Yang’s Master Chapter 13.1 - Side Story 1. The Master of the Sheep

Yang Euijoo woke up late. He sat up blankly in bed and blinked his eyes. The curtains tied to the balcony fluttered, and the dark blue shimmering on the water’s surface brightly assaulted his eyes.

He had really returned. To Hong Kong.

Yang Euijoo, with a face that showed he was having a hard time adjusting, took a breath and then scrambled out of bed with a huge shout and a crash.

“Cheon Yeomyung!”

His furious voice echoed through the mansion. There was no sign of the man, who seemed to have fled early on. Yang Euijoo dragged his black sneakers, which he had slipped on by crushing the heels, and stomped around, searching the second-floor hallway.

If you asked if Cheon Yeomyung had changed, he certainly had, but if you asked if he had completely changed, that was not the case. The man, who had always been willful, narrow-minded, and a bit petty, acted as if he would listen to everything Yang Euijoo said, yet in certain areas, he was utterly incapable of compromise. One of those things was kidnapping Yang Euijoo and dragging him into his own house.

Of course, Yang Euijoo knew that his chimney house was uncomfortable for a young master like Cheon Yeomyung, who was elegant, shameless, and had grown up spoiled without lacking anything materially. But if it was so uncomfortable, he could just piss off to this fine mansion by himself, so why on earth did he insist on bringing him along? What’s more, for this illegal abduction, Cheon Yeomyung would pretend to sleep at the chimney house in the evening, and then in the dead of night, he would hoist up the deeply asleep Yang Euijoo and carry him off to his home, a bothersome and sleep-quality-degrading act that he repeated as if it were a daily meal.

A few times, he was thwarted by Yang Euijoo, who woke up due to the suspicious movements; a few times, he was sent back home with his hair being pulled out mid-kidnapping; and a few other times, he succeeded.

When his success rate dropped, the man resorted to a trick. He would add a sleep-inducing agent to the medicine Yang Euijoo took in the evening and then despicably attempt to abduct the sleeping person by hoisting him onto his back. It was, without a doubt, a crime. However, all the medicine Yang Euijoo took came from Cheon Yeomyung’s pocket, and the person who prescribed it was Mei Wood. At Cheon Yeomyung’s single comment that Yang Euijoo was not sleeping deeply, Mei Wood immediately changed the ingredients of the medicine.

This kind of thing showed that there was a very serious problem with Cheon Yeomyung’s morality.

Anyway, after that, Yang Euijoo would often wake up in Cheon Yeomyung’s mansion, and the moment he realized he was not in the long, narrow chimney house, he would become incredibly furious and start his chaotic day by shouting Cheon Yeomyung’s name.

Cheon Yeomyung, found in the second room on the right hallway of the second floor, was pretending to be a very diligent businessman, looking over documents first thing in the morning, but when the angry Yang Euijoo burst open the door and came in, his eyes widened.

As soon as he saw the feigned-gentle golden eyes beneath the black hair that swayed softly without any wax, Yang Euijoo felt a surge of irritation that made his already bad temper skyrocket.

“I told you not to bring me here without my permission.”

“Oh……”

The man smiled with a shameless face.

“I can’t sleep in a dirty place. What if your wound gets infected?”

“Let it get infected!”

When Yang Euijoo answered angrily, Cheon Yeomyung put on a woeful expression.

“That’s so mean.”

And then, with a look that was not the least bit mean, he criticized Yang Euijoo’s character.

“Whose fault is this wound, and you say let it get infected? I think I’ve heard that somewhere before.”

His golden eyes glinted menacingly, as if he had caught onto an excuse.

“Are you starting to take after me, teacher?

“I am going to work.”

Seeing no value in further conversation, Yang Euijoo let go of the doorknob and turned his back sharply. All he could think about was leaving this burdensome mansion and returning to Yirang. But Cheon Yeomyung, unable to bend his will, followed Yang Euijoo doggedly, whining.

“You’re going to work right away? It’s still early. Why not stay a little longer? Don’t you want to eat breakfast?”

“Breakfast, what breakfast. Do you know how far it is from here to Yirang?”

“I’ll give you a ride.”

Cheon Yeomyung, with a compliant face, tried to entice Yang Euijoo again.

“I’ll drive you myself. If you feel burdened, I won’t go all the way to the entrance, I’ll drop you off nearby. Then we’ll have time to eat breakfast and go.”

Cheon Yeomyung’s courtship was still ongoing. Yang Euijoo was swayed, just a tiny bit. If there was a scale from 1 to 100, it would probably be around 5.

“I’ll make you breakfast myself, too. Is there anything you want to eat?”

Yang Euijoo knew how to appropriately shut the man’s mouth at times like this. He sighed and replied to the incessantly chattering Cheon Yeomyung.

“Noodle soup.”

“……”

“I’m leaving.”

“Euijoo-ya.”

Cheon Yeomyung followed him out, looking crestfallen. Yang Euijoo glanced at Cheon Yeomyung’s face, then snatched a neatly folded t-shirt, pulled it on, and walked down the stairs. The executives, who had been gathered in a cluster at the bottom of the first-floor stairs, stretched out their hands to each other as soon as they saw Yang Euijoo’s stiff face coming down.

“See, the boss got rejected again. Pay up.”

“Sogang oppa, why are you so good at this……?”

