“Then never do that again from now on. I hate liars more than anyone else in the world.”
As soon as I turned around, I regretted saying that, but it was already too late. I quickly entered the convenience store before Jung Hyun-wook could call me back. This time, he didn’t hold me back.
So I ended up surprised when I ran into Jung Hyun-wook again in front of the convenience store.
Leaning against a telephone pole and staring only at the ground, he merely extended his arm to tap ash into a paper cup on the table. White smoke rose long between his fingers. The paper cup was piled high with cigarette butts. Could it be that he’d been doing this the whole time since I entered the convenience store?
When I walked toward him while hoisting up my bag, he slowly raised his head. After crushing out his cigarette, he laughed lowly.
“I waited because I have something to say.”
He grabbed me as if anxious when I didn’t respond.
“Hyo-kyung-ah.”
What was he trying to confess? Whatever it was, I didn’t have the confidence to hear it. That’s when it happened. Men who suddenly appeared restrained Jung Hyun-wook’s arms and dragged him into an alley.
It happened in an instant. The men in suits moved with economical precision, covering Jung Hyun-wook’s mouth and subduing that large frame all at once.
“Jung Hyun-wook!”
My short scream was also blocked by a man’s hand.
“What’s this? Bring that one along too.”
At those words, when Jung Hyun-wook struggled like mad, merciless fists drove into his abdomen several times. With a groan, his waist collapsed limply. Only the sound of feet dragging echoed through the quiet alley.
It was terrible. I watched all of it with my mouth covered. When we entered the end of the alley where not a single ray of light penetrated, the cloth covering Jung Hyun-wook’s mouth fell away.
They slammed Jung Hyun-wook onto the back alley floor filled with dirty filth. At the same time, a man wearing an obviously expensive suit appeared.
“Hyun-wook-ah. Snap out of it.”
He tapped the face of the unconscious Jung Hyun-wook. When Jung Hyun-wook painfully pushed up his eyelids, the man laughed as if excited about something.
“Tae-hwa… hyung?”
Jo Tae-hwa…. I had seen the name in an article about the mass layoff of cleaning workers at the Songrim Building. President Jo Tae-hwa of Taegang Securities was the eldest son of Chairman Jo Hyun of Taegang Group and the heir who would lead the next generation of Taegang Group.
Coincidentally, the article stating that the representative of the company that signed a new cleaning contract with Songrim was President Jo Tae-hwa’s fiancée was taken down just one day after being published in a small daily newspaper.
“Fuck. I wondered what slippery bastard was throwing mud on my wedding gift, and it turns out it was you, Hyun-wook.”
“Ah… so bringing a precious young master to the third wife position requires a gift? But did you agree with your fiancée? Is such a dirty gift okay? If it were me, I wouldn’t want it even if you gave it to me.”
Jung Hyun-wook responded to Jo Tae-hwa’s sneering with a knife-edged sneer of his own. When he chuckled as if genuinely amused, Jo Tae-hwa raised his hand at a merciless speed as if to strike Jung Hyun-wook’s face. A ring densely set with diamonds on his fourth finger sparkled.
“Stop it! With a ring on your hand…!!”
My mouth was roughly covered again. When the large hand covered half my face, even breathing became difficult. Tears trickled out.
“Don’t touch him! You came to talk to me. Let him go. He has nothing to do with this.”
“Is he your friend, Hyun-wook?”
When Jo Tae-hwa, who had slowly walked over to me, gestured with his chin to the men, I could breathe again. I glared at him while gasping for breath.
“Which family’s young master? It’s a face I couldn’t possibly forget.”
“Hyung, it’s not like that. He’s a school friend. Let him go.”
Jung Hyun-wook tried to persuade Jo Tae-hwa while forcibly suppressing his increasingly rough momentum. Jo Tae-hwa looked at Jung Hyun-wook like that and snickered.
“Ah, a school friend? He’s pretty.”
Having lost interest upon hearing he wasn’t a young master from a notable family, Jo Tae-hwa turned around.
“Hyun-wook-ah. But why can’t you hide your emotions so unlike yourself?”
Just like that, Jo Tae-hwa grabbed my hair and dragged me in front of Jung Hyun-wook. The burly men pressed down on Jung Hyun-wook’s back as he jerked up convulsively. He shouted like a roar.
