“……!”
Yeon Cheonguk, who had been frozen while gripping his headset, returned to reality only after a few seconds. The moment his senses came back, he burst out of the recording studio. Understanding what happened or getting feedback from the broadcast staff wasn’t the priority.
“Je… Hwang Jegu!”
He hurriedly opened the door and stumbled over cables on the floor. Even as he nearly fell, Yeon Cheonguk frantically pushed through and rushed out of the recording studio.
The president and the pot-bellied staff member showed no sign of having noticed anyone outside the door. Yeon Cheonguk made a racket as he ran toward the door. Hot air hit his skin sharply.
But the owner of the lighter had already disappeared.
It couldn’t have been an auditory hallucination.
And there was no way he would carelessly drop his lighter.
Yeon Cheonguk bent down and picked up the transparent lighter.
Only Yeon Cheonguk and the staff could hear the backing track, so he would have only faintly heard the raw live singing without accompaniment. Just Yeon Cheonguk’s voice alone.
Without hearing the president’s shouts behind him, Yeon Cheonguk ran out of the recording studio. He was taking the stairs to the first floor two steps at a time when a backlit shadow blocked his way.
“Cheonguk-ah!”
It was his father’s voice, completely unexpected. Yeon Cheonguk stopped dead in his tracks.
The person looking down from the first floor to the basement was definitely his father. The closer he got, the clearer it became. It really was his father, whom he hadn’t seen in days.
“He left.”
“……Who?”
“A kid from your school, Hwang Jegu.”
So it wasn’t a mistake after all. Hwang Jegu had been listening to Yeon Cheonguk’s singing outside the door.
“How did you find this place…!”
He realized mid-sentence. If it was a recording studio in the Hoegi area, there was only this one, so it wouldn’t have been hard to find.
Still in a state of confusion, breathing heavily, his father suddenly rushed over and pulled Yeon Cheonguk into an embrace.
“I’m sorry for making you worry….”
It was an awkward and uncomfortable hug, but Yeon Cheonguk wrapped his arms around his father’s back.
Seeing his haggard face, all kinds of emotions rushed in. There were so many things he wanted to ask, but his mouth wouldn’t open. Just catching his breath in the embrace that was both longed-for and unfamiliar was overwhelming enough.
Yeon Cheonguk, who had been wondering what question would be appropriate, just closed his mouth. His father also seemed unable to think of suitable words after that brief, minimal expression. He patted Yeon Cheonguk’s sweat-soaked shoulder for a while before pulling away.
“He said it would be disruptive, so let’s go in after you’re done, so I was waiting outside…. Is this a karaoke place? What kind of place is this?”
His father put his arm around Yeon Cheonguk’s shoulder and led him up the stairs. Yeon Cheonguk quickly apologized to the staff and the president before returning. When he mentioned he’d received feedback on his singing ability from the broadcast staff, his father couldn’t hide his displeased expression.
But now wasn’t the time for either Yeon Cheonguk or his father to fight about such things. They closed their mouths and walked out into the sweltering heat.
Even in that moment, Yeon Cheonguk’s eyes were searching for someone on the sun-scorched street.
***
Hwang Jegu, who had returned after spending a few days in Jeongseon, was even more unpredictable and unilateral. There was no way for Jeon Sangwon to know what he’d done there. His explanation was as unkind as a riddle, and that was the end of it.
Something about nearly dying while trying to have some fun. Something about the price of curiosity being this extreme.
Nearly died…? When someone who never exaggerated like this spat out those words, it was chilling.
Judging by the severe scratches on his knuckles and the back of his hands, it seemed to be true. If he stripped down, there might be worse wounds or scars. But when asked what he’d been doing, only a look that said “shut up” came back, so there was no way to press further.
From Jeon Sangwon’s perspective, he could only think childish thoughts like whether Hwang Jegu was trying to conquer all the way to Gangwon Province.
He didn’t even have time to think more deeply. Ever since discovering that someone had entered the house and left yogurt in a bowl, Hwang Jegu had been beating up Jeon Sangwon. He leaned him against the counter and twisted his limbs with a mop handle.
“Who the fuck went upstairs if not you. I’ll tie you here until you catch fire.”
“I don’t know! I really wasn’t me. Please! Please, Your Majesty!”
“Find out who it was if it wasn’t you.”
“How the hell am I supposed to do that!”
No one scolded them for causing such a commotion in broad daylight that the whole market could hear.
Though they were playing around violently with a clear hierarchy, Hwang Jegu was definitely in a bad mood.
Well, someone had entered Hwang Jegu’s house without permission and left frozen yogurt… that was definitely an incident worthy of Hwang Jegu turning all the key figures in the area upside down. It was a dangerous situation where an intruder could appear again at any time.
But what confused Jeon Sangwon was Hwang Jegu’s reaction. Instead of this playful beating, he should have his eyes rolled back suspecting the heads of nearby high schools.
Did he have someone in mind? Normally there would be a huge uproar, and the killing intent would be so tense you couldn’t even eat. Normally he should be grabbing any steel pipe in reach and going wild.
