Romantic Gangster

#62

“Hey, you bastards. I told you clearly. It’s tomorrow. You know what happens if you don’t catch that bastard by tomorrow? If you want to die in a drum after being completely cleaned out, keep doing what you did today. Hey, get out. I don’t want to see your faces.”

The men who had been on the floor got up and bowed deeply to Baek Ju-seung before leaving the office. Finding the smell of blood nauseating, he held his hand under his nose and, with a completely different expression from moments before, smiled and sprayed deodorant.

“Hyun-joon, why didn’t you come when I told you to come on the weekend? If you had come, those bastards wouldn’t have ended up like that. If it had been you, this would have been resolved already.”

“I was busy.”

“With that kid I saw back then?”

“Do you need to know that too?”

“Kid, you’re being prickly. So, did you lose your virginity? The kid was pretty cute. I thought you’d like older sister types, this is unexpected?”

Lee Hyun-joon frowned, annoyed at Baek Ju-seung bringing up Ji-woo, something he’d never mentioned and didn’t want to discuss here.

“I didn’t come here to talk about that.”

“Ah, right, right. Let’s talk business. As you probably saw just now, those pathetic bastards failed even with three of them. I found a couple of places to check out, but I need you to handle this one, Hyun-joon. This job is really big. I’m not exaggerating just to get you to work. Even if you can’t do it, you’ll get five sheets.”

Five sheets. Five hundred. Honestly, considering his situation, it was a lot of money. With that money, he could make over ten million won. It did feel a bit wasteful when he thought about how he could do whatever he wanted with Ji-woo and eat whatever they wanted without worrying too much about money for a while. But he didn’t want to trade his self-respect for that measly five hundred.

And really, he didn’t want to be… an embarrassing boyfriend to Ji-woo anymore. He was different from Baek Ju-seung. He wasn’t like those thugs kneeling on the floor of loan shark offices, nor was he someone who carried tools around to beat up, pressure, and threaten debtors. So it was right to completely pull out of this.

“I didn’t come here to work.”

“Then?”

“I’m quitting this work now.”

“Quitting?”

“Yes. So stop contacting me.”

At Hyun-joon’s words, Baek Ju-seung looked somewhat surprised before laughing dismissively. Hyun-joon hated that laugh. It made him angry how it seemed to treat his words like the nonsense of an immature child.

“It’s because of that kid, right? What, did they tell you to quit this kind of work?”

“Fuck, why do you keep bringing them up?”

“I’m just curious. You were happy making easy money, so I wonder why you’re suddenly making such a pathetic choice. Usually, when kids in this line of work start talking about wanting to quit or live normally, every single one of them without exception is singing about love.”

“Whether it’s about love or not, it’s none of your business. I only worked with you a few times because I needed money.”

Baek Ju-seung removed his back from the chair’s backrest and smiled unpleasantly again.

“So you’re going to quit here and go back to working for hourly wages? You think you can survive doing motorcycle deliveries?”

“That’s none of your business either.”

“I’m worried. Making hundreds per job easily, then going back to making 10,000 won per hour… I wonder if you can go back to those days. How much can you make in a month like that? About 150? No, maybe 200?”

Though he called it worry, Baek Ju-seung’s words were clearly mockery. Not wanting to hear more, Hyun-joon stood up and looked down at Baek Ju-seung.

“Why waste your talent, it’s such a shame.”

“I don’t want to live as trash. Don’t contact me again. I have no intention of becoming a thug.”

Hyun-joon nodded slightly in farewell and turned sharply toward the door. There was blood on the silver doorknob. It must have been from the hands of those guys who came in earlier. When he reflexively opened his palm, he saw blood on his hand too. There must have been blood on the doorknob when he came in. Fuck, how annoying. Thinking he needed to stop by the bathroom, Hyun-joon grabbed the doorknob without hesitation.

“See you again, Hyun-joon. Graduate first.”

Hyun-joon looked back at the grinning face that seemed completely unfazed by his words and tilted his head defiantly. Those fucking thugs always too easily brought people down to their level.

“Fuck off.”

He left the office, slamming the door, and went up one floor to the building’s bathroom. The bathroom was dark with a burnt-out bulb and the smell of disinfectant was strong enough to give him a headache. Though he felt bad in many ways, he didn’t want to leave with blood on his hands.

Standing at the sink, Hyun-joon turned on the cold water full blast and washed his hands. Only after making lather several times with the softened, mushy soap and washing away the bloodstains again and again did he finally feel relief from his frustration.

With water dripping from his hands, Hyun-joon went down the stairs and left the shabby building. This was really the end. He wouldn’t have to come here again, and there wouldn’t be any more embarrassing situations. As he thought about this, he could feel his sunken heart slowly lifting.

