MORE 6

The pig calculatedly locked the door and shoved Siyul face-down onto the toilet lid. As Siyul tried to scream, the pig shoved something foul-smelling into his mouth. Siyul kicked out, but sadly, it had no effect. The pig pinned Siyul by wrenching his arms behind his back, pressed his face against Siyul’s ear, and babbled on—every single word was nauseating.

“You knew this would happen when you came here, didn’t you.”

The pig yanked down Siyul’s pants and underwear all at once. Watching the exposed buttocks and the hollow curve of his spine, the pig panted like a pig in heat.

Tears welled up in Siyul’s eyes and dripped onto the toilet lid. The worst-case scenario he had feared might happen had finally arrived. He had believed he could just bolt if things went wrong, but now that he was actually caught, he couldn’t move a muscle.

Should he just give up?

Wouldn’t it be more beneficial for him and Kwon Yuwon to just let it happen once and continue the deal?

Siyul, who had been twisting his body to break free, went limp. “That’s right,” the pig grunted, gripping Siyul’s hip with a sticky hand. Siyul squeezed his eyes shut—and in that moment, he heard the steady sound of heavy dress shoes.

The pig hesitated. Siyul, who had resigned himself, snapped his eyes open. It was an opportunity that might never come again. He rolled his tongue and managed to spit out the dirty handkerchief in his mouth. Before he could even shout the first syllable of ‘help,’ the pig reached forward and clamped his hand over Siyul’s mouth. He covered his nose, too, making it impossible to breathe.

The sound of a toilet flushing and water hitting the sink echoed. He’s taking forever to wash his hands. All sounds related to water stopped, and he heard the sound of paper towels being pulled.

Siyul thrashed. His face, not just his neck, turned beet-red from lack of oxygen. The pig pressed down with all his weight, but Siyul thrashed his limbs and kicked the toilet with a loud thud. His toes felt like they were shattering, but he had at least made enough noise to be heard outside.

The sound of the shoes returned. He thought they were coming this way, but they headed toward the exit. Even though the person must have heard the noise Siyul made.

His only hope was extinguished. Siyul’s eyes turned red, and thick tears fell like a downpour. The pig was carefully watching the activity outside until the intruder was completely gone, but then the receding footsteps drew near again. The dress shoes, which had approached with a steady rhythm and speed, stopped right in front of the bathroom stall.

The stranger knocked on the door three times: tap, tap, tap. It was a notification as calm and static as his footsteps.

“Customer. I ask that you refrain from behavior that crosses the line, for the sake of the other guests’ comfortable experience.”

The request was also polite. Siyul was surprised for a different reason. He recognized the voice. The precise pronunciation that drilled into one’s ears, a voice that was low and cold yet richly resonated in the air. It was that man who had said if he saw him a third time, he would punish him severely.

“Get lost, fuck off.”

The pig retorted roughly. Haa, a sigh that sounded like ‘there’s no answer out there’ came from outside. Whether he died one way or the other, the outcome was the same, but it was a hundred, a thousand times better to be beaten by that man than to be floundering under this pig.

Siyul squeezed out every bit of his remaining strength and struggled. People said one gets superhuman strength in a crisis, and that was exactly what this situation was. The moment the startled pig applied force to suppress Siyul, the hand over his mouth loosened.

“—Please help me!”

Siyul shouted with all his might. The man was his only path to survival. He screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping that if not him, at least someone would hear.

The pig cursed and smashed Siyul’s head against the bathroom wall. The thud resonated in his eardrums, and his vision clouded over with white for a moment. The stinging pain came a beat later.

“H-help…”

The dress shoes stood still outside. Siyul’s vision grew dim. I shouldn’t pass out like this, he thought, but his head swam and he felt nauseated.

Bang! The door shook. The pig shouted something noisily, but it was blocked by the sound of the door being kicked. The hinges wobbled after only a few kicks, and the door broke uselessly. A giant hand grabbed the door slab that had fallen to the floor and cleared it away.

“I told you not to do this here.”

The man who had cleared the door away looked down at the pig and Siyul. Even though he had discovered a crime scene, his eyes were cold as ice. He wore an expression so bored and weary, he looked like he might yawn.

“Who the hell are you?”

The pig, his plan ruined, backed off while huffing and puffing. He grabbed the man by the collar, but due to the height difference, it posed no threat. The pig didn’t stop there; he shoved his face close and raised his eyes menacingly.

“Just go your own way. You hear?”

The pig swiped his hand, throwing the collar aside. He reached back out toward Siyul, who was only looking for a corner to escape into. Siyul snapped his head up to look at the man. His face, smeared with tear tracks, looked a mess.

“Please, please save me.”

