Eunchan rummaged through his worn pocket and pulled out a single cigarette he’d secretly stashed away. It was somewhat crumpled, but fine enough to smoke. After lighting it, he inhaled the smoke deeply. Cigarette smoke rose through the damp air.
“This damn weather, seriously.”
Rain was not a welcome guest. Eunchan looked at the pouring downpour with tired eyes. The sound of rainwater flowing into the sewer felt like a massive waterfall.
“Hyung, were you here?”
“Just taking a break. Why? Is someone looking for me?”
“No. I just wanted to rest too……”
Eunchan gestured for Seju, who had approached his side, to go farther away. Since he was smoking, he should at least show that much consideration. Eunchan looked at young Seju’s face and furrowed his brows.
“Are there a lot of people inside?”
“Only a few left now.”
“Find a replacement before leaving.”
Eunchan grumbled, resenting the part-timer who left without even finding a replacement at this already well-doing meat restaurant.
“He must have had his reasons, hyung.”
Seju defended him in a small voice. Though Eunchan had never met him, he’d heard that Seju was very close with the previous part-timer, so he didn’t say more. Instead, he dropped the cigarette carelessly on the ground and stubbed it out with his sneaker.
“Everyone has their circumstances.”
Yeah, fuck. Even he himself had lost his job (though he couldn’t really call that a job), and ended up stuck with some crazy bastard. Eunchan lamented for a while before shaking his head as if to stop, shaking off his hair dampened by the humidity.
“Don’t stay late, go home early and study.”
“I will.”
Eunchan patted Seju’s round head and passed by him.
“Hyung, don’t work late either, go home early.”
Seju also said to Eunchan, but Eunchan only smiled faintly. I want to go home as late as possible. Eunchan looked at the clock hanging in the meat restaurant and prayed for time to pass as slowly as possible.
Eunchan went straight to the kitchen, put on rubber gloves, and started wiping the grill plates caked with meat grease. People these days really eat well. Back in my day, it was hard to even eat meat like this. Eunchan began scraping off the grime from the grill plates while lost in idle thoughts. Each time he scrubbed with force, the tendons in his forearm rose and fell repeatedly.
“Hey, Eunchan-ah. Can you come out this weekend too?”
Since the meat restaurant across the street recently closed, the owner’s face had been shining brightly. At the welcoming question, Eunchan shook his head and answered.
“I’ll come if you pay me more.”
“Of course! Then come a bit early in the morning and help with the kitchen too.”
Well, it works out since I have nothing to do anyway. Eunchan roughly answered that he understood and focused on the dishes again. How much has accumulated in my account? I need to buy rice and make side dishes. And I need to find another job too……
Eunchan quietly hummed along to the latest pop song echoing through the store and ignored his phone continuously vibrating in his pocket.
* * *
“I’m leaving.”
“Yeah! Don’t be late tomorrow!”
2 AM. They sent Seju off before midnight passed, and the owner and Eunchan did the closing. Eunchan, with his bag slung over his shoulder and umbrella up, started walking, avoiding puddles where rainwater had pooled. If it keeps raining like this, the laundry will get damp and mold will grow easily in the house.
When he was young and naive, he liked it when it rained and snowed, but not anymore. Eunchan readjusted his tilting umbrella. It was old, with bent ribs and torn fabric here and there, but he didn’t care since he wasn’t the type to pay attention to such things anyway.
“Ah, fuck. Give it a rest already.”
However, even for Eunchan, there were things he couldn’t tolerate. Standing in the middle of the alley brightly lit by streetlights, Eunchan finally couldn’t hold back and cursed. It was because his phone crying in his pocket was getting on his nerves. It had been ringing throughout work, forcing him to keep it plugged into the charger, and now it was doing this on the way home too, so he couldn’t help but get angry. Eunchan stopped for a moment and roughly pulled his phone out of his pocket.
[Your current location has been confirmed.]
[Your current location has been confirmed.]
[Your current location has been confirmed.]
[Your current location has been confirmed.]
[17 missed calls]
“Is he a crazy bastard, really.”
Though it was in question form, he was definitely a crazy bastard. Eunchan clicked his tongue and eventually quickly wrote and sent a text message. If he didn’t do this, it was obvious he’d keep calling and checking his location all the way home. At this point, I don’t know why he doesn’t just stay locked up in a hospital—why is he out in society acting insane? His tolerance was gradually reaching its limit.
Arriving at the apartment, Eunchan folded his umbrella and roughly shook off the water to tidy it up. He pressed the elevator button and stood in front waiting, also checking his appearance in the mirror beside him. The red number display slowly descended. Come to think of it, he’d organized the trash to throw away in the morning but completely forgot and left it as is, he only now remembered. Staring at the slowly opening elevator doors, Eunchan clicked his tongue briefly.
