HPK 32

Dinner was eaten alone with his father. His mother said she had no appetite, and his grandmother went to bed early. The menu was extremely simple, consisting of scorched rice and salted squid, but no one complained.

“Does Mom skip dinner every day?”

“No. It’s because she slept during the day. When she wants to eat, she eats well.”

Heehun answered, sucking on his chopsticks stained with red seasoning.

“Your mom has put on some weight, right?”

His mother, seen through the crack of the open door, had hollow eyes and sunken cheeks, but Wooseung nodded his head.

“She makes sure to eat two meals a day. And she doesn’t touch alcohol at all now.”

Wooseung’s fingers, holding his chopsticks, tightened. The moment he heard the word ‘alcohol,’ his stomach churned. Just like suffering from a terrible hangover.

“Next time, come with Yejin. Even though grandma says otherwise, it seems like she wants to see Yejin.”

“It’s almost vacation, so I don’t think she’ll come…”

“Oh dear. That’s right. Vacation is next month.”

After starting college, Yejin had practically stopped visiting Daejeon. His father considered Yejin heartless for that, but Wooseung, on the other hand, understood.

Because his grandmother had difficulty moving, she could not wash herself without someone’s help. Due to her stubborn insistence that she would rather die than let Heehun do it, Yejin ended up being in charge of bathing their grandmother. His mother, when she was lucid, would occasionally help, but it was almost entirely Yejin’s responsibility.

Even for a family, it was a difficult task to do every time, but the problem was that his grandmother was particularly cold towards Yejin.

‘Why are you making a fuss with me, just ask your favorite oppa to do it!’

His grandmother, who was born and raised in Busan, doted on Heehun and Wooseung exceptionally. At least when his mother was well, Yejin had one person on her side, but after his mother fell ill, even that was not possible.

Now, Wooseung also carried a sense of guilt towards Yejin in a corner of his heart, but when he was younger, he did not have such feelings. Even though they often went hungry, his grandmother’s love gushed endlessly like a spring that never ran dry. What was not a given for Yejin was a given for Wooseung. So, Wooseung would often not hesitate to cunningly use his grandmother’s favoritism. Mostly when he wanted to use the computer for a long time, or when he wanted to eat more of the sausages served as a side dish.

After he grew up and formed a bond with Yejin in their troubled family, such things stopped happening, but that did not mean the wounds Yejin had received had completely disappeared.

Perhaps that was why he was being punished. Just as the discord that was not resolved in time had eventually piled up inside him in the name of indebtedness.

“Still, at least ask her.”

“I’ll ask.”

That was why Wooseung did not dare to delude himself into thinking that the feelings Yejin had for him were purely ‘siblingly affection.’ They loved each other because they were family, but paradoxically, because of that, unresolved old feelings had settled between them like a river that could not be bridged.

“If Yejin comes too, we can take grandma out to the front for the first time in a while and…”

Ting, the sound of a notification cut Heehun off. The screen of the phone lying next to the chopsticks lit up a beat later. The phone, encased in a yellowed silicone case, belonged to Heehun. He, who was taking a large spoonful of scorched rice, paused as he read the message on the screen.

“…Ahem.”

He awkwardly glanced at Wooseung, then stealthily flipped the phone over.

“Want some more scorched rice?”

Then he got up from his seat and went to the gas stove. He picked up the pot on the grease-splattered stove and brought it to the table. The pot, with its bottom completely burnt, was placed in front of Wooseung. He scooped up a ladleful of scorched rice and poured it generously into Wooseung’s bowl.

“That’s enough, enough. I’m full.”

“Even if it feels like a lot when you eat it, you get hungry as soon as you turn around.”

“Okay. Just a little bit.”

“Alright, eat, eat.”

Heehun plunged the ladle back into the pot and returned to his seat. Wooseung stared blankly at the pot handle, which still had chili powder residue from not being washed properly, before lowering his head.

Ting, another notification rang from the overturned phone.

♡

He slept only one night in Daejeon and came straight up to Seoul the next day. Blending into the pouring crowd, he exited Seoul Station and headed straight for the subway. Perhaps because there were many people pulling suitcases, the subway platform felt unusually crowded.

They said it had rained in the morning, and the air was indeed humid. The weather had suddenly gotten hot starting in mid-May. According to the morning news he watched with his father, the highest temperature in Seoul today was said to be 28 degrees Celsius. As if to prove it was true, heat slowly started to rise from his back where his bag was slung. Wooseung swung his bag around to the front and got on the subway.

He just dropped off his luggage at home and went straight to work. He considered turning on the dehumidifier before leaving but decided against it.

“I received the message from Department Head Han beforehand. Yes, yes.”

Kim Jungoh was in the middle of a phone call, standing in the center of the lobby. When Wooseung greeted him, he acknowledged it with a nod of his eyes and turned his body to continue his call.

On a Saturday evening, the establishment was bustling with hosts, to the point where the waiting room was overflowing. He made his way through the messily placed luggage and legs to a corner. Hyojun and Chanil were there too.

“Hyung. Hi.”

Unlike Hyojun, who greeted him brightly, Chanil only gave a casual nod.

“I heard earlier that we’re fully booked today.”

Hyojun smiled happily, saying it would be a full house all night. He checked his face in the handheld mirror and rubbed his eyebrows. Swipe, swipe. He had gotten new eyebrow tattoos, and he had been doing that for the past few days, saying the color was too dark.

“Hyung, I look like Crayon Shin-chan, don’t I.”

