Chapter 44 - Uneasy Rider

"What is this place, Jung?" The Hunter asked when Eun Ha reached him, leaving the Pearl building.

They met on the sidewalk across the street.

It had been raining early in the evening, and the night was a little cold this early fall, and she realized that he was wearing the scarf she had given him, and got happy with this fact:

"Professor, I'm glad you liked the scarf I made. This place is where Ye Rim sings on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It's called Pearl."

He touched the fabric around his own neck, a little surprised, as he looked up to take a closer look at the building: "Oh, is it that one? It was the only clean one left."

She turned her face to hide her disappointed expression. 'He's really is a boor! I can hardly believe 'this' is a fairy. Can't he be a little more polite?'

"So she's going to sing here today."

"Yes!" Talking about this night made Eun Ha thrilled. She had even taken a special dress to Ye Rim. Yes, she's going to, and today she will have a nice surprise! I followed your instructions, Professor Shin, and used no magic to help my friend out on getting rid of Dr. Flamingo."

The Hunter smiled half-heartedly, looking more concerned than happy. "You're thrilled and it scares me. But you must tell me the whole thing as we prepare. Follow me."

"Yes!" The fairy woman was excited for various reasons tonight. She had butterflies in her stomach because destiny had decided for her, and it was going better than she had expected. She followed the teacher to a side street as she talked,

"After you prohibited me, Professor, I had to take drastic actions. She went out to meet him, completely ignoring the danger! I had to use a tactic that will work one way or the other. Either it draws her from his traps, or at least it'll make him give away because he's not a match for the adversary I picked for him'!" she excitedly went for strange game metaphors.

" Uhn," he grunted, encouraging her to continue.

"So, bear with me. Ye Rim has several admirers. Lots of them, in fact. Of all of them, there is a special one, but I couldn't find him. I sent a thousand messages but he hasn't answered yet. But…"

Reaching a parked motorcycle, he grabbed one of the two helmets and handed it to Eun Ha. She looked surprised. She had no idea they would go wherever they went on a motorcycle. It was a cold evening, and at first she thought he at least had a car.

As if reading Eun Ha's thoughts, the Hunter said, waiting her to put on the helmet. "We're riding a bike."

"I realized it, it's just ... It's cold. And it might rain."

"…" He pulled something out of his pocket, which upon unfolding, turned out to be a large black trash bag, and placed it on the motorcycle seat. Eun Ha stared at the item without understanding. 'Why does he carry a huge trash bag in his pocket? Oh Dak-sal!' she widened her eyes thinking the worst of a being who presented himself as a Hunter.

He nodded his chin towards her hand. "Your wand."

"Ah." She obeyed, pulling her pen-wand out of her pocket. He seemed a little impatient to realize that she would do nothing with it, and took her hand, guiding it and placing her wand over the object.

"Repeat with me: S-size raincoat."

"S-size raincoat."

"Again."

"S-size raincoat." She felt the energy coursing through her arm again, but in a different way than the uncomfortable tingling she was used to. In the blink of an eye, over the motorcycle seat was a raincoat identical to one she'd seen in a famous brand's fall collection.

"Ah! OH! Oh!" She was dumbfounded, grabbing her raincoat for a closer look. It was as beautiful as what she'd seen in the store window, and it was really S-sized, her fitting size! The Hunter had already let go of her hand and was watching her exaggerated reactions with a deep boredom glare. "Daebak! Daebak! Is it original, Professor Shin?"

"Aigoo, Jung! Of course it's not!"

She slipped the transparent raincoat over her clothes with joy, and took her phone out of her bag to take a selfie; but the teacher took the phone out of her hand in one swift motion, and put it in his own pocket.

"Enough of wasting time, Jung."

"Ehhh. No need to confiscate…"

"Put on the helmet."

She obeyed, but couldn't close the helmet's buckle, so the Hunter did it for her. She took a closer look at his face taking advantage of the proximity and the fact he was too focused on the buckle to notice. She had already evaluated his square forehead under the shaggy curtain of dark bangs, the slightly broad nose and with slightly flared nostrils wings; his fleshy mouth. As he stared at the subtle crease of his eyelids under the heavy outfold that gave the large, wide-apart eyes a manly visage, the Hunter looked up and their eyes met for a moment. Eun Ha had never seen a gaze so deep, so heavy; eyes that seemed to have seen too many things. She took a deep breath, but couldn't look away. It was like looking away from a predator. It didn't sound like a good idea.

