GC Ch 12

“No. Please give it to me.”

I reached out my hand to receive it, but it suddenly rose toward my face and lightly tapped my lower lip. Flustered, I pulled my face back and held out my hand again, prompting Boss Chu to scowl fiercely.

“I didn’t give it to your hand, I gave it to your mouth.”

“….”

“I told you to open up.”

“…Yes.”

When I opened my mouth, the cigarette slipped right in. It was my first time having someone do this to me, so it felt really strange. For a moment I wondered if he’d even light it for me, but fortunately, he didn’t go that far. I took the lighter, turned my head, and lit it. Spitting out smoke, he looked at me.

“From now on, mix the coffee here. Don’t go sitting at the end.”

“…Yes.”

Boss Chu kept staring at me while smoking his cigarette. His eyes busily scanned my face. They lingered for a long time particularly on my lips as they clamped down and puffed on the cigarette, and his gaze was so persistent that I couldn’t taste the cigarette at all. In the end, unable to smoke it for long, I put it out in the ashtray. A moment later, Boss Chu followed suit and put out his cigarette too. But his had already become very short. Our eyes met again.

“Don’t you have anything to tell me?”

The look in his eyes as he asked that was several times fiercer than before. Something to tell him? Suddenly, the words I had heard from him yesterday crossed my mind. ‘Bring your ID card next time you come.’

I knew there was something bothering me, and it turned out to be this exact thing. I had been so out of it trying to stop the fight that I couldn’t remember it.

“I’m sorry. I was so out of my mind that I couldn’t bring my ID card. Next time I come, I will definitely bring it with me.”

I thought this would be a good chance to take back the ID card that had been confiscated. It had been taken away by Kim Jeongsuk along with my bankbook, but even if she was reluctant, she would have no choice but to return it if it was Boss Chu’s order. However, as if it wasn’t the answer he wanted, Boss Chu’s face turned even colder.

“There should be something else besides that.”

“….”

I racked my brain quickly, but nothing else came to mind. It shouldn’t be about the shoes since they told me not to wear them first, and putting too much sugar was already forgiven earlier, so I had no idea what on earth he was referring to. Soon, Boss Chu adjusted his posture and pulled out a fresh cigarette to put between his lips. Having lit cigarettes for so many bosses, my body moved automatically. Coincidentally, the lighter was right in front of me as well.

“Here, a light….”

Standing up halfway, I cupped my hands and brought the lighter over, and Boss Chu looked up at me. His cheeks hollowed out as it caught fire. The moment I pulled the lighter back, he shifted the cigarette with his hand and snickered at me.

“What, fucking showing off that you’re used goods?”

“Pardon?”

Boss Chu looked up crookedly at me as I stood in an awkward posture. Smoke billowed out from his mouth in soft clumps.

“I heard you’ve been running around working as a regi since you were little. Ever since the days when the blood on your head hadn’t even dried yet.”

“…Me? I—I’ve never done that.”

“Then your Boss is playing tricks on me. Wanting to die.”

“….”

Flustered, I was at a loss for words. Fuck, Kim Jeongsuk. To pack up her own maliciousness in a way like that.

Boss Chu stared right through me. His gaze, to put it in the words here, was excessively burdensome and scary.

“I’ll ask you again. Have you ever gone around doing deliveries or not?”

“….”

“Have you or haven’t you?”

“…That is, Boss.”

The back of my neck pulled severely. While I definitely hadn’t worked as a regi, I had unmistakably gone around delivering coffee. By my standards, delivery and working as a regi were as different as heaven and earth, but to Kim Jeongsuk and Boss Chu, it was probably one and the same. Turning my body, I looked Boss Chu properly in the eye. Since the mob boss was displeased, I had to try with all my might to explain myself.

“That… I don’t know how it will sound to you… but yes, I have definitely gone around doing deliveries before. But I swear to heaven, I have never run around working as a regi.”

“You did go around doing deliveries, but you didn’t run around working as a regi. What the fuck, is that words or rice wine?”

Boss Chu’s hand flinched as if he was going to hit me. It was terrifying beyond words, but that was precisely why I opened my eyes even more resolutely. Isn’t it true that courage springs up even more when you want to live?

