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Join the Server“Do you know that person?”
The nurse who had been scheduling the patient’s appointment asked in a tone that seemed thoroughly fed up. The question was directed at Choryang, who was stubbornly sitting on the chair right in front of the examination room—a spot meant for the next patient—glaring with wide eyes. Jeong Eun-gyu glanced up from the CT scan and took a look at Choryang, who sat bolt upright.
“How long has he been like that?”
“Ever since you started seeing patients, Professor. He hasn’t even gone to the restroom.”
“Ha…”
“Even the patients and other staff have been dropping hints, but he doesn’t budge. We were about to call security if he wasn’t someone you know…”
“I’ll handle it. Go have lunch.”
“What about you, Professor?”
“I’ll deal with him first. Don’t worry about me.”
The white coat fluttered against his thighs with every step. When Jeong Eun-gyu reached him, Choryang grinned.
“Make sure to tell Chief Ahn that I’m doing an excellent job, alright?”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“I am!”
“Then please go eat. There’s a faculty restaurant on the basement level. You can scan this at the kiosk.”
He pulled out his employee ID card hanging around his neck and held it out. Choryang examined it closely before springing to his feet.
“The photo doesn’t do you justice. It doesn’t capture even a bit of your prettiness, Professor. Tsk, tsk. The photographer deserves a heavy punishment.”
“Mr. Choryang… I’m exhausted because of you…”
“Want a hug? I can handle someone like you with just one arm!”
“No, that’s not what I meant. Ha… Get up. I’ll take you to the restaurant…”
A person needs a decent amount of backbone to ignore others and persist. As Choryang followed behind the trudging Jeong Eun-gyu like a puppy, he suddenly turned around. When his playful steps stopped, Jeong Eun-gyu called out tiredly, “Mr. Choryang.”
Choryang was staring blankly at a certain spot. At where his gaze landed, there was nothing but an unknown patient being helped away by their child. What? Is it a ghost?
“What’s there?”
“Hehe.”
“Why are you laughing like a pervert?”
“Big trouble. Big trouble, I tell you. That damn prince is going to be in big trouble too.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You can’t see them, Professor? Over there, the grim reapers are staring at us with eyes wide open like this big. Hehehe.”
“It’s not summer yet. Stop shooting your horror special and follow me.”
Even without seeing a trace of a grim reaper, he was overacting. As Jeong Eun-gyu walked ahead indifferently, Choryang followed humming, and soon two reapers attached themselves to him.
“What, what? Who is that human that smells of the prince?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“You ungrateful goblin. Didn’t we let you through the gate that you shouldn’t have accessed? And this is how you repay us?”
“King Yeomra must be looking quite ridiculous now, huh. Puhahaha.”
“How dare you speak His Majesty’s name! Spill it before we drag you away and make you suffer. Who is that human?”
“He’s the human the prince has his eyes on.”
Their flour-dough-pale faces instantly paled with surprise, and they covered their lips as if pinched. Their already large pupils widened even more.
“We must inform His Majesty immediately.”
“The prince has lost his mind. Lost it. Coveting even a human after that serpentine dragon. He’s finally gone mad.”
“Has it only been a day or two since the prince went mad? Anyway, don’t say I told you.”
Shh. Choryang pressed his index finger to his lips, blocking the grim reapers who tried to follow.
“Ahey. Don’t follow.”
“What should we do? What should we do? Our crazy prince—what should we do with him?”
“If he could be reasoned with, he wouldn’t have been banished to the mortal world in the first place.”
“He must have forgotten the serpent.”
“He’s always lived by standards below the waist, so it’s perfectly possible.”
Leaving behind the grim reapers with no signs of their fuss dying down, a gleeful Choryang hummed happily as he stepped into the elevator with Jeong Eun-gyu.
Since it was the awkwardly slipped lunch hour, the elevator was empty. It quickly reached the first basement level and opened its doors. Jeong Eun-gyu, after scanning his ID at the kiosk at the entrance of the relatively quiet faculty restaurant away from the crowded food court, swiped his card for an extra meal.
“You keep talking to yourself. There’s a psychiatry department on the 5th floor; I can send you there if you want.”
“Professor. Seriously, how about becoming my bride? That way, you’ll be safe. I’m saying this because I really, really like you.”
“I’ve been turning you down for a long time. Get your tray.”
“Hmph. Chief Ahn? That bastard will only bring you tremendous harm.”
“Ah, I’m really tired…”
He wanted to just leave, but he was afraid to leave him alone in case something happened. Jeong Eun-gyu seriously wondered for the first time in his life if this was some kind of karma. His head was spinning.
“Eat your meal and go ahead. I’ll talk to Chief Ahn.”
“No, no. I already got paid, so no.”
“How much did you get? I’ll pay you more, so please just disappear.”
Tired and sensitive, his word choice got harsher. Choryang, cradling his tray, leaned his face in close. Jeong Eun-gyu didn’t step back and stared straight at him.
If Ahn Dae-young had sparks in his eyes, Choryang had a faint blue flame. I guess goblins have different eye colors. He had already come to accept this much.