He wanted to tell Ji-woo right away. He was dying to see Ji-woo who would smile and praise him for doing well. Having completely left behind the heavy weight that had existed in a corner of his heart in front of the loan office building, he took steps with a much lighter heart. Unlike when getting closer, his steps were much lighter when getting farther away.

One step, then another step, Hyun-joon ran. Toward Ji-woo. Toward his pride that made him want to become a good person.

* * *

For some reason, the convenience store was unusually crowded today. When he wanted to set the mood and say something properly, drunk guys who had started drinking early would come in and make a mess picking up and putting down items, and just when it would finally quiet down and he’d try to speak again, groups of kids would rush in and ransack the convenience store.

What’s this? Do you have any new snacks? How much is this? Is this really buy-one-get-one-free? Can I exchange this for something else?

Even while facing the kids asking hundreds of questions with their faces flushed red, Ji-woo kept smiling. Hyun-joon would frown but then melt away his irritation seeing Ji-woo like that. Right, they’re kids so they must be curious about many things. He even tried to exercise understanding, which was different from usual.

“Hey hey, tsk. Line up and put what you want to buy up here one by one.”

The thin one-minute patience shattered all too easily. Even trying to think positively, when he saw five people competing to put their items on the counter and taking out money asking to pay at the same time, it really made his blood boil.

When Hyun-joon stood up, the kids’ gazes all turned upward at once. Hyun-joon, who was tall enough that they had to completely crane their necks to see him, was sufficiently intimidating to the children. The kids quietly lined up, finished paying one by one, and even politely said thank you before leaving the convenience store.

“It’s complete chaos.”

“You don’t like kids?”

“Well… it’s not that I don’t like them, but it’s noisy when they’re too loud. Do you like them?”

“Yes. They’re cute, aren’t they?”

Staring at the side profile organizing the counter while smiling, Hyun-joon tilted his head and rested his chin on Ji-woo’s shoulder.

“Am I not cute?”

While others might have been very flustered seeing Hyun-joon like this now, Ji-woo honestly found him very cute. It was cute how such a huge person would scrunch up his body trying to make contact with them, and it was cute how he wanted to confirm their feelings by comparing with things that weren’t comparable at all.

“You’re cute.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Hyun-joon, now completely hugging Ji-woo’s arm and pressing closer, rubbed his cheek against their shoulder.

“Honestly, I used to think I wouldn’t like seeing someone every day no matter who I dated. I thought I’d get tired quickly seeing them every day, and I couldn’t understand how people could want to see someone every day and whine about missing them when apart for just a little while, even if they liked them… but I was wrong.”

“Your thoughts changed?”

“Yeah. Seeing you every day isn’t enough. Instead of getting tired quickly from seeing you every day, I like you more because I see you every day, and I naturally start whining when I’m apart from you even for a little while. I don’t whine because I want to, it just happens. Even when I’m looking at you, I want to stick close like this, and when we’re close I want to nuzzle… What is this, really. Am I sick?”

Ji-woo laughed seeing Hyun-joon becoming more honest and cute day by day, and gently pressed their lips to his hair before pulling away. At that, Hyun-joon lifted his head as if wanting to kiss right away and met their eyes. Ji-woo smiled and shook their head.

“Work ends in 30 minutes… then.”

“30 minutes is so fucking long.”

Hyun-joon grumbled and scrunched up his body again to rest his head on Ji-woo’s shoulder. Ji-woo laughed out loud and gently stroked his hair. They didn’t mind when Hyun-joon acted like a child sometimes.

As they left the convenience store, Ji-woo put a straw in the chocolate milk the owner had given them and took a sip. They had barely taken one sip, but next to them came the sound of sucking on an empty straw.

“Did you finish already?”

“Yeah. These things disappear in one sip.”

Hyun-joon crushed the empty milk carton and, spotting a trash can quite far away, took a stance like shooting a basketball and threw the carton.

“Shot.”

Even though the chances of it going in were not very high due to the distance, the milk carton went right into the trash can.

“Wow, it went in!”

Though it wasn’t much, Hyun-joon felt very proud seeing Ji-woo looking up at him impressed. He felt like someone amazing. It seemed like if he told Ji-woo about quitting the collection work in this atmosphere, they would smile and say he did well. He wanted to see Ji-woo being happy.

“Ji-woo.”

“Yes?”

“I quit my job today.”

“…Job? That… collection work?”

“Yeah. I went and told them I won’t work anymore so stop contacting me. I’m not going to do that kind of work anymore.”

Ji-woo’s steps stopped. Hyun-joon stood beside Ji-woo who had stopped still, and met eyes with Ji-woo who was quietly looking up at him. He thought they would praise him and smile, saying he did well, but contrary to that expectation, Ji-woo just quietly maintained eye contact without saying anything.