Rabbit Hole Chapter 35

It was summer, the weather was extremely hot, and there were no mourners. The funeral had never even been held in the first place. Go San, because it was so hot, had his black jacket draped over his arm and even the sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up high. At that time, Go San’s skin had an olive tone, whereas Yang Geumseo, unfittingly for summer, was pale, and as if someone had hit him, there were blue bruises on his eye and cheekbone, and a red handprint on the nape of his neck.

Unfortunate and pretty.

Go San’s impression from back then hadn’t changed even now.

Unfortunate and pretty. Yang Geumseo.

∞ ∞ ∞

Go San and Geumseo went to the place that had become Geumseo’s former workplace before opening hours. The manager, who had been turning on the POS system, wore a surprised expression upon seeing Geumseo.

“Hey, you bastard, you…!”

But the next words didn’t follow. It was thanks to Go San abruptly appearing behind Geumseo. Go San, who had been tapping at his phone doing something, glanced at the manager who was pointing a finger at Geumseo. That alone was enough. The manager quickly averted his gaze.

“Where’s the owner’s office.”

Go San asked. Geumseo wondered if Go San really had known this place distantly. His trust in Go San teetered back and forth like a roly-poly that seems about to fall but doesn’t, oscillating between belief and doubt.

“Over there.”

“They made the hallway shitty. Didn’t you get lost?”

“I went into the wrong room a few times….”

“Like that place yesterday?”

They were just turning into that hallway. Geumseo tried to fold his body up to avoid making eye contact with Haeju hyung, but it was no use. Haeju, who had entered through the staff entrance, mistook Go San for a new employee. So, as usual—no, a bit more roughly than usual—he grabbed Geumseo.

“Yang Geumseo! What the hell happened with you yesterday!”

Geumseo recalled the expression that had casually evaded his request for help yesterday. Back then, he hadn’t shown a hint of anger, but now he was crumpling his face ferociously at him.

Suddenly feeling heat rush to the top of his head, Geumseo was about to shake off Haeju’s hand, but Go San was quicker. As if shooing away a bug, Go San smacked the hand away—tap, tap—and pulled Geumseo to his side.

“You sure have a lot of friends?”

His flat tone made it difficult to tell if he was angry or not.

“Is he a new employee?”

Haeju was roughly Go San’s size in lateral width. Perhaps because of that, he asked so bluntly.

“Not an employee. Where’s the owner’s office.”

“Are you speaking informally to me right now?”

“You’re speaking informally too. Let’s just drop it.”

Go San maintained a nonchalant attitude the whole time. It was clearly evident he just wanted to finish this annoying business quickly and leave.

‘I hate basements.’

Geumseo recalled the sound of Go San grumbling when they had come in through the staff entrance.

“Hyung, is the owner here?”

“He is. But you don’t have an appointment. Wait, he’ll be doing a briefing soon anyway.”

“You do briefings at a place like this? What kind of briefing? ‘Today, so-and-so will come to room such-and-such, so pick out a guy that suits that customer’s taste nicely,’ that kind?”

It was more or less correct. When Geumseo didn’t answer, Go San looked back and forth between Geumseo’s profile and Haeju.

“Guess I was right.”

“No, I mean, so are you a customer… a customer, sir?”

Haeju seemed to be gradually thinking Go San might be a customer, as Go San’s disrespectful attitude was exactly like that of the young punks with money who came here.

“I don’t come to places like this. But how much longer do I have to keep this conversation going? I’m busy, Yang Geumseo.”

Haeju had an air of being somewhat dumbfounded, but at the same time, he seemed a bit overwhelmed by Go San’s composed demeanor. Go San draped his arm casually over Geumseo’s shoulder. As the two of them moved away, from behind, that employee from yesterday who was like a tattletale appeared from somewhere and could be heard asking Haeju in a not-so-small voice.

“What’s that? They said he did construction?”

“What do you mean, did construction.”

Hearing that, Go San asked Geumseo. Geumseo had been dragged off by loan shark Misters before and spent a week at their office, so he roughly knew what that meant.

“He’s asking if I sold my body to you and fixed my fortunes.”

Geumseo’s explanation was accurate, without any sugarcoating. Hearing that, Go San burst out laughing. Pu-ha-ha, the sound of his laughter echoed through the hallway. Go San, who had been standing tall, even clutching his stomach as he laughed, pulled the blankly standing Geumseo to him and made him stick out his tongue and part his lips. A kiss where you see the tongue first. Something you’d only see in porn, but it looked even lewder than that.