Linlin looked at Sogang with a face steeped in betrayal. Yang Euijoo took his hand, which had been tucked in his pocket like a gangster, and flicked Linlin’s round forehead.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t make strange bets.”

“Why are you only hitting me?!”

Leaving behind Linlin who was protesting with a tearful face, Yang Euijoo went outside the mansion. He saw a familiar face, but Yang Euijoo did not offer a separate greeting. There was no eating noodle soup for breakfast.

The t-shirt that fit Cheon Yeomyung’s body was big on Yang Euijoo. A sweltering breeze blew into the loose t-shirt that was a handspan too large. As if winter had never been, a dreary heat once again shimmered over Hong Kong. He had to feel this heat to truly feel like he was in Hong Kong. Yang Euijoo glanced once at the nearby seashore where the smell of salt was spreading and then left the vast mansion grounds.

Cheon Yeomyung, as if he had money to burn, had bought a new mansion on the Kowloon Peninsula. He said he was going to tear down the mansion he originally owned and build a new building, but in Yang Euijoo’s view, it just seemed like a waste of time, a waste of money, and a waste of land. In any case, the uneducated and poor Yang Euijoo was not great enough to evaluate Cheon Yeomyung’s business, so he just kept his mouth shut at the side and watched as Cheon Yeomyung signed a checkbook for an enormous amount of money.

The mansion, equipped with the latest heating and cooling systems, was far from Yirang and close to the sea. It was not a beautiful sea. The sea where ferries connecting Hong Kong Island and the Kowloon Peninsula traveled was a very deep and gloomy dark blue. A short walk from the mansion, a clock tower and a train station came into view. The area near the train station, where long-distance trains that were said to go to faraway countries ran, was crowded with people. Yang Euijoo safely passed the train station and caught a bus. He was now familiar with this bus route.

Wondering if the man who had been so anxious, offering to make breakfast and asking him to eat before leaving, would be eating breakfast alone or taking out his bad mood on his subordinates, Yang Euijoo entered the familiar street of vagrants.

“Huh? Teacher pharmacist, where were you so early in the morning?”

Teacher Chui asked with a puzzled face as he saw Yang Euijoo entering from outside. Yang Euijoo, holding a meal of rice topped with tofu, bok choy, and bean sprouts, answered as he walked.

“To buy breakfast.”

“Eh? Teacher, you weren’t someone who eats so diligently. What’s gotten into you, going out to buy breakfast so early in the morning?”

“Did you know?”

“What?”

“They say tofu is good for dementia. You should eat a lot of it.”

Yang Euijoo, smiling slyly, placed one of the packages he was holding into Teacher Chui’s hand.

“This son of a bitch!”

Chui cursed something and followed behind him, but Yang Euijoo ignored him for all to see. And then he unlocked the door with his key and slipped inside his house. Teacher Chui, perhaps not wanting to follow him into the horribly narrow and long chimney house that seemed to make a person like a chopstick, just protested something in front of the deformed door before his shoulders drooped. The fact that Yang Euijoo did not respect his elders was, in truth, a familiar occurrence.

Yang Euijoo, who had shown his face for a moment only to disappear again for several months and then return, was a little different from before. For one thing, he had quit smoking. Teacher Chui had offered him a cigarette a few times with a suspicious look, but Yang Euijoo had coldly refused. Teacher Chui, who had been puzzled as to why the devil-like bastard who seemed like he would never quit alcohol and cigarettes for the rest of his life had quit smoking, vaguely realized the reason after hearing the incessant dry coughing coming from the chimney house late one night not long ago.

At first, thinking he was really about to die, Teacher Chui had peeked inside the chimney house for the first time in a while. Beyond the locked door, the sound of loud coughing and murmuring voices echoed. The old man went around the small house halfway to the back door. Through a small window, he could see a figure perched about midway up the deformed house. Someone was constantly stroking the back of the gaunt figure who was hunched over, letting out sporadic coughs. Teacher Chui recognized him at once.

He was a man who did not belong in this old and sick street. He pulled the coughing Yang Euijoo into his arms and then looked at the window. Cool, golden eyes stared at Teacher Chui. The beast-like man did not miss the presence of the old man, who did not have much time left to live, loitering outside. Chui quickly left the chimney house.

It was because he thought it was not his business to meddle in. In the eyes of Chui, a resident of Yirang, the relationship between Cheon Yeomyung and Yang Euijoo was continuing, quite bizarrely, but also diligently. Chui, who did not know what kind of tumultuous events had occurred between them, thought Yang Euijoo had a strong stomach.

“You just never know about people’s affairs.”

Chui muttered, putting out his cigarette and looking at the still-warm meal. But it seemed like a relief, somehow, that Yang Euijoo, who used to live by frugally saving every bit of his own food, was now able to buy a portion for someone else.

Of course, it was unknown whether he would agree with Teacher Chui’s thoughts. Yang Euijoo shoved the tofu and rice from the paper box into his mouth and organized the clothes scattered on the floor by pushing them with his foot. He swept the tie and shirt that Cheon Yeomyung had carelessly thrown off into a large paper bag. It was annoying that the man would come into the already small house, loiter around, and increase his belongings.

“Hoo.”

Yang Euijoo sat down in front of the fan and let out a sigh. An artificial breeze blew into the loose t-shirt. It was still stuffy. He chewed and swallowed the not-so-tasty meal and then looked for his medicine.

