It was a voice that could sound like coaxing a child if you heard it superficially. But I’d been consistently having a hard time since earlier. He’ll bring me to my senses? You bastard. Who the hell are you?
I should have resisted to the end, but at the voice saying “Hurry, Heejae,” I helplessly moved my feet. It was almost like a programmed movement. Trudge trudge. But thinking that I was going to get beaten up, I couldn’t quite pick up speed.
Because the corridor was fairly long, by the time I arrived where Baek Sahyun was, it felt like about 2 or 3 minutes had passed. Baek Sahyun, who lightly gestured at the table with his eyes, spat out two syllables.
“Sit.”
He once again used the imperative form without fail. The tone itself was gentle and friendly, but perhaps because it combined with Baek Sahyun’s characteristic chilly expression, there was an aspect that repeatedly stimulated people’s anxiety.
It was true that I felt miserable receiving this mistreatment from a young punk. However, I threw away my pride and obediently followed what he said. Baek Sahyun was a demon bastard that couldn’t be handled sober. If I challenged him for no reason, I’d just get beaten down in return, so I had no choice but to find the optimal move.
When I pulled out a chair and sat down, unwelcome praise fell from above my head.
“Good job.”
“……”
“Want to eat something?”
The following question was somewhat unexpected. When did he growl at me to come in because he was going to scold me, and now suddenly food talk out of nowhere. It was utterly absurd.
Baek Sahyun also took a seat across from me and leisurely added.
“You’ve been starving all day. You need to eat something.”
“……”
“Pick from the menu.”
At his incomprehensible behavior, I asked vacantly.
“Why would I eat with you?”
My brow furrowed automatically. Because I’d been feeling deceived by this psychopath since earlier, my condition was deteriorating. I suggested with a self-abandoning heart.
“If you’re going to hit me, just hit me. If I eat and then get beaten, I’ll just throw it all up anyway.”
To confess, it wasn’t like I’d never been lynched in my life. During the days when I wandered around construction sites, there was the day I went to find the boss all alone because I worked but didn’t get paid, and I got beaten like crazy then too.
“You son of a bitch! If you want to get paid, bring a contract, a contract!”
“You said we didn’t need a contract! You were the one who said it was fine, boss!”
The boss who had insisted on omitting the contract for convenience because he urgently needed additional personnel completely changed his attitude as soon as the work was done. I went to collect my overdue wages and that day, really, I was beaten to within an inch of death. Because the large thugs who came at the boss’s call mercilessly trampled on me.
But even if it meant getting beaten to death, I couldn’t give up the accumulated wages. Since I had promised Haesu I’d buy her shoes and a bag as a Children’s Day present, I didn’t want to return empty-handed.
“Give me at least half, fuck. I’ll compromise, so give me at least half!”
So even while suffering harsh violence, I stubbornly clung to the boss. As soon as I grabbed his thick ankle, my wrist was immediately kicked, but even in unbearable pain, I didn’t back down.
“Ugh, this persistent bastard!”
The boss, who had been watching me struggle with disgust, only called back the thugs presumed to be gangsters after my mind became hazy.
“Man. You should know you met a good person. If you’d done this elsewhere, you’d have been beaten until your funeral.”
And then he tossed me an envelope containing exactly half the wages as I requested. I picked it up with bloody hands and stuffed it into my chest.
Even though physiological tears were streaming down, I couldn’t wipe my face. I was worried that my scraped skin would hurt more. I also felt like if I didn’t hurry and run away, the money would be taken again.
Being with Baek Sahyun brings back those memories vividly. I wonder how much of a beating Nam Heejae’s body can take.
Since he was born as a rich young master and lived an easy life, it probably won’t be that good, but still, since it’s me inside this body, I think I can endure moderately.
“If there’s no menu that appeals to you, I’ll order for you.”
Baek Sahyun said without even looking at me as I was steeling my mind. His indifferent manner was obvious, so I instead spat out irritably.
“I have no intention of eating, so just do what you came to do. You said you’d scold me. I’m telling you to hit me?”
“Steak and wine are too heavy, right?”
“Hey, Baek Sahyun.”
“How about seafood pasta?”
“Are you playing with me?”
I was absolutely fuming. Baek Sahyun really had an excellent talent for making people’s insides boil. Looking at that bastard’s indifferent expression made me feel like I was the only one getting heated up alone, so my sense of injustice grew for no reason.
