RL Ch 3

His shoulders were slumped, kinda mismatched for his tall frame. He looked utterly lost, like a cow being led to the slaughterhouse. Newbies usually go one of two ways: either they’re super hyped, totally clueless about what’s coming, or they’re already feeling that miserable ending.1e2e19e5c485b03d

Anyway, it was about time for the new hire safety training to wrap up. The manager walked straight towards them, with the model guy trailing behind him. The model guy slowly got closer to her. Nah, now that he’d ditched the leather jacket, he definitely looked more like a hobo than a model.d12afda61e194fed

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But this time, it wasn’t his clothes, but the guy’s face that caught Chae-eun’s eye. His thin, sharp eyes, totally unlike his dull, lifeless gaze, his strong nose that just stood out in the middle of his face, and those red lips that totally matched his nose ring.a2680325484ecc51

The two uncles 7e2a854518 had already stopped acc0252fd9 working and were 79e7e97fe6 looking back and 21b34e2cd8 forth between the 677bde5105 guy and Chae-eun.77d4efe606adc59a

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“Oh…?”779157c2f5e8379e

At the uncles’ thirsty exclamations, Chae-eun’s mind, which had wandered off, quickly snapped back. Gotta be careful. These uncles are always itching to set her up with any young guy who shows up.3282c9449ef0eb03

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Chae-eun quickly fixed her 4abc0ed228 relaxed expression and pretended 8d8a473e3b to be super focused 759547bd16 on the not-so-much work cad51b38b6 she had. The manager picked up 02f176190f a bag she was 3f13d69997 sorting.20426fdc511b8f27

“Employee, see the invoice here?”c44188dc555d1f78

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“Yeah.”bfad540d59948a86

At the guy’s voice, Chae-eun unconsciously perked up her ears. He’s Korean, but more importantly, he’s human. She wasn’t trying to fangirl, but he just didn’t seem like someone from the real world. Not to mention, he totally didn’t fit Sahara.b6e6a861b2f1732b

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But to the manager, who was stuck in the grind, they were all just day laborers. The manager, always busy running around the center, continued dully, “Check the code here and put them in totes, separated into early morning and general. Mis-sorted ones go to the collection bin over there.”379f40689c79fb9d

The guy looked around, then 7da5cb95c3 made eye contact with Chae-eun. She pointed her index 6cabb5be94 finger to the collection d575fdb8d0 bin in the distance. Anyway, learning on the c71c2aaecc job is the fastest 12a1665777 way. The manager, seemingly relieved, finished 16921075aa his explanation.06adfef5e7f18026

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“If you don’t know, ask the employee next to you.”67373a7ea7f1edb8

The manager, who had 22e80ac156 just dumped the newbie, d12ee4ebae walked away quickly. The guy, left alone, 7f138d70c2 picked up a few 4de18a04c1 bags and looked at 9cafd2210e them with a puzzled cc99dd7c76 expression.c9ba327ff1c69279

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Chae-eun pressed her b7af5f0969 lips together and 6352ad5e40 just rolled her 814cdc065a eyes. She kept picking 2167dbb193 up and putting 7aa6159aa1 down empty totes, 7cef418a57 trying not to ce8baf9840 let her gaze 8eced032a6 drift to the b286fb3356 guy. Mr. Kim, as if on 5541714839 cue, spoke up.9af6ffdc3d233d04

“What’s your name, young man?”14e5dd1d81966701

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The guy tilted his head f2dd9f9699 slightly. He hesitated for a moment, 39a1bc40c0 then spoke softly.aaeb55356c24e53b

“…Cha, Doha.”278129e63e431ca5

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It suited him. Cha Doha. Chae-eun unconsciously repeated his name. What kind of person b271b90ca1 was he, she wondered a2621b7f25 for no reason. A surge of 004f46e6e6 curiosity welled up.5322e32412f10a08

And the middle-aged man’s friendliness didn’t stop there.0956bfc50735b835

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“Oh, Mr. Cha! How old are you?”13147b27bdcd8f09

“Twenty-seven.”64bbced2b474f7e2

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“Perfect, just perfect.”6d61edc32705a8e7

At the guy’s answer, Mr. Kim clapped his hands excitedly. Chae-eun really didn’t want to ask what was so perfect.691c0e4174f345ca

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But Mr. Park Hyung, who had just come over, added perfectly, “They say a five-year age difference doesn’t even need a compatibility check.”64fe233d9d077cd2

“Isn’t that four years?” Chae-eun couldn’t help but ask. Park Hyung gave a sly smile.f0348b20c0c04e88

