Gutter Chapter 5.2

Although the sunlight streaming through the narrow window meant the room was no longer dark, Yeonjo couldn’t bring himself to rejoice. He was trapped in shackles like an animal in a cage, unable to go anywhere.

What would happen to him now? The men had said he just needed to offer his body to Boss Gu, but what if he didn’t return to this room? What if they left him tied up here and went back to Seoul without releasing him?

Moreover, even if he saw Boss Gu again, he didn’t think he could sell his body to him for money as casually as before. Just the thought of it made his stomach churn. There was no definitive proof that Boss Gu was that child… yet…

“Hey. Are you awake?”

While his tangled thoughts were becoming increasingly messy, a frail, elderly voice came from outside. Yeonjo, who had been lying still in the room, hurriedly crawled towards the door.

“Ah…”

A raspy sound escaped his throat, hoarse from crying all night. Before he could form a proper sentence, the door suddenly swung open.

Creak.

“What’s this. I thought there was a young lady here, but it’s a lad?”

“…Who are you?”

An elderly man with sparse white hair was looking down at Yeonjo. His face, dotted with age spots, wore a puzzled expression as he looked at Yeonjo before bringing in the tray of food that had been left on the porch.

“Move aside. It’s heavy, let me put it down.”

“…What’s this?”

“Don’t you know by looking, young man? It’s your meal. Eat.”

“Huh?”

“I was told not to talk to you, so I’ll be going now.”

“Excuse me, Grandpa. Please, let me out. You can unlock this, right?”

Yeonjo tried to get up and stop the old man as he put the tray down in the room and turned to leave. But his body, sore from being tossed around on the floor yesterday, had no strength, and he only flailed his legs uselessly. Meanwhile, the door closed, and he heard the sound of it being locked from the outside.

Despite his repeated calls, the old man’s slow footsteps diligently retreated. Soon, when he could no longer hear anything, Yeonjo quickly gave up and accepted reality. He hadn’t expected much from the old man who had suddenly appeared, so he wasn’t even disappointed.

More than that, he was so hungry, having barely eaten anything since yesterday, that he desperately wanted to put something in his mouth.

Thinking that they weren’t planning to starve him to death, he sat in front of the tray. It was a decent meal with soybean paste stew, white rice, a few side dishes of vegetables, a small fish, and even some meat.

He felt self-conscious, picking up his spoon to eat in this situation, but his stomach was so empty that he felt nauseous, so he had to eat something. Yeonjo hurriedly took a spoonful of the stew.

“Ugh!”

But he couldn’t swallow it and spat it back into the bowl. It tasted bitter and sour, as if it had gone bad. The tofu in the stew also had a musty smell, making it impossible to swallow.

It would be stranger if food served in a place like this tasted good. Yeonjo gave up on the stew and picked up a piece of seasoned meat.

“Keok, kek…”

He immediately vomited that too back into the bowl. An overwhelmingly rancid and sour taste rose in his throat. He rummaged through the side dishes, wondering if they were moldy, but they looked fine on the outside.

Yeonjo started tasting the other side dishes one by one. They all tasted hopelessly bad. They were so terrible that it was difficult to eat them even in his starved state.

In the end, pinching his nose, Yeonjo managed to eat about half a bowl of rice before pushing the tray away, unable to eat any more. He barely touched the side dishes, so they remained as they were. Just looking at them made his stomach churn. He even suspected that they had deliberately given him spoiled food because he was trapped here like a criminal, unable to do anything.

A short while later, the old man returned to collect the tray. He looked puzzled at the slightly diminished amount of rice and side dishes, then bent his back, picked up the tray, and left the room.

With his stomach slightly full, Yeonjo tried again with renewed vigor to unlock the shackles. But without exception, all his attempts failed.

Outside, the chickens and dogs continued to bark competitively, and the insects chirped intensely. Giving up on escaping, he lay still on the yellow linoleum floor, and the footsteps and conversations of the villagers passing nearby became quite clear. Most of the voices belonged to elderly people with weak voices.

They expressed concern about the sudden increase in illegal real estate activities in their small village, with people setting up tents and tarps. They seemed to be mostly people who came from Seoul to buy land.

It was the same old story of speculators flocking to a remote countryside village to snatch up land before the prices went up due to the sudden rumor of a large corporation building an industrial complex there.

“It’s so scary living here with gangsters roaming around the village.”

“Is there any news from Yoon’s daughter?”

“His daughter says to report it to the police station… but what can a tiny police station with only two officers do?”

