NTH 29

After a long while, when CEO Cheon finally lifted his head and took his mouth from between Nana’s legs, Nana’s head dropped limply to the side, and he faintly lost consciousness.

*

Jeha stared at the phone on the table, which remained perfectly still and silent, tapping the armrest of the sofa with his finger.

It had already been a week since he had lost contact with Nana. After receiving the message that he was going to CEO Cheon’s office, there had been no news from Nana. His phone was still turned off, and he had not come to work at Jeha’s house for the entire week.

Jeha, hoping for a clue, searched for ‘Angel Cash Loan’ on the internet, but only found an establishment with the same name somewhere in Gyeongsangnam-do; he could not find an office located in Seoul. It was the same with the name ‘Cheon Sagang’. The search was futile.

To make matters worse, an unseasonable autumn typhoon had arrived, and it had been raining ceaselessly for several days.

He had no way of knowing if Nana was still being held by CEO Cheon, or if he was hiding in his own leaky, moldy house. Or even if he was lying collapsed somewhere, coughing up blood.

Worried that an article about an unidentified young man’s body being found might appear, Jeha even scoured the internet news articles whenever he had time.

He should have found out more about Nana before this happened. At the very least, his home address or the location of CEO Cheon’s office. How foolish he had been, complacently looking for a room to move Nana into, not knowing that contact would be cut off so suddenly and he would be left uncertain of his life or death.

Jeha, in his troubled state, stood up from the sofa and wandered around the house before heading to the kitchen.

He saw the frilly apron Nana used to wear every evening draped over a dining chair.

The menu was always something that didn’t require separate cooking, like sushi or boiled lobster, and even though all he did was transfer the already prepared food onto plates, Nana would always be wearing that apron and greet Jeha at the front door with a bashful smile when he came home from work.

The moment he saw the apron, he felt an unbearable anxiety and anger spreading through his veins, through his whole body.

He hurriedly left the house.

Jeha drove straight towards Haengseong Station without a plan.

Due to the unexpected flooding, roads were submerged here and there, and cars were sailing on the streets, cutting through the water like small boats.

Every time the car stopped at a red light, he checked his phone and tried calling Nana, but only the same automated message saying the phone was turned off came out.

Arriving in front of Haengseong Station and parking the car in the public parking lot, Jeha, holding a large umbrella, headed towards the alley he had seen Nana walk up before.

As he entered the neighborhood, the houses with slate roofs, packed tightly together, stood precariously as if they were about to collapse. There were crumbled and broken walls here and there, and some abandoned houses that looked like they hadn’t been lived in for a long time, giving the whole village a very disorderly feel.

In some places, a large X was drawn in red spray paint on the gates or walls. Whether it was because of the rain or because there weren’t many residents to begin with, not a single passerby was in sight. There were no commercial establishments like supermarkets, convenience stores, or restaurants, creating a dim and desolate atmosphere even though it was daytime.

The more he examined the neighborhood, the more hopeless Jeha felt. He couldn’t go knocking on every door looking for Nana, and even if he asked the residents about him, it was unlikely that anyone would remember his face.

Just as he was wandering like that for about thirty minutes, thinking of shouting Nana’s name out loud like a madman, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.

Jeha quickly took out his phone and checked the number on the screen. It was a number he had never seen before, starting with 02. Normally, he would have rejected the call without hesitation, but now, he didn’t even have time to be suspicious.

He answered the call without hesitation.

“This is Kwon Jeha.”

[This is a collect call. Please identify the other party.]

His eyes widened for a moment at the familiar message.

“Jeha, I’m now, keuheuk…!”

[To continue the call, please press the pound key]

He couldn’t hear clearly because of the sudden burst of coughing, but it was definitely Nana’s voice. Jeha, quickly pressing the pound key, shouted.

“Nana! Where are you now!”

A voice that sounded like it was squeezed out with great effort came through the receiver.

“Here… Haengseong Station…”

“Haengseong Station? Are you underground? At the ticket gate? Or the square in front of the station?”

“Outside. Near the parking lot entrance…”

“I’ll be there in five minutes, so don’t move from there and wait. Don’t hang up the phone either, okay?”

“Five minutes? What…”

“Don’t hang up.”

Jeha started running, phone in hand. The wind was blowing so hard that the umbrella was already useless, but he held onto the handle tightly and ran, thinking Nana might need it.

Running at full speed, Jeha reached the vicinity of Haengseong Station in an instant. Across the street, inside a public phone booth at the entrance of the parking lot, he saw Nana slumped down. Seeing him clutching the receiver and curled up helplessly, anxiety and relief intertwined like a skein of thread, pressing down heavily on Jeha’s chest.

He ran across the crosswalk to Nana before the light even turned green.

“Nana!”

Nana, who had his knees pulled up to his chest and his head leaning against the transparent glass of the phone booth, slowly opened his closed eyes. He was wearing a long-sleeved black sweatshirt and jeans, but unlike usual, he wasn’t wearing a hat, revealing his pale face completely.

For some reason, Jeha’s heart sank. When their eyes met, Nana gave a faint smile.

“You really came quickly.”

“What happened, no, where have you been all this time…”

After babbling incoherently for a moment, Jeha couldn’t continue his words upon seeing Nana’s face, which was so pale it looked bluish. His once sparkling eyes were hollow and had lost their light, and his peachy cheeks, which had just started to get some color back after he started working at Jeha’s house, were gaunt with sunken flesh, as if he had starved for days.

Like someone who had all their energy absorbed somewhere and had returned with only their shell remaining.

Jeha took the receiver Nana had been holding from his hand and hung it back in its place, then placed his palm on Nana’s forehead. Confirming that he had a high fever as expected, he bent down and showed his back to Nana.

“Get on. Let’s go back.”

“My house is flooded.”

“Just get on.”

“Water got into the phone you gave me, so it wouldn’t even turn on, and the card was damaged so I couldn’t withdraw any money.”

“I know, so let’s just go.”

“The only phone numbers I could remember were yours and CEO Cheon’s, but I really didn’t want to go back to CEO Cheon…”

“Tell me when we get there. You have a high fever and you’re sick right now. If you stay here, your cold will get worse.”

“I’m a person who can’t even go to the hospital, and now I don’t even have a place to stay.”

“What are you worried about. I’m here now.”

“You… why did you come here?”

Nana asked, struggling to force open his half closed eyes, heavy with fatigue. Jeha forcefully lifted him onto his back.

“To find you.”

“Why me? If I didn’t come to work for a week without a word, you could have just, fired, me, couldn’t you.”

Nana asked, coughing violently as soon as he was on his back. Jeha supported Nana’s bottom with one hand and held the umbrella handle with the other, shielding Nana’s back to keep it from getting wet.

Turning towards the parking lot, Jeha opened his mouth.

“I have no intention of doing that. You know that.”

“What do I know.”

“You called me because you knew.”

“…”

“That’s why I came to get you.”

Nana didn’t answer, just wrapped his arms around Jeha’s neck and quietly buried his head in his shoulder. As Jeha walked, feeling Nana’s faint heartbeat, a weak voice that sounded like it was fading away whispered in his ear.

“Don’t be too nice to me.”

“What are you talking about now.”

“So that when you kick me out someday, I won’t miss you too much…”

“…”

When he opened the passenger door of the car and carefully set Nana down, Nana had fallen into a light sleep. Jeha took a thin blanket from the trunk and wrapped it tightly around Nana’s body before getting into the driver’s seat.

The rain, which had weakened for a moment, started to grow heavier, and began to pour down as if attacking the car’s body.