Double Junk - 48

Chapter 48

“Are your parents still alive?”

“No.”

Seokju shook his head, and Ajin looked crestfallen. They may be estranged, but they were still Seokju’s parents in some sense. Seokju noticed Ajin’s gloomy expression and laughed lightly, patting his shoulder.

“They’re not my real parents. I don’t even know what my real father looks like. He either died or ran away. My mother raised me on her own, and she passed away from an illness when I was twelve. We were so poor that we couldn’t afford medical care, and I don’t even know what illness she died from.”

“Then…”

“At around the age of seventeen, my foster father picked me up. I learned how to make medicine from him.”

“How did he know how to make medicine?”

“He used to be a drug dealer like me. He was also known as a ‘medicine man.'”

Ajin blinked rapidly. A medicine man? Seokju didn’t seem to fit the description. While Ajin had never seen drugs, he had seen plenty of drug dealers. They all seemed emaciated and shady, like skeletons walking around. So, to hear that Seokju’s foster father was a medicine man was quite strange.

Seokju noticed Ajin’s curiosity and explained further.

“He wasn’t always a medicine man. Originally, he was a member of an organization called the Cheongtae Faction.”

“Oh, Cheongtae Faction? Like ‘Cheong’ as in ‘wave’? So, does it mean ‘blue wave’?”

“Smart. That’s right. It’s a Busan organization, and the name means ‘Blue Wave.'”

“I see…”

“My father… He was a good man. He was admirable, valued people, empathized with them, and didn’t do things like picking fights with just anyone or hitting women.”

“Like you are now?”

Seokju chuckled. “Yes, just like me. He took me in and cared for me when I was struggling to make a living day by day.”

Seokju chuckled and patted Ajin’s head. He gently caressed his soft cheek, then Ajin raised an eyebrow and continued his questioning.

“So, how did someone like that become a medicine man?”

“The leader of the Cheongtae Faction had mixed feelings about my father. While the members, and even the citizens of Busan, followed my father so closely that it made the leader jealous. It became a source of envy and, eventually, turned into resentment and hatred. The followers of my father, as well as the citizens of Busan, loved him so much that they wanted to get rid of him. And the words of those who wanted to push my father away had an impact.”

“…”

“Eventually, they concocted a false reason to capture my father and forcibly administered drugs to him. At that time, I and the other faction members who followed my father were away in China for a drug deal, and there was no one to save him.”

“…”

“Every time he went on business trips, my father would take me with him, but on that day, the faction leader called him separately and kept him. I thought it was strange, but I just dismissed it as a strange thought.”

Seokju clenched and unclenched his teeth before continuing.

“His father got involved, and he became a medicine man in a month. The leader of the Cheongtae Faction wanted to see how much he could destroy my father. He released my father in front of a movie theater in the city like releasing a wild beast, just as he had hoped.”

“…”

“My father wandered the streets of Busan searching for drugs and eventually died of starvation in an alley.”

Ajin stopped in his tracks.

“Starved to death…”

Seokju stopped as well.

“Starved to death.”

Ajin clenched his lips. It was hard to believe that someone could starve to death in today’s world. People might complain about the difficulties of life, but the idea of not having enough to eat was unimaginable in South Korea, compared to some other countries.

The standard for living well or poorly was not about how much money you had in your wardrobe or how often you could afford meat side dishes. It wasn’t about whether you could eat or not.

But he starved to death. He didn’t starve to death in Seoul either. Why didn’t people give food to Seokju’s father?

Seokju gave a wry smile at Ajin’s despondent face.

“That’s how people are. When they’re about to starve, your father was there, giving them rice and salt. He even handed over his spoon to the faction members who were struggling to make a living. But when the tables turned, no one helped him.”

“They are bad people. Both the citizens and the faction members. They were all like family, right?”

“Betrayal happens in a moment. If there’s an opportunity and something can be gained from it, it’s only natural to do it, even if it means I’ll lose something in return.”

“Is it still the same now? The Cheongtae Faction?”

“No, it’s gone.”

Seokju said firmly.

“I killed them all.”

Ajin held his breath for a moment. Seokju looked down at him with a faint smile. Swirling in his dark pupils was the color of long-dead blood. Ajin had to do his best not to take a step back.

“It took a while, but I killed them all, one by one. Then I gathered those who were on my father’s side and created a new faction.”

“So that’s the Taeho Faction, I suppose.”

Ajin didn’t understand what it meant for waves to gather, but he felt like he finally understood.

“Yes, and because it was painful to see traces of my father still lingering here and there in Busan and because people hated seeing them, I couldn’t go around killing people who weren’t gangsters, so I came to Seoul under the guise of expanding my business.”