“Kim went there, and they said they couldn’t do anything! Those bastards, taking government money and being useless…”

“I’m thinking of just selling my few patches of worthless fields and the mountain.”

“Will they leave if we sell them?”

“How would I know? What’s going on here? Oh dear, oh dear…”

Based on the snippets of conversation he overheard, Yeonjo guessed that Boss Gu’s purpose was to intimidate other real estate companies and residents into selling their land early. It was one of the illegal land grabbing schemes he had often heard about from customers while working at Majang, a method commonly used by gangsters to make money.

Just the presence of large outsiders like Boss Gu and his subordinates in the village would be intimidating enough for the elderly residents that most of them wouldn’t last long and would sell their land, leaving only their homes. It could take months, so Boss Gu must have acquired this abandoned house to stay in while he was here.

Since their children were mostly in Seoul and didn’t care about the countryside, there was practically nowhere for the residents to turn to for help.

The situation was exactly as the Majang customers had described. And he had been sold into this terrible environment. It was bleak. When he moved stores at Phoenix, he had thought it couldn’t get any worse.

Yeonjo sighed, staring at the moldy, low ceiling. In the midst of all this, he needed to use the bathroom.

But the door was locked from the outside, and his feet were chained. The door itself was old and flimsy, so it might open if he kicked it hard enough or threw his body against it, but the problem was whether he could unlock the shackles. To go to the bathroom, someone had to come and open the door and unlock the shackles.

Yeonjo seriously considered whether he should just crawl to the door and urinate in the yard.

“Hello.”

Feeling somewhat pathetic, Yeonjo called out towards the door. He hoped the old man who had brought the food was still around.

“Hello…! Huk.”

As he called out again, the door burst open. The bright light from outside cast a large, human-shaped shadow that completely engulfed Yeonjo. He narrowed his eyes, unable to see clearly, and looked up at the person who had opened the door.

It was Boss Gu.

Yeonjo, momentarily speechless, stumbled backward as if he had seen a ghost.

“Why did you call?”

At his question, the urge to urinate returned.

“Ah… that… well…”

“…”

“I want to… use the bathroom.”

Yeonjo barely managed to speak. He was ashamed to have to say such a thing to him.

Boss Gu strode towards Yeonjo and, surprisingly, readily unlocked the shackles. His ankles were raw and red, probably from rubbing against the chains all night.

“Go to the right.”

Following his instructions, Yeonjo managed to put on his shoes and headed towards the bathroom. Perhaps because he had stayed up all night, Boss Gu looked a bit more tired than usual. Yeonjo had worried that he would follow and watch him go to the bathroom, but Boss Gu sat on the porch and smoked leisurely.

The bathroom was relatively clean compared to the dilapidated state of the house. It was a small space, barely a square meter, with a toilet and a showerhead. After relieving himself, Yeonjo washed his hands, splashed water on his face, and came out. He peeked towards the porch and saw Boss Gu smoking and talking on the phone.

Yeonjo felt his heart rate increase and clutched his chest. Boss Gu didn’t seem interested in him, and the shackles on his feet were unlocked. He had failed to escape yesterday, but his hands had been tied then. Now that his hands and feet were free, could he escape?

Beyond this house were rice paddies and a forest. He wasn’t sure of the exact layout, but if he ran a short distance, he could hide in the bushes, and Boss Gu wouldn’t be able to find him easily. If he voluntarily went back into that room, he would only be beaten and raped by him again.

He was out of breath, his heart pounding. It took him only a few seconds to make up his mind. Yeonjo took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and opened them again. And while Boss Gu’s attention was diverted, he ran.

“Huk, huk…!”

He managed to get out the gate faster than yesterday. Yeonjo ran without even looking at the road, his feet moving first.

The quiet country road stretched out quite far, but he felt he could hide if he just ran towards the thick trees.

“Euagh!”

Contrary to his expectations, his body, which had been moving forward smoothly, suddenly lifted into the air. Then a sharp pain shot through his scalp.

“You can’t even run away properly, you’re such a bother.”

Boss Gu, who had caught up to him, muttered as if annoyed. He grabbed Yeonjo’s hair tightly and dragged him back to the house.

“Ow…! It hurts. Let go!”

“Yeah, keep struggling while you still can.”

“No, uhuk… Please let me go. I-I’m sorry… Please let me go back to Seoul, back to Seoul.”

Yeonjo pleaded pathetically. Boss Gu’s expression remained unchanged.

“You weren’t working properly there either.”

“I will. I’ll really work hard this time.”

