Letters from the Void // ASTRO ✔

Chapter 32

The remaining restaurant members only looked solemnly at the restaurant entrance, expecting their boss to come bursting in any second. But he didn't, instead their eyes only captured the scene of the flow of people passing by their restaurant. None of them were significant; the restaurant team members were simply waiting for one face to show up. Cha Eunwoo was nowhere to be seen, and it had been almost one week since they last heard from him. They only found an empty bed when they went to visit him again at the hospital, and according to the nurses, he was discharged earlier. None of them had gotten a call from their boss, and it only made them worry more as he was gone without a trace.

They guessed that they might needed some time alone, but Sanha did argue that he should have at least informed them of his whereabouts. Instead, they were left in the dark. The three of them had agreed to visit the restaurant every day, even though they knew that they couldn't operate it as usual, in the hopes that Eunwoo would show up there. They put their hopes up too high, because so far only Areum, Jin Jin and Sanha were the occupants. Some customers did peek in through the see-through glass, and some did ask about when they would open up their business as usual. Jin Jin came to them, but he just couldn't bring himself to say that they have no cooks left; one was missing, one was a criminal and another was dead. He simply couldn't.

They were just like ghosts, floating around at the restaurant without any real purpose. It was as if the kitchen was a forbidden place; none of them dared to go there. Jin Jin and Sanha were devastated as they found out that their colleague died at the hands of their own housemate. They wanted to resent MJ, hate him, but they knew that MJ was just pressured because he lost his only brother. His judgement was blurry, and he couldn't control himself because all he was looking for was revenge.

As Areum confronted them about their weird behavior on the fateful day, they finally revealed that they did notice something amiss when they finished visiting Eunwoo at the hospital. MJ was extremely quiet, and he isolated himself most of the time. They wanted to say something, but figured out that maybe MJ needed some space. Although MJ was the happiest among them, he could be the hardest to read when he's quiet. They dismissed it as something normal, but they never would have thought that he was actually plotting revenge. And because they didn't say anything, their own friend ended up dying, another was hurt and one was thrown in jail.

Sanha stood up just as the door opened, and they expected to see a familiar face. They did see a familiar face, but it was the one that they least expected. Moon Bin stood at the entrance, holding a mineral water bottle and two packed sandwich. He held them up, saying, "I was hungry and happened to pass by here, I thought I could eat here."

"Hyung," Sanha managed to say, but Moon Bin only shook his head.

"I'm sorry, but I still haven't heard any news from him. Even Taehyung cannot reach him; he still has his commander off."

"You're a detective, so you must have a way to track him using his ID chip." Jin Jin butted in, pulling a chair so that Moon Bin would be able to sit.

Moon Bin thanked him, sat down before replying, "I know we can do that, but you do know it's against the law to use that when he's not even a criminal. We can only use the system to track down criminals or people who have been kidnapped, otherwise it's not allowed."

Sanha sunk back in his chair, looking sullen.

"So you're saying we have absolutely no way to know where he is unless he tells us himself?" Areum said.

Moon Bin took a bite off his sandwich and nodded.

"But we can say he's a missing person!" Sanha snapped his fingers as if he's produced the greatest idea. "We can use the system if we say that he's a missing person, right?" He was almost jumping in his seat, thinking that he had finally found the solution to their problem.