Yang’s Master Chapter 2.1 - Liar

The man who brought flowers to match the day of his discharge extended a hand to Yang Euijoo with an exceedingly polite attitude.

“Pharmacist.”

The title had not changed. However, his voice and attitude had transformed to become surprisingly gentle. Yang Euijoo, unable to hide his unfamiliar and awkward feelings, took the offered hand. Cheon Yeomyung smiled with an incredibly dashing demeanor.

“Finally discharged.”

It was a lament-filled tone. Yang Euijoo nodded his head in agreement, as he had been thinking the exact same thing. He had stayed in the hospital for a full month. It was the result of complications that arose following his fractures and bruises. Yang Euijoo’s condition had been so terrible that the doctor had even asked how on earth he had survived in that state, and the worse it got, the more affectionate Cheon Yeomyung became. When his cold had worsened to the brink of pneumonia just a week into his hospital stay, Cheon Yeomyung had even become fervent.

Whenever Cheon Yeomyung stopped by the hospital, Yang Euijoo felt so excessively burdened and uncomfortable that he would scratch himself all over. Bok bok. He knew it. There is no such thing as unconditional kindness in this world. The price must be clear. Of course, Li Su had also picked up the penniless Yang Euijoo and fed him for free, but would he have endured if that life had continued for over a month? There was no way. In the face of poverty, pure goodwill did not exist, and the rich, in fact, preferred to calculate things.

Cheon Yeomyung would not pour such an enormous hospital bill on Yang Euijoo without any self-interest. So, what was Yang Euijoo supposed to give him in return? The thought that simply fetching some information about beggars was truly all Cheon Yeomyung wanted did not seem plausible. In the end, it was a debt. It was clear that Yang Euijoo would once again become entangled with Cheon Yeomyung to accomplish things he could not do on his own.

The good times ended with the notification that he had to leave the hospital, along with the realization of his reality.

“If you’ve lived on a boat since you were young, this can happen. There must have been a lot of mold, so it’s understandable that your respiratory system isn’t in good shape. If you neglect a cold for a long time, there’s a high chance it will become pneumonia again, so please make sure to manage it well.”

Doctor Cheong spoke while glancing at Yang Euijoo, whose face was still reddish in places from the fading heat rash. The patient was Yang Euijoo, but the one listening to the explanation was Cheon Yeomyung. In any case, he was too ignorant to understand most of the medical jargon used in the hospital and just stared blankly at the ceiling.

Cheon Yeomyung had poured so much money into this hospital that every time he visited, the person known as the hospital director would come down to his room and flatter him. In front of a major benefactor, the fact that Yang Euijoo was stateless and from Yirang was not an issue at all. The hospital acted as if they would sell their own identities to make Yang Euijoo a legal citizen if Cheon Yeomyung ordered them to.

Still, when it came to acting as sweet as honey in one’s mouth, the man was the best. Yang Euijoo held the unfamiliar bouquet in his arms. A rich fragrance wafted from the dew-kissed petals, as if only the most vibrant ones had been picked from the flower shop. Yang Euijoo walked, emotionlessly gazing at the yellow flowers that were still in bud.

Cheon Yeomyung, as if it were the most natural thing, wrapped an arm around Yang Euijoo’s shoulder. After the agreement of their ambiguous relationship, the two had grown quite close. Cheon Yeomyung tried to visit Yang Euijoo often, and when he could not, he sent his subordinates with gifts. The gifts were mostly cookies in small boxes or fresh fruit. Yang Euijoo waited for Cheon Yeomyung, feeling his stomach grow fatter.

Anyway, the only thing he could do in his hospital room was the crossword puzzle a nurse had brought him to pass the time. And Yang Euijoo did not have a good enough vocabulary to solve it. He was only slightly better compared to the standard of Yirang; it was the same in that he had never set foot in a school.

Still, hospital life was good. It was hygienic, and warm meals were served punctually three times a day. Yang Euijoo had gained some weight and was healthier than before his hospitalization. When he looked in the mirror, he could feel that his face was not just clean, but gleaming. Doctor Cheong was also amazed. After removing most of Yang Euijoo’s bandages and seeing his face with all the swelling gone, he had once asked this.

“How on earth were you beaten for this face to have ended up in that state?”

“These things can happen in life.”

“Don’t live like that.”

Yang Euijoo did not know what to say to the overly firm doctor and kept his mouth shut. A nurse standing beside them apologized for the doctor’s rudeness on his behalf, and it ended with her urging Cheong to leave. Of course, later, even the nurse discreetly came and asked if he had run off with someone’s money. Yang Euijoo swallowed his reply with a vague smile.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“I am not thinking about anything.”

Cheon Yeomyung, still dressed entirely in black today, was staring at him. Yang Euijoo, who had been reminiscing about past memories, shook his head and followed Cheon Yeomyung. The man personally opened the door of a large, very expensive-looking sedan. Yang Euijoo, while finding the excessive kindness uncomfortable, got into the car without a word. The bouquet rustled, and the tips of the yellow petals crumpled slightly.

Sitting in the back seat of a car for the first time in a sober state, Yang Euijoo gazed at the rapidly receding hospital. Linlin, who had taken the wheel today on behalf of everyone, kept glancing at Yang Euijoo’s face—so cleaned up that his first impression was no longer memorable—and asked.