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“Are you interested in a compatibility check?”e360e337bb997948

She’d been got. Chae-eun made a sullen face. The uncles didn’t push it directly, but they walked a fine line.e2932984489bf234

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“Oh, since a new guy’s here, we can just do the wrapping.”0aed294cd61cc142

“Right, our sorting genius, Shin, will teach him well.”a15949ccc2370035

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Luckily, Cha Doha wasn’t interested in their conversation at all. In fact, he seemed uninterested in all humans. And that, of course, included Shin Chae-eun.4df966f9f0bbf7ab

He frowned and stared at 229d592b91 an invoice for a long cd1585777a time. Then he immediately 88e7f2828e shoved it into ef4a05b133 the early morning ab6ef424db delivery pile. Chae-eun, who was watching, quickly da5c205944 jumped in.13b482dba7e5edcf

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“Don’t put that there, you need to take it out separately.”f0d433c46a5a9405

“It says ‘early morning’…”71257d3c555d5661

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“No, you have to look at the address. See the alphabet and numbers here?”0bcc60a77fc4caf5

Doha looked totally clueless. Chae-eun, living up to her grand title of “sorting genius,” rattled off explanations. Everything, even the regional codes he didn’t need to know yet.0c23e1a38167aa0e

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Cha Doha’s expression, while getting her whirlwind of instructions, wasn’t great. Chae-eun realized her mistake and bit her lip. He probably thought she was being nosy. There was a good chance he’d work one day and never show up again, but she’d habitually gotten ahead of herself.050a42788eff5e4d

Her friends always told her to chill out, but she’d just gone full speed ahead again. Embarrassed, she snatched the bag still in his hand.2dd17ea1991af776

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“Give that to me.”aef1b381e0c665f4

Just by looking at it, b08a70a75c it was for the next d274eb6c91 line over. Instead of just dumping c6a7347f78 the bag in her e2b2839666 hand into the mis-sort 15d89efc94 bin, Chae-eun walked it c3c9bc0d6c over herself.e3ad5a382528be49

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As she returned after dropping off the item, she had a belated regret. Like wolves waiting for the shepherd to leave, she saw the uncles on either side of Cha Doha. They weren’t going to say anything stupid, were they? Chae-eun sped toward them, almost power-walking.6f8012b01eb80c82

Park Hyung, who was on Cha Doha’s right, spoke to him casually.f15343eb2cfc6646

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“Nice perm you got there. Can you ask the salon to do that?”aba9e394c19fcc55

“It’s naturally curly…”256d0e2d4392870f

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Perhaps he was quite a10e4c7b38 shy, but Cha Doha 4c01d23cc9 just kept sorting bags 884dd67f10 silently, not even looking 5565453317 at Park Hyung. Even the smooth-talking Park Hyung fc1b0e4bcc was speechless at his uncooperative b86b433488 attitude. This time, Mr. Kim joined the conversation.83ec00e9be560eb4

“Ah, so your hair color is natural too!”f08258a8904b83c3

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“This is dyed…”889afb96995df4f4

Cha Doha’s zero-social-skills way of speaking finally stopped Mr. Kim from continuing the conversation.70545076e41bd5a8

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Chae-eun understood both sides. The uncles wanting to help the new guy settle in at the toughest hub, and the young man’s discomfort with the elders’ curiosity.075d7e6367eb74e9

“Kids these days,” she thought, a thought totally unlike a kid these days.3bbb7c9a8f81a827

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Even within her social welfare major, where she was nicknamed “Miss Nosy,” Chae-eun’s nosiness was truly unique. Her classmates, who knew her unusual upbringing, understood it, calling her a “true blue” in social work. But her friends from other majors, with completely different personalities, said otherwise.1b44f5a722b75c36

‘That’s a sickness, you know. Just chill out. Don’t you think even the “Do you believe in God?” folks run away when you open your mouth?’86b3b3189a6ec4ba

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Chae-eun, with actual past incidents, 5286947b95 winced and said nothing. Was it wrong d2b7b10b9e that she just dd2a5f4f5b wanted to rescue b3db3cd710 people from the 8ddb714b26 clutches of cults?9163b402d9f45e18

Still, she couldn’t deny it was meddling. Especially these days, individualism is all the rage, right? Maybe it’s okay with adults, but not with peers. Absolutely no nosiness.94c9fed05eefb868

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Recalling that resolve, Chae-eun a0d3736cf4 quietly stood in front 4e913d0d62 of the rail. Bags had piled up c5306e0c5e while she was briefly 5df135e80f away. As she quickly started clearing 13567a3e9f the volume, Cha Doha looked d931ac7777 at her with curiosity.be0dfb75b32058ea

