Gong Haejin lifted his upper body slightly and pulled Dohui’s hips toward him. The result was Dohui face-down, with only his backside raised.
In that position, the sensation of being prodded from behind made Dohui tremble in fine shivers. Sweat ran down his spine. The hole — the wounded inner walls — was being forced open.
“Ah……!”
***
He lay face-down on the bed, limbs spread limp.
He didn’t have the strength to move even a finger. The damp sheet pressing against his stomach was irritating, but that was all. He had no energy to turn over, so he had no choice but to endure it. Dohui sluggishly opened and closed his eyelids.
I want to wash up. Right now……
Then the bathroom he knew so well came to mind. Small and narrow, but comfortable. Even something this trivial made things hard for Dohui. The clearer the image became, the more longing welled up like a tide. To the point where he didn’t want to open his eyes.
“Here.”
But the warm imagining vanished at once, and the reality he didn’t want to see came rushing in. He tried closing his eyes again, but the image Gong Haejin had chased away wouldn’t return.
“You have to take what’s owed.”
Bills rained down over Dohui’s head.
It didn’t hurt, but an indescribable humiliation washed over him. They were a mix of fifty-thousand-won notes and checks. The bills that fell onto his bare skin clung to the damp moisture.
The man gave his backside a couple of light pats, as if to say good work. His already uncomfortable rear stung and throbbed. Dohui’s face went bright red. He clenched his empty fist. A strange light flickered into his previously hazy eyes.
Dohui barely managed to push himself upright and covered his body with the blanket. Ridiculous as it was, it left him breathless. Still, there were things that needed to be said.
“……Take it back.”
The words came out in broken fragments, but the message was clear. He didn’t need money dirtied with this filthy, disgusting desire.
But had Gong Haejin ever once listened to him.
This time was no different.
“Use this to pay off the debt. That’s why I’m giving it to you.”
Unlike Dohui, who had spent every last ounce of energy, Gong Haejin’s voice was fresh and unbothered.
The presence of the bills sticking to his back felt enormous. Dohui reached around and peeled them off. The ones stuck to his thighs too. No matter how much he struggled, the humiliation wouldn’t come off.
Gong Haejin had put himself together in just a few movements. Then he lightly tapped Dohui’s shoulder.
“See you again.”
Was he saying he’d give him money next time too. He didn’t want to be paid for something like this.
Dohui threw the bills he’d just peeled off at Gong Haejin. Of course, they didn’t reach him — they fluttered weakly and fell to the ground. He hadn’t had the strength to throw them properly to begin with.
“……I said no.”
So take it back. Distress layered with a surge of anger flushed both of Dohui’s cheeks red.
He was furious. At the man who had reduced his circumstances to something this wretched without a shred of guilt. At the man who had grabbed his ankle and hurled him into an endless darkness. Dohui let his raw, unfiltered rage show.
Gong Haejin tilted his head to the side. Then he reached out and picked up the bill Dohui had thrown.
“Then you’d rather give it for free?”
“……”
“Either way, the hole gets used. I’m asking if you’re going to volunteer your services.”
“……Something like that——”
“You are. And you will be.”
“I, I don’t want to. I don’t want this…… I said I don’t want it. How many times do I have to say it. Please……”
Gong Haejin placed the bill back into Dohui’s hand. Even looking at the damp, yellowed note was horrifying.
“So what, you’d rather just spend your whole life offering up that hole for free? That seems more suited to you, honestly.”
“……Why would I, why would I……”
“You have a debt to repay. You’re bad at it, clumsy, but I’m giving you the opportunity. In exchange, I said I wouldn’t kill you. Wasn’t that the most important thing to you?”
Dohui found this man utterly, sickeningly repulsive.
“Cry again. Prettily.”
The man spoke in a teasing tone as he brushed the corner of Dohui’s eye.
“Didn’t you say there was nothing left to cry? I let you off because it looked like you couldn’t even finish.”
At every moment, Dohui did his best not to break. Dohui clenched his fist. The bill Gong Haejin had given him crumpled pathetically in his hand. Don’t cry, Im Dohui. Please don’t cry…… he repeated to himself over and over, pushing himself.
Gong Haejin, who had been about to leave the room, turned back as if he’d almost forgotten, and handed over a document envelope from the table. The neat envelope had nothing written on it.
There’s nothing left to be surprised by — and yet Gong Haejin keeps finding ways to surprise me.
“A copy.”
The rule is that each side keeps one.
“This is illegal. Something like this……!”
“Im Dohui, don’t act smart. You don’t actually think ending up here was entirely your friend’s fault, do you — with that clever head of yours. Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to do favors for people on a whim?”
