CBR 21

He spoke calmly, as if informing Jaewon of a fact only Jaewon was unaware of. Jaewon suffered a massive shock. Ever since he reached the legal working age, his market value had always far exceeded the minimum wage. Part of the reason was that he treated the labor office like his own living room, but mostly it was because he made full use of his superior intelligence. Therefore, Kim Dojun’s valuation of him was truly absurd.

“Wh—Whose call is it to make me worth 10 won?”

“Mine.”

“!!”

In response to his stammering voice, Kim Dojun replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The impression was capped off by a look of utter bewilderment and a suppressed chuckle. It was the dictatorial logic that his word was law, but looking at Kim Dojun, one couldn’t deny it. A physique so superior it seemed of a different race, a face that promoted reproduction, a gaze that overwhelmed even a male of the same species… He was an apex predator himself.

‘His face is his logic, so I have no confidence I can win.’

Jaewon’s mental state and common sense shattered one after another. The pride of a super worker ant who had never failed in a capitalist society crumbled weakly in front of the handsome dictator.

“And you have to pay back 100,000 won with your 10-won body.”

“What? Are you out of your mind? Why should I?”

“Thanks to you, I got reported for a cigarette butt I didn’t even throw away, had my face plastered everywhere, got suspended, paid a fine, and had a wonderful experience.”

“Ah… A-a fine.”

Caught off guard, Jaewon stammered, at a loss for words. Whenever he made civil reports, he was only obsessed with the bounty he would pocket; he had never considered the penalty the reported party would have to pay. It simply wasn’t his concern. But faced with the prospect of having to pay that money himself, Jaewon became cooperative.

“Now, Mister. Why are you billing me for something you should take up with the state….”

“Do your own chores, neat and clean and fast. Independent children~.”

Kim Dojun, who had been quietly watching Jaewon fluster about, sang the song. Staring straight into his eyes and humming expressionlessly, he sent a chill down Jaewon’s spine.

‘This guy is the real deal.’

Game recognizes game. Detecting an unusual level of madness in him, Jaewon changed his tune.

“Damn it, if I just pay it back, that’ll be enough, right? There, happy now?”

That measly 100,000 won could easily be solved by reporting another smoking teenager and cycling the money. With fierce determination, Jaewon pulled the money out of his wallet, slammed it down onto the desk, and glared triumphantly at Kim Dojun. Dojun looked down calmly at the ten-thousand-won bills fluttering on the desk before opening his mouth.

“The application deadline for early repayment has passed, customer.”

“Pardon?”

“If you’re going to calculate, you have to do it right. Your labor is worth 10 won. If you pay it all at once in cash upfront, the total repayment amount comes to 120 million won.”

“What?”

At the clerk-like, business-like recitation, Jaewon’s eyes bulged as if they might pop out. He let out a sharp yell, but Kim Dojun didn’t even blink. Going a step further, he even shook both hands back and forth like a parking attendant who is legally obligated to confess his love to a customer.

“What kind of nonsense is this? What country’s calculation method is this?”

“It’s a transparent settlement calculated by applying standard rates to the domestic minimum wage, plus a 200% early repayment fee.”

“Hey, are you really a high school student?”

Even a Myeongdong loan shark wouldn’t be this vicious. With his fighting spirit crushed by this calculation method straight out of hell, Jaewon’s voice trembled. To be told to pay back money he had never even touched in his life—it felt like tears would well up even if this were a book.

“If you don’t like it, pay it back some other way.”

Kim Dojun suddenly reached out and grabbed Jaewon by the collar. Before he had a chance to resist, his upper body was yanked forward, and the sound of the chair dragging loudly across the floor echoed. While he was out of his mind from the lingering scent of fabric softener, a large hand firmly grabbed his waist.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how different high-end labor is.”

The low laugh echoed around his ears. Blinking in a daze, Jaewon slowly came to his senses at the touch fondling his waist. The large, hard hand stealthily groped his flanks and abdomen as if assessing something. Goosebumps broke out instantly.

“L-Let go of this!”

Startled out of his wits, Jaewon thrashed, and Kim Dojun let him go as if tossing him aside.

“You just have to buy me bread, you yeast-like bastard. Don’t touch my body.”

