Devil’s Music

Chapter 371: Friends?? (1)

Early in the morning.

Geon, groggy from a hangover, struggled out of bed like a zombie and opened the refrigerator door in the kitchen.

As the cool air rushed in, Geon briefly enjoyed the chill from the fridge before grabbing a bottle of water and pouring it into a cup.

After gulping down the water, Geon filled another glass to the brim and was about to head to the living room sofa when he halted upon seeing someone sitting there.

“P-Pey?”

Pyemon, who was sitting on the sofa reading a book, smiled and raised a hand.

“Hey, friend. Did you sleep well?”

Geon, holding the glass of water, replied with a bewildered look.

“How did you… get here?”

Just as Pyemon was about to speak, Byung-jun, who seemed to have been smoking, opened the door to the annex and entered.

“Man, what kind of liquor were you drinking? Who taught you to drink until you're unconscious?”

Geon awkwardly smiled as he recalled a tall black man wearing sunglasses, and Byung-jun sat down next to Pyemon, saying,

“If it weren't for this guy, you would have been in big trouble. Pey had to support you and bring you inside, do you realize how surprised he was?”

“So, you call him Pey? You guys know each other?”

Byung-jun laughed, looking at Pyemon.

“We just met yesterday. Your guy was lying flat out, and we had a lot to talk about.”

Geon set the glass on the table and sat down next to Pyemon.

“But how did you know where I live?”

Pyemon nonchalantly replied,

“Haha, didn’t you tell me in the taxi yesterday? How else could I have come here?”

“Oh… really?”

“Yeah, I arrived by taxi, and there were some intimidating guys blocking the way, but as soon as they saw your face, they opened the door without a word and even led me here.”

“Ah… I see.”

Byung-jun patted Pyemon’s shoulder, saying,

“Man, if it wasn’t for you, famous Kay could have ended up vomiting on the street and getting photographed. Thanks.”

“Haha, I doubt that would have happened.”

Watching the two seemingly close friends, Geon suddenly said,

“Speaking of which, you’re the first guest I’ve had here since I moved in, right, bro?”

Byung-jun pursed his lips in thought, then nodded.

“Yeah, Shizuka and Kevin don’t even know where I live.”

Geon cautiously asked Pyemon,

“So… aren’t you uncomfortable?”

With a natural expression, Pyemon asked back,

“With what?”

“Here. Isn’t it scary?”

Pyemon leaned comfortably against the sofa and looked around the annex.

“There are some antique pieces of furniture, and the overall atmosphere is sophisticated and cozy.”

Geon pointed outside the annex.

“No, not that. Didn’t you see it on your way in?”

“Hehe, what? The Russian mafia with machine guns?”

“Hmm… aren’t you scared?”

“Haha, what’s there for a man to be scared of? Don’t worry about it.”

Geon frowned at Pyemon, who dismissed the matter so easily, and turned to Byung-jun.

“They’d freak out if they knew we were at the Red Castle, and you told me not to say anything, but he doesn’t seem surprised at all?”

Byung-jun, who seemed to quite like Pyemon, kept slapping his shoulder, saying,

“He’s a man! Girls like Shizuka would faint!”

Still frowning, Geon asked,

“Isn’t Kevin a man?”

“That guy is a punk! Real punks can’t stand up to a real gang.”

“Hehe, a punk?”

“Yeah, a punk, hehe. Anyway, it was so late last night, and since he brought you here, I told him to stay the night.”

“Oh, I see.”

Geon, still nursing a headache, tousled his hair and then, as if he suddenly remembered, asked Pyemon,

“What about Zion? I don’t remember anything.”

Pyemon chuckled,

“Hehe, you must have been pretty drunk. Zion hailed the taxi for us.”

Geon, looking apologetic, said,

“Is that so… do you have Zion’s contact?”

“Why?”

“Well… now that we’re friends, I thought we could get together for some hangover soup.”

“What’s hangover soup?”

Byung-jun interjected,

“It’s like a soup you eat the day after drinking to settle your stomach.”

Pyemon finally understood and nodded with a smile,

“Oh, like some kind of hangover soup?”

“Yeah, tell Zion to come eat with us. There’s a Korean restaurant in Manhattan that serves a grandma’s bone soup that’ll cure you right up.”

Pyemon jumped up in surprise and

covered his ears.

“What, what? Soup made from grandma’s bones?”

Realizing how weird it sounded in English, Geon burst out laughing.

“Haha, now that I think about it, it does sound weird. It’s not actually made from a grandma’s bones; it means soup made with beef bones prepared by a grandma.”

“Ah, I see. You startled me. Anyway, I’ll contact Zion myself. Go take a shower.”

“Yeah, thanks.”

As Geon headed to the shower, Pyemon stood up and said to Byung-jun,

“I’ll make a quick call, you coming too, bro?”

Byung-jun waved him off,

“No, I need to go out because of Shizuka’s schedule. Unlike someone, she’s a hardworking good girl.”

“Hehe, I can guess who that ‘someone’ is. Got it, bro.”

“Hey, Pey. Why don’t you just live with us? You naturally call me ‘bro,’ and I really like that about you.”

