“Someone who seems refined. Appears well-mannered. Looks smart. Don’t you think?”
“…”
Geun-yeong turned his head to look outside the window while listening to the man’s nonsense. Far away, the long-stretched streetlights reflected on the black river under the bridge looked really beautiful. He had never once thought that the dark river water beside the road was beautiful or attractive. This was the first time. Even the black river at night looked peaceful and beautiful. It was that kind of night for Geun-yeong. While listening to the man’s nonsense, he hoped this night would continue.
And Kyung Jiho saw the kid’s expression reflected in the car window becoming relaxed. He saw the faint smile on his lips. Only then did he stop the nonsense that was hard even for himself to endure. And like the light shadows reflected on the dark river, he smiled along with the kid who was smiling faintly but beautifully.
It was like the moment a flash goes off. It was brilliant, lingering like a long afterimage, and yet as brief as an instant. It was that kind of night.
Track 8. Itching
As soon as they returned home, Geun-yeong first checked the blanket that had been hung out on the front veranda. And he was dismayed. It was still damp.
“What should I do…”
Kyung Jiho looked at the back of the kid who was feeling the hung blanket. His shoulders were drooping. It was the kind of posture where, if he had a tail or triangular ears, they would have been drooping too. While listening to the muttering filled with difficulty, Kyung Jiho went into the bathroom. After closing the door, he laughed out loud, “Haha.”
When he came out after washing, having completely wiped the smile off his face, Jiho said to the kid who was still sitting in the living room staring at the blanket:
“Go wash up. Time to sleep.”
At that sound, Geun-yeong, who had been staring at the blanket, moved his turning head in a very natural continuous motion to bow it.
As the man who had once again boldly undressed went into the room, Geun-yeong kept his head down to hide his expression and smiled shyly. While blushing and smiling, he wondered if he could have a body like that if he exercised diligently. And again, the area around his heart started to itch, but he dismissed it as probably being envious of Detective Kyung’s body.
Geun-yeong only raised his head after counting to five, even after the man who was barely wearing one piece of underwear had gone into the room. He headed to the bathroom with the items he had prepared while the detective was washing. Without any clear reason, he walked on tiptoe, careful not to make noise.
Geun-yeong entered the bathroom fully clothed and silently closed the door, then locked it silently. He checked once more to make sure it was really locked. Only then did he take off all his clothes and stand naked.
Trying not to look at his unimpressive body reflected in the foggy mirror, he placed his pump, sealed in a waterproof pack, on the sink. He attached a waterproof film over the needle insertion site. He had spent quite a lot of money buying these materials. It was also money that would continue to be spent in the future. Such realistic thoughts inevitably made him anxious.
By the way, the insulin in the reservoir would run out around tomorrow evening. At that time, he would need to change the entire set, so after removing everything, he could take a refreshing shower. His face, which had momentarily stiffened with anxiety, softened. He looked forward to the day when he would replace the insulin for the first time since wearing the insulin pump. So much that his heart was ticklishly pounding. Geun-yeong smiled again. He knew that laughing alone like this made him look crazy, but he couldn’t help it. He’d been feeling like laughing since earlier.
‘How did you two meet?’
‘I picked him up when he was crying on the street.’
‘Aw, come on. Stop joking and tell me the truth. Why are you two living together? Huh?’
Recalling the conversation between Nurse Bong and Detective Kyung, Geun-yeong smiled shyly again. He had been sobbing at the bus stop, and Detective Kyung had come to pick him up. Saying he was picked up while crying on the street wasn’t just not wrong, it was actually a very accurate description, but Nurse Bong didn’t believe it. Yet he believed that nonsensical talk about masturbating while doing a handstand.
Just remembering the word “handstand” made him laugh reflexively. He giggled and then stopped, his face immediately heating up. While he couldn’t even imagine masturbating while doing a handstand, he had now imagined the man masturbating in a normal position. Having just seen his refreshingly undressed body with only one tight piece of underwear left a few minutes ago, the imagination was quite vivid this time. Beyond embarrassment, he became so tense that he started to feel short of breath. Geun-yeong shook his head vigorously, making a “woong woong woong” sound, to clear away the seemingly heart-harmful imagination.
He disliked himself for constantly having strange thoughts about something as natural as a robust man masturbating. Detective Kyung had said he’d been living alone for the past three years, so he would have needed such activities. Then, three years ago, where and with whom—Ah. What on earth am I thinking!
Geun-yeong shook his head again. He had almost imagined something dangerously different from solo masturbation. When shaking his head to the point of dizziness wasn’t enough, he slapped his cheeks, making a “tchak, tchak” sound. Then he hurriedly turned on the shower.
Since he couldn’t go far from the pump placed on the sink, he had to stand in front of the sink and bring the shower to himself. He had to be careful not to splash water around, so he held the shower set to medium strength and wet his body as carefully as possible.
