12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

“How do you like it?”

At my words, Crow nodded, “It’s delicious, sir. It’s really good.”

I smiled in satisfaction. “Oh, good.”

“It’s an amazing place. I can take and eat as much food as I want.”

He seemed to have never had such a buffet before. I told him, “You can have it any way you like. Take it easy.”

He filled almost six or seven plates, and finished them all. It was a great amount of food. What was interesting was that at first, he took seafood, sushi, sweet and sour pork, dried pollack, bulgogi, pizza, spaghetti, various dishes, and in the second half it was all reorganized with spicy chicken.

Watching it, I told him, “Do you think the chicken is right for you?”

“Yes. This is… delicious. It’s a sweet, sour taste.”

“Well, let’s have Chi-Mac next time.”

“Chi-Mac? What’s that?” He was familiar with other people’s secrets, but he didn’t know that.

“Chicken and beer.”

“Oh, I see. I’ll have to eat whatever the boss buys me.”

Crow finished speaking and ate the chicken as well. Secretary Seo and Jang Geun tended to eat pretty well, but Crow seemed to be totally different. After a long meal, I broke up with him in front of the front door of the hotel.

“I had a good meal today. I’ll leave.”

I nodded, “Yes, Crow.” I slapped at the envelope I was holding. “Thank you for your hard work on this.”

“Yes, boss. I hope you call me again next month.”

Crow bowed to me as usual. But his form was a bit awkward. He’d eaten so much that even if he was a giant, he would feel a little uncomfortable.

I smiled at him and started to turn back. But then Crow caught me, “Ah, boss.”

“What?”

“You must use the eye patch, according to the usage.”

“Eye patch?”

“Yes. It’s in the envelope. I’ve attached the instructions for use, so be sure to follow them.”

I looked in the envelope. There was an eye patch, as he said. “Ah… Yes…” I looked up, but he had vanished at that moment.

—————————-

When I got home, I took out all the contents of the envelope. Inside was a pile of A4 paper, a little thinner than the last one. The amount was a little small, but it was the same report, a report in the self-written style that Crow seemed to use.

‘This is it…’ I then lifted the black eye patch. I didn’t know the black one, but now I saw three black crow feathers on each side. It was like a mask. I felt like I was going to have a nightmare if I slept with this on. There was a brochure next to the eye patch that read ‘Description’. I opened it up.

———————–

Dream of Black-feather

Legendary Jewelry

Passive Skill

Dream of Crow (I) – It shows what you want to see in time and space that has passed. It will only be activated during a seven-hour sound sleep.

If reality is a dream, and a dream is reality, all that remains human is a story.

———————–

I read it and blurted out, “What?” It was a strange manual for someone who was familiar with such instructions as ‘Please be careful when using this device.’

I looked at it alternately with the eye patch on it. Except for the strange words, the point was that it would only be activated during a long sound sleep. I thought the instructions Crow had mentioned probably meant this. When I slept with this on, it was like it would show me what I would like to see.

‘Then I have to get a good night’s sleep’

I turned the manual around. At the back, it said, ‘All dreams come true only once.’

“I know that, man.”

I lay on the bed with the eye patch and report, putting the manual aside. Then I read the report one page after another.

‘Report on the death of Tak Joon-gi.’

It went directly to the point. I started to read it slowly.

———————–

I’d read all the reports.

“Huh… oh…”

I put it by my bedside, then picked it up again and put it under my bed. I thought I would have to read it one more time tomorrow, and burn it right away. This report was too dangerous. Just because of my curiosity, I had Crow find it out, but it was too dangerous.

“It wasn’t… it wasn’t suicide, either.”

I looked out of the window. Nine in the evening, the buildings in Gangnam were emitting brilliant lights. It was my favorite view of the day. But even today, it felt creepy that someone fell from a building like that and died. Just then, my cell phone alarm went off.

Wi yi-ying. I was slightly surprised at the sound. I was so nervous. I looked at my cell phone. There was a text from Ah-young.

– How was the meeting? The French wine your father bought for you, shall we drink it today?-

I looked at the text and thought, ‘It’s nice to have a romantic night after a long time, but I have to sleep well today for about seven hours.’

I answered her.

– I’m sorry, I have something important today, so I don’t think so. Tomorrow… or the day after tomorrow, let’s drink it then.-

I deliberately stressed the word “important” so Ah-young would not stubbornly persist. Fortunately, it worked. Perhaps thanks to her father, who had been a businessman, she did not disturb me when I stressed that it was “important.”