Cheon Yeomyung, who had been shot several times and even suffered from transfusion shock, was fine, but Yang Euijoo was not. Mei Wood, whom he met again in Hong Kong, got angry at Cheon Yeomyung. The reason was for neglecting a patient. Cheon Yeomyung listened to Mei Wood’s nagging with a gloomy face and then personally took care of Yang Euijoo’s medicine. It was his respiratory system that had weakened. It was no surprise. Every time he coughed, Cheon Yeomyung would make a complicated expression and stroke his back until the coughing stopped.

Still, besides the fact that he now had a body that was prone to catching colds, not much else was different. Cheon Yeomyung, perhaps thinking that Yang Euijoo’s living environment was the problem, kept trying to bring him to his mansion near Tsim Sha Chui, but Yang Euijoo refused. He had his own house that he bought by earning money fair and square; he did not want to live in someone else’s house.

Because of that, he just kept trying his tricks, unable to let go of his lingering attachment. Had he always been that immature? Why did he seem to be getting younger and younger. Yang Euijoo grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and stretched it, blankly enjoying the breeze from the fan. The second-hand fan he had bought last year after much consideration was still running well. It was cool, even if not as much as Cheon Yeomyung’s mansion, which was fully equipped with air conditioning.

“Teacher, teacher, are you there?”

A youthful voice came through the narrow crack. Who is it at this hour. Yang Euijoo sighed, opened the window above the door, and looked down. He saw a child standing on a footstool. The white t-shirt had long since turned gray, and he was wearing shabby, old sneakers. Yang Euijoo looked at the child crookedly with a gangster-like gaze.

“What.”

“They said teacher Su-ryun got married, is that true?”

He was not here to buy medicine, but to ask about a marriage. Yang Euijoo tried not to get annoyed with a kid who was not even ten years old and answered.

“I didn’t, get lost.”

“Teacher pharmacist!”

The child called out to Yang Euijoo desperately, but no answer came back. What the hell is this about marriage, fuck……. when I cannot even get married.

Since Cheon Yeomyung had created a nationality for him, Yang Euijoo was legally able to go through the marriage process. However, it did not seem likely that a person like Cheon Yeomyung would stand by with his eyes wide open and let Yang Euijoo get married. I want to smoke. Yang Euijoo rummaged through his empty pockets and then let out a sigh.

He had been forced to quit smoking. He rebelled at first, but in front of the man who went crazy with his eyes rolling back in his head, Yang Euijoo’s tantrums were on a cute level. Cheon Yeomyung, while pretending to crawl on the floor as if he had done something wrong, never yielded when it came to his health. Since it was not something that was harming Yang Euijoo, he reluctantly pretended to give in.

After that, he got caught secretly smoking a few times. He fought fiercely with Cheon Yeomyung. After a mentally draining argument where the man irritably asked if he wanted his lungs pulled out right then and there and to die, and Yang Euijoo fought back asking if he even remembered whose fault it was that his body was in this fucked-up state, the two reached an agreement.

The condition was that Cheon Yeomyung would also quit smoking. The man, surprisingly, quit smoking cleanly the moment he made the promise with Yang Euijoo. And then, whenever he had a chance, he would sniff around Yang Euijoo to check if he had been secretly smoking. He was so quick-witted that after catching him a few times for smoking half a day earlier, Yang Euijoo just gave up and obediently chose to quit.

Life is no fun. Yang Euijoo complained about his life, which had become devoid of any stimulation since he could not smoke, could not get married, and his interest in dating had waned, and let both his legs drop limply to the floor. On his feet, which swayed lightly in the air, were black canvas sneakers that were as broken-in as they were old.

🐑

“Teacher, I heard you got married?”

“Who on earth told you that?”

“They said you have a child too. When did you do it? Were you away for a long time because you got married? Who is your wife?”

“I mean, who on earth?”

A rumor that the gentle-looking pharmacist teacher in Yirang had gotten married was spreading far and wide. Yang Euijoo, who had come out to buy tomatoes, made a dumbfounded expression. He had thought that the little ones, whose heads barely reached his thigh, surrounding him and asking about his marital status was just some nonsense among children, but he could not understand the reason why guys who were old enough to know better were asking.

“It was famous……”

The vegetable shop owner tilted his head, bewildered.

“Just give me the tomatoes.”

Yang Euijoo snatched the tomatoes, stem and all, from the vendor’s hand. A fresh, green scent emanated from the stem where fist-sized tomatoes hung in clusters. Yang Euijoo roughly pressed some Hong Kong dollars into the vendor’s hand and quickly made his escape.

“Hey, teacher! You’re 2 dollars short!”

“Give me a discount!”

Yang Euijoo shouted back at the vendor’s shout and hastily escaped from the market street. Then, clutching the bag of tomatoes to his chest, he skillfully navigated the streets cluttered with bumpy obstacles. From under a sign that had recently fallen over, unable to withstand a gust of wind, a long-tailed rat made a squeaking sound and entered a mouse hole. Yang Euijoo wrinkled his nose as he looked at the field mouse that resembled his hair color. Sticky mud squelched under the worn soles of his shoes, splattering muddy water in all directions.