“Your sensitivity is good. Is your whole body an erogenous zone?”

As Jaewon puffed and fumed with a red face, Kim Dojun asked mockingly. It was a remark deserving of being reported for sexual harassment. Yet, with one corner of his mouth pulled up, his expression was too sexy for Jaewon to do so. If an Esquire cover actor talks dirty, it’s a talent donation, not a reportable offense.

“Look at that red face. I could shave off a profit right away.”

“Ugh….”

He tapped Jaewon’s chin up with his index finger. Against that punk-like touch, Jaewon was helpless to a humiliating degree. The grinning face spun round and round before his eyes. Fear, sweetness, sensuality, humiliation, shame, excitement… raw emotions poured across his face. Constantly throwing curveballs, he left Jaewon’s mind in a blur. Above all, an adeptness unbefitting a high school student left Jaewon incapacitated.

“I’ll pay it back through labor, so stop….”

“You should have come out like that from the start.”

When the desired answer came, Kim Dojun smiled with satisfaction. Nodding with a generous look on his face, he lightly tapped Jaewon on the cheek.

“Do a good job, slave.”

They say the difference between a gangster and the mafia is their face, and Kim Dojun, who routinely engaged in thuggery, made every single action look effortlessly cool. The moment his eyes met those pitch-black, glossy pupils, he felt like he was being sucked into a black hole. Shuddering, Jaewon pushed his chair as far away from him as possible and sat down.

‘What on earth happened to my body?’

Laying face down on the desk, Jaewon groaned and asked himself. His lower abdomen was hot and tingling. It was a sensation completely different from when he had a stomach ache, leaving him at a loss as to what to do.

Jaewon was unaccustomed to physical contact other than retaliatory violence. That was due to his own philosophy that dating before marriageable age simply wasn’t cost-effective. Thanks to his decent shell, he had plenty of suitors, but his romance experience was zero. And he was remarkably vulnerable when it came to things he had no experience with.

The moment the hand with its hard knuckles swept across his body reappeared as a lingering tactile sensation on his skin. It was strikingly similar to the touch of a slave trader examining merchandise. Jaewon felt a sense of self-loathing. He couldn’t define the sensation that ruled his entire body, but it was a feeling a human being about to be sold onto a deep-sea fishing boat should never feel.

He must have been cursed. Just like pharaohs putting a curse on tomb raiders, he too was suffering retribution for matching faces with King Sejong the Great on the bill. It was the moment he raised his head, pondering if he should even get an exorcism.

“…Hah.”

A sculptured face filled his field of vision, and Jaewon swallowed his breath. Kim Dojun was lying face down on the desk in the exact same posture, eating bread. Staring intently at Jaewon, his eyes were as stubbornly pitch-black as a cat watching a toy.

“Ah, why again.”

“Just giving you some fan service.”

“What?”

“So you can look at my face a lot.”

Despite his annoyance, Dojun didn’t blink an eye as he teased him. Jaewon wanted to go back in time and sew his own mouth shut. With his smooth face munching on bread with relish, he was astonishingly infuriating.

“Didn’t you say you don’t like that bread?”

“I don’t.”

“Then why are you eat— why are you eating it?”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t eat it.”

“Are you going to talk back to hyung every single time?”

When Jaewon lost an argument due to a missing link, he would throw hysterics. It was like the stubborn behavior of an old man overturning a baduk board when things went against him. But Dojun didn’t care and kept filming his mukbang. With one cheek pressed against the desk, chewing away, he added:

“If you’re a picky eater, you won’t grow tall.”

His low, laughing eyes grew drowsy. Having lived with a height exceeding the average, Jaewon had been indifferent to height, but hearing it from a guy a whole head taller than him struck a nerve.

“For someone like me, I don’t need to grow any taller.”

“Sure. Living cutely is good too.”

“What are you staring at so much? Can’t take your eyes off my face?”

“You look fascinating.”

Looking over the bickering Jaewon intently, Dojun spoke. It was a remark open to various interpretations, but he seemed to have just said what he saw without any hidden meaning. Though Jaewon was usually as confident in his face as his report card, at this moment he felt like a rather pathetic monkey. While trapped in this unfamiliar feeling, Dojun opened his mouth once more.

“Looking like that, do you hate me?”