Hui-myeong quietly let out a sigh, then unlocked the bathroom stall with his head lowered as if he’d committed a crime. As soon as he opened the door, Do-ha barged inside.
“Ugh!”
At Do-ha’s intrusion, Hui-myeong’s back hit the wall. Such sudden contact in a bathroom wasn’t that big of an event between them. Even if he pulled down his pants and fucked him without a kiss, it wouldn’t be special.
Do-ha, who had been sucking his lips as if to tear them off, roughly shoved his tongue in. Though his wrist hurt from being pressed against his watch in the tight grip, knowing he would get more violent if he resisted, Hui-myeong obediently endured. Only after greedily tasting inside his mouth for a while did Do-ha’s lips finally pull away.
“What did those bastards say?”
Do-ha asked venomously while gripping Hui-myeong’s chin and staring at his lips. The sucked area was plumply swollen and glistened with saliva.
“N-nothing much. What you heard was all of it.”
“What did they say that made them talk about getting their dicks ripped off if I caught them?”
“Just. They said it’s amazing you’re not tired of sleeping with me for 10 years, th-that’s all they said.”
Flustered, Hui-myeong desperately made up a lie. If he told him straight about the talk of gangbangs and such, Do-ha would really go rip off his friends’ dicks. Fortunately, he believed Hui-myeong’s words moderately. Since it was a gathering to celebrate his marriage, he probably didn’t want a big commotion.
“Next time those guys say anything that makes you uncomfortable about you, tear their mouths open. I’ll handle the cleanup.”
“I-I will.”
Hui-myeong hurriedly nodded in response. He was lucky it ended with a kiss today. Mad Hat was a place where even worse things would be met with indifference. It was common for the bathroom door to lock after a couple went in. In fact, even that was being gentle. Guys high on drugs sometimes went all the way to penetrative sex right in the room.
“And you watch your behavior too. The reason I bring you here isn’t to show you off, but to warn those bastards that they’ll die if they touch you wrong.”
“Y-yeah.”
He was on guard like a male wary of other males eyeing his female. Hui-myeong hadn’t done anything wrong. He had just been dragged here by Do-ha. There was no way Jung Hui-myeong would be happy being displayed as Do-ha’s male lover for 10 years. But since he couldn’t provoke a crazy person, he had no choice but to stay quiet.
“Let’s go.”
“Already?”
Without hearing any other answer from Do-ha, Hui-myeong was led out of the club by his hand. A driver was already waiting outside.
Do-ha put him in the back seat and closed the door. Hui-myeong rolled down the window and stared at him with a look asking why only he was getting in.
“Go home first. I’ll stop by Jay’s place and then come.”
Behind Do-ha’s figure, the lit neon signs flashed garishly. Music from the club leaked outside.
“Why?”
As soon as he heard the name “Jay,” disappointment seeped into Hui-myeong’s voice.
“She said there’s a place she wants to introduce me to. Fucking bitch calling me to come and go at this hour.”
“…”
Though he wanted to hide his inner feelings, Hui-myeong’s eyebrows drooped sadly. Seol Jay was the woman who would marry Do-ha next week. Though arranged marriages were familiar to chaebols, there were more obligations to fulfill before marriage than expected. The trend these days was apparently to expose it to look like a love marriage or something. Especially since she was a famous cellist, people’s attention would be focused on them.
“Stay home, loosen up your ass, and wait. I’ll come fuck you soon.”
“Okay.”
Do-ha pressed Hui-myeong’s lips firmly, then reluctantly let go. Their relationship was deep enough that he didn’t blush at such embarrassing words.
As the car departed, Hui-myeong turned to look out the window. Do-ha stood there with his hands in his pockets until Hui-myeong disappeared. With affectionate eyes and an expression that said he already missed him, Hui-myeong made eye contact with Do-ha.
But as the vehicle turned the corner, he turned forward as if nothing had happened. The acting could stop now.
“Tiresome.”
After finally uttering aloud the words he’d been shouting inside all along, he felt somewhat relieved.
Everything was nauseating. It was ridiculous that at a gathering to celebrate Do-ha’s marriage, the prospective bride was nowhere to be seen and Hui-myeong occupied the seat next to him, and moreover, no one was curious about the bride. Their only interest was how Jung Hui-myeong would stick to Do-ha when he got married.
How long would he have to continue this life? He was nearly thirty now, and Hui-myeong had nothing and knew nothing properly.
