Gong Haejin extended his hand lightly, and a file settled neatly on top of it. He set it down on Dohui’s thigh with a thud. The cold sensation made Dohui flinch briefly.
Gong Haejin pulled a pen from inside his jacket. The tip drew a smooth, fluid line across the white paper. Dohui was still dazed. The drugs hadn’t fully worn off, and he had no way of knowing how many days he’d gone without eating, or how many men’s cocks he’d been forced to take.
Absently, he glanced down at himself above the file — at his own cock. The tip, pitifully shriveled, was bruised far worse than it should have been. Probably from being made to come so many times. His urethra ached and his balls were numb. He was realizing for the first time that a person could be forced to ejaculate this many times.
Even when he had no desire to, something inside his body kept pressing a button that wrung it out of him again and again. The feeling of coming continuously was not a good one at all. And eventually he’d reached a point where he felt it without even finishing — he was in such agony he came just from begging for it to stop.
Even now, the opening of his cock was numb and sore. Dohui bit his dry, cracked lips.
“Sign.”
Gong Haejin turned the file toward Dohui. He tapped the blank line twice as if to say — your turn now.
Where the tip of his neat fingernail landed, the printed text reading Im Dohui (Signature) felt unusually vivid. When had he prepared this? Dohui’s hazy eyes traveled slowly upward.
“Haa…….”
An unbelievable number was written there. He couldn’t take in a single one of the tiny other words — only the amount of money came into sharp, clear focus.
Then, having taken in that figure and finally Gong Haejin’s signature below it, Dohui’s hands began to shake.
“……This is, too much…… how am I supposed to pay this back.”
“Well. Just keep doing what you’re doing now.”
“Hff…… I, I don’t want to.”
“The more you refuse, the worse it’ll be for you.”
As he said it, he poked the inside of Dohui’s thigh with the rounded end of the pen.
With just that alone, his legs fell open. As though that were their natural state. He’d been spread apart so many times by now that keeping them closed felt like the stranger thing.
It was a sum he’d never once had cause to think about in his entire life. The kind of number you heard on the news when corrupt politicians were caught embezzling, or tossed around casually in movie dialogue.
That was why he wanted to ask. Why had they been so careless with something worth this much, careless enough to let it get stolen? His insides were in turmoil. If he signed this contract, he couldn’t begin to imagine how much longer he’d have to endure this.
He might truly end up surrendering his organs, his limbs, every last thing — and even in death, he might not be free, leaving his innocent mother to pay it off in his place.
“……How am I supposed to…… pay this back.”
He was seething with injustice. So consumed by it that the blood rushed to his head. The world before him spun. Tears streamed down and snot followed.
A shadow fell across Dohui’s face. Because being saddled with all of this, simply for having been deceived — it was too much to bear. And so with a throat already wrecked and ruined, he asked.
“This is a lie, isn’t it? You…… Director…… you’re trying to trick me too, aren’t you?”
“Why would I bother.”
“You know I can’t pay it back, so that’s why you’re doing this, isn’t it? I…… I won’t sign. Find the other people who stole the drugs…… they should have to pay too.”
“Why would I.”
“…….”
“Dohui. Why would I go and do that.”
What, go and fuck them too? Gong Haejin let out a very low laugh.
“No matter how desperate cock-havers are to get their dicks wet, I do have eyes, Dohui. I don’t exactly feel like putting my dick into faces that look like they’ve been through a grinder.”
Things have to at least be pretty.
He was exactly like a devil that had sprung out of hellfire. A beautiful and wicked devil. He patted Dohui’s swollen cheek. It had been so wet with tears that the pat came out with a wet, slapping sound.
“Don’t you want to get out of here?”
I want to get out. Desperately. Death felt like it was drawing closer by the minute. Dohui wanted to live. He had somewhere to go back to, alive. I’m going home.
“Where to…… where would I even go?”
“…….”
“Hic…….”
“What’s the complaint.”
He wasn’t asking him to pay it all back right now. He was planning to arrange a way for him to pay it off gradually. And if Dohui really did pay back the debt — maybe then he’d let him go without a fuss.
He reached his hand out to Dohui. But as if to ask — I already told you, so why are you asking again — Dohui’s head snapped sharply to the side. One corner of Gong Haejin’s mouth crept slowly upward. For all the beating and grinding down he’d done, Dohui was like a tumbler toy. He’d taken him for someone weak, but it turned out he knew how to throw a tantrum too.
Gong Haejin smiled and added:
“I’m just like that, Dohui.”
Never learned anything but how to be a thug. Can’t help being lowbrow. Saying that, he took hold of Dohui’s hand and pulled.