– Okay. Let’s drink it when you have time.-

—

After exchanging text messages, I came right into the living room, did fifty squats, a hundred buffet tests, and thirty push-ups. Then, I took a half-bath, heated up the milk, drank about half a cup, and lay down on the bed. It was ten o’clock. I usually went to bed around eleven or twelve o’clock. I didn’t know if I was going to fall asleep, but I tried to go to sleep wearing the eye patch Crow had brought me.

But, of course, I couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe it was because of the shocking story I had seen earlier, or because I ignored the usual sleep cycle and went to bed early.

‘Ha… shall I count sheep?’ Come to think of it, it’d been a long time since I tried to force myself to sleep. Instead of counting sheep, I thought of my sister. I’d always indulged in quarreling with my sister, but I’d never had a real hard time fighting. I thought, lying on my bed. ‘What a scary world… money…’

By the time I thought about it, I could feel the wind blowing. There was no draft coming in from somewhere. I could feel the wind blowing all over my body.

‘What is this?’

As soon as I thought, I realized that the wind was not blowing. I was going through the air, the black sky. Looking down, there were shiny buildings in Seoul. I could see long stretches of streams and bridges, and the lights that lit it up.

‘Cheonggyecheon?’ The moment I thought that, I was sitting somewhere on a small tree. Looking around, there was a garden below me. It was also a small garden, suitable for the size of a tree. Beyond that was dark air. This was the garden on the roof of the building. I realized, this was the roof of Suyeon Travel. I also realized the fact that I was dreaming. It must have been the eye patch right that Crow had handed me.

‘This… this is a lucid dream?’ I looked around, thinking about it. I could not move my body, but I could look around. There was a man in a suit on one side of the garden, of well-heeled stature and well-balanced figure. Even though he was in his forties, he didn’t have any fat.

I thought, ‘He’s more handsome than anyone I’ve ever seen on the news. He’s a little cold, though.’ Soon the roof door opened and two men came in: Tak Joon-gi and his secretary, a big man. Tak Joon-gi got red in the face and approached the man.

“Brother!”

The man called “brother” looked back on him, and he said, “Did you have to call me, too, Joon-gi?”

“I’m sorry. It was so… the situation was so urgent.”

I was slightly surprised to see this. It was the first time I’d ever seen Tak Joon-gi say, ‘I’m sorry,’ sincerely.

The man nodded and said, “Well, I heard the story, but I can’t help you. According to the article, you can’t get out of it. I can’t help you on this one. I’ll give you the best lawyer possible. The judge was …not easy to choose. Anyway, if you go to trial again, it’ll be like ten years. I’ll adjust it, and you’ll be able to get out in about seven years.”

“Seven years? Seven years! It will be the end if I’m in prison for seven years, brother!”

At his words, the man shook his head, “It’s not the end. After prison, go abroad and live there, whether it is America or Europe. My father is going to do that for you, but it seems like your father wants to kill you. But I’m sure he’ll let you roll in the dumps. You are his son.”

Here the relationship between the two was revealed. They were cousins.

Tak Joon-gi even knelt to his cousin brother. “That can’t be true. Please, brother, I’ll ask you this. You can do it for me. You can do it for nothing!”

The cousin brother shook his head, “I’m sorry, Joon-gi. I told you before. The prosecution and the reporters are not that different from all of us businessmen. I can save you if I want to, but then, wouldn’t I owe them too much?”

“I’ll pay you back for that. I’ll live somehow…”

At his words, the cousin replied with a smile, “You’re going to pay me back? I already know you’re a debtor. It’s rumored in Myeong-dong. I heard a person from Suyeon Group does not pay back his debts. Do I have to listen to that story? Fuck you!”

The cousin, without changing his face, cursed. That was even scarier.

“Because of you, Suyeon Group already owes a lot all over the place. That’s because your mother covered you up. If it had not been for your mother, you wouldn’t have inherited this place and you would have just been thrown out.”

When he said ‘this place,’ he thumped the garden with his shoes. This place seemed to mean nothing but Suyeon Travel.

“But I gave you one for letting it go, and you have hurt the name of Suyeon Group, and you’ve been doing this shit? No, let’s say that’s the case, but you used to be a son of a bitch. By the way, did you expose it all?”

Tak Joon-gi pleaded with him after he heard the words, ‘son of a bitch.’ “I’m sorry… I’m sorry, brother. It’s… It’s… It’s because I got caught once by a weird guy.”

“A weird guy?”

Then, my name came out. I gulped and looked at them. I didn’t know if Crow swallowed.

“He is Han Sang-hoon, who set up an investment company. He is a lowly person, but he has some connections…”