It was the customer from just before. Seeing him come out at this hour, it seemed he hadn’t come to drink but had stopped by because he had business with Madam.
He was definitely a noticeable man because of his tall height and build. If he hadn’t been chain-smoking and shaking his leg, Jiwon might have thought him cool like Han.
Jiwon went to the customer and bowed in greeting. The customer only glanced at him without nodding his head or opening his mouth.
He sucked on his cigarette until his cheeks hollowed, then spat—ptui.
Kim brought the car around to the front of the establishment.
“Thank you. Please come again.”
Kim bent at the waist and shouted loudly. Then the man took out a 50,000 won bill from his wallet and held it out.
“Thank you!”
Kim bowed once more. A real smile, not a business smile, appeared on Kim’s face.
When Jiwon received the keys from Kim and was about to get into the driver’s seat, the man held out a card.
“Go buy some water. Get one for yourself too, driver.”
“Yes. Understood.”
Jiwon took the card the customer gave him and ran to the convenience store he’d just come from. Han was still sitting in the same seat looking outside. When Jiwon entered, he turned his head and silently asked, “Why?” Jiwon said, “Water,” then walked to the beverage section.
He finished paying and went out, and somehow Han was already standing face to face with the substitute driving customer having a conversation.
The obviously handsome Han and the tall customer drew people’s attention. Han was looking up at the customer and smiling, and that smile was so fresh that even Jiwon, a fellow man, felt his heart flutter. Something moved from the customer’s hand to Han’s hand. It was a business card.
If he was giving Han his business card, the customer’s expression with his back turned must be bright, Jiwon thought, deliberately walking slowly. He played the ghost until the customer turned his head. But the moment he saw the customer’s heavily frowning face, he started running. He apologized unnecessarily and opened a water bottle to hold it out.
The man snatched the water bottle from Jiwon’s hand with fierce eyes. Water splashed from the motion.
I should have come quickly. Because of what he’d heard from Kim earlier about Han being gay, he’d done something pointless. Jiwon gripped his own water bottle tightly and looked at Han. Han still had an enchanted expression. Then he gave Jiwon a slight wink. He couldn’t understand what was going on.
Contrary to what’s visible, is it actually going well? Do gay people test each other out like that?
Jiwon had useless thoughts while gauging the timing to open the back seat door.
Since the customer was approaching the car, he opened the back door, but contrary to expectations, the passenger door opened first. He was going to sit in the front seat.
Jiwon hurriedly closed the back door and got into the driver’s seat. When he belatedly checked the destination, he was troubled. In this weather, it would easily take an hour just to get to the destination.
Two hours round trip. Being late was a foregone conclusion.
Anyway, he’s a room salon customer, and both Kim and Han saw that I’m a substitute driver, so if someone asks, they’ll tell them.
Putting off worrying about the aftermath for later, he started the car for now.
A strong perfume smell came from the customer sitting in the seat next to him. It was the perfume Madam favored. He’d heard it was incredibly expensive, but to Jiwon it was that very smell that felt somewhat nauseating. The perfume smell spread through the car on the air conditioning breeze.
“Fuck, the smell is shit. What the hell kind of perfume are you using?”
The customer frowned and opened the car window.
The muggy air and rainwater gradually took away the perfume smell.
“Do you know each other?”
The man suddenly asked this without a subject.
He roughly knew who he was talking about.
“Ah, yes. I’ve been doing substitute driving in that area every dawn.”
He said in a roundabout way that they’d become acquainted that way. He didn’t mention being an exclusive driver.
The customer made no response either way and sniffed the air.
“Ugh, piss would smell better than this.”
He grumbled.
After that, the inside of the car was truly deathly silent. Earlier he’d been on the phone so much, but this time it seemed he had no one to call.
Is that natural since it’s past midnight?
There were days when he didn’t know what to do because the silence was awkward, but now he just focused on driving.
Safe driving, safe driving. He repeated to himself. The more expensive the car, the much more comfortable it was to drive, but he couldn’t let his guard down.
A vibration sounded. It wasn’t his.
The customer only took out his phone from his jacket inner pocket after the vibration rang several times.
Fuck. The customer spat out a curse quietly.
“Yes. Go ahead.”
Since he’d cursed, Jiwon thought he’d yell again, but surprisingly he was very polite. When he glanced over, he was even smiling. But regardless of the customer’s polite attitude, a sharp female voice could be heard from beyond the receiver.
The woman poured out words ceaselessly, and the customer just tried to appease the other party with only two phrases: “I understand. Let’s talk tomorrow.” His efforts in vain, the woman fired off like a machine gun without giving him a break.
“I said I understand. I’ll solve everything. Why are you calling about something like that?”
The customer, who had been responding gently, reacted somewhat curtly as if his patience had reached its limit. As if his reaction was that offensive, the other party started screaming. The sound was loud enough to reach Jiwon. The customer moved the phone away from his ear.
- Hello? Hey, you fucking bastard. Why aren’t you answering? Can’t you hear me?
The woman’s words were transmitted vividly as if on speakerphone.
The customer brought the phone back to his ear while frowning.
“Yes. Yes. I heard everything. I heard you, and I’ll solve everything, so don’t worry. I’ll solve it tomorrow and come see you right away.”
The customer appeased the other party while squirming.
After barely ending the call, he called someone else.