“Where shall I take you?”

“Well…”

Cheon Yeomyung, who had been murmuring while looking out the window, answered a beat later.

“Shall we go get some dim sum.”

“Dim sum sounds great!”

Linlin answered promptly as if she had been waiting.

“You’re not the one who’s supposed to answer.”

And she was immediately reprimanded. Linlin considered retorting, “Is my mouth, which hasn’t had lunch even past two in the afternoon, not a mouth?”, but decided to just shut up.

In the end, their monumental first outing was decided to be dim sum, which Linlin had insisted on, with Yang Euijoo’s consent. They moved to a place not far from the hospital. The restaurant, which had an old-fashioned sign made of gold and black, had a sign posted that said it was on a break, but Cheon Yeomyung moved as naturally as someone who had not even seen such a sign.

The head chef himself came out to greet Cheon Yeomyung. Linlin nonchalantly took a seat between Cheon Yeomyung and Yang Euijoo and opened the menu. The menu was incredibly large and thick. For a moment, Yang Euijoo thought that this menu might be sturdier than the wooden board that served as the door to his home and pharmacy. And he realized that this thought was not far from the truth. The menu did not get a single scratch even when Linlin flipped through it with incredibly rough hand gestures. Yang Euijoo, recalling the door that would crack if closed even a little too hard, blankly flipped through the collection of dishes he was seeing for the first time in his life.

“Ah, do you happen to have a key?”

“Pardon?”

Yang Euijoo, who had been pondering the difference between ‘Shrimp Wonton Noodles’ and ‘Fresh Shrimp Wonton Noodles’, lifted his head. Cheon Yeomyung held his palm out to him and said again.

“The house key, I mean.”

Only then did Yang Euijoo use the brainpower meant for distinguishing between Shrimp Wonton Noodles and Fresh Shrimp Wonton Noodles to understand Cheon Yeomyung’s words.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you’ve been away from home for a long time. Doesn’t it need tidying up?”

“Not particularly…”

About to say it was fine, Yang Euijoo frowned. He had been away from his place in Yirang for over a month. Some other guy could be living in his house. If no one lived there, field mice and bugs would run rampant. The thought of that state was so repulsive it was as if something other than shrimp had entered his mouth. In his mind, Yang Euijoo weighed the offer that trespassed on his private space—being excessive and burdensome—against the life of a capitalist pig whose body and mind had been tamed by money at the hospital. His eyes fixed on the menu, he replied.

“If you go around to the back of the building, there’s another small window. I always keep a spare key between the window frame and the iron bars.”

At the faster-than-expected reply, Cheon Yeomyung nodded his head, pleased.

“Good. Linlin?”

“Shall I go make a call, boss?”

Linlin, who had been passionately writing down about ten dishes she would eat on the order form, asked with tact. Cheon Yeomyung shook his head.

“It would be better to help our Pharmacist with his menu order. I’ll make the call myself.”

“You, boss?”

“Is there anything I can’t do?”

Linlin, though puzzled by Cheon Yeomyung’s words about taking on such a trivial task himself, nodded. Recommending menus was always a task she was confident in, and thinking about it, it was not that strange for her whimsical boss to do something like cleaning up after someone. From Linlin’s perspective, the way the boss was treating his current lover was a bit abnormal. She turned her body completely toward Yang Euijoo while drinking the tea prepared on the table.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes.”

Yang Euijoo nodded, drinking water instead of tea.

“Seeing your undamaged face, it seems you’re definitely the boss’s type.”

At Linlin’s lighthearted tone, Yang Euijoo went keuheum, and forcibly swallowed the water that had almost gone down the wrong way. Yang Euijoo looked at Linlin. The woman, with her hair braided high on both sides and coiled into buns, and with wisps of baby hair fetchingly left out by her ears, was very cute and difficult to talk to.

“…Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?”

“There’s no way it’s a compliment!”

Linlin beamed, her dimples showing. She had a gentle tone and a pretty face, but Yang Euijoo could not forget the minor incident during his hospital stay when Linlin, while handing him a can of cookies, had almost given him a pistol along with it.

“Being targeted by our boss is an unfortunate thing.”

“…Is it okay for you to be telling me this?”

“What does it matter? Choosing a menu with me is probably more valuable than playing around with the boss, you know?”

The subordinate’s evaluation of her boss was scathing. Yang Euijoo wanted to hear a little more about that, but he forgot about it as Linlin spread open the lavishly decorated menu. Having lived so affluently for over a month, his belly had, in vulgar terms, gotten greasy, so if he missed a mealtime, his appetite would spring up uncontrollably. He drooled looking at the pictures of red and yellow food. Linlin, too, asked without taking her eyes off the glistening, brown braised pork that was dripping with oil.

“Is there anything you like?”

“Well. I have never eaten this kind of thing before.”

“Oh dear. Then do you like spicy food? The spicy dishes and braised dishes here are really delicious. You’ve only had bland hospital food until now, so it’s time to eat something stimulating!”

