PAHO 28

Nam Gyeonhwa easily recognized him from the face that called his name with reluctance. It was Kim Hangyeol of the Wild Dogs Union, who had volunteered to be his guide on the first day he came to the capital.

“I didn’t see you after that, so I thought you’d gone somewhere else entirely, but seeing you again like this is so fucking— no, I mean, I’m so happy to see you. Ahaha!”

“What, you know him?”

The big guy, who had frowned at Kim Hangyeol’s delighted demeanor, asked. After a dry cough, Kim Hangyeol clung affectionately to Nam Gyeonhwa instead of answering the big guy’s question.

“By the way, what brings you here, hyung-nim?”

“I’m trying to meet a broker, but this guy here is picking a fight.”

“It’s not picking a fight, it’s arranging a job with good conditions. In this job shortage, you won’t find a better place.”

“Like that.”

At Nam Gyeonhwa’s words, Kim Hangyeol gestured with his eyes at the big guy who had cut in again, as if telling him to be quiet. The big guy, though grumbling, obediently took a step back as Kim Hangyeol requested.

“So, you said you came looking for a broker referral? What kind are you looking for exactly? A driver’s license? Or maybe, a student ID or an employee ID?”

“A forged passport, and a train ticket. It would be even better if I can get a round trip between Mokpo and Seoul.”

At the mention of a forged passport, his expression seemed slightly troubled, but as soon as the round-trip train ticket was mentioned, Kim Hangyeol made a sound of sucking in his breath and scratched the back of his head.

“Ah, well, as you might know, hyung-nim, the situation is a liiittle bit like that these days. We’re already in a pretty tiring situation with the travel restrictions placed on us too. As for the passport, well, we can probably get it with a little persuasion, but, uh, the train ticket, I think you’ll have to pay a pretty high price for it.”

“How much.”

“Well, in an emergency situation like this, I’d guess they’d charge at least five times the price.”

Five times the price might be more than all the money he had left, even if he scraped everything together. But if this matter could safely resolve Haejin’s situation, he wouldn’t have to travel to and from Seoul anymore. Nam Gyeonhwa, who had been groaning inwardly, finally nodded his head.

“In short, you can prepare it as long as I have the money, right?”

“Huh? Ah, well, I guess so?”

“Got it.”

The big guy made a surprised face at the concise answer that held no hesitation. Five times the original price would easily be several million won, and to say he would spend that money so casually, it was impossible to tell if he was wealthy or just a foolish pushover. Kim Hangyeol let out a boisterous exclamation of admiration.

“Whoa, as expected of hyung-nim! I felt it last time I saw you, but your heart is so— no, no, I mean, you’re so generous.”

“But it’s a bit difficult to pay the full amount upfront right now, so I’d like to proceed on the premise that you get the forged passport and train ticket first.”

“Ah, that’s a bit, not possible.”

“No?”

“Well, even if I want to do as you say, hyung-nim, there are rules. And, if this were my line of work, it would be different, but since it’s not my field, it’s a bit difficult for me to help.”

Unable to watch the hesitant Kim Hangyeol any longer, the big guy suddenly cut in and answered.

“Hey, we’re not your lackeys, so you can’t just order us around without paying first. Would you want to work if someone told you to do it without getting paid? Huh?”

“Hey, Song Sangyeol, I told you not to interrupt.”

“You’re the one acting like a fucking idiot. You want to get fined for breaking the rules? What the, fuck, your tongue is getting so damn long. All you have to do is cut him off and say no, and if it looks like he’s not going to pay, you should just cut ties, shouldn’t you?”

“What, fuck, you calling me a fucking idiot? You pig bastard, are you crazy to want to be offered on an ancestral rite table?”

Kim Hangyeol, flying into a rage, rolled up his sleeves. At the sign of a fight about to break out, the attention of the Wild Dogs began to turn to them one by one. Fearing he would be held responsible unintentionally, Nam Gyeonhwa grabbed the nape of Kim Hangyeol’s neck and pulled him back.

“I understand what you’re saying perfectly. In any case, I’m the one asking, so I can’t insist when you say you can’t do it.”

“Hey, look, he says he understands. This hyung-nim here gets it right away, so why are you meddling and making a fuss?”

Unlike the triumphant Song Sangyeol, Kim Hangyeol had a look of utter disappointment. Weren’t they not even close enough to meddle in the first place? Song Sangyeol, turning to look at Nam Gyeonhwa who was sighing inwardly, patted his shoulder.

“Hey man, looks like your situation isn’t great, so just take my word for it and let’s try it my way. I may have done some pickpocketing, but I don’t scam people with stuff like this. For real.”

“I told you I’m not doing it. If it’s such a good way to make money, you do it yourself.”

“Ah, that’s because I’m an instant fail for the conditions. I told you. You’re perfect for it. How tall are you? You’re taller than this guy, so you must be around one-eighty, right?”

Song Sangyeol even reached out his hand to compare and measure their heights. Nam Gyeonhwa stared at Song Sangyeol with a dumbfounded expression. Do brothels in the metropolitan area conduct physical examinations like the military? Kim Hangyeol, getting ticked off by Song Sangyeol’s hand constantly touching his head, slapped his arm away.

“Ah, what are you doing. He said he doesn’t want to.”

“No, what did I even do? You heard it from Manager Jo last time too. Just bringing in a guy with that style gets you three hundred per head as a finder’s fee. It’s getting tough to cast a roughly similar guy while wandering the streets, so she decided to borrow our hands.”

