HPK 12

Occasionally, there are entertainers who are chosen by the president and run his errands. They say they get paid an astronomical amount of money each time.

It sounded plausible, but it also sounded like complete nonsense.

“Crazy, for real?”

Getting paid in the hundreds of millions for just running a few errands. Wooseung thought it was just ridiculous nonsense, but Hyojun was different. Beneath his thick double eyelids, his eyes were sparkling.

“I was on the fence about it, but seeing what that bastard Hyungho is doing, I think it’s true. Remember Oh Seungmin? He used to go in and out of the president’s room for a while and then bought a car.”

“A Maserati? I heard the madam from Dong-o Mulsan bought it for him.”

“The madam? Don’t be ridiculous. He bought that himself with the money he got from running errands.”

Chanil scoffed as he took his phone back. He spoke with conviction, saying that Oh Seungmin had told him so himself back when he was splurging like crazy. Hyojun, with a dazed look on his face, nodded his head and expressed his curiosity, “But what kind of errand is it that he gets paid that much?”

“Is it something like voice phishing?”

“Hey, you asshole. Do you really think he’d make an entertainer do that? There are plenty of kids who would do it without knowing any better.”

“That’s true.”

Chanil thought for a moment before opening his mouth.

“Still, seeing what Hyungho is doing, it probably isn’t that dangerous.”

“……”

“If it were something like that, he wouldn’t have an entertainer do it in the first place. It must be something that guys who drink and sell their bodies can handle, don’t you think?”

Listening to Chanil’s self-deprecating words, Wooseung was reminded of Hyungho from that day in the room.

‘Can you do it?’

Taejung had asked, and,

‘I, I can do it.’

Hyungho had replied.

Even the image of his back as he hurriedly pulled up his pants at Taejung’s command and left the room with an awkward gait.

“Oh, now that I think about it, wasn’t the day you were in the president’s room the same day Hyungho was chosen, hyung?”

“Ah, that’s right. He came out after getting his ass beat.”

Hyojun scolded Chanil, asking how he could say he got his ass beat, but Chanil just replied nonchalantly, “It’s true that he got his ass beat.”

“Did you happen to see Hyungho in the room? Like, did you hear anything?”

Wooseung awkwardly averted his gaze, avoiding Chanil who was staring intently at him while asking.

“I only saw him leaving as I was going in… I don’t really know.”

Fortunately, it seemed he wasn’t really expecting an answer, as he did not probe any further. Wooseung tried hard to gather the memories of that day which kept scattering his thoughts.

“By the way, what’s Oh Seungmin up to these days? Did he move to another club? It’s been a while since I’ve seen him.”

“I don’t know. He was making a fuss about moving, so I guess he went somewhere else.”

Chanil added that seeing as he had even deleted his Instagram account, he might have quit this line of work entirely.

After that, some trivial conversation followed. Just as Hyojun had been trying to persuade Wooseung for over ten minutes to go to an after-hours club with him, the door to the waiting room opened and Kim Jeong-oh appeared.

“We have a lineup. Jaewoo, Chanil, Chris, Wooseung and…”

The entertainers, who had sluggishly gotten up from the sofa, tidied their hair while looking in the mirror on the waiting room wall. Kim Jeong-oh, after checking the time on his wristwatch, urged them to come out quickly.

They left the waiting room and waited in front of Room 3. The entertainers, lined up along the wall, each straightened their clothes.

“I just hope they’re not construction guys.”

Hyojun said playfully, pressing his palms together as if in prayer.

“I’m still dying from all the drinking last time, seriously.”

Unlike Wooseung who used esophagitis as an excuse, he had recently been diagnosed with esophagitis at the hospital and was on medication. He prayed earnestly that these clients would not force him to drink. Wooseung simply patted his back, tap, tap, without saying much.

“Alright, let’s go in.”

The door opened and Kim Jeong-oh entered first. The acrid smell of cigarette smoke filling the room was terrible. Wooseung swallowed a cough internally and followed Hyojun.

What greeted the entertainers were men wearing dark navy blue jumpers. The skin revealed below their crudely cut hair was exceptionally dark and tanned. Ironically, they were the construction worker clients that Hyojun had been singing about not wanting.

They puffed on their cigarettes while scanning the entertainers who were lined up in a row.

“You, come here.”

A man with hair cut so short that his scalp looked blue pointed at Hyojun with his finger. Kim Jeong-oh signaled Hyojun with his eyes to hurry up and go sit. Hyojun bowed his head in greeting and then approached the man’s side.

“Hyung, who are you gonna pick.”

“The one next to him.”

“Left? Or right?”

“That one. The pale one.”

The entertainer standing to Hyojun’s right was tanned, so anyone could see he had dark skin. At the same moment Wooseung flinched, Kim Jeong-oh gestured with his eyes. Wooseung grabbed a glass and a can of soda and went to the side of the man who had pointed at him.

“…Hello.”

Despite Wooseung’s greeting, the man kept his lips firmly shut and tapped his glass, as if telling him to just pour the drink. He put ice in the glass and poured the whiskey. After a slight swirl, he poured it into a shot glass and placed it in front of the man, who then picked up the glass as if he had been waiting for it. And then, without hesitation, he downed it in one go. In the meantime, Kim Jeong-oh led the rest of the entertainers and rushed out of the room.