Despite her earlier resolution, Chae-eun still kept thinking about Doha. More than anything, wasn’t he wearing too few clothes? All he had on was a thin T-shirt that didn’t even have proper ribbed cuffs, let alone a brushed lining. No matter how important fashion was, that was not okay in the middle of winter.aca9daa2020ea757

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She’d decided not to be nosy, but first, she had to save a life. Chae-eun deliberated on how to bring it up, then took off her puffer vest and hooded jacket. She put her puffer vest directly over her sweater and then suddenly offered the fluffy hooded jacket to Cha Doha.f7418a0db20a31de

“Hey, wanna wear this?”390074f9843572e9

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He looked at her with a puzzled expression. Chae-eun scanned Doha’s body up and down again. A glimpse of apricot skin showed through the holes in his jeans. Could that really be his bare skin? More urgently, she flapped the hoodie in her hand.f8b9a221214ca1eb

“You’ll freeze to death like that. Just wear it for now and give it back later.”644c73b7f688485c

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Chae-eun forced the hoodie 5500404ae5 into his hand, as 6367eabfed if dumping it on 52ddef0820 him. He looked down at the d5bc462a33 clothes in his hand blankly, 4565e068a7 then nodded.fbfde07b07f8ee16

Was that a thank you? He didn’t talk much and his expressions didn’t change much, so it was hard to tell. Well, there are all kinds of people in the world. She waved her hand as if to say it was fine.26c2069e1e1b1bf9

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“No need for thanks.”029da67b7161e262

“Ah, thank…”ec972be1a2bfa49d

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He mumbled softly. Chae-eun pretended not to hear and kept working. It was like getting a bow after asking for it, and he seemed to have a reserved personality, so she should be considerate. Still, she kept glancing at him, wondering when he’d put it on.a8b2e4ddc9d045fb

Doha buried his nose eb33c8f719 in the hoodie and 51e0281aa7 sniffed.Sniff. Does it look dirty, she 01a93ce2bb wondered? Chae-eun tried hard to cced8903f5 smooth out her forehead, 05dbd4ebe9 which was about to 60eeaae1f7 crinkle.8e7be13279012ced

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He looked around, then finally slipped his arms into the fluffy hoodie. The clothes that had been so baggy on her fit Cha Doha perfectly. He looked thin, but his build was clearly different. It didn’t look great on him, but at least he looked much warmer.754f8716131302f7

‘If only he’d zip it up too…’c913e191c23fc615

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As if her telepathy 4626b7417d reached him, Doha zipped 797f9f4d18 it up. Chae-eun smiled, super satisfied. Maybe it was thanks to 5605f89638 growing up with parents who f023378133 would willingly give a new ba8cf2151e coat to a homeless person. Her heart felt as warm 828bce8381 as when she was dressed 1424ba0a12 snugly herself.304fb5459276cfba

Perhaps new people had been put on the outbound side, because the rail speed was gradually picking up. It would be mealtime soon, so they had to clear out a lot of product before then. You couldn’t expect too much from a newbie. Chae-eun handled the sorting as much as possible herself and asked Doha to take care of things like folding and returning totes, and general rail tidying.9a686570eab929fc

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The two uncles were also 258ab16e8d frantically stacking boxes and wrapping 5b293b15ef them. Mr. Kim, grabbing a 83e50d5370 large roll of 8df8d21c02 packaging wrap, shouted.0f753fe1e1898a99

“Mr. Cha, come here!”1a5b30fd92dd289a

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Doha hesitated and approached. Mr. Kim just shoved the wrap c7f58b82b0 into his hands without warning.ac0f0c34b4aaa315

“Try wrapping this. You can’t say you’ve done hub work anywhere if you haven’t done wrapping.”f045645ef208b86f

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Worried. Chae-eun glanced behind her. Sure enough, he 405e6297b7 was struggling from 56f3ace8a3 the start. He needed to push c149e549d2 the wrap firmly into d4e3f3c302 the heavy gaps, but 8f5b57166b he was fumbling there. Mr. Kim, frustrated, shouted loudly.9fae253f25501239

“Hey, you gotta stick it to the pallet too! If you don’t wrap it properly, it’ll all fall apart when you load it.”6c7963d627909f49

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Somehow, he finally finished the packing. This time, Mr. Kim was yelling at him to try pulling the hand jack. Chae-eun was worried but tried to focus on her own work. He wasn’t a kid, he’d figure it out.f6e0400086da2cca