Muddy water splattered here and there on the cuffs of the jeans he was wearing. In Yirang, it was not a big deal. The news was full of announcements that the houses built of mud, sand, stone, and dust would be demolished. People felt anxious, but they thought, we will find another place to go, this is a place where people live, so there must be another place to live somewhere. With that kind of heart, they looked up at the precarious buildings. Airplanes still flew at their lowest altitude, and there was no end to the illegal tenants.

Through that chaos, a young man in worn-out jeans and a white t-shirt walked with long strides. Occasionally, the residents of Yirang, while hanging laundry on their rooftops or leaning against rattling railings to smoke, would look at the young man.

The young man’s appearance was also distinctive in Yirang, but his white t-shirt was particularly unusual. In Yirang, where ash would naturally fly and settle, easily making clothes dirty, white clothes were not a preferred choice. Everyone did not really mind the color of their clothes, so there were certainly many people wearing white, but none were as white and clean as his.

Below the light-colored jeans of the young man, who was wearing a t-shirt made of good quality soft cotton, were well-used black sneakers. The sneakers once again stepped firmly on the ground. His ash-colored hair, which was as untidy as its length, fluttered in the salty, lukewarm breeze.

Yang Euijoo, eating a tomato that he had only wiped the dust off of, was on his way home when he found a crowd of children. The children were gathered in a cluster near the knees of a tall man, asking endlessly bright and stupid questions.

“Really? My mom said no!”

“The teacher said no too.”

The well-dressed man gave each of the chattering children a piece of candy and said softly.

“No, it’s true, he really got married.”

“Then did the teacher lie?”

“Lie? He was just being shy and making an excuse.”

Well, look at this.

Yang Euijoo’s face grew colder and colder. Unaware that a northern wind was sweeping across the beautiful man’s cold face, the man was passionate about handing out lemon candies and spreading nonsensical bullshit.

“The teacher is shy? Why?”

“It can be a little embarrassing to say you’re married with your own mouth. Originally, Euijoo……, the pharmacist teacher, is a bit shy.”

The children were puzzled by the statement that the chimney house’s pharmacist teacher, who would grab customers by the hair and fight, was shy, but they soon popped the candies into their mouths and marveled at the sweetness.

“So go and say the pharmacist teacher is married. Got it?”

“Yes!”

“We’ll do that!”

……Well, look at this.

Yang Euijoo immediately strode over and grabbed the ear of the shameless man who was spreading marriage rumors about a bachelor who had never even been married.

“Euijoo-ya.”

Even though his ear was suddenly grabbed as if it would be torn off, the man’s face was nothing but bright. Yang Euijoo found his behavior absurd. Instead of speaking to Cheon Yeomyung, Yang Euijoo pulled hard on the human who was handsome even down to his earlobes and glared at the children. The children, each with a round candy in their cheek, just blinked their eyes.

“You guys, the teacher is not married, so don’t spread false rumors just because you got some candy.”

At that, the children all nodded their heads at once. Whether or not Cheon Yeomyung felt the futility of incitement as he watched the children he had painstakingly persuaded with offerings of candy betray him, Yang Euijoo finally let out a sigh. After dismissing the children from the dirty alley with a single gesture, he threw the stem of the eaten tomato on the ground and glared at Cheon Yeomyung.

“What on earth are you doing?”

“Hm?”

The still-bright face smiled radiantly at Yang Euijoo.

“Are you spreading rumors about my marriage behind my back?”

“Marriage rumors?”

Cheon Yeomyung folded his golden eyes and smiled gently.

“I’m the one who knows best that the teacher isn’t married, so why would I go around saying such things?”

Even though he had been caught in the act, Cheon Yeomyung feigned innocence as if he had done nothing wrong. You have to have a face this thick to become human trash, Yang Euijoo marveled.

“Then what was that I just heard?”

“What did you hear? I don’t know.”

Cheon Yeomyung made a shameless excuse. Naturally, Yang Euijoo flared up.

“What do you mean you don’t know? What kind of lies are you telling the kids?”

“Lies? I don’t lie.”

Cheon Yeomyung put on a pretense again. This crazy bastard. Yang Euijoo glared at the man. The man’s shameless expression began to crumble slightly, and he belatedly and stealthily began to watch Yang Euijoo’s mood.

“Are you angry?

“No. I know you’re someone who does as you please anyway, so why would I be angry.”

Yang Euijoo said coldly and turned away. Cheon Yeomyung stuck close to Yang Euijoo’s back. He glanced at the tomatoes in Yang Euijoo’s arms and asked.

“Isn’t it heavy? Should I carry it for you?”

“Despite how I may look, I am a grown man, you know.”

“Then should I give you a piggyback ride?”

“……”

“I can hug you too.”

Looks like you’ve dated a lot. Yang Euijoo muttered to himself and stopped walking. As Yang Euijoo came to a halt, Cheon Yeomyung also stopped walking with him. The man who spread marriage rumors about a perfectly fine person and carried out abductions every dawn had a clear and shining face, as if he did not know fatigue. Yang Euijoo shoved the entire paper bag containing the tomatoes at Cheon Yeomyung.

“Stop your bullshit, and deliver that for me.”

“Should I take it to your house?”

“No, to Linda.”

Cheon Yeomyung flinched. Yang Euijoo knew five more ways besides this one to make Cheon Yeomyung shut up. It was a bit of a cheap method, but it was unavoidable when dealing with such a shameless human.

“If I take it to her, will you stop being angry?”

