GC Ch 16

“For now, leave him alone and don’t touch him. We’ll know tomorrow whether it’s credit or not.”

“Putting aside whether it’s credit or not, that bastard definitely has something going on. Even if it’s out of fear of getting hit, there’s no way he could be that confident.”

“I’ll keep a tight eye on him for a few days. You just pretend not to know, Munsu.”

“Got it. But noona, it’s not because of the dress shoes, right? No, it’s been bothering my mind since earlier. That was, fuck, the point he was fixated on.”

“No way. If it were, he would’ve told him to wear them when coming back.”

It was talk that wasn’t even worth listening to. Not wanting to hear it, I flushed the toilet—which didn’t even have cheap water bills—and turned on the sink faucet as well.

As I washed my face and hands, Boss Chu’s heavy voice echoed, drowning out the sound of the high-pressure water.

‘We’ll see each other again tomorrow.’

If a request came in tomorrow without fail, Kim Jeongsuk was bound to assume today’s worries were baseless fears and jump for joy. Gang Munsu might even make sure I wore dress shoes when sent off so nothing bothered his mind, either.

However, the obstacle in my mind wasn’t the man and woman outside the door, but Boss Chu alone. His words that we’d see each other again tomorrow were no different from an order to obediently suck his dick tomorrow.

Above the rising water, a massive dick appeared like a hallucination. A groan of “sigh…” escaped my mouth naturally. Just thinking about it being shoved down my throat, tears already felt like they were streaming down in torrents.

∞ ∞ ∞

No matter which coffee shop it was, the working hours for the girls were fixed. From 8 AM to 12 midnight. However, it was safe to say that virtually no girl worked tied down for a full sixteen hours a day. There was barely one in ten who came to work at 8 o’clock sharp, and there were heaps of girls who just skipped without saying a word. Even so, the shop owners left them alone, because all they had to do was add the missed hours as debt. That was the law of this bottom-tier world.

Starting with the fixed daily quota payment of 180,000 won, shop owners levied a fine of 250,000 won for absences and collected a tardiness fee of 20,000 won per hour. On top of that, they deducted a certain amount of money every month for ingredient costs and referral fees. When payday came and the amount was split 5:5, the money the girls actually took home was at a pitiful level. The only good treatment was that they didn’t add interest to the money lent to the girls. For that reason, the girls tried with all their might to hook a sucker like Hwang Nobyung from Jangheung Livestock. In other words, coffee shop work was merely a means to find an easy sucker.

If so, did I, who started going out on Gimun deliveries in earnest since yesterday, belong to that category too? And my target was Gimun Construction’s Boss Chu?

‘It’s alright, that’s how we live together. You get pocket money from me, and I get to shove my dick in your mouth. Mutual assistance. Huh?’

‘I’ll take care of everything, so just open your damn mouth wide. Even if I push it in just this little bit, it touches your uvula, doesn’t it?’

‘Eat everything I shoot out. If you spit it out, you die.’

‘Gag!’

‘Did you just throw up? Is this bitch crazy, spitting out all of Chu Gio’s cum?’

The moment a thunderous roar echoed and a large palm slammed against my head, my eyes snapped wide open. I bolted upright.

“Haa, haa…!”

As soon as I realized it was a dream, my sleepiness vanished completely. Without realizing it, I frantically moved my tongue and smacked my lips. The inside of my mouth was sticky and bitter. I felt like I could taste a fishy flavor—as if slick semen had actually been sprayed into my mouth.

Fuck…. Having spent the whole night unable to sleep while worrying about what to do, I even had a filthy dream like this. My jaw throbbed painfully, and I felt like throwing up. Trying hard to think that it wouldn’t be a prophetic dream, I shook my head to shake off Chu Gio’s dick that was still floating in front of my eyes. Crazy bastard. Crazy dick. A guy where truly not a single thing came easy.

Reaching for the shop cell phone left beside my pillow, I checked the time and saw it was 7:10 AM. If I had woken up after hearing the alarm set for 7:15, my mood wouldn’t have felt this filthy.

“Phew….”

Letting out a sigh, I folded the blanket and got up from my spot. Today was Saturday, the day the kitchen auntie didn’t come to work. Therefore, every Saturday was the day I opened up the coffee shop. Originally, it was a task done by Kim Jeongsuk, the Boss, but from the moment I was dragged here, it became my job. Eating and sleeping took place right at the coffee shop, so it wasn’t difficult. It was just annoying to wake up from sleep and move around.

