Red Mansion

Due to sitting on his knees, the toes that stuck out behind his hips twitched, but they were hidden by the worn-out slipper soles. As if he had gained some experience, he continued to spread his tongue widely and tease the pillar.“Ha.”Chungrim, who was licking the inside of his cheek with his tongue, grabbed Sung-kyung’s hair that was buried in his groin. There was a problem. He never thought he would get excited by a man with the same equipment sucking his dick in a sober state. The pleasure he felt for the first time sharply penetrated his mind. This isn’t right.The rough hair tickled his palm. He gripped the back of Sung-kyung’s head so tightly that veins bulged on the back of his hand.A worn-out apron with a soju label on top of shabby clothes, cheap slippers, and the faint smell of old soap. The man possessed everything he considered pathetic and filthy. Yet now, it was more obscene than anything provocative.“Looking so calm. Have you been doing this only with your back hole?”Sung-kyung quietly opened his jaws and half-swallowed the pillar. The glans poked into his throat, and tears welled up. The area around his cracked lips was reddish.“Ugh.”When Chungrim pulled back the hair he was holding tightly, Sung-kyung’s head lifted slightly. His downward gaze, wet eyelashes, pale and rough skin, and lips that had swallowed the dick. And beneath his eyes was a dark brown mole.Unknowingly, he traced that area with his fingertips. Sung-kyung’s eyelashes trembled and twitched. With such good sucking, he wouldn’t forget even if he was drunk. Was he pretending to be innocent last night, or had his skill improved? In his boiling heart, a ridiculous question mark floated.At that moment, a loud noise of someone pounding on the counter’s sliding window invaded. “Hey!” A gruff shout followed. The pounding continued, shaking the curtain that covered the counter. Sung-kyung pulled back his head, spitting out the half-swallowed penis.“Wait, a customer.”He lowered his voice, afraid they might be heard outside. Annoyed by the unwelcome noise, Chungrim clicked his tongue. He pressed down on Sung-kyung’s shoulders, who was trying to get up. It was a rough and coercive touch.“Hey.”His face turned cold in an instant. At the same time, another harsh curse and the counter’s glass door rattled again.“Who said you could stop?”Sung-kyung wiped his wet lips with the back of his hand. The blood from the cracked wound spread across his cheek.“I’m not stopping. Just sending the customer away…”Smack! A large hand slapped his cheek before he could finish his sentence. His vision flashed. His cheekbone throbbed. Sung-kyung squirmed and curled his toes inward.“…”He held his stinging cheek. The soft skin under his palm was hot. Sung-kyung’s skinny shoulders trembled. Having grown up getting hit since childhood, he was used to violence. Getting hurt, healing, leaving scars. He was accustomed to such things, but now it was different. A cold shiver vibrated from his cheek to his solar plexus.It wasn’t just fear from pain. Was it because it was Chungrim’s touch? A pleasure accompanied, making saliva pool under his tongue. His fingertips tightened around his cheek, and his nails started to change color, turning white as if soaked in pleasure.“Seems like I treated you well, huh?”Chungrim’s downward gaze pressed harshly on Sung-kyung.“…”“Who told you to act on your own? Don’t do anything I didn’t order. Got it?”He realized he had to suck until told to stop. With his flushed cheek still held, Sung-kyung nodded. The metallic taste from the burst inside his cheek lingered. He swallowed the sticky, hot saliva pooled under his tongue.“Come here.”Urgent hands shoved his frail body under the counter. An icebox that his forearm hit got pushed aside. The chair legs standing in front, Chungrim’s thighs, the low height of the counter touching his crown. Everything was uncomfortable, but none of it bothered him. The oppressive feeling trapping him excited Sung-kyung strangely.Suck. Seeing his lips move, he immediately grabbed the pillar with both hands. The red, wet tongue swallowed the tip again. His cheek and lips ached. The glans burrowed into his torn cheek. Sung-kyung wriggled as the area below kept tingling.“Fuck, so clueless.”Muttering irritably, Chungrim pushed aside the curtain and flung open the glass door. Sung-kyung’s shoulders tensed, but he didn’t stop sucking the dick. Squelch, slurp. He pulled the small head hard to prevent the wet sounds from leaking outside. Feeling the hot mucous membrane squeezing his dick, Chungrim squinted one eye.“Stop closing the door, you bastard. It’s hot and annoying. Give me cigarettes on credit.”As soon as the door opened, Chungrim’s irritation poured out indiscriminately. Sung-kyung remembered this voice. A man who often bought on credit.