Swallow Hunting

“.......”

Haejun stared at the deposited amount with a strange expression. The tip was larger than usual.

He knew exactly what it was payment for. No matter how much he’d wanted it, he’d nearly had his life cut off—so this was the price for that.

He should’ve been happy about the extra money, but he wasn’t. Something felt off. Uneasy. He couldn’t understand himself. Instead of welcoming it with both hands, his mouth tasted bitter. I must be too well fed, he thought. Lee Kangjoo gives me money, a house, even food—no wonder I’m spoiled rotten.

Shaking his head, Haejun went about preparing breakfast, something that had become routine. It wasn’t worth wasting time sinking into abnormal sentimentality just because he’d been paid more.

Like any other morning, he took bread out of the cabinet to make breakfast. Exactly two slices were left.

At first there’d been so much that he’d worried whether he could finish it all while staying here—but time had flown by.

He toasted the bread carefully, hoping Lee Kangjoo might take at least a bite. Using a toaster would’ve been easier, but in a kitchen with just one pot and one pan, wishing for an appliance meant for a single dish felt greedy.

During his stay, Haejun had tried cooking eggs every way imaginable: boiled, sunny-side up, over-hard, scrambled, even omelets. Lee Kangjoo always acted like he hadn’t seen them. Still, he never actively stopped him, so Haejun stubbornly kept trying, determined to see who’d give in first.

Today, the toast and eggs turned out especially appetizing. Haejun snapped a photo and waited. Right on time, the door opened and Lee Kangjoo walked in. Haejun followed him with his eyes, secretly hoping the picky judge would finally declare a pass.

Lee Kangjoo sat across from him. He looked at the plate, the newspaper, the cup in order, then reached out. Haejun watched with pounding anticipation—only to be disappointed. As always, instead of touching the food, Lee Kangjoo picked up the water cup that sat slightly off-center and placed it neatly in the middle of the coaster.

“That was the last of the bread......”

“Was it?”

Even as Haejun muttered regretfully, Lee Kangjoo answered offhandedly. Not wanting to waste it, Haejun quickly ate his own portion and pulled Lee Kangjoo’s plate toward himself. Thanks to Lee Kangjoo ignoring breakfast every day, Haejun had been unintentionally overeating every morning.

He chewed the toast automatically. His throat, abused the night before, twinged with each swallow, but it wasn’t bad enough to stop him from eating.

He really hadn’t been in his right mind yesterday. Movies and drinks aside, just thinking about what came after made his body heat with embarrassment.

Chances were high that Lee Kangjoo thought he was some dick-crazed lunatic. Lying down on a sacred dining table and opening his mouth, telling him to put it in—something he’d never done in his life and would be too scared to ever do again.

But.

“.......”

A sudden sting on his cheek snapped him out of it. Haejun lifted his head from staring into space and locked eyes with Lee Kangjoo. Feeling awkward, he put the toast down.

“They say you get punished for wasting food.”

“Is that how you usually eat it? Smearing it everywhere?”

Lee Kangjoo tapped his own lips lightly. Forgetting the question he’d just asked, Haejun stared blankly at those lips for a moment.

How soft they’d been. How hot. How the tongue hidden inside had melted him down completely. The sensation rose vividly, sticking to his brain like honey, like thick syrup. Feeling a tickle, Haejun pushed his lower lip between his teeth.

“Cha Haejun.”

At the sound of his name, Haejun snapped back to reality. Lee Kangjoo was staring straight at him. Haejun rubbed his lips hard with the back of his hand and ducked his head.

“Not there.”

Lee Kangjoo reached out and casually touched the corner of Haejun’s mouth. Just like when he’d smeared semen there, he rubbed lightly with his thumb, sending crumbs raining down. Haejun couldn’t even tell what kind of expression he was making—his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it’d smash his ribs. His eyelids fluttered, his lips fell open.

“......That!”

Haejun shot to his feet and scrubbed his lips harshly with his hand. The wound from last night stung, but that wasn’t the problem.

“It’s not on there anymore, right.”

“On your lips.”

“Is it anywhere else? No—wait, I’ll check the mirror.”