From the side, Chanil deliberately added a comment, “Yeah, you’re the spitting image of freaking Crayon Shin-chan.”

“They said the color would fade after a week, ah, damn. When is it going to fade?”

“I think it’s gotten a little lighter.”

“Really?”

Hyojun took the words of comfort seriously and happily said that he also thought it had gotten a little lighter. His mood changed so quickly, he was just like a little kid.

“That bastard is still at it.”

Just then, Chanil slid his phone down and said, “Look at that,” gesturing towards someone with his eyes for Hyojun to see. Over there was Hyungho, shaking his leg restlessly and chewing on his thumbnail. Perhaps because of the anxiety flowing through his entire body, his complexion also looked poor.

“I heard he blew all his money.”

“You think he just blew it?”

The story that Chanil laid out, saying he had heard it from somewhere, was quite shocking. He had even sold the car he had not had for long due to a failed crypto investment.

There was a reason why he had not shown his face at the establishment for a while, only to reappear since yesterday. He had run out of all his money, and he was in a situation where he was well and truly stuck.

“How much did he lose?”

“400 million.”

“Four hundred miillion?”

He had apparently made some money with crypto in the beginning. So he took out a private loan and made a risky investment, which then crashed, leading to this situation.

“He borrowed from there. Department Head Han. He’s crazy.”

Wooseung knew Department Head Han well by ear. When he was working at the main building, he remembered a madam hyung he was relatively close to giving him sincere advice not to borrow from Department Head Han no matter how desperate he was, upon seeing him trying to get a larger advance on his pay.

How desperate for money must Hyungho have been to have reached out to even Department Head Han?

“Hey, hey. Don’t look. If you make eye contact, he’ll start bugging you to lend him money.”

Chanil shivered as if he had encountered a plague. As he was about to follow his words and look away from Hyungho, their eyes suddenly met. Hyungho shot up from his seat and strode over here.

“Ah, damn it. Fucked. I made eye contact.”

Hyojun frowned slightly. But Hyungho’s destination was not Hyojun.

“Hyung. I heard you’re being sponsored by the President.”

Wooseung stared up stupidly at Hyungho who was standing in front of him. It took a long while for him to understand the words he had uttered.

“…Huh?”

Hyungho crumpled his face in frustration.

“I heard you’re being sponsored by the President.”

He repeated the exact same words as before, not a single syllable different. But the one who was truly surprised by those words was Hyojun.

“Hey, Shin Chanil!”

He glared at Chanil.

“Ah, what. It’s true he’s sponsored.”

“I told you he’s not!”

Hyojun looked back and forth between Chanil and Wooseung, not knowing what to do. Only then did Wooseung realize why Hyungho had brought up the word sponsor.

“Hyung, I really only told Shin Chanil. I swear on everything,”

“When is the President coming to the establishment?”

Hyojun’s and Hyungho’s words overlapped. Unlike Hyojun who was thinking, ‘what is this all about now,’ Hyungho’s question was faster.

“Is the President coming today?”

“…I don’t know?”

Wooseung genuinely did not know, so there was no other answer he could give besides saying he did not know.

“Hah.”

Hyungho let out a blatant sigh and glared at Wooseung with his sunken, hollow eyes.

“I don’t give a damn about that sponsor thing. So just tell me when the President is coming.”

He licked his lips compulsively. But his dry lips became chapped again as soon as the saliva touched them, as if it evaporated instantly.

“I really don’t know. He’s never told me if he’s coming or not.”

“…Aish, fuck.”

Hyungho roughly pressed his clenched fist against his eyelids. Even though he had been cursed at out of the blue, Wooseung could not say anything. That was how unusual the atmosphere surrounding Hyungho was.

“I’ll, I’ll tell you as soon as I find out. But I really don’t know.”

“Forget it. Fuck.”

He turned around with a harsh curse.

“Wow, has he lost his mind!”

Hyojun flared up in anger on Wooseung’s behalf, but Hyungho had already left the waiting room. Slam, the door closed, and the hosts started whispering among themselves about Hyungho. As expected, the stories were about the car and crypto. Among them were some hosts who gloated, saying he got what he deserved.

“He must be shitting his pants. I heard the President hasn’t come to the establishment since Wednesday. And he’s desperate for money~.”

Chanil said, tapping the screen rapidly with his thumb. His eyes darted busily from left to right.

“What’s he gonna do when he meets the President?”

Another host who was nearby craned his neck and asked. Chanil scowled as if frustrated.

“You idiot. Don’t you know he got a shit ton of money for running an errand for the President before? Isn’t that how he bought the BMW?”

“Ah, right. But what kind of errand was it?”

“I don’t know either, you fucker. Get lost.”

The guy turned around and relayed Chanil’s words to his own group. Wooseung looked at Chanil, who was once again engrossed in his game, and then tentatively spoke to him.

“Chanil. But I’m not a sponsor.”

“Huh? I didn’t ask.”

Chanil dismissed Wooseung’s words with a tone that suggested he was not very interested. Only Hyojun, beside him, was fidgeting, lifting and lowering his butt from his seat, feeling incredibly sorry.

“I really didn’t say you were sponsored, hyung.”

“I know. From now on, just, please don’t talk about it.”

“Yes, yes, aish, Shin Chanil. That bastard.”

Chanil did not even flinch at Hyojun’s curses. Although he hadn’t known him for long, Wooseung knew from spending time with him in the waiting room that this was just Chanil’s personality, so he didn’t mind. After all, rumors always tend to get distorted.

And come to think of it, it was not exactly distorted either.