50
Taein, who woke up from sleep after about 30 minutes, looked for the bathroom first. After thoroughly washing his body and coming out, he lay sprawled on the floor. Unknown people were appearing on TV, and Taein let the sound of cheerful laughter flow through one ear. Nothing could enter his ears right now. Because whenever he did those things with Gu Wanjae, he would space out for at least over an hour.
His heart still hadn’t calmed down, and his heart was pounding like someone who had committed a sin.
Was it okay to do such things? Lifting his legs like that to a friend… Taein remembered that there weren’t people like that even in the pornographic videos he was semi-forced to watch.
He had only seen people having sex, not sucking like that until a person collapsed…
Taein, whose face turned red while thinking, lay down in a prone position.
He trapped his face with his arms and sighed. The warm energy from the linoleum touched his face. Taein then turned his body over. It was because he went to sleep late at dawn and was still tired. His body was also tired because of what he did in the morning. It seemed like he needed to sleep a bit. Soon, Taein closed his eyes and sought the sleep he couldn’t get yesterday and today.
When he opened his eyes, the sun had set. It wasn’t complete night, but the surroundings were dark. Taein groped around to find his phone. Every time he woke up in between, there were messages from Gu Wanjae. Did you eat, what do you want to eat, eat something for now, let’s eat dinner, they were almost notification-style texts with nothing to reply to. Taein only checked those and continued sleeping. This was the first phone call.
“Hello.”
– Hey, what are you doing? Were you sleeping?
“…Yeah.”
Taein took the phone away from his ear and checked the texts that had come in the meantime. He could see two unread messages.
[Come out by five] [Gu Wanjae]
[Will pick you up right away and go] [Gu Wanjae]
“I just saw the text… where are we going?”
– Aren’t you going to eat?
He hadn’t eaten anything all day. Gu Wanjae had texted telling him to eat that, go to the convenience store, but sleepiness was stronger. Taein, who had only slept all day, was now feeling hungry. At the suggestion to eat, Taein smacked his lips and said he’d come out in 5 minutes, then hung up.
He took out a plain black sweatshirt from the closet and wore the pants he usually wore. Taein, who only put on a jumper over that, went to the bathroom to check his face. Having slept like a drunk person, his hair was a mess with cowlicks everywhere. When he wet his hands with water and combed his hair, it finally settled down a bit.
Taein also picked up the large axe-shaped comb on the shelf to comb his hair. It was a tacky axe-shaped comb with ‘Guesthouse’ written largely in magic marker. Even without writing this on it, no one would steal it.
Taein smiled slightly and put down the comb. Thanks to washing and sleeping, his face was relatively clean.
Taein left the guesthouse as he was and walked straight to the stairs.
As the ocean became clearly visible, a black sedan caught his eye.
That was the only car in front. Just in case, Taein looked around once and slowly approached the black sedan. Then the driver’s window opened and he could see Gu Wanjae pointing to the passenger seat with his chin. Taein skipped answering and went to the passenger side. He opened the door and sat down.
“What car is this?”
“Practicing driving it… The car is kinda…”
Gu Wanjae had only been interested in motorcycles from before. He had said sometime that he wouldn’t drive cars even when he got older. Taein looked ahead as they moved forward quite smoothly and leaned his body back.
“You’re good at it.”
“What can’t I do that I wouldn’t drive? I just don’t like it.”
He didn’t know what was dislikeable about it. Even now, Gu Wanjae was turning his shoulders whenever he had a chance, seemingly displeased about something. Taein’s eyes touched the driver’s seat then immediately fell away. He only gave a bland answer of “Is that so?” and turned his eyes outside.
“No sincerity at all.”
“What.”
“Why are you being like that?”
Gu Wanjae, who even added a curse of shibal, raised his hand and slapped Taein’s neck. Taein, who was suddenly hit, covered his neck and raised his fist. Looking ahead, the car was moving fast. Still thinking it wasn’t right to assault the driver, Taein said “Whoa” and looked ahead again. They were driving on a road, not the road in front of the guesthouse. The ocean visible in the distance was similar, but they seemed to be going quite far.
“Hey, but where are we going?”
“Oh, over there.”
Gu Wanjae lowered his posture and raised his eyebrows. He stuck his head forward as if it was right in front, and Taein’s eyes also turned forward. Soon, a car standing in an unprotected area made a left turn and turned largely. It was a vacant lot-like place located in the middle of the road. It seemed like there would originally be many rest stops and restaurants, but everything had been demolished and only one ruin-like building remained. Gu Wanjae, who parked the car in front of that building, said this was it, get out.
Taein looked at the shabby surroundings that seemed like ghosts would appear and frowned.
He said let’s go eat something delicious, but was he planning to catch bears in the mountains?
The back of the building was actually connected directly to the mountains.