Inside the shower booth in that house’s bathroom, there was a mount at about the height of Geun-yeong’s waist. It had no other purpose. It had been installed separately, solely for Geun-yeong, to place his pump on while showering.
It was a perfectly set-up place where he didn’t need to worry about water splashing because of the separate shower booth, and he didn’t need to constantly worry about the pump falling off the curved sink surface. But despite all that, he didn’t want to go back to that house. Not just now, but never again in the future.
Geun-yeong, who had been giggling and feeling shy just a moment ago, now lowered the shower lever with a coldly stiffened face. He bunched up an Italian towel with unraveled threads and squeezed out body wash that could be commonly bought at the mart to make foam. A large amount of foam quickly formed. He preferred this to the so-called natural aroma something-or-other bath products that claimed not to use surfactants. He wasn’t sure about its effect on skin health, but he unconditionally preferred this. He liked how well it foamed, and above all, he liked the fact that after washing, he would smell the same as the man outside.
While aggressively making foam with a stiffened expression, Geun-yeong suddenly grinned again. He felt good. So good. He felt so good that he momentarily forgot the fact that he didn’t have a blanket to sleep under right now after finishing his shower.
It was a very large house with high ceilings, making the living room feel even more empty. The man sitting alone in the middle of it had turned off the lights because even the scattered shapes of shadows cast by various objects irritated him.
Even when neatly aligned and organized, objects revealed distorted shadow shapes the moment light touched them. He knew how to eliminate shadows. Not with dull lighting that illuminated only one side, but with a light so bright it would dazzle the eyes, illuminating every corner without gaps.
That kid was such an existence. When looking at him, all the disorder in the world seemed fine. It was bearable.
And now, Seokhun found it hard to tolerate even the elongated shadow formed at his feet due to light creeping in from outside the window. He tried to steady his increasingly rapid breathing before jumping up. He moved with angry steps. He pulled the living room curtains as if to tear them, closing the gaps between them.
After blocking even the faint light, he stood there with his hands on his hips. He still exhaled rapid breaths. He knew the reason for his shortness of breath. It was due to extreme anger.
There had been no call from Lee Dongjae. Although he was desperately waiting for Dongjae’s call, it wasn’t that he liked the man. He was a man of bad character by nature. His posture alone was a mess, leaning back in his chair with one leg propped up on his thigh. His sarcastic tone and eyes that seemed to try to penetrate everything were also quite displeasing. But right now, that man was the lead. To find Kyung Jiho, to get Geun-yeong back, he had no choice but to humble himself before that man.
‘It seems checking hospital information isn’t that complicated. On our side, the procedure to look up one person is quite rigorous.’
Lee Dongjae had explicitly expressed his displeasure about accessing hospital information. Seokhun wanted to ask how many times he had called to find out about that man’s whereabouts, but he had been holding back all this time.
However, as time passed, it became increasingly difficult to hold back. He felt he couldn’t bear it without hearing at least a progress report on what efforts that man was making to find Geun-yeong and Kyung Jiho. As the night deepened, the distorted face of the kid being violated under black shadows became increasingly vivid.
He took out the phone that had been in his pants pocket all along. After a moment of conflict, he finally made the call.
The other party answered immediately after just one ring, and Ji Seokhun inhaled to utter an appropriate initial greeting. But then…
[Yes. This is Lee Dongjae.]
“…”
[Who is this?]
“……”
[If you’ve made a call, you should speak instead of just breathing.]
“……”
[Fuck. Is this some pervert? Hey, mister. Your number’s showing up. If you’re not a TB patient when I catch you, you’ll die by my hands—]
Flustered, Ji Seokhun finally hung up the phone.
The person identifying himself as Lee Dongjae was speaking with a dialect. Since his accent was completely different from the man he’d met that morning, there was no need to even question the obvious difference in voice tone.
Clearly, it was a different person.
If this person claiming to be “Lee Dongjae” was actually a real police officer, and if he was the same “Lee Dongjae” who had accompanied Kyung Jiho to the hospital, then Ji Seokhun shouldn’t have hung up. He should have asked about Kyung Jiho’s whereabouts and requested help finding Geun-yeong again.
But before that, he needed to find out who that guy was who had claimed to be “Lee Dongjae.”
Who was that man who had recognized him and brazenly pretended to be Lee Dongjae? The answer didn’t come easily. His confusion only grew worse. When the solution process wasn’t working, he had to lay out possible answers and work backward.
Lee Dongjae. Kyung Jiho.
Among the possible candidates, excluding the real Lee Dongjae he had just spoken with, the only person left was Kyung Jiho.
If that man was Kyung Jiho who had taken Geun-yeong away?
Once he’d settled on this answer and worked backward, there were more than just one or two points that fit perfectly.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