Cheon Yeomyung, unable to let go of his lingering attachment, followed behind him again, dogging his steps. Yang Euijoo turned his head and glared at Cheon Yeomyung with all his might as a substitute for an answer, then ran back to the chimney house. He thought he heard a loud sigh from afar, but he ignored it.

The relationship, which had been quite good until just before returning to Hong Kong, had turned cold again because of Cheon Yeomyung’s bad habits. The man, while pretending to grovel before Yang Euijoo, sometimes could not abandon his old ways, especially when it came to matters related to Quan.

He had tried to recover Quan’s body in Shanghai, and upon succeeding, he had displayed the body in the same way he always had in Yirang. The old bastard’s corpse was mocked for a long time, desecrated as Cheon Yeomyung wished, and later buried in the deepest part of Yirang’s soil and trampled upon. It was a depth of anger that Yang Euijoo could not fathom, for an enemy he hated so much that he, conversely, wished him a long life.

However, that seemed to be a view from Cheon Yeomyung’s perspective only. Speaking only from Yang Euijoo’s perspective, he had gone to the market with a very light heart only to see the gruesome corpse of the old bastard. Witnessing Quan’s corpse with an unguarded mind was a huge blow. Thanks to that, there was a minor accident where he fainted while trying to buy groceries.

Cheon Yeomyung apologized later, but Yang Euijoo, out of a slight sense of revenge, became twice as angry as his fault warranted. It might have been amusing to see the man, who used to be so high-handed, now acting flustered and pretending to grant him everything.

In any case, starting with Quan’s death, Cheon Yeomyung was steadily completing his revenge. The organization that the old and sick boss had tamed with violence and fear quickly fell apart, and Byukhae devoured it as if it were the most natural thing to do. Cheon Yeomyung was often on the phone until late at night. He would hear snippets of words like, ship arriving at dawn, container, disguised. Cheon Yeomyung was still a hotbed of crime.

Cheon Yeomyung, perhaps not wanting to do the uncomfortable task Yang Euijoo had ordered, did not come to the house again. Late in the evening, around the time he was closing the pharmacy, Yang Euijoo brushed off his hands, which smelled of medicinal herbs, as he recalled the long shadow of the man who had been dawdling near the stairs.

“Teacher, am I writing this correctly?”

A proud voice came from his feet. Yang Euijoo stopped sweeping the front of the store and looked at the stubby pencil held in a small hand. Fortunately, it was a character he knew.

“It’s wrong.”

“Eek!”

The neighborhood kid jumped. The group of children sitting in a cluster burst out laughing loudly.

“You fool!”

“Hey, I can make mistakes.”

Yang Euijoo patted the grumbling kid’s head and nodded.

“It’s noisy, so all of you get lost now.”

“Where are you going, teacher?”

The children of Yirang do not cry even at Yang Euijoo’s harsh words. Rather, they would lift their eyes defiantly and be curious about Yang Euijoo’s evening escapades. He answered the children who were curious about another person’s outing.

“I’m going to my house.”

“Teacher, you have a house?”

Then whose house is this. They had been camping out and playing in front of someone else’s house, or more accurately, in front of someone else’s shop, and now they were asking if he had a house. Yang Euijoo was about to tell them that although the country did not recognize it, he had unofficial documents stating that this house was his, but he stopped.

“Yeah, I do.”

“Where is it? Can’t we come over and play too?”

To the children from the slums who were trying to just show up at someone else’s house, Yang Euijoo, with his hands stuck in his pockets, answered indifferently.

“You’re not supposed to visit a newlywed’s home.”

The quick-witted children quickly picked up their stubby pencils and books and ran off to their own homes. By tomorrow, the rumor that the pharmacy teacher had set up a newlywed home would probably spread quickly too. Tsk, Yang Euijoo clicked his tongue and searched his empty pockets. The absence of a cigarette felt strangely disappointing. Couldn’t I just go smoke one somewhere? If I borrowed one from Teacher Chui, Cheon Yeomyung would definitely find out, so maybe a bit further away…….

After pondering, Yang Euijoo left the chimney house and went out into the street. People who recognized him would occasionally greet him.

“Teacher, did you get married?”

He dealt with the persistent question by simply ignoring it.

“What kind of woman did you marry? Who would marry the teacher of Yirang?”

This question made him a little upset. Yang Euijoo stopped walking and glared at the person who was carrying a heap of laundry.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“No, I mean, you have to have something to get married……, that house is livable for one person, but it’s a bit much for two, right? Hey, can you even do that thing in there? Won’t it collapse?”

Yang Euijoo stretched out his leg and kicked the laundry basket. A pile of laundry instantly flew out and fell to the ground.

“Agh! Teacher, are you crazy? What do you think you’re doing?”

“Stop your bullshit and just do your laundry.”

After retorting like that, Yang Euijoo once again ran swiftly through the complex and confusing spiderweb-like Yirang. The alley, which darkened in an instant, cast a shadow faster than Yang Euijoo’s running. Yang Euijoo soon grabbed a familiar iron gate that came into view and pulled it open sideways. A bell rang loudly.

“It’s the teacher.”

“Linda.”

Yang Euijoo familiarly called the familiar name and strode into the shop. The distance they always maintained was appropriate.

“Do you have cigarettes?”

“Hmm?”