“Boss. To Boss, delivery and working as a regi might look the same, but to me, it’s a vastly different issue. Delivery is literally delivery, while working as a regi goes beyond that… how should I put it, a smile is essential….”

“….”

“No, so the point of my words is, I have never once thought of myself as a regi.”

If I had just simply said I was forced to do it because of debt, that would have been enough, but I was dying to show off how dumb I was. By the time I belatedly thought of the word ‘debt’ and tried to bring it up, Boss Chu was a bit faster. Wrinkling his eyebrows, he spoke as if he didn’t want to hear it.

“Are you trying to persuade me right now?”

“Ah, n—no, it was all because of d—debt.”

“Debt?”

“Yes. My mom used to run a coffee shop together with Kim Jeongsuk Boss in Seoul and Incheon in the past, you see? From then on, the financial relationship with our Boss became complicated, so, I mean, my mom ran off without paying back the money, so I got caught instead of my mom…. Yes. As I did what I was told, I ended up doing even those kinds of things. Uh… but I really only went out on deliveries, I’ve absolutely never done anything beyond that. And besides that, I did a lot of other work too. Odd jobs were a given, I went around collecting other people’s debts, worked as a server at a bar, and washed dishes too. Even now, I was dragged back here for the same reason—”

As my rambling speech dragged on, Boss Chu raised his hand and cut off my words.

“You’re talking excessively long for something that could be wrapped up by saying you were forced to do it because of debt. This place isn’t an declamation contest venue either.”

“…I’m sorry. It’s because I don’t have a gift for words….”

“Then your conclusion is, I should just toss Kim Jeongsuk’s words aside and only believe your words. Is that right?”

“…Yes. Yes, Boss.”

Facing Boss Chu’s face looking at me askew, I displayed a firm resolve once more. I nodded my head like someone making a grand decision. In reality, it was a grand deal to me. If this situation where I was squatting without passing out in front of the number one man in Mugwang City wasn’t a grand deal, what on earth was?

“That’s right. Our Boss’s words are not worth believing at all, so you can just let them go in one ear and out the other. You only need to believe my words.”

Did I speak too solemnly? Boss Chu’s eyes narrowed. He began to stare intent inside me. After doing so for a long while, he suddenly laughed by himself and muttered, “Fucking bitch….” At the raw profanity, my mouth dried up, and I swallowed hard on saliva that hadn’t even gathered. I felt like I was going to die of thirst.

Not long after, Boss Chu relaxed his coldly hardened expression. At the same time, he reached out his hand and lightly tapped my cheek. A chuckle spilled from his mouth. Unlike the sneer from before, it was just a laugh.

“Your facial expression is good. You could even set up an academy.”

He slammed his big palms down onto his thighs. At the sharp slap sound, my body flinched along with it. If you got hit by that, it would hurt like hell. A mark would be left properly too.

“Got it. I’ll do as you say. But if you’re fooling me, you know what happens, right?”

“…That kind of thing will never happen. Thank you for believing me, Boss.”

“Clear all that away. Yesterday, in all the confusion, I couldn’t even ask your name, right? I am Chu Gio. This Gimun here is my father’s name. Chu, Gimun. What is your name?”

“I am Woo, Minjo. Woo Minjo.”

“Minjo. Woo Minjo.”

It was a pronunciation closer to Min-jjo than Minjo. Even if that sounded funny, it was never a matter to laugh about.

Minjo. Woo Minjo. Boss Chu nodded his head and repeated my name under his breath several times. Every time he pronounced it, it felt like my body was being chewed up, giving me a strange sensation. Somewhere felt ticklish while a chill ran down my spine. In the midst of that, he called me warmly.

“Right, Minjo-ya. How much are you bound for right now again? Is it quite a bit?”

“Uh… first of all, when it started, it was thirty-five million… but right now, I’m not sure.”

“It’s your debt, but you have no interest? Why don’t you know that?”

“That’s because the interest increases arbitrarily. I don’t even know exactly by how much it increases. Also, even if I knew, it’s not something that would be resolved immediately…. I’m sorry.”