Swallow Hunting - Chapter 23.2
Looking back, it seemed that it was the Boss’s euphemistic way of telling him to get lost. Having no other choice, Hae-jun moved out of his lodging and crawled into Yohan’s studio apartment. Yohan accepted Hae-jun readily, saying that while it was cramped for two people to live in, it wasn’t so bad that they couldn’t lie down.
“I will repay this kindness bit by bit for the rest of my life.”
“Fine, fine.”
When Hae-jun offered a deep bow on the day he moved in, Yohan sat cross legged and nodded his head like a family elder.
Hae-jun had almost no belongings. A few sets of pajamas and some clothes were everything. Due to the nature of their profession, which required looking good to others, people in this industry usually carried clothes around like bundle merchants even if they had nothing else, but Hae-jun was different.
Because he had no money, he always insisted on the cheapest suits or second hand items. If it weren’t for his handsome looks and smooth physique supporting him, he surely would have been buried long ago for looking shabby.
“I’ll find a place and move out once I get some money. Or I’ll go to a gosiwon or something.”
“Forget it. Don’t spend money on weird places; just save up diligently and pay off your debt. How much is left?”
“A fucking lot.”
“Those bastards. I wish they’d all get struck by lightning and die at the same time.”
Hae-jun laughed heartily at the refreshing curse. On the phone he was fiddling with, hundreds of unread messages were piled up.
Most of the contacts were demands for debt repayment, sent by one guy using multiple phones to pretend they were different people. Loan sharks knew all too well that attacking as a group was more effective than attacking as an individual.
“Since your debt to the Boss is all paid off, aren’t you free anyway? Just take it easy and grab a sponsor.”
Hae-jun, who had been lying on the floor absorbed in his phone, tilted his head back. Yohan, who was sitting with his back against the wall, didn’t give Hae-jun a single glance.
“A sponsor? And you aren’t doing it?”
“I fucking hate being tied down somewhere. It feels like a leash. But if you want to pull in money, that’s the best way.”
“Do you know anyone?”
“I’m sure someone will turn up if I look. Not long ago, a hyung I know was bragging about hooking a chairman. He’s a grandpa in his 70s, though. If you ask that hyung, something might come up.”
“Can a guy even get it up at seventy?”
“They do it using pills, obviously. I don’t want to introduce you to that kind of thing either, but I figured it might be a way since the fire has reached your feet. Just close your eyes tight until you pay off the debt. You said those bastards said they’d film a video of you next time. Was it a solo or a sex tape?”
“…….”
He should have said no immediately, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Clutching his phone, which vibrated endlessly with the still pouring demand texts, Hae-jun buried his head between his arms.
Suddenly, Lee Kang-ju crossed his mind. Should he ask him? The hope that briefly lifted its head soon flickered out, as if telling him to know his place.
Then again, he couldn’t conscientiously ask a man who had already paid off his host bar debt to settle the rest of his private debts as well. If someone asked if a gigolo who swindles older women has a conscience, he wouldn’t have an answer, but still.
“……Forget it. I was talking nonsense. No matter how much of a whore you are, there’s no need to give your ass to a grandpa. Just work hard at what you’re doing. You’ll hook a rich lady eventually.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“What?”
“It would be better to give it to a grandpa than to have a video filmed.”
He didn’t have a high priced body. He wasn’t a fragile life form that would die just from being penetrated. Hadn’t he already done it once? The first time is hard, but it’s easy from the second time on. Even if the grandpa lay down and pushed his buttocks at him, asking to be taken, Hae-jun could just take some erectile dysfunction pills and ram him.
“Crazy bastard, hey. A grandpa sponsor, fuck, don’t do it. Give up on that!”
Even though Yohan was the one who brought it up first, he got angry once Hae-jun actually tried to accept it. In contrast, Hae-jun was calm.
“Those bastards distributed someone else’s video before. They invited everyone in the contact list and sent the video there, and posted it on the internet. That person committed suicide.”
It was someone he didn’t know, but Hae-jun had received a death notice text too. It happened a mere three days after the video spread.
At the funeral hall he visited out of a sense of shared misery, the loan sharks had shown up there too. They consumed alcohol and meat and took away all the condolence money. To the bereaved family members who cried and shouted that they were people destined for hell and that they would curse them, they spat and kicked, saying this was a legitimate collection.
“Sigh, those motherfuckers.”
“I have to do something before that happens.”
Yohan thumped his chest, then stood up, picking up a pack of cigarettes left in the corner. He said he couldn’t stand the frustration and was going to go have a smoke. Since Hae-jun felt similarly troubled, he followed behind Yohan’s back.
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