If he got caught, he’d be in trouble. Yeon Cheonguk quickly lowered his body below the glass and fled to the stairs.
– Damn it, you bastard! If it weren’t for me, you would’ve died alone on the street, and you don’t even know to be grateful! Why come now!
“……!”
– If you’re here, come in. Come quick and turn on that thing, whirrrr- the wind! Quick!
But as he listened, the content was strange. It was odd that the confined person was looking for Hwang Jegu, and the way of speaking was somehow slurred too. Yeon Cheonguk stopped his fleeing steps and turned around.
Beyond the glass, an old man was pounding on the door and throwing a tantrum. Just like a five or six-year-old child.
– Hwang Jegu hyung! Quick! Quickly turn on the whoooosh- I said!
“…….”
Yeon Cheonguk stood up and approached the door.
As expected, a small key was placed on top of the door frame. At a height that the huge Hwang Jegu would probably reach just by extending his hand, but Yeon Cheonguk stood slightly on his tiptoes to pick up the key.
Click, he unlocked the padlock from outside. When he nervously turned the handle and opened the iron door, the old man with a shaved head scurried away.
The sight of him hiding behind the door and peeking toward the entrance was like an innocent child. Yeon Cheonguk gathered his courage and asked:
“Are you… Jegu’s grandfather?”
The old man, discovering an unfamiliar face, was greatly startled and hid behind the door again. Perhaps because there was no air conditioner in the house, he was sweating profusely, and the back of his diaper-wearing pants sagged down. The frightened old man opened his mouth while completely shrinking back.
“Who are you? Are you hyung? You’re not an ahjussi, right?”
“…….”
“Hyung, did you buy candy by any chance?”
He’d heard there was a grandfather who was his only blood relative, but he didn’t know he had dementia. He understood why Hwang Jegu had threatened him never to go up to the second floor.
Whether he washed diligently every day, no foul smell came from the old man’s body.
Inside the room, he could see neatly stacked adult diapers and a meal tray. Probably a meal Hwang Jegu had prepared.
On the wall of another room next to the kitchen, the large leather blue jumper and school uniform he often wore were hanging. The inside of the house, with no unnecessarily piled objects, was neat to the point of being bare. Safety locks were installed on all outlets so they couldn’t be touched, and the gas range power was also covered so it couldn’t be operated.
The words he’d desperately hurled—”You think you’re the only one whose life is fucked?”—became somehow embarrassing for no reason.
Yeon Cheonguk, entering the entrance hesitantly, gave an answer:
“I know Jegu.”
“Hwang Jegu… Jegu hyung should die. Die!”
“…….”
“If you’re going to live uselessly for nothing, if you’re going to get expelled, go out and die!”
The old man shook his fists wildly and flew into a rage.
He seemed to remember his grandson as ‘scary Hwang Jegu hyung.’ Honestly, it was bewildering. He didn’t know how to react to this person who hated Hwang Jegu even with dementia.
Curses continued to reach Yeon Cheonguk’s ears as he was about to quietly leave and lock the door as before.
“That hyung deserves to be beaten! He has to be beaten to death to become human!”
“…….”
“That bastard should never have been born! Ugh, it would’ve been good if he hadn’t!”
Yeon Cheonguk sees the words Hwang Jegu must have heard every day, the smell he must have smelled every day, the iron door he must have locked from outside every day, the wet stairs he must have gone down alone every day.
Anger rose from the soles of his feet. Yeon Cheonguk slammed the door and took off his slippers. Then he entered the living room and shouted at the old man standing blankly behind the door:
“You don’t carelessly tell someone they shouldn’t have been born, Grandfather!”
“Huh…?”
“That guy bought your diapers and made your meals.”
The old man didn’t understand Yeon Cheonguk’s words and didn’t know what he’d done wrong. Since an adult man was scolding him, he was just scared and started clasping his hands together and begging.
“Hyung… I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I won’t ask you to buy candy. I’m sorry.”
Yeon Cheonguk, who let out a deep sigh, approached the kitchen back door.
“Why isn’t the whoooosh wind coming out?”
Seeing the air conditioner standing right there in the living room, he could understand the meaning of ‘whoooosh.’ Well, it was too hot weather to have only the fan on. Yeon Cheonguk, who was poking around here and there in the house, discovered a narrow utility room where the outdoor unit was installed.
On the utility room door, a paper with ‘Never close the window!’ written in bright red marker was attached. As soon as he opened the door, hot heat rushed out.