Recommending steamed and stir-fried dishes full of chili peppers to a patient who had just been discharged, Linlin chattered on with all her might. The two shrimp wonton noodle dishes that Yang Euijoo had been earnestly contemplating were decided anticlimactically with the firm logic that he should just order the more expensive one. Even after that, caught up in a dazzling menu recommendation that did not end, Yang Euijoo had already ordered a ton of dishes by the time Cheon Yeomyung returned from his phone call. He did not get angry even seeing that the two of them had filled up the order sheet.

“Take your time and eat.”

Cheon Yeomyung acted very affectionately even in the restaurant, personally pouring jasmine tea into Yang Euijoo’s cup as if he were truly his lover.

That is why neither Yang Euijoo nor Linlin knew. About a trivial act of Cheon Yeomyung’s, like how in the brief moment he handed over the bouquet, he had switched the leather gloves stained with yellow pollen for a new pair.

“Slowly, eat a lot.”

Cheon Yeomyung narrowed his yellow, shining eyes and smiled broadly. He was in a really good mood today. Was it not the day his possession, which he had fed well and fattened up, had finally begun its activities? He stroked Yang Euijoo’s head, like an animal nudging a cage with the bridge of its nose.

The food was delicious. Yang Euijoo had come to know the fulfillment and leisure of one who greases his belly. Even knowing it was a wrong choice, he had starved for a very long time and did not know comfort. Things like pride, self-esteem, and character did not exist for a resident of Yirang, and were rights deprived of a child from a stateless ship. Yang Euijoo felt both discomfort and comfort at the same time when Cheon Yeomyung pretended to care for him.

It was a kind of seditious sense of liberation, like the feeling he had when he first picked up and smoked a cigarette butt.

“A cigarette?”

“Yes.”

He had eaten his fill. There was still quite a lot of food left after that, but Linlin ate it all by herself. Her face, which shoveled food into her mouth while smiling brightly, showed no sign of fullness. On top of that, Linlin even pestered Cheon Yeomyung, asking if she could have dessert. Cheon Yeomyung, as if looking at a half-witted animal, tossed the menu to his subordinate and had just led Yang Euijoo outside.

The dim sum restaurant was a three-story traditional building, and its courtyard was beautifully decorated. Koi fish lived in the small pond. It was incomparable to Yirang, where water striders and bugs lived in the water pooled on the ground. Yang Euijoo, realizing that ordinary people all enjoyed this level of life, took a deep drag of his cigarette. The man still used matches. The match, broken in half, fell carelessly to the ground. There was no need to stamp out the ember with his foot. The match was buried in the wet earth without even emitting smoke.

“Linlin-ssi eats well.”

“Just call her by her name.”

“…Yes.”

By the way, how old was Linlin? As soon as Yang Euijoo wondered, Cheon Yeomyung answered.

“She turned twenty-eight last month. Her food expenses are high.”

He said that the youthful face with the pigtail-like hairstyle was twenty-eight. Yang Euijoo, thinking of Linlin who felt younger than his own twenty-five years, glanced at Cheon Yeomyung. As soon as their eyes met, Cheon Yeomyung responded to him.

“I’m older than Linlin. Publicly, I say I’m thirty-three, but I’m actually thirty. My birthday is in the winter.”

“Do you read minds?”

At his fed-up voice, Cheon Yeomyung laughed briefly. He dropped the barely smoked cigarette to the ground to extinguish it, then slowly brushed the ash off his leather glove.

“I’ve worked with Linlin for about ten years… The reason I go around saying I’m thirty-three is because there are guys who look down on you if you’re too young.”

“…”

“Is there anything else you’re curious about? I may not look it, but I’m a kind boss, so my subordinates know my hobbies inside and out.”

It was a funny thing. A gangster boss who calls himself kind with his own mouth, and a swindler pharmacist who thinks that statement might actually be true.

“There is nothing.”

“Really? A shame. Then I guess I’ll slowly get to know what Pharmacist likes.”

Listening to Cheon Yeomyung’s voice as he spoke in a humming tone, Yang Euijoo slowly drew on his cigarette. What he liked…

“I like money.”

“Is there anyone who dislikes that?”

It was not an incorrect statement, but Yang Euijoo lived in Yirang. He had a tendency to be obsessed with money. Like how he would try not to touch the money he had saved even if he had to eat dirt, or how he still hated Du Shanchong for forcibly taking the pennies he had earned working at Li Su’s shop at a gambling den.

“Because I like it excessively.”

“What else?”

“Well. Money can do anything, so is there anything more important than that?”

Yang Euijoo muttered and tapped the ash off his cigarette. He knew that if he asked Cheon Yeomyung, the man would let him smoke as many cigarettes like this as he wanted, but he did not. Instead, he very carefully and sparingly smoked the single cigarette he had been given.

“There could be something besides money, couldn’t there?”

“I would like physical comfort.”

“That might be a little difficult.”

It was an honest answer. Yang Euijoo tried to interpret the relationship the man wanted from him, failed, and stoically put the cigarette to his lips.

He was full. The skin of the dim sum was very thin. The filling was packed, and when he took a bite, the juices flowed out. It was a taste that made him feel like he would never be able to eat Li Su’s wonton noodles again.

The braised pork that Linlin had confidently recommended was also delicious. The braised meat was simmered in a tender and sweet-smelling sauce until it fell apart softly at the mere touch of chopsticks. He mixed that with rice topped with an egg yolk and ate them together. After eating the sweet and savory braised dish, he ate spicy grilled fish. The whole fish came out grilled on a rack, generously slathered with a sauce that was red and glossy just by looking at it. It tasted chewy because it was dried fish that had been grilled. Linlin lamented that she wanted to drink alcohol and ate voraciously, woogeok woogeok, as if she would chew up even the fish head.

