HPK 9

“Huh?”

The only one to react was Hyojun.

“You, hyung?”

He asked back as if he could not believe it.

“You’re lying, right? The main building isn’t a regular bar for men. Then that means you hit a woman……”

Although they had not known each other for long, in his eyes, Wooseung was not the type to hit someone. Even less so if the other person was a woman. It was not just because he was kind and affectionate, but the aura a person gave off felt that way. People would often laugh when he said things like this, but Hyojun, who had lived alone with his grandmother, prided himself on having a good eye for people.

A moment later, Wooseung answered with an innocent smile.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m kidding.”

“Ah, what the heck, you fucking scared me!”

Seeing Wooseung’s mischievous smile, Hyojun acted as if he were wiping his chest in relief. Even though he was glaring, the shape of his eyes was guileless.

“I’m just getting old, and I kept getting caught by customers for skipping drinks……”

“I don’t know why they make such a fucking fuss about skipping drinks. Isn’t it better for them if we don’t drink?”

Chanil seemed to lose interest and avert his gaze, but then he suddenly did something unexpected. He shot up from his leaning position on the sofa and looked straight at Wooseung. Then he tapped the corner of his own mouth, thump, thump.

“You’re bleeding here.”

At the words that followed, Wooseung was surprised and rubbed the corner of his mouth with his fingertip. Bright red blood smeared off. It seemed to have scabbed over, but then burst open again while they were talking.

“What were you doing in the room to be bleeding from there?”

“……”

“Oh, no way!”

Chanil stretched out his finger.

“Did you do it?”

“That’s right, hyung! You went into that room, right?”

Chanil and Hyojun opened their mouths at the same time. Chanil did not stop there and even made a gesture, saying “This?” as he curled his right hand into a circle and moved it up and down quickly.

“You did it? With the boss?”

“No way.”

The murmuring from behind grew louder. Intermittently, sounds like “He doesn’t do it, with hosts,” and “Is it Jaeya this time?” were heard in alternation.

“No. This, I mean……”

Wooseung said, rubbing and erasing the bright red blood left on his hand.

“I was, I was hit……”

All eyes fell on the corner of his mouth, which was torn and bleeding, and his lips, which also looked reddish and swollen.

“With a fist……”

The added words were slurred at the end. He seemed intimidated, and also seemed to be reading the room.

He had turned Taejung into a human piece of trash who would punch someone in the face, but since he was not a decent person anyway, he did not feel particularly guilty. It was much better than having the story of him giving head in the room circulate among the hosts.

“You got hit too, hyung?”

Hyojun’s eyebrows furrowed as if to say ‘of course,’ looking pitiful.

Chanil added that it was rare for anyone to come out of that room without being hit. He said he pays well, but he beats them just as well, shaking his head. It seemed it was not the first or second time he had witnessed someone come out beaten up.

Wooseung just smiled awkwardly. It seemed his lie had worked well, thanks to Taejung’s usual behavior. Indeed, the way he had strongly pressed down on his head and the grip he had used to seize his jaw were both out of the ordinary.

“Still, I’m curious. I heard he just gives you fifty.”

“Hey, you want to get your ass beat for a measly 500,000 won? I’d rather sneak out for a second round.”

“I’m saving myself for marriage.”

Hyojun covered his chest with his hand and leaned far back.

“You crazy bastard. Talking about saving yourself for marriage.”

Watching Hyojun and Chanil start to bicker, Wooseung licked his lips. A metallic taste spread, and the gag reflex from that time surged up again.

Unlike the playful words he had added, saying he should get a regular subscription, nothing had been dropped into Wooseung’s hand. The saying that he gives whatever, seemed not to apply to him.

He felt a little gloomy, but he tried his best to ignore it. He felt that if he allowed himself to feel that way, it would be truly miserable.

He saw one more room and waited until the first train of the morning arrived. Hyojun said he was going to an after-club with Chanil. They had asked him to go with them, but he had a slight fever and just could not. He managed to force out the words of refusal and fell asleep, curled up on the waiting room sofa.

When the alarm went off, he packed his things and left the waiting room. As he was passing through the hallway, Kim Jungoh suddenly approached and handed him an envelope.

“Manager Choi told me to give you this.”

“What is it?”

“What do you think it is. It’s money.”

Wooseung took the white envelope and carefully opened the flap. Inside were ten 100,000 won checks.

“What did you do in the room?”

Kim Jungoh, who had also looked at the checks inside, asked with a click of his tongue.

“……I just got hit.”

He answered, discreetly lowering his gaze.

“Guess it’s compensation money.”

He added, watching Wooseung carefully fold the envelope flap.

