Love Me More

Episode 1

I shouldn’t have gotten involved in this.

There are a few things one should never do in life. Among them, gambling is undoubtedly one, co-signing is another, and the last one is drugs. There are many more, but the three listed above are the ones that will put you on the express train to the depths of despair.

Si-yul, of all things, got involved with drugs. It wasn’t that he did it himself; he merely lent a tiny hand in the distribution.

Si-yul was quite timid. He was the type of person who didn’t smoke because he couldn’t understand why anyone would do something harmful to their body. So why did Si-yul get involved with drugs? To find the answer, one would have to trace back quite a bit from the current moment where he was kneeling.

How far back should I go? To find the cause, I even regretted the fundamental notion that I shouldn’t have been the sperm that settled in the egg in the first place. Si-yul bit his lips hard, trying to gather his thoughts. The first culprit was himself for making a foolish choice, and the second was that person named Kwon Yu-won, who grew up with him in the orphanage.

Si-yul was from an orphanage. The kind-hearted director hid who Si-yul’s mother was, but thanks to the innocent gossip of the orphanage staff, he found out. His mother was a teenage single mother.

In his snot-nosed childhood, he dreamed that one day his mother would come back and hug him, but as he grew older, he abandoned that vain hope. His mother did not exist anywhere in the world. Even if he died and crossed the Samdo River, he would not be able to find her. How could he search for someone whose face he didn’t even know?

That said, while the start of his life was unfortunate, he was lucky that the orphanage was a good place. The director and staff were kind, the food was decent, and there was little discrimination. On Children’s Day, various volunteer organizations brought gifts, and delicious special meals were served, making it a paradise compared to a certain local orphanage that fed children rotten potatoes while pocketing donations.

He met Kwon Yu-won there. The director gave surnames and names to children who had none, so unless they had their original names, all the kids shared the surname Kwon.

Amidst all this, Kwon Yu-won became particularly close to Si-yul. They were born at the same time and abandoned to the orphanage, creating a unique bond. Si-yul had no blood relatives, but thanks to Kwon Yu-won, he learned what brotherly affection was.

Kwon Yu-won was quick-witted, unlike Si-yul, who was a bit slow and often spaced out. He did well in school without studying and earned pocket money by selling cigarettes to students or neatly applying screen protectors on their phones.

Though they were the same age, Kwon Yu-won felt like an older brother. Whenever someone picked a fight with Si-yul or a scuffle broke out at the orphanage, it was Kwon Yu-won who rushed in swinging his fists.

In a capitalist society, most problems arise from money. If you think about it, Kwon Yu-won might also be a poor victim caught up in the huge game of money.

It was after they reached the age to be forcibly independent from the orphanage. There was a settlement support fund, but in this era of skyrocketing prices, it was merely a pittance. Even working part-time jobs to the bone, it was not easy to make ends meet. Moreover, the world was even colder to young people without guardians.

After serving in the military, the two scraped together their savings like ants gathering crumbs to rent a one-room apartment, but the landlord ran off with their deposit, claiming tax issues. When they called the real estate agent, it only said the number was not in service. They were left high and dry, with no choice but to consider sleeping outside.

Kwon Yu-won was determined to get back at that landlord. He reported it and even scraped together what little money they had to hire a private investigator. But it was all in vain.

The scammer had long fled overseas, and the police showed no interest. They merely parroted that there was nothing they could do. After all, even when rental scams were rampant, would the authorities budge for two orphans who lost their deposit on a monthly rental?

In a hurry, they packed their things and checked into a shabby inn, where Kwon Yu-won, with wild eyes, contacted an acquaintance. Si-yul should have noticed the madness in his eyes.

“I’ll do that job.”

Si-yul didn’t understand the meaning of those words. He just tilted his head in confusion, and Kwon Yu-won, insisting that he would take care of him, stormed out of the house. A few hours later, the bag he brought back contained several small salt packets from a chicken restaurant.

“You didn’t…”

There was no way Kwon Yu-won would bring back a pile of salt to start a side job amidst all this chaos. Even Si-yul, who was dull about worldly matters, knew what this was.

