The karaoke practice room sign’s dazzling neon looked blood-red.
Whether this way or that, he could just go home. He needed to leave this place without being noticed by that group to be safe. However,
Yeon Cheonguk was opening the door of the payphone booth right next to the subway station entrance.
“Hello. Here… here, it’s near the 00 Karaoke on the way from Myeongdong to Chungmuro Station. Dozens of people are beating up one person. He’ll die… no, he really looks like he’s going to die. Can you come quickly?”
The police calmly asked about the location and situation again. Even in the brief moment of explaining again, Yeon Cheonguk’s fear deepened further. His ears went numb, his whole body became cold, and trembling rose from his toes.
“Yes. Yes. Please come quickly. Quickly…! I think he might already be dead…!”
If this got exposed, Hwang Jegu would be angry as fire. Yeon Cheonguk also roughly expected that. Thugs who had gone all the way didn’t want their fight stopped by police dispatch. Their war was usually a confrontation not legally condoned. Minimizing legal intervention was best in their world.
But he didn’t know. There was a sense of duty that he should do this. It was an intense sense of calling like a revelation. Even if the police burst in and they were all arrested in a row, and Hwang Jegu found out that the reporter was Yeon Cheonguk, strangely Yeon Cheonguk had faith that he wouldn’t hit him.
It was a strange faith whose source he didn’t know, but somehow it seemed that way.
His trembling hand slipped several times while putting down the phone. After finally placing the receiver back in its place, Yeon Cheonguk saw the spectacle unfolding outside the glass.
“…!”
Hwang Jegu wasn’t an idle loafer, an unpredictable crazy bastard. Yeon Cheonguk came to engrave that fact deep inside his body. Engraved deep into his bones and to remember it in his blood vessels too. He came to engrave it intensely in his mind. What kind of male he was and what kind of hunter.
The unpredictable aspect that had confused Yeon Cheonguk, not knowing where he’d jump.
The courage that wasn’t afraid of any weapon, any threatening situation.
An explosiveness that ordinary people didn’t have, a furious rage. A cold furious rage blazed fiercely in his body.
What Hwang Jegu possessed wasn’t just an ordinary violent temper. The extreme madness he had made the back of viewers’ knees tingle more because it was restrained.
Hwang Jegu came up the stairs dragging someone covered in blood. Everything was bright red. What he held in his hand was red clothing… that is, the red jersey. Blood poured down like rain from one side of his face as he dragged the limp man up.
Come to think of it, heavy rain was falling. Thick raindrops poured onto the payphone booth. Yeon Cheonguk didn’t know when the rain had started falling like this.
The two blood-stained forms passed in front of the booth. Up close, Hwang Jegu seemed to be dragging one leg slightly. For a moment, from the large shadow passing beyond the glass, whoosh, a fiery energy emanated.
It was an impossible illusion. But the sensation was vivid. The hot flames he’d felt in the midday nightmare burned his skin again.
Bang! Crash! Thunder sounds were heard outside the booth. Yeon Cheonguk peeked his head out into the rain. An unbelievable scene was unfolding in the rain.
“Trojan… Horse….”
Surprisingly, the sound he’d just heard wasn’t thunder but the sound of the truck’s door opening.
A truck larger than the meat logistics truck he’d seen earlier was parked on the roadside. Men were jumping down from the freezer compartment. Though he couldn’t see clearly because of the rain, judging by how they all jumped out of the car and ran through the rain, they were all guys in cahoots with Hwang Jegu.
Wearing raincoats or with Red Devils scarves wrapped around their heads, they each took something out of the ice boxes.
Bats, thick sticks…. The headcount of the group endlessly pouring out of the car was roughly about 40 people.
Before that scene, Yeon Cheonguk realized.
The fact that if it hadn’t been for Yeon Cheonguk, Hwang Jegu wouldn’t have needed to fall into the predicament just now.
He had gathered forces about twice the number of people the opponent had gathered. He must have called together and united all the top-ranking heads within the district, and that’s why time was needed. The comrades who had been taken hostage must have known that fact and stalled for time.
His face heated up again with shame and self-reproach.
If it hadn’t been for Yeon Cheonguk, Hwang Jegu could have won this war without needing to limp.
He wanted to quickly escape from this place. Yeon Cheonguk, who wanted to forget the fear and self-reproach he’d experienced for the first time, pushed open the booth door hard without looking around.
“Today’s luck is the worst. Fuck.”
His thin shirt got soaked in the rain in one go. Raindrops dripped from his bangs covering his eyes. As he was breathing heavily and sweeping back his hair, his throat was squeezed tight.
“You’re that guy from earlier, right?”
An unfamiliar guy stuck his head out from the side. What was certain was that he must have been one of the guys behind the red jersey. A man whose pupils had half-lost their light grabbed Yeon Cheonguk’s nape.
“…!”
What came into view next was a long beer bottle. It was just before it flew straight into his forehead and hit.
