#057
I straightened my body that had been lying on its side. As I swept back my disheveled hair and turned around, I saw a face that wasn’t welcome at all. Even though he knew I had turned off the shop sign, he had come in and was busily scanning the interior with his small eyes. Only after confirming that no one else was there did he finally put on a smile on his dry face.
“Hello.”
Now he’s even speaking informally to me. Has he finally gone crazy? Watching Chu Gangmin casually wave his hand with such shamelessness, sighs automatically escaped from me like autocomplete words.
“Hello. But I’m closing up now. I have an appointment too…”
“Why do you meet so many people when you already have a lover?”
“Pardon?”
“It’s annoying, Ranho. How long are you going to keep this up? Did the places where you got hit hurt a lot?”
The way he asked with half-crazed eyes felt really unsettling. Why is he suddenly talking like that? He said he keeps having dreams of hitting me, so does he really think he hit me? But even so, his words were a bit strange. I couldn’t understand at all what he meant about me having a lover.
“I don’t really understand what you’re saying… Why are you acting like this?”
A strong smell of alcohol wafted from his exhaled breath. I checked Chu Gangmin once, then the still bright outside behind him once more. It was still a time when the sun hadn’t set. An awkward afternoon. 3 o’clock – an awkward time to do something or not do something. At such a time, Chu Gangmin had been drinking and came looking for me completely drunk, spouting strange nonsense.
“Why are you pretending not to know? Why!”
“Pardon?”
“How long are you going to pretend not to know? Huh? You need to tell me so I can either play along or stop this fucking game!”
At the shout he suddenly let out, Ban Hajoon’s urgent voice could be heard through the phone I was holding. “Ranho-ssi, Ranho-ssi,” he called with a desperate voice, but before I could answer that earnest call, my wrist was grabbed. Because he roughly pulled me, my shin and thigh hit the edge of the table. Clang, creak— thud! The sound rang out loudly.
“Ugh— Hey!”
“Let’s stop being angry now. I said I wouldn’t hit you. But if you keep acting like this, I…! Huff, I can’t, I can’t hold back. I’m, how much! Huff, how much I’m holding back, you know?”
He said he loves me even if he hits me. Goosebumps rose at his monotone voice. Though he was looking at me, his gaze and tone seemed like he was chasing illusions, really seeming not in his right mind, so I grabbed the hand that was gripping my wrist as if covering it.
“Chu Gangmin-ssi. Let go of this…! Why are you acting like this today?”
“You should call me Gangmin. In bed you called me Min-ah, Min-ah so well, so why are you calling me like that? As if we don’t know each other.”
His lips, shiny and wet with saliva, curved awkwardly. The hand gripping my wrist as if to break it kept applying more force.
“Ugh, it hurts, what, I think there’s some misunderstanding. Wait a moment.”
“What misunderstanding? Let’s go. I’ll tell you when we get home. You’re angry because I hit you, right? I’m sorry, I kept saying I was sorry. Right? I did, but you keep giving sweet smiles to other bastards. That’s why you keep getting hit, Ranho. If you get hit this time, you’ll come to your senses, right? Right?”
Whether it was an apology or a threat, words that made no sense at all poured into my ears. My body, stiff from being roughly dragged, couldn’t even properly resist once and was dragged along helplessly. Even when I asked why he was doing this and told him not to, Chu Gangmin didn’t know how to stop. I checked where he was dragging me with such fierce force. A taxi was parked by the roadside in front of the shop with its hazard lights blinking.
All I could think was that I shouldn’t get in that car. I twisted my wrist and pinched the back of my hand. Even when I leaned my body backward to add weight, it wasn’t enough to stop Chu Gangmin, who closed the distance to the taxi with big strides at just a sneer.
“Let go of this! Are you crazy? You, if this continues really—”
That’s when it happened. Someone firmly embraced my waist and pulled me, stopping Chu Gangmin’s steps.
“Hyung? Where are you going? Who is that person?”
The arm around my waist tightened. Ju Isin pulled me closer to his side and raised his head to glare at Chu Gangmin.
“Ju, Ju Isin-ssi.”
“Let go of that. Ranho hyung’s wrist has turned all red.”
When my body that had been dragged by someone else’s force stopped, Chu Gangmin’s face, which had turned with crazed eyes, became viciously distorted.
“Ranho and I had a fight. Ranho seems very angry with me. So I was trying to appease him, but he keeps pretending not to know.”
His tightly shut lips opened and his voice, slurred with alcohol, flowed out clumsily. Ju Isin’s eyes alternately examined me and Chu Gangmin. When I slightly shook my head at his lip movement asking ‘Someone you know?’, his eyes that used to curve mischievously turned fierce.
“Someone you’ve never seen before?”
“I only had a part-time job interview at the flower shop.”
