Double Junk - 108

At lunch today, two grilled croakers were served whole. Alongside the savory porridge and grilled croakers were various side dishes including seaweed soup.

It was a luxurious meal, but Ajin picked at the croaker with his chopsticks, neither eating nor not eating. He had no appetite. It had been several days since he lost his appetite, and the fact still felt unfamiliar. He had lived risking his life for food his whole life.

“Sigh…”

Ajin exhaled heavily, staring at the wall. Last night, Seokju had torn down the wave painting, leaving the wall empty. Only faint marks where the painting had hung remained, which felt… sorrowful and maddening.

Now, what was he supposed to do in this room? What could he do? He felt like he would end up being buried alive, helpless, and devoured by that eerie wall if he stayed still.

How terrifying that thought was. Ajin couldn’t stop crying. So, he cried while watching Seokju leave for work in the morning, and he cried until lunchtime. After shedding so many tears, his eyelids felt excessively heavy.

Ajin struggled to eat his meal, pushing his heavy eyelids up with effort. However, he simply had no appetite. It was when Ajin irritably poked the croaker with his chopsticks.

Clink.

A strange sound echoed. It sounded as if metal was meeting metal. Ajin blinked and stared at the croaker quietly. Did the croaker eat something metallic while in the sea?

A spark lit up in Ajin’s eyes as he found something to play with. He split open the croaker’s belly with his chopsticks. Then, what the croaker had swallowed was revealed.

“…A knife.”

It was a dagger. Smaller than Ajin’s palm, thin, with bits of croaker flesh stuck to it, but the blade was still sharp.

Ajin picked up the dagger with an expression as if possessed by something. Perhaps due to the croaker, the handle was warm. Ajin wiped the oil on his hand on his clothes and examined the blade.

Why was this here? Was this also sent by Seokju? No, that couldn’t be. How could he know what I would do with this? Maybe it was someone who had cleared their conscience, someone who had done something terrible, like getting rid of evidence from the sofa to the table. But it wasn’t likely that such a person would hide a knife in the croaker secretly. If they wanted to implicate me, they should have chosen a nail or needle.

“Croaker. Did you really eat this?”

Ajin asked the half-closed-eyed croaker holding the dagger. But the croaker remained silent.

After a moment of chewing his lips, Ajin, with nothing else to do, took the knife with the shackles tangled around his ankles. Then, he began to sharpen the thick iron with the well-forged blade.

But it was just scraping. Although the shackles got some ugly marks, there was no sign of breaking. Maybe if Ajin scratched it incessantly for a year. It seemed impossible to cut the shackles with a knife.

Ajin moved the knife to a seemingly weaker chain. But regardless of the metal, it wasn’t weak enough to be cut by a dagger. They were just like Seokju, iron-hearted.

“Miss…”

Ajin grinded his teeth and continued to scratch the shackles. Then, he slipped and scraped his calf with the tip of the knife. The fragile flesh split instantly, and bl00d slowly oozed out.

But Ajin didn’t let out a single whimper. This narrow hell was too harsh to suffer from such trivial things.

For a long time, Ajin scratched the shackles and chains until sweat beaded on his forehead, until his arms and elbows tingled. When his arms and elbows began to tingle, Ajin finally put down the knife.

The person who brought food would come to clear the table in just an hour. If he found the knife, Ajin would undoubtedly lose it.

Ajin stuffed the knife under his buttocks. Then, he began to force the porridge into his mouth.

Ajin succeeded in keeping the knife. But there was no relief. He also had to avoid the eyes of the person who came to watch him every hour.

Sometime, someone had made a hole in the window to peer inside. They seemed to think they were watching secretly, but with their large build, footsteps on the yard soil, shadows against the sunlight, it was impossible not to notice.

It was clear that Seokju had planted something in case I made a foolish move. I shouldn’t have shown him the knife.

Ajin pulled out a book from the shelf. It was a collection of folktales that Seokju had bought back when Ajin was practicing writing. Ajin opened it and slipped the knife between the pages. Then he flipped through the pages, glancing at the knife repeatedly.

How should I write this? Should I peek through the door? Or should I check the window? Ah, but running away is impossible anyway. Unless Seokju unlocks these shackles, or cuts my ankles, I can’t escape, even though the surroundings are wide open without walls, I can’t escape.

Ajin stroked the knife with his finger. After a while, a sudden good idea popped into his mind.

A way to escape this narrow hell with this small knife. Without Seokju’s help, without interference, there was one way he could leave this place with his own will.

Finally finding an answer, Ajin smiled faintly.

At that moment, there was a commotion outside the window.