Clang, the glass bottle bounced off after hitting something. A long scar over 20cm crossed Yeon Cheonguk’s view. The beer bottle that fell far away on the street shattered into pieces, and the force that had grabbed his collar instantly released.
He didn’t know what happened how, but the guy tumbled to the wet street like the beer bottle.
“What, are you bottle-stealing? You’re so weak you can’t even swing your arm properly….”
At the voice heard right next to him, Yeon Cheonguk’s spine went cold again. Then an orderly procedure followed. Immediately two people stuck to the guy, lifted him up, and dragged him somewhere. Where the guy was dragged to was inside the brightly lit refrigerated truck compartment.
The freezer compartment was full of defeated soldiers with their heads deeply bowed or lying down groaning. Without even a moment to appreciate that scene, Yeon Cheonguk’s nape was grabbed again.
The payphone booth door opened roughly. Dragged inside, before he could fully get his feet in, the door closed hard. As his foot crashed into the door, Hwang Jegu made a metallic sound and shoved Yeon Cheonguk into the corner.
“Did you dial 112?”
“……”
“I’m asking if you reported.”
Yeon Cheonguk nodded. Since it was obvious he’d come out of the payphone booth, there was no point in lying.
Without any sign or warning, Hwang Jegu gripped Yeon Cheonguk’s throat. Though he was just lightly holding it with one hand, his windpipe was completely blocked.
“Gasp…!”
“You almost fucked everything up by getting involved.”
“……”
“And you even reported…?”
The strange faith that he wouldn’t hit Yeon Cheonguk shattered in an instant. Yeon Cheonguk, who had acted up like a newborn puppy not knowing to fear a tiger, ended up being bitten by him immediately.
“Speak.”
“Keuk…! What….”
Of all times, ring ring ring, an annoying bell sound was heard. It was an incoming call. The bell sound ringing so loudly it seemed his ears would tear grated on his nerves. Yeon Cheonguk, whose hearing was already sensitive, gritted his teeth. Hwang Jegu muttered curses and picked up the receiver.
The bell sound stopped. He slammed down the receiver noisily to make a crash, then suddenly counted time.
“7. 9.”
“…?”
“The time you’ve been messing with me. If it goes over 10 seconds, I’ll throw you to those hyenas over there to eat.”
Each faint word became cold wind and penetrated into his bones. Yeon Cheonguk was becoming soaked in fear again.
“Cheonguk-ah. I just thought you were a dick like a grub, but you were a stupid kid.”
Hwang Jegu, who sneered, commanded.
“You. Try calling my name.”
“……”
“I said there are no exceptions. Call it properly.”
Yeon Cheonguk was completely pushed into the corner. His mind was hazy from the smell of blood and fighting that filled the narrow booth, the roughly wandering breath.
“Now.”
The moment the cool low voice fell on his eardrums, his ear insides were hot as if burned by fire.
Your Majesty Hwang-je. He just needed to say those words. His mouth wouldn’t open as if strong adhesive was attached.
And he moved immediately. In an instant, his left hand flew over. The power of the palm gripping Yeon Cheonguk’s wrist was solid as iron. Next, his arm was twisted behind his back.
Darkness came before his eyes in one stroke. In a state where he couldn’t move his body, the pain of bones twisting attacked. The pressure choking his throat also became several times stronger.
“Ugh….”
The problem wasn’t that he couldn’t breathe. At this rate, it felt like his neck would be injured.
Hwang Jegu did all this lightly like everyday movements. He even turned his head, exhaled “huu,” and wiped the blood on his chin with his shoulder. Blood pressure filled Yeon Cheonguk’s head completely. It felt like his neck bones would be crushed.
Because at this rate, his vocal cords would really be crushed in his hand.
Feeling a threat to his life, Yeon Cheonguk ended up committing an insane act. He stretched out his flailing left arm straight down.
Where his left hand reached deeply was the guy’s vital spot….
“…?”
Yeon Cheonguk slowly met the two eyes turning toward him. A voice like a moan flowed out.
“You… can’t….”
He doubted whether this huge something caught in his hand now was truly the lump called “testicles” that Yeon Cheonguk knew, but he gripped it tightly for now. He knew it hurt like hell. But he had no choice. Sorry, but Yeon Cheonguk had something as precious as life.
Yeon Cheonguk, who had lived like a dead doll for several weeks, realized. That singing was more precious to Yeon Cheonguk than anything else…. That it was… something precious that must not be lost.
After leaving this payphone booth, without fail,
No matter what, he would call the phone number written on the business card!
“The throat… can’t…!”
So he had no choice but to use his hand. He spread his hand wide, gripped it, squeeze, and twist…! He kneaded it with all his might.
He pressed his palm close enough that the guy’s body heat was transmitted through the fabric. He gripped in one handful what overflowed from his grasp. He kneaded it squeeze, pulled and twisted it….
Hwang Jegu’s balls….