She ate so deliciously that Yang Euijoo ate deliciously along with her. It was a meal that would leave no regrets even if it were the last one of his life. That was why Yang Euijoo kept comparing it to something.

As if he had noticed, Cheon Yeomyung spoke shrewdly.

“Still, life will be more bearable than before. I hope my men have cleaned up seonsaeng’s house well.”

“Well, I’d be glad if it hasn’t fallen apart.”

To climb up into the house, which was an artificially divided space to live in that was not even a proper house, being narrow in width and long in height, one had to step on a stair-like tread. But there was no telling if that tread could withstand the weight of burly men. Cheon Yeomyung seemed to know that too, as he burst out laughing. The man was not stingy with his laughter. He laughed well, knew how to joke, and knew how to tease.

That was why he seemed less human. Yang Euijoo, seeing the golden eyes that did not waver even under the sunlight, lowered his gaze.

“They said the footboard already broke once. I told them to fix it properly, so it should be sturdier than before.”

“Should I say thank you?”

“Think of it as experiencing special treatment in advance.”

Special treatment. Yang Euijoo just watched silently as Cheon Yeomyung reached out a hand to him. However, he did nothing but smooth out the wrinkles on his shirt.

“Seonsaeng will be of help to me.”

“…”

“And seonsaeng will need my help too, right?”

We can have a good relationship. Cheon Yeomyung said affectionately and only then pressed his lips to his cheek. Yang Euijoo flinched at the unfamiliar sensation. Seeing that strange reaction, Cheon Yeomyung smiled broadly. His red lips parted, smiling in what could only be described as an ecstatic curve.

“Ah, is it really your first time with a man?”

Yang Euijoo, who had been staring at Cheon Yeomyung’s face like a dazed boy, snapped back to his senses. Displeasure instantly filled his entire body. Even receiving a gaze full of fervent criticism, Cheon Yeomyung just laughed. A muggy summer breeze settled heavily on his face, where the smile was suffused like a mask.

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s because someone who supposedly served customers stiffens up from just a kiss on the cheek.”

Cheon Yeomyung, who spoke mockingly, did not continue the skinship any further. With an arm draped around the shoulders of Yang Euijoo, who was a head shorter than him, he turned his steps naturally.

“I wonder how many desserts Linlin is eating.”

“…Surely she couldn’t have eaten that much.”

“You saw her eat and you can still say that? She eats an enormous amount. She likes sweet things, so she will have eaten even more dessert.”

Indeed, Linlin did not stray from Cheon Yeomyung’s prediction; she had eaten three cups of mango sorbet drizzled with cream and condensed milk, two glasses of watermelon juice, five milk puddings, and was on her third scoop of ice cream topped with chewy fried glutinous rice balls. All while enjoying her happy mealtime, which grew longer the longer her boss was away.

In the midst of debating whether or not to have one more dessert—milk tea topped with coconut, stewed dates, and condensed milk—she received a message that Cheon Yeomyung was calling for her, threw down her spoon, and ran out of the restaurant. Cheon Yeomyung, perhaps finding it too troublesome to even come to the table, was standing at the counter and paying right away. Linlin hovered eagerly near her boss.

“You ate a hell of a lot.”

“Heok.”

Linlin covered her syrup-stained mouth with her hand. Cheon Yeomyung’s eyes scanned the list of what Linlin had eaten, having devoured it all without a hint of manners or modesty even in an expensive restaurant. It was not that he felt it was a waste, but at this rate, as her boss, he could not help but worry about Linlin’s Engel’s coefficient.

“Linlin, how about you eat in moderation. Can you cover your food expenses with your salary?”

“Please interpret this as a protest for me to demand a salary increase.”

“If you want to protest, go to the mainland, not the island.”

At his subordinate’s nonsense, Cheon Yeomyung snorted and wrote a dashing signature on the check. The waiter holding his coat had a fed-up expression, though he did not show it, at the excessive bill for what three people had eaten. Cheon Yeomyung was in a good mood, so he overlooked the waiter’s minor flaw and commanded something into Linlin’s ear. Linlin nodded and left first, saying she would bring the car.

“We didn’t get to have coffee.”

Cheon Yeomyung muttered as if he had just realized it. Yang Euijoo, who had been staring blankly at the sum on the bill, a sum he had never seen in his life, lifted his head.

“Coffee?”

“I’m not British, so I prefer coffee over tea. Linlin will take you home, so it would be better to have tea next time.”

Deciding on their next meeting on his own, Cheon Yeomyung took out his wallet again. It was a black wallet with a texture similar to his gloves. He took out a few dollar bills as they came to hand. The man, who pulled out several 500-dollar bills, casually pressed them into Yang Euijoo’s hand. Even a drug dealer in Yirang who roams the gambling dens would not be able to earn this much money in a single day. The gaze of the manager who had helped with the payment at the counter followed Yang Euijoo suspiciously and unpleasantly.

“Ah, when you get back, don’t forget the favor I asked.”

