Swallow Hunting

I couldn’t figure out why the word “Baeksong” felt so familiar—then it clicked. It was printed on the business card Lee Kangjoo had given me. Mystery solved: that was the identity of my long-legged benefactor.

If I were a sly bastard, just another conscience-free piece of trash common in this line of work, the moment my Mic King loan got cleared I would’ve bolted to some backwater province or another country altogether.

But Haejun wasn’t that kind of person. I was good at acting cute and getting people to like me, sure, but compared to others in the same industry, I was seriously lacking in the crafty department.

I mean, if I were sharp and full of little tricks, I wouldn’t be living my life shouldering my old man’s blind debt like an idiot. And if I were the type to latch onto someone for leverage, I wouldn’t have picked a card like Han Yeonghwa.

I fiddled with my phone, squatting there for a long time. Long enough to finish a cigarette in one go.

“.......”

Lee Kangjoo’s contact was up on the screen. At the very least, I wanted to say thank you. Whatever his intentions were, the fact was that he’d wiped my debt.

Would a text be better? Or a call? I knew, rationally, that calling was the polite thing to do—but sometimes his face, his naked body, would flash before my eyes, and that low voice of his would echo in my head like an auditory hallucination. Because of that, I couldn’t make up my mind.

“Ah, fuck.”

I roughly scrubbed at the hair I’d just finished fixing, then finally steeled myself. Taking the money and wiping my mouth without even saying thanks—that’s not how a decent human being acts.

With that grim resolve, I hit the call button. As the seconds ticked by, my anxiety spiked and I bit down on my lower lip. I don’t usually chain-smoke, but thanks to Lee Kangjoo, it felt like I was about to pick up the habit.

-Yeah.

I sucked in a sharp breath. Just hearing his voice sent my heart into a frenzy. It was hard to tell what I was feeling. Fear, or something else.

“Uh—hello. This is Cha Haejun. I was wondering if you’re the one who paid off my Mic King loan.”

-Mm.

Lazy but clear, deep and resonant. If you had to draw his voice, it would be a massive swell of waves—one that swallowed everything the moment it hit the shore. My eardrums felt like the line between seawater and sand.

“......Why did you do that?”

I wanted to know the reason. Slept with me once and decided he liked me that much? If that were the case, it was strange he hadn’t contacted me at all for days.

-If you don’t like it, should I put it back?

“No! That’s not it. ......I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you.”

-It wasn’t a free service.

“Then maybe the price for that night we slept together—”

-You really set your own value pretty high, Cha Haejun. Was it worth that much?

“I’m sorry.”

I apologized quickly. Lumping the Mic King loan and my fee together was going too far. This was a world full of guys who’d shove their asses out for a few bills. If Lee Kangjoo showed up with nothing but his face, there’d be a long line of people volunteering to get into his bed.

“Then why.”

-It’s an advance.

Meaning there would be a next time. I covered my face with my palm. The cheek visible between my fingers burned red, and the tips of my fingers tingled where they brushed my skin.

“What if I just took the money and ran?”

I was really asking what he trusted, to do something this reckless. For me, it was like rice cakes falling into my lap while I slept—more than reason enough to throw both arms up and cheer.

-You think only that bar owner knows how to cut ankles?

A low chuckle came through the receiver. In that instant, it felt like a cold draft swept over me, sending a shiver crawling up my arms.

A lot had happened to blur the impression from our first meeting, but Lee Kangjoo wasn’t an ordinary citizen. I still remembered the sounds of beating and screams I’d heard through the wall that day I went to his office.

I hated gangsters. The way they beat people like livestock, threatened them, extorted what they wanted—their behavior and filthy nature were especially horrifying. At his core, Lee Kangjoo was probably no different.

......But.

-See you soon.

The call ended. I stared at «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» the blackened screen for a long time. Then I lowered my head, scratched my cheek, and let out a deep sigh.

Was this really the right path? I clutched my head, sinking into serious contemplation. With my limited brainpower, I couldn’t find an answer, and a tight pressure settled in my chest.

Still, for now, I didn’t see any other road. My life was basically a buoy with its rope cut. Since when had I ever been careful or calculated? Nothing had changed except that the main force stirring the waves was now Lee Kangjoo.

Maybe it was a slow hour—one group came out through the bar’s back door. I wiped my expression clean and broke into a bright smile, exchanged some pointless greetings, then calmly walked away.

