5.
Hui-myeong sat listlessly on the sofa. The empty house was so quiet that even his own breathing sounded like noise. No matter how long he waited today, Do-ha wouldn’t come. It was the perfect environment for loneliness to rush in.
Outside the window, the sun had already set and it was dark. In the distance, airplane guidance lights blinked on tall buildings. They were red lights, but he couldn’t understand why they felt cold.
‘He must have boarded the plane, right?’
He wanted to leave. He wanted to run away. Suddenly, a burning impulse surged up from inside. When Do-ha boarded the plane was the only opportunity.
Without hesitation, Hui-myeong stormed into the dressing room and took out all the watches organized in the glass storage. Pouring them into a bag without even cases, there were about seven or eight.
‘I shouldn’t be doing this from the first day.’
Though the plan was ruined, his feelings hadn’t changed. If he missed this opportunity, he didn’t know when the next one would come, so he had to use it well.
After making his decision, Hui-myeong took painkillers again before going out and packed ointment to apply. The swelling inside his hole had gone down considerably from the morning, but it still had a burning sensation and felt hot.
Hui-myeong firmly secured the bag containing the watches and took out the money he’d hidden away carefully. What remained was one 10,000 won bill and a few coins. It was 50,000 won in emergency funds he’d barely obtained, but he’d blown it all on taxi fare.
‘This should get me to the pawn shop at least.’
Hui-myeong left his phone at home as usual and went outside. Since Section Chief Kim could track his location instead of Do-ha who was out of Korea, he couldn’t let his guard down. Hugging the bag and going out to the main road, fortunately a taxi was caught right away.
Even if Geum-gang wouldn’t lend him money, couldn’t he at least get help? He’d thought about selling everything at the ‘luxury watch purchase’ shop he’d passed by before, but taking such expensive things to strangers was reckless.
He was so suspiciously clutching the bag tightly that even the taxi driver seemed scary.
“Here, please stop here!”
Just before the taxi fare went over 18,800 won, Hui-myeong stopped the taxi. It was a place about 100 meters away from the pawn shop.
After shaking out the 10,000 won bill and the remaining coins to pay, Hui-myeong ran to Daemul Pawn Shop while hugging the bag. It wasn’t late, so fortunately the lights were on inside the office.
‘Hyung should be there too, right?’
Thinking of the first day when it was troublesome because there were only thugs, there was no guarantee Geum-gang would be there today either. But at least he could ask the thugs when Geum-gang would come. Hui-myeong gathered courage and moved his steps.
Just as he was about to go right inside, there was a slapping sound from inside. It was the same sound as when he’d been hit by Do-ha this morning.
“Fucking bastards, won’t you come to your senses?”
It was Geum-gang’s voice.
‘Is hyung hitting someone?’
In an instant, Hui-myeong’s back stiffened.
“Go and collect it again. Even if it means taking off your underwear and lying down at a funeral home, collect it, right now!”
“Yes!”
With the answer, the thugs rushed out of the pawn shop. Someone who recognized Hui-myeong, who was frozen and dodging, tapped his shoulder. His face was swollen and his lips were torn with blood, but he had a smiling expression. Thinking that condition was from just being beaten by Geum-gang made his hair stand on end.
“Kid, if you bother hyungnim today, you’ll get killed.”
Even with his face in that state, the man joked with Hui-myeong and followed his colleagues out. The fact that Geum-gang was a gangster hit home anew. He was already sick of Do-ha’s violence, but Geum-gang was in a place even closer to violence. He was honestly scared, wondering if he’d entered a tiger’s den avoiding a fox.
‘He wouldn’t do that to me.’
Today he really just had business at the pawn shop. Hui-myeong took a deep breath and then boldly entered the office.
Geum-gang was standing with one hand on his hip, lighting a cigarette. In the red lighter flame, his face shone brightly as if illuminated for a moment. Wearing only a vest with his shirt rolled up to his elbows, his darkly tanned forearms were revealed. Between the horizontally long muscle lines, along with faint scars, a heavy watch wrapped around his solid wrist. At that sight, Hui-myeong unconsciously swallowed his dry saliva.
As soon as he saw Hui-myeong, he irritably threw down and extinguished his cigarette and stood up from his seat.
