The day of the final interview arrived in the blink of an eye.
After finishing overtime at the cold storage facility as usual, Jiwon returned to his goshiwon and collapsed. His arm was killing him. Now even his shoulder hurt, and he couldn’t even lift his right arm.
He’d become so adept with his left hand that people asked if he was left-handed—he could eat and do all sorts of things with it. He’d even prided himself on learning tricks to use his right arm less. But then he’d twisted it. It hurt so badly he could barely breathe, but he suppressed the pain by popping another painkiller. His body was falling apart.
He lay in bed groaning for two hours. He kept picking up his phone and putting it down, thinking there was no way he could do substitute driving in this condition. But foolishly, he decided to go to work anyway.
No matter what happens, maintain your daily routine.
That sentence, which he now found nauseating, was stuck in his head and wouldn’t leave.
On top of that, he had no energy because he hadn’t been able to eat properly due to those damn enemas.
Jiwon had started doing enemas the day after the final interview was scheduled. It had been months since he’d last done one, so he wanted to get rid of the unfamiliar feeling. But the truth was, he was anxious—worried that penetration might fail, that there might be residue left during the act and he’d just get paid for transportation and be sent home.
Every time he did it, he was reminded that no matter how many times he did enemas, he never got used to them. For something that was absolutely necessary preparation for sex, it was incredibly uncomfortable and unpleasant.
Since it had been a while, he was also careful about what he ate—yesterday he’d only eaten plain white porridge. He didn’t have the strength to endure that difficult work on just white porridge, but he managed anyway.
Jiwon looked at the bag containing the enema medicine and rectal cleaner in the corner of his cramped goshiwon room and smiled bitterly.
Groaning, he barely managed to get up and headed to the goshiwon’s communal shower. After washing his body—whether he’d slept or taken a sweat bath, he couldn’t tell—with cold water, he got on the bus to Gangnam with time to spare.
[I need money urgently. When can you give it to me?]
Jiwon read the text but didn’t reply.
Before he knew it, it was past 10 PM.
It always started in Gangnam. He bought coffee from the convenience store in front of Gangnam Station and sat at a table.
He never expected to run into Han Seoho there.
“Hyung!”
Han’s eyes widened as he asked, ‘What brings you here?’
“Huh? Oh… What are you doing here, Seoho? I’m here for substitute driving. But didn’t you go to work?”
Jiwon was the one who was surprised. He’d completely overlooked the fact that he could run into Han or other room salon staff while coming and going.
“Monday’s my day off. Didn’t you know?”
“Ah. Was it?”
“Hey, hyung. You’re so indifferent to me.”
He clearly showed his hurt feelings.
“I’m sorry. I don’t have any days off, so…”
When Jiwon made what sounded like an excuse, Han felt sorry instead.
“Ah, when you put it that way, it makes me look bad.”
Han soon excused himself from his companions and promptly sat across from Jiwon.
“What a coincidence, right?”
He genuinely seemed happy as he opened a peach drink.
“But hyung, are you sick? You look really pale.”
Han looked at Jiwon with concern.
“Sick? It’s just that there’s been a lot of volume lately, so I’m a bit tired.”
Jiwon rubbed his face with his palm and smiled awkwardly.
“Logistics center work is incredibly hard, right? I used to work part-time at Pang Pang, and I seriously thought I was going to die. Wait a sec.”
Just like at the convenience store near the room salon, Han bought various things for Jiwon. Hot bars, triangle kimbap, and snacks. Things he couldn’t eat right away. Fortunately, Han didn’t really care whether Jiwon ate them or not.
Han picked at snacks while killing time with various trivial stories, then looked around before bringing his face close to Jiwon’s.
“Oh right, I found something out.”
Han glanced toward the CCTV and whispered almost inaudibly.
“About the Maybach.”
When Jiwon raised his eyebrows, Han’s mouth moved.
“So…”
He spoke so quietly that Jiwon couldn’t hear anything.
Han still seemed bothered by the CCTV and eventually gave up trying to speak.
“The hot bars from this brand are definitely the best, right?”
He changed the subject.
He chomped down the hot bar, then jumped up from his seat.
“Hyung, I’m going to the arcade. Want to come? My friend’s supposed to meet me there too.”
He stretched exaggeratedly while turning his back to the CCTV. Then he silently mouthed, ‘Get up quickly.’
“Sure. I’m bored, so that works out.”
Jiwon responded to Han’s suggestion with an awkward voice and acting.
He threw the almost-new hot bar in the trash and packed the triangle kimbap into his sling bag.
As soon as Han entered an alley crowded with pedestrians, he shuddered, saying, “Fuck. Hyung. I was too scared to talk there.”
He stopped briefly, trembling as if nervous, then puffed on his e-cigarette. Then he walked a few steps and stopped again to smoke. He drew it out like that.
The alley alternated between crowded and empty. When people suddenly thinned out, Han walked faster.
Right when Jiwon’s patience was about to run out, Han stopped and gave Jiwon a meaningful look.
“Hyung, have you ever seen another interviewee’s face?”
His eyes sparkled as he waited for Jiwon’s answer.
Jiwon thought for a moment, then answered honestly.