He seemed to question the reason for her deep inspection with a movement of his eyebrows. "It's ready, Jung."

"Ah, me, I... was just watching the shape of your eyebrows. They're straight, and parallel your forehead and your eyes." Eun Ha spoke the first thing that came to her mind, and realized that it sounded more stupid than she wanted to have sounded. "I mean, hairline. Eyebrow. Eyes." She made gestures of overlapping lines accompanied by sounds simulating cuts, trying to be clearer. Then she frowned, demonstrating her frustration at not being able to express herself.

"Uh. You must draw, since you said you graduated in fashion. Fashion designers draw people too, or just mannequins?" He turned his back to her, putting on his helmet and getting on the bike.

"Oh, I'm a good designer and can draw other things too. And well, yes. Yeah, that's why I was looking to. Your eyebrows are cool… Professor Shin."

"Cool? Can eyebrows be 'cool'?" He asked, motioning for her to hurry up and get on the bike with him.

She was getting on the bike when she heard the familiar sound of Ye Rim's old cell phone warning her of a message. "Oh wait. I'm waiting for this confirmation!" Eun Ha didn't go up, but took her friend's old cell phone from her shoulder bag. Her tutor casually asked,

"But how many phones does this woman have anyway?"

"Just one, Professor. This is Ye Rim's…" she was explaining absently as her gaze darted to the message that had arrived.

"Oh what to do, what to do?!" It was not possible. She checked and rechecked the phone data, but the message and the sender weren't really who they should be. 'How come? How could this happen?'

"What happened, Jung?" Hunter Shin turned off the bike and got off, noticing her commotion." Has something happened to your friend?"

"No, it's nothing with her, is that..." she looked up at her tutor, and before he said something like 'spill out the beans, Jung' , she spilled it:

"I invited a person to show up at Pearl today. I used an old Ye Rim's cell phone to contact this oppa_ this very handsome, charming and stylish oppa_ who went with me to college. I did it to make him think it was her. His name is Baek Woo Geun. He really likes Ye Rim. But then…" She shook the phone hopelessly. "Something happened."

The Hunter picked up the phone, glancing quickly, and reading aloud:

"Hi, oppa! Long time no see you! I thought about you today! How things are going? I was happy to hear that your plans are paying off! I'm singing in a new place. It's quite different, but it has a unique charm! When does oppa come to see me? If you have time, come today, I'm on… blablabla," he sped up when he realize that this was just address information. "Let's see what the 'oppa' replied: 'My precious jewel!' " Fairy Shin suppressed a laugh but continued: " 'My precious jewel! My sweet princess! I'm so glad you reached me out! I'll be at your show tonight. I can't wait to see my old precious friend!' " Uhn, but his name is not Woo Geun..." he clicked on the avatar to check.

"No, it's not! That's the problem!"

"Uhn, I see here that his avatar is also his business card. 'President Baek Won Geun.' He smiled. " 'Home Paradise - All for your Home - Store Chain Owner.' "

Eun Ha rubbed her face in agony. "What did I do? Was it the autocorrect? Or is the contact wrong? What did I do?" She wondered, unable to understand.

"You did it." He got on the bike again. "A new mess."

"Ahhhhhh!" She stammered in frustration.

"Let's go. You already know who's the real danger for her, and it's not President Baek."

"No, I can't. I have to call the right Baek!"

"Jung! Not tonight. Tonight you're going to pay the favor you owe me. A deal is a deal."

"But, I can't… I… Just this once, Professor Shin!"

He started the bike. "Get on. Do I look like a debt-forgiving guy?"

Eun Ha looked down the street toward Pearl, but knew she had to pay her promise. After looking at his dark-deep eyes, she had no doubt he wasn't a debt-forgiving guy. She got on the bike, muttering,

"I don't do anything right!"

"What?" He asked as she got on behind him.

"I don't do anything right, I said," she said louder, annoyed.

"Tonight you'll do it right." He started off with the bike, she held onto him on instinct. But she didn't know if what the Hunter had said was an assuring promise, or a kind of threat.