It seemed like it was raining.

***

The black car slid to a stop in the yard. The wheels, splattered with mud from the rough ride through the yard, sent water flying everywhere. As if proud of overcoming the downpour, the car, covered in mud, made it up here with great difficulty.

The door of the car opened urgently, and Seokju jumped out. At his appearance, one of the organization members inside the house rushed out as if shot from a cannon. What was so urgent, especially in this heavy rain that he didn’t even use an umbrella, and wore only socks on his feet without shoes?

Seokju felt a great fear in his demeanor. He could tell instantly that something had happened. The organization member crossed the yard, calling out desperately, “Hyungnim! Hyungnim!”

Arriving in front of Seokju in no time, he blurted out without manners.

“Hyungnim! Why aren’t you answering the phone! I’ve called dozens of times for real!”

“Ajin.”

“That… Ajin…”

“What about Ajin.”

“Ajin, he’s, he’s hurt, he’s hurt, but, no, I can’t say he’s hurt…”

“What are you saying.”

“That, Hyungnim, ah, what the hell, no…”

The organization member rambled on, waving his hands. His shirt sleeve was stained red.

Bl00d.

Discovering it, Seokju felt his body temperature being washed away by the rain falling overhead. The rain hitting his forehead felt like shards of glass. Seokju grabbed the organization member’s wrist.

“Who did this.”

“Hyungnim…”

“Damn it, who’s bleeding.”

“I’m sorry, Hyungnim…”

The organization member apologized with trembling lips. Seokju swallowed a deep breath. His heart pounded roughly. A sour taste rose in his throat.

No. It can’t be. It can’t be.

Seokju ran home. Without even taking off his shoes, he passed through the entrance and crossed the hallway. At the end of the corridor, his room was visible. Unlike usual, the door was wide open, and several household staff were hovering around the door, muttering.

Seokju walked down the corridor, clenching his teeth. But strangely, the corridor kept stretching out like a stick of gum. As he continued to walk, his room, the room where Ajin was, seemed to get farther away. He felt like he couldn’t reach Ajin at all.

“Hyungnim. No matter what I do, I can’t unlock the shackles… Because the key is with you… I’m sorry, Hyungnim. I’m really sorry. I should have checked more often…”

The voice of the organization member following behind faded into the distance. It sounded like a voice coming from the past.

Seokju continued walking without answering.

Creaking, the corridor tilted. It twisted and tangled. The ceiling became the floor, and the floor became the ceiling. The picture on the wall, the window, twisted strangely. Feeling nauseous, he felt dizzy.

But Seokju didn’t give up. Urging his squeaking legs, he kept running. The sound of his shoes pounding on the floor made his ears muffled. Beyond that muffled sound, he heard the voice of his beloved.

“Why does Ajin’s soul seem so buried to the president?”

“Our, what did our Ajin do! What could that delicate child have done! He must have caused enough trouble to bury Ajin’s soul deep inside his body!”

They said Ajin’s soul was surfacing through me. They asked how much Ajin must have suffered for his soul to be buried all over his body. I thought it was just a way to see through my misdeeds.

But what if it really was Ajin’s soul? What if I had taken away his soul, and the Ajin in that room was truly lying there without a soul?

Then who should I apologize to? Who?

What should I do if the one to receive my apology disappears…

Seokju, at the point where he felt like he would burst from the overwhelming pressure, finally reached the room. And he hesitated like a statue on the threshold.

He was afraid. Terrified and tormented. He couldn’t bear to look at Ajin.

But he didn’t have the right to avoid it. Seokju had the duty to face his own sins head-on.

Seokju slowly lifted his head.

The first thing he saw was a pair of legs folded neatly on the cold floor. They were pale and slender, yet covered in wounds. The knees were bruised, there were long cuts on the calves, and thick shackles were wrapped around the ankles. The instep was crushed under the weight of the shackles, the flesh was bruised and tender, and the cold, heavy chains hung over the toes.

Above that, a skinny body was visible, thankfully or unfortunately draped in a large robe, concealing just how dire his condition was, how terrible Seokju’s sins were, one by one.

Soon, his arms came into view. The limp arms were covered by the robe, with a towel wrapped tightly around the wrists. Beneath the thick towel, bl00d had seeped in abundantly.

Beside them, a small dagger was visible. The sharp blade glistened with what appeared to be Ajin’s bl00d.

It was easy to infer where and how Ajin had been injured.

Seokju opened his mouth, but no words came out. Ajin was engulfed in the very waves he had longed for. Though the waves were not blue but red, Ajin seemed content enough.