My Bloody Valentine - 57

It hurt like salt being sprinkled on a torn wound, ravaged by an immature hand.

‘Become miserable.’

More painful than that was the existence of others who wished for his misery.

The thought that no one in this world could save him made him feel like he was trapped in a space surrounded by walls on all sides with no exit, utterly hopeless.

Jang Taeshin was a ruthless person, and he would do whatever it took to get what he wanted. No matter how much he struggled, he could not escape from his hands. Perhaps even after filling all twenty circles.

Han felt all the strength leaving his body at his helpless situation as he took heavy steps. He felt like he couldn’t endure without getting some fresh air right away.

When he came down to the first floor, Han’s hair fluttered in the humid wind. The sky was full of dark rain clouds as if it would pour down rain at any moment.

With a dark color where one could not distinguish the ground from the sky as the background, high-rise buildings stood gigantic. As night deepened, the lights in those buildings went out one by one.

Not far from the entrance where Han stood, there was Woo-sin. Woo-sin, holding a slowly burning cigarette, gazed at Han as if entranced.

His side profile quietly looking up at the inky sky seemed miserable. On his long exposed neck, there seemed to be vivid marks probably left by Jang Taeshin. Even around his reddened eyes. The unmistakable traces of oppression were vividly imprinted all over his petite body.

It felt strangely painful to Woo-sin, as if the desolateness was dripping drop by drop from his wet, clumped eyelashes. His face suited a smiling expression much better than this look.

Han was the type to bring out different sides of people around him in many ways.

Even if he told a not-so-funny story, he would sparkle his eyes as if listening to an amazing adventure tale, and sometimes he would clap his hands and laugh, making one tell silly jokes over and over.

Seeing him looking depressed made one instinctively want to reach out a hand to him.

Sensing his movement, Han slowly turned to look at him. His sluggish gaze landed on the cigarette Woo-sin was holding.

“You smoke?”

“…Yeah.”

“I didn’t know.”

Then, going to sit under the parasol slowly, he muttered to himself,

“Well…there are more than just a few things I didn’t know about you.”

Feeling a pang, Woo-sin sat across from Han. In a flat voice, Han asked,

“You didn’t do things like gamble on horses, did you?”

“……”

“You don’t have any debts?”

“……”

Woo-sin stood up abruptly and gestured toward the inside of the convenience store.

“Um…Han-ah, should I get you some ice cream?”

Han quietly shook his head at Woo-sin’s question. The joyful and pleasant memories built with Woo-sin over the past month or so seemed to scatter faintly beyond his sight.

As he took a sitting posture, he felt a lingering sensation as if something was still digging into him below, probably due to the weight shift. His head felt lukewarm as if soaked in water, with a slight fever flowing through his body.

The sky rumbled lowly with thunder. And soon, pattering raindrops began drumming on the parasol. Looking up at the rain-sprinkling sky for a moment, Han said,

“…I’ll do it.”

“Huh?”

He wanted to bring misfortune first to the man trying to push him into misery.

“That thing. Whether it’s a wiretap or whatever.”

“……”

It seemed the fever was really setting in, as his ears and fingertips felt hot.

Han reached his hand out from under the parasol. The spring rain hit his palm and splattered in radial directions.

“When I was little, I used to play in the summer rain like this…”

Suddenly he remembered his childhood. When he was at the orphanage, on rainy summer days, he and Taeshin would go outside and cool off from the heat by getting drenched in the downpour.

There was only an air conditioner in the director’s office, and the single fan in each room was never enough to beat the heat.

After playing recklessly while getting completely soaked, it felt really good to bathe and snuggle into the blankets.

“Did you do that too, Woo-sin?”

“…Yeah.”

The heavily pouring rain drenched one of Han’s arms and sprinkled water drops on his face and hair. Woo-sin quietly watched Han close his eyes slightly as if savoring the feel, getting drenched in the rain.

He could somewhat understand why Jang Taeshin was going crazy. The hands that kept flinching since earlier seemed to want to embrace Han.

‘Him? Isn’t he the guy doing that thing with Director Jang?’

When he first asked about Han’s identity, one of the waiters said that while making a circular hole with one hand and repeatedly poking it with the index finger of the other hand. His words were laced with contempt and derision.

Was that why? When he first saw Han, even though he acted introverted outwardly, he thought there would ultimately be just another common host sitting inside.

But Han was the opposite of what Woo-sin had thought. He seemed like a pitiful refugee helplessly swept away by a natural disaster. Someone you wanted to wrap a blanket around and warmly embrace.

