HPK 2

“What? A janitor?”

Kim Jungoh looked over the hosts with a face that said he did not understand what was going on.

“Is there some kind of problem…….”

Kim Jungoh clasped his hands together and smiled awkwardly. The rudeness he had displayed when he entered the waiting room and pointed, “You, you,” with his index finger was gone. His bewilderment was palpable in the way his sentence trailed off.

Wooseung bit his lower lip hard, then let go. The man was pointing at him. And the only one who knew that was himself.

“Is there some kind of problem?”

The man, who had been leaning comfortably on the sofa, mimicked Kim Jungoh’s tone.

“A cleaning bastard is sitting in on the lineup.”

Kim Jungoh’s gaze turned to the man’s hand, which was resting nonchalantly on the table. It was a reflexive movement. When the man brought a lighter to his hand and gripped it, Kim Jungoh nervously licked his lower lip.

“Cleaning. Lineup.”

“……”

“Are there any words you don’t understand? Jungoh-ya?”

Click-flick, click-flick. Every time the lighter wheel turned, it made a sound like metal being scraped. Kim Jungoh swallowed hard.

“Boss. By any chance, are you not pleased with the boys…….”

At that moment, the man swung his arm wide as if throwing a baseball. It was the very hand that had been playing with the lighter.

“Heok!”

Startled, Kim Jungoh wrapped his hands around his head and awkwardly hunched his body over.

However, belying his scream, the lighter just lightly tapped his shoulder, thump, and fell to the floor. This was because the man, who had swung his arm as if to throw it, had released his strength at the last second.

After a brief silence, Kim Jungoh slowly straightened his hunched body.

“It was a joke, what are you going to do if you scream like that.”

“……”

“Making a person so damn embarrassed.”

Contrary to the man’s claim that it was a joke, the atmosphere inside the room was unspeakably brutal.

“Everyone leave except for the janitor.”

At the man’s words, the hosts cautiously looked around at each other. They were all clearly bewildered. Wooseung rolled his eyes around before reluctantly taking half a step forward. He felt that dragging this out would only make things worse. He could not make a bad impression on his first day at the annex.

“Um, Manager-nim. About that……”

He slowly opened his mouth while looking at Kim Jungoh.

“I was cleaning earlier. Um, I was picking up some trash from the parking lot at the entrance……”

“……”

“So I think the customer mistook me for a janitor.”

Wooseung hurriedly turned his body toward the man.

“Customer. I……. am not a janitor. I apologize.”

Sweat trickled between his clasped hands. Unable to do anything about his damp palms, he waited for the man to speak.

“Ah. You’re not a janitor?”

The man grinned.

“……Yes. I am sorry.”

He waved his hand toward the space behind Wooseung, gesturing for the others to leave.

“Jungoh-ya. Tell Hoonyeong to come. Ah, what’s your name?”

The man stopped speaking and looked at Wooseung.

“……It’s Wooseung. Yoon Wooseung.”

“Okay, tell him I’ve seated Wooseung.”

“Yes, Boss. I understand.”

Kim Jungoh bowed his waist respectfully and led the hosts out of the room. Rumble, as a dozen or so men left, a silence fell as if no commotion had ever occurred.

“Not going to work?”

The man said, looking at Wooseung who was standing still. Wooseung picked up the bottled water and can of Sky Barley Tea from the end of the table and approached the man’s side.

The alcohol and appetizers had not been set up yet, so the only things on the table were overturned glasses. Usually, the drinks came out before the lineup, which was strange. Kim Jungoh had definitely said it was a re-lineup……. Hesitantly, he was about to ask, ‘Should I ask them to bring drinks?’

But then, something familiar caught his eye. Without hesitating, Wooseung got up from his seat. He brought over two cans of Coca-Cola that were next to the Sky Barley Tea. He was about to turn over a glass and pour the cola, but the man covered the glass with his palm.

“It doesn’t taste good if you pour it in a glass.”

“Ah……. Yes.”

Wooseung pushed the opened can toward the man. He laughed as if he found it amusing.

“I heard you were originally at the main building.”

“Yes.”

How did he know? That was the first question that came to mind. But he did not say anything unnecessary. Seeing how flustered Kim Jungoh was, it seemed the man was not just any customer.

And feeling that his answer had been too short, he quickly added.

“I was at the main building.”

He stared intently at Wooseung. Wooseung also slowly met his gaze. Not so it seemed too rude, but also so he did not show any sign of being intimidated. He hid his hands, which were numb with fear, by clenching them into fists.

It was not a youthful face, but he did not look old either. Late twenties, perhaps? His face, which looked as if it were intricately sculpted, could only be described as handsome. His features were strong and his shadows were deep, yet the shape of his eyes and his lips were elegant. It was a face that felt as if it were drawn in completely different art styles.

However…….

“Fucking handsome, right?”

The man, who was resting his chin on the back of his hand, said.