No matter how hard Dohui tried to pull his hand free, he was no match for Gong Haejin’s strength. The more he twisted and struggled, the tighter the grip on his arm became.
Only when the thought crossed his mind that one more attempt might actually snap the bone did Dohui go slack. His swollen cheeks flushed red as he sobbed — choking with the injustice of it all.
“Move.”
Next to the printed name that read Im Dohui, a line that was nearly perfectly straight — a signature in black — was drawn across the signature field.
***
A soft, warm scent reached him. After days of a suffocating night-blooming flower smell that had nearly deadened his sense of smell entirely, an unfamiliar fragrance pulled Dohui awake. He pressed his heavy eyelids open to find an unfamiliar place. The feeling against his back was different too.
He had clothes on. ……Clothes? They were definitely clothes. Dohui pulled back the blanket covering him and looked inside his waistband. The elastic stretched out and underwear came into view.
Is this a dream.
He felt like he’d been drifting endlessly between reality and nightmare. He blinked slowly, then reached his hand toward the long beam of sunlight slipping through the gaps in the blinds. As he did, an IV line he hadn’t even known was there pulled taut, and a small sting of pain followed.
“What…….”
It took Dohui a long time to register that this was not a dream. His mind moved slowly, like a carousel that had broken down. When did I get here. He tried to retrace his last memory — and gave up almost immediately. He watched the pale yellow liquid drip steadily, then let his eyes scan the room around him.
No one.
IV drip. Medication. Bed. He catalogued what he could see in words. Is this a hospital? He had no idea what sequence of events had led here. Had he lost consciousness again after taking something? He couldn’t remember anything. His mind was completely empty, as though someone had deliberately and thoroughly erased it all.
Dohui shook his head. Either way, someone must have administered the IV — and if he could just find them, he might be able to ask for help.
Dohui got up from the bed. The sudden movement made his head swim, but an opportunity like this wasn’t something that came around often. He had to get home.
He stood upright on trembling legs. Then he grabbed the needle and yanked it out in one pull. Thud, thud — fat drops of blood spattered the floor. He clenched his teeth, grabbed a handful of tissues, layered them together, and pressed them firmly over the bleeding back of his hand. To stop the bleeding.
Then he whipped his head around looking for any kind of landline phone. His mind was a mess. There was no phone — not even a single ordinary decoration anywhere around him. It made the place he was standing feel utterly desolate. A chill crept up from the soles of his feet.
Where on earth is this.
When he lifted the blinds slightly, the surroundings outside looked ordinary enough. A row of buildings lined up — it didn’t seem like he was outside of Seoul. And even if it wasn’t Seoul, as long as it was within a city, there would be security. All I need is to find a police officer.
Hope stirred. Would it be alright to go out? Is someone standing guard outside the door? He’d have to move to find out.
He gripped the ice-cold door handle. He pressed it down, and it opened as though it had been waiting. And then he saw a man he’d never seen before.
“Where are you going?”
A faint darkness spilled in. His feet stuck to the floor like melted tar. No matter how hard he struggled to lift them, it wasn’t easy.
An unfamiliar middle-aged man pushed his way through the slightly open gap in the door. He saw the tissues Dohui had been pressing down and let out a long, heavy sigh.
“Why did you pull that out? You needed the whole thing. Oh dear — you’re bleeding. Come here.”
The middle-aged man blinked his narrow eyelids behind his glasses and assessed Dohui’s condition. His complexion had gone so pale his lips were almost blue. For someone who’d gone days without eating or drinking, he seemed functional enough to be up and moving. Muttering that to himself, he took hold of Dohui’s arm and guided him back.
The man didn’t pull very hard. And yet, drawn by that gentle force, Dohui found himself moved back to the bed.
Dohui bit down on his dry lips.
“Alright, give me your arm.”
He did as he was told and extended his arm to the man without resistance.
The man turned Dohui’s thin, bony hand over and examined it, then gave a small shrug.
“For something you ripped out yourself, it’s not too bad. You’ll need to be put back on it, though.”
“…….”
“Don’t worry. I’m a doctor.”
At those words, Dohui moved his tongue — which had been so dry it was stuck to the roof of his mouth.
“A doctor…… you said?”
“Yes.”
The man took a packaged IV bag and syringe from his bag. He was just about to press a cold alcohol swab to the back of Dohui’s hand when Dohui grabbed him. At the same moment, the thick-fleshed wrist went still.
“P-please. Help me.”
Help me. Save me. Please, help me.……
Even with a voice that scraped raw against his throat, the man stayed silent. Dohui grew more desperate.
“Please help me……. You said you’re a doctor. You must know what’s been done to me.”
