GBH 74

For a week, the part-timer stood behind Song Yi-heon in the store, looking in the same direction, but only trash was rolling around in the narrow alley leading to the nightclub district. Beyond the alley, the brightly lit street with people coming and going was an ordinary sight, not worth watching all night.

Nevertheless, the boy who never took his eyes off the alley suddenly changed his position. A group of men emerged from the alley he had been watching intently. The part-timer recognized their faces. They were gangsters who managed several nightclubs in the area. As they entered the convenience store, the part-timer put away the mop and went behind the counter.

“Welcome.”

A gangster with a carp tattoo wriggling up his neck and lips flapping on his cheek threw a card on the counter and said, “Two packs of Marlboro Red. Sangmin, grab some hangover cure for the boss too.”

Any defiance towards the thrown card wilted in front of the gangster’s dirty appearance with tattoos up to his cheeks.

The part-timer rang up the beer and hangover cure that the youngest gangster had placed on the counter, bagged them, and handed them over. After the big, loud gangsters left, leaving the store feeling empty, the part-timer came out to the display area to finish mopping.

It wasn’t just the inside of the store that felt empty. When he noticed the parasol beyond the tasting counter was vacant, the part-timer tossed aside the mop and went out to look around. Having built up a one-sided familiarity with the back of the boy’s head, this action was quite startling.

“Where did he go?”

Song Yi-heon, who had been sitting there just before the gangsters came in, was gone. He had finally left first after sharing the night part-timer’s work hours for a week.

* * *

Song Yi-heon, with his hood pulled low over his head, followed the gangsters who had left the convenience store. With his hands shoved into his windbreaker pockets, he tailed them at a safe distance. These were the guys he had been staking out for a whole week. Unable to let them go without any results, Song Yi-heon hid in the darkness and proceeded cautiously.

Through the alleyways between old row houses with sparsely lit reddish streetlights, Song Yi-heon followed them silently, like a fishing line’s sinker cutting through water when a fish takes the bait.

He needed to find out why the rival gang that used to manage the neighboring area was now in charge of the nightclub owned by Kim Deukpal’s organization.

The men ahead turned into an even narrower alley. The tight space increased the chances of being spotted, so Song Yi-heon had no choice but to fall back. In the dead of night, the alley was so quiet without even a dog’s bark that he couldn’t lose track of their rowdy group.

The winding alleys were mostly similar. Bumpy exteriors made of stacked bricks, garbage bags piled like small hills under utility poles, gas pipes installed along building walls…

A sense of déjà vu gradually slowed his steps. The clothing donation bin with winter clothes hanging out of its mouth like a tongue, which he had seen in a passed alley, appeared again. The out-of-season clothes had stuck in his memory without effort. He wasn’t passing through similar alleys, but going in circles through the same one.

We’ve been made.

As soon as this instinctive realization hit him, Song Yi-heon turned and sprinted with all his might. His efforts to move silently were wasted as his windbreaker rustled loudly, the fabric rubbing roughly and billowing as the wind rushed in.

The gangsters, who had been luring their unknown pursuer to a dead end, shouted and gave chase.

“He’s running! Catch him!”

“Stop right there!”

Song Yi-heon’s agile body was better suited for fleeing than fighting. With his long legs in running shoes, he bounded down the descending stairs three or four steps at a time, widening the gap between him and the pursuing gangsters. The only problem was that he didn’t know the area.

“Huff, huff…”

When his pursuers were out of sight, Song Yi-heon pressed his back against a building corner, trying to suppress his heaving chest. He hid in the building’s shadow and surveyed the alley lit by streetlights. The sudden sprint had pumped his heart so rapidly that its pounding echoed in his ears like a drum, causing him to miss the sound of movement from above.

“There he is!”

The men he thought he had shaken off appeared from a side alley on an upper level, pointing at Song Yi-heon and calling their comrades.

“…Tch.”

Song Yi-heon gritted his teeth and changed direction. His hat, once pulled low, had long since blown off in the wind, and in the ant nest-like maze of alleys, the gangsters’ shouts echoed off the walls no matter which way he went.

Song Yi-heon sprinted down a narrow alley under slate roof eaves, barely wide enough for one person. The rustling of his windbreaker alerted one of the gangsters, who followed closely behind. As Song Yi-heon unknowingly ran into a dead end, a smirk of triumph crossed the gangster’s face.

Just as he was about to break into a vile grin at the thrill of finally catching this rat, Song Yi-heon clenched his teeth and ran full tilt towards the wall. The faster he went, the stronger the wind deafened his ears, but Song Yi-heon didn’t stop.

“That bastard…!”

He’s going to crash. The frightened gangster slowed his pursuit, and Song Yi-heon planted his foot as if to jump. Far from slowing down, he accelerated, unable to overcome the inertia. His knees bent at an acute angle as he defied gravity. Song Yi-heon ran vertically up the wall, barely catching the edge with his fingertips, then used his body weight to push off with his toes. He landed precariously on the narrow top of the wall before leaping to the other side as if flying.