Kwon Yu-won had once hinted that there was an older brother from the orphanage who made a lot of money. It wasn’t that there weren’t easy ways to make money, just that they weren’t legal.

“I’ll only do it until I earn the deposit. Don’t worry.”

“Hey! This isn’t right. Take it back. No matter how messed up our situation is, let’s not cross the line, okay?”

“Do you not trust me? If we get kicked out of here, we have nowhere to go. At least we need a place to sleep. I can’t even sleep on the streets.”

Kwon Yu-won wasn’t the type to be neat and tidy for no reason. Being an Omega was like that. Due to their nature, they could end up in a terrible situation if they fell asleep among the homeless. Kwon Yu-won often said that being abandoned by parents was far less terrible than being born an Omega. “Being an Omega sucks, and my life sucks,” he would say.

“What if we go to jail?”

To the trembling Si-yul, who was scared out of his wits—

“We won’t. And there’s no other way.”

Kwon Yu-won held the salt packet in front of Si-yul like a knife, his eyes gleaming. The threat that if he didn’t comply, he would use Si-yul’s head as decoration instead of the landlord’s head was something Kwon Yu-won didn’t even need to voice; it felt like it echoed in Si-yul’s ears.

“But…”

“Either we do this, or we go our separate ways. It’s one or the other.”

Kwon Yu-won was smart and cunning. He knew that Si-yul would never let him go. Even if he turned away in anger, a single apology from the other would make Si-yul crumble. They weren’t blood brothers, but how could he abandon the only family he had in this world?

Fortunately, he wasn’t deeply involved; if they received a call from that side, all they had to do was drop off the salt at the agreed location. Most of the time, it was at communication junction boxes, public restroom tanks, or the gaps in building number plates that no one would pay attention to.

Sometimes, they even made deliveries. It was a service used by regulars who could hardly wait even an hour. When they knocked on the door five times saying it was a delivery, the zombies with sunken eyes would come out to receive the salt.

The work was easy, and the money came in abundantly. It was just a commission, but to the young people cast aside by society, it was an enormous sum. At this rate, it seemed they could quickly earn not just the deposit for rent but also enough for a lease.

“Are we going to become rich like this?”

Kwon Yu-won’s thoughts weren’t much different from Si-yul’s. Money has a nature that makes greed grow the more you touch it. The deposit for rent turned into a desire for a lease, and the lease turned into a huge ambition to buy a house in Seoul.

In the damp and dark corners of the inn room, the salt packets noticeably increased. Kwon Yu-won’s visits home decreased in proportion to that. He seemed to be busier than ever. Recently, it even seemed like he was carving out a new path for himself.

While his proactive attitude toward business deserved praise, the business Kwon Yu-won was pursuing was something that not everyone would approve of. The owner of the new club he had just opened was one such person.

Clubs traditionally ran on alcohol, cigarettes, dancing, and music—drugs permitted by the state. Kwon Yu-won found a subtle thrill in the idea that this drug or that drug was all the same.

But of all times, it had to be that night when Kwon Yu-won had to leave a job for Si-yul.

Returning to the present.

Si-yul trembled, clenching and unclenching his numb hands. His knees, kneeling for so long, had long lost sensation. Still, he couldn’t change his position. If he showed any sign of defiance, he might get hit again by that monstrous fist.

Just a moment ago, he had tried to twist away to escape but was caught and received a kick to the solar plexus. It still throbbed painfully. It hadn’t been a hard kick; it was more like a light nudge, yet Si-yul had fallen back and was held in place by the big guys.

The man sat comfortably in a chair, legs spread wide. Si-yul stared desperately at that boot. He was terrified of making eye contact, fearing he might get hit again. Though the hulking figures who had dragged him into this chaotic office were not here, just the sight of the shiny boot and sharply tailored pants exuded a dangerous and oppressive aura.

Moreover, the feet were enormous. The width and length were both impressive. Si-yul had never seen feet that size before. Even the biggest kids in the orphanage didn’t have feet that big.

If he got kicked again, he would die from internal injuries. The area he had been hit throbbed again, causing Si-yul to shrink back even further.