JKA 11

‘How did you get up here? No, that’s not it… Is this a dream? Am I going crazy?’

As if he couldn’t hear the angel’s voice, Jiwoon was in a state of panic by himself, muttering. At that sight, the angel let out a deep sigh. It was because he had already realized that his future would not be bright. He knew from the start that it wouldn’t be an easy job.

There was no way the task he was assigned to after being demoted to the Civil Complaints Processing Department would be an easy one. It was a job given as punishment, so wasn’t that only natural? Until now, he had been doing some good deeds and collecting souls, so how could the job of providing after-sales service for a living human’s life be easy?

‘He wants so damn much. I’m the one who’s more fucked up, I am.’

The angel yanked Jiwoon’s chin up sharply.

‘I am Angel 1129. I’m here to handle the civil complaints you sent up without a single minute’s rest, so cooperate well from now on.’

‘…Pardon?’

What nonsense was this about civil complaints? Jiwoun couldn’t quite understand. He had no memory of ever filing a civil complaint in his life. No, it took him a whole 10 years just to tell his parents to please leave him alone now, so there was no way he had the talent to protest about something just because it was a little inconvenient.

No, well, since he was claiming to be an angel, let’s just say he came because he heard all the various resentments Jiwoon had spewed inwardly. Do they even do things like that in the first place? Not ‘I’m here to grant your wish,’ but ‘I’m here to handle the civil complaints you’ve sent in.’ He had never heard of an angel who spoke like that anywhere.

It wasn’t in the realm of common sense, nor was it in any fairy tales like those from the olden days. He didn’t think he had ever seen it in a novel or a comic book either. So, could he believe those words at face value just because this stranger had wings?

Come to think of it, he only had one wing. Can you even fly with just one wing? Jiwoon was on the verge of getting lost in other thoughts, unable to comprehend the situation that had unfolded.

Then, Angel 1129 gripped his chin with one hand, squeezing so hard that Jiwoon’s cheeks hollowed, and brought their foreheads together.

‘You arrogant bastard. If you have no faith, why did you file complaints?’

‘…’

‘Clean out your ears and listen carefully. I came to grant all of these fucked-up, numerous complaints of yours. Since you say your life is so pathetic, I’ll at least make it resemble a human life. So do your best to feel happiness.’

‘…’

‘First, shall we take care of this?’

1129 said so and lifted his head slightly. Then, a white piece of paper appeared, fluttering above his head. And soon after, 1129 kissed Jiwoon. It was a deep kiss where their tongues intertwined.

Jiwoon ran away desperately, but he didn’t know where he should go. For that matter, not only did he not know where to go, but he also had no one to meet. In the first place, he didn’t know what to do to kill time outside. It was more fitting to say he didn’t know how to spend his daily life itself, rather than not knowing how he should spend it.

His breath caught at the tip of his chin. His body, which had never once exercised properly, was woefully inadequate to handle a long run. In the end, his pace gradually slowed, and Jiwoon’s feet naturally turned into a certain alley. It was the way home.

His dry chest heaved up and down, and he could feel sweat trickling down his spine. He had run so hard his soul felt like it had been ripped out, but once he confirmed he was on the way home, all the strength drained from his body. His legs trembled as if he would collapse at any moment, so Jiwoon placed his hands on his knees, bent over, and gasped for breath.

He felt like a hole had been punched in his head and the wind was blowing through it. At the same time, his chest felt tight, and he felt strangely nauseous. Before long, Jiwoon began to dry heave repeatedly. However, since he had barely eaten lunch, nothing came out from his blocked throat. Not even a common curse word.

“You’re back?”

When he opened the door and went inside, the angel was, as expected, at home. It was to the point of being funny how he himself wasn’t the least bit surprised, even though it was something that should absolutely not be taken for granted. Jiwoon didn’t even bother to answer 1129 and went to his desk, dropping his bag on the floor with a thud.

“Hang your bag on the chair, and go wash your hands and come out.”

At 1129’s words, Jiwoon turned his head with an expression that said he was dumbfounded. The angel, standing in the small kitchen on one side of the wall, was comically dressed in a suit and an apron.

