Small and Fragile Things - Chapter 23

Gi-seon tried to ease the mood by joking around a bit more.

“Goldie, I get that you’ve been locked up so long you’ve got no sense for people, but seriously… you don’t know how scary Jung-pal hyung is! You think you know, but you don’t. Back in the day, people used to call him the Wild Boar of Ssanghyeon-dong. The man could crush a guy’s skull with one hand—”

“Hey, Yang Gi-seon. That’s enough. You’re gonna scare the kid.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Gi-seon shut up immediately. It wasn’t just the words—it was the tone. Jung-pal’s voice was calm, almost gentle, completely unlike his usual self. Gi-seon glanced over and saw Jung-pal’s expression had softened, but his ears were red, and his legs were shaking. He couldn’t even look Irang in the eyes.

“Come on, man. The kid gave her eardrum, and you got nothin’?”

Gi-seon just stared at him for a second, then shrugged and played along.

“If you insist, I’ll pay for your hair transplant when you go bald.”

“What did you say, punk? Get over here. Huh? Not coming?”

“What? You think donating hair is easy? I’m offering, and you’re complaining? Let go of me, man!”

The awkward tension from earlier vanished like it had never been there.

Irang, completely unaware of what had just transpired because of her, was fiddling with her hair. She picked up a yellow rubber band and casually tied her hair into a high ponytail—unintentionally exposing the nape of her neck.

And that’s when both Jung-pal and Gi-seon had their breath knocked out of them again.

“Hyung… that… look at that…”

“I saw it, idiot.”

“What do we do?”

“What do you mean ‘what’? Did I do that?”

Thankfully, Irang didn’t notice the shocked stares. She just picked up a macaron.

“What the hell…”

Jung-pal rubbed the back of his neck hard, his face twisting in frustration. Ever since he’d heard that Irang was being brought to stay at the no-women-allowed house, he’d been uneasy. And now, this.

“Sh1t…”

Gi-seon looked just as concerned. There was no unseeing what they had just seen.

“What’s wrong?”

They were staring at the faint marks around Irang’s collarbone. They weren’t clueless. They knew exactly what those marks meant.

“Kid, you…”

“Yeah?”

“Ah, never mind. Eat up.”

Jung-pal really respected and trusted Muk-hyun. As a man, as the boss. He truly believed that he wasn’t the type to force himself on a woman.

But then again, if it wasn’t forced… that raised other questions.

“Sure, a spark between a man and a woman can happen in a flash, but that fast…?!”

No, this was Muk-hyun they were talking about. The kind of guy who didn’t even flinch when hot girls from Gangnam threw themselves at him. Even when the boss shoved perfect, doll-faced women in his face, Muk-hyun always shut it down. Said that too much desire shortens your lifespan, and just kept smoking his cigarette in peace.

And now this… with Irang?

“Is it the face…? Maybe Muk-hyun’s got a thing for faces?”

Jung-pal’s simple brain couldn’t make sense of it, so it settled on the simplest answer.

“She is cute, though.”

Gi-seon clicked his tongue at Jung-pal’s random muttering. It wasn’t hard to see where his thoughts had gone.

“What.”

“You think Big Hyung is as simple as you are?”

Sometimes, knowing someone too well caused its own problems.

Gi-seon felt conflicted. The way Irang looked… it reminded him of his own past. Of painful memories that still made his chest ache.

There was a girl, once. Sold to a ticket room because of her brother’s debts. She had to serve customers. Irang reminded him of her from the start.

He knew what happened to people when they were forced into awful situations, day in and day out. You couldn’t survive it with your sanity intact.

The way Irang spaced out sometimes. Got scared over the smallest things. Got attached so quickly if someone showed her even a bit of kindness. All of it mirrored his younger self.

“There’s no way Big Hyung doesn’t know…”

Gi-seon couldn’t believe Muk-hyun was unaware. He was the one who had pulled Gi-seon out of hell, after all.

He wouldn’t have done anything to someone with that kind of trauma unless it was mutual. Which meant… Irang had agreed to it. But why? What was going through her head?

“Um…”

Just then, Irang scratched her cheek and spoke up, bringing them both out of their thoughts.

“What’s up? You want more milk?”

“No, I just… wanted to ask something.”

“Wondering when Big Hyung’s coming back? He’ll probably be home late tonight.”

Muk-hyun had gone out of town with Jung Yoon, leaving orders for the others to keep Irang safe.

“No, not that… Is he… sick or something?”

“What? No! Did he get hurt?!”

Gi-seon’s face changed instantly, and Irang, startled, waved her hands.

“No! I was just wondering if maybe someone around him was sick? Or needed, like… surgery or something…”

The odd question made Gi-seon tilt his head and glance at Jung-pal.

“Hyung, do you know anything?”

“Nope. Haven’t heard a thing. Why are you asking? Did he say something to you?”

Irang shook her head again. She didn’t know how to explain herself. Instead, she stood up and walked toward the bedroom.

“Wait a sec.”

She came back with something hidden behind her back.

“What is it?”

“Uh…”

“Kid! You’re killing me here!”

After fidgeting a moment, Irang slowly pulled out a note and a business card.

They were both Muk-hyun’s.

[Eat well. Don’t cause trouble. Stay put.]

Just two short lines, but it felt like reading a love letter. Jung-pal and Gi-seon scratched their heads at the same time like it was rehearsed.

“Ugh…”

“Man, that’s embarrassing…”

Irang just stared at them, confused.

“So, what? You brought it out just to brag?”

Gi-seon regained his composure and teased her. Irang shot back a question of her own.

“He wrote this for me, right?”

“Obviously. That’s his business card.”

“Wow, he doesn’t just give these out. Kid’s really moving up, huh?”

Jung-pal shivered again, somehow touched that Muk-hyun had even given her his personal card. Gi-seon chuckled at the sight.

But Irang wasn’t done yet.

“What does it say?”

“Huh?”

“On the note… what does it say?”

Silence fell.

They looked at the note. Then at Irang. Then at the card. Then at Irang again.

And then it hit them.

“Wait… don’t tell me…?”

Irang’s face was already red, eyes wide with embarrassment. She lowered her head.

“Forget it. I don’t need to know. Just pretend I didn’t ask.”

“No, no, it’s not that. Wait… are you saying you can’t read?”

“…I forgot how.”

“You forgot? You forgot how to read Korean?! Oh wait—you said you didn’t even remember your own name, didn’t you? But still…”

Ashamed of herself for lying out of embarrassment, Irang added something she shouldn’t have.

“It’s fine. Not knowing how to read is actually kind of helpful… makes it harder to run away.”

She remembered the voices from the basement.

“She can’t even read. Even if she runs, she can’t tell anyone who she is.”

“She doesn’t even know her own name.”

“They never taught her. Freaking genius, right? Can’t read, can’t escape. She’s basically a blind girl with her eyes open.”

Back then, it hadn’t really hit her. There was nothing to read anyway. But now, out in the real world, it hit her like a brick.

Not being able to read—

It wasn’t just inconvenient.

It was humiliating. It was suffocating. It was painful.

She couldn’t even read the note he left her.

Head down, quiet and sulking, Irang didn’t notice how much the mood had shifted.

She didn’t see the murderous glare in Jung-pal and Gi-seon’s eyes.

“Which motherf***ing bastard…”