From some point on, the man had been looking only at Siyul, not the pig. Just like last time, he tilted his head to the side and watched him calmly. He took in the sight: the clothes torn to shreds, the pants pulled down to his thighs, and the way the tears welled up clearly in his eyes before streaming down his cheeks.

“Why should I? You and I are meeting for the first time.”

Curving his lips in a twist, the man refused. Usually, wouldn’t someone offer a helping hand in this situation, even if they were complete strangers? It was absurd, but Siyul immediately understood the meaning behind it. He shook his head frantically until he thought it might fall off.

“No, no! It’s not our first time! We have met! We are acquaintances!”

“Weren’t you just saying it was the first time?”

“I was wrong, sir. This is our third time meeting…”

Siyul clasped his hands together and begged desperately. The only person who could throw a lifeline to him as he fell off the cliff was that man.

“He says so.”

The man turned his gaze to the pig this time. The pig looked like a pile of rotting straw, unable to understand the cryptic conversation that had passed between the two. He cursed and shoved the man’s chest forcefully. The man didn’t budge an inch.

You fucker, the pig hissed, throwing the first punch. Siyul, forgetting all about his plan to slip away in the midst of the whale fight, watched with bated breath, terrified that the man might get hit even once.

The man was as unruffled as he had been when breaking the door. He dodged the incoming punch with extreme simplicity and hooked his foot behind the ankle of the pig, who was off-balance from his torso twisting. Ugh, the pig collapsed onto the tile floor as heavily as a statue falling over.

The man climbed onto the pig’s back and wrenched his arms behind his back. The pig thrashed wildly, but the man was like a giant boulder. He took out his phone with one hand, dialed a number, and tucked it between his ear and shoulder; he seemed like a man who was seasoned in this kind of fight.

“Yeah, it’s me. Basement bathroom. Come and collect the trash.”

It didn’t take long for the hulking men the man had called to arrive. As soon as they saw him, they bowed at the waist, asking with honorifics if he was all right. The man looked at them with an expression of total disdain.

“—Just clear this up already,” he ordered. Only then did the hulking men grab the pig, who was still causing a noise nuisance while struggling under the man, and drag him out by both sides.

I survived. Siyul, who had been curled up inside the stall, walked out slowly. Grasping his slipping pants with both hands, he glanced up at the man like he was watching for his mood. As their eyes met, he flinched in surprise and quickly lowered his gaze.

“Th-thank you. For saving me.”

He started with a greeting, at the very least. The man could have ignored him and walked past, but he had saved him regardless. It seemed he had avoided the worst-case scenario.

However.

“This is also a place I manage. What did I say I would do if you got caught again?”

Siyul’s shoulders stiffened at the man’s chilling voice. Like a student intimidated by a notoriously scary teacher, Siyul muttered timidly.

“…You’d punish me.”

“You remember well.”

“—But! This time, I didn’t come here for a deal, or anything like that! I came because an hyung asked me to drink, I didn’t have even a speck of bad intentions. It’s the truth!”

He could see why the man would think that about the club, but here, he was clearly a victim, not doing anything wrong. A sense of injustice struck him, so Siyul raised his head and protested earnestly. Besides, how did he know the man operated this place, too? It was something he wouldn’t know even if he were possessed by a spirit.

“I just followed a friend, …a friend.”

Siyul’s eyes widened. He had forgotten Kwon Yuwon because his own situation was a burning house. His eyes grew murky for a second before his spark of awareness returned like lightning. He turned his body to bolt out of the bathroom, but the man grabbed Siyul by the scruff of his neck.

“Let go! Yuwon is still in that room! I have to help him.”

The man clicked his tongue and nudged the back of Siyul’s knees with his own. Siyul stumbled helplessly and plopped onto the floor. Even though he glared at him resentfully, the man just stood there nonchalantly with his hands in his pockets. Pushing down on Siyul’s shoulders as he tried to stand back up, the man spoke.

“Which room.”

“…The very last room, deep inside the second basement floor.”

Realizing he couldn’t escape the man, Siyul muttered dejectedly. The man took out his phone and made a call once more. The look of annoyance on his furrowed brow was clear. Nevertheless, once the other side answered, he gave his orders calmly.

“Kick out everyone in the very last room deep inside the second basement floor. Tell them there’s a next reservation. If there’s a human named Yuwon among them, keep him detained and send him out the back door separately.”

He wanted to confirm with his own eyes that Kwon Yuwon was safe, but there was no opening to escape. He had no choice but to trust the man.

“So. How should I punish you?”

The man, having finished his call, took his hand off Siyul’s shoulder and folded up his sleeves. His hands, under his thick arms, had blunt knuckles and thick palms. If he were hit by hands like those, just a slap would lead to at least four weeks of recovery and an extra implant.

He had been hit once before, but that had been a light, dismissive gesture. If this man put his mind to it and swung his hand, Siyul would go flying through the bathroom like a scrap of paper.