It was a deep kiss that made the souls of Haeju and the employee drain out of them. Geumseo’s arms hung limply. Go San didn’t do it for long, and as soon as their lips parted, Geumseo scrubbed his wet lips roughly with the back of his hand.

“So it’s a true statement.”

“My fortunes haven’t been fixed.”

“We’ll have to see about that slowly in the future.”

Go San held Geumseo’s hand tightly. It was as if they were lovers. So Geumseo felt this was a type of physical affection that didn’t quite suit them.

“Here it is.”

In the meantime, Go San had quickly found the owner’s office. He managed it well even though he had even gone inside the staff room earlier and back out, which should have made it more complicated. Go San knocked once on the door of the owner’s office, didn’t wait a second time, and abruptly pushed his way inside.

“G-Go Unha?!”

The owner, who had been on a call, put down his phone, jumped up from his seat, and shouted. Go San swept his hair back.

“I guess I really do look like that bastard.”

“Not anymore.”

Geumseo corrected him, just in case Go San might get the wrong idea. He certainly had a face similar to Unha hyung, and now his hair was similarly short, but rather, day by day, he looked more different. Now there would never be an incident where he mistook him for Unha hyung and gave his body away. Not that he wasn’t giving it away even without being drunk anyway.

“I’m Go Unha’s younger brother, Go San.”

Go San arbitrarily sat Geumseo down on the sofa in the owner’s office. Then he himself approached the owner, who was standing tall, and perched obliquely on the table.

“I need to receive the pay for the kid’s work.”

It was a tone and attitude so superb that if the loan shark Misters had seen it, they would have clapped and tried to scout him, saying it was innate talent that shouldn’t be left to rot. Geumseo sat there with his mouth slightly open, heh, appreciating Go San’s naturally effortless rudeness and menace.

“Our kid is someone who values every single penny. Look at how pitiful he looks. Let’s not squeeze money out of him.”

Go San rummaged through the documents on the table without permission, spitting out words—tuk, tuk. It really made one wonder if, instead of a swimmer, something else might have been his true calling.

“Ah, fuck! I remember now! Go Unha said he had a younger brother! So that was you. Whoa, you two really look alike, huh?”

“Yeah. We look alike. But that’s not what I’m talking about right now.”

Go San smiled brightly. He took a pen out of a luxurious leather pen holder and repeatedly pressed it against the desk and released it. Each time, a sharp pen tip emerged and retracted with a clicking sound.

“…Are you in this industry?”

“This industry. Don’t use vague pronouns, speak properly. Is it because you’re not proud of it?”

“No matter how I look at it, you’re a bastard from this side…. Did you go to school?”

“I was homeschooled.”

“Not that school, Go San-ah. The slammer.”

“Why do they call that a school.”

When Geumseo interrupted, Go San turned to look at Geumseo over his shoulder and asked. He knew words like “had a taste” and “fucked,” but then he didn’t know words like that. Geumseo shrugged his shoulders, indicating he didn’t know the reason either.

“…Are you really Go Unha’s younger brother? They said Go Unha’s younger brother was an athlete….”

It meant: that’s what he’d heard, so why was his demeanor that of a thug.

Bam. Go San pressed the pen down on the desk as if stabbing it. The body of the pen burst, sending the spring and pen tip flying. Go San murmured as if spilling the words. From the tedium of wondering why something that could be settled by simply taking the money and leaving was dragging on like this.

“That’s right. I’m a sound and wholesome swimmer.”

“Sound….”

That’s the ‘sound’ as in Unha hyung is sound, unlike you. Geumseo couldn’t help but laugh. At that, Go San’s shoulders also relaxed a little. Probably Go San had thought of that moment too. No, maybe he had remembered and deliberately used that word.

“Alright. I said alright. Sound swimmer. I’ll just give him his hourly wage. But, hey. The medical bills for the customer you tossed aside, and what was it. Defamation of our establishment. What are you going to do about that?”

“I may be a swimmer, but it’s not like I’m completely fucking clueless about that side of things either. Mr. Owner, shall I tip them off that third-generation chaebol heirs and newly rich twenty-to-thirty-somethings are doing drugs here? Hmm?”

Adding “hmm” belatedly did absolutely nothing to make his words sound polite.