Swallow Hunting

“What’s that?”

“An owner I know said he had some left over and gave it to me. Set the table. Let’s eat together.”

I took a look at the bag—it was golden-brown fried chicken. Sleeping a bit must’ve kicked my appetite back on. Haejun jumped up too fast and went “urk,” grabbing his lower back. The aftereffects from dawn were still hanging on.

“What’s wrong?”

“Got up too fast.”

“Be careful. You’ll throw your back out like that.”

Feels like it’s already out. Trying not to make it obvious, Haejun set the table and sat down. Yohan came back after washing his hands and opened the chicken box. The drumsticks went to Haejun, the breast meat to Yohan. One of the reasons our friendship’s lasted this long is probably because our tastes line up.

I held the drumstick in both hands and tore into it, and my face started prickling. Yohan was chewing his chicken breast and staring straight at me.

“What.”

“Nothing, just—you’ve got that face of someone who got his ass wrecked.”

I’ve heard Yohan’s no-brakes mouth thousands of times, so I shouldn’t have been surprised, but this one hit hard. A piece of chicken going down my throat took a wrong turn and slammed into my windpipe. Badly choking, Haejun coughed and gagged.

“What kind of crazy shit are you saying.”

This ghostly bastard. With instincts like a fortune-teller laying out a mat in Myeongdong and raking in cash from foreigners.

“Is it true.”

“No.”

“Don’t bullshit me.”

Yohan’s eyes narrowed. Even if I confessed the truth, he probably wouldn’t make a big deal out of it, but what happened with Lee Kangjoo—I decided to keep that secret for now. I didn’t have the guts to say it yet.

“Aren’t you going to work?”

“Day off today.”

“Lucky bastard. Want to cover for me instead? I’m not feeling great today.”

“Figures, since your ass got wrecked—”

“Ah, fuck, no it didn’t!”

I snapped, but Yohan just curled one corner of his mouth and snickered, like he already knew everything.

Pretending to be pissed, I slammed the chicken down and stood up. When Yohan asked if I wasn’t going to eat anymore, I yelled “I’m not!” like some stormy teenager and went into the bathroom. After washing my face, I came back out.

“Seriously, Cha Haejun, learn to control that temper.”

“Stop fucking with me, you psycho.”

“Go already. If you’re late, that owner’s gonna lose his shit. I’ll leave the chicken—come back and eat it if you get hungry.”

Yohan crawled under the blanket, probably to sleep. Feeling bad for snapping at him, Haejun quietly cleared the table and got dressed. Still, after resting a bit, my body felt better than it had in the morning.

* * *

Right from the start, luck was on my side. I got picked by the first customer of the day.

I went into the room, laying on the charm and pouring drinks with enthusiasm. I drank carefully, though. My body wasn’t back to normal yet, so I had to pace myself. I used the old trick of secretly dumping alcohol into the ice bucket and pretending I was nicely buzzed.

I skipped the second round. Things were heating up with one customer, but my lower back was throbbing—I couldn’t possibly spend the night with anyone. Worrying about erectile dysfunction was the least of it; I didn’t have a single drop of semen left in my balls. It was just one night with Lee Kangjoo, but in that one night it felt like he’d wrung out every last bit I’d built up over my entire life. I’d need a good month of rest before the pouch between my legs started functioning properly again.

That’s how I got through the next few days. There were times when I couldn’t do second rounds and my wallet dried up, but this week my money luck was insane. Customers were in great moods, tipping me generously, saying I sang well, that I was cute. A loan shark even showed up and kicked my shin while making a scene, but when I handed over what I’d earned, he left with nothing but a stream of curses. Same old days, more or less.

“Hyung, have you been taking care of your body lately?”

I was sprawled on the waiting room sofa playing a phone game when someone suddenly spoke to me. A smooth face and a greasy smile. An ace. Of course, I’d forgotten his name.

“No.”

“You’re glowing. Your skin’s better, too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. You’ve got that dewy look. Customers talk about you. Saying you’ve gotten prettier lately.”

“I was always pretty.”

I answered casually, but I couldn’t stop the corners of my mouth from lifting. Instead of a mirror, I checked my face with my phone’s front camera.

Maybe because I’d flushed out every last drop of old semen like peeling off built-up grime, my skin was smooth like a peeled egg, my eyes bright and clear. I’d lost a bit of weight, too, so my jawline and the back of my neck stood out more.

