A suffocating silence flowed between us.
There was a lizard in front of me.
One who thought I was a lackey for some pseudo-religion… well, no, given the circumstances, that was actually a fair enough description.
“…….”
“…….”
This won’t do!
“Hyungnim~”
Beaming, I rubbed both hands together like a fawning underling again and said,
“I’m sorry. You look so much like our manager… would it be okay if I called you Manager? It’s our first time meeting. Since this encounter is fate, and all, you said you were curious about Lord Stuffed Body?”
“No, I wasn’t—”
“That is such a wonderful idea! Please come this way!”
And then, like some street cult kidnapping people, I dragged the lizard off toward the space between Cars 2 and 3….
[My friend!]
Aaagh!
“Just a second, just a second….”
I pretended to reverently place Brown inside a velvet case, swapped him with another doll, and tucked the real Good Friend into my pocket instead.
[My stand-in—oh, may that plush doll fully enjoy this excessive honor!]
Phew.
Once we were more than one car away from Car 1, the packed crowd thinned out.
From time to time, shelter residents who had not managed to fall asleep and were wondering whether to join the dopamine party in the front car cast curious looks our way, but once we slipped into the space between cars, they did not follow and disappeared.
Clack.
The moment I stepped into the narrow passage between Cars 2 and 3 and shut the door, I sank down onto the spot.
“…Manager.”
This is really exhausting….
“Mr. Grape.”
“When it’s just us, you may call me Roe Deer….”
Let us stop with forms of address that remind me of grape-seed oil….
“Yes.”
In any case, embarrassment was embarrassment, and relief was relief.
“Did you enter Segwang Special City this time? No, that is… um. What I mean is, may I ask the reason for your entry?”
“Yes.”
And then the explanation continued.
To summarize, after I had stayed stuck inside this train for several days without coming out, Director Ho apparently caused quite a fuss, saying another team needed to be sent in to extract information.