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Even if Kim Rok Soo grumbled and complained every time Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo sent him to manage the sales booth at the village market on weekdays, he didn't do much more than his job once he was there alone. In the end, it was a much lighter job than taking care of the whole farm day in and day out, even most of the customers weren't a problem.
It was just that most of his customers tended not to be guys who looked like they had just reached adulthood, barely paid attention to his products, constantly looked behind their shoulders and seemed one sudden movement away from collapsing from stress.
And, well, he didn't think the two men waiting for him at home would mind if he let a kid sit behind the counter for a while.
“Kid.”
Even when he tried to make his voice not sound as harsh or cold as it normally would, he didn't seem to have been very successful, if the way the kid's body had suddenly tensed, how his head had tried to hide just like a turtle or the panicked eyes that were now giving him their full attention had anything to say.
“Do you need help?” was not what he had originally planned, but felt more necessary.
As far as the skin showed, there was no sign of physical abuse; on the contrary, it looked very well cared for. He knew better than anyone that that which could not be seen in plain sight was more dangerous than any wound.
“W-what?”
To his credit, he looked lucid enough to not drop dead from stress.
“Do you need help? Do you want to sit down for a moment? You don't look very good.”
Most of the town kids, and even some teenagers, wouldn't hesitate to take him up on his offer (regardless of the situation). They knew they would have to deal with his aloof attitude and empty threats of "putting their lazy hands to work", but it would all be worth it for getting something fresh out of his products. This, however, was not one of them.
He looked around before answering him, no longer as if someone was after him, but to try to make sure their little interaction wasn't some sort of elaborate trap set to kidnap him. Though there wasn't much that screamed 'kidnapping' on a Tuesday afternoon, the rest of the stalls in the street just had elders or adults in their 50s and up, accompanied by children too young to go to school.
That atmosphere, apparently, seemed to give him the impetus to take his offer, “If it's no bother.”
The way the kid kept trying to look him in the eyes when he spoke to him, but kept looking away and trying not to scratch his arm with more force than he was already using, made it obvious that the redhead was more than anxious.
It reminded him of Balam's son, always looking away, even though he was already 7 years old, and had yet to say a single word.
He didn't let his thoughts keep flying as he got up from his seat, to let the boy choose whether to sit on the large bench that would give him a view outside or go to the small wooden crate attached to the wall, with only a thick scarf to keep stray thorns from pricking people.
He tried not to pay more attention than necessary to the way he walked, stiff but at the same time loose in a way that was hard to explain, and tried to see if in the surroundings there was anything or anyone that would not fit in with the people.
When he turned his gaze back to the stall, he saw the boy curled into a little ball on the crate, the back end of the soles of his shoes stuck on the wood under the rag, his knees together giving him a place to hide his head next to his arms in a strange position, with his biceps covering his ears, his forearms covering part of his head and his hands together behind him forming something like a butterfly slowly flapping its wings. He could also hear him mumbling something that sounded like numbers in a language he didn't understand, it was a repeated rhythm of 14 words before starting back up.
Well, if it helped him calm down, Kim Rok Soo wouldn't judge. He simply sat back down and looked around in case something happened.
It wasn't long before the red-haired one calmed down, his arms no longer mimicking a butterfly but simply playing with his hair, his feet had also come off the seat and they had been followed by the rest of his body, leaving him in a strange position that looked like a bow made sitting down, though that clearly wasn't the case.
He supposed now would be a good time to begin his questions.
“Kid.”
This time, there was no startle, but the boy's hands stopped moving.
“How old are you?” though at first he had assumed he was probably already an adult, it was best to make sure he wasn't like De-Eun, only 14 but as tall as a woman in her twenties.
“18, sir.”
Short answers huh, Kim Rok Soo could work with that.
“Name?”
“Cale…”
“Do you live in the town?”
The next one took longer, but came, “Just moved in.”
“Do you have someone to pick you up?”
“… I do.”
“Would you like them to come get you?”
From the way Cale's shoulders found a way to look defeated being already down, and the tone of resignation in his voice, he was ready to hear a negative, “Do I have a choice?”
But, unfortunately for him, Kim Rok Soo was going to give him a choice.
“You do.”
The only time he had seen someone get up so quickly was when Choi Jung Soo found out that Lee Soo Hyuk had made him his favorite meal while he was sick, “Huh?”
“I don't go home until late at night, and I'll be back every day until Friday at 6 a.m. One of the… men I live with comes over at the same time on weekends. I don't mind if you stay, and I don't think they'll mind either.”
For the first time in all that time, their eyes met, almost the same color as his, but shining with a hopefulness he didn't think he'd ever had, “Re-really?”
“Don't get your hopes up too high, I'll put you to work if you do,” he hoped his tone would let on that it wasn't exactly true, but it wasn't a joke either. He would let him stay for free if he behaved.
The laugh that came out of Cale made him soften a little, enough to pick up an apple and toss it into his lap, “Straighten your back, it's bad for your health to be hunched over like that.”