THM Ch 5

The iron gate, which had been ripped out entirely, was set up at a slant against the wall. Rust, like bloodstains over the entire gate, blatantly revealed the situation of the residents living here. According to what he heard, this family was barely renting this house too. The house they had worked a lifetime to buy had been attached long ago, so except for here, they were pitiful humans with nowhere else to go. In such a situation, Goo Taegyuk’s family was in a state destined to be thrown out from here sooner or later as well. Because soon the entire area would enter redevelopment demolition.

Kang Sanggoo drove the car to a spot where beyond the main gate was well visible. Sitting as he was in the back seat of the vehicle, Nando appreciated Goo Taegyuk, who was dealing with a total of ten service thugs. The light leaking from inside the house illuminated the fellow’s form completely. Whether the fellow had a lot of body heat, today as well he was in short sleeves, and his hair was building a bird’s nest. He seemed to have welcomed guests hastily in his sleep.

Standing like a huge tree in the middle of the dark yard, Goo Taegyuk showed movement similar to yesterday yet somewhat different. The fellow, while taking a defensive posture with both arms, merely absorbed silently the attacks flying in from all sides.

Guessing a reason in his own way, it caught Nando’s eye that none of the family members were seen. Worrying that the thugs might come again, he seemed to have remained all alone. Since the family members were safe from attack, was he simply enduring and putting up with it? Come to think of it, yesterday too he was taking the hits quietly, but when someone tried to touch his family, he had started to respond.

Thinking that his guess seemed to be correct, Nando thought. Goo Taegyuk was definitely a fellow who cherished his family terribly, even more than his own body. The fellow’s past of being sent long-term to a juvenile detention center supported that fact. And one more thing: unless his family was threatened, the fellow would not recklessly swing his fists. He was a bastard with very solid fundamentals.

“Sanggoo-ya.”

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

“What will you do if I like him more?”

“As long as you are pleased, hyung-nim, anything is fine with me.”

He reached out his hand and lightly tapped the cheek of Sanggoo who was looking back. With that, he wrapped up the useless conversation. In the first place, their uses were different, so there was no need to compare.

Viewed from afar, one would think not a collective beating but some kind of ceremony was being held. It was because the expression of Goo Taegyuk standing inside the circle was so serene. Was it because the height and body structure of the bastards attacking Goo Taegyuk were so-so that it even looked like child’s play? Staying like that, when would he faint?

Rather than the one being hit, Nando, who was watching, grew anxious. Not knowing even that, Goo Taegyuk was receiving intact the fists flying in from here and there. Instead, he only dodged slightly the attacks flying above his neck, which, contrary to Nando’s feelings, looked full of composure.

His muscles were inherently so thick that it probably didn’t even hurt. Thinking so, Nando looked down at the watch on his wrist. Already 15 minutes had elapsed. Unless beating the back of his head fair and square, fainting that beast-like fellow seemed impossible. Having passed the interview as well, leaving him to be handled by someone else’s hands would not be courtesy to his own thing.

“Stop it and let’s move him.”

Opening the black box he was holding, he pulled out a syringe. Receiving the syringe filled with transparent drug, Kang Sanggoo opened the window and gestured to someone. A thug who was standing near the main gate without joining the attack ran over hurriedly as if he had been waiting. He was a fellow whose movements were very nimble, and the syringe delivered that way was finally plunged into the nape of Goo Taegyuk’s neck in the end.

That he was a human, not a beast like a cow or a horse, was proven right there. Before long, Goo Taegyuk collapsed to the ground with a thud. After several people clung to it, his heavy body was raised with difficulty and loaded into the van parked outside the main gate.

Kang Sanggoo slowly followed behind the van moving with Goo Taegyuk loaded in it. To calm his wildly surging chest, Nando habitually brought his hand to the bottle containing liquor. However, the moment he opened the cap, he realized what a pure joy this was to feel after such a long time.

He closed the cap back. He threw the bottle completely to the passenger seat. How could he treat the joy that came like fire with a mental state rendered impure by alcohol?

