Rabbit Hole Chapter 11

“Let me sleep with you three more times. In the meantime, just try going to some other bastard and shaking your ass. I don’t share what I eat. Even family don’t let their spoons touch the same dish, you know that.”

“But why did you go around sleeping with just anyone? Nothing you say adds up.”

He claimed to be fastidious, yet he rubbed his cock with spit, spread his hole open, and licked up tears and snot. He said even family don’t let a single spoon touch, but his sex was filthy and his reputation was loose. Geumseo honestly found it pretty funny that Go San was lecturing him about shaking his ass.

“You’re laughing?”

“It’s funny….”

Look at this. The coach found it fascinating—Geumseo, who usually flinched if Go San so much as glared at him yet never shut his mouth, and Go San, who normally would have stormed out or already resorted to violence, were both staying still. The atmosphere called for him to step aside, but it was a rare scene that made that hard to do.

“So you’re saying I should only see you? You’re a funny bastard.”

Go San said that with a smirk. The coach narrowed his eyes and watched. Is he smiling…? He looks happy…?

“You should’ve said that from the start. Say it now, at least.”

“That’s not what I meant. Actually, it’d be even better if you just didn’t sleep with me. You’ve got plenty of people who like you anyway. Since I don’t, just leave me out… of it….”

“No, I’m going crazy.”

Go San huffed. His ribcage rose and fell threateningly.

“You really, are you doing this to drive me crazy?”

Go San uttered the cliché line without even realizing it was cliché.

“If sleeping with someone else improved my performance, I might have. I wouldn’t be doing this to you when you said no!”

“Fine…. I’ll believe that for now.”

Geumseo let out a loud sigh. People who like him without knowing his true self must come by the truckload—two truckloads, and people who like him even knowing it, one truckload. How on earth something like a lucky charm effect landed on him, he had no idea. If it’s going to give a luck effect, give it to me instead of Go San. Geumseo sighed deeply again and murmured sadly.

“How did you even end up with a jinx like that…. Isn’t it honestly just too promiscuous?”

‘Even if San is a little promiscuous, he doesn’t cause accidents about it. He only sleeps with people who like him.’

It was a word he’d learned from something Go Unha had said. Promiscuous. But hyung, didn’t you say back then that Go San only sees people who like him? Geumseo glanced sideways at Go San and sighed again. He’s sighing looking at someone’s face right now…? Should I really just hit him once. Not knowing that Go San had budgeted for just one hit—which was unlike him—Geumseo stood up.

“Alright, so can I go now? I have to get to my part-time job. For real this time, seriously.”

Go San glanced at the clock attached to a pillar in the middle of the pool. After checking the time, Go San let out a big laugh. The coach flinched and quietly slipped away. It was an ominous laugh.

“Geumseo.”

At the sound of his name being called so sweetly, Geumseo also inched backward. The plump coach had completely vanished by then.

“You know, if you lie one more time, you’re really going to get it. Your job’s at six. What time is it now?”

“…”

“Where did the coach go. You have to train with me.”

At the voice echoing through the pool, the coach poked his face out again. Go San berated Geumseo with a smiling face.

“You said you wanted to see my record. Whether it’s coincidence or not, you have to confirm it more before you go—three times.”

He couldn’t exactly say now that he wasn’t curious anymore. If he just tried to leave, Go San looked like he would drag him into the water right then and there. Geumseo barely managed a nod. Only then did Go San smile with satisfaction.

Geumseo crouched down and flicked the surface of the water with his fingertips. Go San practiced ceaselessly with the coach, who had returned. Did he have gills or something? Just running on land was exhausting, but Go San cut through the water and dove into the oxygen-deprived depths hundreds of times. Contrary to his expectations, watching the practice wasn’t boring. Honestly, it was a little fun.

In the end, Geumseo was late that day. The boss, who thoroughly exploited Geumseo for cheap during peak hours, scolded him until tears were practically squeezed out. It wasn’t even that late…. And so, the image of Go San swimming faded from Geumseo’s mind, replaced by the infuriating face of his boss squeezing and shaking his cheeks. If it weren’t for Go San, he wouldn’t have been late in the first place.

