The man ahead leapt up two or three steps at a time, as if proud of his long legs.
Hakyung, whose legs were of average length, panted as he hurried after him.
Fortunately, the man stopped on the second floor.
It was an office with a clean white tone, down to the doorknob.
He had seen places like this on TV, but this was his first time seeing one in real life.
So Hakyung’s eyes darted around non-stop, taking everything in.
“You’re here?”
“You came out early, sir.”
“If you’d told us, I would have come to pick you up. You must’ve had a hard time.”
The men with buzzed hair all had bulky builds similar to the man leading them, and scars scattered across their faces.
They were all wearing strange black suits—not quite uniforms—which even someone as clueless as Hakyung could tell meant they were involved in something dangerous.
Seriously, some people are just that unlucky.
Even if they fall backward, they still manage to break their nose…
Of all places to take a break, I had to sit in front of a gangster hideout?
Hakyung’s lips drooped.
It felt like one more nudge and he’d burst into tears.
He was frozen in place, unable to move, knees trembling.
Just then, the man who had opened the office door turned back, his curious henchmen watching him from behind.
Clicking his tongue at the sight of Hakyung standing stiffly in the hallway, he said:
“Aren’t you coming in?”
It felt like he’d grab him by the scruff of the neck if he didn’t, so Hakyung quickly moved his feet.
It had been a while since he moved that fast.
The stares of the confused men, who still didn’t understand their relationship, made the back of his head prickle.
He couldn’t even remember how he had breathed.
When he came to his senses, he was already seated across from the man.
With his long legs crossed—the same ones that had bounded up the stairs so easily—the man was now looking through Hakyung’s résumé.
“No wonder. I thought I smelled fish—you’re a dolphin.”
His low, gravelly voice echoed like it was scratching the floor.
It was so husky it made Hakyung’s tailbone tingle.
He sucked in a short breath and exhaled.
He was terrified to contradict him, but facts were facts—he had to correct him.
“Um, not just a dolphin… I’m a river dolphin.”
“What?”
The man’s thick brows twitched as if he didn’t like his answer.
Seeing his powerful eyebrows move, Hakyung folded his hands politely on his lap.
It’s not like it matters whether it’s a sea dolphin or a river dolphin, we’re only going to see each other for a moment.
Idiot.
His inferiority complex about sea dolphins had turned him into a tactless idiot.
Glancing at the twitching brows, Hakyung gulped nervously.
“Why are you carrying this around?”
“Sorry… what?”
“Your résumé. You’re looking for work? You broke?”
Both were true—he was job hunting and had no money.
But that didn’t mean he was looking to work in a gangster den.
They might ask him to sell organs, run drugs, or work at some shady back-alley establishment. T
he thought alone was horrifying.
He’d rather go back home and listen to his grandmother’s nagging than be forced into anything like that.
Hakyung was about to nod meekly, but quickly shook his head.
He wanted to get out of this scary place as soon as possible.
If they asked for a room fee, he’d gladly give up his entire fortune—20,000 won.
“You do look broke. Where’d you learn to lie like that?”
The man narrowed his long, slanted eyes and looked Hakyung up and down, curling one side of his lips into a crooked smirk.
His pitch-black eyes, which seemed to let in no light, made him feel like a fish laid out on a cutting board—completely helpless.
Hakyung fidgeted with his fingers resting on his knee, offering an excuse that wasn’t quite an excuse.
In truth, it wasn’t an excuse at all — it was genuine.
As time passed, he missed his warm hometown more and more, his nose tingling with emotion.
“Well, I was thinking of going back home…”
“You got fired?”
“Um…”
He didn’t even get fired — he didn’t make it to the interview in the first place.
He had fallen for Kim Taeyoung’s prank and ended up wasting his energy for nothing.
Still, it wasn’t something he wanted to explain in detail to a man, so Hakyung just gave a vague smile.
Whether he misinterpreted that smile or not, the man tossed a three-page resume filled with dense writing onto the table and said:
“You’re hired. Start working here.”
“…What?”
“All the staff here are fish like you. Even though it’s just cleaning, the humans throw such a fit about it that it’s annoying. You’re perfect.”
It was an incredibly rude explanation.
