HPK 30

Wooseung returned to the waiting room and kept checking his lower teeth in the reflection of his phone screen. He also obsessively rubbed his molar with his tongue. He felt relieved by the smooth sensation, but then felt uneasy when he remembered holding semen in his mouth.

He had pleaded for him to at least cum outside, but Taejung had not even pretended to listen.

Still…

‘Use it at the dentist.’

Wooseung thought of the card he had put in the innermost pocket of his backpack. The anxiety that had been weighing heavily on his mind disappeared completely with just one card. He was no longer afraid of going to the dentist.

While he was thinking about it, he sent a text to Jaemin.

[Went to the dentist haha]

A reply came five minutes later.

[Was it a cavity?]

[Yeah haha I decided to get a root canal haha]

[tsk tsk idiot]

Wooseung let out a faint smile at the harsh curse. Perhaps because his heart felt much lighter, even the talk about work that followed as if it had been waiting was more bearable than usual.

[I pulled off another one haha]

The text, which filled the screen, was thick with Jaemin’s pride, detailing what had happened at a drug bust that morning and how he had caught two major dealers.

As they were texting back and forth, a familiar voice called his name. It was Hyojun. He told Jaemin he would tell him the rest when they met and then closed the messenger app.

“Hyung. When did you get here?”

Hyojun entered the waiting room alongside Chanil and came straight to the sofa where Wooseung was sitting. Wooseung moved his backpack down to make room for Hyojun to sit. Seeing him naturally brought to mind the unpleasant words Taejung had said, but he tried to push them aside.

Perhaps because he had just come from seeing a room, he smelled strongly of a mixture of alcohol, cigarettes, and cologne.

“Did you change your cologne?”

“Yeah! How did you know? That bastard Chanil gave it to me because he doesn’t use it. You want to spray some, hyung?”

Before he could even answer, Hyojun jumped up and took the cologne out of his clutch. As he grabbed Wooseung’s arm and brought the bottle to it, he suddenly wrinkled his nose.

“Did you come here wearing cologne? I smell something…”

The only cologne he owned was one he had received from a madam hyung when he was at the main establishment because he said he used it. Even that, he rarely sprayed because he was saving it.

“I’m not wearing any…”

Hyojun sniffed and sniffed, like a dog with its nose buried in the base of a tree.

“Ah, what is this. I’ve smelled it somewhere before.”

After a moment of that, his eyes flew open as if he had realized something.

“The president!”

“Huh?”

“It smells like the president’s cologne!”

Wooseung was so surprised that he unwittingly pulled his arm out of his grasp. His skin was pulled taught, and a stinging pain flared up.

“Hey, smell it. I’m right, aren’t I?”

“Ah, get it away.”

Hyojun, who was making a fuss, telling Chanil to smell it too, smiled brightly. He looked like someone who had just answered a question with a large prize money attached to it correctly.

“Oh, wait a minute. Hyung, then…”

However, the smile that revealed all his teeth was short-lived, as Hyojun trailed off. Soon, his eyes widened.

“Hyung, is there really something going on between you and the president?”

“Huh?”

“Crazy! Is it true?”

Hyojun, surprised by his own words, quickly looked around. Realizing that a few people were looking this way, he lowered his voice.

“Hyung, hyung, come over here for a second.”

He grabbed Wooseung’s wrist and pulled him up from the sofa. Wooseung, who was dragged behind the clothes rack, waited obediently for Hyojun, who was standing on his tiptoes and surveying the waiting room.

“Don’t take this the wrong way.”

“…What is it.”

“Are you, by any chance, being sponsored by the president?”

“What?”

Surprised by the unexpected words, he quickly waved both hands.

“No. Sponsorship. What kind of…”

Hyojun stood on his tiptoes once more. After scanning the players in the waiting room, he lowered his voice drastically.

“That day, after the room ended and you left work first, there was some talk among us later.”

“…About what?”

That time… It was the day Hyojun went for a second round with Moonsu and Wooseung left work first.

“Honestly, it was a little strange back then. The president was strangely taking care of you? Or letting you off? We could see that.”

Was he talking about how Taejung, who had been forcing cigarettes on him, had backed down immediately at Wooseung’s refusal? Other than that…

“…Ah.”

Come to think of it, he was also the only one who did not participate in Taejung’s ‘game’. It was plausible enough for the players to misunderstand.

“Ah, anyway, it’s not, a sponsorship.”

“Then is the president the only one who’s like that towards you?”

“…That’s even less likely.”

He immediately denied the words that were chilling just to hear.

“Hmm.”

Hyojun crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

“But you’ve been to the president’s room often, hyung. And you just came from there now.”

“…”

“Ah, seriously, don’t try to fool me. We all know the president’s cologne is really strong.”

“It’s true that I just came from there, but it’s really not a sponsorship.”

Hyojun brought his index finger to his lips and said, “Shh, shh!” in an urgent tone. He made a fuss, looking around restlessly. He did not seem to be aware that his own voice was louder.

“So what did you do in the room today?”

The card he had put deep inside his backpack came to Wooseung’s mind.

