@manager016 sent: “Oh. One more thing, Mister,” After bagging the ramyeon and soju and other goods, she added a can of cat food without charging for it. “Uh, for when you feed the neighborhood cats again.” Because admitting she’s noticed him doing so on her lunch break would be too awkward for a passing conversation. Maybe she’d get in trouble for it, maybe not, maybe she’d quit. For as long as an “Icarus” former executive now in a ponytail and apron that could barely hold a ‘normal’ job could manage anyways. — From Han Ji-wan for Seong Gi-hun ✨
“Huh?” Pausing mid-step on his way to the exit of the grocery store he frequented, Gi-hun turned on his heel to face the counter just in time to catch the cashier adding a can of cat food to his bag. He must’ve forgotten to take it out of the basket. No surprise there, considering his mind was completely elsewhere.. mostly focused on the crippling debt he’d landed himself in, along with the never ending bills slowly wracking up in his name. Could life throw anymore crap his way? It wasn’t like he’d been a particularly bad person in his time either. Guess life just had it out for some people no matter what, huh? Still, Gi-hun tried to go through life with a genuinely bright smile on his face, the same one he offered the young woman behind the counter right now.
“Oh! Of course.” Figuring she expected him to pay for it, — because why not? The world revolved around money these days and nothing in life ever came free of charge — Gi-hun’s hand fished into his pocket to pluck out the loose change he had. “I’d forget my own head if it wasn’t permanently glued to my shoulders.” Chuckling as he sorted through the money in palm, his grin began to slowly falter upon realising he didn’t have nearly enough to pay for the cat food too. He could barely afford his own food without sponging off his mother.
Bashfully avoiding eye contact and hoping the bill of his cap hid the embarrassment on his features, Gi-hun cleared his throat and shook his head. “I, um.. don’t actually have enough to pay for that today.” Or any other day if he was being perfectly honest with himself. Humiliating to admit. The poor cats would have to rely on somebody else for the evening unless he managed to scrounge something up for them.
