BURY A FRIEND ♱ squidgame

010. it runs in the family

𝐍𝐀𝐁𝐈 𝐊𝐄𝐏𝐓 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐘𝐄𝐒 𝐆𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐃 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐃 as they walked towards the doors. The police station wasn't too far away from the center of the city. So there would be a bigger possibility for Nabi to get caught.

"There we go", the officer said and opened the door for Nabi, Nabi walked in keeping her head down low. "Hey Hwang!" an officer greeted behind the desk. Nabi put her hands in her pockets. "What do you get here?" the police asked and nodded towards Nabi. Nabi didn't lift her gaze, but she was curious what the man would answer.

"Nothing major. A few drinks too much", the man said with a charming smile. Nabi looked at him. Why didn't he mention the bridge incident?

Nabi looked at the officer behind the desk and forced a sweet smile on her face. "Sorry for wasting your time", Nabi apologized and bowed a little. The man looked at Nabi for a moment, before shaking his almost bald head. "No worries, girl. You're still so young. This is how you make memories, I remember when I--", Nabi didn't pay attention to the rest of his sentence. Her eyes had traveled to a man, talking to the officer behind the front desk. She knew that musty cap.

"I'm telling you, you just dialed the number wrong!"

Nabi swung her hand around the man's shoulders and squeezed him in a friendly manner. "I've been looking everywhere for you", Nabi lied, smiling sweetly. She glanced at the officer who looked confusedly between Nabi and the man.

The old man started at Nabi in shock. Nabi raised her eyebrows, trying to signal him to play along.

"How did you, uhm- how are-", he started, stuttering in his words. He was a terrible actor.

Nabi turned to the officer, putting on her sweet girl smile. "I'm sorry officer. My dad has an alcohol problem. I'll just take him home", Nabi said, smiling through her words, fluttering her eyelashes. The officer smiled at Nabi. "Just make sure he doesn't do this again. Nonsense, that's what he is talking about", the officer sighed and pushed back on his chair.

"Alcoholism?" the old man asked, in disbelief. Nabi shot a warning glare at him, before turning back to the police.

"I'll just take him ho-"

"Is he your legal guardian?" Junho asked, leaning on the counter. Nabi looked at him for a moment, before nodding. "Yea, he's my dad", Nabi lied. Junho shook his head smiling. "Let's check it", he said and turned around. Nabi panicked and grabbed the officer by his arm. "Stepdad! I mean," Nabi let go and took a step back. "stepfather."

The police raised his eyebrows. The old man nodded furiously behind Nabi, trying to help as much as he could.

"Very well, he just has to sign one paper. Nothing big, just showing that you got home safely", Junho answered and held out a paper to the old man. He grabbed it and wrote his autograph to the small line at the end of the paper.

The old man took a look at the text on the paper, which made his eyes widen. "You violated safety rules, putting yourself in danger and blaming it on quote on quote 'alcohol'?", the read from the paper and then looked at Nabi.

The officer behind the desk looked at Nabi, with a serious face. Nabi grinned. "Yeah," she said and took the paper carefully from the man. "I guess it just runs in the family."

Nabi was eating her tteokbokki like there was no tomorrow. The man was sitting on the other side of the table and drinking his beer.

"You broke the law?" the man asked, humor lacing his question. Nabi looked up from her food, stuffing another bite into her mouth.

"What can I say", Nabi murmured, mouth full of food. "I'm a borderline gangster."

The man laughed and shook his head, eyeing the streets of Seoul. "Runs in the family, kid", the man joked and held up his drink signaling 'cheers.'

Nabi smiled and continued eating.
After a while, the man spoke again.

"What's your name? I guess now that the Seoul authorities think we are related, I think I deserve to call you something else than a smoker."

Nabi taught for a while. She didn't know if she wanted to tell the man her name, but again, what value did her name carry? Nothing.

"Kim Nabi", Nabi said and took another bite of her tteokbokki. The man's eyebrows raised a little. "Like a butterfly?" he asked. Nabi nodded in answer. "Like a butterfly", she confirmed and stuffed more food into her mouth. Alcohol made her hungry.

"What about you?" Nabi asked, now curious to know what the man's name was.

"Seong Gihun ", the man said, proudly. Nabi nodded and wiped her mouth. "I'll stick to the old man", she said and gulped the water that she had. Gihun had refused to buy Nabi any beer to drink with the food.

"I'm sorry, is this seat taken?"