Winter Season Chapter 3

Subin clung tightly to Yihyeon’s back as he spoke. Yihyeon leaned forward slightly toward the sink as if to avoid him, but Subin gave a wide smirk as if finding Yihyeon cute and flicked his white earlobe.

“…There was an owner here too?”

“There were rumors that the guards protecting the third basement floor and the entrance were gangsters. Wouldn’t it be someone related to that?”

The fingers that were squeezing his thin, soft earlobe moved gently past the auricle toward his cheek and nape. Yihyeon twisted his body slightly at the sensation of his fine hairs standing on end, as if an insect were crawling on him. Subin stroked around Yihyeon’s waist with his other hand as if to soothe him.

“Do you want to rest for a bit after that’s finished before you go?”

An underhanded voice tickled his ear. However, Yihyeon shook his head to push the man’s face away and resumed the dishwashing he had stopped.

“I can’t. I have a part-time job later.”

At the firm answer, Subin pouted his lips slightly. However, unable to give up his lingering attachment, he slowly lowered the hand that had been wandering around Yihyeon’s waist.

“Do you still do that part-time job at the blood sausage soup place? I told you I’d just give you some pocket money.”

“……”

“Must be tiring just working at dawn. How much do you get? I can afford to give you at least that much.”

Even while the seductive whispering continued, the hand wiping the plates was consistently indifferent. Yihyeon, who had been staring at the bubbles being washed away with a calm face, tucked the last plate into the drying rack and shook the water off his hands inside the sink.

Subin, with an expectant face, was blatantly stroking Yihyeon’s buttocks. Only after Yihyeon wiped his hands on a dry towel did he turn around and grab Subin’s solid wrist.

“Hyung, you know.”

“……”

“That I don’t take that kind of money.”

At the quiet but firm answer, Subin made a smacking sound with his lips and took his hand away. Laughing with an awkward face, he scratched the back of his neck and then took a step back.

“Alright, kid. I just said it because I was worried you might be having a hard time.”

“……”

“Are you done with the dishes? Shall we go down together?”

“No, you go first. I’ll just throw out the trash and then go.”

When Yihyeon pointed with his chin toward a bundle of papers piled in the corner of the kitchen, Subin made a face of lingering regret. However, he only patted Yihyeon’s shoulder a couple of times and said with a gentle smile:

“It looked like the owner was going to arrive soon. Just finish up roughly and come.”

“Yeah.”

Subin, who gave a bright smile toward Yihyeon, turned his back. Yihyeon stared blankly at Subin’s retreating back as he left the kitchen and then bit his lip.

He was a partner Yihyeon spent nights with occasionally because he liked Subin’s simple sexual taste and his personality of not prying into personal matters. He didn’t want to leave any elements there that could cause unnecessary emotions or problems. He wondered if he had reacted too firmly, but thinking about it again, it seemed he had handled it well at an appropriate level.

Quickly erasing Subin from his mind, Yihyeon picked up the food waste bag in the corner of the counter he had noticed earlier. As he put in the untidy fruit peels and leftover food, one large bag was filled up in no time.

He hesitated for a moment, remembering the instruction to come down quickly, but he felt a bit uncomfortable leaving the food waste on the counter and vacating the spot. After a short deliberation, Yihyeon took the tightly tied bag and the bundles of boxes for recycling and stepped up the stairs leading to the back door.

Creeak.

As soon as he pushed open the frozen-cold door with his body, a sharp wind disheveled his hair.

Just before dawn, the dry dawn air swirling with bluish light completely awakened his lethargic mind. The regret that he should have worn something came too late, but since it was awkward to go back in now, he forced himself to quicken his pace.

The trash area was attached next to the outside parking lot at the back of the building. Just as he passed the corner of the building with quick steps, a black sedan was entering the parking lot entrance. He could see whitish smoke wavering near the light of the brightly lit headlamps.

