THM Ch 4

Goo Taegyuk pronounced the man’s name out loud. Following that, he recalled in his head the words the man had left behind.

In case you got hurt.

Go to the hospital or something.

It appeared he had given money and a business card out of worry that he might get reported for a hit-and-run or something. These days, people said there were many humans who extracted money in that manner, after all. That meant there was no fear of having this money taken away. It was a huge sum that could only be earned by going out to construction sites for a full whole month, and perhaps because tomorrow was the interest repayment date, such thoughts came to him first.

“Oppa!”

His right cheek, scratched by the man’s hair, was strangely itchy. Goo Taegyuk, who wiped that spot with the back of his hand clutching the business card, sat down in a crouch at the spot while listening to the footsteps of his approaching younger sister. Since he had no useless pride that couldn’t even make money, he began to gather the cashier’s checks scattered as they pleased, one by one. Say what anyone might, today was a lucky day.

3:00 PM. Swallowing painkillers to get rid of the pain in his ribs, Nando was sitting stretched out on the office sofa, looking up at the interviewees standing side-by-side in a naked state. It was to choose a fellow to use until he brought the giant he saw earlier.

The thirty-two-year-old man who said he had done judo looked sturdy in body, but his eyes were vicious, so he didn’t fit his liking. It was certain that if he got angry, he wouldn’t even recognize his master and would bite. The second bastard, twenty-five years old, who worked as a fitness trainer, had clear signs of having built up his body using drugs rather than sweat and effort. The moment he saw the pupa hanging in the middle of that strangely bulky torso, he almost threw up out of disgust. Only the last university student on leave seemed barely usable. Because the male student, only twenty-two, had a rather gentle look in his eyes, and his dick—which he would see every time he beat him—looked the cleanest among the three. Of course, in the case of the look in the eyes, it was a part that could only be known accurately after beating him directly, though.

Therefore, Nando made them slap each other’s cheeks. First, the man who said he had done judo slapped the fitness trainer’s cheek. Next, the trainer threw a slap at the student on leave’s cheek, and the judo man’s cheek was the remaining student’s portion.

Thwack, thwack, thwack. The sound of palms sticking to and detaching from cheeks was heard in succession. Nando looked up plainly at their faces where handprints were rising. Before long, a tsking sound naturally popped out from Nando’s mouth. Everyone’s attitude was completely terrible. The only bastard that seemed barely okay was just one fellow, who as expected was the student on leave. Because only from that fellow’s eyes did he fail to discover an emotion similar to momentarily surging anger, the answer was as good as decided. But why was he making an expression like he was about to cry? A male bastard not being strong.

Rather than ‘a personality that doesn’t rebel even if beaten to death,’ there was a part Nando considered more important: tears. There had been several bastards—though not many so far—whose habit was to cry every time they were beaten, and because every time that happened, a fucking emotion surged up violently so that he himself unknowingly reached out until right before they died.

‘You bastard! Where does a man show tears!’

‘F-Father. I, I will get beaten instead of hyung-nim.’

‘Joo Nansung! Won’t you stop? Look at your younger brother Nando, does he cry or not after getting beaten like that!’

‘Father, it’s not that, but the place hyung-nim got beaten yesterday hasn’t healed yet—’

‘You stay out of it! Ah, fuck, an idiot bastard without even patience. How can you do any great work like this?’

Tears were a factor that brought up dirty memories of the past. Therefore, the image of the giant, who was desolate as could be, lingered in his mind all the more.

Come to think of it. It was so intense. Just how long of a time had it been since he experienced such stimulation that his heart was still thumping? Within the raining beatings, the fellow’s face—unchanging like a plaster statue—was hovering before his eyes even now. A first love whose hand he couldn’t even hold before it ended wouldn’t be missed to this extent. He burst into a laugh like a mirthless chuckle while touching the genitals of the interviewees surrounded by black body hair with his eyes. It was because the thought occurred to him that he had definitely fallen for that giant.

