Around that time, Yiyoung had started to resemble his mother so much in terms of facial features and atmosphere that Ki Taeseong would raise his hand to strike, only to hesitate and turn away with an uncertain expression. At some point, he would just laugh it off as if Yiyoung was cute, as long as Yiyoung didn’t pick a fight too much.
Of course, today might not be one of those days. Even so, it was better for Yiyoung to get hit than Chahyun.
Yiyoung gulped and steeled himself as he watched Ki Taeseong clench his fist tightly.
‘What’s the worst that can happen? My jawbone breaks?’
Just as he was thinking that, Ki Taeseong, who had been glaring viciously at Chahyun above Yiyoung’s head, was suddenly taken aback.
“Huh… Look at this bastard’s eyes.”
Then, for some reason, his expression hardened seriously as he muttered incomprehensible words.
“You’re not just some young master like you look, are you?”
Ki Taeseong reached his hand toward the side of Yiyoung’s forehead. When he grabbed Chahyun by the collar, the back of Yiyoung’s head was pushed, making his head bow. While Yiyoung let out a small “eek,” Ki Taeseong spoke in an unusually low, sunken voice.
“What. Is someone bullying him, so the yakuza’s coming out?”
Meanwhile, Chahyun carefully wrapped his hand around the back of Yiyoung’s neck. Judging by the direction his large hand was exerting force, it seemed he was trying to make Yiyoung step back to his side or behind him. Right now it was a gentle touch, as if coaxing Yiyoung to move aside, but there was an air that he would forcefully shove him aside at any moment. Yiyoung, feeling like a shrimp caught in a whale fight, put all his strength into his neck and feet to hold his ground.
Yiyoung couldn’t bear to watch as Ki Taeseong raised his tightly clenched fist high, aimed at Chahyun, and squeezed his eyes shut. As the atmosphere became uncontrollably sharp, tears welled up in Yiyoung’s eyes and he suddenly shouted.
“I’ll give you money!”
“What?”
Ki Taeseong’s voice snapped to attention at the mention of money. Yiyoung shed tears between his closed eyelids as he forced out words he hated saying more than death. Even as he stomped his feet, he immediately corrected himself.
“Lend—I’ll lend it to you. Hyung said he’d pay it back. Right?”
Of course, he had no expectation whatsoever that he’d get it back. But this wasn’t the time to be upset, so Yiyoung shook his head briskly left and right to shake off the tears.
“So just leave for today. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Then Chahyun interjected with a displeased tone.
“No, why is the conversation suddenly going like this…”
Not knowing what kind of annoying thing he might say, Yiyoung cut him off by jabbing Chahyun’s lower abdomen with his elbow. It must have hurt quite a bit because Chahyun made an “ugh” sound and bent his head. Yiyoung could feel Chahyun resting his forehead on the top of his head, groaning. Taking advantage of that gap, Yiyoung kept his gaze fixed on Ki Taeseong and said.
“But I really don’t have thirty million won. Hyung, you know I pay bank interest and principal every month. Even if a famous singer performs a song, most of it is per-project pay, so my actual income is small.”
Fortunately, Ki Taeseong completely withdrew his attention from Chahyun. Ki Taeseong asked with an excited expression, as if his interest was entirely focused on Yiyoung.
“How much can you give?”
“Really not much. About three million won.”
Ki Taeseong immediately scrunched up his face.
“Hey, are you kidding? I said thirty million and you’re offering three million?”
I’m lending it to you!
In any case, that really was all he had. After giving that money, Yiyoung would have to survive the next ten days on whatever food was left at home.
The composing income he’d recently received and his monthly salary from the whiskey bar had all gone to paying off his loans, leaving only emergency funds. Those emergency funds were three million won. By Yiyoung’s standards, this was an emergency situation, so it was an appropriate use of the money.
Even though he was lending money that was precious as blood, Yiyoung glared at Ki Taeseong who was complaining and retorted.
“Take even that and go. Even if you shake me down completely, nothing more will come out.”
Ki Taeseong stared directly into Yiyoung’s eyes. Soon, seeming to think he wasn’t lying, he obediently turned around and said.
“You know my account number, right?”
Yiyoung nodded with a deeply disgruntled expression. From behind, Chahyun also let out a “huh” sound, clearly showing his displeasure. However, the person he was dissatisfied with was probably Yiyoung, not Ki Taeseong. In Chahyun’s eyes, Yiyoung must seem frustrating and stupid, but this was the best option for him.
If the police came and Chahyun’s identity was revealed, there was no telling how Ki Taeseong would react.