Behind her magnifying glasses, Linda’s pupils rolled slowly. Linda’s whitish-gray eyes, as if clouded by cataracts, looked at Yang Euijoo indifferently.

“Didn’t you quit recently, teacher?”

“I’m just going to smoke one. You don’t sell them individually? Give me one.”

“How is it that you’ve only gotten more shameless?”

“I suppose you can’t ignore the influence of one’s surroundings.”

“In my opinion, that doesn’t seem like a good choice.”

Linda clicked her tongue and tried to stop Yang Euijoo. Regardless, Yang Euijoo’s stubbornness was firm. He was tapping the counter, telling her to hurry up and hand one over, when he heard the sound of a door opening roughly with a clatter.

“Cigarettes?”

It was a voice that was even murderous. Ah, fuck. I’m screwed. Yang Euijoo, while sweating inwardly, feigned a composed expression. With both hands still stuck in his pockets, he slowly turned his head towards the wall. The man who had appeared, opening the inner door, was glaring at him with the most dissatisfied and ominous face in the world. I told him to deliver the tomatoes, so why is he in Linda’s room?

“I’ve finished organizing, so don’t ask me to do this kind of thing from now on.”

Cheon Yeomyung grumbled to Linda. Linda crinkled her wrinkled lips and smiled playfully.

“Thank you, dear. Now that I’m old, it’s not an easy thing to organize the cupboards by myself.”

“If I had sold drugs during this time, I would have earned a hundred thousand dollars more.”

The man who thought of time in units of drugs flicked the ends of his sleeves and then glared at Yang Euijoo.

“Teacher, shall we have a little talk?”

“……”

“Take care.”

Linda quickly said goodbye. At this dismissal, which was her way of washing her hands of the matter, Yang Euijoo, without getting what he wanted, was grabbed by the scruff of his neck by Cheon Yeomyung and dragged out of the general store like a dog. The black leather gloves made an unpleasant creaking sound as they clung to Yang Euijoo’s t-shirt. It was a familiar sensation, like the heat clinging to him.

“I told you to quit.”

“I was only going to smoke once.”

“Do you know that one time, combined, becomes ten times, and twenty times?”

Cheon Yeomyung was angry for the first time in a while. Yang Euijoo studied the angry man’s face and then shut his mouth. There were many things he could say in self-defense, but they were all expendable. He did not want to draw a line with Cheon Yeomyung now by bringing up things that were getting closer in the past. It was not a relationship that could be severed by drawing a line anyway.

“I’m sorry.”

Yang Euijoo apologized quickly. The expression of the man, who had seemed about to burst with anger, changed subtly. His ash-gray eyes watched the man who was still gripping the scruff of his neck firmly.

“I won’t smoke, don’t be angry.”

Stealthily, the strength in the man’s hand, which was gripping his collar tightly as if to strangle him, loosened. Cheon Yeomyung let go of Yang Euijoo with a softened face and answered hesitantly.

“……I wasn’t angry.”

Was the fuss you were making a second ago not anger but affection? Yang Euijoo was about to say something to Cheon Yeomyung’s ridiculous words, but just reached out his hand. The hand, encased in a leather glove, flinched. He neither pushed Cheon Yeomyung away nor pulled him closer. Maintaining an appropriate distance, he held the hand of the man who was reluctant to offer his bare hand.

“Didn’t you say you were busy? You should get going now.”

“I will.”

“And don’t go around grabbing neighborhood kids and talking nonsense.”

“Okay.”

The man, who was submissive yet not submissive, answered in the most softened voice possible. And then, as if he really was busy, he checked his watch.

“Go straight home. And eat dinner.”

“Yes.”

The relationship was still ambiguous. Cheon Yeomyung did not assert any damn ownership over Yang Euijoo, but he meddled in his life to a certain extent. And yet, he would also watch his mood. He seemed to be suffering from a useless anxiety that Yang Euijoo might run away again at any moment.

If he was going to run away, he would have run away long ago when he was shot and hovering between life and death, or when he was sent to England. But it seemed the smart man’s head did not work in that direction. In front of the general store, Yang Euijoo gave a light push to the back of the man who was dawdling as if with lingering attachment, forcibly seeing him off, and then returned to the chimney house. When he got home, he would take the medicine that would make him overwhelmingly sleepy and then fall asleep.

When I open my eyes, I will wake up again in the mansion with the dark blue deep sea and Hong Kong Island on the other side. Yang Euijoo, anticipating Cheon Yeomyung’s abduction early on, wrapped up his day.

However, the next morning was different from what Yang Euijoo had expected. He woke up in the highest compartment of the moderately unpleasant and damp chimney house. The ceiling was a perfect fit for his sitting height. On the ceiling, which Yang Euijoo could be under with his head held up, but which Cheon Yeomyung would have to lower his head to avoid hitting, there remained a stain from a rainwater leak.

Yang Euijoo pushed away the thin blanket and dropped both his feet below the wooden plank. It was natural to wake up in the chimney house, but the height of this high yet low ceiling and the void where his soles did not touch the floor felt dizzyingly unfamiliar.

What’s gotten into Cheon Yeomyung. Yang Euijoo took off the t-shirt that had become damp with sweat overnight and skillfully extended his foot to the stairs. The chimney house had stairs installed in place of the precarious and rail-less footboards. The stairs, which were a result of Cheon Yeomyung’s firm stance, were narrow and steep as they were squeezed in to fit the size of the house, but they were more stable than the previous footboards. Yang Euijoo stepped on the wooden stairs and thought as he slid down.