The further Dohui read down the page — filled with elaborate legal-sounding language — the more aggrieved and resentful he felt. He couldn’t even find the words to voice it.
If only someone would listen to me. But the man before him had never once respected him. To him, Dohui was nothing more than a thief who had stolen his goods and brought them home.
Dohui’s tears blurred across the paper.
“Keep the money safe.”
His pride and humanity had been ground into the mud. A man who had fabricated a debt had extended an unwanted mercy.
He had been forced into selling his body, in the end.
Because of this man.
***
After crying himself to exhaustion, Dohui was jolted awake by intense hunger and chills. His body was running a fever. His warm mouth was going dry and parched, and his body was soaked in cold sweat. When he pushed the blanket off, a cool chill swept across his back. It felt like the temperature had plummeted in an instant.
I need to eat something. When he pressed his arms down to get up, something rustled. It was the bills Gong Haejin had left behind. Dohui shook his hand and sent them flying. The bills fluttered down under the bed.
If this had happened before, having this much money would have meant rushing to pay off the debt first. He would have been happy for each amount deducted. He would have tapped away at a calculator and found hope in the numbers. Soon I’ll be free from the debt. Soon I’ll be able to sit with friends eating fried chicken and drinking draft beer — he would have conjured up happy daydreams like that.
Now it had all become a distant dream. There was no telling when he’d go back, or whether going back was even possible. The net the man had cast was far too tight.
Dohui bit down on his lips — already chewed raw countless times. A sharp sting made him pull away quickly, but blood was already spreading. When he touched the numb spot with his hand, a single drop of blood seeped out. He stared blankly at it seeping along his fingerprint.
That bloodstain jolted him back to the reality he still couldn’t believe.
Don’t worry. Documents signed under coercion are legally invalid. I’ll be able to explain myself. If I have to face punishment for drug trafficking, I’ll accept it willingly. Anywhere but here is fine. Even if that place is prison.
“God……”
Dohui let out a self-mocking curse. It’s a little absurd that I’m thinking about going to prison when someone like Gong Haejin walks around perfectly free.
Everything Gong Haejin does to me is illegal. I just need to get out of here. If I can make it to a police station, they’ll help. And at this point, enough time has passed that a missing person report must have been filed.
So what I need to do is try to get out of this place. Or, if nothing else, if I could use Gong Haejin’s phone just once.
Dohui slowly got up from the bed. A sudden bout of dizziness made him stop for a moment. He blinked slowly, steadying his wavering vision.
I need fever reducer. My head is hot too, and the dizziness must be from the fever. It would be ideal if I could eat something first. In this condition, my stomach won’t be able to handle fever reducer on an empty stomach.
Dohui glanced around. Without even turning on the lights, he moved away from the outrageously expensive-looking bed. His eyes, now adjusted to the dark, navigated the shadow-draped room without trouble.
He was hungry. He didn’t know how many days it had been since he’d eaten properly. He didn’t want to eat whatever the men gave him — who knew what was in it. Even the water they offered made him recoil.
And so, naturally starving, his bloodless limbs dangled like a scarecrow made of straw. He forced his soles to bear his weight. Between his legs, the semen the man had left behind spilled out in a heavy rush.
“Ha, seriously……”
He didn’t even have the energy to curse properly. Dohui forced his thin legs to move. Even getting to the closed door felt like it took half a day.
Is the door locked. If someone’s out there, should I ask for food.
Then he shook his head. The inhumane treatment the men had put him through came to mind. When he refused to eat, they threatened him — grabbed his head and shook it back and forth until they finally shoved rice into his mouth with their bare hands. He had no desire to beg those men for food. What do I do. His hunger had reached a peak where even his knuckles felt like they were trembling.
Dohui had never been someone who fixated on food. Eating just enough to not be hungry was sufficient for him. But having even that cut off entirely made his body feel like it was reaching its limit.
Move instead of deliberating. Without overthinking it, he pushed down the door handle. Surprisingly, the door wasn’t locked.
A house……?
He didn’t know whose house it was, but it had the shape of one. The ceilings were so high it seemed like sounds would echo off them. Moonlight settled softly into the wide living room, illuminating a sofa. Beside it, a display cabinet showcased various bottles of alcohol. Alcohol wouldn’t fix hunger, so Dohui paid it no mind.
Walking a little further, he finally found what he was looking for. The kitchen. It seemed at least five times larger than his own home’s, but it was unmistakably a kitchen.
Dohui broke into a run. The mere possibility that there might be something to eat somewhere in there was enough to get him moving.
