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The car soon departed. Despite the narrow alley, he boldly swung the steering wheel, making the body sway constantly. Taein didn’t say anything for a while, but opened his mouth once they reached the main road. Taking this road meant he had no business in the outskirts at minimum.
“I don’t know where we’re going, but I need to be back before lunch.”
“When’s lunch?”
He pretended not to know something everyone would know. Taein let out a deep breath before answering.
“Around twelve, one o’clock.”
The man responded with “uh, uh” as if thinking about it, then turned the steering wheel several times with one hand. It seemed he was going to change direction completely. Taein, whose body swayed for a moment, grabbed the seat handle to maintain his balance. The car seemed to keep moving away from Juhang.
“……”
There was a lot to say, but it wasn’t the situation for it. The man was also silent after grabbing the steering wheel. No matter what he said, he would probably just say it was his fault for not showing trust, or tell him to know his place. If not that, he wouldn’t even pretend to listen. Taein vaguely pictured the man’s next reaction based on what he had heard so far. After driving like that for quite a while, the car stopped at a shabby rest stop.
It might have been different in the past, but now it was a rest stop that had deteriorated like ruins. There was something like iron bars next to the parking lot, but their purpose was unclear. Overall, it was a place with a desolate atmosphere. Still, it seemed they were doing business like a convenience store, as he could see people standing inside the rest stop building. The man got out first and threw words at Taein.
“I’m gonna go drain some water.”
Taein looked at the man’s eyes and just nodded slightly. Whatever. He only spat the words inwardly.
The man took out a cigarette pack and changed direction. As if biting the cigarette pack with his teeth, he took out one cigarette and seemed to head toward the bathroom. The rest stop sign and building were rusted and in terrible condition, but the bathroom was relatively decent. Besides the man, he could see two or three other men coming out of that building. The man who entered the bathroom while smoking soon disappeared from sight as well.
Though his reaction was just so-so, he would probably return before lunch.
Even though he had gotten in the car with bleak thoughts, surely the man wouldn’t go as far as to bury him.
“……”
For a moment, he had an ominous feeling and quickly turned around, but he didn’t see anything like a shovel. Well, even if there was one, it would be in the trunk.
While he was having all sorts of thoughts alone, he saw the man finish his business and come out of the bathroom.
He was biting the cigarette like chewing dried squid. Smoke was spouting freely from his mouth. Taein pretended to look elsewhere while watching the man walk over.
There was something strange about his habitual actions. He received greetings from gangsters in alleys, was connected to loan business whether as a hobby or what, and even Jang Ihwan couldn’t move against him. Just looking at the surrounding situation, he didn’t seem like a particularly rough person… The man didn’t walk swaggeringly like ordinary thugs. Though his posture was sometimes crooked, the tips of his dress shoes always pointed straight ahead. Because of that distinctive way of walking, when Taein first saw the man, he had mistaken him for something like a gentlemanly businessman.
Taein listened to the crisply falling footsteps, then turned his gaze elsewhere.
The man soon opened the car door.
“You go take a piss too.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“There won’t be anywhere to piss when we get there, will there?”
Then the man took out a new cigarette. He only roughly bowed his head when he first spoke, but he stood properly when saying there wouldn’t be anywhere to piss. Whether he exhaled smoke or not, the inside was filled with a faint haze.
Taein, who had been scanning the surroundings without responding, reluctantly opened the passenger door. It was a day with warm yet cool wind blowing. The warm energy immediately reached his face, making him feel good for a moment. He slowly moved his feet toward the bathroom without looking at the man or saying anything to him.
There was one middle-aged man urinating in the bathroom. After briefly considering whether to go into a stall, he stood in front of the urinal at the very front. Even now, years after becoming an Omega, old habits remained in his body. As long as there weren’t perverted bastards who knew he was an Omega, he would naturally use urinals. It was when Taein unzipped and put his hand on his underwear.
“Hey!”
Suddenly, a loud shout was heard.
When he turned around, the man was standing at the entrance with a fierce expression.
He looked at him with puzzlement for just a moment, but the man quickly turned his eyes to look at someone else. It was a gaze directed at that middle-aged man who was there. As if he couldn’t end with just looking, he walked directly over and looked down at him from the side. It was already at the point where urine was dripping from the tip of the man’s penis. The middle-aged man seemed flustered by the man looking at him with his chin raised high, and left the bathroom in a half-pissing, half-not state. It was almost a fleeing movement.