“He’s good about taking care of things like this, so if he calls for you again in the future, just accommodate him appropriately. It doesn’t look like you got hit that hard anyway.”

“……Yes.”

“Go on. See you tomorrow.”

He bowed his head to the back of Kim Jungoh as he passed. Wooseung carefully put the envelope in his bag so it would not get crumpled. The bag, which he had been using since high school, was always washed clean, but the aged grime of time could not be helped, and it was frayed in places.

He put it in the innermost pocket and zipped it up securely. Still feeling anxious, he slung the bag to the front. He would go to the bank and deposit it right away, he thought, as he hurriedly left the establishment.

As he always left work late, Wooseung would barely open his eyes only after noon. Even after washing up, the slight fever had not subsided, so he took a fever reducer with water. He was about to take the medicine wrapper and throw it in the trash when his phone vibrated. The name on the screen was ‘Dad’.

“Yeah, Dad.”

—Wooseung-ah, are you at the academy?

Wooseung cleared his throat as he threw away the trash.

“Yeah. It’s lunchtime, so I came out to eat. Why?”

It was not a call with any special purpose. It was just a check-in call that came every few days. At the end of the call, which lasted about five minutes, Wooseung’s dad, Yoon Heehoon, asked, trying not to sound hesitant, “Do you want to talk to Mom?”

It was a question he always heard at the end of their calls, but for a moment, his breath caught in his throat. Wooseung barely pushed away the suffocating pressure.

“No……. Mom’s sleeping right now anyway. Don’t wake her up.”

—Okay…….

Fortunately, Heehoon did not press him a second time. It was because he knew the not-so-affectionate relationship between the mother and son. Forcing them to hold hands might backfire.

“Ah, that’s right. Dad, I’ll send you some money.”

—Money, what’s the sudden money for?

“I just…… got a little tip. It was Friday yesterday, you know. Let’s take care of the overdue utility bills with this for now. Give Yejin some allowance too.”

—I’d be very grateful if you sent it. Then could you send about 500,000 won?

Wooseung gripped his phone tightly. He was momentarily choked up by his dad’s attitude, casually mentioning the large sum of 500,000 won, but he held it in.

“……Okay. I’ll send it. Is fifty enough?”

—It would be nice if you could send more…… since Mijeong has to go to the hospital this week too…….

Heehoon’s voice trailed off. A short silence followed. A moment later, Wooseung opened his mouth.

“I’ll send eighty.”

—You got that big of a tip?

“No. I have a little extra money, so I’m sending that too.”

—Make sure you leave enough for you to eat. Oh my, you said it’s your lunchtime, right? Eat first. You’re a light eater just like your mom, what are you doing getting distracted while eating.

“Okay.”

Heehoon ended the call after saying he hoped he would pass for sure this year. Wooseung, holding the warm phone, went into his banking app.

Not just the electricity bill, but the gas and water bills were all overdue. It was always like that. They would hold out for the three months until the electricity and gas were cut off, and then pay. He wondered why the electricity and gas bills for such a small house were so high.

After sending the money, 860,000 won remained in his account. Wooseung thought of the overdue utility bills. He had made an excuse to his dad about having extra money, but there was no way he would have any such thing in the first place. It was the same for him, with utility bills always being overdue.

He had paid the electricity bill last month, so that was okay for now, but the problem was the gas bill and…….

“Hah……”

He really should not have borrowed money from a loan shark. If only his dad had not injured his back, if only his grandmother had been mobile, he would not have set foot in such a place. Why do large expenses always hit all at once?

He was staring blankly at the dark screen when it vibrated. At first, he thought it was his dad. Given his age, it was common for him to forget his purpose and call again. But what appeared on the screen was an unknown number.

[010—XXXX—XXXX]

Wooseung, who had been staring at the eleven-digit number, pressed the power button to turn off the call. He tended not to answer calls from unknown callers.

Just then, the dead screen lit up and a notification popped up.

[This is Choi Hoonyeong]

It was a text from the same number as before.

The name Choi Hoonyeong was not unfamiliar. That was the problem.

‘Alright, then follow Hoonyeong.’

The man who had acted as Taejung’s right-hand man. What came to mind next were things like the black tattoos that went down to the back of his hands, contrasting with his intellectual vibe, and his hair, which was all slicked back without a single strand left out.

He was a man who seemed to be the very antithesis of Taejung in his comfortable training suit. Would it be a hasty judgment to say that one could tell his character just by looking at his stiff shirt, which did not have a single crease, and his sharply creased suit pants?

Wooseung hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he made the call.

“……Hello?”

—Are you coming to work today?

Hoonyeong got straight to the point.