“Didn’t you fucking understand what would happen if you came here again?”
Lightly dodging him coming to grab his collar, Hui-myeong moved his steps toward the place marked <President’s Office>. His daze was brief—Geum-gang followed him into the office. Hui-myeong, hugging the bag and standing in front of the nameplate ‘President Sa Geum-gang,’ turned around and looked at him firmly.
“This bastard doesn’t know fear, are you playing around with me right now?”
Geum-gang shouted with his hand on his hip. Perhaps because he was quite angry, not only his arm muscles but even veins were bulging on his broad chest and neck. He’d heard the sound of Geum-gang hitting people, but now that he was before his eyes, he wasn’t particularly scared. He’d already been beaten by Do-ha once this morning—would he be scared of someone else getting beaten?
Hui-myeong ignored his words and poured the contents of the bag onto the desk.
“I’m selling these, so give me a price. Since I don’t have a passport, look into either smuggling or a fake passport for me.”
Looking at Hui-myeong speaking with serious eyes, Geum-gang burst into hollow laughter.
“Do you even know what you’re saying right now?”
“I don’t give a damn right now.”
Hui-myeong was sincere. He had no passport, and he’d spent his last 18,800 won coming here. Honestly, he didn’t plan to go as far as smuggling, but he wanted to try insisting on anything. As long as he could leave Korea, any method was fine.
Geum-gang roughly picked up any watch and examined it at a glance.
“Do you know whose watches you’re bringing, to carelessly accept something like this?”
“Hyung, you’re a gangster. Does a gangster care about such things?”
Hui-myeong shot back without blinking an eye. It was strange. In front of Do-ha, who was crazy and obsessed with him, he calculated and spoke carefully while reading the room, but in front of Geum-gang, he could say anything without hesitation.
“I’m a gangster, not a fence.”
“Th-that’s different?”
At the unexpected attack, Hui-myeong struggled to maintain his composure and asked back. He’d only seen gangsters in movies, so there was no way Hui-myeong could distinguish such things.
“Jung Hui-myeong’s become a real asshole since I last saw him.”
Geum-gang muttered to himself and picked up another watch to check the model.
“……”
Though indifferent, he formally pulled a chair in front of the desk. Soon he took out a loupe magnifying glass from the drawer and began examining each watch quite seriously. He’d only thought he was just a loan shark who lent money, but looking now, it seemed he had the skill to appraise items too.
“Hyung, you know how to look at those things now?”
Hui-myeong peeked and glanced at Geum-gang.
“Shut up. You’re breaking my concentration.”
Even when Geum-gang snapped bluntly, Hui-myeong wasn’t discouraged.
“When a customer comes, shouldn’t you at least offer something to drink?”
“Take whatever you want from the fridge.”
He said without even lifting his head. Hui-myeong felt unnecessarily disappointed that he was completely outside Geum-gang’s interest and he only showed interest in the watches.
Following his words, when he opened the refrigerator in the corner of the president’s office, there was beer, cheap canned coffee, and Bacchus drinks. Hui-myeong took out a pouch of soju shoved in the corner.
“I’m drinking this.”
“Go ahead.”
Still, Geum-gang snapped without lifting his head.
“Tch, acting like you know what it is.”
No fun with jokes. Hui-myeong obediently put down the pouch soju and picked up a blue canned coffee.
When he opened the can and took a sip, he involuntarily shuddered at the extreme sweetness. Perhaps because he drank only freshly ground coffee beans with Do-ha every day, this mass-produced coffee was unfamiliar. But as bad things for the body tend to be tasty, Hui-myeong sipped the coffee while wandering around the office.
Old document files stuffed tightly inside a locked glass cabinet, worn file boxes, old-fashioned sofas—there was no sophistication, but it was a fairly well-equipped office. As he slowly looked around, this time the nameplate ‘Sa Geum-gang’ caught his eye.
“Hyung, did you get a mom? You didn’t have a surname originally.”
“Are there moms who make their sons gangsters?”
He still answered while looking at the watch through the loupe.
“Then why did you suddenly get a surname?”
“Let’s call it a business symbiotic relationship. It’s nothing that great. Ah fuck, why am I even answering this?”
Geum-gang got irritated by himself in the middle of answering.
