LM 2

“Is this the bastard? The little fly that got mixed up in this.”

“Yes. There’s one more besides this one, they seem to be distributing together.”

“‘Seem to be’? Or are they a set? Speak precisely.”

The voice was low and resonant. Though not high-pitched, it pierced the eardrums like an awl. With each word, Siyul’s head dropped lower. The man’s voice carried such weight.

“They’re a set, sir.”

The voice that answered was filled with tension, contrasting with the indifferent question. Siyul could only fidget with his fingers. If it were Kwon Yuwon, he would have somehow resolved the situation and escaped safely, but with his brain – mockingly called a goldfish back at the orphanage – Siyul couldn’t see a way out of this crisis. He just wanted to cry.

The man grabbed Siyul’s hair with a strong grip and yanked his head back. Siyul let out a choked sound. Squinting at the glare of the fluorescent lights, he raised his eyes. Tears welled up and flowed, both from the pain of his scalp being pulled and from the harsh light.

The man observed Siyul with a “Hmm.” He seemed to be examining what kind of fool would dare to spread filth in his sacred club. After blinking a couple of times, Siyul’s white-out vision returned to normal.

The moment his eyes met the man’s, Siyul’s narrow eyes widened in surprise. Even in this life-threatening situation, the face before him momentarily made him forget the danger. What kind of human looked like that?

The features that everyone has were delicately and harmoniously illuminated on the man’s face. The bridge of his nose, the line of his jaw, even each eyebrow hair seemed perfectly placed, not a single element out of place or carelessly formed.

Siyul wondered if he was a celebrity, if he had seen such a person on TV before.

“This bastard… Why does a bastard with a d1ck look so alluring? Are you an Omega?”

Siyul gasped as he snapped back to reality. He twisted his head around, still trapped by the man’s grip on his hair. A sharp slap landed on his cheek. Even though the man’s palm seemed relaxed, the spot where he was hit burned.

“Use your words.”

“N-no, I’m not.”

The man narrowed his eyes. The atmosphere seemed to shift slightly, but Siyul didn’t notice. He blinked blankly and lowered his gaze. He couldn’t bring himself to meet the man’s eyes. He didn’t want to be hit again.

“…It’s better to get rid of flies.”

The man muttered as he released Siyul’s hair. Though it sounded like a self-mutter, every word pierced Siyul’s ears clearly thanks to the man’s precise pronunciation. Siyul’s face instantly turned ashen. Only then did he jerk his head up.

“No, please!”

“What?”

“I swear, this is my first time here! I mean… I’ll never come here again. I absolutely won’t. I won’t even turn my head this way, won’t even lay my head in this direction when I sleep. Please spare me.”

With his hands tied behind his back, he couldn’t beg properly. He squirmed towards the man like a caterpillar. His eyes were already red. Soon, pearl-like tears began to fall.

“Please…”

Siyul pressed his cheek against the man’s shoe, curling up into a ball. If he was told to, he would lick the sole of the shoe. He’d do anything to survive. Siyul was more afraid of dying than of ghosts. Even as a child, when everyone else had gone beyond the wire fence of the closed reservoir for a courage test, he had stubbornly refused, preferring to be beaten than to go. That’s how scared he was.

“I’ll never come back. Really.”

“…”

The man rubbed his chin and quietly stared at the back of Siyul’s head. If this was an act to survive, it was an award-winning performance.

Hasn’t he scared him enough? Just by looking at him, it was clear this kid’s courage was no bigger than a pea, so he probably wouldn’t dare to come back and cause trouble. Besides, he wasn’t a complete thug himself. If he really wanted to, he could get rid of him, but that was something he might have done in his hot-blooded youth, not now at his age.

The feeling of having made a child cry also played a part. Siyul’s crying face was perfectly designed to provoke others’ conscience. His nose was red, his cheeks flushed, and his lips and the skin around his eyes were both reddened. He looked like a ripe summer plum, crying with big, fat tears falling down his face…

The man cleared his throat and looked up at the ceiling. That should be enough to torment the kid.

“Tell your partner this. If you mess around in someone else’s business one more time, I’ll have a drum ready next time. If you don’t want your stomach filled with cement, behave yourselves.”