* * *

Just like the boss warned, the rent went up a full thirty percent. My back was already bent and my breathing tight just from private loan interest, and now rent on top of that. The amount was impossible to shoulder.

My bank balance was like a bottomless pit—once everything was paid, not even pocket change was left. I couldn’t even afford the cheapest item at a convenience store.

Thinking back, it felt like the boss had been politely telling me to get lost. With no choice, I moved out of the dorm and crawled into Yohan’s one-room apartment. Yohan accepted me without hesitation, saying it was cramped for two, sure, but not so bad you couldn’t lie down.

“I’ll repay this kindness for the rest of my life.”

“Uh-huh.”

When I bowed deeply on move-in day, Yohan sat cross-legged like an elder of the household and nodded solemnly.

I barely had any stuff. Pajamas and a few sets of clothes, that was it. Given the nature of the job—having to look good for others—people in this line usually lugged around clothes like traveling peddlers. I wasn’t one of them.

I never had money, so I always went for the cheapest suits or secondhand stuff. If it weren’t for my looks and my smooth body backing me up, I would’ve been written off as shabby a long time ago.

“When some money comes in, I’ll get my own place and move out. Or a goshiwon, or something.”

“Forget it. Don’t waste money on weird shit—save it and pay off your debts. How much is left?”

“A fuckton.”

“Those fucking bastards. Hope they all get struck by lightning on the same day and die.”

The blunt curse made me laugh out loud. On my phone, there were still hundreds of unread messages.

Calling them “messages” was generous—they were almost all debt collection texts, one guy pretending to be multiple people using different phones. Loan sharks knew all too well that group harassment worked better than going at someone alone.

“If your Mic King’s paid off, aren’t you free? Just go the sponsor route and make things easy on yourself.”

Lying on the floor, absorbed in my phone, I craned my neck back. Yohan, leaning against the wall, didn’t even glance my way. ƒrēewebnovel.com

“Sponsor? Why don’t you do it?”

“I fucking hate being tied down. Feels like a leash. But if you want to pull in money, that’s the fastest way.”

“You know anyone?”

“If you look, you’ll find someone. An older guy I know was bragging the other day about snagging himself a chairman. He’s in his seventies, but still. Ask him and something’ll come up.”

“At seventy, does his dick even work?”

“Pop some pills and get it done, I guess. I don’t really want to set you up with that kind of thing, but if your feet are on fire, it’s an option. Just shut your eyes and do it until your debt’s paid. Didn’t those guys say they’d film you next time? Daughter or rice cake, or whatever.”

“.......”

I should’ve said no right away, but I couldn’t. Clutching my phone as it kept vibrating with incoming threats, I buried my head between my arms.

Lee Kangjoo flickered through my mind. Should I ask him? The small spark of hope that lifted my head died just as quickly, like it was telling me to know my place.

I mean, he’d already paid off my Mic King loan. Asking him to clear the rest of my debts too—that was shameless.

Not that a swallow living off married women really had room to talk about shame.

“......Forget it. I was talking bullshit. No matter how much of a whore you are, there’s no need to give your ass to some grandpa. Just keep doing what you’re doing. One day you’ll snag a rich madam.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“What?”

“Better than getting filmed, right? Letting some old guy have me.”

My body wasn’t anything precious. Not some fragile life that would die from being split open. I’d already done it once, hadn’t I? The first time was hard, but the second would be easier. Even if some grandpa got on all fours and stuck his ass up, I could just pop an ED pill and get it over with.

“You’re insane. Hey. Grandpa sponsor? Fuck that—don’t do it. Quit it!”

Yohan was the one who brought it up, but when I started taking it seriously, he blew up. Compared to him, I was calm.

“Those bastards leaked someone else’s stuff before. Invited everyone in his contact list, dumped the video there, uploaded it online. The guy killed himself.”

I didn’t know him personally, but I’d gotten the obituary text. It happened just three days after the video spread.

Because of that shared misery, I’d gone to the funeral. The loan sharks were there too. They ate and drank, then took all the condolence money. When the family screamed and cried, cursing them to hell, the bastards spat back that it was rightful collection and kicked them.

“God, those fucking assholes.”

“Before it gets to that, I have to do something.”

Yohan pounded his chest a few times, then stood up and grabbed the cigarette pack from the corner. Said he was too pissed to stay put and needed to smoke one. My insides were just as twisted, so I followed along behind him.