Emergency Exit 84

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“Much bigger.”

“What about this?”

That wasn’t the important thing. Taein, who stopped Eundo from trying to stretch his arms even bigger, made eye contact with the child.

“Kang Eundo.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Just play well until then. Hyung-a will get a lot of money from the bosses and come back.”

Eundo didn’t think long and just nodded once.

Since this was his first time at such a facility, his eyes showed he didn’t know what it meant. Taein pushed down his heartache and helped the child down from the chair. Eundo was just smiling brightly at the corners of his mouth at what he heard from his hyung, which was relatively good news to him. He didn’t really understand money well, but since his hyung kept saying “money, money” so much, he knew it was good to have a lot of it. Taein, who roughly sensed this, walked holding Eundo’s hand without saying a word. He followed the man who had already gone ahead.

His miserable life had rubbed off on Eundo, which was agonizing.

Living this kind of gutter life together with Eundo was too much pain.

Taein distorted his face by himself while walking. Fortunately, the teacher had taken Eundo to the facility’s living room saying let’s greet your friends, so he could hide his expression. Eundo raised both his hands toward the children who came over waving and saying hello.

Hello, hello.

And that sound seemed like a farewell greeting to him.

Taein looked at Eundo’s small back before turning around. He hoped to talk on the phone later, but he didn’t think he could say “take care, goodbye” while looking at his face. Even if they weren’t parting forever, in his current state even a short greeting was burdensome. Taein, who only gave a silent bow to the teacher, quickly left the church area.

Taein just kept running down that road. He kept stepping forward until his breath reached his chin and became painful. Then he entered a mountain path with few people, and his feet didn’t know how to stop even there. Eventually he found himself surrounded by trees where fallen leaves crunched underfoot. There was a hiking trail, but it was so steep that it didn’t seem like an area people easily visited.

Taein confirmed no one was around before plopping down on the spot.

Of course he couldn’t show his emotions in front of the child, and it was the same on the street.

He wanted to quietly digest it at home, but he no longer had such a home.

He had nowhere to put his body or heart.

For the first time, tears flowed down.

His throat had been choked up and his eyes stinging all day, but this was the first time moisture had flowed. Taein wiped his eyes with his arm and sniffled. He couldn’t cry well in front of others, so he would always cry briefly in places like bathrooms, corners of mountain paths, or dark alleys. He was pathetically someone who cried a lot. He always had to act tough and behave as if he didn’t have a single tear, but he often hid in corners like this. Bastard. Idiot. Half-wit. All he knew how to do at times like this was curse. Taein kept spitting out curses at himself while leaning against a tree.

* * *

When he came down from the mountain, the sun was setting. It was around then that he made a confirmation call to the facility. Eundo, who soon answered the phone, started with “Hyung-a, did you go to the bosses?” Taein hesitated for a few seconds before saying yes, that there were so many bosses he left without greeting him. Eundo said “I see,” was quiet for a moment, then boastfully talked about the friends he had made. Also about toys he’d seen for the first time. Fortunately, he seemed to have adapted quite well in the short time.

“Good. Keep playing well. Hyung-a will call whenever I have time.”

He had also left quickly in case Eundo might fuss, but Eundo spoke with a brighter voice than expected.

– Yeah, hyung-a. Eundo will wait.

Was it because he had learned something at home? At Eundo’s words that he would wait unconditionally, Taein pressed his lips tight. He forced out the words “Yeah, eat well and sleep well,” but other thoughts were filling his mind more.

Because Eundo trusted his hyung so much, he didn’t have the thought that he might be sent away forever. While that was fortunate, later, when he was formally sent for adoption, what would the child think? Would he be hurt even more? Having placed him at this church even temporarily, such problems began to come up concretely. Still, he had to do what needed to be done.

He was looking at the call screen that had ended with that thought when it suddenly switched to a different screen.

Ilsim.

After saving it as “Ilsim” that day, he had bickered with the man but hadn’t changed it to a different name. Several more calls had come since then, but he hadn’t bothered to change it then either. Taein, who was staring at the “Ilsim” letters on the screen, pressed the call button.

“Yes.”

– You’re not very diligent. As a person.

That was what he said right away. Taein checked his call log just in case. There were enough missed calls to understand the man’s subtle complaint. Four of them. His mind had been a bit scattered, and he had set his phone to silent mode so he didn’t even know calls had come. Taein, who immediately put the phone to his ear, started with an apology.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I forgot to turn off silent mode this morning…”

– You’re just realizing that now? It’s evening.