Slipping into slippers, I stopped by the bathroom first and rinsed my mouth. Whether it was just my imagination, a fishy taste kept lingering at the tip of my tongue. Back in the days when I had no sense, I had tasted my own semen before, and it was that exact taste. Rinsing with just water wasn’t enough, so I squeezed a whole handful of toothpaste and scrubbed the inside of my mouth as if washing off grime. Only then did I feel like I could live.

After finishing washing my face, I dragged my slippers along and walked toward the entrance door. The sunlight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling glass was terribly blinding. Wrinkling my eyes, I unlocked the latch attached to the upper part of the door, then opened it wide to air out the room.

It wasn’t just a matter of opening the door; there was plenty of work to do. Going to the kitchen, I cleared away the dishes left as they were yesterday and organized the thermos bottles and glass cups I had pre-washed. I gathered the trays and wrapping cloths, and filled up the containers for coffee, sugar, and creamer to the brim. After checking the ingredients to be used today, if anything was lacking, I brought it from the storage room and set it in order. These days, as the weather turned warm and more people looked for cold coffee, I also had to check the amount of ice. Instead of freezing ice myself, I bought it continuously from the supermarket across the street, because of Kim Jeongsuk’s judgment that it was cheaper than buying a machine. Fortunately, there was a generous amount of ice inside the freezer.

Sweeping and mopping the hall was my job from the very beginning, so I continued on to do that too. After sweeping with a broom and wringing out a mop to scrub it thoroughly, it was already almost 8 o’clock before I knew it. In a little while, Kim Jeongsuk and one or two of the girls would arrive for work.

What kind of hardship would be waiting for me today? With the feeling of facing an adventure, I grabbed my cigarettes and went outside. Looking at the peaceful morning scenery that contrasted with my life, I clamped a cigarette in my mouth. I didn’t know why I had ever tried to quit and live without this.

While I was taking a long, painstaking drag, Kim Jeongsuk appeared driving the coffee shop car. Parking on one side of the shop, Kim Jeongsuk got out of the car and threw the car keys at me. Without so much as a greeting, I barely snatched the car keys flying through the air.

“I was gonna beat you to death if you were still sleeping until now.”

Kim Jeongsuk’s fashion today consisted of a skin-tight black sleeveless top and white jeans that likewise exposed her body frame. On top of that, she wore completely mismatched, open-toed bright yellow dress shoes. Black nail polish was painted on her toes that popped out. Her hair, which she usually pinned up, was let down long as if to change her mood, and large hoop earrings were worn on her ears. Her makeup… even if it was a domain I didn’t know well, eugh, it really wasn’t it. If she just made that eye makeup a bit lighter, she’d look decent enough, but I couldn’t understand why all madams insisted on heavy makeup without exception.

Kim Jeongsuk came over to my side and clamped a cigarette between her lips. Perhaps it was her last one, as the pack of cigarettes held in her hand was violently crumpled. It was promptly thrown into the drum barrel behind us.

“You know Daehan Motel downtown, right? If you go in front of there, Miss Byeol and Miss Soo will be out standing. Go pick them both up and bring them.”

“Yes.”

“Buy me some cigarettes on your way back too. Here, money.”

Kim Jeongsuk opened her wallet and handed over a ten-thousand-won bill. As she did, she continued speaking. “Buy two packs. Since you’re going, buy one for yourself too.”

For once, she was bestowing generosity. It seemed she herself was aware that she had tormented me a lot these past few days. Puffing heavily on her cigarette, Kim Jeongsuk scanned me up and down.

“Go on your Gimun delivery dressed like that today. It looks nice since it fits you snug. Don’t keep wearing jeans uncomfortably—wear short things, short things.”

Looking at the back of Kim Jeongsuk entering the shop with the cigarette clamped in her mouth, I threw a middle finger inwardly. Talk bullshit, why don’t you. A few days ago, she bought a pair of short shorts for less than five thousand won at the market to use as pajamas, and because I had so little to wear, I wore them, only to hear all kinds of talk.

Come to think of it, my shorts were yellow too. Feeling like I had unnecessarily become a couple with Kim Jeongsuk made my mood feel even dirtier. Even more so than when I dreamed of sucking Chu Gio’s dick. I should throw them off the moment I come back from running the errand. Resolving as such, I got into the car. Stepping hard on the accelerator with my barefoot feet in slippers, I sped away from the coffee shop. The wind rushing in through the window was lukewarm and heavy, even though it was morning.