75
“I heard you’re an Omega.”
He hadn’t specifically listed his trait information in his personal details, but the man seemed to know even that, showing how thorough his background investigation had been. Taein, who had been looking down, only raised his eyes to look at the man.
“I’m not really interested in men.”
Then the man’s face was seen smiling lightly. Taein looked at the man expressionlessly, then moved his cheek slightly. It was a subtle facial tremor that came out when the other person said something absurd.
It wasn’t harassment, but it didn’t feel good either. To think he had made an excuse about his hair being messy to look good to a man. Did he take his awkward deflection to avoid eye contact that way? Due to the angle of his head, Taein was looking up at the man from below with glaring eyes. The man had just blurted out those words and was now touching the side dishes placed in front of him. The crunching sound he made while chewing seemed to be pickled radish.
Turning his shoulders and making another crunching sound, the man’s eyes met with Taein’s sharp gaze.
“What?”
“…Nothing.”
In the days when he knew nothing, when changes came to his trait, his world completely changed. Not knowing that at the time, he had mixed bodies with someone called a friend until a child was conceived. Even though it wasn’t something to think of lightly, with his lacking brain he had thought “it’s okay, this much should be fine.” That momentary pleasures weren’t everything in life, what results he would face from momentary choices… back then he couldn’t know or predict.
5 years. Thinking of the days he had to live, it wasn’t such a long time. But Taein was only twenty-five now. In a 25-year life, the number 5 years was very large, and 5 years sometimes changed a person completely.
Taein had learned a lot while struggling to survive in Juhang. There were times when he had to bow his head, but there were also times when he had to thrust that head forward to make someone’s nose bleed. If he had to survive alone, he probably wouldn’t have gone that far.
Whether ignored or not, nothing would have mattered except eating one meal, and even if he got beaten, he would have just accepted it.
But Taein had something to protect. At first it was like backing down and ending up having a child, but as days passed, he found himself staring intently at that child, and on days when that child cried until his face turned red, his chest would ache painfully.
It was the first time someone’s name had entered his family register. Due to his Omega status making father-child registration difficult, he and Eundo became registered as brothers, but that had its own advantages. The process of sending him for adoption to a wealthy family was easier than taking care of Eundo as a parent. Of course, such thoughts were gradually disappearing too, and the days of blaming his own selfishness were only increasing.
Anyway, when Eundo was held in his arms, he had to protect that child no matter what. Fighting with the Dog Alley bastards outside while being called “dogshit” and “dog” was because he had to struggle like that to protect Eundo. The moment he appeared weak, Eundo’s world could collapse. His own world had already become ruins 5 years ago, but he couldn’t let the flower called Eundo that bloomed in a corner of that world be trampled to death. He had to shield him from eyes and rain with his hands, and when light came, let him bask in that light.
Taein, for whom everything centered around Eundo, carefully observed the man’s face whenever the man looked elsewhere.
Should he bow his head to this man?
Or should he use his fists?
Of course, until borrowing money, it was right for him to bend and go along, but since he couldn’t figure out the man’s attitude, no clear point was marked for his own behavior either. If just before, the man had poured out harassment and acted like Jang Ihwan, he would have overturned the loan and everything. But the man had only made him feel absurd by saying he wasn’t interested in the same sex.
Then what should he do?
From the man’s face visible under the cap, the appearance of someone he had forgotten kept appearing and disappearing.
Perhaps his thoughts were more confused because the man unnecessarily resembled Gu Wanjae.
Taein only picked at one or two side dishes when the man turned his eyes this way.
It wasn’t a particularly outstanding menu, but it was a well-balanced meal from rice to side dishes to soup. Still, his appetite wasn’t particularly stimulated, so his hands only went to the nearby side dishes, and the man seemed to notice this and blurted out a comment.
“You only pick things like a little kid would eat.”
The side dishes placed in front happened to be grilled sausage, stir-fried fish cake, potato salad, and candied sweet potato.
Taein looked quietly at the man, then reached for the seasoned seaweed stems. It was a side dish placed in the middle, so the distance wasn’t far. Putting it in his mouth, Taein deliberately clashed his teeth harder and sent his gaze to the man.
The man quickly pulled his head back and only said “what” at Taein’s look. He also said incomprehensible words like “ah, turning off interest in men is a bit…” While chuckling as if he found amusement in those words.
