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Though it was still a dark and gloomy place, he wasn’t as scared as when he first entered. He thought this might be what it would look like if you did fish farming and a raw fish restaurant at the same time. Taein deliberately avoided the areas that were sticky with fish blood. He came out of the tent first like that, but Donghwan seemed to have something to say to the giant man. It sounded like he was saying something inside.
Just briefly, Donghwan opened the vinyl door and came out.
“Getting in?”
Seeing Donghwan gesture with his chin, Taein opened the passenger door. He thought it would be locked, but apparently the door was open. Taein, who had gotten into the seat, subtly watched Donghwan going back and forth in front. He had once wanted to become a man like that too. Broad shoulders and long legs, arms solid with muscle. His face was also handsomely masculine, so he’d probably be popular anywhere.
And perhaps because he’d looked at Donghwan’s face so much.
That moment when he felt his blood run cold because he resembled Gu Wanjae now felt like distant past.
At this point, maybe it was Gu Wanjae who resembled Donghwan. As he became familiar with Donghwan’s face and frequently faced him, such order began to get confused. Looking at him continuously, they didn’t seem that similar. Now that Donghwan’s face had become familiar to his eyes, the relatively neat Gu Wanjae might be getting erased.
Taein thought that was fortunately a relief. An existence he had almost erased over 5 years, it felt like he had it in front of his eyes like lightning, making everything seem distant.
Just then Donghwan opened the door and got into the driver’s seat.
“Friend, but give me your hand for a moment.”
When he extended one hand like that, Taein extended his right hand like a handshake. It looked like he was giving him encouragement to do well, to do his best.
“I saw earlier, your hand, this.”
Donghwan, with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand holding Taein’s hand, looked down with a puzzled expression.
“What did you injure it like this for?”
To Donghwan who raised his eyes and asked, Taein paused for a moment.
“…From working.”
“If your hand is like this, it looks a bit off to others when you work. Like some guy who’s been rolling around somewhere?”
Saying that, he gently touched Taein’s hand with his thumb. There was one big scar, and the rest were all minor scratches. Taein also looked down at his own hand that he didn’t usually look at closely. He was frequently exposed to rough work and didn’t have the leisure to examine and care for his hands. Looking at it like this, it was a hand that could definitely look bad if you wanted to see it that way. Taein quickly pulled his hand from Yoon Donghwan’s hand, worried that he might not be able to work because of his hands.
“If I apply medicine, it should disappear.”
“Ah, I’m going to have a lot to say.”
“…I can work hard.”
“Your face too. How did your ear get torn?”
“…Just got scraped a bit…”
“I think I know that one. Who did it? Who did you fight with?”
What would Donghwan know even if he told him? It was a scar left from fighting with Lizard next to the JAM building. Around that time, whenever he had a chance, he would roll on the ground and carelessly throw punches. The thugs were the same. From some point, they stopped fighting back so it ended with him throwing just one punch, but it wasn’t like that then. When he threw punches, the thugs also answered with punches. Among them, Lizard, who he fought with particularly often, had made his ear like this. His face was rubbed directly against the concrete wall, so his ear was torn while pressed against it, and scars were left on his cheek too. Taein hesitated and opened his mouth.
“At JAM… I fell.”
He was afraid that if he told the truth, he might see him as a fighter and not speak well of him. Taein mentioned “JAM” but didn’t say who he fought with. He tried hard to finish with saying he fell.
“Yeah, you probably got into it with some thug there. Who. Gari? Yongtae? Anchovy?”
Donghwan didn’t believe him. He was asking who he fought with, even mentioning the thugs’ nicknames one by one. Surely not to know the details of what happened? Digging into such things wouldn’t turn out favorably for him. Although he did hear severe sexual harassment, it was his side that threw the first punch. Because of all the bleeding, he clearly remembered that day.
“……”
“Would it be troublesome if you hide it?”
Because of Donghwan who turned his body completely and said “Would it be troublesome?”, Taein could no longer drag out his words and opened his mouth.
“I did fight with Lizard, but he first…”
“Okay. Received.”
It seemed he wouldn’t even listen to his words. Taein couldn’t hide his unpleasant feeling that things seemed to have gone wrong at the end. Donghwan just left the words that it was received and started the car. The heavy, large car was skillfully getting out of the narrow road. Though there was a slightly shaking feeling, for such a terrible unpaved road, less vibration was transmitted.
Taein, whose mood had instantly sunk, couldn’t even see what the road was like or how far they’d gotten from the tent.
It was the worst.
After driving like that for a while, they arrived at an alley on the outskirts of Juhang. Taein tried to explain about the fight several times, but Donghwan showed no great interest. Even when he started with “That fight I had,” he would often close his mouth at Donghwan’s indifferent reaction. Donghwan talked about other things more. He asked about favorite colors or favorite foods, and also asked what he disliked.
