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Meeting someone he knew in such a situation made him feel embarrassed. If they were just acquaintances who had only become familiar with each other’s faces coming and going, the shame would have been less, but Yoon Donghwan was a man who knew all the details about him. He would know not only his date of birth but also his family relationships, birthplace, and even his last job. Taein hoped desperately that Yoon Donghwan hadn’t seen him. Even if he had seen him, there would be dozens of customers a day, so he hoped he had confused him with someone else.
Was it because he resembled Gu Wanjae, or because he thought of him specially?
Not at all. It was close to simple embarrassment. He had unintentionally seen the man twice, and had even exchanged bland words with money as the purpose. Meeting Yoon Donghwan in this way made his face burn. How he had gotten here and how much coercion was involved no longer mattered. Taein turned his body to the side like a sinner and hung his head low.
“Oh, our hyung.”
At the sound of “our hyung,” Taein’s eyes turned to the side. He could see Jang Ihwan getting up with a happy face. He even raised both arms and put them down, as if intensely welcoming someone.
“Really, I was so hurt. You didn’t even answer your phone.”
Jang Ihwan, who had quickly approached the door, extended both hands and attempted a handshake. It didn’t seem like he was doing that to Gari or the man who had been knocking at the door. It seemed he knew Yoon Donghwan. Taein saw up to there and bit his lower lip slightly. If they were close, he didn’t know how Jang Ihwan would talk about him. Then Yoon Donghwan would also see him unfavorably. In a situation where he hadn’t even attempted to get a loan yet, having such a thing happen was just troublesome.
Taein, who had been touching his face with his hands, bent his waist downward.
As soon as he picked up the fallen hoodie, his eyes met with Gari’s.
“Hey, you bastard.”
Gari, who immediately approached, snatched away the hoodie that had been in Taein’s hands. When Taein reached out his hand to take it back, Gari’s gesture of hiding the hoodie behind him was faster. Gari then looked down at Taein with displeasure. Perhaps annoyed that Taein was still being defiant even after coming this far, he even raised his hand high to express his anger. He looked ready to slap his cheek.
“Fucking bastard.”
It was Jang Ihwan who restrained Gari. It wasn’t because he had other feelings, but with the nuance of “what’s with the commotion when the hyungs are talking.” Gari seemed to understand this too, quickly saying “Sorry, hyung” and stepping aside.
Thanks to that, his eyes met again with Yoon Donghwan, who was standing crookedly.
Taein immediately scattered his gaze and put his hand to his forehead. As he rubbed his temples and hung his head, he could hear flattering sounds from the front.
“As hyung knows, our guys are a bit uneducated.”
From greetings to scolding, everything was Jang Ihwan’s responsibility, and it was the same now. He was still only talking by himself.
“The bastard only has a big head but doesn’t know anything. Hey Gari. This isn’t right. Kneel in front of hyung.”
Although his tone was light, there was force in the final words telling him to kneel. Gari, who had been keeping his body against the wall, said “Yes” at those words and approached near Jang Ihwan and Yoon Donghwan. Then he quickly knelt as if someone was chasing him.
“Because you’re like this, our hyung can’t have faith in us.”
“Yes, of course.”
The conversation pattern of gangsters was familiar. When a higher-ranking bastard shifts responsibility to a lower-ranking one, the lower-ranking one accepts it whether he did wrong or not. Taein listened to Gari’s voice and turned his head. He had turned his eyes to look for his hoodie, but his gray hoodie was nowhere to be seen. When he looked at Gari again, he could see a piece of gray cloth placed next to Gari. He must have taken it and gone there.
“Ha… fuck…”
Taein, who muttered quietly to himself so no one could hear, wrapped his arms around himself.
The cold air from outside was rushing in through the wide-open door.
Since it wasn’t business hours yet, the heating didn’t seem to be running properly either.
During the day it might be somewhat warm because of the sunlight, but once the sun set, it became unmistakably winter weather. Still, with staff around and a structure blocked off in various places by temporary walls, it wouldn’t be that cold even wearing just one layer. But Taein was stripped of his clothes and meeting the surrounding air with only his bare skin. It was natural for him to get goosebumps and feel cold. On top of that, his nipples, which Jang Ihwan had touched and left, were standing sensitively, making his back keep bending forward. No matter how you looked at it, he looked like someone caught doing something bad.
On one hand, he felt wronged and wanted to sit up straight, but showing his erect nipples was troublesome. Taein thought this was better and only continued to hide his body. After hearing a few words from Jang Ihwan at the beginning, he didn’t even pay attention to that side. He only thought about this time passing and quickly getting dressed and leaving.