There was no way that the suspiciously sinister and willful man would give up on bringing Yang Euijoo into the mansion now. Was it a kind of apology? Yang Euijoo threw the t-shirt into the laundry basket and then went into the bathroom. Cheon Yeomyung had once asked what kind of place this was to have a faucet, but in any case, in the chimney house, this was the bathroom.

“Teacher, do you really not have any plaster left?”

“There’s only a little.”

Yang Euijoo answered, mumbling with a toothbrush in his mouth.

“Can’t you sell me even a little? My back hurts so much I feel like I’m going to die.”

The customer who came to buy medicine wore a woeful expression. Yang Euijoo stopped brushing his teeth and thought for a moment. He had almost no extra plaster, but if he scraped it all together, he could probably get two days’ worth.

“Wait a bit. It’ll take some time.”

He returned to the bathroom, spat out the toothpaste foam, rinsed his mouth, and then took out a new t-shirt to wear. Yang Euijoo was actually wearing the t-shirts that Cheon Yeomyung had piled up without permission more often. There was the disadvantage that they did not fit, but it was not a big flaw for an upper garment to be roomy, unlike pants. Yang Euijoo tucked the end of the t-shirt, which seemed to smell of bleach, into his jeans and threw the plaster, which was less than half full in a small can, through the narrow casement window.

The customer, who had been standing with his hands on his hips, received the plaster with a pleased expression.

“Wow, thanks. It was always useful, but I feel like it’s gotten especially good lately. You don’t know how sad I was that I didn’t have this while you were closed.”

“Just pay and go.”

The customer was talkative. Yang Euijoo bent down and answered with a teacup in his mouth. The customer scraped together the coins in his pocket, handed them over, and asked.

“By the way, you don’t sell painkillers anymore? There were quite a few people looking for them.”

“I don’t, I don’t sell them.”

It was tiresome. When Yang Euijoo waved his hand in disgust, the customer looked disappointed.

“Aren’t there some guys who cause a ruckus asking you to sell them?”

“That much is fine.”

The level of the guys who threw a tantrum, asking to buy the dregs of drugs because they did not even have the money to buy the drugs themselves, was obvious. Yang Euijoo waved his hand, saying it was nothing to worry about. The customer tucked the plaster deep into his clothes, patted his back, and left the front of the pharmacy. Yang Euijoo gulped down the strongly brewed tea, rolling the bitter taste around in his mouth.

He did not sell painkillers anymore. Just as Cheon Yeomyung had not changed yet had changed in some ways, Yang Euijoo had not changed yet there was one thing that was changing. There were times when filthy, useless oxygen-wasting trash would pound on the door of the chimney house as if to break it down, demanding painkillers, but he did not care. He was not that scared even if those bastards sprinkled pig’s blood on the gate or hung a pig’s bladder on it. Rather, he was only a little worried on the occasions when Cheon Yeomyung saw the gate in that state, got angry, and went off somewhere.

“There’s no way they’d be fine when they’re involved with Yirang……”

The customer said with a reluctant tone.

“I’m really fine. If you’re going to barge in so early in the morning, stop dawdling and get lost.”

“Hey, listen to the way you talk even when I’m worried about you.”

The customer clicked his tongue at Yang Euijoo’s prickly personality and left the front of the pharmacy. As he pushed the window shut, Yang Euijoo thought. He was involved with Cheon Yeomyung, so what was so strange about being involved with small-fry drug addicts or gangsters? And what if it was not fine?

And as is the way of life, it was not long after Yang Euijoo thought it was no big deal that he was confronted by an alcoholic and drug addict who came to the front of the pharmacy to cause a ruckus.

“I told you, I don’t sell it anymore.”

“Don’t give me that shit. You took it all for yourself, didn’t you?”

“Fuck, I’d rather eat a pig’s kidney than eat that, why would I eat it?”

“Stop pissing me off and sell it to me now. I can give you more money, right, put it on my tab.”

The drug addict, with a strawberry nose and glazed eyes, grabbed Yang Euijoo by the collar, shook him, and threatened him. Yang Euijoo, his body swaying helplessly back and forth, frowned. A tab? He could not even use a ledger anymore because it gave him trauma. It was all because Cheon Yeomyung had taken someone else’s ledger without permission, drew red lines through it, and arbitrarily ordered hits. Do you even know that the moment I write in a ledger, you’ll be on Cheon Yeomyung’s kill list, when you’re demanding this. Yang Euijoo swatted away the hand of the guy who was courting death.

“I told you I don’t sell it. Don’t act up in front of someone else’s house.”

“I told you I’d just leave if you sold it to me, aren’t you going to give it to me quickly? I might just set your house on fire!”

Right, Cheon Yeomyung would like it if he set it on fire. Would he be happy that he could finally legally let someone sleep in his mansion. Yang Euijoo let the lunatic’s threat go in one ear and out the other.

“This bastard must think I’m a fool, I’ll drag you away and slash that pretty face of yours……”

“Interesting. And then?”

A stiff voice echoed eerily. It had a knack for making one feel the gloomy evening air already in the afternoon when the sun was slowly setting.

“Huh?”