“Ha, you, you idiot. Do you really believe that crazy woman, Manager Jo, when she says she’ll give you money.”

“The manager said it’s not her money. She said she’d pay in cash.”

It was a conversation he couldn’t make any sense of. Song Sangyeol, who had pulled Kim Hangyeol aside to whisper, suddenly turned to Nam Gyeonhwa as if a good idea had struck him.

“Or hey man, how about this condition? If you meet with me and Manager Jo just once and talk, we’ll take care of the passport and the ticket.”

“I seem to recall you clearly saying just a moment ago that it would be difficult unless it was paid upfront.”

“Ah, well, of course. But I think we can offset it enough if we consider the finder’s fee. You too, don’t be so difficult and just come with me to meet Manager Jo just once. You’ve got nothing to lose. If you go and decide it’s not for you, you can just leave right away.”

“……”

“Ah, really, if you’re that disagreeable, I’ll just contact Manager Jo right now. Tell her to meet us here.”

Though he hadn’t agreed at all, Song Sangyeol took out his phone and immediately sent a text to someone. Kim Hangyeol, who was fidgeting beside him, nudged Nam Gyeonhwa’s arm.

“Hyung-nim, uh, that Manager Jo that guy is talking about isn’t exactly a weird person. Well, she’s not exactly normal either, but everyone who lives in this business is like that, you know.”

“That doesn’t become a reason for me to deal with the manager, does it?”

“W-well, that’s true. Ahahaha.”

At the blunt reply, Kim Hangyeol burst into an awkward laugh. Nam Gyeonhwa sighed. It looks like I’ve struck out. Just as he was contemplating going back due to the encroaching fatigue, a sedan drove into the parking lot. Before the driver could even open the car door, someone jumped out from the back seat. The middle-aged woman with wine-colored hair cascading down to her waist and a black shawl wrapped around her had a glamorous yet intense impression.

“Who? Who is it?”

The woman, who asked for his business right away without so much as a greeting, turned her eyes toward Nam Gyeonhwa who was standing in the corner. Smiling brightly, he clasped both his hands.

“Sweetheart, by any chance, do you need some pocket money?”

From inside the sedan, the characteristic lemon scent of a car air freshener wafted out. It wasn’t an unpleasant fragrance, but it was a headache-inducing smell.

“There’s nothing to see, so what are you looking at so intently.”

Manager Jo, who had been glancing at Nam Gyeonhwa staring out the window, struck up a conversation.

“I get motion sick if I don’t do this.”

“Oh, you should’ve said so sooner. I have motion sickness medicine.”

At Manager Jo’s signal, the driver rummaged through the glove box. Soon, he received a small medicine bottle and handed one pill to Nam Gyeonhwa.

“I get motion sick too, and this medicine works the best. I don’t usually care, but since you’re a precious body, I’ll specially give you one pill.”

Nam Gyeonhwa, who had been looking down at the single pill placed on the hand adorned with numerous rings, eventually accepted it carefully. Manager Jo smiled sweetly.

“Come to think of it, we haven’t even properly introduced ourselves. I’m Jo Hongbin, the public relations manager of Club Fortune Excel, and what’s your name, sweetheart?”

“…Nam Gyeonhwa.”

“My goodness, what a lovely name. It suits you so well. It’s somehow a bit wild yet refreshing, gives off a wild rose kind of feel too.”

At all the flamboyant modifiers, Nam Gyeonhwa let out a small, genuine laugh. In any case, it wasn’t meant as ridicule, so he thought it would be better to take it well.

Manager Jo Hongbin, whom Song Sangyeol had told him to meet, was the manager in charge of one of the biggest casino houses in Nakdo. He didn’t know what she had heard, but she had rushed to the underground parking lot where Song Sangyeol was in just a few minutes, and as soon as she saw Nam Gyeonhwa, she took a bag of money from the trunk and placed it in his arms. He hadn’t counted it all yet, but the bag he had opened was full of bundles of yellow bills. At a rough estimate, it seemed to be well over the ten million won that Song Sangyeol had mentioned.

“So from now on, where, and what am I supposed to do.”

Nam Gyeonhwa, who had been silently gesturing at the still-dark tunnel, brought up the business he had been holding back. At this point, he was getting more curious about what kind of work it was than about the money. Jo Hongbin, stroking her chin, lowered her voice.

“Actually, I don’t know the details either. I was just told to find a suitable person.”

“You were told to find a person?”

“Yeah, finding people in this business is common, but this time the conditions were a bit unusual. Unless it was a person who met the exact standards, they’d refuse and kick them out, no matter how great of a guy you brought. People aren’t products, you can’t just stamp them out somewhere, right? I was so desperate last week that I even went around to plastic surgery clinics to do the legwork.”

“And those conditions just happened to match me?”

“That’s right! About one-eighty in height, moderately sturdy, but not too beefy like a brute, and they emphasized that he had to have a mole on his nose. I couldn’t hold street auditions, and it was a real headache, and then you just appeared, like a savior.”

The more he heard, the stranger it felt. What reason could there be to search for a person while scrutinizing every detail of their face and physique like that?

“…By any chance, is it someone who likes men, that kind of person?”

“Are they gay? No, not at all. It was actually the opposite. I’ve known them for five years, and they’ve never once looked for a man. If anything, they’d have pulverized all the homo bastards who clung to them because they liked them. They’re not lacking for anything, with countless guys and girls clinging to them even when they do nothing. But I don’t know what got into them, they suddenly made this request, and I was so flustered.”