Before Lee Kangjoo could respond, Haejun bolted from the table, his steps so frantic it looked like he was running in place.

He rushed into the bathroom in his room and splashed cold water onto his face. It felt like his skin was burning. When he looked in the mirror, he was a perfectly steamed octopus-red.

“......I’m fucked.”

Haejun thudded his forehead against the mirror. His heart was still pounding like a pump gone wild. His palms, his soles—there wasn’t a place on his body that wasn’t hot.

“What do I do now.”

Something scarier than debt felt like it was coming. As if to drown out the bad omen, Haejun plunged his face into the sink filled with cold water.

* * *

Checking the call details, Haejun frowned slightly and took off his helmet.

Delivery requests usually fell into two categories: leave it at the door, or pay cash face-to-face.

But customers who paid directly—though not all of them—had a higher chance of being assholes. They’d try to save on delivery and food costs, keep Haejun standing there while they opened the bag, poked through the food, complaining there wasn’t enough or something was missing.

After dealing with that once or twice, Haejun started asking the shop owner for permission and sealing the containers with tamper-proof stickers whenever he had to go to a blacklisted address. That way there’d be no trouble afterward.

This time, though, it was a different kind of asshole. A story that circulated among delivery riders like an urban legend—supposedly, while the woman was receiving the food, the man was fucking her from behind.

Haejun had assumed it was just bored people making up dirty jokes.

Until he saw it with his own eyes.

It was surprising that, unlike the rumor, it wasn’t a man and a woman but two people of the same sex. Still, Haejun faithfully took the cash and left as fast as he could, before any of their semen could splash onto him.

It wasn’t like he could judge—he spent nights with Lee Kangjoo himself—but witnessing someone else’s raw sex scene in real life for the first time left him deeply unsettled. There was no way he could ride like this without getting distracted and crashing, so he pulled over at a convenience store to calm down.

This wasn’t something he could keep to himself. Shock was halved when shared, so Haejun messaged Yohan. He’d only sent [Holy shit], but Yohan replied that he was nearby and came straight to the store.

“Damn.”

“What’d you see.”

“You know that story that used to go around? About them getting it on while opening the door for food.”

“Yeah. Those types are more common than you’d think. I went to a motel once and got told to wait outside. Said it made it more exciting or some shit. Fucking nuts.”

“They were both guys.”

Yohan’s mouth fell open. Then he snorted.

“When did this country get so desperate to show off homos fucking. The land of courtesy and etiquette my ass—fucking ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) doomed.”

Normally, the word homo wouldn’t have bothered him. Why did it sting like this now. Haejun scratched at his chest absently, then stopped.

“Rough day. Sorry you had to see that.”

“Yeah. Turns out there are still plenty of undiscovered lunatics out there.”

The image was still vivid. Probably because it was the kind of grotesque scene you didn’t see in a lifetime.

Haejun shuddered and grabbed his cigarette pack. Nothing calmed a rattled mind like nicotine.

Standing side by side with Yohan, he put a cigarette in his mouth. It was a comfortable moment.

“So how long you staying there.”

Yohan spoke when the cigarette was halfway burned. Haejun raised his brows and rubbed his forehead with his thumb.

He wondered that himself. Lee Kangjoo hadn’t told him to leave yet. He hadn’t asked when the psycho neighbor next door would be dealt with either. He was dragging it out—because if he could, he wanted to stick around as long as possible. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

“I’ll leave when he tells me to.”

“Probably better to get out before you’re too deep.”

“You’re the one who told me to squeeze him for money. Why the sudden concern.”

“You’re soft.”

“Me?”

“Out of all the guys I know who sell their bodies, Cha Haejun, you’re the most naive. You don’t know how to con people. You’re not even good at seducing them.”

“I am good at that!”

Haejun snapped back. Good at it, my ass, Yohan scoffed.

In all his time in the industry, Yohan had never seen anyone more guileless than Cha Haejun. Everyone else was desperate to squeeze even a single coin out of customers—but Haejun was weak to affection. Give him a scrap of warmth and he’d hand over his liver and gallbladder along with the rest of himself.