“That’s f*cking sexy. Curse again. Do it twice. Even three times is welcome.”
“I told you not to mess around, you bastard.”
But the curse he wanted came not from Jeong Eun-gyu but from Ahn Dae-young, who suddenly appeared. Choryang flinched and pouted his lips, still holding the tray dearly.
For a moment, Jeong Eun-gyu felt Ahn Dae-young seemed like a savior and unknowingly gave a big smile before immediately turning expressionless. At that, Ahn Dae-young, hands in his pockets, frowned slightly. If you’re going to smile, keep smiling—you’re not the Count of Asura.
“Eat your damn rice and come when I call.”
“Why! I don’t want to!”
“Should I cut your legs so you can’t come at all…?”
Choryang, in his original goblin form, had only one leg. And since he had been miserably defeated by Ahn Dae-young in a wrestling match to determine rank, he had always stayed in his manifestation form unless there was a special reason. No matter how strong a one-legged creature was, he couldn’t beat that damn underworld prince. After losing the match, his single leg became Choryang’s complex.
“You… damn insolent…!”
Leaving Choryang shaking his fists, Ahn Dae-young grabbed Jeong Eun-gyu’s arm and led him away with a firm grip. Helplessly, Jeong Eun-gyu followed, and Choryang glared at his back, fuming, before snorting and entering the restaurant. Still, he had to eat.
“Where are you going? There’s no place to eat outside. And I need to get back early.”
“You speak so cutely to Choryang, but why do you turn back into a soldier in front of me? Are you discriminating?”
“You seem to not know the meaning of ‘cute.’”
“I know it all too well, that’s the problem. We’re both busy, so how about we just grab a sandwich to fill up?”
“I don’t care.”
It’s all the same calories entering the mouth. Jeong Eun-gyu, who had bought two sandwiches at the cafeteria where he got a latte in the morning, formally asked the standing Ahn Dae-young.
“Would you like a drink?”
“Hot chocolate.”
“…Hot chocolate?”
“Very rich.”
When the well-built man in a suit said expressionlessly, the staff at the counter chuckled. This made Jeong Eun-gyu embarrassed. Hot chocolate, so out of place…
“…That, and an iced Americano with three extra shots, please.”
“Shall I add extra hot chocolate powder too?”
“Yes. Make it very rich, please…”
As he was about to pay, a 50,000 won bill was pushed forward first. Embarrassed, Jeong Eun-gyu put his card back. Come to think of it, he had also paid for an extra meal at the faculty restaurant… Thinking that Choryang alone could easily handle two portions, he wondered if he would need to pay extra instead. He really looked like a big eater.
“Put the change on this person’s account.”
“Uh… then shall I add it as mileage? Please tell me the last digits of your number.”
“It’s fine. Keep the change.”
“Stop wasting time and just give the number.”
Whether it’s 100 won or 1000 won, he hates being in debt. But the line was getting long, so Jeong Eun-gyu reluctantly recited a memorized number.
“…6033.”
“It comes up as Kim Hyunsoo. Is that correct?”
“Yes.”
“Your name isn’t Kim Hyunsoo, is it? Mr. Jeong Eun-gyu?”
“I don’t usually accumulate mileage.”
Too annoyed to bicker, he skipped even saying “I’ll eat well” and passed by coldly, sitting down at an empty seat. Within five minutes, Ahn Dae-young carried over the tray and sat across from him.
“I’ll buy dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“Yes. You bought lunch, after all.”
“It’s nothing.”
Seemingly satisfied with the hot chocolate’s consistency, he put down the cup with a content smile. Jeong Eun-gyu took a few sips of the pitch-black coffee.
“Are you a caffeine addict? That strong is practically poison.”
“It’s drinkable. And you, Representative, drinking something as unbecoming as hot chocolate.”
“There’s nothing like chocolate when my head feels like it’s splitting.”
He didn’t bother mentioning that he had already downed two iced chocolates and a whole chocolate bar in his office.
“Why did you come to the hospital?”
“For work.”
“If it’s work…”
“A client.”
Their first meeting had also been at the hospital. Back then too, Ahn Dae-young was coming down from ‘work’ and had run into Jeong Eun-gyu. The VIP wards of each hospital were his main workplace. The clients saved in his phone’s number 10 consisted of business tycoons who could spend money like water in VIP rooms without a blink. Only when they were ‘at least that level’ did Ahn Dae-young personally go on business trips. Whether or not something was attached. The travel fee was non-refundable.
“Hospitals are a goldmine. Just look around here, it’s full.”
They can’t come close, but ghosts are everywhere. A ghost yanking at an elderly man’s head as he eats, a ghost sitting chin in hand across from a woman eating alone. So many.
“Do you do anything if paid enough?”
“One word and I feel like a money-grubbing lunatic.”
“You said it was work. I thought you’d step in as long as the price was right.”
“Why? Do you have something you want to pay me to ask for?”
The excitement doesn't stop here! If you enjoyed this, you’ll adore Looking For My Child's Father. Start reading now!
Read : Looking For My Child's Father
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