“What?”At the cold reply, the man outside hesitated. He realized it wasn’t a voice he should be hearing. The man quickly bent forward. When his eyes met Chungrim’s, he awkwardly stepped back.“Where’s the store…”Mumbling with an awkward smile, the man tried to leave. Chungrim’s low voice stopped him. He tapped the counter with his knuckles as an added emphasis.“Hey.”“…Yes?”“Need cigarettes?”The hesitant man nodded. Chungrim reached for the stack of cigarettes piled on one side of the counter. As he slightly bent his body, he pushed his dick deeper into Sung-kyung’s mouth. His pubic hair brushed roughly against Sung-kyung’s nose.“Ugh.”The suppressed moan from his blocked throat was drowned out by the noise of the cigarette pack being thrown onto the counter.“40,000 won.”“What? That’s 4,000—”Sung-kyung swallowed and tightened his hold on the dick.Chungrim stroked his penis a few more times as if savoring the afterglow. The shaft, slick with saliva and semen, glistened. Each time the thin skin around the glans stretched and wrinkled, Sung-kyung watched the scene as if mesmerized, trying to imprint every detail in his mind.The sound of tearing toilet paper came from the counter above his head. The white paper, wrapped around Chungrim’s thick fingers, swayed in front of Sung-kyung’s eyes.“Staring, huh?”A mocking laugh fell. Sung-kyung, engrossed in observing the tissue stained with bodily fluids, didn’t even register the words.“…”“Do you regret it?”Sung-kyung slightly nodded. Ha. A short laugh followed. But there was no permission to suck or touch the penis again.The bundle of tissues was tossed into a cookie box lined with a black plastic bag. Chungrim, who had meticulously wiped Sung-kyung’s face while drunk, now showed no such kindness. Sung-kyung wiped his wet lips with the back of his hand.“I want to wash my hands, but I don’t want to use the dirty bathroom here.”He stared at Chungrim’s back as he stood up slowly after adjusting his pants. Still crumpled and stuffed under the counter, Sung-kyung could only see up to his waist. He was clearly sober, but it felt like he was in a drug-induced daze. Everything seemed hazy, as if his mind was clouded.Sung-kyung asked what he had been curious about while sucking below. His swollen lips ached every time he moved them.“…Did you figure it out?”Chungrim’s foot hesitated. Sung-kyung crawled out slightly from under the counter and slowly raised his head. Whether from washing his face or sweating, wet hair clung to his forehead. The scent of apricot soap had long faded.“What?”Instead of spitting out the lingering taste in his mouth, Sung-kyung swallowed.“You said you were confused.”“…”“Did you figure out your confusion?”Chungrim’s shoe kicked the leg of a chair. Creak. As the chair screeched and moved aside, Chungrim bent his large body to meet Sung-kyung’s eye level. Sung-kyung’s dark pupils sharply scanned his face as if they had been waiting for this moment.Why is Chungrim making that expression? It wasn’t a smile, nor was it surprise. It looked like the eyes of a child who found an amusing toy. His lips parted, and a few shallow breaths escaped, as if he was speechless.“You don’t look like it, so it’s really irritating.”A hot sensation like blood flowing under his lips made him stick out his tongue to lick. Chungrim’s gaze briefly touched the tip of his tongue and then moved away. It seemed to be a difficult question to answer, as Chungrim didn’t respond easily. Instead, he opened the icebox next to Sung-kyung.Chungrim’s large hand rummaged through the icebox, and the sound of ice and water sloshing around echoed. What he pulled out was a water bottle dripping with water. There was no courtesy of opening the lid. Chungrim pressed the soaked water bottle against Sung-kyung’s swollen cheek. Sung-kyung raised his hand to hold the bottle.“…”The reason he had come to the Red Mansion early in the morning. The thing he wanted to find out while waiting in front of the locked store. Amidst the excitement that reached his head, he realized one unwelcome fact for sure.Doing such things with another man wasn’t as unpleasant as he thought it would be. Whether his preference had always been this way, or he was just realizing it now, or maybe this guy was an exception. Even though it was just sucking, it wasn’t revolting enough to make him want to throw up. That was the conclusion.“If it was because I was drunk…”“…Yes.”Chungrim felt strangely unsettled by Sung-kyung’s eerie stare at his lips. A feeling similar to the pleasure he felt during his first sex, first drug experience, or the first time he saw someone’s blood in a fight surged to his head. And it was all because of this guy.