Ki Taeseong was shameless enough to lie in a hospital bed forever and engage in extortion and threats even if Chahyun just touched a hair on his head. Ki Taeseong would have even less reason to be considerate toward a man who had nothing to do with Yiyoung.
Of course, he didn’t think a mere gangster could extort money from Moon Chahyun, but dealing with him would also take time and money. Three million won was cheap for preventing that disaster in advance. Yiyoung suddenly realized.
‘This is why he brought up money first when he wanted to break up with me.’
Because it settles things cleanly. Without a doubt, there must have been many people around Chahyun who only schemed to extract something from him.
Even Yiyoung himself had first thought that if Ki Taeseong knew about Chahyun’s background, he would naturally want to borrow money. It was only natural that Chahyun, who had lost his memory, would be suspicious and wary of Yiyoung, who was nothing but a stranger to him.
In any case, relieved that the situation had been resolved for now, Yiyoung relaxed his tension.
His stiffly tensed body loosened as he rubbed his face with both hands and caught his breath. No sooner had he done so than suddenly a “thwack!” sound rang out.
Yiyoung whipped his head around in shock toward where the dull noise came from.
He saw Chahyun groaning while leaning one shoulder against the wall.
“Urgh…”
“Chahyun-ssi!”
Yiyoung cried out in alarm.
Having been hit while letting his guard down, Chahyun slid down the wall, groaning while holding one cheek. Yiyoung crouched down and sat close to Chahyun, who was squatting with bent knees. As he tried to examine Chahyun’s face, Ki Taeseong spoke with a satisfied voice.
“Fuck. That’s nothing.”
Yiyoung whipped his head toward Ki Taeseong and fiercely scowled. On the other hand, Ki Taeseong looked thoroughly refreshed, as if hitting Chahyun once had relieved ten years of pent-up frustration.
With that face, Ki Taeseong wiped his fist on the short-sleeved t-shirt he was wearing. Chahyun’s blood smeared on the white cotton fabric. Ki Taeseong said to Yiyoung in a voice so lighthearted he could fly away.
“What’s this? For once you’ve met someone pretty decent?”
Just now he said it was nothing, and now he’s saying he’s decent? And if he’s decent, why did you hit him?
Just as he was about to snap back, Ki Taeseong added something absurd with a grin, as if Yiyoung was commendable.
“You were always picking up worthless things from somewhere and worrying Mom like crazy. Eunsu noona will be pleased.”
Eunsu noona was Yiyoung’s mother. And no matter how pathetic the people Yiyoung had dated were, none of them were as much of an unemployed thug as Ki Taeseong.
Yiyoung was so dumbfounded that he lost the will to argue and sullenly turned his head.
“He’s not someone I’m dating, so don’t tell Mom.”
“Not dating, my ass. Would someone who’s not your boyfriend attack a gangster because of you?”
Ki Taeseong glanced at Chahyun and let out a short snicker.
Chahyun seemed unable to hear anything, his face hurting too much. As Ki Taeseong moved his feet, he made one final point.
“Send the money. I’ll really pay it back.”
Only after Ki Taeseong disappeared did an exhausted Yiyoung let out a long sigh. Then he struggled to look at the face of Chahyun, who was still crouching beside him next to the house wall.
***
As Yiyoung examined Chahyun’s injury, a worried expression naturally formed on his face.
Having been punched by someone ignorantly strong, it was naturally swollen, his lip was split, and bruising was already starting to form around his eye. When Yiyoung opened Chahyun’s mouth to look inside, blood was pooling on his pure white molars as if something had been torn somewhere. It would probably take at least a week to fully recover.
Having released Chahyun’s face, Yiyoung’s reproachful tone came out unintentionally due to his upset feelings.
“Weren’t you going home?”
Perhaps because of the pain, Chahyun didn’t answer right away and only furrowed his brow. Yiyoung continued.
“That’s why—why do you keep coming here? I told you not to visit.”
“I didn’t visit, I secretly followed you. Originally I was going to leave without showing my face.”
Chahyun explained as if he was wronged. Since he wasn’t going to show his face and talk, Yiyoung was even more puzzled about why he came and tilted his head.
“Why?”
“I was worried.”
Chahyun complained while wiping the blood on his lip with his thumb.
“You live in a place like this, how can I not worry? And on top of that, today you’re being asked where your ex-boyfriend is, the one who was supposedly trash?”
Come to think of it, when the text from Ki Taeseong came, Chahyun had seen the contact name “Trash,” so he would have read the message content that appeared with it too.
It seemed he’d followed because he was worried Yiyoung’s ex-boyfriend might come to his house and cause harm. He’d planned to leave after confirming nothing was wrong. But it must have looked like Ki Taeseong was threatening Yiyoung.
