HPK 22

“…It is not allowed?”

At the noticeably lower voice, his grip on the phone tightened. Wooseung, who was sitting on the floor with his back against the mattress, lowered his head deeply. He barely managed to swallow the sigh that was about to escape. His breath still seemed to smell of alcohol.

—What kind of plans?

“I was supposed to have a meal with the people I took the test with last time, it has been a while…”

—Hey, I told you that kind of thing is a waste of time.

Jaemin’s nagging, once it started, continued without end. It was not particularly wrong, so rather than arguing, Wooseung barely managed to reply with things like, “Yeah,” “No,” and “That is not it.”

—Meeting up like that will not get you anywhere.

“It is just a meal, so what…”

—I would be cursing you out even if you were going to a productive meeting, what in the world are you doing now—.

He lifted his lowered head and rested the back of it against the mattress with a thud. The headache he had been feeling since he woke up showed no signs of subsiding.

He slowly closed his eyes, then opened them. Inside the fluorescent light cover, he could see a dark shape. Due to the nature of the semi-basement apartment where no light came in, he always kept the lights on when he was home. Because of that, bugs drawn to the light were often found dead inside the cover.

—What have you been up to lately? At night, what is it. That waiter thing. You are the one who is always saying you do not have time, what kind of meeting are you going to. Oh, and have you been to the dentist?

“I have not been up to anything, it is not like that… And I am going to the dentist, too.”

—Hey, I am saying this because it is honestly so frustrating. This is such an important time, and it is so obvious you are not all there.

“I keep telling you that is not it.”

—Do not just say it is not.

Jaemin pestered him, saying he would give him a wake-up call, and insisted that he come to his workplace around his quitting time. For Jaemin, whose daily pleasure was a drink after work, he often called Wooseung out for a drink. He would say he would give him advice helpful for passing the exam, but in reality, all they did was drink a lot and go home drunk.

When he worked at the police substation, Wooseung had visited him a few times out of curiosity. He had sat in the back of a patrol car and even tried on handcuffs. It was fun and motivating at first, but now that he vaguely understood Jaemin’s reasons for doing so, it just felt awkward. Moreover, now that he was working in the narcotics investigation team, his ego had soared to the heavens.

“Next week, I will go when you are on day shift. That works, right?”

—Hah, damn it, really. The lady at the restaurant said she would give us beef tartare as a free service if we went today. You had better not regret this.

“Who would regret something like that…”

—You will really regret it, oh. Hold on.

Jaemin stopped grumbling and fell silent. Over the phone, a voice with poor audio quality could be heard. Soon, Jaemin replied, “Yes, I will check on it.”

—Hey, I got a report. I am hanging up.

The call ended before Wooseung could even answer. The persistent nagging came to an anticlimactic end. He knew he should not, but for a moment, he felt relieved that a report had come in.

Jaemin had become incredibly busy after his team composition changed from a two-person team to a one-person team. It was common for calls to end abruptly like this, and sometimes when they went out for a drink after work at Jaemin’s insistence, a case would break, and their plans would be canceled anticlimactically.

Wooseung stared blankly at the warm phone and then let out a deep sigh. He had gotten past it for now, but it was clear that another call would come tonight or tomorrow morning. He wondered what excuse he would have to use then…

Bzzzt, the phone in his hand vibrated. A notification appeared on the screen, indicating a new text message.

[Hyung are you coming to work today?]

It was a text from Hyojun. His hangover had caused him to waste the entire Friday. He was in no condition to go to work, so he had lazed around at home, feeling miserable. In contrast, Hyojun, who had suffered just as much from drinking with him, had gone to work yesterday.

[Yeah yeah I’m going]

If he did not go to work today, he would not be able to make the amount he needed to send by Monday.

[Hyung if Kim Jungoh does that again today let’s go tell him off together son of a bitch ㅗㅗ]

Wooseung, who had been texting with the back of his head on the mattress, slowly sat up. The back of his eyeballs throbbed painfully as he read the small text, but he could not take his eyes off the phone.

It was a trivial message, but it meant a lot to Wooseung. He even felt a sense of comfort he could not feel when talking to Jaemin. The melancholy that had dominated him since yesterday seemed to lift a little.

“…”

Life had been so busy that the only friend he had kept in contact with until now was Jaemin. They became close after being in the same class in their first year of high school, and their bond grew stronger while studying for the exam together. He had made some friends at school and the cram academy, but those friendships did not last long. Whether it was friends or lovers, his situation was not one where he could maintain continuous contact and meetings with someone.

And yet, Wooseung’s heart felt more at ease with a single line of text from Hyojun than with a phone call from Jaemin. He felt this way even though he knew Jaemin was the only one who checked up on him, asking if he had gone to the dentist.

“Haaa…”

Wooseung let the hand holding the phone hang limply by his side. He rubbed his aching molar with his tongue.

Unconsciously, he felt intimidated in front of Jaemin. He could easily engage in trivial conversations with Hyojun, but it was difficult with Jaemin. He knew very well why that was. It was just that there was no particular way to overcome it.