Taein had no preferences. A life where you had to fill your stomach when hungry. Past days when he had to worry about Eundo’s hunger rather than his own. Could preferences have developed during such times? At most, he could say he preferred dark colors over conspicuous and flashy ones.
I need to explain about you, but I don’t know anything.
The man said that.
While Taein nodded saying he understood, he could only give half answers and couldn’t answer the other half because his knowledge about himself was limited. Everything’s fine. I like everything. Such words earned Donghwan’s displeased glances. So did he lie at the end? It wasn’t a big deception, so it wouldn’t matter if the boss knew that.
“With your house in that state, do you even have a place to stay?”
Donghwan, who had arrived in front of the gang office, stretched his head forward and asked such a question.
“…Yes.”
“Where are you staying now?”
He asked dismissively first, making it reluctant to say he was staying at the motel in the building right next door.
“Yes, lodging.”
“So where’s the lodging?”
How far was he planning to scratch at a person? Taein was completely suffocated by Donghwan who kept asking about everything as if he knew but didn’t know. Even though he must know he was in difficult circumstances, he kept digging into private areas. Taein, who had closed his mouth in discomfort, opened it at the threatening tone saying “Uh? Trust?”
“Won’t you give trust?”
“…I’m staying over there.”
When he spoke while slightly turning his head, Donghwan’s head also turned toward the back.
Harim Motel. Or the motel called Harim Inn. There was no lighting on the sign, so you could barely tell it was a motel only during the day. It was presumably originally a white sign, but it was old and unmaintained, so it had discolored to almost brown. Donghwan looked at that sign and building and let out an incomprehensible exclamation, “Wow…”
He didn’t even stop there. He actually got out of the car to look at that building.
Did 1 or 2 minutes pass like that? Donghwan knocked on the driver’s seat window and opened his mouth.
“Get out, for now.”
Without even listening to Taein’s answer, Donghwan went around the car hood and silently headed somewhere. His destination seemed to be the motel. Taein thought for a moment trying to figure out Donghwan’s intention, then seeing him throw open the motel door, he hurriedly got out of the car.
“Excuse me. What are you doing right now? Huh?”
When he asked that and ran to the front of the motel, Donghwan, who was about to open the door, turned his eyes to the side.
“I also need a room, so I’m looking.”
“…What?”
No matter how little money he made, he knew he stayed at luxury hotels. Even that seemed to be staying temporarily as Juhang wasn’t mainly where he stayed. Regardless of whether business prospered or failed, he obviously knew where he stayed. Taein felt insulted by Donghwan’s words that he would stay here. Making fun of people like this wasn’t right.
“Why. Can’t I live here?”
“…No.”
But even with that miserable feeling, Taein couldn’t snap back at Donghwan. The man who would introduce him to a workplace. The man who would help him earn money. He needed him to continue living and to see Eundo with a good face.
Taein desperately endured even while watching the man go inside. Even toward Donghwan who arrogantly went to the counter and was knocking on the wall, he only tensed his mouth.
The owner who soon appeared made an “Eh? Huh?” expression upon seeing Donghwan’s decent attire.
“Where did you come from?”
“Yes, I’d like to see a room.”
“A room?”
“Isn’t this a motel?”
“No, it is, but.”
Whether he also saw Taein who was in the back, the owner just made a “hmm” coughing sound and turned his body around. Though the person looked well-off, if he came as a motel guest, the money to receive per day was fixed. He received 50,000 won per week from Mr. Kang standing behind, so he’d probably receive similar money from this man too. The owner thought he had unnecessarily shown favor to Mr. Kang and crossed the corridor.
“See the empty room.”
The owner opened room 8’s door with his characteristic light tone. Whether he hadn’t locked it separately, a brown door quickly opened in the owner’s hand. It was positioned facing room 6 where Taein was staying.
Donghwan, who had been walking with his hands in his pockets the whole time, stopped in front of room 8 and looked inside.
“Wow, it’s livable. Fucking livable.”
“It’s not bad.”
The owner who said that and nodded went back the way he came with an attitude of looking at the rest by himself. Taein was familiar with the owner’s attitude, but Donghwan had a face that said something was not to his liking. He even briefly looked at the owner’s retreating figure. Then Donghwan, who again looked inside the room, gestured to Taein who was standing a couple steps away.
“Come here.”
“……”
Taein walked toward Donghwan without complaint.
“Is your room like this too? No bathroom either?”
“It doesn’t have one.”
“Ha, then for washing.”
“I wash well. I’ve never heard anyone say I smell.”
If there were hygiene problems, it would be hard to work too. Taein knew that best. During alcohol delivery, he’d been troubled by employees’ sweat smell more than once or twice, but since physical labor was the main work, there were understandable aspects. But the “work” Donghwan mentioned seemed far from that. It seemed to be office or sales work. Taein, who spoke defensively from the start, looked into Donghwan’s eyes.
Donghwan listened expressionlessly then suddenly hardened his face completely.
“Hey… are you kidding?”
It was a similar expression to when he charged into the rest stop bathroom earlier.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