“Yes… I know.”

– It’s evening and you… No, but how long are you going to use formal speech?

“Ah… okay.”

– If you don’t drop it, it’s a bit awkward for me to drop it first. You’re still a customer after all.

“Ah, okay.”

His responses were the same twice in a row. The man seemed to find it funny that he only kept saying “ah, okay,” so he just snorted on the other end of the phone. After hearing sounds like “tch, ha” a few times, the man asked something.

– Did you check the money in your account?

“What? What?”

Taein, who had been walking slowly while taking the call, stopped in his tracks at that sound.

– Money. Fifteen or sixteen hundred… I think it went in.

“…Ah, thank, thank you.”

It was hard to drop the formal speech, but he at least conveyed his thanks in casual speech. Fifteen hundred would be enough to breathe, and while Jang Ihwan raging would be temporary, it was money that could stop it. The only reason Jang Ihwan was suddenly acting like this had to be the company’s financial problems. <Hope Loans> wasn’t a very successful lending company. It was a gang that made money by doing thug work on a small scale, and he heard that Jang Heungcheol provided most of the capital. There must have been problems there. Taein only thought about sending money while listening to the man’s voice.

– Don’t you have time?

“What?”

– Ah, our customer really… Can’t you even hear what I’m saying properly?

“Wait, I dropped my phone. What did you say…”

– …I’m on the road to Juhang right now, asking if you have time. You need to receive the rest of the money too.

Thanks to the man speaking each part separately, he understood clearly. For the past few days, the man had been on a business trip to Seoul. During that time he had only made a few calls, and each time he said there were things to confirm in person, acting like long-distance loans were difficult. But today half the loan had come through, and it seemed like the rest would come out if they just met and confirmed. Taein had no reason to refuse meeting the man. He looked terrible but had no reason to look good either, so he answered immediately.

“Okay. Let’s meet. If there’s something to confirm when we meet, let’s do it.”

– Okay. Then I’ll drive over to your house, so come down when I call. I think I’ll arrive in about an hour.

“No, no. I’m outside right now, so we could meet in front of Ilsim Capital.”

– Then let’s do that.

Looking at how his house had become a mess, the loan might not come through. He didn’t want to show that state either. Taein quickly changed the location and heard the man’s acknowledgment. After hanging up first with an “uh,” Taein checked the time on his phone. Six o’clock. He had walked quite a lot, but the library itself was far from home. To get to Ilsim Capital, he would probably need to take a bus.

The road was right in front, and there was a visible bus stop.

He walked straight to the stop and checked the route map – a bus was scheduled to arrive in 15 minutes. It would take 40 minutes to get there, so the timing seemed about right. If he got off near Siheung Beach and ran to the Ilsim Capital building, it would fill exactly one hour. Normally he should have gone home to clean up the aftermath, but money was more urgent. He had hidden his bankbook under the floor just in case, so the gangsters probably couldn’t have gotten to it. They probably weren’t interested in his bankbook anyway.

Time passed quickly as he sorted out the situations one by one. There were 6 minutes left until the bus arrived. Even though it wasn’t a very big road and not many cars used it, the bus stop was quite modern. Taein turned his head again to check the bus arrival time – 5 minutes left. Just as he stuck his face out toward the road again, he saw a car passing at a moderate speed.

Someone was sticking their face out through the wide-open rear window.

“Huh? Fuck?”

A face flushed with irritation dramatically relaxed when it spotted Taein. He stretched out his arm and pointed to where Taein was sitting. Taein was also looking at him. Jang Ihwan. The moment Taein stood up, a sedan that had made an illegal U-turn came and stopped in front of the bus stop. The sound of a door opening was immediately heard, and Jang Ihwan strode toward the bus stop. A chilling smile was plastered on his face.

“Where is this place?”

Jang Ihwan, who had pushed Taein with his body, checked the bus stop name with his face completely scrunched up.

“What are you doing all the way out here? Hyung-nim. Do you know how much oil we spilled on the ground today looking for hyung-nim?”

He already knew what Jang Ihwan had done in broad daylight, how he had made his house. There had been too many things to pretend he didn’t know and speak calmly. He had even placed Eundo at the church facility because of this bastard. Taein, who was forcibly seated in the chair, only rolled his eyes up to glare at Jang Ihwan.

“Yeah, look at me like that. Hyung-nim. Me too, fuck, I don’t have any fucking intention of considering your situation anymore, so it’s fine. We’re even.”