[What time are you coming to work??]

[7 pm g?]

Wooseung bent his knees and rested his arm on them. He held the still-warm phone and pressed the letters one by one. In the silence, only the ding, ding sound of the keyboard echoed.

[Yeah yeah 7 pm]

The reply came quickly.

[OK see you in a bit lol]

Wooseung let out a small laugh at the message that arrived with a comical emoticon. He put down the phone, straightened his knees, and stood up. He had to put Jaemin’s matter on hold for now and deal with the immediate problem.

He did not really remember what happened in the early hours of yesterday morning. It seemed to have been washed away along with what he threw up while holding onto the toilet bowl. Still…

‘For you, one of these glasses is one choice.’

The throbbing that spread to his temples with every glass he downed, the feeling of his esophagus burning, the heat mixed in with his heavy breaths.

Wooseung decided to trust the sensations left in his body instead of the memories that had been erased into blackness.

From the moment he arrived at the club, he waited with a trembling heart. Every time the door opened, he would jerk his head up to check who it was. After how many such disappointments had passed?

“Jaewoo, Chris, Shin Chanil, and…”

Kim Jungoh’s gaze, which had been scanning the waiting room, landed on Wooseung.

“Wooseung. Let us go in like this.”

Finally, Wooseung’s name was called. Taejung had kept his promise!

Wooseung shot up from the sofa as if he had been waiting for it. Hyojun also rejoiced with him, giving him a light punch on the arm.

After that, it was similar to usual. It was a Saturday, so the club was packed with customers, and rooms were constantly being filled without a moment’s vacancy. Wooseung was called into a room twice, and by the time he left work, he had 240,000 won in his hand, even after the house cut. He had never felt so relieved when receiving money from Kim Jungoh. On top of that, he even received a 20,000 won tip from a customer.

“…Thank you.”

Wooseung rubbed the bills with his thumb and bowed his head deeply. Kim Jungoh stared at Wooseung for a moment before opening his mouth.

“You and the president…”

But his sentence was not finished. He waved his hand with a sigh.

“Never mind. It is nothing. You are coming to work tomorrow, right?”

“Yes.”

“Alright. See you tomorrow.”

A week’s worth of anxiety melted away like snow for a mere 240,000 won. He fervently hoped that tomorrow would be just like today.

The sound of dress shoes on the marble floor faded into the distance, and Wooseung picked up his bag. No sooner had he slung it over his shoulder than Hyojun, who was talking with Chanil, reached a hand out toward him.

“Hyung, hyung! Hold on, let me just grab this.”

“…Ah.”

“What, did you forget? We were supposed to go get hangover soup!”

Hyojun grumbled about how he could have forgotten so quickly, but he still efficiently gathered his things from the sofa and approached with quick steps.

“Hey, Shin Chanil. You are not coming?”

“I ate something in the room, so I am full.”

“Tsk, fine then.”

Hyojun slung his arm around Wooseung’s shoulder and left the waiting room without a second thought. There were still a few rooms from which music could be heard. Hyojun scrunched up his face in disgust.

“I wonder who is in that room? Poor bastard, really.”

“Is it not Chanil? He just came out for a moment, did he not?”

“Ah, right. Am I an idiot?”

They passed through the parking lot, where some empty spaces were visible as a few cars had left, and turned a corner. The streets of the still-dark dawn were littered with discarded flyers and cigarette butts. A musty smell hung in the air, a mixture of alcohol, cigarettes, and various food smells. The streets that had been through the night were always like this.

The gukbap restaurant that Hyojun had first taken him to, and which they had visited together often since, was still crowded with people. No sooner had they found an empty table and sat down than an employee came to take their order.

“One extra large, one regular!”

Listening to the gruff voice, Wooseung rubbed his hungry stomach with his palm. Because of the alcohol he had forced down the previous night, his stomach had been upset all day, and he had not eaten properly. All he had eaten was some fruit he had sneakily picked at in the room, watching his surroundings. Hunger now belatedly rushed in.

“Hyung, want a drink?”

He hesitated for a moment but shook his head. When Hyojun asked if it was okay for him to drink alone, he nodded for him to go ahead, and Hyojun raised his hand as if he had been waiting.

“One bottle of Jinro here, please!”

Soon, an employee placed a bottle of soju and two soju glasses on the table with an indifferent hand. Wooseung poured a drink into Hyojun’s glass.

“Or hyung, at least have a soda. It is a bit weird drinking alone…”

Hyojun, feeling awkward about drinking by himself, tentatively suggested that he have a soda.

“…In that case, I will have just one glass too.”

“Oh, really?”

With a much brighter expression, Hyojun poured soju into Wooseung’s glass. Gurgle gurgle, the poured liquid quickly filled the glass. Its transparent color was no different from water. But its taste, its scent, and the sensation that spread throughout the body after entering it were very different from water.

And Wooseung knew that sensation all too well.

At that moment, his Adam’s apple slowly moved down, then returned to its place.