Taein got out of the car and looked at Gu Wanjae. Gu Wanjae was smoking on the stairs going up to the building. The smoke disappeared immediately after being exhaled. It was because of the coldly blowing wind.
Taein, who approached with his hands in his outer coat pockets, stepped on a few stairs.
The first floor was originally a seafood soup restaurant, as the letters ‘Seafood Soup’ remained as dust marks. It seemed like large stickers had been attached. Taein, who was scanning that area with his eyes, heard the sound saying it’s cold, let’s go in, and raised his head.
“Where? Here?”
This was a completely different place from the empty buildings he had been to with Gu Wanjae. For empty houses in Seoul or newly failed bars, people from Gu Wanjae’s organization paid money to use those places as shelters. So refrigerators operated and they could even cook simple meals. But this place looked like it hadn’t been visited by people for over 10 years. Taein couldn’t erase his suspicious look even while watching Gu Wanjae enter through the common entrance.
Even while going down step by step, he looked back.
Besides Gu Wanjae’s sedan, he could see several luxury vehicles and large cars parked without order.
“Ah.”
Taein, who was going down while scanning behind, stumbled.
Already having reached the basement level, Gu Wanjae was sticking his face out saying “Hey.”
From then on, Taein focused only on walking. He said “Oh” and stepped down the stairs at a fast pace.
Not basement level 1, but maybe level 1.5?
The door was only visible after going quite far inside. It was a depth where you couldn’t see it even if you wanted to from the first floor. Next to the door, which was smaller than Gu Wanjae, there was something like a small door lock where you could input a password. It didn’t seem like a regular door lock. Gu Wanjae put his hand there and did fingerprint recognition. Then he pressed a few more numbers.
“Hey, is this a place I can go to…?”
Somehow it seemed like he shouldn’t come here. It didn’t seem like a regular restaurant either, and the atmosphere was strange.
“There’s nothing wrong with it.”
Gu Wanjae, who spoke while glancing back, pulled the door handle toward himself.
Then the thick door opened revealing the interior.
What he saw first was bright light. And the sound of people heard from close by. Taein only heard noisy sounds because of Gu Wanjae’s bulk, then belatedly looked around.
“……”
The spacious area was packed with people. More precisely, people holding cards or hwatu, and there were also people holding what seemed like wooden pieces of some kind. Taein only opened his mouth saying “Oh” at a scene he had never seen anywhere. Instead of walls, black iron bars were positioned, and people sitting inside them were counting money. Besides that, he could see men quickly going back and forth. Alcohol, beverages, and simple snacks seemed to be provided. A neatly dressed man came this way and greeted Gu Wanjae.
Taein quietly watched Gu Wanjae nodding and stroking the man’s neck.
He seemed to be a man younger than himself or Gu Wanjae.
Soon he left, and Taein asked.
“How old is that guy…”
“I don’t know.”
“…What is this place…”
“A place that does this kind of thing, you know.”
“What does it have to do with you?”
“Just, you know. This and that.”
He waved his hand as if it was complicated to explain. Gu Wanjae then started moving forward. Taein also slowly moved his feet. Rather than walking through back alleys, they were crossing through tables. He felt self-conscious. Only people who seemed like they would pick fights asking who this young guy was were sitting there. If not that, then thin and weak-looking men. After barely walking past all those tables, one narrow passage appeared. Gu Wanjae continued walking and stopped in front of a certain door.
“It’s fun. When I first saw it, I thought it was fucking fun too.”
It was fascinating, but he didn’t know if it was fun. Taein only tilted his head slightly. Gu Wanjae said he’d let him play a game later, then opened the door. At the same time, seeing Gu Wanjae bow politely, Taein also cast his eyes inside. They were Gu Wanjae’s hyung-nims.
The sofa was long and large, so even with many people sitting, there was no shortage of space. Taein heard the sound “Oh, Wanjae’s friend” and hesitantly stepped inside. There were seats largely empty on both sides. They were middle seats. Among them, Taein made eye contact with someone and headed that way upon seeing a hand gesture to come over. Gu Wanjae also jutted his chin telling him to go there.
“Baby, are you getting more handsome as time goes by?”
The bald hyung-nim sitting diagonally smiled and spoke to him.
When he first rode in the car, he had broken out in cold sweat from the bald hyung-nim’s presence, but not anymore. Taein smiled saying “Ah, thank you” toward the bald hyung-nim just from seeing him a few times. Still, he couldn’t be more flattering, so he immediately lowered his head. Then someone next to him tapped Taein.
“Let me see too.”
It was a man he was seeing for the first time. Only about half of the hyung-nims’ faces were familiar. Taein gave an awkward smile to the unfamiliar man. He was a man who looked like an actor, with roughly grown beard and short hair slicked up. He also gave a foreign feeling because of his aggressively protruding brow bone.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
