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Ding... ding... ding...
The ringing that echoed in Haejun’s ears ceased only after he closed his laptop.
“Phew... time to fill my stomach.”
Haejun, who had forgotten his hunger while watching news articles for about three hours, finally decided to have a late dinner.
First, he rummaged through the cupboard on his goshiwon desk.
Unfortunately, there was nothing in the cupboard.
‘Why is there nothing to eat in this apartment?’
[...I’m sorry, but I’m not the type to stock up on food.]
‘Then I guess I’ll have to go out and buy something.’
[But...]
‘What?’
[There’s a slight problem.]
‘Problem? What problem?’
When Haejun asked again, the man instructed him to check the banking app on his smartphone.
And then,
<Account Balance: 12,023 won>
A pitiful balance appeared before Haejun’s eyes.
“Shit... this is ridiculous. Aren’t you a civil servant?”
[It’s because it’s long past payday... Haven’t you seen the statistics that show most workers spend all their living expenses within three weeks? Besides, the hospital bills were quite high... even though I was hospitalized for just two days and had a few tests done, it cost hundreds of thousands...]
“Damn it. Why do I have to worry about starving here? At this rate, I’ll starve to death, never mind any ghost hunting or whatever.”
[W-Well, payday is in three days!]
“How are we supposed to survive three days on 10,000 won?”
[Haven’t you heard of ‘10,000 won happiness’... ? Haha…]
Haejun sighed deeply and left the gosiwon.
Then he headed to a nearby convenience store.
He wanted to have a hot bowl of gukbap (rice soup) with a shot of soju.
When he was in Korea, his favorite meal was soondae guk (blood sausage soup) with soju.
But thinking about his bank balance, he had to get by on convenience store meals until payday.
“... Damn it. Of all things, why did I have to possess such a poor body... If I had to possess someone, it should have been as the youngest son of a chaebol (conglomerate) family...”
At Haejun’s angry muttering, the ghost scratched his cheek awkwardly.
Of course, the fact that he was alive was the most important thing.
So, Haejun stopped complaining and entered the convenience store.
He picked up a triangular kimbap and a cup of ramen, and stood at the checkout counter.
Beep-!
“That’ll be 2,200 won.”
With the clear voice of the female part-timer, one-sixth of his entire wealth disappeared.
Haejun took his food and sat at an outdoor table outside the convenience store.
Then he poured hot water into the cup ramen and unwrapped the triangular kimbap.
‘Hey.’
[Yes?]
‘Whatever happens, it looks like we’ll be seeing a lot of each other. What should I call you?’
Taking a bite of a triangular kimbap, Haejun asked.
After a moment of contemplation, the man answered.
[Please call me Suho.]
‘Suho? Your name is Haejun. Just like mine.’
[That’s the name I changed to two years ago. My original name was Suho.]
‘You changed your name? Why?’
[I got into a lot of trouble catching bad guys since I was a kid... But my grandmother and mother thought it was because I had the wrong name. So they insisted on applying for a name change.]
It was indeed a ridiculous reason to change a name.
But in a way, it made sense.
For a man who loved nicknames like ‘Protector of Justice,’ the name Suho might have had a big influence.
‘A ridiculous reason to change your name. So, is that why you became a cop?’
[...Something like that.]
Suho trailed off, as if he had a secret he couldn’t tell.
Haejun became quite curious about what that secret might be.
Although he was a mercenary who had been through all sorts of trials, he had never seen anyone so driven by a sense of justice.
Why are you so passionate about justice?
Just as Haejun was about to ask that question,
“Aye, damn. Have these bread shuttle bastards gone crazy? How dare they skip school without my permission?”
A group of middle school students came cursing to the table opposite Haejun.
They were students who exuded a delinquent vibe at a glance.
With hair dyed in bright colors like red, yellow, and blue, their eyes were as fierce as hyenas.
Their delinquency wasn’t just in their appearance.
The seven middle school students who plopped down on the convenience store chairs even took out cigarettes and started smoking.
They did so while wearing their school uniforms, completely ignoring the gazes of the surrounding adults.
‘…Unbelievable.’
Watching this scene, Haejun couldn’t help but let out a sarcastic laugh.
At that moment, Suho, who was beside him, began to speak.
[Their actions are brazen, and they look so young. They must be those juvenile delinquents we’ve been hearing about lately.]
‘Juvenile delinquents?’
[You might already know, but juvenile delinquents refer to minors under 14 who cannot be held criminally responsible and thus do not face penalties even if they commit crimes.]
‘Yeah, I vaguely remember.’
[An analysis of juvenile delinquent crime cases over the past five years showed that there were a total of 11,827 cases in Gyeonggi Province alone. Among them, there were numerous violent crimes, such as murder, rape, and robbery. However, because they were under 14, they were not properly punished.]
Suho’s words aligned with the news article about juvenile delinquents Haejun had read on his laptop earlier.
The article described boys who stole cars and drove without a license, running over and killing people, yet being released without any punishment simply because they were juvenile delinquents.
‘…What a ridiculous law.’
[Exactly. Nowadays, kids are so cunning that they even exploit this juvenile delinquent system as a get-out-of-jail-free card.]