Yang Euijoo, holding the dollars, looked at Cheon Yeomyung. Cheon Yeomyung held a phone borrowed from the restaurant, dialing the numbers one by one, and formed a smiling-eye expression.

“Being away for a month, you must have a lot of customers looking for you.”

It was a statement that could easily give others a dirty misunderstanding. He thought it was intentional, but his pride did not crumble. A generous life had never allowed Yang Euijoo such a luxurious emotion.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Yang Euijoo answered calmly. Delicious food, kindness that was not just sufficient but excessive, an enormous hospital bill, and pocket money.

“See you next time.”

What reason was there for him to refuse Cheon Yeomyung’s offer?

Yang Euijoo needed money. He wanted to live properly. Like a human being. If he saved up a lot of money, he could even buy an identity. Two years after coming to live in Yirang, he had burned his own beliefs, which were as tattered as the soles of a rotten shoe. What was the big deal about being the lover of a rich gangster? It was ridiculous to even begin to say which life was better, that of a kept man who sold his body or that of a swindler who sold trash by tricking people into thinking it was medicine.

Things like pride or integrity were left behind on the lower deck of the ship where bugs crawled and the sound of sloshing water echoed all around. To console himself, wasn’t Cheon Yeomyung at least a little different from the bug-like gangsters of Yirang? He drove a car and was the boss of a large organization that made the highest person at the hospital grovel. In any case, it was obvious that the curiosity of a guy like that for a human like himself would not last long.

Cough. Yang Euijoo carefully let out a cough, feeling a pain as if mold were clinging to his lungs. Living in a place like this, it seemed the mold that had bloomed in his lungs would never disappear. He wanted to live in a house with good sunlight. Even a north-facing one would be fine, as long as the house had at least two windows.

I’ll take the money he gives me, and if he offers to buy me a house, I won’t refuse. I’ll take it all and then leave this place. Yang Euijoo put his non-existent pride in a pot and melted it with oil, humming a song haltingly. It was a song he had heard on the radio they played at the hospital. It was in English, so he could not properly understand the meaning of the lyrics, but he liked the cheerful melody. Humming the song that went something about California, he dusted off his pharmacy.

Soon, the pharmacy reopened for business under the banner of a summer that felt like an early high fever. The items for sale were always the same. Painkillers of unknown composition, preferred by drug addicts, and ointment for bruises.

“If you don’t have money, get lost.”

And as its mascot, the foul-mouthed owner of the pharmacy.

The pharmacist with the pretty face was the same as ever, to the point that one wouldn’t feel he had been gone for a month. He treated customers like dog droppings and did not even use honorifics.

“Son of a bitch!”

A customer, who only thought of setting Yang Euijoo’s house on fire if he ever hit it big with gambling, spat and left. The pharmacy owner, as if he had been waiting, threw salt. It was an ordinary scene in Yirang. Everyone passing by saw it as a matter of course for the pharmacist to trade insults and fight with customers. And they always snickered at how the pharmacist would tenaciously win against the customers. The pharmacist had a lot of nerve and was tough, so he would not bat an eye even if a customer threatened him with any sort of words.

“A son of a bitch has a better fate than a son of a man.”

Yang Euijoo scoffed, mocking the customer’s pathetic insult. Then, on today’s ledger, he wrote the name of the madman who had asked for credit for the fifth time and added him to the blacklist. As the weather got hotter, maybe everyone’s minds were melting too; there were many who were spouting nonsense. The pharmacist squinted, gauging the sunlight coming through the narrow gap of the window.

The fiercest heat of August had passed its peak, yet the midday sun was still brutal. Many had died this summer as well. The heat was always more of a problem than the cold. On the island, it rarely dropped below freezing even in winter. Unlike the mild winters, the summers were a pandemonium jumbled with humidity and heat. Heatstroke spread as fast as the black plague and killed people. Recalling the stench of decomposing corpses that had filled the streets of Yirang in early August, Yang Euijoo slammed the window shut.

Since customers did not come often, he immediately refocused on what he had been doing. At his feet, parts of a fan he had bought on a whim were spread out here and there. This summer, Yang Euijoo had increased his spending. He had washed the one he used last year clean and given it to Li Su, and for himself, he bought a bigger and sturdier fan. The place of purchase was, of course, Linda’s general store. Linda, though suspicious of his saying he wanted to buy a new fan, had offered up a decent item. There was a sticky bloodstain on it, but it was not a major flaw.

The fan, which had run diligently all summer, was something like Yang Euijoo’s precious treasure number 11. He hummed a tune as he wiped the fan with a dry cloth and turned the now-clean button. Unlike the previous fan that creaked as it turned, this one was relatively quiet and the breeze was strong. I hope I can get through this summer just like this. Feeling his newly worn t-shirt damp and soggy with sweat, Yang Euijoo tossed it into the laundry basket. Then, grunting, eung-geung, he came down and poured cold water over his wet body.

Someone knocked on the pharmacy door after he had poured about four buckets of cold water. Yang Euijoo scowled and got up.

“Are you crazy? I wrote to ring the bell!”

At the sharp, piercing voice, the person who had been knocking with enough force to break the door flinched, and only then rang the bell, ddal-lang ddal-lang. Are you kidding me? Yang Euijoo, still dripping wet, wiped the water from his face and walked over, jeo-beok jeo-beok. Then, instead of climbing up to the second floor to open the window, he opened the door directly. A man stood in front of the narrow door with a flustered face.