“Still, our hyung like this,”
Jang Ihwan had been starting with “our hyung, our hyung” from earlier. This time too, Taein, who had been letting that sound flow through one ear, raised his eyes forward at the sound he heard right behind.
“I don’t know when you saw me to be calling me hyung, hyung.”
It was because Yoon Donghwan had replied for almost the first time.
“Eh, hyung… I’m sad when you come out like this. Our younger brothers went to pay their respects before.”
“Did your side send that?”
“Huh?”
“Were they Jang Heungcheol’s bastards or your bastards?”
“…Ah, hyung… if you say it like that, I have nothing to say… but still, I was in the middle…”
This was the first person to openly compare him to Jang Heungcheol and ignore Jang Ihwan. At least it was the first scene Taein had seen. Jang Ihwan also didn’t usually hear such words, so his tone quickly changed at the man’s words and he was adding pointless excuses. Taein, who was looking toward the door with strange emotions, tensed his body at the sound of the door being pushed with a thud. Like before, he stuck out one shoulder and turned slightly to the side.
“Hey, move.”
The man seemed to be kicking Gari, who was blocking his way, with his foot. He could dimly see Gari, who was pushed to the side, saying “Yes” and getting up his large body. Gari seemed to have a cramp in his foot, stomping the floor with one foot and even putting his hand on the wall. At that sight, Jang Ihwan, who scrunched up his face, cursed “fucking bastard” with just his lip movements.
The man who pushed through the door and entered walked a few steps and stopped. It was in front of a long sofa.
Still, there was quite a distance, so he wondered if he had seen wrong, but it was indeed that man he knew.
The man took one more step and stared down at Taein, who was bending his back. At that moment, Jang Ihwan, who had run from behind, stuck close to Yoon Donghwan, trying to do something, and started babbling.
“Ah, there was a reason why hyung’s eyes were like that. It’s because of this bastard.”
Jang Ihwan immediately stretched out one arm and roughly lifted up Taein’s chin. Taein, whose cheek was pushed up, inevitably met eyes with the man. Jang Ihwan shook the chin caught in his hand several times as if telling him to look at this.
“He’s killer looking. Now he’s a bastard who’ll be working here, so if you want to taste him, I’ll immediately prepare him and send him to you first. He’s a slut bastard, so he needs some grooming.”
His eyes, already full of hostility, began to turn red with anger. Slut. It was a word he had heard countless times for five years, but for some reason it felt unfairly hurtful. Perhaps such emotions arose because there was a man in front who didn’t know him well. Taein wondered if this was something to get so angry about, but his chest boiled and his teeth clenched with force. Without realizing it, Taein, who had sharp eyes, glared at Jang Ihwan while even trembling his chin slightly.
“He has pride for his appearance. Look at these eyes. This fucking bitch spreads her legs whenever there’s a chance but wipes her mouth clean in Juhang, which is fucking annoying.”
As he spoke, Jang Ihwan became increasingly excited and even used profanity. His hand was still shaking Taein’s chin. Yoon Donghwan, who had his eyes lowered, only quietly stared at Taein. Taein, who was forced to meet eyes with Yoon Donghwan, had his whites turn red as if blood vessels had burst, then shed a single tear. It was moisture congealed with anger.
“Fuck, he’s crying. Hey, hyung. Is he crying now? Ha, fuck, this bastard seems to be crying because he wants to serve hyung.”
It seemed like he was babbling all sorts of things to make the man laugh, to please him. Taein was in a state where his unfair and angry emotions had crossed the line and his head had turned white. Behind the two men, Gari was holding his ground, and outside the door, several gangster bastards were sticking their heads this way.
Would it be interesting?
Interest. Fun.
He had known for a long time that his pain and shame were nothing more than entertainment, but today all of that felt overwhelming. It was hard to bear.
The cold he had been feeling from earlier seemed to carefully cover his body and pass over. Taein felt the strength drain from his hands that had been clenched into fists, and felt a chilly energy circulating in his lower body. His eyes, which had been venomously directed upward, also lost focus and swept through the middle of the air.
Having fainted several times from not being able to control his temper, Taein knew well what kind of reaction this was.
His body wasn’t sturdy enough to endure with evil and grit.
Due to working regardless of season, day and night for several years, he was weak in various places.
Still, he didn’t want to lose consciousness, so he tried to put strength into his closing eyelids, but his vision was falling backward as if he had been given an anesthetic injection.
He could feel Jang Ihwan saying something while shaking his chin.
At the touch of a hand saying “bastard” and slapping his cheek, his eyes opened briefly. And as if that was his last reaction, his eyes closed deeply as if he had been shot and his head tilted forward. Taein lost consciousness with the last sight of large hands in his blurry vision. He was thrown into darkness.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
