Romantic Gangster

#81

“You’re later than I expected. Ah, is your part-time job ending around now? Come in, come in.”

The office was empty. Lee Hyun-joon entered without a word and sat on the sofa. Baek Ju-seung opened a honey drink and placed it in front of him, but he had no intention of drinking it.

“What’s that money about?”

“Ah, that money. Well, scout fee? Something like a signing bonus? It’s quite substantial. You could get even more if you just agree to work properly.”

“I have a question.”

“Yeah, go ahead, speak comfortably.”

“Why are you doing this to me? Am I the only person in the world who can be a thug? There must be plenty of people willing to do it. So why do you keep pushing someone who says they won’t do it? I’ve told you several times I won’t do it, I don’t want to, I have no intention of doing it.”

Baek Ju-seung, who was sitting back on the sofa with his legs crossed, slowly tapped the armrest with his fingertips.

“I told you. It has to be you.”

“That’s what I’m asking – why does it have to be me? I only started that debt collection job temporarily to make some money, and there’s nothing wrong with quitting after doing my part. It’s not like we had any contract.”

“That’s just your opinion.”

Though Baek Ju-seung was still smiling, his tone had subtly changed. Hyun-joon stared directly at Baek Ju-seung as he made a long contemplative sound while choosing his words.

“Nothing’s free in this world. What, are we charity workers? You think we’d give you that money just because you did well collecting some debts, with nothing in return?”

“…”

“Debt collection? Yeah, well… you did well. It was pretty good how you collected those troublesome debts just by threatening, without causing incidents or bloodshed. We’ve evolved with the times too – we can’t keep living by beating people up, threatening families, and killing forever. No matter how nice the prison facilities have gotten, who wants to go there?”

The repetitive tapping of Baek Ju-seung’s fingers on the armrest stopped. Hyun-joon felt his neck stiffen from the heavily sunk atmosphere and humid office air.

“But there are plenty of others who could do that kind of work without you. There’s no reason for me to keep things elegant and only use words to collect money when I’m not the one who’d get arrested.”

“Then why are you doing this to me?”

“Because you’re annoying.”

“What?”

“I want you to become a thug, Hyun-joon. Then you won’t be able to look down on thugs so easily anymore.”

Although he wasn’t speaking in an incomprehensible language, Hyun-joon couldn’t understand what he meant at first. He frowned as he looked at Baek Ju-seung, who seemed almost relieved.

“Even without that reason, you can’t back out now. You know all about our business. Who I am, what kind of work we do, who works in our office, what the pool hall boss does, ah, and you even know who our clients are. You know how the money is handled, my number, face, account… How can I trust letting you go when you know everything?”

“…”

“You’re good at fighting, a rare dominant alpha with quite the build, all good things, but you’re young and don’t know how the world works. Damn, I love it. It’s most fun ruining the lives of kids like you.”

“What are you saying now?”

Amused by Hyun-joon’s reaction, Baek Ju-seung laughed out loud, uncrossed his legs, and leaned forward to meet Hyun-joon’s eyes.

“Hey, Hyun-joon. How do you think it feels to get beaten to a pulp by a young punk on the street?”

At that moment, he remembered beating up Baek Ju-seung and his three lackeys on the street when they tried to jump in front of his motorcycle for an insurance scam. To be precise, he hadn’t been the one to initiate the violence.

He had fallen with his motorcycle when they suddenly jumped out, and though fortunately he wasn’t hurt, it could have been fatal if he’d been going faster or if there had been more cars around. It started when he confronted them about what they were doing.

Instead of apologizing, one of them threw a punch, and that set him off to face all four. Whether it was his innate nature as they said or superhuman strength born from anger, he took down all four alone, and Baek Ju-seung, despite bleeding, handed him a business card with a smile.

Now he understood what that smile meant.

“Always calling us thugs, thugs. A young punk like you speaking informally and being so rude. What should we do? You’re going to become a thug too now.”

He remembered being tempted by the promise of easy money. Though regret was useless now, he regretted it. He wished he could go back to that day and not make that delivery. Then none of this would have happened.

“Well, let’s just consider that ancient history, and really, someone who can take down four thugs shouldn’t be taking chicken orders, right? The higher-ups like you too. You won’t have to do such rough work when you join. When I started, the first thing was getting dunked in drums at the port. But it’s not like that anymore. If you do well, you might start directly under the boss. I’m telling you, they’ve heard about you up there.”

The more Baek Ju-seung spoke, the more Hyun-joon felt a choking tightness. Baek Ju-seung was speaking as if everything was already decided. As if he had Hyun-joon’s life firmly in his grasp.

“If you just do well, what’s in your account now will seem like nothing compared to what you could have, living without wanting for anything. I’ll give you a week. Decide. I can’t give you more than that. One week is the deadline.”

“What am I deciding?”