“Hey! You haven’t taken care of that bitch yet?”
The customer, who had been so polite in the previous call, changed his attitude.
“Do I have to fucking receive a call from that bitch at this hour? What call? This bastard really doesn’t do his job properly, does he?”
As if trying to return the insult he’d received as it was, he shouted fiercely, calling people bitches and bastards, and didn’t hesitate to say words implying murder. Seeing that, Jiwon was certain he was a gangster.
Even after hanging up, the customer, unable to contain his anger, poured out all kinds of curses and profanity into the air as if forgetting Jiwon was there. He stomped his feet, throwing an absolute fit. Jiwon tensed up, worried that he might eventually throw a punch at him. Not because he was afraid of getting hit. It would be fortunate if he only defended, but because he might attack the customer without realizing it. He was on guard because that absolutely couldn’t happen.
Because of that, the palm holding the steering wheel was damp with sweat. The customer’s gaze that reached him for just a brief moment pierced his skin like needles.
Fortunately, nothing unseemly happened, but he had no memory of how he drove. If it hadn’t been for the navigation’s voice announcing they’d reached the destination, he might have driven for hours.
Only after stopping the car in front of the destination did Jiwon breathe properly.
“Let’s smoke a cigarette before you go.”
A cigarette suddenly appeared before his eyes.
“It’s okay.”
“Smoke, you bastard.”
He had no choice but to accept it.
“Thank you.”
Jiwon, who received the cigarette politely with both hands, brought his head to the lighter the customer held out. A large hand with bulging veins approached, gave him a light, and also lit the cigarette attached to his own lips. The customer, who sucked in the cigarette deeply enough for his cheeks to hollow, slowly exhaled smoke.
Jiwon puffed on his cigarette next to him, completely hunched over. Even knowing it was an unseemly appearance, he didn’t straighten his back. When he glanced over, the customer was already leaning against the seat with his eyes closed, smoking.
“Fucking delicious. How the hell am I supposed to quit this?”
He chuckled to himself while talking to himself.
Had he smoked about half?
“Butt.”
When he turned around, the customer very naturally placed the still-lit cigarette, now just a butt, as if throwing it onto Jiwon’s palm. Jiwon quickly received it with both hands lest the cigarette butt fall onto the private car’s carpet.
The customer got out of the car first, and Jiwon also hurriedly got out.
After stubbing out both cigarettes together, he politely greeted the customer.
“Thank you. Please go in safely.”
He courteously held out the keys.
A 50,000 won bill was placed in the hand from which the keys had disappeared.
“Thank you.”
When the customer turned around, the heavy gate opened as if it had been waiting.
Between the gates, a neatly dressed middle-aged woman appeared. The customer didn’t even look at Jiwon and went inside past her. The gate closed immediately.
Whew. Cold sweat ran down his forehead. He wiped the sweat with the back of his hand, then picked up the two cigarette butts he’d thrown on the ground. He put the butts in the portable ashtray attached to his sling bag, which had become almost like part of his body.
He was about to leave when the gate opened again.
“Excuse me, driver.”
The middle-aged woman he’d just seen called out to Jiwon.
“Yes?”
Jiwon was startled as if he’d committed a crime.
“Take this. Our boss says to give it to you.”
She looked elegant in her attire, so he’d thought she was family, but she must be a housekeeper. In the housekeeper’s hand were two 50,000 won bills and a business card.
Jiwon quickly approached and politely received them.
“Thank you.”
While he was bowing deeply, the gate closed.
He raised his head and looked up at the high wall.
Let’s never see each other again.
He flipped his middle finger with gusto. He roughly stuck the business card in his shirt front pocket and carefully placed the money in his wallet.
Tonight, the tips he’d received from this customer alone were a whopping 150,000 won. For human trash, the tips were generous.
How much is it including the round-trip substitute fee?
A smile spread across Jiwon’s face.
That was brief—the way back to the room salon seemed daunting. Since he was already late, he needed to hurry. Thinking that with this much received, there was no need to look for a substitute driver pickup bus or vehicle and he could just call a taxi, he took out his phone from his bag. In the meantime, there were four missed calls from the room salon and two text messages.
He hurriedly called and explained the circumstances, but only the manager’s scolding came back.
- Driver Kim, if you were going to do substitute driving, you shouldn’t have signed an exclusive contract. Are you joking right now? Huh?
“I’m sorry. I’ll come right away.”
He apologized repeatedly.
He was a fool for expecting that since the customer had also visited the room salon, and Han and Kim had clearly seen him pick up that customer, they might have given the manager a heads up. He didn’t resent the two of them, but he couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
After hanging up, he felt drained.
He’d never imagined he’d live a life doing substitute driving and getting cursed at by the room salon manager.
To Jiwon, his current reality didn’t feel real. It felt like being thrown naked into a virtual world, one designed only with the worst situations.
But he’d never once doubted it. Regretted it even less.
This is purely because Kim Jiwon’s life is in the gutter. Nothing more, nothing less.
When he became particularly depressed due to fatigue, he utilized his strength to quickly separate emotions from facts.
Jiwon hastened his steps and went out to the main road. With the rain falling too, there wasn’t even an ant on the street. Belatedly taking out an umbrella, he opened an app to catch a taxi. He stood on the empty street to go back the way he came.