Was this just charitable feelings like sympathy or compassion? Or…?

While Woo-sin was confused, Han got up from his seat.

“I’ll head inside now. Get that thing ready.”

“Okay.”

Han trudged inside the building. The faint red bloodstain left on the white chair where he had been sitting was soon washed away by the rain.

❖ ❖ ❖

He couldn’t raise his heavy eyelids. His physical sensations were tangled, unable to distinguish whether he was lying down or standing up, dreaming or awake.

His consciousness was hazy as if sunk deep into the abyss where no light reached. The breaths laboriously expelled from the parted red lips were scorchingly hot.

His lips, usually unnaturally moist, were chapped and parched from the feverish heat, the dry throat sticking together. Han intermittently coughed and struggled to breathe in.

Then, something soft and squishy touched Han’s parched lips. Soon, cool water flowed through the slightly opened lip crevice.

Even in his sleep, Han instinctively sucked at the slippery flesh filling his mouth, chasing the coolness. But no matter how hard he sucked, no more cool water came out.

“Mmm… more… give me more…”

The something that had briefly left his lips touched them again. This time, a hard round pill was placed on his tongue, followed by more water flowing in.

Like someone who finally found an oasis after suffering from dehydration in the desert, Han mindlessly swallowed the water pouring into his mouth.

With his thirst quenched, Han slipped into a deeper unconsciousness. But it didn’t last long, as his limbs were repeatedly raised and lowered by something grasping them one by one.

“Annoying… Don’t want…”

Han flailed his arms as if shooing away bugs and mumbled, but the firm hands never left, bringing something cool to different parts of his body. Drenched in sweat, his body trembled at the chilling sensation gently wiping his skin.

Han curled up shivering from the cold, but instinctively pressed himself against the inviting warmth that embraced him. It felt like being cradled in a mother bird’s downy underfeathers beneath her wings.

Since Taeshin disappeared from his life, no one had ever held him this warmly. So this must surely be a dream.

It was only after a full day had passed that Han regained consciousness and slowly blinked his opened eyes. Just the motion of rolling his eyeballs to look around his familiar room felt taxing.

Han struggled to sit up. His physical condition seemed too good considering how severely ill he had been. However, it felt like swallowing gritty sand whenever he swallowed saliva, as if his tonsils were swollen.

Nothing beat ice cream when it came to soothing a feverish throat. Having confirmed the time was headed toward 7am, Han swung his legs off the bed to go to the convenience store.

After putting on a thick coat and heading out front, he saw Yujung and Woo-sin sitting under the parasol. Yujung waved cheerfully in greeting, while Woo-sin had a somewhat awkward expression as if constrained.

Taking a bite of ice cream, Han asked Yujung, “Yujung-ah, did you happen to come to my room while I was sleeping?”

“Huh? No, I’ve been working nonstop. Why?”

These days Yujung was circulating nearly twice as many tables as usual, so there wasn’t much chance to run into him except at this hour.

“No, I must have dreamed it.”

“Sorry, but I need to head down first. My stomach’s not feeling good.”

“Sure.”

Tired from working all night, Yujung excused himself from his two friends and got up first. As soon as they were alone, Han told Woo-sin:

“I won’t tell Yujung. Don’t you either.”

“…Okay.”

Han had decided not to tell Yujung about Woo-sin’s true identity. He didn’t want to burden Yujung by revealing something that had to remain secret.

Woo-sin took out a device the size of a thumbnail from his pocket and held it out to Han.

“There’s adhesive tape on the back. Just stick it somewhere Jang Taeshin frequently makes calls or talks to his subordinates.”

“…Got it. But by any chance…”

“By any chance?”

“If I install this instead, could you get Yujung and me released from here?”

Woo-sin looked flustered, as if he didn’t expect Han to be so calculating. Their combined debt amounted to nearly 500 million won.

“Ah…the operational funds probably won’t stretch that far.”

Han didn’t seem too disappointed, as if he didn’t expect a positive answer, quietly looking down at the black device in his hand. Feeling as if Han’s arduous life was right before his eyes, Woo-sin’s expression became utterly bitter.

That’s why. He had needlessly given Han a glimmer of hope without being sure.

“If something comes out of this, Jang Taeshin will definitely get caught. I’ll try to find some loophole to keep him locked up for as long as possible. Plus, if there are a few raids, it doesn’t take much for an establishment to go under.”

Instead of answering, Han quietly nodded and slipped the device into the pocket of his jacket. And the day to install that device came sooner than expected.

A few days later, Han received a message from Taeshin telling him to come up to the 15th floor.