Is that why I’ve been getting picked so easily?

......Then why hasn’t Lee Kangjoo contacted me.

He comes to mind sometimes. Actually, often. If he paid that much, it meant the night we spent together had to have satisfied him, but there wasn’t a single text. Dead or alive, nothing. We weren’t exactly at the stage where we’d keep in touch before something happened, but it still bothered me.

Is he short on money, or is there something else in the way.

I must’ve been sitting there slack-jawed, because the ace suddenly shoved a finger right into my open mouth. I spat, going “ptui, ptui,” like a bug had flown in, and he burst out laughing.

“Oh, right. The boss said to stop by the office when you come out of your room.”

“What? When?”

“A while ago. Before you went into your room.”

“Why the hell are you telling me now!”

I shouted like thunder and bolted out of the waiting room. I’d ditched without a word to meet Lee Kangjoo before, dodged second rounds—there were way too many things weighing on my conscience, and my heart started pounding. I’d already committed sins, and now I was late to a summons. Violence was a given.

I cleared my throat in front of the boss’s office and knocked. As soon as I announced myself as Hajin, permission came right away. When I opened the door and went in, the boss had his shoe up on the desk. Like some /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ free money had fallen into his lap, his face was slack with a greasy smile.

“Cha Haejun.”

The boss, who usually barked out insults, spoke in a soft, almost affectionate tone. Goosebumps prickled up my arms and the back of my neck. Pressing down the hairs standing on end with my palm, I smiled servilely.

“I heard you were looking for me. But what’s this about......?”

“In this line of work, there isn’t a single bastard you can trust.”

“Pardon?”

“What kind of sucker did you latch onto?”

“A sucker? What sucker would I latch onto. Boss, you’re funny.”

I waved my hands quickly. After getting burned badly trying to reel someone in before, I’d been careful about putting effort into anyone.

“If you keep bullshitting like that, one day you’re gonna get your tongue cut out, asshole. Don’t play dumb! Your sucker came today and paid off your Mic King loan in full.”

“......What?”

“Who do you think you’re fooling. Did you open your ass? Sold yourself to some rich chairman?”

“No—what? Boss, who the hell.......”

“Baekseong......? Baeksong......? Something like that. Did you take out another private loan?”

The boss glared at me as he asked. Haejun shook his head so hard his neatly styled hair fell apart. Just hearing the words “private loan” made me sick. Maybe because I was screaming no with my whole body, the boss didn’t press further. frёeweɓηovel.coɱ

“They say you’ll be a ghost here even when you die—what a load of shit. Here. Take it.”

He was ruthless enough to snap the ankles of debtors who ran without paying, but when it came to money matters, being thorough and clean was the boss’s greatest strength.

He pulled out a copy of a receipt and handed it to me. It was the contract I’d signed with a thumbprint when I first begged him for money after joining the bar. Attached at the bottom was the receipt stating the debt had been fully repaid.

I pinched my cheek, wondering if I was dreaming. The skin stretched painfully. It was real. Still unable to believe it, I kept looking back and forth between the paper in my hand and the boss’s face.

“Is this for real?”

I still had an enormous amount of debt on my back beyond this, but even shedding one made my heart feel lighter. My eyes welled up. The boss clicked his tongue. Seeing a grown man cry was the ugliest thing in the world to him, but something about Cha Haejun’s teary look tugged at the heart.

“They said he was some kind of CEO.”

At the offhand comment, Haejun, who’d been staring blankly at the receipt, snapped his head up.

“So what are you gonna do now. Keep working here, if you want. Oh. Rent’s going up thirty percent. I’ve been charging you less so you could pay off your debt.”

“No, boss, that’s not right!”

“What do you mean it’s not, you little shit. If you don’t like it, get out.”

In this city where money drains away just from breathing, it was hard to find a place in similar condition for that kind of rent. On top of that, there was no deposit. There’d been no need to bind me with one anyway, since I was already chained by a Mic King loan.

But that was over now. A thirty percent hike—are you kidding me. Haejun clung to the boss’s arm, begging desperately.

“Can’t you cut me some slack? Like, just ten percent.”

“Thirty.”

“Boss......!”

“Thirty!”

No matter what tricks I used that usually worked on customers, the boss didn’t budge. Annoyed by a grown man clinging to him, he told me to fuck off and flicked my forehead so hard it felt like my skull was about to split in two.