It was a vehicle with a famous emblem. No sooner had the wheels come to a stop than the hulking guards he had seen coming and going lined up in a row. Yihyeon, who was thinking of just dropping off the trash quickly and returning, reflexively stopped his steps at that sight.

There was no doubt that the person in the car was the new owner Subin had mentioned a moment ago. Seeing the burly men standing there full of tension, he figured the person about to come out would have a similar atmosphere. Yihyeon, who stood closely under the dark shadow in case any sparks might fly his way, stood still and waited for them to disappear quickly.

His breath broke into white mist in the air. Each of his fingertips, precariously holding the trash bag, felt stingingly cold. In the moment Yihyeon’s body shivered and he hunched his shoulders against the sharp wind piercing through his single-layered shirt, the light cutting through the darkness went out at once.

The men standing in a line bowed their heads all at once like well-trained soldiers. Yihyeon reflexively bit his lip.

He had seen it a few times in movies, but it was his first time encountering such a sight in reality. Even though he knew the situation of unintentionally peeking was strange, he couldn’t help his gaze from being drawn toward it.

Click, the driver’s side door opened, breaking the artificial silence. Someone stepped out onto the ground. Because of the backlight, all that could be seen was a black silhouette.

“Greetings, sir!”

Thick ankles wrapped in black socks were revealed and then hidden by the pant legs that fell with a perfect fit. A moment later, what appeared above the open car door was not a burly-shaped body as expected, but a wide and solid upper body like those of ball-game athletes.

Someone hurriedly approached and bowed repeatedly beside the man. However, the gaze of the man receiving the greeting didn’t even turn toward that direction.

Just then, a light momentarily striking from the opposite side cast a brief glow on the man’s face before disappearing. In the side profile seen for a split second, the first thing that caught the eye was a sharp bridge of the nose. Yihyeon, who had been staring at the man blankly in the darkness, reflexively licked his dry lips with the tip of his tongue.

He’s a bit different… from the image I imagined.

The thought flashed through Yihyeon’s mind that if it weren’t for the hulking men bowing their heads in total tension, he might have mistaken him for a celebrity who had come to the club to play for a while. Since he thought it was a random idea even to himself, he let out a thin laugh and adjusted the food waste bag he was holding.

“Greetings, Section Chief. I am the one in charge of the general management here, President Kim…”

The voice of President Kim, the person in charge of the club, echoed faintly. He seemed to continue saying something while rubbing his hands together, but the man just walked toward the building entrance without a single response of this or that.

Despite so many people being there, the only things heard were the sound of the man’s shoe heels and small voices. Since the people gathered were all dressed in black and dark colors, looking from afar, they truly looked like a part of the night.

“It is an honor to meet you. As soon as I heard the contact that Section Chief Gu was coming to Nexus…”

A red floral-patterned shirt swayed in the middle of the night. Because that sight felt somehow detached from reality, and because the sound of the shoes echoing clack clack with every step felt exceptionally loud, Yihyeon forgot where he was standing for a moment and stood vacantly for a while.

Only after the man who appeared to be the owner completely vanished beyond the building did the hulking men who had been bowing their heads lift them one by one. They also seemed to find the random assembly unwelcome, as they began to talk with unenthusiastic expressions. Someone pulled out a pack of cigarettes and gathered in a corner, while someone else loosened up their body while massaging their stiff nape.

Even until then, Yihyeon was staring blankly at the spot where the man had stood. The sharp wind scratched over his fingers and the back of his hand exposed to the air.

“Hey, hey, you bastards. Don’t go doing other things and scatter quickly!”

With someone’s shout, one guard approached toward the car that had been left all alone. At the approaching figure and the long shadow cast beneath his feet, Yihyeon suddenly snapped out of it and his body trembled slightly.

Was it because of the cold? A chilling sensation spread through his entire body belatedly. Yihyeon, who regained his senses by biting the inside of his cheek hard, adjusted the trash bags he was holding and moved his feet quickly.