Swallow Hunting - Chapter 40.2
“You, you body-selling male prostitute, you bastard… squealing like a pig and keeping me from sleeping… where does a crazy bitch like you get off…!”
As he spoke, he thrust the knife blade through the gap. It was a stabbing motion. It was a good thing Hae-jun had backed away quickly, or he would have nearly had his arm sliced.
Even as Hae-jun stared in stunned silence, the man acted as if he had done nothing wrong, blaming Hae-jun instead. His hand holding the knife trembled violently as he did nothing but glare at Hae-jun. That gaze was eerie, as if he were about to drive the blade into Hae-jun’s abdomen.
At the late-night commotion, doors of other units opened slightly. Someone shouted that they had called security and told them to be quiet. The man’s eyes darted around busily.
“If, if you’re noisy one more time, I’m going to… definitely… rip your belly open and kill you, you bitch. I’ll slit your throat and kill you like a p-pig!”
The man slammed the door shut with a bang. Hae-jun froze stiffly on the spot. The man had brandished a knife before, but he hadn’t actually tried to stab him then. If it was a psychopath like that, he truly could kill him. The tips of Hae-jun’s fingers turned cold.
“A-are you okay?”
A cautious voice woke Hae-jun up. Turning around, he saw a woman staring at him with concern, her door only slightly open. Fearing the madman might burst out again and attack him, he quickly moved away from the spot.
“By any chance… is the noise coming from my house very severe?”
He asked the woman in a whisper. The woman also seemed worried about the lunatic, as she cupped her hand beside her face like a soundproof wall.
“No. I don’t hear a thing. This building is famous for having no noise between floors or walls, which is why it was so hard to find a vacancy. But gosh, what are you going to do about all that trash?”
The woman closed her door while waving away the gnats. Hae-jun remained alone in the hallway, staring blankly at his front door covered in hideous graffiti.
His mind felt distant and the back of his head throbbed with a headache as he wondered how to erase that and whether he could live safely in this house.
***
Police are not a reliable sort. There were several experiences where he had reported his father for beating him, only for them to leave after giving a polite warning to not do it again.
The father, who had been groveling in front of them, beat Hae-jun until he was on the verge of death as soon as the police returned. He poured out all kinds of vulgar insults, calling Hae-jun a bastard who reported his own father despite being taken in and fed, asking how such a thing could be a son, and telling him to just drop dead.
In reality, his father had never clothed or fed Hae-jun. While his mother was alive, he at least slinked back into the house while watching her reaction, but after she was gone, he roamed through every gambling den in the country like an unbridled colt. He only returned occasionally when he was in a good mood, tossing him a thousand or two thousand won as if it were an allowance before vanishing again.
It was the occasional charity of neighbors and Yohan’s grandmother who raised Hae-jun. Only after meeting that kind and warmhearted grandmother did Hae-jun learn how to live like a human being.
Anyway, it was obvious that even if he called the police, they would return saying there was nothing they could do unless physical damage had been inflicted. That was not a proper solution.
Hae-jun crossed his arms and tilted his head back, looking up at the sky. The weather was gloomy, as if rain were about to pour.
“Ugh, I’m going to die.”
Yohan clutched his stomach and collapsed onto the convenience store table. He had left half of the cup of ramen he bought for lunch. Normally, he was a pig who would scrape up every bit of solid food without leaving a single drop of broth, but it seemed he was finding it hard to overcome this particular hangover.
“What about the hangover relief?”
“I feel like I’ll throw up if I drink that. Fuck…”
Well, it had been a while since he saw Yohan pass out while drinking. His face was pale, and the way he was gagging as if he would heave at any moment was pitiful.
Hae-jun went inside the convenience store and bought some hangover relief pills and honey water. When he opened the cap and held it out, Yohan smelled it and ducked his head deep under the table. He opened his mouth as if he couldn’t hold it back, but very fortunately for the convenience store clerk, he did not commit an indiscretion.
“Hold your nose and drink it. If you don’t take this, the hangover will last until tomorrow.”
Gagging repeatedly, Yohan managed to swallow the honey water and the pills. Only after emptying the drink did his complexion look much better.
“How did you even ride your bike here?”
“I actually threw up a few times on the way.”
“Did you really drink that much?”
“No. But it’s not like it used to be. Did I have indigestion? Or maybe my liver is finally giving out.”
It was an early concern for someone in their early twenties. On the other hand, Hae-jun agreed with those words. Since they drank so much, there was no way the liver would stay intact. There was a reason the lifespan in this industry was short. Before the age-fat or beer-belly could increase, the internal organs rotted away first. He had occasionally seen guys spitting up a handful of blood onto the waiting room floor.
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