Gable tilted his head and took a few cans of beer from the refrigerator before returning to his room.
Indeed, he had witnessed all kinds of things in his short life.
The work that needed to be discussed was quickly finished in less than 5 minutes.
Honestly, there wasn't anything particularly special. Gable and he talked about various events happening around the world, the plans Kyle had made, and the developments they could foresee.
Discussing work with this man always ended succinctly.
If the matter didn't require any assessment or decision, he usually just listened and reviewed the information Gable provided. When a decision needed to be made, he didn't ponder too long but simply checked a few things and made a decision immediately.
In this regard, Kyle and he were alike. At least regarding work matters, Gable had never felt uncomfortable talking to them.
"...That's all the work to discuss today."
"Mm."
When Gable finished speaking, he gave a short reply.
Gable sat still for a while, waiting for him to stand up and leave the room since all the work had been discussed. But the man sitting on the long couch, one knee bent on the seat, seemed still lost in his own thoughts. *tok*, *tok*, his fingers tapping on his knee showed no sign of stopping his train of thought.
He had been like that for a while... Clearly, he was still listening to what Gable had to say.
Occasionally, he would ask questions and also answer Gable's questions. If there was any part that seemed doubtful, he would delve into it and seek more details. So, it wasn't that he was just nodding along without actually listening.
But clearly, his responses to Gable were very dry. It was like one side of his brain was
listening to Gable, while the other was preoccupied with other thoughts.
Gable couldn't know what he was thinking, but he could somewhat guess the reason for the man's discomfort.
Gable sat down in front of him, opened a can of beer that he had taken from the kitchen
earlier. Then, he drank the beer while flipping through the book he had been reading the night before. He didn't know what the man was preoccupied with, but if he was worrying about something, it would be better for him to think it over in his own room, wouldn't it? And Gable didn't want to talk to someone in such a bad mood.
The man pondered deeply but was not unfocused. He grabbed a can of beer, popped it open, and drank it down like it was water.
"Sultaisra*. He would like it."
Suddenly, he muttered. Gable glanced up from his book to look at him. The man seemed to be talking to himself and didn't need a response from Gable. He went back to his book again.
Would he go back to his room after finishing the beer?
But the man didn't return immediately. He continued drinking more cans of beer in silence. He kept gulping them down one after another like water, so the number of beers Gable brought quickly dwindled to empty cans. Gable had brought four 1000ml cans, and the man had downed the remaining three while Gable had only finished one and was still reading his
book.
When he finished the last can and placed the empty one on the table, Gable had just turned to the final page of his book. He looked at the empty can and said,
"Do you want me to get some more?"
He didn't respond. Gable took the silence as a yes, so he got up and went to the kitchen. The landlady was washing dishes. She looked happy to see Gable.
"Yuri. Shall we have dinner?"
"Yeah. Later. Have they eaten?"
"If you mean the others, only Taeil has. He just finished dessert and went upstairs. He seemed very tired, even fell asleep while eating. He's probably asleep by now."
"Alright. I'll eat later then. I'll bring some beers first."
Instead of saying goodbye, Gable responded with a kiss on the cheek and returned with three or four more cans of beer.
The man was still sitting there, lost in thought, just like when Gable left. But his expression seemed even more troubled than before. Gable sighed deeply and set the beers down in front of him.
"Taeil finished dinner and went to his room. Anna said he's asleep now."
"Asleep?"
Suddenly, a deep wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows.
"Asleep? Asleep now?!"
"...Uh, I don't know. He was nodding off while eating, so he's probably asleep now."
Gable spoke calmly, even as the man glared fiercely. However, Gable pretended not to notice and took a sip of his beer.
"He cried so much, so that's why he fell asleep."
*tok, tok* The fingers tapping on his knee seemed to press harder. Even his voice, though gentle, was lower than usual.
Gable raised an eyebrow and silently drank his beer. Crying? He couldn't understand what the man was saying.
"Let me tell you, he doesn't actually hate it... Even if at first, he said it was uncomfortable
because he felt tired and demeaned, eventually he would give in and accept it. He said there were times when he felt like he was losing his mind. So, I just did it naturally."
Gable pressed his lips together slightly.
Because in order to live...
"So, even if he cries, it's not really crying. Right?"
"...Mm. I don't know the context, so..."
Gable really couldn't understand. Because the things this man was saying were words he never thought he would hear from him. What exactly was he trying to say? If it were
someone else, he wouldn't be confused, but because it was him speaking, Gable found it
incomprehensible.
"He actually doesn't really hate me... clearly."
Ilay mumbled to himself. He downed another can of beer like it was water, lost in his own thoughts.
Gable watched him for a moment before slowly asking, "If he really hates you, is there something that's bothering you?"
When Gable asked, still not understanding the context, Ilay was silent. Suddenly, his
expression turned somewhat strange.
But then he frowned in dissatisfaction, pondered for a moment, and slightly tilted his head.
"No."