Hwang Jegu just had a cigarette in his mouth and was lazily moving the mop handle around. As Jeon Sangwon kicked his legs with a puzzled expression, he spotted a dark mass below his line of sight.
“What’s this?”
There was a black plastic bag on the shelf under the outdoor counter. Hwang Jegu threw down the mop handle and grabbed the bag. Inside the plastic was a videotape titled <Moulin Rouge>. Judging by the Kkaebi Video rental shop stamp, it was rented, but the shiny plastic suggested it was a new release.
Hwang Jegu scanned the front and back of the video and tossed it back to its original spot.
“Did Your Majesty rent it?”
Without answering, Hwang Jegu turned around and brought up a completely different topic.
“That bastard Gakseori is even wearing a belt with rhinestones. I told him not to dress so embarrassingly. I’d understand rhinestones on a condom, but why put rhinestones on clothes?”
“What, even Your Majesty is using that lame nickname Yeon Cheonguk came up with!”
From Jeon Sangwon’s perspective, having watched Yeon Cheonguk closely recently, he had more than a few complaints. He himself had passed through various gates with difficulty and was recognized as being on the same side as a war veteran after a long time together, but didn’t Yeon Cheonguk just roll in one day and occupy a spot within Hwang Jegu’s radius!
The most absurd thing was the form of address. Calling Hwang Jegu “Your Majesty” wasn’t just a rule but simply the law and ethics of this world. But he’d never once seen that vocalist bastard call him Your Majesty to his face.
Watching Yeon Cheonguk seep in like an invisible person while completely ignoring all of Hwang Jegu’s world ethics made his jaw drop every time.
“Gakseori, come on.”
Hwang Jegu beckoned from a distance. Jeon Sangwon grumbled as he locked the butcher shop door.
The two walked down the street at a distance from each other, fanning themselves. It looked like summer rain would come again. Hwang Jegu in the lead passed a stationery store and a phone carrier agency and walked down the street for quite a while.
The place where he stopped was a record store plastered with posters and bromides.
When Hwang Jegu opened the door and entered, everyone inside immediately looked at him. Eyes widening, looking curiously, tensing with fear, or observing with excitement—these were the kinds of looks Jeon Sangwon hadn’t known about before getting close to Hwang Jegu.
Casually ignoring the stares, Hwang Jegu strode over to the CD listening zone.
“What’s that song the Canmoa slacker boy sang on the school trip?”
“…? All of a sudden?”
He stood there crookedly holding the headset, waiting for an answer, so Jeon Sangwon quickly gave it.
“<The Beginning>. The original is a female singer’s song but he sang it in a male key.”
Hwang Jegu spread both hands and shook his head. It seemed to mean, ‘So? I don’t know what that is, motherfucker.’ Jeon Sangwon went to the counter on his own and asked them to find Park Kiyoung’s <The Beginning> CD.
While waiting, Hwang Jegu killed time throwing uppercuts into the air. When the CD was handed over, he spun it excitedly with his fingertips before inserting it into the player. Since all parts of his body were so large, his fingers were also big and thick. The hole in the center of the CD barely settled on his fingertip, yet he spun it around just fine.
Hwang Jegu put on the headset and supported the back of his head with his clasped hands. He spread his legs and straightened his body while closing his eyes.
While listening to the song, Gakseori was treated as if he didn’t exist.
“Why did you bring me? Should I go? I’m leaving?”
Whether he fidgeted beside him or not, there was no wavering in his upright body. As expected, he’d brought Jeon Sangwon along to use him. Still, it wasn’t annoying—that was Hwang Jegu’s heaven-above-heaven-below-I-alone-am-honored world.
After a few minutes, Hwang Jegu took off the headset and quietly left the store. Jeon Sangwon, who had been looking at the lyrics booklet of a mixed group’s sexy concept new release, hurriedly caught up with him.
He started chatting while recalling something one of the kids he used to hang out with had said.
“Remember that crazy girl who said just hearing Yeon Cheonguk’s voice would make her pregnant? Remember?”
“No.”
As expected, the old Hwang Jegu clearly had no interest in Yeon Cheonguk whatsoever. To think he’d forgotten after they’d all laughed together at those words in some underground road.
“Isn’t that such an overreaction? What telepathic pregnancy? He’s not that much of a voice handsome guy, right? Just handsome, okay, I’ll admit that. But getting turned on by his voice and talking about pregnancy and stuff is ridiculous, isn’t it? If he was that outstanding, he would’ve debuted already….”
Hwang Jegu glanced back with a smile and spat out a curse.
“You’re not going to make him debut, so why the long speech. Fuck, I’ll pierce your tongue with rhinestones.”
“Ah…? Hehe….”
What Hwang Jegu, who had been silently lost in thought since leaving the record store, said next was utterly bewildering.
“Yeon Cheonguk isn’t ours anymore.”
“Huh? What did you suddenly say?”
“Not ours anymore” was the phrase Hwang Jegu used when expelling or excluding someone from the group. When Jeon Sangwon looked confused, Hwang Jegu drove the point home once more.
“Don’t drag him into our side anymore.”
You know what I mean?
From now on, don’t even talk to him, don’t make eye contact, treat him like he doesn’t exist.