“Don’t you think it’s too late to say that? Whether you like it or not, this is where you’ll be working from now on.”

When his words didn’t get through, Yeonjo screamed for help, but the surroundings remained quiet, as if no one was there. Even if there was someone, Yeonjo knew they wouldn’t come to rescue him.

Boss Gu threw Yeonjo back into the room and re-chained his ankles with the shackles that had fallen on the floor. As if irritated, he threw his cigarette outside the door and ran a hand roughly through his hair.

“I only came here to pick up some documents. Since things turned out this way, I might as well use you for a while.”

He bent down and muttered, pressing his thumb hard against Yeonjo’s plump lips. Yeonjo immediately shook his head violently.

“No, don’t. N-No, please help me.”

Being in the same room with him was already agonizing, but to have to receive him physically… It hadn’t felt this repulsive before, but after learning Boss Gu’s old name, he absolutely hated it.

Even though that child had died so long ago that Yeonjo couldn’t even remember his face, every single one of his nerve cells was violently rejecting Boss Gu. Tears welled up in Yeonjo’s eyes and started falling.

As if annoyed by his reaction, Boss Gu took off his tight jacket and threw it carelessly on the floor.

“Why are you looking at me with such disgust? You should try to please me while you’re here.”

“No… I won’t do it anymore. Let me go, I can’t, I…”

Boss Gu forced Yeonjo onto the hard floor and ripped his pants off. He practically tore them apart.

When the clothes covering Yeonjo’s thin body were all tattered, Boss Gu took out his wallet from his back pocket. Then he stuffed several bills between Yeonjo’s ankle and the shackles as Yeonjo kept repeating that he didn’t want to.

“Move, I said no! Stop… heuk, I can’t, I can’t do this. I won’t…”

The wad of cash tucked into his dangling ankle precariously entered Yeonjo’s field of vision. Some of the bills slipped out of the shackles and fluttered onto Yeonjo’s body.

All the morals and values Yeonjo had known so far crumbled.

He could just ask. Ask if he wasn’t that child. Say it was just a coincidence that their names and scars were the same. That child was small and couldn’t speak properly. He was completely different from Boss Gu. Boss Gu, with his bitter and dry winter scent, couldn’t be Rags.

If he heard the answer, these despairing emotions would simply disappear. He would be able to accept it calmly, as he had before, whether Boss Gu made him give him a blowjob or had sex with him. If it wasn’t that child. If it wasn’t Rags.

But Yeonjo was afraid to even ask. Even though he tried to open his throat and move his lips, he couldn’t make a sound, as if someone was choking him.

“I don’t need this kind of thing. I said I won’t do it anymore! I don’t need money or anything, just… please let me out of here… please let me go…”

“Why are you crying? You’ve been taking everything I’ve given you without complaint. Is this not enough now?”

Yeonjo bit his lower lip, swallowing his frustration and tears. Tears streamed endlessly from his temples. Yet, the constantly welling tears blurred his vision. Boss Gu’s figure was hazy, as if he was being held captive by a devil.

Unable to overcome his fear, Yeonjo covered his face with his hands.

“You think you can change your mind just because you borrowed money?”

Boss Gu made it clear to Yeonjo that he had no right to change his mind. And he forcefully pulled Yeonjo’s hands down, revealing his face.

“You ran away. Where were you planning to go?”

He growled like a beast and grabbed Yeonjo’s chin.

“To your dying grandma’s hospital room?”

“…”

“Or were you planning to disappear on your own, leaving your grandma behind?”

At his voice, which seemed to suppress rage, Yeonjo curled up pathetically as if pricked by thorns. It could have been a meaningless statement, but it sounded like an accusation of his distant past.

Yeonjo’s lips trembled.

“N-Nowhere… heup, nowhere. I wasn’t trying to run away. I have n-nowhere to go anyway. So… please let me go.”

“I don’t want to.”

Boss Gu roughly tried to pry Yeonjo’s naked bottom open with his fingers.

“Get away! Why me… why me of all people…! I really c-can’t right now. Please…”

“What should I do? I’ve already paid for your body.”

“No, not now. I can’t. Please… heup. I won’t, not with you…”

Boss Gu, as if he didn’t want to hear it, covered Yeonjo’s mouth with his rough hand. As Yeonjo’s struggles intensified with his voice silenced, Boss Gu grabbed his slender ankle with the hand that had been probing him.

“Eum!”

Yeonjo’s tear-filled eyes widened as if they would pop out. The moment he felt the grip on his ankle tighten,

Crack.

The clear sound of a joint twisting echoed in the room.