Sure enough, the outside window was tightly shut, and the outdoor unit was trembling making a strange woooong sound. It seemed the internal compressor had overheated and stopped working because it was too hot. Yeon Cheonguk fanned himself while opening the window and unplugging the outdoor unit’s outlet.
“Geez, you need to ventilate where the outdoor unit is! If you do it wrong, there’ll be a fire.”
“No, that ahjussi will come in. That ahjussi! With a hammer, bam! He’ll break the door and come in!”
He threatened the old man throwing tantrums like a child again.
“If there’s a fire here, you’ll burn to death! People will burn to death. Fire is hot, right? Ow ow ow! How much does it hurt!”
At the story that if there was a fire he’d burn to death without escape, the old man finally gave in, but still seemed frightened of the wide-open outside window. Did he experience a robbery incident when he was young? He barely calmed him down by soothing him that there were many allies in the market so not to worry.
After about 5 minutes, when he turned on the power, the air conditioner worked normally.
“There? I’m leaving.”
“Bye!”
The old man sat in front of the fan and waved his hand. Yeon Cheonguk, putting on his slippers, snapped in a soliloquy:
“Why did you give him a name like that?”
“Hyung, go well!”
“You should’ve picked something more refined and cool, what’s Jegu, Jegu.”
The old man who didn’t understand what he was saying blinked and looked toward the entrance. A joke Hwang Jegu had casually thrown during a phone call a few days ago came to mind.
— Why do things like blood ties even exist? There are clearly people who get addicted to that shit, make kids, and abandon them.
Yeon Cheonguk continued grumbling alone.
“Saying he has to be beaten to become human… that’s too much. Still, he’s blood. To twelve-year-old Hwang Jegu, you must have been heaven.”
“Hyung, now the whoooosh- wind is coming out.”
“Suffer your karma well. Regret it. Be agonized.”
Out of anger, he muttered harsh words and opened the door. Suddenly, the two frozen yogurts in his pocket came into his hands.
After pondering for a moment, Yeon Cheonguk firmly set down the frozen yogurt in the living room. The old man’s eyes sparkled as he shouted:
“Ice cream bar! Ice cream!”
He turned around and left. Yeon Cheonguk, who slammed the iron door shut, soon shook his head and sighed. Tsk, he picked up large scissors from the box of household goods left outside.
Yeon Cheonguk, who entered the house again, snatched the yogurt from the old man’s hand. Ignoring the old man crying and throwing a tantrum, he cut the yogurt wrapper with scissors, then took out a plastic bowl from the cupboard and poured the contents in. When he held out the bowl, the old man stopped crying.
“Here. Eat slowly.”
The old man was quiet until he closed the front door.
Clang, after locking the padlock from outside, his head felt dazed for a while. It seemed like he’d uncovered a secret that wasn’t permitted.
An indescribably heavy and strange emotion remained for a long time. Yeon Cheonguk, scratching the back of his head as he came down the stairs, roughly wiped away his sweat.
“Ha… where the hell is the shop key?”
Seeing the tightly locked shop door made him sigh. Yeon Cheonguk, who was wandering around the display case area, discovered a customer loitering in front of the butcher shop.
“Oh, right now the shop is…”
“Yeon!”
He heard distinct footsteps in dress shoes. There was only one person who would wave while calling just Yeon Cheonguk’s surname. Sure enough, it was a familiar face. It was the juice shop owner.
At the unexpected appearance, Yeon Cheonguk was startled and raised his head.
“Boss! How are you here…”
“Boss. I told you to call me sunbae. Kim sunbae.”
The boss grinned and stood in front of the display case, looking around the butcher shop.
The juice shop owner who had given Yeon Cheonguk the proud title of ‘Canmoa Boy’ was young, in his late twenties. He always called Yeon Cheonguk ‘Yeon’ in a friendly way. Having worked for over a year, they’d become quite close, and since they were both from Seolyun High, he treated him warmly, telling him to call him hyung or sunbae.
But from the position of receiving a salary, the title of hyung just wouldn’t leave his mouth, so he very occasionally barely called him sunbae.
“Haha, yes. How are you here, sunbae…?”
“I’m on my way back from the police station. They said you’d be here.”
That detective ahjussi really lives his life diligently. He must be keeping an eye on the butcher shop’s movements and Hwang Jegu’s best friends’ whereabouts too.
The boss continued talking leisurely:
“The damage compensation case is roughly settled. I’m on my way back from showing bank statements and talking about this and that.”
“Ah… the glasses that guy smashed… and the sales during the time you were closed?”
“That’s right.”