“Just go wash up and come out. You ran a little and you’re all sweaty… I’ll put a change of clothes in front for you.”

“…”

“What.”

“…”

“Don’t just stand there staring like a ghost, say something. You know that the complaint about wishing I’d disappear won’t be accepted, right?”

“…”

“Say it with your mouth, please.”

Jiwoon, who had been in a standoff for a while with 1129 who was looking at him as if frustrated, headed to the bathroom with his lips tightly sealed. He couldn’t understand why everyone told him to speak up if he had a complaint when they weren’t going to listen anyway.

They make decisions however they want without asking anything, but I guess they don’t want to be the bad guy. So later they add, ‘Tell me if you have any complaints,’ and pretend to be a good person. With a face that says they’re willing to listen if you say it now. Couldn’t they have just asked from the beginning?

A rustling sound came from outside the closed bathroom door. It must have been 1129’s movements as he organized the strewn-about bag and took out a change of clothes. Jiwoon listened to the sound without a word and placed his hand on the faucet.

‘Hyung, what if. What if, like you said before, a cockroach that walks around on two feet, does housework, and cooks for you actually appeared in my house?’

—…Are you talking in your sleep? Why are you calling me in the morning with this crazy nonsense?

‘It’s not morning right now. It’s 2 in the afternoon?’

—I streamed live until the sun came up and then slept, so it’s morning for me, you crazy bastard! Are you in your right mind?

‘Anyway, what would you do, hyung?’

On the day the angel suddenly descended, when he kicked Jiwoon out of the house saying he was going to clean, Jiwoon crouched in front of the Nakwon Villa entrance and called Seungyoon. He thought it was, just a little bit, his fault too. Because he had answered such a strange question, it was possible that a really winged, huge cockroach-like thing had settled in his house.

—Sigh… Why on earth do I have to listen to this crazy talk? Are you drunk?

‘No… you asked me first, hyung.’

—Oh, for fuck’s sake. You, really.

‘…’

—Well, I’d have to spray it with poison or something.

Seungyoon, while spewing all sorts of profanities in a half-asleep voice, still answered, “Spray it with poison.” At this, Jiwoon had imagined buying cockroach poison and spraying it all over the angel’s face. But for some reason, he felt like that wouldn’t be nearly enough.

‘What if it’s really big and doesn’t die?’

—Then grab a bat and beat the shit out of it!

‘…Wouldn’t that be murder?’

—Fuck, what. Is everything that walks and talks a person? You said it was a cockroach, beat it to death!

‘No, it’s really bigger than me, it talks, and it’s cleaning my house right now.’

—…Don’t mess with me. I might be the one to grab a bat and head to Seoul first. Let’s just hang up.

Seungyoon heartlessly hung up the phone, and Jiwoon had no choice but to curl up and just blink his eyes until the cockroach… no, the angel, called for him. Afterwards, he took out the recycling as told and went to the coin laundromat together.

He just stared blankly at the large washing machine spinning around and around. It was so unrealistic that he just did as the angel told him. After that, night came. In the clean room, Jiwoon and the angel were sitting facing each other. It wasn’t a dream.

Jiwoon lifted the faucet handle. Then, he washed his face repeatedly with the cold water pouring out. Let’s say he was out of his mind then. Then why was he being like this now? Why was the one who had been cornering him until just a moment ago brazenly in his house ordering him around, and why was he meekly obeying?

Jiwoon pressed down hard on the faucet with his wet hand and lifted his head. Then, he met the eyes of his own dazed face in the mirror. A month and a half had already passed. As Seungyoon had said, it would have been right to buy a baseball bat, come in, swing it wildly, and tell him to get out. But he hadn’t done that.

‘Because it’s comfortable.’

Yes, damn it. He was disgusted with himself for thinking that, but he had to admit it. There used to be a mountain of things he had to do besides assignments, studying, and his part-time job, but now there was none of that. The crazy angel did the cleaning, laundry, and even cooking perfectly, so going back to how it was when he wasn’t there was more terrifying.

He knew that living like this was no different from when he lived in Busan, but he still did it. Although he nagged about this and that, he had a few more good points compared to his parents. Except for the incident that happened today.