The man still looked unsatisfied even after driving one person away. He muttered “fuck” quietly, then approached Taein and raised his chin again. Was he telling him to leave too? Taein made eye contact with the man and withdrew his hand from the zipper. He couldn’t understand his intention.
“Tsk.”
The gaze that reached Taein was brief. The man who had looked at Taein with a “fucking annoying” face for a few seconds walked steadily to position himself at the bathroom entrance. Then he spread his legs wide and said this one thing.
“Piss.”
“What?”
“I said piss.”
Just when he was feeling troubled, wondering if he was going to monitor him, the man turned around while maintaining his wide stance. He blocked the entrance while looking outside. It seemed his purpose wasn’t him but something else. Though Taein was flustered by the man’s sudden appearance, he had been feeling the urge to urinate. It was awkward to just go back to the car in this situation, so he first unzipped and proceeded.
Besides the mirror attached in front of the sink, there were mirrors attached throughout the bathroom.
In one of the small mirrors, the man’s entire back was reflected.
Taein was looking there when he flinched. Suddenly, the man had jerked his body.
It seemed like he was chasing someone away.
When someone seemed to be trying to enter, he even made “whoa~ whoa~” sounds.
Why is he acting like that? Is he crazy?
His heart became urgent at the incomprehensible behavior. Taein quickly urinated and hurriedly arranged his pants. After roughly washing his hands and heading toward the entrance, he made eye contact with the man who had turned his head back.
“Done?”
“Ah, yeah.”
Only then did he straighten his posture as if he had finished his task. The man bowed to the men hesitating in front, putting his hands together as if nothing had happened.
“Hyungs, please comfortably take care of your business.”
Then he walked forward without any hesitation, but only Taein, left alone, was making eye contact with the men. Taein immediately raised his eyes upward. Still feeling like their gazes were piercing him, he started walking and opened his mouth.
“He’s been acting like that since earlier… seems like a strange person…”
He trailed off his words like that and left the building. The man was already in the car starting the engine. The heavy engine sound was covering the occasional bird songs and wind sounds.
* * *
The car that had been driving for a long time stopped in front of some black tent structure. The front was covered with mountains, and the back was fields. Though it seemed like there was an ocean beyond the mountains, it was hard to confirm from this angle. Only the tent structure sitting alone revealed its presence. Taein confirmed this through the front windshield and his heartbeat gradually quickened. Though it wasn’t deep in the mountains, they had ultimately come to a place with only one suspicious structure in the middle of nowhere.
What happened at the rest stop earlier seemed to be the man’s show of threat, telling him to drain his water once before dealing with big business.
Taein looked at the man who had gotten out first and fell into brief contemplation.
If he ran as he was, couldn’t he somehow reach the main road?
Though they had come quite far in, still.
It wasn’t because he was afraid of what would happen to him, but because he was afraid of not being able to keep his promise with Eundo. He didn’t want to disappoint the child. Moreover, hadn’t he even heard Eundo’s crying today? Until the moment he was responsible for him, he wanted to give the child only joy. Though he was already half-failed and felt bitter laughter, that’s exactly why he couldn’t break his promise.
The man who got out of the car seemed to check the wheels in front, looking downward, then entered the tent without saying anything. Had about 3 minutes passed? He came out again, fixed the vinyl door with randomly attached steel posts, and bit a cigarette. How many had he smoked just today? At that rate, three or four packs a day would be easy.
The man was smoking in front of the car when he sent his eyes toward him.
He pushed his head forward and gestured with his hand.
Come here. Come out.
Taein, who unconsciously touched his face, quietly opened the passenger door. When he stood outside with feet barely extended as if being forcibly dragged, the man pointed inside the tent with a chin gesture. Then only one slightly open door remained behind the man who had entered first.
Taein walked step by step with weakened legs. If he were to escape backward, he would probably have to run for 30 minutes, and during that time, the man would probably come out at least once. He didn’t want to enter the tent, but he couldn’t turn back and run away either.
Even when he looked back just in case, there was only one narrow road stretching long between the yellowed, dried fields. It wasn’t a distance for escaping.
Hesitantly, when he approached closely and grabbed the steel post of the vinyl door, a chilling energy spread throughout his body.
Water was also flowing below. Looking closely, it was blood.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