“Just, did that kind of thing… If he gave me my table charge, I took it…”

“That kind of thing?”

He slowly shook his head, implying that he did not want to say any more than that. Fortunately, Hyojun understood immediately without him having to say it out loud. As long as one worked in a place like this, it was impossible not to know.

“So that’s why you were the only one who didn’t do it that day…”

Was he talking about Taejung’s ‘game’? Or was it the ‘cigarette’ that Wooseung had refused until the end?

“…Let’s go. The smell of cologne in here is too strong.”

The players generally sprayed their cologne heavily, so his nose was really stinging from being in here. It was especially so because so many scents were mixed together.

“Wow, you’re reeking of cologne right now, hyung.”

Hyojun’s mouth fell open as if he was dumbfounded. Regardless, Wooseung did not want to talk about this topic any longer, so he turned his body first.

“You won’t even tell me…”

However, as soon as he emerged from behind the clothes rack, a gaze flew and landed on him as if it had been waiting. Even though he had done nothing wrong, for some reason, he felt intimidated by the countless gazes that flew at him. Just then, Hyojun scowled deeply and pulled Wooseung.

“Ah, shit. I told you. There was talk among us.”

“…”

“I was asking to help you, but you won’t even tell me. I’m not doing this for no reason, you know.”

He clicked his tongue and chided Wooseung. He grumbled that it would not have been like this if he had at least told him beforehand.

♡

A Maybach drove down the embankment path between undeveloped rice paddies and fields. The gravel crushed under the tires rolled and made a loud noise.

About a 20-minute drive from the Pocheon IC, a national highway with sporadically spaced streetlights appeared. From there, if you turned onto a narrow embankment path, there were no more streetlights. One had to distinguish objects solely by moonlight. The high beams brightly illuminated the weed-overgrown embankment path.

As they neared the edge of the empty land that had once been used for storing stone materials, an abandoned factory faintly revealed itself in the distance. Hoonyeong turned the steering wheel smoothly and exited the narrow path.

The abandoned factory was surrounded by a white steel fence. The main gate had already been opened by someone, so the car entered smoothly through it. There were a few cars that had arrived beforehand. One large sedan and two 2.5-ton box trucks. Hoonyeong parked the car next to them.

As the engine was turned off and the headlights disappeared, the surroundings instantly became pitch black. Hoonyeong, who got out of the driver’s seat, went around the hood to the back seat.

“Ah, shit.”

Taejung, who was getting out of the car, muttered a low curse. He frowned, clutched his shoulder with his hand, and rotated his arm. When he tilted his neck to the right, a loud crack of bone was heard. At the same time, his lats and triceps cried out in terrible muscle pain. The pain was particularly severe because it was right after a personal training session.

“Hoonyeong. Does that bastard Jeongha have a grudge against me or something?”

“Trainer Im Jeonghoon?”

“Yeah, that bastard.”

Hoonyeong, who closed the back seat door for him, stood next to him. His steps leading to the abandoned factory were neither fast nor slow. Taejung constantly grumbled next to him that he was dying of pain. The chirping of insects could be heard from not too far away.

“You’ve arrived.”

The iron door scraped loudly against the floor as it was opened wide inward. Moonsu, who had arrived first, bowed his head deeply in greeting. A few of the men who had been in the room with him that day were standing in a line behind Moonsu.

Shoe prints were left on the dusty floor. Letting Hoonyeong lead the way, Taejung stuck his hands in his pants pockets and slowly looked around. The abandoned factory, which had not been frequented by people for a long time, was filled with a musty smell. His throat was scratchy, as if he was on the verge of coughing. He gathered the murky saliva in his mouth and spat it onto the floor.

“Everything has been set up, and the materials are scheduled to arrive tomorrow.”

While Hoonyeong was inspecting the interior with Moonsu, Taejung went outside the iron door. No houses were visible to the naked eye. It was truly a vast, empty plain.

“It’s not like we’re advertising that we’re doing bad things.”

Taejung chuckled and came back into the factory. Without even glancing at the men who were standing awkwardly, watching his expression, he kicked this and that with his foot. When a clatter sound was made, the men’s shoulders flinched noticeably.

“Moonsu.”

Taejung, who had kicked the leg of a steel table, beckoned him over. Moonsu rushed over and quickly bowed his head, saying, “You called.”

“You slept with that kid, right?”

“What? Ah, yes.”

“How was it?”

Moonsu curled his lips inward and sucked in the air with a seup. As he straightened his bent back, he rubbed his nape. He was carefully choosing his words, not knowing what Taejung’s intention was in asking.

“It wasn’t, bad.”

“Not bad?”

“Yes. But he’s definitely bonier than the girls, so there’s not much fun in touching him.”

He kept his left hand behind his back and opened and closed his right hand into a fist. A nasty, leering grin appeared on his lips, as if he was reminiscing about sleeping with Hyojun.

Taejung, looking at Moonsu’s pot-lid-like hand, recalled a hand with a completely different appearance. That hand, which had been as soft as if it had never done a hard day’s work.