“If I had been sober, you would have been beaten to death here.”When Chungrim whispered softly, Sung-kyung smiled silently. Seeing his face with only the corners of his mouth raised gave Chungrim chills. He didn’t know why, but it made him laugh.“Ha ha.”The droplets of water on the bottle rolled down Sung-kyung’s bruised cheek. Chungrim raised his hand to wipe the moisture from his chin. What a crazy bastard, he thought.“What’s so funny?”Sung-kyung smiled while tightly holding the water bottle, his eyes even sparkling as if he was truly happy. That smile made him look different. His face, which had looked merely stupid, now seemed a bit more…“Crazy bastard.”Yes, he looked like a crazy bastard. That was the only term that suited that face. Chungrim got up and left. If he stayed longer, he might end up doing something worse than fellatio in this old store.The air in the store was sticky and stale with the door closed tight. Sweat trickled down his back. He kicked a soap dish on the floor and started to walk. He could feel the stare piercing his back.As he flung open the old aluminum door, the musty smell of the hallway wafted in. He thought this smell would become quite familiar soon.Chungrim headed straight for the back door. The Red Mansion he had driven to while still half-drunk ended in a futile mission. As he got into the car, the cool breeze from the air conditioner hit him. The sweat that had gathered began to cool. Sitting in the back seat, he tilted his head and unbuttoned another button on his shirt.“Shall we go home?”“Yeah.”Chungrim answered without even opening his eyes. The scene from earlier flashed in his mind. The feeling of his bruised lips squeezing his penis, the sensation of his swollen cheeks gripping the shaft. The tightly closed eyes and the dark brown mole just below them kept coming to mind.“Am I crazy?”“Pardon?”He had heard about men doing it with each other, but he never thought it would be him. The funny thing was that it didn’t feel much different from doing it with a woman. He didn’t yet feel like trying anything more extreme, but recalling the sight of that skinny, naked body wasn’t difficult either.“…”Imagining himself messing around with another man who had the same thing between his legs made Chungrim wonder if his mind had been affected by the drugs. It was absurd, yet his chest easily grew hot. When he rolled down the window, the humid air rushed into the car aggressively. It was damp and musty, just like the store. Chungrim couldn’t help but laugh.“Are you cold?”“No.”Cold? His whole body was so hot he felt like he was going to die. Despite that, he couldn’t resist wanting to breathe in this damp air. The air outside quickly made the inside of the car feel lukewarm. Chungrim kept playing with the window, rolling it up and down repeatedly. Once the window was fully closed, the hot breeze stopped abruptly.“Oh, and.”The man at the wheel glanced over, focusing on Chungrim.“From now on, when you collect the move-in fees, make sure to include the store’s credit debts too.”“The credit debts?”Chungrim, who had been laughing softly, nodded. The driver looked puzzled, glancing at the back seat. Was Chungrim suddenly feeling responsible for the Red Mansion? It was a rare expression.“All of them?”“Hmm.”He thought of the uninvited guest who had roughly knocked on the store door. Despite having money, they naturally said they would pay later. It didn’t seem like the first time this happened. Maybe everyone ignored the store because it had a dumb-looking face. How did they plan to collect the move-in fees and pay the interest with such lousy business? He imagined the store, which couldn’t even collect its debts, struggling. It both suited and didn’t suit the store.“Collect everything. It’s ridiculous to have credit among poor folks.”“Oh, okay.”The Red Mansion had never really felt attached to Chungrim since the twins had practically dumped it on him. To be exact, it was a place with a set lifespan, so he had no motivation to do anything with it. They were planning to cut off this place, so the supply of drugs to this area was gradually being reduced, and he didn’t care much about it. For two years, he just visited occasionally, making his presence known without doing much.“I’ll take care of store number 3.”“Except for number 3… Got it.”But from today onwards, things changed. He became interested in the shabby Red Mansion. Specifically, in store number 3. What was that guy’s name again? He remembered it was something ordinary written in the ledger, but he couldn’t fully recall.Among the many tenants, it took exactly two years for the man in store number 3 to be recognized as Kim Sung-kyung.