“What is it?”

Yang Euijoo asked, standing crookedly. The man was a stranger. When he asked what kind of madman crawled all the way into Yirang to break someone else’s door, the other party said something strange.

“I heard a pharmacist lives here.”

“So?”

Water dripped from his hair, making it hard to see. Where did I put the towel? Yang Euijoo flicked away the constantly dripping water with his hand and tilted his head.

“If you have business, say it quickly.”

“Are you, by any chance, the pharmacist?”

“What if I am.”

Watching the indifferently responding Yang Euijoo, the man scratched his shaggy hair. There was no way a strange house like this would have two pharmacies, and from the way he spoke, he seemed to be the pharmacist… but perhaps because he had been called out in the middle of washing, the pharmacist in the man’s eyes was in a very unsavory state.

Whether it was the natural color of his hair and eyes, or a side effect of some drug, the pharmacist’s hair, which looked hazy like a dark gray, was stuck haphazardly to his face and neck, giving him an appearance that anyone would agree was better suited to being called something other than pharmacist. His light-colored eyes, similar to his hair color, were filled with irritation. He had been biting his plump lips crookedly before suddenly glaring murderously at the man.

“Hey.”

A droplet of water that had gathered at the tip of his hair trembled, pa-reu-reu, and fell. The man, who had been blankly staring at the water trail crossing the smooth chest, snapped to his senses at the murderous voice.

“Turn your eyes away before I gouge them out.”

His face, filled with a murderous intent that looked like it could tear a person apart, did not hide its annoyance. Belatedly, the man realized his mistake and stammered.

“Uh, uh.”

“What damn bad luck.”

Yang Euijoo muttered, kicking the door shut with the tip of his foot. He heard someone apologizing from outside the door, but he did not open it. Do they think all pharmacies are bars? If they needed a man or a woman, they should go to a bar to meet one; he could not understand why they would try to meet someone at a pharmacy while looking for medicine.

At this point, he was becoming curious about his father’s face. Yang Euijoo did not resemble his mother at all. His hair color, his eye color, and even his facial features were hard to find any resemblance to his mother. Sometimes there were even crazy people who would grab Yang Euijoo’s hand in front of his mother and make rude remarks, telling her to quickly abandon him if he was someone else’s child. But sadly, Yang Euijoo was indeed his mother’s biological child. The midwife who had delivered him was also on the ship. His mother, too, very easily admitted that Yang Euijoo was her son.

In fact, his mother was a little out of her mind and believed that Yang Euijoo looked exactly like her. Even though she was not that pretty. Still, even on the harsh ship, his mother did not abuse her son. She was a rough and gallant woman who lived by breathing in the sea breeze, and she never spoke of the madman who had gotten her pregnant and left without a word. The young Yang Euijoo grew up listening to the romantic story that the sea was his father and the waves were his home, nestled in his mother’s arms.

Of course, even to the young Yang Euijoo, it sounded like utter bullshit.

His biological father must have had a noble profession like a male escort or someone who sweet-talks women. Every time he saw his own smooth face, it was also a big reason that he could not think of any other kind of genes. If not for that, there was no way so many crazy bastards suggesting he enter the nightlife would be drawn to him.

He should be grateful I sent him away without stabbing his eyeballs out. Yang Euijoo, intending to kill the customer bastard who was now shaking the bell like crazy and calling for him again, grabbed the one-span-long knife used for compounding medicine in one hand and opened the door again.

“I’ll really gouge out your eyes, huh?”

Where did the perverted eyeballs that had been looking at him strangely go? A familiar face appeared.

“Hello!”

It was Cheon Yeomyung’s subordinate, Linlin, whose impressive eating habits were memorable.

“Have you been well?”

She smiled brightly, as if the knife in Yang Euijoo’s hand was invisible. Instead of answering, Yang Euijoo looked at what was in Linlin’s hand. The customer who, until a moment ago, had been shaking someone else’s house bell and shouting for him to come out was dangling from it. A pure curiosity arose as to how she had beaten a man who looked twice her size and three heads taller into a bloody pulp.

“I learned a little bit of self-defense, you see.”

As if sensing Yang Euijoo’s gaze, Linlin spoke casually and puffed out her chest. In that state, she looked like a skylark with its chest puffed up.

“A little bit, you say.”

“It’s self-defense shipped directly from Russia. The boss taught me himself!”

Her brightly smiling face was very energetic. Yang Euijoo looked at Linlin, who was saying such terrifying things, and said only one thing.

“I listen well even if you just speak to me.”

“Aish, I’m a non-violent person. The boss hates violence, you know.”

She waved her free hand shyly, but from the man she was holding, something that could have been a nosebleed or something else dripped, dook dook, to the ground. Yang Euijoo cleanly ignored it.

“What brings you here?”

“The boss asked me to come and check if you were doing well. Is there anything you need?”

“There is not.”

“Do you know this person from Yirang?”

“I’m seeing him for the first time today.”

Hmm. Linlin tilted her head and then smiled awkwardly.

“Then shall I clean this up?”