At my quick answer, Chu Gangmin’s expression contorted and he put force into the hand gripping my wrist, pulling hard. Naturally, my opposite hand shot up toward the air. Ah, this time I might really get hit. It was a scene I had witnessed countless times in dreams too. My eyes reflexively closed at the violence that would follow. I had done it thinking I couldn’t avoid it, but… instead of a sharp striking sound, Chu Gangmin’s annoyed voice followed.
“Why are there so many bastards interfering, Ranho.”
At his voice spitting out as if unable to contain his anger, I slowly lifted my tightly closed eyelids. Someone’s hand was firmly gripping Chu Gangmin’s right arm that was raised in the air, trembling.
“Huff, huff, ha, ah. Where are, huff. Where are you trying to hit?”
He must have run here as his breathing was labored. His white cheeks were flushed red and his usually neat hair was disheveled. The sweat beading on his forehead clearly showed how hard he had run with all his might.
“Ranho-ssi, are you, huff— are you okay?”
Without even having time to come to my senses, I remembered that I had been dragged out without ending the call with Ban Hajoon. So that’s why he came running like this. The sounds heard through the receiver must have been unusual. Ban Hajoon irritably pulled out the Bluetooth earphone that had been in his ear and shoved it into his pocket. His gentle eyes turned cold as they directed toward my wrist.
“It hurts, doesn’t it.”
“…I’m fine…”
Before I could even answer, the wrist that had been gripped with brute force was lightly released.
“…I’m okay.”
At the rebound of the wrist being released after being gripped with such crude force, I stepped back half a step. Ju Isin, who was still embracing me from behind, also moved back half a step together. I rubbed my wrist that had bright red marks and swept back my hair that had clumped together with cold sweat, letting out a deep sigh. Chu Gangmin sent me a seething gaze as if he would burn me to death with his eyes.
My shoulders involuntarily flinched at his unpleasant stare. Seeing my reaction, Ban Hajoon stepped between me and Chu Gangmin, completely blocking the line of sight. I kept sighing and thought about what on earth this situation was.
“Who is this one now… Fuck, Ranho!!!”
Chu Gangmin jumped in place. Just as I was choosing my words, not knowing what to say, Ju Isin’s cheerful voice came from right behind me.
“The police station? Yes, there’s some strange man here who’s drunk and threatening the flower shop hyung. Yes, location, please look up the location. I saw it. There’s another hyung here who saw it too. Dragging him along while cursing continuously. A drunk strange man dragged the hyung who runs a flower shop on the first floor of an officetel. Yes, I’m holding onto him. Please come quickly. Yes, thank you.”
“Ju Isin-ssi…?”
The strength left the arm that had been wrapped around my waist. When I turned around after separating from him, Ju Isin, who had ended the call, lightly shrugged his shoulders.
“Wait. I’ll send him away in a pretty car with red and blue flashing lights.”
Ju Isin also looked at Chu Gangmin with displeasure before reaching out to pull me behind him. Inadvertently pulled along and hidden, I could finally let out a sigh of relief. Chu Gangmin had been strange since last time, but today he acted as if he was dating me.
Chu Gangmin loudly spewed curses and repeatedly kicked the street trees visible in front of him. While silently watching his actions, the taxi driver got out of the taxi that had been standing with hazard lights blinking.
“Hey, aren’t you getting in? Then you should at least pay, how can you make me wait indefinitely? This is a no parking zone.”
The taxi driver’s face was also flushed with anger from the long wait. He muttered about what he was supposed to do when told to wait without even settling the payment.
“Even if you’re fighting, pay first, okay? I need money to take other passengers. Are you going to make me wait indefinitely? Hey! You, young man getting drunk in broad daylight, huh?”
When voices got louder, Ban Hajoon, unable to watch anymore, took out several bills from his wallet, politely handed them over while apologizing, and placated the driver before getting him in the car.
“Driver, I’m sorry. This person is very drunk. I’m sorry.”
To Ban Hajoon who apologized with a genial smile, the taxi driver scolded in a softened voice that young people shouldn’t get drunk and act like that in broad daylight. The taxi with blinking hazard lights quickly disappeared from sight.
“Hah… I’m sorry. To both of you.”
“What does Ranho-ssi have to be sorry for? But why was that person acting like that? From what I heard earlier, he was acting as if he had some relationship with Ranho-ssi.”
“I don’t know that either. Why he was suddenly acting like that…”
Chu Gangmin had completely sat down on the ground, holding his head and continuously muttering incomprehensible words and curses. Even then, he glared at me from time to time. Repeatedly shouting how I could do that to him. What did I even do to him…
“Oh, there it comes.”
“Yes?”
At the end of the sight following Ju Isin’s fingertip, a police car could be seen running with blue and red lights flashing.
“See, that’s only pretty when it’s coming this way.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
