PAX 10

So, Mom and Dad might go beyond just refusing a request involving Kim Junik and even hint about this matter to Ahn Juik. Would they say something like, “Your son in Seoul tried to do something like this, so it might be good for you to look into it”?

I can’t predict what would happen after that, but since Ahn Yutan clearly called it a “secret meeting between number twos,” if it gets out this way, he will definitely hold me accountable for the error. He might suddenly show up and start shooting or do something crazy….

Thinking about it again, it’s absurd. Even I, a “pigeon” of the Pachulso, have been able to get around within the Nagon District while being treated reasonably well, but Ahn Yutan completely broke that down in a single day.

The residents of the Nagon District create their own rules and live in their own way. To them, rules are very important. Even more so because they made them themselves.

The rule that a “pigeon,” who carries requests and various schedules in their head, must never be touched no matter what had also been kept very well. What’s in my head—things like “come to this place at this time and fix the water supply”—might seem endlessly trivial and personal from an outsider’s perspective, but to Nagon District residents, it is the most important thing for maintaining their daily lives.

But it means that today, that was broken.

Ahn Yutan, that strange bastard, threw an object at me without a moment’s hesitation, threw punches and kicks, and even fired a gun.

Did he run wild so freely because there were only his two subordinates around? Or because that location wasn’t inside the Nagon District?

However, the location is not what’s important for that rule. It means that if you are from the Nagon District, you wouldn’t do that even if you wanted to beat or kill me in some faraway city. Because it is not the location called the Nagon District, but the identity of being a “Nagon District person” that is bound by the rule that one must not touch a pigeon.

Ahn Yutan might have acted that shittily because he didn’t know that. Simply thinking that although he is from the Nagon District, since that abandoned factory is outside the wire fence, it wouldn’t matter at all.

Since he said he went to Seoul when he was young and has lived there ever since, he might not know the importance of that rule at all. Unlike the residents of the Nagon District, he probably hasn’t had it ingrained in his body either.

…But, even if that place had been in the middle of the Nagon District square, I get the feeling that Ahn Yutan would have acted the exact same way.

I couldn’t imagine Ahn Yutan worrying about the eyes of the people around him and following established rules. Is my impression just permanently tainted because my first impression of him was so fucking bad? I don’t want to have a prejudice.

It’s not just the first impression; I don’t like the way Ahn Yutan handles business either. Setting aside his insisting on this “number two” bullshit or attacking me without warning, the part that annoys me is that he didn’t specify exactly when that 24-hour period ends. I don’t know what time I’m supposed to be somewhere and waiting for something, either.

If it were me, I would have left a message like this:

‘Rethink it and come out to [Location] tomorrow at 7 PM.’

Yeah, fuck, like that.

Shouldn’t he have given me at least the minimum amount of information? If his intention was to keep me trapped in these thoughts and feeling uneasy by myself, I suppose it’s working well.

What should I do? Should I just say I won’t do it and see Ahn Yutan’s reaction? Surprisingly, seeing that I’m refusing even after getting shot, he might think I’m sincere and back down.

No, fuck, even I’m laughing at my own thought. I don’t think he’s that kind of person at all.

No. There was definitely a side to him that was hard to predict. He might react unpredictably here too. He might just accept the refusal and look for someone else to do the job.

But if he throws another object, throws punches, and pulls out a gun again, what should I do then?

What if this time he aims that gun right at the center of my forehead?

Nothing is decided, and I have absolutely no countermeasures, yet I don’t know why I feel sleepy. Is it okay to be lying here so carelessly? What if I sleep soundly, wake up, and see Ahn Yutan standing there with a gun to my head? Could Ahn Yutan possibly even break into the Pachulso…?

“Hyung.”

I flinched at the small sound from outside. Yonghee’s voice.

I didn’t answer and just stared at the bedroom door. Through the light coming through the gap under the door, I could see a shadow pacing. I turned my head back to the other side of the door.

Soon, the door opened, and I heard the sound of Yonghee entering.

“Hyung, are you sleeping?”

As soon as Yonghee asked, he crawled into my mattress. Fortunately, it was on my right side.

“Yeah.”

I answered vaguely and covered my eyes with my right arm. I have to stay on standby in case Yonghee tries to even touch my left arm, so I need to keep it ready.

“I can sleep here, right?”

Yonghee stuck close to me, placing his hand on my stomach. He was completely naked, without even underwear, just as he always was when he came to sleep at night.

“Go to your room and sleep.”

I said what I always say every time that happens.

“I know. But just for tonight.”

And Yonghee gave the answer he always gives every time.

“But Hyung, I heard you fought?”

Yonghee asked.

“Yeah.”

“With who?”

“Just some street kids in another neighborhood.”

“Where? I should go there tomorrow and scold them for you.”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

“I already scolded them enough.”

“I heard you got hurt too, Hyung.”

“I got a few scrapes.”

“Do you want me to kiss it better?”

He tried to grab my arm to move it, so I quietly pushed his hand away.

“I’m fine. Go to sleep.”

“What did you do today? Other than fighting.”

“Worked. The same as always.”

“I finished cleaning up at the vegetable shop. Then I helped the younger ones with their studies.”

“Right. Good work. Sleep.”

I patted Yonghee’s arm, which had come up onto my stomach. Yonghee pulled at my waist, sticking even closer. His hot, throbbing penis pressed against my thigh.

Yonghee entered the Pachulso as a runaway when he was fourteen. Perhaps because he was at a sensitive age, he acted recklessly and had a really hard time adjusting, so I was the one who practically marked him exclusively. Since I was the “younger” type of hyung compared to our “old-fashioned” Mom and Dad, I pretended to understand him in many ways and coolly embrace him. Fortunately, that seemed to work well; he soon became docile and blended into the Pachulso well, but he started sleeping stuck to my side, and one day, he started crawling in completely naked after showering.

He only sticks to me and sleeps; he doesn’t try to do anything else, so I just leave him be. The kinds of behaviors known as “moving things forward,” so to speak.

Honestly, I’m a bit unsure. What kind of feelings he holds for me to be doing this.

I tried my best to sleep, keeping Yonghee, who fell asleep quickly, stuck to my side. He isn’t a restless sleeper, so he would probably sleep soundly in this position and posture until morning, but since my condition was different from usual, it was bothering me.

Still, I was terribly exhausted, so I eventually fell asleep. Wondering, at what time exactly the end of that 24-hour deadline was.

🎈🤍

I woke up at the early dawn to the sound of Yonghee leaving. He must have been assigned to the wall-building job at 2-5. Because we had agreed to send three helpers at 6 AM this morning.

I slept a little longer, then got up and collected eggs from the chicken coop in the backyard. Usually, the person who comes out to the backyard first in the morning does it, but today it was me. I also picked wild strawberries and tomatoes from the field, washed them, and left them in the kitchen.

I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I made breakfast, ate it, and did the dishes. Things like preparing your own meals, cleaning up the spot where you ate, and doing the dishes are things that anyone over the age of ten here is required to do. A family member in a younger age group is taken care of by one of the elders who has the time.

As I turned around after doing the dishes, three young family members rushed in, so I sat them down and fed them breakfast. They were curious about my beaten-up appearance, so I spectacularly made up a story about how I got into a 3-on-1 fight and told them. I added educational advice: never pick a fight with a passerby, that fighting one person while in a group is very cowardly and pathetic, that if you’re all alone and a fight starts, the best way is to avoid the situation even if you have to act spineless, and that if you can’t avoid it no matter what, you should use every technique you know to win. It took some more time to explain the shape and meaning of the Hanja for “solitary.