Fair Trade

On the plane to New York, Sei put on an eye patch and went straight to sleep. Lily, who was sitting next to her, grumbled that it had been a while since she had been in economy class.

Sei raised her eyepatch and glared at her with a stern expression, warning her. “If you whine one more time, I will break the window and throw you out. Understood?”

“Why are you acting so cold with me?  Is it because you don’t like me going with you?”

“It’s not like that. Chloe, my roommate, doesn’t know what I do. She thinks I’m just a timid stateless person. So you have to pretend to be an ordinary person. If she tries to make out your identity, just make up something believable. Understood?”

“Ok, I’ve got it! For Christ’s Sake, I don’t know how many times I’ve heard it. Would you stop worrying? I said I would help you.”

Sei put the eye patch back on with a look of disbelief.

When she closed her eyes, she remembered the conversation with Yuri. She felt a tug at her heart. From the beginning he knew everything. The truth she had been turning a blind eye to all along.

Her father would occasionally give Uncle Albert his stolen goods in exchange for rent.

Though it didn’t make any money, it perfectly catered to Albert’s tastes, who was an eccentric collector.

The uncle readily traded them for the rent and continued his secret hobby.

However, the uncle’s kindness was not fake. He genuinely cared about her and her parents, but he eventually ended up dying instead of them.

The memento must have been one of the stolen items.

Sei hugged her knees together and placed her forehead. Then Lily, who was looking at her duty-free booklet, patted her back and sighed silently.

Between all this irony and tragedy, Sei felt like she was jumping into the center of the chaos without a single safety device.

Chapter 04. Lily Of The Valley

It was almost 8 p.m. After barely getting to Brooklyn, Sei called Chloe as soon as she got out of the taxi.

“Send me the address of the place you are moving to. And today, if you can, go on a date and come back late. I will contact you soon.”

[Hey, you’re making me anxious again. What’s wrong?]

“Just in case something happens. You know how eccentric I am. Be careful. I’ll see you later!”

Sei’s gaze was fixed on the window of the hamburger shop. As Gavin said, this time the shop was crowded with customers who came for a meal.

Lily, with her hat pulled down, stood behind her in astonishment.

“I, I’ll go to the hotel. You, what the hell… Why are you meeting the FBI?”

“Didn’t I tell you? This is why I said I had to come back to New York no matter what today.”

“Hey, when did you ever tell me? Anyway, I can’t go in with you. I’m going to Midtown. I’ll check in at The Plaza, so if you’re not going to blow his brains, don’t look for me today.”

Lily said she was accompanying her to help, but it seemed she just wanted to set foot on New York land.

Seeing Lily climb into the taxi as if she were running away, Sei thought she was better off alone. Because the more you have no luggage, the easier it will be to run away.

Since she was a regular at the store, she went in and ordered the main set she always ate. Even while chatting with the owner, who welcomed her after a long time, her gaze was fixed on Gavin.

He was sitting nonchalantly eating a hamburger and a Coke. It was already his third order. Seeing Gavin unwrap the next burger, Sei walked over to the table behind him.

Gavin confirmed it was her with a nonchalant look. Then he lifted up an empty Coke cup and placed an additional order. Gavin smiled at the waitress, who winked at the fourth cola, leaned back on the sofa and then began to speak.

“Pick a language first. English, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Japanese. Oh, except for Korean.”

“Let’s speak in English.”

Yuri said Gavin might be protecting her dad. If it’s known that the man who died that day was not Jang Young-guk, it was clear that countless organizations would be after him. That was why Jang Young-guk had no other choice but to seek help from the FBI.

‘But there’s something I don’t understand. Why didn’t Jang Young-guk tell the FBI the location of the item? They wouldn’t even know what it was.’

She agreed with Yuri’s words. But Sei couldn’t trust him either. It was a different concept from having good feelings or the flow of emotion for a man.

Good will can turn into enmity at any time, and affection becomes love and hatred as time goes by. Although she fell for his angelic appearance and eventually reached a relationship that seemed to be lovers and not lovers, she was sometimes afraid of him.

Relationships based on mistrust will eventually disappear, leaving only fear behind.

“Didn’t you tell me to come here and wait first, but it seems you’re quite in a hurry. So please tell me. Why have you even recklessly used my friend as a hostage and threaten me. These days, the FBI seems to learn meanness as a necessity, right?.”

When she said sarcastically, Gavin, who snorted, answered back, sucking a straw.

“A petty thief like you can be arrested without a warrant. Do you know the pockets you’ve been robbing for seven years belong to ordinary people? Besides, you know that drugs come under law where selling them is punished more severely.”

“Then why didn’t you catch me so far? And I’ve never sold drugs or anything like that. I was used as a drug mule. If that’s the case, isn’t the FBI also here to use me? Besides, you don’t seem like a particularly righteous person either.”unedited

On the plane to New York, Sei put on an eye patch and went straight to sleep. Lily, who was sitting next to her, grumbled that it had been a while since she had been in economy class.