“Haha, I’ll come by often. How’s that?”

“Yeah, make sure you do! Hehe.”

“Hehe, I’ll make that call now.”

As Pyemon left the annex, he saw guards patrolling the area with attack dogs and machine guns. Knowing that the guards had been informed of Pyemon’s arrival the previous night, they merely nodded in greeting and continued their rounds.

Pyemon walked a bit away from the annex toward a white swing, took out his phone from his pocket, and pretended to use it while rolling his eyes.

“Gusion!”

Using his psychic powers, Pyemon called out to Gusion, waiting for a response with an annoyed expression.

“If you don’t answer, I’m coming over.”

At Pyemon’s threat, Gusion’s telepathy rang out.

“Ahem… why?”

“A friend is looking for you.”

“A… friend?”

“Yeah, it’s Kay. He wants to have hangover soup with you.”

“Hangover… soup?”

“Oh, you know what hangover soup is?”

“Hmm… I know it’s some strange ritual humans in the East do after drinking.”

“Well, he says to come and eat with us. Come on.”

“Ahem… I, I’m busy…”

“Yeah, should I come to your castle and have it together?”

“No, no! I, I’m coming!”

In less than ten seconds, Gusion appeared in a puff of purple smoke, looking like Zion, with a military bag full of painting tools. Sweating, Gusion was led into the annex by Pyemon.

“Come on, smile~”

Gusion, who had been scowling unseen, entered the annex, and Byung-jun cocked his head, asking,

“Huh? Is this the friend Zion? Why’d you come so fast, is your house nearby?”

Just as Geon, who had just washed his face, came out with a towel around his neck, he spotted Zion and cheerfully shouted,

“Zion! You got here quick, were you nearby?”

Receiving a cue from Pyemon, Zion smiled awkwardly and rolled his eyes.

“Uh… I just happened to be passing by.”

Geon, taking his friend’s word for it, waved his hand and exclaimed,

“Just wait a minute! I’ll be ready soon!”

Dressed and with his cap pulled down, Geon appeared just as Byung-jun had a vehicle waiting outside for the three friends.

As they passed the main gate of Red Castle, Miroslav, who was looking out from the window, noted their departure.

“It seems you are going out.”

“Yes, Miroslav. We're going to grab some lunch and then head to school.”

After glancing at Pyemon and Gusion sitting inside the car, Miroslav nodded.

“Have a pleasant day.”

“Thank you, you too.”

As they drove away, Miroslav turned to his subordinates with a stern face.

“Not Pey, who’s the other one?”

Realizing none of his subordinates knew about Zion’s entrance to Red Castle, Miroslav shouted with a furious expression,

“All guards on duty since dawn to now, step forward! Did an outsider come in and you didn’t report it? You’re all dead today.”

While Gusion’s unexpected appearance at Red Castle got the innocent guards into trouble, Geon arrived at a restaurant in Manhattan known for its hangover soup and shouted in Korean, holding up three fingers,

“Three servings of bone hangover soup, please!”

Although it was a potato soup restaurant, they primarily served bone hangover soup for lunch. The grandmother, cleaning a distant table, nodded silently and headed into the kitchen.

Eager to teach his Western friends how to eat Korean hangover soup, Geon kindly pulled the hangover soup bowl in front of Zion, scooped out some bones with chopsticks, mixed some rice into the soup, then poured the

meat back in and suggested tearing a piece of kimchi to top it off for a taste of heaven.

Gusion, grimacing, watched Geon and muttered,

“Heavenly taste? Heaven?”

“Yes! After a bowl of this when you’re hungover, you’ll feel like you’re in heaven.”

Gusion inwardly shouted that he didn’t want to go to heaven, but kept quiet as Pyemon, sitting next to him, enjoyed the soup with exclamations of delight.

“Wow! This is tasty! A bit spicy, but that’s what makes it good! I can really feel it settling my stomach.”

Gusion grumbled inwardly,

‘You weren’t even feeling sick, you jerk!’

As Gusion was about to take a spoonful of the soup, he felt the weight increase on his spoon and turned to see Geon, with a naive smile, placing torn kimchi on his spoon.

“Try it, Zion. This is how you eat it.”

Cautiously observing the spoonful of soup and kimchi, Gusion carefully put it in his mouth and chewed, his expression brightening, prompting Geon to give a thumbs up and tease,

“Killer, right?”

“Uh… killer indeed.”

“Haha, eat up. You guys will definitely come here after drinking from now on.”

Quietly watching Pyemon, who seemed ready to devour even the soup bowl, Gusion began inhaling his hangover soup.

Sweating and having finished his bowl, Gusion burped and looked at his friends with satisfied eyes, noticing the two already finished and giggling at him.

“What? What is it?”

Geon pointed at the scraped-clean bowl and laughed,

“Tasty, right?”

“Uh… tasty indeed.”

“Hehe, let’s go!”

As Geon got up to pay, Gusion asked,

“Where are we going now?”

Turning back with a grin, Geon replied,

“Let’s go to school. I’ll let you listen to the music I’ve been working on!”

>

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