Lowering the window, he refreshed his mouth with a cigarette instead of liquor. Imagining himself probing through the unconscious fellow’s body for the first time, he let the smoke drift out the window. The taste of the flesh wrapping around this hand would be considerable. Like a first love ahead of a reunion, he wanted to have Goo Taegyuk right before his eyes a moment sooner.

The van was parked in the yard of a newly built detached house not far from the redevelopment zone. Following Goo Taegyuk being moved inside the house, Nando moved too. Filled in its margins with modest furniture, this house was a gift Nando was bestowing on Goo Taegyuk along with debt settlement. To be exact, it should be called a bribe thrown like a dog chew to win his favor, though.

Watching Goo Taegyuk being laid on a large bed and stripped stark naked, Kim Incheol, the leader of the service thugs, approached him, bowing servilely. Wishing that he would calculate the requested commission fee and Goo Taegyuk’s family’s debt, the fellow rubbed his palms together briskly, looking almost like a fly.

Be that as it may, the one who dealt with Kim Incheol on behalf of Nando—who didn’t even glance—was Kang Sanggoo. Nando was out of his mind filling his eyes with Goo Taegyuk’s body, which was not clearly visible as it was glimpse by glimpse hidden by the appearance of the thug bastards.

“Thank you, Director. Please call us again next time!”

‘Director’ was a title referring to Nando, not Sanggoo. No matter how much he was in the highest position at Junan Future Information & Communications, attaching a title like president or representative was a matter possible only if Father Joo Nanchul’s permission dropped. Nando anticipated that four or five more years would probably have to pass for that to happen.

At any rate, as soon as Kim Incheol’s gang got their hands on the promised amount, they quickly left the scene lest it be taken away. In the midst of that, whether there was a fellow among the thugs whose personality was meticulous, Goo Taegyuk was in a state nicely covered with a blanket up to his neck.

After a short while, even Kang Sanggoo closed the bedroom door and withdrew. The surroundings became even quieter. Toward the side of Goo Taegyuk, who was asleep without even knowing what was happening to him, his steps moved.

Nando lightly scanned with his eyes the fellow’s whole body hidden by the blanket. After that, using both hands in earnest, he began fumbling from the fellow’s crown. That spot covered in soft and thick hair, the hard and flat forehead, and the fingertips that stroked the thick eyebrows came down to the lips via the straight and towering bridge of the nose like drawing the sign of the cross. The tepid lips were slightly chapped.

“…You bastard.”

At the corners of Nando’s mouth, gripping the fellow’s jaw, a satisfied smile devoid of any lack arose. What need was there to say more? The hardness felt in his grip was very extraordinary. It was a weight and sensation that could only be felt from a substantial object.

Spreading his fingers wide, he placed the tips of his thumb and middle finger on both points of the jaw where the masseter muscles were. He pressed down firmly on the muscles hidden beneath the skin that rose and sank every time he chewed food. A tight yet tough-feeling texture was abundant, and it seemed all the more so because there was not a single layer of soft fat. Moving his fingertips further inside and applying force, between his opening lips were seen evenly grown front teeth. Suddenly a certain curiosity arose, and he thrust his face down toward the fellow’s mouth. It was because he wanted to look inside the mouth.

Bending his waist and slanting his face, he inspected the fellow’s oral condition. Seeing not even a single cavity, it was flawless and perfect. Confirming how healthy the teeth were was also an important part. Because the bastards who got hit once and had teeth fall out, going to get dental implants, were not just one or two. In Goo Taegyuk’s case, even if exposed to violence repeatedly, he seemed like he would be fine.

Breaths exhaled at regular intervals were touching his right cheek. Only now becoming conscious of that, he shifted his gaze to the closed eyelids nearby. The eyelashes were short, but the eyes were long. They were handsome eyes enough to be envied by anyone. Their true value would surely be revealed when the eyes were open. For the same price, if one were to eat a black ox, in any case a good-looking one would be better. Elements that could become threats just by carrying him around would subside on their own.

“…”