Ajin nodded slightly.

The two of them resumed their stroll, and Seokju finished his story while gently playing with Ajin’s small hand.

“In any case, my father was amazingly good at making medicine. Those who couldn’t forget the taste of his medicine still come to us to buy it.”

“I see…”

Ajin nodded slowly. Then he carefully mulled over what Seokju had said. He had thought of Seokju as a great guy, a gentleman, a nobleman. His heart ached at the thought that he had lived a tumultuous life that couldn’t even be compared to his own. It was heartbreaking.

Then, as Ajin belatedly came to his senses and was about to suggest heading back, Seokju pulled his hand towards him. Ajin leaned into Seokju’s embrace. Seokju wrapped his arms around his waist and gently stroked Ajin’s slender waist.

“Tell me your story, Ajin.”

“Huh?”

“How you ended up working in the gambling den, who your parents are, if you have any close friends, things like that.”

“…”

Ajin scratched his neck. It wasn’t a difficult question, but the words wouldn’t come out easily. He hadn’t shared that story with anyone before. No one had asked, and he hadn’t even thought about confiding in anyone.

Ajin hesitated to speak and Seokju patiently waited, gently fiddling with his hand. Finally, Ajin slowly spoke up.

“I don’t know who my parents are.”

“You don’t know?”

“No. I was kidnapped when I was six years old.”

“What? Kidnapped?”

“Yes.”

Ajin responded with an extremely despondent expression. There was no hint of wavering as he spoke those dreadful words. Seokju’s mouth fell open in surprise. He wasn’t someone easily surprised, but what Ajin had just said was so shocking that it took him by surprise.

Kidnapped. It was an unexpected past. I shouldn’t have asked unnecessary questions. Just as he was about to tell Seokju that he didn’t need to say anything more, Ajin let out a hollow laugh.

“No, actually, I just think of it as being kidnapped. I don’t know if my parents abandoned me, sold me, or lost me. I have no memory.”

“…”

“But Miss Kkot said that I originally had a different life from the one I’m living now. I was supposed to grow up receiving love from the world as the son of a rich family. But now, looking at the way I’m living, she said my life changed because I was kidnapped. But it feels… better this way, so I just believe it.”

Ajin awkwardly raised the corners of his mouth as if he felt embarrassed. After saying it, he felt like such a fool. He was afraid of how Seokju would react. Making fun of someone’s choices might make them a bit sad, and he didn’t want that.

Seokju nodded seriously.

“It seems like that. You’re not the type to arrange cards in a gambling den. Didn’t I say it before? You look like a precious young master who grew up in a noble house.”

Unexpectedly, Ajin’s eyes widened. Right, Seokju had said something like that before. He had looked at Ajin, who was lying down, and said.

“You look like a precious young master who grew up in a noble house. Your appearance, your smooth skin…”

Ajin had thought he was just teasing him, but it seemed like he was being serious. Ajin bit his lower lip as his mouth, which had been about to open, retreated as if sulking.

“Why don’t you know why you separated from your parents? Do you have no memories at all?”

“No. Um… I remember some things sporadically, but…”

“What? Tell me anything.”

“Um… It’s not about my parents. I don’t remember them at all. My earliest memory is of being in a very dark place for several days. It was humid, and there were no windows. The sound of the wind was strong, and it sounded like the cries of animals. I was so scared that I cried until I passed out.”

“…”

“After that, I was in a place underground that was similar to where I originally was, but different. It smelled like a sewer. There were kids younger than me, and there were big brothers and sisters. A lot of adults came and went.”

“…”

“Someone bought me there, and it was a very rich man who had a lot of chickens and pigs. I went to the chicken coop and picked up eggs, but the chickens got sick and all died shortly after I got there. So, I was sold again. The owner of the gambling den bought me.”

“…”

“After that, I had an accident while running an errand one day, and since then, I’ve been living inside the gambling den. That’s it.”

Seokju chewed on the inside of his cheeks with a heavy expression as Ajin listed his somber and tragic life. It felt like he had swallowed sand, and his stomach felt tight and uncomfortable. Holding Ajin’s hand firmly, he asked.

“Why didn’t you, why didn’t you report it?”

“I didn’t know what it was, or how to do it.”

“…”

“I was young at the time. In fact, I don’t even know how old I was. There was a sign hanging around my neck when I was about to be sold to the chicken coop man, and it said I was eight years old. So, I think of myself as being twenty now, but maybe I’m even younger.”

Ajin spoke in a calm tone. Each word sounded feeble, making it all the more sad and pitiful. Seokju gently stroked Ajin’s forehead with his fingers and asked again.