“You could, but…”

He did not want to imagine what kind of “cleaning up” Linlin had in mind. Yang Euijoo pondered for a moment, then let out a short sigh. He had wanted to gouge the man’s eyes out, but he did not want to see him die either.

“Just leave him and go.”

“Oh my.”

That’s unexpected. He heard Linlin mutter, but Yang Euijoo ignored it again, pretending not to have heard. Linlin smiled shyly and looked at Yang Euijoo. The face she was seeing after a while was still terrifyingly the boss’s type, so she was worried about the pharmacist.

“Alright. But pharmacistnim, you should probably put on some clothes.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Yang Euijoo look down at his own body. He still had not put on a t-shirt and was bare-chested. At the thought of showing an unseemly sight to a young and pretty woman, he scratched his head. His wet hair had dried considerably in the meantime and was now frizzy.

“I’ll come out after I get dressed.”

“I’ll be going now, so please go inside comfortably. This is a message from the boss.”

Linlin smiled brightly and held out a card. It was the same kind of paper as the note he had found in his house the day after he drank. On the card, a brief greeting was written in a handwriting that strongly resembled the man’s face. It was empty content, saying he was busy so he sent Linlin instead, and that they should have tea soon.

He was about to crumple the card right away, but feeling conscious of Linlin’s stare, Yang Euijoo belatedly smoothed out the crumpled card and put it in the back pocket of his jeans.

“By the way, Sir.”

Thinking the title did not suit him, Yang Euijoo looked at Linlin. She glanced at the limp man and then gestured with her eyes worriedly.

“You’re not going to take this person home, are you? Hmm, of course, I don’t think you’d like this sort of thing. I’m absolutely not misunderstanding either. But the boss is a bit overly jealous.”

It was a greatly insulting misunderstanding.

“I don’t like men.”

“What did you say?!”

Linlin jumped up and down on the spot. Her ponytail, tied high like a horse’s tail, swayed. For a moment, Yang Euijoo considered getting angry at Linlin.

Her expression was one of blatant disbelief. Of course, he knew well that saying he did not like men in a situation like this was a contradiction in itself. Linlin, unable to hide her shock at all, scanned Yang Euijoo up and down. She might get scolded by the boss for being impertinent, but it was just too shocking. He looks like he’s had about thirty boyfriends! Linlin muttered with her mouth agape.

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Then why with the boss…?”

“Is that a matter in which my will can be included?”

“Aha.”

Linlin, as if she finally understood, shook her head with a troubled expression. She inwardly mourned for Yang Euijoo like crazy and offered mature words of comfort.

“Still, you should try to enjoy it. The boss is apparently quite good. I don’t know myself, but that’s what the rumors say, you know?”

Yang Euijoo answered with sincerity.

“That is information I really do not want to know.”

“Still, it’s better than seeing blood. Anyway, I’ll be going now!”

Perhaps concerned someone might hear, Linlin cut off her words and smiled. Her high ponytail bounced, chal-lang chal-lang, once more. Yang Euijoo watched the non-violent person who had learned Russian self-defense walk away, then lowered his gaze to the ground.

The man, who had been knocked out with a double nosebleed from whatever self-defense had been used, showed no signs of getting up. After some thought, Yang Euijoo went back inside the house and came back with a bucket full of water. And he splashed the water on the man’s face. The man, who had received a slight bit of consideration, shot his eyes open with a sound like he was flailing in water.

“Heo-eok.”

Yang Euijoo squatted down in front of the groaning man and immediately thrust a knife at his neck.

“Hey, why did you come here.”

“Uwaaah!”

Just for being called, the startled man fell backward and landed hard on his butt with a loud thud. Because of that, the knife lightly scratched his neck. It was really just a light scratch, but the man whined and made a fuss about dying. In the end, he only came to his senses after Yang Euijoo, grinding his teeth menacingly and saying he would really kill him, kicked him in the shin.

“I asked why you came.”

“Ah, ahh.”

The man scratched his shaggy head and got up. The traces of a double nosebleed still remained on his face, and with a thin cut on his neck, he made a pitiful expression. He was a nerdy-looking man with messy hair and glasses.

“I came to see if you were looking for an assistant…yo?”

The ambiguous honorific attached to the end of his sentence was annoying, but the word before it was also annoying. Yang Euijoo, who had been twirling the knife in his hand, hwik hwik, scrunched up one cheek. The man looked with some fascination as a bulge rose on his white cheek.

“An assistant?”

“Because it was my dream to learn how to compound medicine.”

He was dumbfounded. Yang Euijoo opened his mouth wide at the nonsense he was hearing for the first time in his life.

“I worked at a shop so I can read a little, and I can use an abacus too. Aish, but I thought a pharmacist would be a bit older, you’re so young.”

Watching the man laugh, hahaha, Yang Euijoo was still too shocked to speak. Any sane person would not want to work as an assistant in Yirang, and Yang Euijoo was not in a position to teach someone his medicine compounding methods. Because he sold utter garbage-like medicine and was a swindler. Of course, in Yirang, this was neither a particular flaw nor a crime.

Yang Euijoo, convinced of the not-so-special fact that the man was insane, nodded his head.

“Yeah, get lost.”

“Wait a minute!”