“If your father weren’t Jung Kyeong-hwan, the CEO of Songrim, you’d be in this state right now. Huh? Do you understand, Hyun-wook-ah? So stop acting like you’re so great when you’re not.”
Jo Tae-hwa shook my hair right in front of Jung Hyun-wook’s nose. It felt like my scalp would be torn off. I bit my lips and scratched at the ground, trying not to look into his eyes.
“If you stick your nose in my business one more time, it won’t end like this. Got it?”
Having finished speaking, Jo Tae-hwa released my hair. I clenched my teeth desperately to keep from crying.
“Pretty boy. I have nothing against you. Think of it as the fault of choosing the wrong friend.”
I squeezed my eyes shut at the hand lightly brushing past my cheek. Goosebumps rose all over my body.
He’s a man who wouldn’t hesitate to do anything to achieve his goals. Finally, the shape of the despair Jung Hyun-wook had experienced became vividly tangible.
The world Jung Hyun-wook belonged to was one where his methods didn’t work.
I supported Jung Hyun-wook, who couldn’t walk well, up the rooftop room stairs. I stubbornly caught and brought him home even as he shook me off saying he could go alone.
Although we both smelled of the nauseating back alley floor, neither of us cared. On the last stair of the rooftop, my legs wavered and I had to grit my teeth.
The aluminum front door opened wide with just a slight push, revealing the interior completely. As soon as we took off our shoes, we both flopped down on the floor without any ceremony.
Momentarily, dizziness struck. Supporting that large frame gasping for breath beside me was no simple task.
It was a room of about three pyeong with an attached kitchen. Excluding the small wardrobe and desk, there was barely space to lie down. But through the large window, the sky was visible.
“You can see stars from here.”
Semi-basement and rooftop room. Somehow it made me laugh.
“Jung Hyun-wook.”
He didn’t answer.
“What were you going to say to me earlier?”
He said he had something to say and waited for me.
“You were going to tell me the truth, right? About you. About your father… But those people showed up uninvited and ruined everything.”
My palm that had scratched the back alley floor stung.
“So I’ll forgive you.”
His hand, which had been looking only at the ceiling without saying anything, covered his eye sockets. I also looked at the ceiling where the wallpaper was peeling in spots from age. My consciousness hazily sank.
“Hyo-kyung-ah.”
Am I imagining it? Jung Hyun-wook’s voice seemed to be trembling.
“I’m… afraid of you. I’m scared you’ll be disappointed, and I’m scared you’ll despise me the way I despise them.”
I could feel the cold, hard floor. Yet when I heard Jung Hyun-wook’s regular breathing right next to me, tension released as if by magic. My eyelids closed with drowsiness rushing in suddenly.
I think I woke up briefly in between. The hand covering me with a blanket up to my chin. Jung Hyun-wook’s gaze that seemed to be watching me while leaning against the wall. Irregular afterimages like broken memories came to mind.
When I completely woke up, Jung Hyun-wook was breaking dishes. Or rather, it was more accurate to say he had almost broken them. He was crouching his large body in front of the small sink, using a knife on a cutting board. He looked quite suited to holding a knife.
“If you’re awake, go wash your face. Let’s eat.”
Jung Hyun-wook must have eyes in the back of his head. While arranging my disheveled hair, I wiggled my bare feet inside the blanket. My jacket was hanging on a hanger. I didn’t know where my socks had gone.
I washed up perfunctorily in the small room that seemed doubtful Jung Hyun-wook could pass through. When I came out after just dabbing some water on roughly, a table was set with two bowls of ramen. The smell was really good.
“Sit down. I didn’t have rice so I made ramen. Actually I don’t know how to cook anything. I’m not sure if it’ll taste good.”
The ramen topped with green onions and egg looked quite splendid. I quickly picked up my chopsticks and slurped up the noodles. The hot broth going down my esophagus seemed to melt my body that had stiffened from the cold.
“It’s delicious.”
The word “delicious” came from my mouth that didn’t know taste. He grinned. Starting his chopsticks later than me, he emptied his bowl in just a few moves.
“Want more of mine?”
I scooped some of my ramen into Jung Hyun-wook’s bowl. I could feel his gaze watching me intently. He looked like he was holding something back the whole time. But in the end, he kept his mouth shut.
Memories from last night briefly passed by. We had now reached an age where we realized it was better to leave certain kinds of emotions ambiguous. That was how we, in our immaturity, maintained our relationship.
