopped onto a single-person sofa placed behind him, brought for him to use when visiting.
“What are you doing?”
“Meditating.”
“Is meditation good?”
“Yeah.”
“What’s good about it?”
“It clears your mind.”
Watching Kim Hyun remain unmoving, Hadam got up, took off his bag and jacket, and sat in the same posture.
Kim Hyun, still with closed eyes, calmly instructed,
“Slowly inhale, then exhale.”
“Hhh…”
“Observe yourself breathing.”
“Fff…”
“Let passing thoughts flow out with your breath.”
Hm, passing thoughts? Not really…
“I won.”
What?
Why are you appearing out of nowhere?
A bright face suddenly appeared in his mind over his closed eyes.
Beep.
[102♡ Lower your heart rate.]
As if that weren’t enough, his watch also beeped a warning.
“You’re tense.”
Hadam immediately switched it to silent mode.
“I don’t want to do this.”
“Okay, let’s stop.”
Kim Hyun slowly opened his eyes.
Grateful for the dark interior, Hadam got up first.
“There’s decaf coffee. Want some?”
“Yes. I’ll get the cups.”
He dashed to the small kitchen area, which was barely more than a mini sink, but had one proper feature:
The upper cabinet full of cups.
All black, white, and shades of gray, yet filled with a surprisingly colorful variety: glass cups, mugs, ceramic teacups, and even wine glasses.
Hadam took out his favorite pink mug and one of Kim Hyun’s heatproof glass cups.
“Why do you have wine glasses if you don’t drink?”
Even though he’d opened the cabinet before, he was suddenly curious.
Kim Hyun’s main residence was outside the school; this was just the security office, so naturally no alcohol bottles—but then why have glasses?
Watching the coffee drip from the kettle, Kim Hyun answered,
“They’re pretty.”
“Totally decorative, huh?”
“Not entirely.”
“Do you actually use them?”
“Occasionally. Once in ten years or so.”
“Wow…”
Hadam sat down, jaw dropped, facing Kim Hyun.