The series of smooth, flowing movements only stopped when he landed on the ground, raising dust. Song Yi-heon, who had jumped in an arc from quite a height, dusted off his knees that had hit the ground as he landed safely.

“…Phew.”

As he caught his breath, the gangster chasing him shouted over the wall, sharing his location.

“That bastard jumped the wall! Catch him! He’s in the alley by the laundromat!”

“Haa, this is crazy…”

Song Yi-heon ran, shaking his sweat-soaked hair. He had gotten himself into serious trouble. No matter how fast he ran, he couldn’t shake off the gangsters who knew the alleys like the back of their hand. He was just running in circles within their tightening encirclement.

His stamina was reaching its limit. Sweat accumulated under his windbreaker, making his whole body feel heavy as if trapped in a humid sauna. His once light feet now felt like they had sandbags attached, dragging along, when suddenly a strong grip pulled his arm from an alley.

“…!”

A roomy hooded zip-up was put over his windbreaker. Large hands intertwined with Song Yi-heon’s fingers, pushing him against the wall. Before he could register the pain in his hand and back from hitting the cement wall, a solid chest pressed against him like a wall.

The scent that Choi Se-kyung used to give off when they studied shoulder to shoulder wafted over him.

“Bend your knees.”

Se-kyung’s legs intertwined with Song Yi-heon’s half-bent knees. In the darkness, it was hard to tell whose legs were whose. With bent knees reducing his height and Se-kyung’s bulk obscuring him, many of his distinguishing features were hidden. However, his lungs, which had been working overtime, showed no signs of calming down.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

His breath, filling his airway to the brim, came out in wheezes. The violently heaving breaths were clearly those of someone who had been running for their life.

“He couldn’t have gone far! Find him!”

The shouts of the gangsters chasing Song Yi-heon could be heard from just beyond the neighboring building. Se-kyung covered Song Yi-heon’s mouth with his lips.

“…!”

The lips that he thought would just pretend to touch actually made contact. It was less of a kiss and more like an attempt to swallow the rapid breaths, with shallow breathing exchanged through parted lips.

Se-kyung briefly pulled away to let Song Yi-heon breathe. As the compressed chest expanded and contracted greatly, he pressed their lips together again. The moist lips rubbed more gently and slowly this time. Se-kyung tilted his head, deepening the kiss as he pushed Song Yi-heon against the wall. Unlike the tense, hard chest muscles, the lips met carefully but deeply.

They sensed someone outside the alley stopping abruptly. An overtly observant gaze lingered on the pair engaged in an intense kiss. Feeling how tense they both were through their pressed bodies, Song Yi-heon and Se-kyung desperately clung to each other. As the connection deepened, their tongues intertwined slickly in a shared space.

The sensation of their tongues rubbing together made Song Yi-heon’s interlocked fingers spread wide, trembling at the tips.

Partly due to Song Yi-heon’s slender build, but also in comparison to Se-kyung’s long fingers with their thick joints, his hand looked unmistakably feminine.

“Shit, they should’ve gotten a motel.”

Convinced the one pressed against the wall was a woman, the gangster left that comment before running off to catch the unidentified stalker. As the shouts pursuing the stalker gradually faded, Song Yi-heon’s tension dissipated and he staggered. No longer able to hold his breath, he pushed against Se-kyung’s shoulders and desperately gulped in fresh air.

“Haah, hah, haa…”

Se-kyung also slid down the wall, resting his forehead against Song Yi-heon’s. There was no lingering sensation or flutter from the kiss, just a sense of absurdity at overcoming the crisis this way, mixed with relief at not being caught. As the two sat with their foreheads touching, laughter that had been trickling out grew into full-blown chuckles.

* * *

Once they reached the main street, Song Yi-heon immediately hailed a taxi, opened the back door, and gestured to Se-kyung with his eyes. Despite his swollen lips, his gaze was cold.

“Go home.”

“Song Yi-heon.”

He hesitated, unused to Se-kyung calling him by his full name instead of the usual gentle tone. Se-kyung called out again.

“Song Yi-heon.”

“…What. If you call someone, say something.”

As those eyes, shining like clear glass beads, just stared silently, his instinctive wariness rose. It was more a look of gauging his reaction after calling his name than simply calling out. He suspected something might have happened at school while he was busy looking for his underlings, but Se-kyung spoke about Song Yi-heon, not the school.

“I waited for over a week. For you to speak first. I can’t wait any longer.”

“Hey, that’s…”

He hadn’t said anything because it wasn’t something to tell Choi Se-kyung. It wouldn’t make sense even if he did. Who would believe a story that had to start with souls being switched? But he also knew that while Choi Se-kyung might seem docile, once he set his mind on something, he wouldn’t give up until he understood.

“Are you getting in or not?”

As the taxi driver poked his head between the front seats to hurry them, Song Yi-heon had no choice but to get in first.

Their destination was Bukchon.