“Yes. Just once.”
“I knew it! You saw them too, hyung. During the second round?”
Han lowered his voice.
“Yes. During the second interview.”
Jiwon also answered in a near-whisper.
“Did they do it on purpose? Making us run into each other?”
Han tilted his head, talking to himself.
“Actually, I heard a strange rumor before I went to the interview.”
He finally got to the main point.
“Hey! Why are you so late!”
“That fucking bastard lives closest but is always late.”
“Fine, ten thousand won! Hurry up and pay, asshole.”
A group of high school students in uniforms passed by noisily, yelling at someone who’d arrived late. Han kept his mouth shut until they disappeared, then spoke again.
“Hyung, is this a normal interview? I’ve never in my life gotten paid this much money for an interview. You too, right?”
Is he fishing? Why now?
Watching Han’s voice tone and expressions change dramatically from moment to moment like an actor, Jiwon tried to gauge his intentions.
Did he follow me today?
He was suspicious.
“Of course. It doesn’t make sense.”
Jiwon agreed more vehemently than usual, and Han got even more excited.
“So I told my close friends and hyungs and dongsaengs about the Maybach guy. Well, I didn’t talk about the interview. I’m not that careless. Anyway, I asked if they’d ever seen that man, and if so, where. Whether he had a room or bar he frequented. He’s totally my type. I wanted to meet him again even if I had to pretend it was a coincidence. I said it half-joking, half-serious.”
With nothing to lose, Han actively spread word about the Maybach man’s appearance to people around him. Everyone knew Han’s tendencies, so they just laughed it off like ‘there he goes again.’ But curiosity was a scary thing. Those who were curious about what kind of guy would make Han Seoho act like that passed Han’s story along to their acquaintances.
Not only was his build notable, but he drove an expensive car and was quite conspicuous, so stories came back from here and there about people who’d seen the man. There was no personal information about how old he was or what he did for work, but a rather strange rumor circulated.
The rumor that he was looking for someone who resembled Han. When Han heard the rumor, he laughed it off, thinking the man must be looking for a lost first love or something.
Then during the second interview waiting period, he came face to face with another interviewee, just like Jiwon. In other words, he met a man who looked exactly like him.
“I was standing there and that person happened to be about the same height as me. I thought it was a mirror. I mean, does that make sense? How could someone look exactly like me?”
Han made an unintelligible “uuuuu” sound and quickly rubbed both arms.
Unable to shake that scene from his head, Han had the absurd thought that maybe his mom had given birth to twins and abandoned one, and he even asked his mother directly. Of course, nothing like that had happened.
Jiwon had also been genuinely shocked at the time. He’d expected it to some extent, but he got goosebumps because he hadn’t expected it to be to that degree. But after entering the interview room, he’d been so shocked by the second interview itself that he’d completely forgotten about that person until now.
But Han brought it up again.
With a surprised expression, as if he really didn’t know.
He seemed to have forgotten that when he first brought up the interview to Jiwon, he’d said ‘he looks like me.’
To be so careless…
It might not be carelessness but deliberate, so he couldn’t just dismiss it.
“By the way, what did you two talk about that very first day you met that boss?”
He played along.
“Oh, then? The Maybach guy suddenly said, ‘Are you Han Seoho? I came to see you.’ I thought he’d fallen for me and got my hopes up, but then he gave me his business card and told me to come for an interview. Said I’d get a separate contact.”
The business card Jiwon had also received only had the company name ‘SuperX Model Agency’ and contact information. Han, who’d called hoping he might be able to contact the Maybach man personally, was disappointed when he only got the interview offer.
Jiwon recalled the scene of Han with a customer that day. Han had been smiling brightly, but the customer actually looked serious. Had he been frowning? It seemed like that, but it was hazy.
“How did he know Seoho’s name?”
“He didn’t know—the Madam unnie told him.”
Han pouted.
“The Madam? Then how did he know Seoho worked at Hwangje?”
He deliberately grilled him. Then Han answered readily, as if he’d been waiting for the question.
“That’s what’s weirdest to me too. According to Madam unnie, he suddenly showed her a photo and asked if there was anyone working here who looked like this man. Honestly, who would say yes without knowing what kind of person he was? The Madam’s been in this business long enough. At first she flatly denied it, but he said he already knew so please tell him what she knew, that he absolutely wasn’t trying to harm anyone, and gave her money. Madam unnie won’t say how much she got no matter what, but seeing how she immediately gave him my name, she must’ve gotten a decent amount. Anyway, that unnie can’t be trusted.”
Han started badmouthing the Madam.
Han, who’d briefly gone off on a tangent, soon returned to the main point. He took this situation more seriously than Jiwon and tried to understand it logically.
“So hyung, let me sum it up. The Maybach guy is looking for men who look like us. For some reason we don’t know, he’s even paying ridiculous interview fees to conduct interviews. That’s what’s happening, but what he’s making us do is getting more and more weird. I wonder if he wants to date someone, but then again, the fact that he’s holding interviews makes me think that’s not it either. It’s fucking strange, right?”
Having said all this, Han furrowed his brow and puffed on his e-cigarette.