The man looked like someone who would actually prepare a drum. Siyul nodded frantically, still streaming tears and snot. If Kwon Yuwon were here, he would have said what use is a man with so many tears, that his balls should be cut off, but since he wasn’t here, Siyul cried to his heart’s content.

“Throw him out.”

“But boss, to just let him go…”

“—What use is catching a kid who still smells of milk? Don’t make me repeat myself.”

The man stood up, dragging his chair. The surrounding thugs all bowed 90 degrees and responded with a loud “Yes.” Regardless, the man shoved his hands in his pockets and left the room nonchalantly.

Meanwhile, Siyul, who had been lying face down like a dead person, slowly raised his torso as soon as he heard the door close.

He was alive.

He thought he was going to die, but he survived. The tears of relief that had been flowing suddenly stopped. Unable to grin openly with others watching, he just twitched his lips. Inwardly vowing never to come back here again and never to meet that terrifyingly handsome man, Siyul ran out of the club on his own two feet.

“Hey! Why weren’t you answering your phone!”

As Siyul lay cocooned in his blanket in the inn room, the door burst open and in came the person who nearly nailed his own coffin. Kwon Yuwon shouted loud enough to shake the room, striding to the bed and yanking off the blanket.

He struck Siyul’s curled-up back sharply once, and as Siyul yelped and retreated to a corner, Kwon Yuwon flexed his round biceps and pulled him up.

“Why weren’t you answering your phone? Do you know how many times I called! Do you know how worried I was…”

Kwon Yuwon, who had been firing words like a machine gun, suddenly stopped. He squinted, examining Siyul’s face, and not satisfied with that, grabbed his chin and turned it left and right.

“What happened to you? Why are your cheeks and eyes swollen? Which bastard dared to…”

People can be so unpredictable. First, he was furious about the unanswered calls, now fuming about Siyul’s reddened cheeks. Siyul steadied his dizzy head from the shaking and removed Kwon Yuwon’s hands.

“I got caught by the club owner.”

“What? That shouldn’t have happened.”

“Well, it did. They knew everything. I thought I was going to die. It was really scary.”

Kwon Yuwon bit his thumb nail repeatedly. It was a habit he’d had since childhood. Afraid he might draw blood again, Siyul quickly grasped that thumb, much shorter and stubbier than the other nails. Though his life had been endangered because of Kwon Yuwon, he couldn’t hate him. Even if Kwon Yuwon backstabbed him, Siyul could forgive him twice depending on the severity.

“He said next time we get caught we’ll be put in a drum. He’ll fill our stomachs with concrete too. Let’s never go there again.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Kwon Yuwon apologized, looking utterly dejected. If he had animal ears, they would have drooped down. Then he hugged Siyul tightly, burying his face in his neck.

“I’m really sorry. I’ll remove that place from our contacts. Damn… I never thought it would turn out like this.”

This was enough. Kwon Yuwon wasn’t one to go back on his word. Siyul raised his arms and patted Kwon Yuwon’s back. He heard a brief sound of sniffling near his ear.

“But you know, that club owner was incredibly handsome. I’ve never seen anyone that good-looking in my life. The person was scary, but his face was insanely beautiful.”

Disliking the gloomy atmosphere, Siyul blurted out whatever came to mind. But even as he said it, he felt a pang of regret. Even if it was thoughtless, praising the looks of someone who had just threatened to kill him? Though it was the most shocking scene he’d witnessed today.

“You seriously find the guy who threatened to kill you handsome?”

As expected, Kwon Yuwon’s eyes sharpened. Siyul laughed sheepishly.

“No, it’s just… he was really good-looking.”

“…I shouldn’t have sent you. It’s all my fault.”

If he left him alone, Kwon Yu-won would dig himself into a hole. After all, it was in the past, and he had returned safely to the lodging, so wasn’t that enough? Siyul patted his own chest to reassure him.

“Come on, let’s just eat some chicken. Your treat.”

“I’m going to ask them to leave out the salt.”

Kwon Yuwon spoke nasally. Ever since the incident where Siyul had confused the salt packet that came with the chicken for drugs, which had caused a huge fuss, the two of them had made it a rule to never accept salt with their food orders.

Siyul wiped Kwon Yuwon’s reddened eyes with his hand and smiled. He pushed the scary memories to the back of his mind. Today was just a day of such bad luck that he’d break his nose even if he fell backwards. Tomorrow will be a new day with a new sun rising.