HYDP C2

Chapter 2

The more he listened, the more interesting their conversation became. Sanhong popped the last piece of pork belly into his mouth and listened closely. Stories about people living in the same neighborhood were always the most entertaining.

They were mostly petty tales—going to some establishment only to get gouged on the bar tab, getting turned away at another because they “looked broke,” or someone stealing a wallet and then brazenly denying it.

From where he sat, Mr. Kim was far more gentlemanly than the guys who got off just looking at his body.

As a spoonful of rice slid down his throat, a heavy pain stabbed his back, making him knit his brows.

A muscle knot that began under the right shoulder blade slowly spread from shoulder to waist. He tried stretching, drawing a slow breath, but the muscles along his spine twinged and resisted.

Blankly, he stared up at the ceiling. And one place immediately came to mind: Cheonbaek Bathhouse.

Cheonbaek Bathhouse, the only place he ever went, was run by a young, upbeat man who didn’t suit this neighborhood. The owner was friendly enough with him to pull down the shutter on days Sanhong visited, just to accommodate him.

After cleaning his plate down to the last grain of rice, he poured water into the paper cup at his side and took a sip.

As the cool water wetted his throat and travelled down to his stomach, a chill like gooseflesh flashed over his whole body.

Then suddenly, he felt eyes on him.

All four had fallen silent, but a few were still watching him—more precisely, stealing looks at his mouth, the motion of his hand lifting the cup, the rise and fall of his throat as he drank—with sticky gazes.

With a sharp tap, he set the paper cup down on the table. Then he slowly lifted his head and met their eyes. The corner of his mouth ticked up. It wasn’t a smile so much as a reaction nearer to mockery and contempt.

“Shouldn’t you get your trait test done again? Why do you get hard every time you look at me? It’s a bit much.”

“C’mon~ look at how you look. Honestly, we didn’t do anything wrong, okay? If we were Alphas and could even smell you, think about it. You’d already be pregnant.”

“Ha! Right, right. The sight of Sanhong pregnant…. Man…. Just imagining it—fuck…. My balls are shriveling up….”

As they all grabbed their own balls while talking, he let out a laugh as if it were ridiculous. At this rate, Mr. Kim outside would probably get tired and leave. He couldn’t lose a customer, so he moved quickly.

In the end, he pushed the guys who had no intention of going home back into the inner room. Then, before hurrying out, he gave them one last warning.

“Don’t touch anything. If you lay those dirty hands on stuff, I’ll be genuinely angry.”

“Got it. It’s not like this is our first time here.”

“Don’t worry, go do your appraisal. We’ll be on our best behavior.”

He felt uneasy, but they took pride in being, in their way, veterans at coming here. They just waved casually at him and sprawled out on the floor.

Pulling himself together, he yanked open the pawnshop door to meet Mr. Kim, who had been waiting a long time.

“I kept you waiting too long. I’m sorry, sir.”

“Don’t care! What’re you rolling around for at the crack of dawn?”

“Ah, didn’t want to see certain faces in the morning. So what did you bring?”

Mr. Kim looked at him as if bored from waiting. He was drinking sikhye he’d taken from the vending machine in the corner.

Since all the drinks in the vending machine were free, Mr. Kim’s pockets had somehow filled up with various beverages. But he pretended not to notice. Hoarding that kind of thing wouldn’t benefit him in the slightest.

All he could do was work hard.

“This is my albatross. Give me a good price.”

“Ah. This is a mixed piece…. When did you buy it?”

“Picked it up as part of the wedding trousseau. But now it’s useless. So I brought it.”

“Does your wife know?”

“Told you—I brought it without her knowing.”

“If she finds out, won’t she kick you out? She blew up last time too.”

“Ahem…. I’ll handle that. Just name a price, quickly.”

“Sure. It’s been stored well at least to this degree, and it’s got some heft… I’ll give you one million won.”

What Mr. Kim handed him was a watch.

With his glasses on, he began meticulously checking for defects. He weighed it on the scale and, without Mr. Kim noticing, checked if it had been reported stolen.

As a result, he felt confident he’d offered a fair price. If anything, it was practically a loss on his side. The only problem was that Mr. Kim would carry his generosity straight back to the gambling den.