He pressed 7 and firmly pressed the close button. Eunchan pointlessly looked at the right mirror, glanced at the left mirror, and counted the seconds. He’s probably at home. Even though he hadn’t told him where he lived or given him the door lock password, Miro had easily made a nest in Eunchan’s home.
Eunchan, who got off the elevator, opened his umbrella and left it in the apartment corridor.
“Wah, you’re here?”
“……Were you standing in front of the door? Again?”
“Y-yeah, I he-heard the elev-elevator sound……”
Though he hadn’t even pressed the door lock password yet, Eunchan frowned at the sight of Miro suddenly opening the front door and appearing. He probably put his ear to the cold steel door and kept listening while waiting. Should he call this stupid, or say it’s sickening?
Of course, both were correct. Nevertheless, Eunchan briefly looked at Miro’s pretty face before pushing his body to make him move aside, then entered the house. Miro firmly closed the door as if someone might come in and followed Eunchan, walking together into the house.
**1. Kim Noeul**
“Hey, I keep telling you not to leave this stuff here.”
Eunchan clicked his tongue while moving the cardboard boxes blocking the commercial building stairs. Even though he kept telling the old man not to pile them up here, it was like this every morning. Since it had rained during the dawn, the boxes were slightly wet.
Eunchan gathered the boxes to one side and dusted off his hands. That won’t be worth much. When he was preparing for the high school equivalency exam, Eunchan had also collected glass bottles and boxes to earn money for workbooks. Eunchan fiddled with the office key in his pocket and went up the stairs.
<Nationwide Network Service, Umbrella Planning>
The words were flashy. But it was nothing more than an errand center and private investigation agency. Eunchan opened the thick steel door and entered. The office scenery was no different from yesterday. The bathroom was the one in the building corridor, and the one room was used as the president’s office. The sink and refrigerator in the corner served as the break room, and next to it was a water purifier that required manually changing the water bottle. The tacky flower pots received at the opening lined up near the window, at least blocking the incoming sunlight.
In the center, desks were attached facing each other in a 2×2 formation. There were partitions, but they weren’t really necessary. The only employees were himself, Hyungsik, and the president.
Eunchan first opened the window to ventilate. Though it was well past 9 o’clock, the start time, none of the three company employees really cared about it.
[Planning Team Leader, Kim Eunchan]
Team leader when there’s no team. Eunchan laughed looking at his nameplate hung on the partition. Sitting on the chair with completely flattened cushions, Eunchan stretched. Creaking sounds filled the company in sync with Eunchan’s movements.
What should I do today? Fortunately, the work that required running around was finished yesterday, so it was leisurely. Most customers who came to the company didn’t bring important or big matters. At most, they wanted money they were owed collected, people who ran off with money found, or help obtaining documents needed for third-tier financial loans…… Things like that. Of course, since all the work was related to money, the aftertaste was never good.
Yesterday, he caught a man who ran off with a full 50 million won in gye money and brought him before the parties involved. He received a generous reward plus a bonus, so for a while he could wear what he wanted and eat what he wanted.
Eunchan, who had once scanned through internet news headlines, immediately moved the cursor to the entertainment section. The slowly loading window was frustrating, but since he had time to spare anyway, there was no need to rush.
Eunchan stood up and headed to the water purifier in the corner. Opening the shelf under the sink revealed a few packets of nearly depleted coffee mix and two cream buns hidden there. The coffee mix was Eunchan’s share, which he’d collected a few from a survey on the street last time, and the cream buns belonged to Hyungsik, who really liked bread.
Eunchan dumped two packets of coffee mix into a paper cup. Since he liked sweet things, he also liked drinking his coffee strong. It was much tastier than the flavorless Americano that Hyungsik occasionally drank. Eunchan took a gulp of the strongly mixed coffee, then returned to his seat and read through the headlines.
[Actor Kim Hajin Suddenly Announces Retirement, Red Flag in Health Condition?…]
[September’s Hot Debut! Exclusive Interview with Uju Daebak Boys!]
“What kind of team name is Daebak Boys?”
Eunchan smiled bitterly and gulped down all the coffee down his throat. Today too, the world was as ordinary and boring as yesterday. Eunchan slumped completely in the creaking chair and yawned long. At this rate, he might be able to leave around 3 PM without even waiting until 6 o’clock. Eunchan closed his eyes, intoxicated by the languid energy.
* * *
“Hyung!”
“……Oh, Hyungsik, you came?”
“You need to eat lunch.”
“What time is it now?”
“11 o’clock.”
Hyungsik, who was sitting right next to him reading webtoons on the computer—when had he arrived?—woke Eunchan up. Eunchan roughly rubbed his bleary eyes with the back of his hand.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Let’s just order Chinese. It’s hot outside and I don’t want to go out.”