The man grabbed Yang Euijoo’s pant leg and clung to him. Yang Euijoo felt goosebumps rise all over as the large man clung to his ankle. Could a guy with the same pepper between his legs like it when another man rubs against him? Yang Euijoo quickly kicked the man. Glaring at the guy who had been sent flying with a scream, Yang Euijoo shook out his dirtied ankle, tal tal.

“Unpaid! I can work unpaid, I tell you! I’m good at doing what I’m told!”

“Please just get lost.”

“Call me Peter.”

The man said with a sly smile, belatedly introducing himself, but Yang Euijoo was cold.

“Get lost.”

“But Mr. Pharmacist, are you really a pharmacist? You’re too young. Are you perhaps the assistant?”

Ha. Yang Euijoo sighed, just as he was about to enter through the narrow door.

“Being the assistant’s assistant is fine too. If we get along…”

“Peter?”

Peter, who was earnestly promoting himself, stopped talking and his eyes went round at Yang Euijoo’s call. The small knife Yang Euijoo held tapped his nape, tak tak.

“If you want to be a pharmacist, go to a proper pharmacy or a school and learn.”

“Uh, uh…”

“And who’s going to teach you business skills here? Stop talking nonsense and get lost.”

Leaving the dazed guy behind, Yang Euijoo slammed the door shut with a kung. He did not forget to open the narrow window and flip the sign hanging on the pharmacy door to the ‘closed for business’ side. He could hear Peter outside, unable to give up, making a commotion with excuses, but he soon ran away when a neighbor started shouting curses about the noise.

If you get heatstroke, just die quietly. Why does everyone crawl to the pharmacy to spout nonsense? Exhausted, Yang Euijoo finally settled in front of the fan, cooling himself and soothing his tired mind. In this land, things just happened nonstop. It was around the end of August, shouldn’t everyone have recovered from the summer heat and come to their senses by now…

His body limp, Yang Euijoo let out a weary breath. A bead of sweat that had started at his nape and trickled past his chest pooled neatly in his navel. Yang Euijoo blinked, tracing the ticklish moisture with his rough fingers. They were all things that had nothing to do with him, anyway. Whether living on the ship or after coming to live in Yirang, time passed too slowly. What he had in abundance was time. Survival was desperate, but life itself was not.

Enjoying something different from leisure, Yang Euijoo lightly moved his fingers, which were limp from the heat and fatigue. The card in his back pocket was still crisp, without any folds.

Yang Euijoo briefly looked at the neat and elegant handwriting and the card that was, for whatever reason, very fragrant, before letting it drop listlessly. The paper, fluttering down like a wing, palang palang, fell to the dirtiest part of the floor without even making a sound.

🐑

In the early dawn, Yang Euijoo was woken from his sleep by the sound of someone pounding madly on the door. The fan was whirring, dal-dal-geu-ri-myeo. He slowly moved his fingers first to awaken his senses. Getting up was an ordeal. It could be because of the heat, or because he had not slept properly on a futon, or his body could just be unwell. In any case, Yang Euijoo managed to get up just before someone broke his house door again.

The narrow and steep front door was opened after unlocking two locks. Yang Euijoo squeezed his body out.

“Who is it at this hour?”

“You!”

A voice thick with tears rushed at him. Yang Euijoo first thought it was fortunate he was wearing clothes, and after that, he was very flustered. A young woman he had never seen before was glaring at Yang Euijoo as if to strangle him, tears streaming down her face. The woman was in what looked like a restaurant employee’s uniform, but it was a complete mess. Her hair was disheveled, her clothes were covered in dirt, and she was not wearing shoes, so even in the darkness, her feet looked blackened. Pushing the woman away, Yang Euijoo saw ‘Amy’ written on the name tag on her chest.

Soon, Amy grabbed Yang Euijoo by the collar and cried out, sobbing.

“Bring my husband back to life!”

If Li Su had said those words, would he have understood the situation? Before Yang Euijoo could understand what this woman he was seeing for the first time in his life was saying, irritation surged first.

“Are you on drugs? Get lost.”

Amy was very frail. Even when pushed by Yang Euijoo, who was not particularly strong, she tumbled over helplessly. Then, Amy let out a long, beast-like wail. It also looked like a grotesque laugh.

“You killed Peter, didn’t you? You murderer!”

Peter. He had only heard it once, but he had not forgotten the name. Yang Euijoo muttered the name under his breath. The crazy, shaggy-haired nerd he had chased away just before falling asleep.

“What are you talking about?”

“Son of a bitch, murderer! Despicable trash that enrages heaven and men!”

Amy poured out curses without any explanation. Her face, a mess of tears, and her body, caked with blood, gave a hint as to what Amy had been clutching just moments before. Bloodshot eyes glared at Yang Euijoo.

“Who died?”

“Ha.”

Peter’s wife smiled, her eyes gleaming. It was the laugh of a person who was hollow and had given up on everything. Amy burst into a sob-like laugh. It looked as if her soul was escaping with every breath. She was like a living ghost. At the untimely commotion, people slowly started walking out into the street. Among them was Mr. Chui; the old man came out with a face completely awake from his morning sleep and looked back and forth between the woman and Yang Euijoo in confusion.

“How shameless. Are all you people like this? How could you kill a person so cruelly!”

A shrill scream erupted. Someone among the people watching silently asked.

“Pharmacist, did you kill someone?”