“……Yes. You are very handsome.”

“Why did you come to the annex?”

The man easily changed the subject, as if he had not been very curious about Wooseung’s answer in the first place.

His hands, resting on his knees, flinched. He had only expected a host or a manager to ask that; he had never imagined hearing it from a customer, so his thoughts froze for a moment.

“The reason…….”

Wooseung carefully parted his lips.

“Do I have to tell you all of it?”

The man laughed.

“Ah! If I tell you everything……. I think you’ll be bored.”

He added hastily, studying the other person’s expression. Fortunately, the man just laughed and did not seem particularly offended.

“Yeah. It does seem like it would be fucking boring.”

Just when he did not know how to respond to the mischievous words, the door opened. The person who appeared was the man who had gotten out of the driver’s seat earlier. He must have taken off his jacket, as he was in a white shirt. He had rolled up his sleeves, revealing tattoos that filled his arms in black. The tattoos continued down to the back of his hands. It was such a mismatch with his tidy face, which looked like it belonged to someone in an office job, that at first, he thought he had seen wrong.

“Hoonyeong-ah. Bring out some drinks.”

Hoonyeong, who was in the middle of handing the man some documents, looked puzzled.

“Drinks, sir?”

“Yeah. For him to drink.”

“Ah, I…….”

Wooseung opened his mouth urgently. The man, who had been flipping through the papers, glanced at Wooseung.

“It’s okay, I don’t need a drink. I’ll have cola too.”

“The cola is mine.”

“Ah……. Then I’ll have barley tea.”

Flipping the page he had turned back to the front, the man tossed the stack of documents onto the table. Thump.

“You don’t want to drink?”

“I have esophagitis……. so I’m trying to be careful this week.”

The man smiled, his eyes crinkling.

“I think I know why you came to the annex.”

Instead of rashly apologizing with a ‘sorry’ at those words, Wooseung brought up something else.

“I can have fun even if I drink barley tea.”

He had met countless difficult customers in his time. He had been through all sorts of bizarre incidents.

When he said he did not drink, customers were generally divided into two types. The ones who said okay, and the ones who got upset, asking why he would not drink. Each time, Wooseung would get through the situation with a suitable excuse depending on the customer’s disposition. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it did not.

“Really?”

The man casually reached out his hand. He popped open the can of Sky Barley Tea and poured it into a glass, glug glug glug. Then, placing his index finger on the rim of the glass, he slid it straight toward Wooseung. The barley-colored liquid, filled to the brim, sloshed and looked as if it would spill at any moment.

“Drink.”

Wooseung gripped his knees tightly then let go, slowly raising his hand to the table. And he picked up the glass.

“Should we do a toast?”

He thought there was nothing to be gained by showing he was scared and flustered. So Wooseung did his best to ignore the chilly sensation that brushed against the nape of his neck.

“Sure, a toast.”

The man obediently lifted his can and clinked it against the glass. Wooseung put his lips to the glass and drank the beverage. And no sooner had he set the glass down than the man spoke.

“You have to chug the first one.”

Wooseung did not hesitate and picked up the glass again. After finishing it all, he wiped his lips and said to the man, “I chugged it.” He deliberately held up the glass, which now only had streaks left by dripping droplets.

“……”

The man’s gaze fell upon the glass held by the slender fingers, then quickly moved away. There was no ‘well done,’ or even a faint smile. He just rested his chin on his hand and stared intently at Wooseung.

It was the right timing to tactfully change the subject. But before Wooseung could open his mouth, the man beat him to it.

He reached out and took the empty glass that Wooseung had just drained. He brought it to his nose and sniffed it. Along with this bizarre action, the man tilted his head.

“Why does it smell like alcohol?”

Wooseung swallowed hard.

“Did you already see one room?”

“That’s not it. The waiting room, I was in the waiting room for a long time……”

The fact that this was his first room could be confirmed simply by calling Kim Jungoh, who had left just a moment ago. So Wooseung hastily came up with another excuse.

“Really? That’s strange.”

If he could, he wanted to open his palm in front of his lips and blow, hoo, to check his breath. But even if he did, there was no way it would smell of alcohol. He had not only brushed his teeth but had also used mouthwash before coming in here. Perhaps the smell of alcohol pooled in the waiting room had clung to his body.

“Keep drinking.”

“……”

“You said you’d make it fun.”

A thick-knuckled finger tapped the Sky Barley Tea can. Thump. Wooseung reflexively picked up the can and poured the drink into his glass.

In the meantime, the man picked up the documents he had cast aside and began reading them again. Wooseung quietly sipped his barley tea beside him.

“Hoonyeong-ah.”

“Yes.”

“The hosts write these themselves, right?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Hosts? Themselves?

It was only then that Wooseung realized what the documents in the man’s hand were. The man acted as if he did not care if Wooseung saw, so the letters written on the paper were clearly visible.

It was the resume he had written.