Sei raised her eyepatch and glared at her with a stern expression, warning her. “If you whine one more time, I will break the window and throw you out. Understood?”

“Why are you acting so cold with me?  Is it because you don’t like me going with you?”

“It’s not like that. Chloe, my roommate, doesn’t know what I do. She thinks I’m just a timid stateless person. So you have to pretend to be an ordinary person. If she tries to make out your identity, just make up something believable. Understood?”

“Ok, I’ve got it! For Christ’s Sake, I don’t know how many times I’ve heard it. Would you stop worrying? I said I would help you.”

Sei put the eye patch back on with a look of disbelief.

When she closed her eyes, she remembered the conversation with Yuri. She felt a tug at her heart. From the beginning he knew everything. The truth she had been turning a blind eye to all along.

Her father would occasionally give Uncle Albert his stolen goods in exchange for rent.

Though it didn’t make any money, it perfectly catered to Albert’s tastes, who was an eccentric collector.

The uncle readily traded them for the rent and continued his secret hobby.

However, the uncle’s kindness was not fake. He genuinely cared about her and her parents, but he eventually ended up dying instead of them.

The memento must have been one of the stolen items.

Sei hugged her knees together and placed her forehead. Then Lily, who was looking at her duty-free booklet, patted her back and sighed silently.

Between all this irony and tragedy, Sei felt like she was jumping into the center of the chaos without a single safety device.

Chapter 04. Lily Of The Valley

It was almost 8 p.m. After barely getting to Brooklyn, Sei called Chloe as soon as she got out of the taxi.

“Send me the address of the place you are moving to. And today, if you can, go on a date and come back late. I will contact you soon.”

[Hey, you’re making me anxious again. What’s wrong?]

“Just in case something happens. You know how eccentric I am. Be careful. I’ll see you later!”

Sei’s gaze was fixed on the window of the hamburger shop. As Gavin said, this time the shop was crowded with customers who came for a meal.

Lily, with her hat pulled down, stood behind her in astonishment.

“I, I’ll go to the hotel. You, what the hell… Why are you meeting the FBI?”

“Didn’t I tell you? This is why I said I had to come back to New York no matter what today.”

“Hey, when did you ever tell me? Anyway, I can’t go in with you. I’m going to Midtown. I’ll check in at The Plaza, so if you’re not going to blow his brains, don’t look for me today.”

Lily said she was accompanying her to help, but it seemed she just wanted to set foot on New York land.

Seeing Lily climb into the taxi as if she were running away, Sei thought she was better off alone. Because the more you have no luggage, the easier it will be to run away.

Since she was a regular at the store, she went in and ordered the main set she always ate. Even while chatting with the owner, who welcomed her after a long time, her gaze was fixed on Gavin.

He was sitting nonchalantly eating a hamburger and a Coke. It was already his third order. Seeing Gavin unwrap the next burger, Sei walked over to the table behind him.

Gavin confirmed it was her with a nonchalant look. Then he lifted up an empty Coke cup and placed an additional order. Gavin smiled at the waitress, who winked at the fourth cola, leaned back on the sofa and then began to speak.

“Pick a language first. English, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Japanese. Oh, except for Korean.”

“Let’s speak in English.”

Yuri said Gavin might be protecting her dad. If it’s known that the man who died that day was not Jang Young-guk, it was clear that countless organizations would be after him. That was why Jang Young-guk had no other choice but to seek help from the FBI.

‘But there’s something I don’t understand. Why didn’t Jang Young-guk tell the FBI the location of the item? They wouldn’t even know what it was.’

She agreed with Yuri’s words. But Sei couldn’t trust him either. It was a different concept from having good feelings or the flow of emotion for a man.

Good will can turn into enmity at any time, and affection becomes love and hatred as time goes by. Although she fell for his angelic appearance and eventually reached a relationship that seemed to be lovers and not lovers, she was sometimes afraid of him.

Relationships based on mistrust will eventually disappear, leaving only fear behind.

“Didn’t you tell me to come here and wait first, but it seems you’re quite in a hurry. So please tell me. Why have you even recklessly used my friend as a hostage and threaten me. These days, the FBI seems to learn meanness as a necessity, right?.”

When she said sarcastically, Gavin, who snorted, answered back, sucking a straw.

“A petty thief like you can be arrested without a warrant. Do you know the pockets you’ve been robbing for seven years belong to ordinary people? Besides, you know that drugs come under law where selling them is punished more severely.”

“Then why didn’t you catch me so far? And I’ve never sold drugs or anything like that. I was used as a drug mule. If that’s the case, isn’t the FBI also here to use me? Besides, you don’t seem like a particularly righteous person either.”