Gable nodded and closed his mouth.
There was no need to say anything further. The conclusion had been reached. After
answering like that, Ilay shook his head thoughtfully again. Gable counted the empty beer cans. He wasn't the type to get drunk on just a few 1000ml cans of beer.
To be honest, Gable had witnessed all the strangest things in his life in just one day.
No, realizing that Ilay was actually drunk, Gable suddenly wondered if he himself was the one dreaming from being so drunk.
Yes, that might even make more sense.
Gable was considering whether to go outside into the garden to breathe in the fresh air when Ilay stood up. It seemed like he was planning to go back to his room.
As the sun set and darkness enveloped the place, the landlady turned on the garden lights. It wasn't something everyone needed, but it was used to welcome unexpected guests in the middle of the night or anyone who wanted to take a walk in the garden.
Thanks to this, Gable, who was naturally night-blind, could comfortably walk in the garden, even at midnight, without worrying about what was underfoot. Sometimes he would even jump into the pool for a few laps if he felt like it.
But today, he wasn't in the mood for swimming. So he slowly walked under the fruit trees in the garden and took a deep breath.
Starting tomorrow, he would be busier than he was now. Of course, up until this point, he had faced many difficulties in gathering even the smallest pieces of information. Traveling from one country to another, from India to the Middle East, he had traveled thousands of miles without hesitation to gather even the smallest piece of information. So, finally, he discovered that the person he was looking for was here.
From tomorrow onwards, they would have to make a real effort to find that person.
"You won't be the one to find Jeong Jaeui, it will be his younger brother."
Kyle had said. And that was the young man. When Gable asked why, Kyle smirked and said there was no reason. But it had to be that young man. Because he was Jeong Jaeui's lucky charm.
Gable decided to trust Kyle's words. From his long experience, he knew that choosing to believe that was the wise thing to do.
While strolling through the garden in the cool night air, he suddenly looked up at the second floor. Earlier, Vivi―a shy black girl who lived in a small house less than a five-minute walk from there and helped Anna with the housework—had hesitantly asked Gable, looking extremely bashful, who the older brother in the room upstairs was. Vivi was picking fruit in the garden when their eyes met. Gable smiled gently.
Since it was the last room on the second floor, Gable thought of both the man and the young boy who had used that room together and pondered who the last user was. After some thought, Gable mentioned the young boy's name. Vivi repeated it after him several times with a clumsy pronunciation, "Taeil, Taeil."
Gable understood the shyness on Vivi's face when she remembered the young boy. He
seemed to be someone who easily garnered goodwill from those he interacted with. Gable looked up at the second floor from right beside the fence next to the mango tree that Vivi was about to pick from. Indeed, from this position, one could clearly see what was happening inside the last room on the second floor.
Gable casually glanced up at the room and tilted his head. The light was still on. Anna had said that he was fast asleep, but that didn't seem to be the case.
However, when thinking about it, he quickly tilted his head to the side. In that last room on the second floor, there was a figure faintly visible by the window. He was leaning against the window, quietly looking down at the bed. It was the same man who had been drinking beer like water in Gable's room earlier.
"...."
Gable rubbed his eyes and looked up again. He was still standing there.
Ilay wasn't the type of person who wouldn't notice someone blatantly watching him, no
matter how far away that person was. But he didn't seem to care and just stared down at the bed in silence.
What was so interesting that he had to look at it with such a gentle gaze? Wasn't it just a
young boy sleeping soundly?
Gable leaned against the fence, folded his arms, and prepared to observe slowly. He wanted to know how long the man would continue to do such a perplexing thing.
The man, like Gable, was also standing with his arms crossed. He leaned his head slightly against the window, staring intently at the bed as if his gaze wanted to cling to the person lying there. Then, suddenly, he slightly moved away from the window, his previously emotionless face breaking into a smile as if he had seen something. He extended his arm, seemingly touching the person on the bed, but then immediately leaned back against the window and crossed his arms again.
Gable, confident in his own persistence, felt a bit disheartened by this. The man wasn't doing anything specific, so there was no reason for him to keep watching. Gable checked his watch. It was late. Time to head back and sleep.
Gable left the fence and looked up at the second floor once more. The man was still there. Motionless. He couldn't possibly sleep in that room. Gable thought wryly. Because he wasn't the type to sleep with someone else on the same bed.
Gable sighed, hmm, and rubbed his neck. He looked down at his feet, this time falling into his own thoughts. But those thoughts didn't last long. Gable shook his head and shrugged.
There are many things in the world that human perception cannot understand, and many things that cannot be understood even on a personal level, even if human perception could grasp them.
Gable watched for a little longer, then finally sighed and decided to stop thinking about
things he couldn't understand.
He walked away slowly, hands clasped behind his back, and immersed himself in thought.
He didn't understand... But what did it matter?
He never meddled in other people's business and didn't talk much. That was good for him, after all, because perhaps now he wouldn't have to deal with dead bodies anymore.
FINISHED.