Swallow Hunting - vanish into fiction

He deserves every curse thrown at him. Hae-jun sat leaning against the wall with the blanket pulled over his head. Yohan clicked his tongue as if he found him pathetic.

“Why didn’t you go back to your lodging and come here instead?”

“I’m fucked, Yohan.”

Yohan was a friend he had known since childhood. They had grown close thanks to Yohan’s grandmother. She had taken in Hae-jun when he was left to roam around like a stray dog.

But Yohan’s house fell under a redevelopment plan and was on the verge of demolition. When burly men showed up and smashed the house with crowbars, the shock took a toll on his grandmother, who fell ill and eventually passed away. With nowhere to go, Yohan lived with Hae-jun for a while. It was possible because Hae-jun’s father had gone off on a long gambling binge, leaving the house empty.

“Is there any way you could get more fucked than you already are here?”

It had been Yohan who introduced him to host work. When Hae-jun complained that his hands were slow and he had no knack for part-time jobs and kept getting cursed at, Yohan told him he might as well sell his dick instead and opened this door for him. Thanks to that, Hae-jun had gotten his hands on big money and had been able to slowly pay off his debts, so Yohan was practically his savior.

They had considered living together, but if he wanted to save money, living in the dorm the shop provided was the best option. It was an old building where ghosts would not have seemed out of place, but the owner rented it out cheaply under the excuse of a staff discount. In a city where even coffin-sized rooms required a fortune just to lie down in, it was decent value for the price.

“I messed with a woman who already has a man.”

“Just once or twice?”

“Her man is a gangster.”

“What?”

Yohan, who had been hanging his suit jacket on a hanger, shouted. Knowing he was in the wrong, Hae-jun hunched his shoulders and wiggled his toes.

“What happened? Tell me everything.”

“So here’s how it went.”

Hae-jun spilled the whole story without leaving anything out. He thought he had found an easy mark, but it turned out to be a venomous snake. He had washed his dick thoroughly before going, but instead of a place to fuck, it had been a place where his balls could get cut off. He barely managed to escape, but he had no idea what to do next.

“I think the shop probably knows too. What am I supposed to do, Yohan? Am I going to die like this?”

He rubbed his face with both hands, his voice trembling. Yohan sat cross-legged in front of him and patted his shoulder.

“If you were the type to die over something like that, you’d already be dead. Your life’s tough as hell.”

“But I’m scared. You should have seen him. That man looked completely—”

“Ugly as shit.”

“No, he was insanely handsome. Anyway, that’s not the point. What am I supposed to do now? Tell me a way.”

“Well, if there’s no other option, you go there, stick your nose to the floor, and beg. Be ready to lose one ball.”

“Are you insane? If I lose this, how am I supposed to make a living?”

“Even with one ball, your dick will still get hard.”

Hae-jun’s eyes filled with tears. Then, unable to hold back, he lowered his head and burst into sobs, snot and tears streaming down his face. While Hae-jun was in deadly earnest, Yohan indifferently dug at his ear.

“Should I run to China?”

Hae-jun muttered darkly. Yohan flicked an earwax pellet stuck to the tip of his pinky toward him.

“Don’t be stupid. What would you even do there? If you run for no reason and get caught, they’ll just cut off your ankle. Remember that bastard Daniel. He got marking and ran. The boss caught him trying to stow away and cut off his ankle. He’s begging on the streets now. I saw him on Line 1 the other day.”

All the color drained from Hae-jun’s face. Daniel was someone he knew too. A Vietnamese mixed-blood guy with a cute look and decent demand, he had taken marking and disappeared without a trace for a long time.

And now he had been caught and had his ankle cut off.

“Right. Marking.”

The real problem was that Hae-jun himself had also received marking from the boss. When he could not pay back his private loan interest and thought his organs were about to be harvested, he had borrowed it as a desperate measure. That, too, was a noose around his neck.

The world was terrifying. While he was shivering, his stomach beat like a drum, complaining that it would starve to death faster. At the loud growling sound squeezing his guts, Yohan sighed and stood up.

“Let’s eat first. Even ghosts who die on a full stomach look better.”

“You fucking bastard.”

Even though it looked like dirt was about to be thrown on his friend’s eyes, Yohan did not bat an eyelid. Even when he was on the verge of being buried in a cement-filled drum, the best he could do was offer food.

What kind of best friend was this, not trying to figure out a way to survive together and acting like this instead? There was no hope in the world. Hae-jun collapsed face-down on the floor and wailed.

Then, as hunger twisted his insides, his lower jaw trembled and he lifted his head. His face, smeared with tears and snot, looked as filthy as a mongrel puppy that had rolled around in dirt.

“But what are we eating?”

Yohan let out a long sigh and silently opened the cabinet. Five packs of the cheapest store-brand ramen were lined up neatly inside.

“Is there cold rice too?”

Yeah. Like the saying goes, if you die after eating, at least you look better. Sniffling, Hae-jun unfolded the small table propped against the wall. Even tear-soaked ramen would have to do. Filling his stomach came first.

[Footnote]