The man lumped both his staff and Hakyung together, calling them “fish,” but technically speaking, dolphins weren’t even fish — they were mammals.
Changing someone’s roots so thoughtlessly was downright bad manners.
And his rudeness didn’t stop there.
As Hakyung had clearly written on his resume, he was applying for an office job, not a cleaning position.
He had been self-studying Excel and Word at home whenever he had the time.
The more he worked with numbers and letters, the more he enjoyed it.
Wanting to work an office job instead of shrimp fishing was one of the reasons he had come up to Seoul in the first place.
But now they wanted him to clean?
He was stunned into silence.
Of course, he was too scared of the man to show his frustration.
The more he thought about what he said, the more annoyed he got.
His lips started to pout.
He tried to hide it, but his face was now clearly displaying his dissatisfaction.
“Tuck that lip back in and follow me.”
“I’m really fine. I think I’ll be going now, but thank you.”
Afraid he’d suddenly grab him and force him into cleaning day and night, Hakyung quickly stood up.
But the man was faster.
He grabbed his arm as he turned to leave and held up three fingers.
He tilted his head, not understanding what he meant, and he gave a crooked smile full of mischief.
“Three million. After all deductions, that’s the net pay. How about it?”
“Huh…? Th-three million?”
“Adjustable after six months. No cuts before that.”
“S-six months, and no deductions…?”
He nodded.
Following the movement of his head with his eyes, Hakyung slowly turned back around and sat neatly on the sofa again.
His eyes were still full of doubt, but about 85% of the suspicion had faded, so it wasn’t all that threatening anymore.
Not realizing what the man was thinking as he looked at his docile expression, Hakyung quickly placed his resume back into his hands, worried he might change his mind.
“Um, I wrote that my specialties are freshwater swimming, Word, and Excel… but actually, I’m really good at cleaning too. I unclog toilets like a pro. I used to do deep cleaning for the elderly in my village…”
“Is that so?”
“Yes! And, and! I’m amazing at doing the dishes! I’m great with water!”
If he had a tail, it would’ve been wagging.
Hypnotized by the thought of earning three million won, Hakyung eagerly started promoting all his strengths to the man.
Apparently, he liked his enthusiasm — he switched the leg he had crossed and stared at him.
“So shall we make it official with a contract?”
“Yes? Ah, yes, but… um, you will give me a labor contract, right…?”
Though three million won had swayed him, a small sense of caution still lingered.
He couldn’t help but wonder — what if he said “cleaning” but actually meant disposing of corpses or something? His toes curled nervously.
At his words, the man exclaimed, “Ah!” and pressed a button on the table — the kind of bell you’d see at a restaurant.
Ding dong! A tacky chime rang out, and a man in a black suit burst into the office.
“You called, sir!”
“Yeah, I’m hiring him as a cleaner starting today. Uh, what was that contract again?”
“A l-labor contract.”
“Right, that. Go make one. This little one’s real suspicious.”
“Yes, understood!”
The staff member responded loudly, bowed at a 90-degree angle, and left the office.
The narrator suddenly felt afraid, wondering how illegal this job must be if even the term “employment contract” seemed out of place.
But it was already water spilled — nothing could be done.
He needed a steady paycheck, and this man and his employees needed cleaners who weren’t human.
According to the man, all the workers here seemed to be aquatic species, and in that case, he was the perfect fit.
Rather than return to his hometown penniless and be pitied again after being scammed by Kim Taeyoung, he figured it might not be a bad idea to give this a try, even if it turned out to be a scam.
If it looked like they were going to harvest his organs or something, he’d just run away!
Blinded by the three million won offer, Hakyung had even begun to overestimate his athletic abilities.
Trying to stay positive, he let his eyes roll around aimlessly.
As he did, the man watching him intently tapped the table with his fingers.
The sound echoed through the space, which was so quiet you could hear every breath.
Startled, Hakyung widened his eyes and turned his head toward him.
“Kid. Are you afraid of the ocean?”
“Huh…?”
At the man’s sudden question, Hakyung tilted his head.
How did he know that he was so afraid of seawater that he couldn’t even dip his toes in it?
His face was filled with confusion.