This time, not wanting to lose in the war of nerves, I put strength into my eyes, and laughter leaked out from somewhere.
“Pfft.”
Naturally, it was Baek Sahyun’s. The bastard brazenly babbled.
“What should I do if you don’t like seafood pasta either. Should you suck my fingers instead?”
“You crazy bastard, really!”
The moment I raised my voice, Baek Sahyun hit my head mercilessly with the hotel menu he was holding. After getting hit four or five times without mercy, my vision became dizzy and I paused for a moment, then he murmured.
“I’ve emphasized this before, but Heejae. I hate drunk people.”
“Kugh…”
“So don’t act like a drunk person. Got it?”
It felt like stars were bursting before my eyes. I bit my lips, feeling humiliation and fear at once. Baek Sahyun grabbed my face and lifted it to make eye contact with him. Drip, a pooled teardrop rolled down.
I wanted to make excuses that I absolutely wasn’t crying because I wanted to cry. Damn it. This is all because Nam Heejae’s body is weak.
Baek Sahyun, who had been examining me closely, said.
“I thought I was controlling my strength, but I guess it hurt a lot.”
Controlled strength my ass. If this is what controlling strength looks like, he might have killed an innocent person if he hadn’t. But Baek Sahyun repeated what he’d said earlier with a nonchalant face.
“Want to eat seafood pasta?”
Does he have some disease where he’ll die if he can’t eat seafood? Why is he so persistently insisting?
When I endured without opening my mouth, Baek Sahyun, who rolled his eyes going “hmm,” released his restraint. Even that motion contained grip strength, so from the recoil, my head whipped to the side.
“Now you can answer, right?”
“…You bastard.”
“Shall we eat seafood pasta?”
“Eat it until you die of old age, you fuck.”
Even at the dirty curse, Baek Sahyun didn’t budge. He just stroked my head as if praising me and said.
“Do you have to go that far, Nam Heejae?”
“……”
“I’m getting curious about where you learned those words.”
“……”
“Should we go to the bathroom and have a heart-to-heart talk? About who you learned that way of speaking from?”
At the sinister warning, I had no choice but to shake my head in fright. As if pleased, Baek Sahyun nodded.
“Now it’s time to eat pasta. Stop the drunken antics.”
The sentences he spat out were all filled with madness, every single one.
❖ ❖ ❖
The seafood pasta brought by the hotel staff was, objectively evaluated, very delicious.
Both the slight spiciness and the chewy noodles perfectly suited my taste, but I deliberately swallowed indifferently. Because after all, after the meal ended, they would be food that would naturally flow back up as I got beaten hard by Baek Sahyun.
“Is it good?”
The very person who had made such an effort to make me eat seafood pasta was actually just looking at me without even picking up a fork. I wondered if this was why he rushed someone who said they didn’t want to eat, but he was a bastard who wouldn’t listen even with his ears.
“……”
I silently shoved noodles into my mouth and put down my fork as if throwing it. After chewing and swallowing all the food in my mouth, when I asked “Satisfied?”, Baek Sahyun showed a reaction completely unrelated to my question.
“Seems like the taste isn’t very good.”
“If I eat more, I feel like it’ll come back up. You eat the rest or something.”
“Then I’ll have to throw it away, what else can I do.”
The bastard who muttered looked down at the pasta plate that hadn’t even been reduced by a third and clicked his tongue.
“It was delicious though.”
Feeling like the innocent chef would be reprimanded, I hurriedly made excuses.
“I just had no appetite.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. It was so delicious I even teared up.”
“Alright. I’ll take it as that.”
Baek Sahyun, who shrugged his shoulders, finally began to unfasten the watch he was wearing on his wrist.
“I wonder when you picked up the habit of lying.”
I realized the time had finally come and steeled my mind. Whatever, I’ll just get beaten a bit. Anyway, that bastard would beat me alone, so it would be a hundred times better than when I got gang-lynched at the construction site before.
Let’s go let’s go. You can do it, Jang Woohyun! Getting beaten has been your specialty since way back. Though it’s not your original body… this body ate well and grew well, so it should be able to endure quite a bit. Let’s show the endurance you’ve honed.
At least until Baek Sahyun got tired first and collapsed, I planned not to let out a single groan. I should hold onto my mental thread tightly while thinking of Haesu. Should I start with mind control in earnest?
