Swallow Hunting - Chapter 14.1
Lee Kang-ju took hold of Hae-jun’s arm as he stood there vacant and led him to the car that had been waiting the whole time. Even after getting into the car, Hae-jun sat there blankly. Where he was, what he had been about to do, who he had met and what kind of thing he had done, his mind was thick with fog and none of it came together. The warm air, the faint fragrance, and the soft leather seat felt dreamlike and unreal.
“CEO.”
“Yes.”
He had never done drugs, but if he ever did, would it feel like this. His vision was blurry and his head was hazy. He still felt like he was standing outside the railing. Even though his feet were on solid ground, there was a strange, floating sense of unease lingering in his fingertips and toes.
“I am sorry, but would it be possible to get an advance? The interest. I have to pay the interest tomorrow.”
The driver glanced at Hae-jun through the rearview mirror. Even so, Hae-jun did not notice. It felt as though heavy lumps of dough were stuck all over his eyelids. Drowsiness that he had not felt while clinging to the railing came crashing down on him late, and his head kept drooping forward. He frowned and forced his eyes open.
“That is fine.”
The calm reply put him at ease. Only then did the tension snap loose, and the strength drained from his eyes.
In just a few hours, far too many things had happened. Hae-jun’s head tilted as if he were collapsing. Right before losing consciousness, he did not forget to say thank you.
***
He dreamed of his childhood. One of the few pleasant memories he had.
He had gone to the market with his mother. It was from before he was five years old, an age when memories should have faded, yet the taste of the puffed rice he ate that day and the warmth of his mother’s hand remained vivid for a long time. Her hair tied up at the back of her head, the white nape of her neck, and the long skirt in a pale sky blue color all shimmered faintly.
However, the features of the face that turned back to look at him did not come to mind. After his mother died, his father burned all the remaining photographs, so no matter how much he wanted to remember, he could not.
Hae-jun’s eyelids fluttered and opened. The dim lighting and the ceiling felt unfamiliar. There was a long line hanging in the air, and when he followed it with his eyes, an IV bag was hooked to the top of a stand. The needle was still inserted into the back of his hand.
The only hospital he had been to recently was the urology clinic run by that perverted old man. There was no way he would have walked into a place like this on his own, so he pushed himself up. Just then, the door opened and a staff member came in.
“Oh, you are awake.”
She smiled kindly and checked the IV. Seeing that the bag was nearly empty, she skillfully removed the needle from the back of Hae-jun’s hand.
“Where am I?”
“This is a hospital. Your guardian said he had something to do and left not long ago.”
“Guardian?”
There was no way he had a guardian. Hae-jun tilted his head in confusion.
“Yes. A very tall man.”
The staff member stretched her arm high above her head to show the height. There was only one person that was tall around him.
So it was not a dream.
He thought it was a dream.
From where did reality begin?
When Hae-jun’s complexion turned pale, the staff member looked at him worriedly, as if wondering whether something was wrong. Seeing her fidget as though she might call a doctor, Hae-jun slapped his own cheeks with both hands, making a sharp sound.
“I am fine. But I do not have money to pay the hospital bill.”
“Oh, that gentleman took care of the payment before he left.”
Nothing about this made sense. Hae-jun left the hospital with a dazed look. Perhaps because he had slept deeply for a while, his body felt much lighter than before. His head was clear. He had often skipped meals due to a lack of appetite, but now his stomach felt empty and hungry. His body was setting off all kinds of alarms as it tried to return to normal function.
He considered eating cup noodles at a convenience store, but there was no way he had any money on him. He reached into his pocket to send a distress message to Yohan, but instead of a phone, he felt something else. When he pulled it out, it was a crisp business card and some cash.
Hae-jun stared at the bills first. There were several yellow ones. When he counted them, it was enough not only for a meal but also to cover the interest he had to pay the loan sharks today.
When he had run out of the lodging as if possessed, his head full of nothing but thoughts of dying, he had brought neither his wallet nor anything else. So this should not have been here.
Where on earth did this money come from? No matter how much he thought about it, there was no one who would give him alms besides Lee Kang-ju, who had paid the hospital bill. Only then did he look at the business card. The three characters of Lee Kang-ju’s name were printed on it in neat lettering.
“Would you buy me?”
The memory that struck him on the back of the head made Hae-jun’s face turn deathly pale. It had happened at dawn, just a few hours ago. This insolent mouth of his had finally caused trouble.
“I am insane.”
Hae-jun muttered.
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