Swallow Hunting - Chapter 43.1
It wouldn’t be surprising if Yohan were annoyed by the back and forth of moving in and out, but he saw Hae-jun off readily. He loaded the luggage onto the back of the bike and leaned his elbow on top of it while looking at Hae-jun. He stared intently without even blinking, looking as if he had words caught in his throat.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Yohan’s gaze was fixed on the nape of his neck. Hae-jun awkwardly rubbed the spot with his palm. It was a bite mark. He had forgotten to cover up the traces of last night.
“Since when did you start raising a dog?”
At Yohan’s sarcasm, Hae-jun could only give an awkward laugh.
He didn’t remember when Lee Kang-ju had bitten him. He only discovered it after waking up in the morning and entering the bathroom. It wasn’t a hickey caused by sucking, but human teeth marks with clear dotted lines. A greenish bruise surrounded the area.
It wasn’t just the nape of his neck. His nipples were also swollen and plump. He wondered what there was to torment on such millet-sized things, yet he had been pinched, bitten, and twisted. It was so sore that even the stream of water stinging them made it feel as if blood would truly surface if they rubbed against his clothes, so Hae-jun had bought bandages on the way to Yohan’s house and stuck them on both nipples.
“You’ll hear some interesting things if you do deliveries in that state.”
Yohan told him to wait a moment and returned from inside his house. He held a pain relief patch in his hand. When he told Hae-jun to bring his neck over, Hae-jun approached, and Yohan peeled off the packaging and slapped it right onto the spot where the bite marks were engraved.
“Cha Hae-jun. I’m the one who introduced you to this world, so why would I say anything? Just keep one thing in mind. Squeezing money out is the top priority.”
“Another lecture.”
“That relationship is going to end once you pay off all your debt anyway. Before that happens, strip him of everything you can. Luxury goods, cars, watches, documents, whatever—anything that can be turned into cash.”
“I’ll work hard at it.”
“He seems like a wealthy gentleman, so if you can, ask him to pay off your debt too.”
“That will be difficult.”
“If he took the virginity of a guy who was living quietly, shouldn’t he pay a price equivalent to that?”
Yohan flared up in anger. Though the expression “living quietly” was a bit of a stretch, Hae-jun quickly covered Yohan’s mouth for fear that everyone in the villa would hear. He only removed his hand after Yohan’s huffing shoulders calmed down.
“Are you trying to spread rumors to the whole neighborhood?”
“Everyone is out here sleeping together, so what’s there to be embarrassed about? Anyway, keep in touch often while you’re there.”
“I’m not living there forever. I’m just staying for a bit. Until that crazy bastard next door disappears.”
“Did he say he’d kick that guy out?”
“He said he’d take care of it, but…”
“Take care of it?”
Yohan also seemed suspicious of that word. Hae-jun scratched the top of the patch and nodded his head.
“I guess he really is a thug.”
He couldn’t deny it. Hae-jun just laughed sheepishly. He used to shudder at the thought of associating with people who hit others, so he felt a bit ashamed that he was now living off money received from such a person.
“Where do you want to eat lunch?”
“Let’s meet at Won-gi’s Drivers’ Restaurant. I heard the menu is good there today.”
Yohan showed a photo of the set meal posted in a group chat. Hae-jun nodded and got on his bike.
Passing through narrow alleys, buildings so old they looked ready to collapse, and power lines hanging like clotheslines overhead, he entered a district with wide, clean roads, buildings soaring toward the sky, and tall street trees. A world this different unfolded within a distance that took less than an hour by bike.
Lee Kang-ju was not home. Hae-jun left his luggage in his room and came back out. Before leaving the entrance, he looked around the house that was still unfamiliar. Perhaps because Lee Kang-ju wasn’t there, the large house looked even more empty.
‘Will I see him at dawn?’
“…”
Hae-jun stood dazed for a moment before shaking his head. He shouldn’t even have the heart to want to see him. He carved Yohan’s plea and that warning not to like him into his mind once more and opened the door.
***
Living together, he unintentionally ended up observing Lee Kang-ju’s every move.
Lee Kang-ju’s daily routine was monotonous. His statement that he had no particular hobbies proved to be true. For the most part, he never deviated from his set schedule. He woke up early at dawn to exercise, returned home, drank tea, and read the newspaper.
In a modern society where one could know what was happening on the other side of the world just by having a cell phone, Lee Kang-ju preferred paper newspapers. It was a fascinating yet well-suited combination.
There was a reason why he had taken Hae-jun in for amusement. Nowhere in Lee Kang-ju’s life could Hae-jun find any behavior that pursued fun.
Hae-jun also found it difficult to chase pleasure because he was busy paying off debt, but he still occasionally had drinks with Yohan, chatted, watched movies, and played games. He was living life tenaciously through those small joys, but not even a trace of such vitality could be seen in Lee Kang-ju.
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