∞ ∞ ∞

Closing time was grueling. As the hour to shut the doors drew near, the drunk customers grew more and more obnoxious. People passed out slumped over the toilet, people seemingly too out of it to pay, people vomiting in front of the store entrance… it was every kind.

Geumseo returned home practically crawling and collapsed into sleep as if he’d fainted. Naturally, he didn’t check his phone. Just washing up was him doing his absolute best. There was hardly anyone who would contact him anyway, and he had once been so traumatized by incessant calls from debt collectors that he had no attachment to his phone to begin with. The phone, with its cracked screen and scuffed-up corners, stayed discharged even past midnight.

It was the weekend, so he went to work at the gas station. The weather had suddenly turned bitingly cold, and Geumseo’s face and hands were frozen red. Since it was the weekend, it was even busy, with lots of people seemingly heading out for trips. Geumseo diligently went back and forth carrying water and tissues, but then he ran into someone who, by unlucky chance, raged with passionate fury for a long while, insisting he’d pumped less than the full amount when he had definitely put in the specified quantity. After that, he had no choice but to feel his strength completely drain away well before quitting time.

“What’s with that face.”

So when Go San showed up, it was inevitable that Geumseo had a grim expression.

“What’s got you so wilted.”

Go San said this with something in his mouth. At a glance it looked exactly like a cigarette, but on closer inspection, it was candy.

“How much should I put in?”

Go San was wearing glasses he normally never used.

Beyond the glasses, Yang Geumseo looked exhausted. The whites of his eyes were tinged pink. Go San pulled a card from his wallet and held it out between his index and middle fingers. It was exceptionally rude. Having already dealt with one awful customer, Geumseo looked at Go San with smoldering eyes.

“When do you get off.”

“I asked how much to put in.”

“Full.”

Full, my ass. I want to hit him with a full swing. Geumseo grabbed the pump nozzle, imagining it were a gun.

“I’ll bring you some water.”

Still, Geumseo treated Go San as a customer. As soon as Go San received the water, he cracked it open and downed half in an instant. Closing the cap, he asked.

“Why aren’t you answering your phone.”

“Why did you call?”

“Do we need a reason to be in contact, you and I?”

“Yeah. I’d say we’re that kind of relationship, more or less….”

Go San pressed his brow bone with his index and middle fingers.

“After work, come to my place.”

“Again…?”

“Go Unha wants to see you.”

“Okay. I’ll go.”

The immediate reply was a markedly different attitude from just moments before. Go San clenched his teeth. What Yang Geumseo had filled up wasn’t the gas tank but his own fuse box of frustration. Having emptied the rest of the water, Go San handed the empty bottle to Geumseo.

“Wash up before you come. If you don’t, I’ll strip you bare and scrub you myself, then stand you in front of Go Unha.”

Go San gave Geumseo no time to resent him. He started the engine in an instant and pulled out just as fast.

∞ ∞ ∞

Why was Go San so eccentric? Having been born from the same womb, how one could be so gentle and the other so utterly strange was something Geumseo could not comprehend. He had met the Go brothers’ parents once, and both of them were good people. Go San must be a mutation.

Geumseo tidied his hair again and reached that conclusion. Knowing that Go San really was the type of guy who would strip him completely naked and present him in front of Unha hyung, he had washed meticulously and thoroughly. He always did, but this time, especially so.

Since he hadn’t been able to wait for the water to warm up, the redness hadn’t subsided on areas with thin skin like his hands, cheeks, elbows, knees, and heels. He was certain they would start itching like crazy once he got somewhere warm, but upon hearing that Go Unha was coming, he couldn’t afford to take his time.

As the elevator approached the 11th floor, Geumseo began to worry about something else. Since he’d only half-listened to Go San earlier at the gas station, he had forgotten whether he was told to come to Go San’s apartment or his brother’s apartment. He only remembered the part about Unha hyung coming.

“I’m in trouble….”

Whether Geumseo stood there in dismay or not, the elevator swiftly arrived at the 11th floor. He stepped out anyway. And after agonizing over it, Geumseo pressed Go Unha’s doorbell. It was a complacent thought: since he’s meeting the hyung anyway, he could just go together.

“Oh? Geumseo.”

Soon, Go Unha appeared. Geumseo broke into a wide smile at the sight of his hyung’s face after so long.

“Look how red your face is. It’s cold outside, isn’t it? Come in.”