HYDP C27

Chapter 27

“…Kugh-!”

“Fuck. How dare you try to extort money.”

“Keuk…!”

At last, Cheonguk seized another guy by the nape and cut off his breathing. The grip was so strong it felt like the man’s neck might snap; he choked and drooled helplessly. His hands hammered at Cheonguk’s arm, but Cheonguk’s body felt like solid stone.

In contrast, his own felt as fragile as an eggshell. With just a little more pressure, his neck might truly snap, and the fear was unbearable.

Sanhong, watching this, stumbled forward while clutching his battered face, worried that Cheonguk might really kill these young men.

“Stop… stop it.”

“……”

“If you go further, he’ll really die.”

Cheonguk looked down at Sanhong, who had grabbed his collar.

The light made Sanhong squint painfully up at him through half-shut, dazed eyes. From Cheonguk’s perspective, it tore at his chest—how badly must he be hurting, if he couldn’t even open his eyes properly?

At that moment, Sanhong staggered and collapsed. Alarmed, Cheonguk quickly scooped him up. His face was stiff, his expression deadly serious.

“Fuck, look at your face. It’s completely wrecked.”

“……”

“My chest is fucking collapsing here. Shit. Seriously….”

“……”

With an expression that seemed like his very heart had caved in, Cheonguk gently laid Sanhong down on the floor and slowly lowered himself to his eye level. The mere fact that Sanhong had been beaten by this trash made Cheonguk’s brain boil with rage.

With a stunned look, Sanhong just gazed at him, and Cheonguk carefully cupped his small face with both hands. Afraid that even the slightest touch of his fingers might cause more pain, he held his palms hovering just slightly off Sanhong’s skin.

“How’s your head? Who am I? What’s my name?”

“……”

“Hey, Sanhong. What’s my name, goddammit? Did you hurt your head that badly, huh?”

“…Cheonguk.”

“Ah. Only my name again…. Shit, I swear, I’ve got to take responsibility for you.”

“……”

“Say you love me. Hurry.”

At that, Sanhong shot back a glare filled with disgust, and Cheonguk only whispered softly, “Sorry.”

Sanhong shut his mouth tight at Cheonguk’s behavior, which bordered on treating him like his own child. He thought if he responded in any way, it would only get more troublesome, so he purposely stayed silent.

Yet still, Cheonguk wouldn’t let go of his face.

“How much were those bastards trying to take from you?”

“…They weren’t.”

“Whatever amount they wanted, I’ll tear them apart alive, piece by piece.”

“It’s not that. I signed a contract.”

“…Fuck, they even made you write out a damn slave contract now? Those motherfuckers.”

Cheonguk clenched his jaw, his fury reaching the breaking point. Yet in front of Sanhong, he suppressed his violent urges, barely holding back.

It was the first time in his life he had ever tried to restrain himself, and it felt so unnatural his expression twisted awkwardly, like his face had gone numb.

“Stop overreacting. Let me go. You misunderstood.”

Just then, at the perfect timing, crimson blood dripped from Sanhong’s nose onto Cheonguk’s thigh.

Ha… Every damn time, something like this happens to keep me from helping him.

“……”

“……”

He suddenly felt dizzy and wondered if he’d smacked his head hard when he’d collapsed earlier. Thinking he needed to stop the bleeding quickly and maybe take some iron supplements, he tried to stand—only for someone’s hand to yank him back down.

Chup-

“……”

In the next instant, he was horrified to see Cheonguk lick the blood beneath his nose with his tongue. Stunned, Sanhong shoved him hard. Cheonguk let himself be pushed back lightly but locked eyes with him, gaze burning.

…Is he seriously insane?

“Disgusting.”

Sanhong muttered his honest feelings without thinking. What Cheonguk had done was beyond any reasonable logic. Yet Cheonguk shamelessly laid a hand on his chest and said,

“Hey, Sanhong. This is the first time in my whole life I’ve ever tasted blood.”

“……”

Of course, it had no reason to be otherwise.

“Seeing you hurt like this, forced into even signing some slave contract…. Watching you suffer tears my chest apart. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

Cheonguk gently wiped under his nose with his thumb. Then he grabbed tissues from the table, tearing them out and carefully plugging the bleeding.

“And with such tiny nostrils, how do you even breathe?”

“……”

“Fuck. Should I give you gills instead?”

He softly stroked the badly bruised spot on Sanhong’s forehead. Then, with an oddly childish gesture, he blew lightly ho-ho over it.

“Hang on. I’ll go cut the fingers off the bastard who made you write that contract. Honestly, I want to tear him into shreds right now, but I’m worried you’d hate seeing me so violent.”

“I don’t like you anyway.”