Even though he hadn’t yet called him over and tried beating him, Nando was confident. That fellow was a bastard that perfectly fit the companion dog he had searched for and wandered around for a long time. So how could those fucking bastards satisfy him?

At that moment, following the sound of a knock, Kang Sanggoo came in holding a document folder. It was a document containing information about that fellow. It was a fluttering excitement he was feeling after a long time. While leaving the interviewees standing, he read down the content written on the paper as if frantically drinking water.

“…Goo Taegyuk.”

The fellow’s name was Goo Taegyuk. Age, twenty-eight. He had no particular occupation and was said to be placed at various construction sites every morning through a labor office near his home. Because his father stood guaranty incorrectly 5 years ago, bank debt alone was 300 million won, and loan shark debt was also in a state that was not easy as interest accumulated.

Family relations were four people. Currently, the fellow’s father Goo Taeyong was admitted to a nursing hospital due to rapidly deteriorated health, and his mother Lee Sookkyung, while having a chronic illness, was suffering to the bone through restaurant work and motel cleaning, and in the midst of that, they were in a situation carrying even a fifteen-year-old young younger sister who had to concentrate on her studies. In other words, the breadwinner of that house was Goo Taegyuk. Indeed, as desired, the fellow was immersed in a reality more terrifying than hell.

However, Nando had to stop laughing midway even at that happy news. It was because of the content written next. Goo Taegyuk was expelled while enrolled in his 1st year of high school, because he was sent to a juvenile detention center for assaulting his boxing team coach to the point of blindness.

His brow wrinkled while looking into the document. It was because he wondered if he had misjudged the person. Assaulting a coach was clear evidence of rebellion, after all. But through the deposition report attached underneath by Kang Sanggoo, he was able to harbor a smile once again, thinking, Of course, that’s how it is. Recorded in detail there was the reason Goo Taegyuk had no choice but to do so.

It was said that Coach Kim Seungyoon usually used discipline as an excuse to bring up members’ families and indulge in personal attacks. Goo Taegyuk, the quietest and most gentle character among the members, used to draw the coach’s disfavor the most, and on that day when there was a club dinner, he was drunk and went overboard.

Q: Why did you not endure your anger as usual?

A: I think I could not endure it because the coach brought up my mother and younger sister into his mouth, not me.

Q: What on earth did he say?

A: He said that training like that, I would live a life worse than a room salon waiter, and later even if my mother and younger sister worked in such a place and got beaten, I wouldn’t be able to rescue them because I had no skill.

Q: Even so, don’t you think it was too severe a reaction?

A: I politely asked him not to, but on the contrary, he slapped my cheek and said even worse harsh words. That because of bastards like me who have neither dreams nor a future, women cheat and young kids go out to sell their bodies. While saying that my younger sister would likely be the same, he forcibly sought the consent of the members.

He burst out into a loud laugh. At his laugh that burst out of nowhere, the interviewees standing in front flinched their shoulders.

“Ah, fucking bastard.”

With a pleasant smile on his whole face, he threw the document folder back to Kang Sanggoo. After that, ordering his subordinates, he sent out all the people who came to interview. He intended not to hire a single bastard. Blessing comes to those who endure; Goo Taegyuk will surely satisfy his current thirst.

The thought that he had to bring him somehow and keep him by his side was occupying his head along with Goo Taegyuk’s face.

∞ ∞ ∞

Early the next morning. Rising even before the sun rose, Nando cleanly washed his body in warm water first. After further cleanly rinsing his body—which had abstained for one night—with soap, he put on his most expensive suit. After applying gel to his hair to arrange it so it wouldn’t easily flutter in the wind, he headed to Goo Taegyuk’s house. That place was already busy with people moving viciously under his instructions.

Yesterday evening, he had called the leader of the service thugs who had attacked Goo Taegyuk and ordered one thing. Tomorrow morning at 6 o’clock. Double the headcount and attack Goo Taegyuk. Do not swing wooden clubs or sticks, and perform a collective beating solely with hands. It was a kind of interview. Since a person had to be consistent to be trusted and kept nearby, he had to go through verification once more.