As a former police officer driven by a strong sense of justice, Suho’s tone was increasingly filled with anger.
But the misdeeds of these middle school bullies didn’t end there.
***
“Mujin! We caught Shuttle 1~! Hehe.”
One of the bullies smirked as he dragged along a boy.
The boy was wearing glasses and had a small, frail build.
With one eye bruised and blue, he was trembling with fear.
It was clear at a glance that he was being bullied by the school gang.
Soon, a red-haired boy, who seemed to be the leader of the group, approached the male student.
“Hey, Shuttle No. 1. Why didn’t you come to school yesterday?”
“Well, I... I wasn’t feeling well...”
“What part of you wasn’t feeling well?”
“My leg hurt... I couldn’t come to school. I twisted my ankle on the stairs... I’m sorry, Mujin.”
Having to apologize to a classmate for not going to school.
It was a scene that could only elicit a bitter laugh.
Hearing this, the red-haired boy nodded his head with a momentarily merciful expression.
“Your leg hurt... Well, you can rest if you’re sick.”
“.........!”
“Does it still hurt?”
“Huh?”
“I asked if it still hurts.”
“...Yeah.”
“Then I’ll make sure your leg doesn’t hurt anymore.”
Saying this, the red-haired boy suddenly threw a punch at the male student’s stomach.
Thud!!
With a dull thud, the male student’s body bent like the letter ‘L’.
Immediately, the male student fell to his knees, clutching his stomach.
Seeing this, the red-haired boy burst into laughter.
“How’s that? Your leg doesn’t hurt anymore, does it? Your stomach hurts more now, right~”
“Ugh...!”
“Are your legs still hurting? Should I hit you some more?”
The bullies behind the red-haired guy burst into laughter, finding something incredibly amusing.
Then they gave a thumbs-up towards the red-haired guy.
“Inflict pain in the abdomen to make you forget the pain in your legs! Dr. Kim Mujin!”
“Seriously, you have to acknowledge Mujin’s genius~”
“Shouldn’t Mujin be going to medical school? Hehe.”
Watching the atrocious acts of these young middle school bullies right in front of him, Haejun frowned.
Haejun wasn’t the only one reacting that way.
Suho, filled with anger, was next to him, breathing heavily with fury.
The nearby citizens felt the same way.
Not only were these middle schoolers smoking openly, but now they were also bullying a classmate on the street.
So, the next moment, someone who couldn’t take it anymore stepped forward.
“Hey, you bastards! Aren’t you going to stop!?”
A robust man approached the convenience store table, shouting.
He had the bulky muscles of a fitness trainer.
‘With that build, even these punks should be scared.’
Haejun thought the situation would now be under control to some extent.
But surprisingly, these unruly bullies defied his expectations.
“What? Bastard?”
The red-haired guy spat on the ground and responded.
Next, he took out a cigarette from his pocket as he approached the adult male.
“Mister. We’re just playing around, so why are you picking a fight?”
“Playing around? You call this playing!? This is one-sided bullying!”
At those words, the red-haired boy smirked.
Then he looked at the bullied boy and asked,
“Hey. Kim Mansu. Say it with your own mouth. We’re just playing, right?”
The red-haired boy’s eyes carried a threatening message: ‘Say anything stupid, and I’ll kill you.’
So the bullied boy had no choice but to reluctantly nod.
“...Yes. We’re just playing. So please just go...”
The bullied boy said.
The adult man who had stepped in to help was left speechless.
It was the first time he had seen such vicious middle school students.
Could it really be that 14- and 15-year-olds could do such things?
But considering the recent news articles, it wasn’t that surprising.
Even worse, juvenile crimes were rampant nowadays.
Moreover, there was more to shock the adult man.
The next moment, the red-haired boy stepped up close to the adult man and said,
“Mister. How about a one-on-one fight if you’re so confident?”
“What...?”
“Are you sure you can handle it? We’re confident we could half-cripple you~ Hehe.”
“You crazy punks!”
“Shut up with the swearing, you bastard! Do you know this? Even if we half-cripple you, we won’t get arrested~ But if you hit us even once, you’ll be charged with assault. Why? Because that’s how the law in this country works~ We’re the invincible juveniles~! Kekeke.”
The red-haired boy said as he blew cigarette smoke into the adult man’s face.
The adult man trembled with rage at those words.
However, after a while, he had no choice but to just turn back.
Just as the red-haired guy said, he’d only suffer losses if he got into a fight.
He might end up in a detention cell for nothing.
Besides, even though they were middle school students, there were seven bullies in total.
So, if he fought wrongly, the one who would really get beaten up badly was the adult male.
“Ha! That idiot chickened out. Why act tough if you can’t even fight?”
Having overpowered the adult male, the bullies became even more arrogant.
Their confidence soaring to the top, they soon picked a fight with Haejun, who was standing right in front of them.
“What are you staring at, you idiot?”
One of the bullies said, looking at Haejun.
For Haejun, it was such an absurd situation that he couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.
‘Hmm... It seems these kids’ brains are half burnt.’
T/N: If a dialogue is inside a '...' and it's not italized, it meant that the MC is talking to a ghost in his mind and he's not speaking it out loud. If it's italized, then he's just talking to himself. ^^