He’s fucking around with jokes. Taein, who lowered his cap brim and frowned, decided not to react to the man’s words anymore. It didn’t seem like he was saying things about men to provoke him or make him uncomfortable. He just seemed to be someone who blurted out one or two meaningless words and smiled blandly by himself.
And that level wasn’t enough to break off the loan.
Pretending not to, Taein who had been evaluating the man’s words and actions decided to push through with the loan to the end.
At 3 PM, the man said he had business near a house-like restaurant and left Taein in the car while going somewhere again. This time he returned faster. About 10 minutes had passed? The man could be seen approaching from the center of the road while whistling. His actions weren’t that heavy, but his walking style and behavior had weight to them. To put it more bluntly, should he say he looked like he had a lot of money? While his impression and build weren’t different from the thugs he’d seen in Dog Alley, the aura he gave off was somewhat different from those hollow gangsters.
A rich and leisurely thug would be exactly like that – that was Taein’s overall impression of the man.
That man could be seen tapping the car door and looking inside.
He could just open it and come in, but did he act like this just because he’d exchanged a few words with him?
Taein only turned his eyes to the driver’s seat window, then quickly sent his gaze toward the floor.
Still, it wasn’t that unpleasant.
* * *
He parted ways with the man around 5 PM that day. It had been a little past 3 when they turned the car around in front of the house, but the road back to Juhang was completely jammed, so they ended up spending that much more time on the road. The man said he had called Kang Taein-ssi because he thought he’d have time today, but due to work he couldn’t do anything loan-related and showed some apologetic attitude.
Taein felt momentarily absurd but remembered the original schedule was a week later and didn’t show displeasure. Since he had nothing to do immediately anyway, there seemed no need to protest strongly. It seemed like getting on his bad side would only cause problems with the loan. In that context, it was rather fortunate that the man felt sorry.
Among many customers, he would probably pay more attention to someone he felt even a little sorry for.
Having used private loans without credit, Taein’s credit was still rock bottom even now after 5 years. Who would lend someone like him several thousand? If the man had been unreasonable, it seemed like he would have overturned the loan and everything, but having seen the man a bit that day, he felt like he knew what kind of person the man was. He wasn’t trash enough to withdraw the loan without thinking things through.
Taein only said “Yes, it’s fine” and got out of the man’s car. Then he went home and about an hour later went out to meet Eundo.
Eundo, who arrived 10 minutes earlier than usual, came running and clung to his thigh as soon as he got out of the car.
‘Hyung, Eundo came early.’
‘Who doesn’t know that…’
‘Eundo made a wish.’
Rather than coming early, the child had made a wish to come early, and it seemed he was happy that it came true. Taein said “If you make wishes like that, the driving ajusshi has a hard time,” but inwardly he felt quite pleased. What was someone like him that the child wanted to see even a little more? He smiled slightly from behind and touched Eundo’s cheek, but when Eundo suddenly looked up, his expression hardened. If he showed that he was pleased, Eundo might really make unreasonable requests to the driver. Being a pure child, he would probably do that and more.
Eundo had turned his head without much thought and only said “Hyung, Eundo’s stomach is gone.” He meant he was hungry. Only then did Taein chuckle and say “Yeah, wait. Until hyung finds work, the ajumma won’t come, so you have to eat only the food hyung makes.” At these insignificant words, Eundo wiggled his body with joy right there. He said hyung’s food was the best and unnecessarily praised him.
That was two days ago.
If anything had changed since then, it would be that he had found a workplace.
Taein had run around on his own two feet looking for work, and fortunately was able to find at least a short-term part-time job at a galbi restaurant. He had his first day at work yesterday and finished the job smoothly, and today too, Taein was sitting on a plastic chair behind XX Galbi Restaurant.
Taein’s main duties were cleaning grill plates or lighting fires.
Since it was work he’d done in high school too, it wasn’t difficult.
Taein, who had been looking at the grill plates submerged in water, pulled one of them out.
He was about to set it on the ground and scrape off the burnt parts when a loud noise came from the front.
The parking lot was located toward the galbi restaurant’s main entrance, so cars rarely came to this area. Only a couple of cars belonging to employees including the boss were parked there. At the time when the sun was setting, Taein frowned at the sudden car headlights shining in. It seemed to be shining light directly at him, making him even turn his head to the side.
Soon the sound of a door opening was heard and Taein’s gaze also turned that way.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