For 10 years, Hui-myeong had been raised according to Do-ha’s tastes. With an appearance and body perfectly tailored to his preferences, he wasn’t much different from a pet dog. The only difference was that they had sex together. He thought he’d be freed from this tiresome doll play when Do-ha got married, but that was wishful thinking.
Outside the car window, they passed Seoul’s glittering entertainment district and entered dark alleys. Seeing words like “Pawn Shop,” “Daily Interest,” and “Loan” plastered all over the windows made the Seoul from before and the Seoul now feel like different spaces.
Would it really be scary to borrow money from places like that?
Hui-myeong thought of the loan sharks he’d seen in dramas.
The money he needed was fifty million won. 10 years ago, it was the amount his mother received in exchange for handing over her son to Do-ha.
It had seemed like a huge amount of money back then, but thinking about it now, it was absurd for selling a child. That price was probably the value she put on her son.
Borrowing would be too scary, so wouldn’t it be okay if I sold things?
Since it was a pawn shop, he could probably pawn things or sell them. Seeing it said “Loan,” they seemed to lend money without collateral, but Hui-myeong didn’t have the ability to pay back the interest from the terrifying private loan sector.
This should probably be okay.
Hui-myeong thought while looking at the watch he was wearing. He’d heard the price of this watch was about someone’s annual salary. The problem was that Hui-myeong, who had never had social experience, didn’t know what someone’s annual salary was. Not only that, but Hui-myeong lacked a sense of reality in many areas.
Until high school, he barely lived by mooching off the bar called “Suseolhwa” where his mother worked, so there was no adult to teach him about the world, and as soon as he became an adult, he only lived within the fence Do-ha made, so it was natural. But now he had to prepare to stand alone. He didn’t want to be eroded by that comfort and deteriorate like a peacock that could no longer fly and was only pretty.
If the money from selling things is too little, couldn’t I just save up money for now?
Since Do-ha liked to control things so much, he couldn’t even imagine selling things while living together. If he got caught wrong, it wouldn’t be strange if his leg really broke.
No matter how much Do-ha was Do-ha, his interest in Hui-myeong would naturally decrease after marriage. No, Hui-myeong hoped so. If he took advantage of that gap to sell off the watch and other things? If even after doing that he couldn’t gather fifty million won, couldn’t he run away with whatever money he had?
If I get caught doing that, I’ll get beaten up again.
If Do-ha found out he’d sold off the things he’d given him to make fifty million won, he wouldn’t stay quiet.
It wasn’t that Hui-myeong hadn’t tried to run away during those 10 years. But he was caught every time, and each time, Do-ha beat and raped Hui-myeong like a madman. Even after coming to Korea, he tried to escape again, but the result was disastrous as expected.
But this time was different. Do-ha’s marriage was a shock to Hui-myeong like a meteor falling, both in good and bad ways. There were two possibilities Hui-myeong had imagined for his life. One was Do-ha getting tired of him and abandoning him, or the other was him escaping perfectly. Nowhere in those options was there one where he stuck to the side of married Do-ha like a parasite offering his hole.
“We’ve arrived.”
Cutting through Hui-myeong’s complicated feelings, the car stopped in front of the apartment. It was a luxury apartment located on high ground overlooking downtown Seoul. Hui-myeong got out of the car, easily passed through the complex security, and went up to the 23rd floor.
The hill was high, and the floor number was even higher. Do-ha really loved this place. It was because it was a neighborhood you couldn’t come up to without a car, and with tight security, not just anyone could enter and leave.
Do-ha liked dividing people into classes. No matter what standard he used to divide them, his position was always at the top. People at the top liked to make clear differences from those who were inferior to them.
Wealth, appearance, ability. Having a male lover was the only minus Do-ha had, but he wasn’t gay to begin with. His taste was just focused solely on one person, Jung Hui-myeong.
Because of that, he extremely hated his territory getting dirty. He despised it like a drop of muddy water falling into clear valley water.
Already in a bad mood and trapped in a high-rise apartment, his stuffy feelings made him nauseous. Hui-myeong changed into a hoodie, pulled a ball cap down over his head, and went outside. Though a bleak autumn wind blew, it was more open than being indoors.
In front of the apartment named Triple Palace, there was a separate shopping arcade in the form of an underground arcade, which Hui-myeong disliked. Like the apartment, it was suffocating.