“Don’t say shit like that. I’m not ready to hear such whining.”

Sanhong remained silent in the end.

Dealing with someone who was so forceful, so self-centered in thought and word, was exhausting. He didn’t want to correct him anymore. Better to just let him live in his delusion—it would only be tiring for himself to keep setting him straight.

With those words ended, Cheonguk straightened and stood. Then he suddenly grabbed the ankle of Juyeong, who had been sitting dumbly on the sofa, watching the scene.

“P-please, spare me!”

Juyeong tumbled backward, flipped upside down under the sudden attack. Instinctively, desperate to live, he screamed and struggled. But there was no one to hear him, no one to help.

Most of his crew were already collapsed on the ground, either unconscious or pretending to be. In the end, sheer terror made Juyeong piss himself.

He begged on hands and knees, praying for mercy until his palms bled, but to Cheonguk, it was nothing more than the pathetic thrashing of an insect larva. Without the slightest hesitation, Cheonguk swung the iron crowbar down on his ankle.

“…Aaaghh!”

Juyeong’s scream echoed through the pawnshop, but to Cheonguk, it was nothing more than sweet background music.

Realizing instinctively he couldn’t stop this half-demented Cheonguk, Sanhong didn’t even try. He just sat down helplessly, waiting for his nosebleed to stop.

It was far too loud, far too grotesque a way for the day to begin.

Juyeong’s front teeth clattered to the floor under Cheonguk’s merciless beating. Never in his life had he cried like this, but today, for the first time, he bawled in pure despair.

And the tears had been ripped out of him by none other than Cheonguk.

Even after smashing Juyeong with the crowbar, Cheonguk’s fury did not abate. He grabbed others who were staggering around and beat them to near death as well.

Even a machine obeys after one strike. And these weren’t machines—they had brains. How could they not understand after being beaten? Yet they still didn’t get the picture, even pulling knives from their clothes to thrust at him. In the split second they brandished them, their wrists snapped, and they writhed in agony.

“Fuck. Finally, now I feel refreshed.”

With the expression of a man who had just stepped out of a sauna, Cheonguk tossed the bloodied crowbar down the pawnshop hallway.

Clang!

The crowbar clattered wildly across the floor.

He wiped his soiled hands on Juyeong’s clothes, then carefully cleaned them once more with wet wipes pulled from the table.

“Shit. Completely wrecked.”

“……”

His pinky nail was half broken from how hard he had swung, but he didn’t even care. Shaking his hand loose, he knelt down again in front of Sanhong, who leaned against the wall.

“Let’s see if the bleeding’s stopped.”

“……”

He tilted Sanhong’s chin lightly and gently pulled away the tissues. What was revealed was a wad, soaked scarlet red. His chest collapsed again in ache.

“Tch. What a waste, bleeding so much.”

“……”

“Do you want to get a transfusion?”

Cheonguk frowned, then took fresh wet wipes to carefully clean every trace of blood from Sanhong’s face.

But Sanhong couldn’t stop thinking of that moment when Cheonguk had licked beneath his nose. How could he do that without even flinching? What an iron stomach…

“How’s your head?”

“…It’s fine.”

“…Ah. Goddamn those little punks, turning your face into garbage….”

Cheonguk suddenly leapt up, ready to charge Juyeong again, but Sanhong grabbed his wrist quickly. He didn’t want more uproar.

“You can’t kill him here.”

“……”

“Handle it somewhere else, maybe.”

“Ah, okay. I get what you mean.”

Cheonguk gave a chilling smile at the half-conscious Juyeong. He wanted to kill him right now, but there were too many witnesses. Clicking his tongue in frustration, he stopped.

Juyeong, whose lips and shins were all swollen, gasped in ragged breaths, clutching his ruined face as he forced himself to rise.

“…Fucking… bastard…”

Through clenched teeth, words tumbled out in agony. No subject attached, but everyone knew he meant Cheonguk.

Just as he was about to walk out, his eyes fell on the scattered money across the floor, and he froze. Regardless, since he had signed the contract, it was true he had borrowed money from Sanhong. With little choice, he bent over slowly and began picking the bills up one by one.

For someone desperate for cash like him, that money was a lifeline.

“Juyeong. Six months. Don’t you dare break the promise.”

“……”

“You pieces of shit. Answer me.”

“I-I got it!”

He ignored Sanhong’s words, but when Cheonguk loomed threateningly closer, he quickly stammered out a reply, tongue fumbling. Then, clutching the bag of money, he and his crew staggered out of the pawnshop.

Footnotes:

 

1. “억장이 무너진다” – Literally “the supporting beam of the heart collapses.” A Korean idiom meaning one’s heart is crushed with grief or frustration.