“You can grab more drinks, you know.”

“…Forget it! Who do you take me for, a beggar?”

Embarrassed, Mr. Kim pushed the drinks deeper into his pocket. But he didn’t give up and made one more offer.

“They’re just going to sit there. You know beverages have expiration dates. So please, take as many as you want.”

“……”

“Even if you don’t, I’ll just give them to the guys in that room.”

“…Damn it.”

In the end, worn down by him, Mr. Kim stood at the vending machine and jabbed the buttons. One after another, drinks thumped down and he calmly stuffed them into his pockets. He was wearing work pants with lots of pockets, and seeing a drink in each one made him chuckle.

He took out a bundle of cash—one million won stacks prepared in advance—from the safe in the corner and handed it to Mr. Kim. Mr. Kim accepted it with the hand missing fingers and gave him a grateful look.

And with that, Mr. Kim left the pawnshop.

The time was now ten in the morning.

He flung open the door to the inner room, calling the pathetic guys inside. Then he let out a short laugh at the absurd sight.

Seeing them sprawled out asleep made a sigh slip out of him. He ended up nudging their sides with his foot to wake them. They looked at him and grinned, saying they’d at least had a satisfying catnap.

“I’m still hungry. Let’s go eat.”

“What? Eat again?”

“Should we? How about jjajang. Jjajang.”

“No. Jjamppong.”

They shuffled out of the room, dragging their feet. Half-shoved into their shoes, they hovered, as if they had something to say, scratching their heads as though they couldn’t bring themselves to ask outright.

Knowing what they wanted, he slipped on his slippers and opened the safe he’d opened earlier. He took out bundles of cash.

This time, there were three bundles. He pressed one bundle into each of their hands.

“We got through this heat cycle safely. Thanks to you. Thank you.”

“Hey! Don’t mention it! What’s there to thank each other for between us?”

“Right! Heh heh. Still, out of respect for your kindness, we’ll put this money to good use! Thanks!”

“Yeah.”

In truth, every month during his heat cycle, he relieved his needs with the help of a few people in the neighborhood. If he got through the period safely, he would press wads of cash into the hands of those who helped.

At this point in Horangyong-dong, there were hardly any who didn’t know that he was an Omega and that he paid out cash if they helped him through his heat. And even though he’d never asked, people kept their mouths shut among themselves so the story wouldn’t spread to other neighborhoods.

Since it was strictly first-come, first-served, there were quite a few who camped out in front of the pawnshop for days before his cycle.

“I’m not a prostitute. Keep this up and you’ll end up pitching a tent and sleeping here.”

“…Huh? N-no, it’s not like that… just….”

More than once, on his way back from errands, he’d find people who had practically set up house out front. Each time, he would try to send them off with kind words, but the ones who still refused to leave got sprayed with water.

“What the hell! Can you treat a customer like this?!”

“I never asked for customers.”

“What?”

“Leave.”

With cold eyes, he stared down the guy who wouldn’t listen. In the end, the gamblers gathered to gawk had to step in to mediate.

Thinking back on it, things were tame now by comparison. He had just stepped out of the pawnshop building, following the guys who were giddy after getting paid, when—

His pocket suddenly buzzed with a brazen vibration.

Bzzz— bzzz—

It was a persistent vibration.

He told the guys to go on ahead and headed back toward the pawnshop. Unlocking the tightly secured door, he stepped inside, carefully secured it again, then sprawled on the sofa in the corner. He took his phone out of his pocket and put it to his ear.

“Hey. What’re you up to?”

[Hey. Aren’t you coming home? The kids keep asking for you.]

“I want to go too. But the chance just hasn’t come up.”

[They don’t usually act like this, but these days the older one keeps fussing. Get over here. I keep telling them, ‘Go away from me.’]

The moment he answered, his blank face transformed into one of pure happiness.

The caller was Na Huigang, an old friend of his and a former colleague from his days in contract killing. By some twist of fate, they were still together, living under the same roof.

And he had twin children.

Footnotes:

1. Jjajang/jjamppong: Korean-Chinese dishes; jjajangmyeon is black bean sauce noodles, jjamppong is spicy seafood noodle soup—common casual meal choices after exertion.