“What’s your name.”

“It’s Wooseung. Yoon Wooseung.”

“You can speak casually.”

“Ah, okay.”

Wooseung nodded and took the glass the man offered. The hands, with their thick and rough knuckles, had coarse skin all over. At the same time, they felt quite familiar to Wooseung. Before coming to Girin, his own hands had been just like that when he worked at the tuna processing factory.

“You not drinking.”

He stared intently, so Wooseung hurriedly drank it all. The path the strong liquor traveled down burned as if it had been scalded.

“You can handle your liquor, can you.”

“I’m not… a good drinker, but I can still drink.”

He poured him another glass of alcohol. He poured it straight into the shot glass without diluting it with ice and handed it over. Just like that, he ended up drinking two shots in a row.

“Ah, hyung-yo. It’s sad to drink alone. Let’s have fun together.”

Fortunately, the man sitting next to Hyojun turned this way and drew the attention of the man called hyung. He pulled Hyojun into his arms and gathered the beer glasses in the middle of the table. He had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, he took the whiskey bottle and tilted it over the gathered glasses. Gurgle gurgle, the alcohol poured out like a waterfall.

“Beer.”

The man gestured with his chin towards the beer at the end of the table. Wooseung immediately brought two bottles of beer, opened them, and handed them over. The glasses were already nearly half full with liquor. Even so, the man poured the beer over it without holding back. White foam bubbled up as the different types of alcohol mixed together.

“First glass is a one-shot.”

He personally placed a glass in front of each entertainer. With a clink, the yellow liquid sloshed.

Wooseung looked at the drink in front of him and licked his lower lip. His lips were as dry as someone who had not had water for days.

“This hyung here really hates it when people skip drinks, you know? Make sure you stay on his good side.”

“……”

“Especially you. I’m talking to you.”

The man was pointing at Wooseung. Wooseung quickly put on a smile and raised his glass. As if he was ready to drink at any moment.

“Yeah. Just do that.”

“……”

“Alright, glasses up!”

Four glasses were raised into the air. The man turned his head from side to side and beamed.

“I said the first glass is a one-shot.”

Bad feelings never miss their mark. Judging by their behavior, it seemed they had landed in a room with ‘drunk pests’.

There were plenty of clients who were desperate to make you drink even in the main building. Wooseung had only dealt with female clients there, but drunk pests were not limited by gender. There were those who forced you to drink, and those who would watch with a sly smile to see if you would drink or not.

However, the pressure felt when on the receiving end of a man’s forcefulness is different from that of a woman. Among women, there were many clients who actually became more affectionate and kind when they got drunk.

‘My baby, want to sleep with mommy tonight?’

Just like Wooseung’s mother used to.

“Uh-uh, you gotta hold your glass properly.”

Wooseung, who had been lost in thought for a moment, deliberately smiled wider and raised his glass high. Clink, the four glasses collided, and the rebound caused the alcohol to spill over. Feeling the drink soak the back of his hand, Wooseung brought the glass to his lips. In the quiet room, the sound of gulping, gulping drinks could be heard.

“Kuh!”

The first one to empty his glass was the man sitting next to Hyojun. After drinking, he planted a deep kiss on Hyojun’s temple. Hyojun was not surprised by the sudden skinship. Instead, he smiled affectionately and snuggled deeper into his arms.

“You can handle your drink, huh?”

The man called ‘hyung’ said, seeing Wooseung put down his glass. Wooseung wiped his wet lips and smiled awkwardly.

“That’s a compliment. A compliment.”

“Yes, thank you.”

While the man gathered the empty glasses back to the center of the table to make more boiler makers, Wooseung carefully observed the situation and cautiously drank some water.

Just as Wooseung had predicted, the men emptied and refilled their glasses at an incredibly fast pace. It was almost too much to keep up with. On top of that, they only drank the mixture of whiskey and beer, so the room quickly filled up with the damp, heavy smell of alcohol.

“This bastard can really sing!”

The man who chose Hyojun laughed boisterously and clapped his hands, clap, clap. Every time his elbow hit the table, the glasses and dishes rattled, clatter, clatter.

“Until the right person I want appears, I’ll just protect her for a little while~.”

“You’re doing great!”

With the vigorous applause, a fork that had been resting precariously on a plate finally fell to the floor with a thud. Wooseung bent down to pick up the fallen fork. Then he slyly placed it back on the man’s plate.

“I’m thankful even for that, woo-ooh~.”

Hyojun rounded his lips and cleared his throat refreshingly. The man clapped his hands repeatedly, delighted by the sight of him singing his heart out while holding the microphone at an angle. Wooseung followed his lead and awkwardly pretended to clap along. If he did not do at least that, he felt like he would collapse and lie down on the sofa right then and there. His eyelids were heavy and his neck kept losing its strength.

He had managed to skip some drinks here and there, but it seemed that was not enough. Every time he breathed, the strong smell of alcohol came out. A little while ago, when he was picking up the fork, he had even fumbled several times because his vision wouldn’t focus.

Hyojun’s condition was not much different either. He was managing to sing somehow, but he kept losing his balance and staggering. Not only his face, but his neck too was flushed beet red.

All of this was because of the alcohol the men had been relentlessly forcing them to drink.