103
Since that day, Taein didn’t wake up coughing. He opened his eyes to the sound of the alarm he had deliberately set. It was a completely different morning scene from when his eyes would open even before dawn due to mold and dust.
Taein frowned at the sunlight and tried to get up, supporting his upper body with his elbow.
He still wasn’t fully conscious from how deeply he had slept. Usually when he woke up, he would go to the communal bathroom within seconds. Taein barely supported his upper body and started blinking his eyes. Drowsiness was washing over him again.
Only after his head dropped once did he shake his face vigorously. This wasn’t the time for this.
He hurriedly got up and changed his clothes first.
The clothing rack set up on one side was full of unfamiliar clothes. Originally there had only been work pants, Yoon Donghwan’s shirt, and pajama pants. But Yoon Donghwan said that if he looked like that during interviews, it would be smearing shit on his own face, so he hung up several outfits saying to have them for now. Not only shirts but even ordinary-looking hoodies and sweatshirts had famous logos attached. As for dress pants, others had delivered them, perhaps after alterations were commissioned.
Taein put on a shirt first and pondered for a long time whether to wear the dress pants or dark-colored jeans.
He had never specifically been told to wear a suit, but since it was an interview setting, it seemed better to wear something neat.
Quite a few things had changed since the argument with Yoon Donghwan in the room across two days ago.
First, that today he was going to a job interview.
That designer clothes had filled the clothing rack in his motel room.
That the Ilsim Capital air purifier, which was supposed to be thrown away, had come into his room.
That a professional cleaning company had visited the old motel room, saying that if he got sick from mold or dust and transmitted viruses, it would be betraying him as an intermediary.
Besides that, there was also the large refrigerator placed in the corridor (this was also said to be discarded from Ilsim Capital), the room door that was replaced because his designer clothes might be stolen due to the flimsy lock, and the bed mattress that was delivered within two hours.
The mattress in particular caused quite a struggle for the delivery workers since the motel wasn’t sized for such a large mattress to fit. When he asked what the reason was for needing to change the bed, setting aside everything else, Yoon Donghwan answered like this:
‘How many mites are there in old beds? If you carry those around, it’s betraying my side to the boss.’
He was saying things like it’s embarrassing, it doesn’t look good, it’s losing face, while changing the motel room. Honestly, it felt bad at first, but he decided to understand that appearance must be more important than life. Since it wasn’t something that harmed him either.
Separate from the underlying meaning of “if you sleep in a place like this, you’re also the same germ mass, you dirty bastard,” the conditions inside the room were gradually improving. The motel owner also bothered to keep it clean, put a refrigerator in the communal corridor (even if it was being discarded), and didn’t object to replacing the bed mattress. Rather, he looked pleased. He remembered pointing at the refrigerator saying “Even if Mr. Kang leaves, this is ours, right?”
Taein, who had only changed clothes in the motel room that had been transformed like that, opened the incongruously luxurious door and headed toward the end of the corridor.
It was to go to the communal bathroom.
Yoon Donghwan was also picky about the bathroom issue, but he just said not to use it for now since touching this would make things bigger.
‘You’re telling me not to wash?’
‘If you wash with other guys, their dirty water will get on me too. We might occasionally hug out of friendship and put our necks together like earlier, but do I have to endure all that shit water? That’s not right.’
For someone in his position, he wanted a lot. Although he had accidentally gotten close, next time he was thinking of recommending medicine or something. Even the cheap medicine he took when his condition was bad had decent effects if taken briefly. Anyway, he said it was difficult while shaking with an awful lot of fussiness about whether there were any loose ends before doing business. So he didn’t particularly respond to those words.
Then how had he been washing during this time?
He went somewhere with Yoon Donghwan, who bothered to drive to the front of the motel every time. At first, he refused Yoon Donghwan who told him to come out without question, but he applied subtle pressure saying “If you don’t listen from the beginning, how are you going to work?” Because of that, he had no choice but to go out, but the place they actually headed to was a hotel.
Yoon Donghwan’s nice room on the top floor that he had visited once before.
Since he had done this from the evening two days ago, it was a total of three times he had stopped by Yoon Donghwan’s room.
He wasn’t doing anything else. He just washed in that hotel room’s bathroom. It was an excessively nice bathroom, but throughout washing, he couldn’t shake thoughts like “Do I really need to go this far?” and “Am I that dirty?” He could understand remodeling the motel room, but having to wash only in clean places too. How dirty could he be even if he was dirty? His insides felt stuffy.
Did he get involved with Yoon Donghwan for nothing? Could there be other reasons for emphasizing hygiene? Could that “work” be organ trafficking? Was that why he was forcing a clean and decent body and environment? Taein was tormented by all kinds of delusions every time he washed. Those were the only thoughts he had inside the bathroom grandly decorated with marble.
The day after tomorrow he had to go see Eundo.