“Ah, sorry. The decision’s already made. You’ll end up here eventually. Let me rephrase. I’ll give you a week to wrap everything up. Quit your job, prepare to meet the boss. Ah, and console your boyfriend too. He’ll be surprised. No, he might like it. Show him the bank account with the hundred million won first when you get home. He’ll probably cling to you more.”

“What if I refuse?”

“If you refuse? Hmm, if you refuse… if you say no again… hmm…”

Baek Ju-seung stood up and paced behind the sofa as if in deep thought. Though Hyun-joon tried to appear unfazed watching Baek Ju-seung’s movements, the emotions threatening to mix with his breath and words were clearly anxiety and fear. He tried to hide them.

“If you still say no after I’ve been this nice…”

“…”

Baek Ju-seung, gripping the sofa backrest with both hands, smiled widely.

“Then I can’t be nice anymore.”

After leaving that ominous remark, Baek Ju-seung checked his watch. Then he pretended to look surprised.

“It’s already this late. I have an important appointment I need to leave for now. I’ll go first, you just think things through and close the door when you leave.”

“We’re not done talking.”

“I am. If you have anything to say, we can talk next time. We’ll see each other soon anyway. I really can’t be late for this meeting today. See you next time.”

Baek Ju-seung came over to Hyun-joon’s side, squeezed his shoulder, and left the office humming. With the sound of the door opening and closing, Hyun-joon was left alone in the office facing a crushing silence. So heavy it momentarily took his breath away.

He couldn’t understand what had been “nice” about any of it. Had there ever been any niceness? From start to finish, it was all threats, so what exactly… had been nice?

From saying he wanted to turn someone who looked down on thugs into a thug himself, to saying the decision was already made, to bringing up Ji-woo… not a single word had been nice. Even Baek Ju-seung’s breathing had felt violent.

“Ah…”

He couldn’t even tell him to take the money back. Damn, he just said what he wanted and left. Hyun-joon looked at the closed door and stood up. His mind was complicated, and that statement about not being able to be nice anymore if he didn’t listen, if he didn’t decide as Baek Ju-seung wanted, was driving him crazy.

Even though he seemed casual and nonchalant, Baek Ju-seung was a gangster. Moreover, he was a member of a large organization that had expanded its influence beyond this district to surrounding areas.

If Baek Ju-seung wanted, he could be dragged away to an unknown place right now, or be found as an unidentifiable corpse. No matter how good he was at fighting or how strong his fists were, he couldn’t win against dozens of people attacking at once.

“…”

There was nothing to gain from provoking Baek Ju-seung further. Even if he didn’t want to, the best course would be to apologize if asked, get on his knees if required, and end this relationship. Otherwise, the consequences would surely affect not just him but Ji-woo too.

If it had been just him alone, he would never have apologized. Whether he was thrown in a drum or killed, he would have resisted to the end… but he wasn’t alone. He had Ji-woo. Ji-woo who was more precious than himself. To protect Ji-woo, he had to do whatever he could. Whether that meant apologizing, getting on his knees, or licking Baek Ju-seung’s shoes, if it had to be done, he had to do it. Only for Ji-woo.

“…”

Suddenly remembering that Ji-woo was alone at home, Hyun-joon rushed out of the office. He was anxious. Anyone could climb up to the rooftop room, and even if the door was locked, he knew thugs could easily break it down with a few kicks.

Hyun-joon ran all the way home without stopping once. Only after climbing the stairs to the rooftop room like a madman and seeing the quiet porch did relief flood his heart.

“…Hah…”

Ji-woo would worry if he saw how frantically he had run here. Hyun-joon sat on the porch to catch his breath and roughly fixed his disheveled hair. As time passed, his breathing settled, but the anxiety and unease that Baek Ju-seung had planted in his heart wouldn’t easily disappear.

“…”

Still, he wanted to see Ji-woo first. Even though he didn’t know the solution right now and couldn’t figure out what to do, he felt he needed to see Ji-woo first. Hyun-joon got up from the porch and approached the door, knocking gently so as not to startle Ji-woo. Soon he heard footsteps approaching the door from inside. Just that sound made him smile.

“Is that you, Hyun-joon?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Where did we first meet?”

He seemed to remember his instruction to verify it was him before opening the door. Hyun-joon tilted his head slowly, smiling at the question.

“The school rooftop.”

“Where was our first kiss?”

“The alley in front of your house.”

“Hmm… What was the lunch menu at school the first day we ate lunch together?”

“Isn’t that question too hard? Um… I don’t know. I only remember one thing about that day. That everything tasted like castella. I was so conscious of you even then.”

Finally, there was the sound of the lock clicking open. Hyun-joon smiled at Ji-woo appearing through the slowly opening door. When he smiled, Ji-woo’s lips moved gently to the side just like his. Hyun-joon opened his arms wide and tightly embraced Ji-woo’s entire body as he fell into his arms.