He had smashed through the building window and tried to take off someone else’s pants. He even forced him to watch, and yet this was the conclusion. He would have no excuse even if he were called an irredeemable piece of trash. Moreover, the perpetrator of such an act was nonchalantly cooking outside. As if nothing had happened.

It was then. Suddenly, there was a loud bang on the closed door. Jiwoon, who had been lost in idle thoughts, was startled and turned his head to the closed door.

1129, who had thrown open the bathroom door without even knocking, scoffed once at Jiwoon’s flustered expression and then tossed the ointment and bandages he was holding. Jiwoon, who caught them reflexively, just blinked in an awkward posture.

1129 met Jiwoon’s gaze and then raised a hand to tap his own cheek and said.

“Wash up and apply it.”

At those words, Jiwoon turned his head to face his own reflection in the mirror again. Only then did the wound on his cheek, which he had seen but not registered, come into view. What happened in the student cafeteria earlier was not a dream. On top of that, the reality that all the time up to now was not an illusion and that even 1129 could not be a hallucination hit him with a rush.

“Want me to apply it for you like last time?”

At 1129’s words, Jiwoon’s face flushed bright red. The man who was as big as a door smiled at him with a plausible expression and voice. From that image, Jiwoon couldn’t help but recall a memory from the past again. 1129 was acting nonchalantly despite having dredged up someone else’s shameful memory without a second thought.

“…Ge, get out right now.”

Jiwoon pushed 1129’s chest with his hands as if to chase him out and closed the door. 1129’s body, which hadn’t budged an inch in the student cafeteria, was pushed back without any resistance. Jiwoon bit his lip hard as he looked at the ointment and bandages clutched in one hand. That thing really was a devil in an angel’s disguise.

Jiwoon, who had placed the ointment and bandages in a suitable place and was about to quickly take off his T-shirt to wash, clutched the T-shirt tightly with both hands at the clattering sound from outside. 1129 was outside the bathroom, and he was standing still inside the closed bathroom, still fully clothed.

And yet, for some reason, Jiwoon felt as if he were stripped bare. It was a bathroom he had entered to wash, so it wouldn’t matter if he were naked. No one could see, and he wouldn’t let them just stand there and watch. But why did he feel this way? For some reason, Jiwoon felt as if he were in a situation where he had to undress with 1129 sitting in front of him.

He was embarrassed and ashamed. He couldn’t figure out what, what act, was making him feel that way. No, actually, he knew what memory was making him feel that way. It was because the memory of 1129 applying ointment to him when he had bled a little from behind after they had roughly had sex once before came to mind. It was because that memory bloomed up like a cloud and filled his dizzy head so completely that he couldn’t even think of anything else.

Jiwoon hesitated, clutching the hem of his innocent T-shirt tightly. His gaze was fixed on the ointment and adhesive bandage. All the thoughts he had while running up the hill home, and while washing his face after coming inside, were completely forgotten. It was to the point where he couldn’t even recall the fact that it was always like this.

‘It won’t happen, but make sure it doesn’t get to the point where he says he’d die without you.’

‘What kind of nonsense is that now.’

At 1129’s sarcasm, 17 narrowed his brow and replied. 17 fluttered the collection of Myeong Jiwoon’s civil complaints and shrugged.

‘I’m just saying not to do a half-assed job just because it’s a punishment. I’m saying not to carelessly become someone’s everything. It’s not something that works out just by doing it literally.’

17 put down the collection of civil complaints and pushed up the glasses he was wearing slightly. There was no way an angel’s eyesight could be poor, so the glasses were nothing more than an accessory. The reason he always insisted on wearing those glasses, even though they weren’t inconvenient, was very simple, trivial, and ridiculous. He wanted to be remembered, even a little more, by the one he served. It seemed he thought the number 17 wasn’t enough.

‘If you grant everything he wants, isn’t that what’s supposed to happen, Mr.? I thought my punishment now was to resolve all of this.’

‘You think granting everything he wants is handling a civil complaint? That’s just forcibly accepting a tantrum.’

‘Then, not appearing in front of him at all and not granting anything from the start would be…’