Chapter 60.1

Chapter 60.1

– “Are you alive and well, unnie?”

The raspy voice coming through the phone left her feeling bewildered.

Who could that be? Is it really Channa?

Seoryeong was at a loss for words, feeling as if someone had stolen her chance to speak.

Was it because she had been stuck in a training camp for nearly two months? It felt strangely unreal. Seeing Channa lying there, wrapped in thick bandages, lifeless, seemed like something that happened years ago.

Although she was relieved that she survived, whenever she remembered her pale lips, tightly closed eyes, and Jeong Pilgyu’s grief-stricken expression, a roughness stirred in her chest.

– “Are you still rolling with the Blast Agency’s guys over there?”

“…” Seoryeong blinked slowly. Her senses were so dulled that she couldn’t even grasp where she was standing.

The commotion inside the dormitory slowly pierced her deafening ears. As she stood in the middle of the hallway, the men carrying bath baskets stared at her.

– “Hello unnie? Did you collapse from exhaustion?”

“No, but I just got up, and it’s already half the day.”

Channa giggled softly as she answered bluntly, pacing.

– “I heard the details from my brother-in-law.”

“Well, about that… I was actually fired from the company, but Mr. Kang Taegon offered me the job first.”

– “No, that’s not what I meant. I heard Annie has saved me.”

“…!”

– “Thank you, unnie. I remember everything.”

Seoryeong didn’t know what to say and stayed quiet, waiting for He Channa to continue.

– “That time… how you stood by my side with your determined face. I wasn’t scared at all.”

This kind of one-sided gratitude felt awkward and uncomfortable, like wearing ill-fitting clothes.

For some reason, Seoryeong felt her ears itch, and she scratched her warm forehead as she moved away.

“I didn’t do anything special. At that time, Instructor Lee Wooshin, no, Channa, gave all the instructions so I could keep my composure. Channa, you were in real danger.”

As she said that, Lee Wooshin naturally came to mind.

His eyes were filled with such confidence that it was almost intimidating, and his voice was firm. Just that alone made her heart start to tremble again.

He said he would find my husband, the one everyone else had given up on… without even knowing what kind of person Kim Hyun was, he willingly said he would.

Just thinking about it again made her feel tempted, but Seoryeong quickly shook her head. If she had accepted that offer, it was clear that unnecessary interference and obstacles would have arisen in what she had to do.

– “Still, unnie…”

At that moment, a cautious voice came through the receiver.

Moreover, how could he readily offer his neck to me, unless it was the other way around?

– “Unnie, you are my savior. I could spend the rest of my life repaying this debt.”

This made Seoryeong squirm in her seat.

– “You just didn’t just save my life; you saved my family’s life as well. I’m going to be your sixth finger for the rest of my life, and I’m going to live up to his promise, unnie.”

Seoryeong could just imagine Channa bowing painfully to the ground before her.

– “I mean I will become your *magpie!”

*Magpie- an intelligent chatterbox of a bird known for attacking anything they consider to be a threat.

Seoryeong slightly pulled the phone away from her ear at the loud, enthusiastic voice.

“What do you mean…?”

– “Don’t tell me you dislike magpies? Just seeing them is good luck, and they even built the Ojakgyo Bridge*!”

*Ojakyo Bridge is the setting for Korea’s most famous love story, in which a couple is forced to live on either side of the Milky Way, only to be reunited when magpies form a bridge

Seoryeong’s living quarters, which she staggered into, were filled only with the idle noise of the TV, and all the team members were knocked out as if they had fainted.

Seoryeong sighed and scratched her forehead.

“Channa, you shouldn’t say things like that carelessly. Bad people who know how capable you are will definitely try to take advantage of you.”

– “I don’t say this kind of thing anywhere else!”

“You just did.”

– “What?”

“Bad people will think about the size of Channa’s neck first.”

Seoryeong laughed coldly and remembered Lee Wooshin’s overbearing face.

If only she could use him to her advantage. It had been on her mind since the moment she left the infirmary. She opened her mouth in a friendly manner.

“So… you said you will be my magpie? In exchange, why don’t I feed you and give you water?”

– “Huh?”

Seoryeong heard the bewildered Channa on the other line and smiled, “When you get out of the hospital, why don’t you live at my house for a while? I’ll give you the code to the house, there are no bars on the windows, so you could easily get in any way. I’ll even bring you dessert.”

When there was no response, Seoryeong’s eyebrows arched.

“…beep, beep, beep.” He Channa jested dropping the call.

“Don’t put your foot in your mouth, Channa.”

Seeing someone who wasn’t trying to take advantage of her but rather someone who was pitifully approaching me with all the cards on the table seemed to fulfill Seoyeong’s old need to have something she could call “hers”.

That’s why she was so obsessed with Kim Hyun, who acted like he’d give her everything. Listening to Channa’s laughter, she clutched her phone.

At that moment, a neat and sharp voice pierced through the snoring noise in the barracks. The greenish light from the TV screen illuminated the dim room.

[Former lawmaker Park Kwang-doo, who has been on trial for receiving 5 billion won in bribes under the pretext of his son’s severance pay, has been acquitted by the court. The court concluded that his son maintained an independent livelihood and did not deliver the money to his father or use it for his father, making it hard to recognize it as a bribe…]

Poor, poor. Channa. Why should you thank me? I don’t believe in gratitude.

If someone owes me something, I should collect it with interest.

Her crescent-shaped eyes remained fixed on the TV screen. “Channa, you said you robbed a bank when you were sixteen, right?”