He had promised.
While thinking about that, he would always hear Yoon Donghwan’s voice from outside.
‘Friend, where are you drawing water from to use?’
‘Try not to do other things as much as possible, okay?’
When saying “other things,” he used a particularly light tone filled with laughter. He definitely meant something strange by those words. Every time Taein heard such words, he would punch the marble wall with his fists. That it wasn’t like that—for now, he expressed his anger within the limits of what he could do. Then Yoon Donghwan would also laugh “keke” and stop talking. Not long after, he would say he had ordered room service.
‘You could just wash quickly and leave, but you have to be in the bathroom until I eat.’
‘It’s not like that. I was just going to leave in the morning too, but you kept telling me to eat before going.’
‘Want to argue? That’s a fatal flaw for social life, you know?’
‘Because you said that first.’
‘No. Whether I said that first or not. When working, saying “yes, yes” and listening well comes first.’
‘This isn’t work right now. And you—’
‘Do you know how I’ll tell the boss?’
Saying that while taking a spoonful of fried rice, it couldn’t be more annoying. Taein held a towel while fully dressed and just lowered his eyes. He had a temper and sometimes couldn’t hold back in the moment, but in the end, there was only one thing for him to do. I’m sorry. I spoke too harshly. Please speak well of me to the boss.
Yoon Donghwan’s response to such words was always the same.
‘You want to look good to that bastard? Ridiculous. I’ll handle that myself.’
A person twisted beyond belief. Every time Yoon Donghwan said such things, Taein was at a loss for words. If it’s neither this nor that, why does he speak to him like that? He thought he had once evaluated the man as not being empty bravado unlike the alley thugs, but he must have been greatly mistaken. The man was a bragging thug who would order room service every time despite not earning much, and wouldn’t hesitate to remodel someone else’s motel room for his own face-saving—a family-ruining show-off. He could sell the designer clothes if things were difficult.
The hotel room too.
Since there seemed to be younger brothers he commanded, according to the man’s words, he probably continued staying in a place like this because he didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of them.
On one hand, he thought he was richer since he didn’t covet such things and had no pretensions.
Honestly, once he found work, he would earn more money than the man.
Taein only gave a bitter smile to Yoon Donghwan who emphasized the price of the crab fried rice he ate, saying “That’s expensive stuff.” Probably he should repay what he received from the man as much as he got from him. Though he never wanted it, it felt best to give some compensation to this man with only a big scale but low salary. While going in and out of the hotel room, he had to feel more of that burden than gratitude. Anyway, though he had caused various things for his own face and convenience, it was Taein himself who ended up picking up the fallen crumbs.
That’s how it looked on the surface.
Of course, he wasn’t that much of a beggar either.
The problem was not wanting most things other than a job.
Among his back-and-forth thoughts, the food kept going down. Expensive crab fried rice. Expensive sushi. Expensive fruit and expensive dessert. There was a 4,000 won soup restaurant nearby, but the man, not knowing his place, even ordered wine. With an unusual name, something like Coline something Esse… he was saying such things, and even from rough listening, it seemed like an expensive name.
Did Yoon Donghwan’s parents know he lived like this? Probably not. If they knew, wouldn’t all that thick hair have been pulled out?
Taein was looking at Yoon Donghwan while perfectly hiding his inner thoughts. Yoon Donghwan, who had finished ordering wine, made eye contact with Taein who had been staring at him and chuckled.
“What are you looking at? Fallen for me?”
Though his impression might be somewhat unfavorable, with a handsome face and good body that anyone could see, it would be hard to look this pathetic. Taein said no and just picked up one egg sushi in front of him.
Yesterday he had dinner with Yoon Donghwan in a vague manner and came to the front of the motel in Yoon Donghwan’s car. The arrival time was well past eleven, so he had just slept and woken up. Since he was told to come to Ilsim by 10 AM, time seemed sufficient.
Taein roughly washed his face and arranged his hair with the remaining water. He had showered once more before leaving the hotel room yesterday, so an unfamiliar fragrance still lingered. It seemed roughly organized, so he moved to the corridor.
He thought about briefly calling Eundo at the phone that caught his eye, but constantly calling seemed to make the child depressed too. He had plans, but the child wouldn’t know anything. He didn’t want to fuel that yearning heart. Taein deliberately averted his eyes from the counter and opened the motel door. The ground was wet in patches as if it had rained at dawn.
The day was brightly clear, and the wet grass and trees smelled good.
The premonition was good in many ways.
It was when Taein, who had even closed his eyes slightly, took one step forward.
A loud honking sound echoed through the alley with a “beep.”
Looking to the side, he saw Yoon Donghwan with slicked-back hair sitting in the driver’s seat looking at him.
Soon the car window rolled all the way down and Yoon Donghwan stuck his face outside. Something must have displeased him, as his face was completely contorted.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