The lunatic who had been spouting threats of arson and kidnapping widened his eyes upon seeing an unfamiliar face.

“Slash him, and then what are you going to do? Let’s do it together.”

Cheon Yeomyung, dressed in a stylish suit, wrapped his arm around the lunatic’s shoulder and whispered slyly. The smell of drugs and alcohol was overwhelming, but he had a strong stomach. The lunatic, who seemed to have lost his mind, did not recognize Cheon Yeomyung and showed great interest in his appearance. His height and build were no match for the lunatic’s, but it seemed that just having a decent face was enough to arouse his sexual desire.

Yang Euijoo, with his arms crossed, watched Cheon Yeomyung trying his best to entice the drug addict. For some reason, he could not help but be reminded of Joseph O’Neil, the perfume seller from Shanghai.

“Huh? Uh uh……, who are you, a dealer?

In Yirang, if you were well-dressed, your profession was often suspicious. Cheon Yeomyung smiled brightly and answered, yes. In fact, Cheon Yeomyung was the biggest dealer of them all, so it was not an incorrect title.

“Oh, really? You want to share with me too?”

The lunatic was hastening his own demise. He wanted to tell him it was not a good choice, but the guy, who had been suffering from the side effects of drug addiction since the afternoon and was not in his right mind, did not realize that he was walking straight into hell.

“That bastard has a foul mouth, but his face is pretty, right? He’s quite popular around here. I’ll go first, so you be second……”

He did not finish his sentence. The lunatic’s eyes widened as his jaw was dislocated with a single squeeze of the man’s hand. Cheon Yeomyung, still with his arm chummily around his shoulder, smiled brightly and innocently as he threw the lunatic to the ground. The lunatic, with his dislocated jaw, could not even scream properly and rolled on the ground.

Soon, Cheon Yeomyung lifted his finger and beckoned behind him. His subordinates, who had been waiting in the alley, rushed out and hoisted up the lunatic. A drug addict would be disappearing from Yirang. Yang Euijoo, feeling a little reluctant, watched the group of men in black carrying the person away as if collecting waste, and then turned his gaze to Cheon Yeomyung. Cheon Yeomyung was staring sullenly at his glove, despite having dislocated the lunatic’s jaw without batting an eye.

“……What’s wrong?”

“My glove got dirty.”

Cheon Yeomyung’s black leather glove had some saliva stuck to it from when he dislocated the jaw. It was understandable to be displeased. Yang Euijoo thought for a moment and then nodded.

“Come in and wash your hands.”

Saying that, he opened the door to the chimney house first. The man’s gaze followed him ecstatically, and then Cheon Yeomyung, without even pretending to refuse, followed Yang Euijoo inside like a well-trained dog. They barely passed through the narrow and long gate and went inside. Yang Euijoo went into the bathroom that Cheon Yeomyung had criticized, grabbed the grimy rubber hose, and turned on the water. Cheon Yeomyung did not complain and washed his dirtied glove with soap.

After that, he took off the glove and hung it on the clothesline. Yang Euijoo looked at Cheon Yeomyung’s bare hand, which he was still not used to. The hand, still clearly scarred, reached out gently and tickled Yang Euijoo’s hair.

“What is it?”

Yang Euijoo pushed the hand away curtly. Cheon Yeomyung obediently withdrew his hand without any sign of displeasure.

“Have you had dinner?”

It was barely past three in the afternoon, so there was no way he had eaten dinner. Yang Euijoo answered immediately.

“Yes.”

“……”

Perhaps not expecting him to say he had eaten, Cheon Yeomyung’s eyes darted around with a flustered expression. It was obvious that he was thinking about what trick to pull next.

“Have you had a late-night snack?”

“Yes.”

“Teacher, a late-night snack is something you eat at night. Is it night now?”

In the end, Cheon Yeomyung was the first to get worked up. Why is he so stupid when he must have studied? Yang Euijoo looked around and picked up a bag of egg cookies that caught his eye. The egg cookies, packaged in a small palm-sized plastic bag, rolled around inside. Yang Euijoo gently placed it in Cheon Yeomyung’s hand.

“If you’re hungry, eat that.”

“……”

“I’m tired, so I need to rest a bit.”

The golden eyes rolled around. Good grief. Yang Euijoo clicked his tongue slightly to himself and crawled upwards. Cheon Yeomyung followed him and jumped up as well. In his hand was a cute bag of egg cookies. Holding the bag of cookies rather preciously, Cheon Yeomyung stared at Yang Euijoo who was getting settled to lie down.

Yang Euijoo pressed the button on the fan and then turned on his side to lie down. The gaze that had been staring at his side profile for a while was withdrawn. Yang Euijoo stealthily opened his eyes and looked at Cheon Yeomyung. Cheon Yeomyung, who had been gazing at the egg cookies in his hand, carefully tore the bag open on the side. Soon, Cheon Yeomyung, with a look of someone seeing something unfamiliar, took out a yellow, round cookie and popped it into his mouth.

He seemed to like the cookie, as he chewed the second one a little faster. Soon, the sound of the man eating the egg cookies in succession, crisp, crunch, crunch, echoed endlessly. He should not be thinking this, but he could not help but think that it was somehow cute.

🐑

“When I think about it seriously.”

As soon as Linlin opened her mouth with a grand expression, Yang Euijoo scraped the air with his spoon and cut her off.