Romantic Gangster

#05

“Here, sign this contract.”

Ji-woo scanned the daily worker contract on the desk, checked the hourly wage, filled in his information at the bottom, and signed it.

“You can send copies of your ID and bank account by text. Here, the coupons are on the left, and flyers on the right.”

Ji-woo took in the piles of coupons and regular flyers on the desk.

“These coupons, start from Hanyang Apartments across the street to… you know Taesung Apartments a bit further away?”

“Ah, yes. I know it.”

“Go into each building there, you know those bulletin boards on the first floor? Stick them there, and put them in all the shops too. For these flyers, focus on apartment and nearby villa and townhouse mailboxes. Handing them out on the street is useless, people just litter. We’ll just get complaints about making trash.”

“I understand.”

“You said you’ve done this before?”

“Yes, many times.”

“You look trustworthy. I’ll randomly check some places when I close up late at night to see if you’ve done it properly, so don’t lie. I don’t want to doubt you, but I’ve been burned too many times. Can you believe some people dump hundreds of flyers in the trash and claim they distributed them all?”

As Ji-woo nodded silently while the owner vented about past part-timers, his gaze shifted slightly to Hyun-joon.

“…”

Hyun-joon was playing pool alone. Despite knowing nothing about pool, Ji-woo thought the long cue suited Hyun-joon well. Was it because a very tall person holding something long looked good? It just seemed cool somehow.

“I’m not stingy, you know. I reward good work generously, but they don’t realize… Anyway, I’m counting on you today.”

“Yes. I’ll distribute them and bring back any leftovers. Um… would it be possible for me to do this for about a week?”

“Of course. I’d be happy if you could. It’s good not to keep changing people. I printed all these intending to cover everything in about a week. A week should be enough to cover down to the houses below.”

The owner took out an ion drink from the beverage showcase and handed it to Ji-woo. Ji-woo politely accepted it with both hands and put it in his bag, then picked up thick stacks of coupons and flyers from the desk.

“Call if anything comes up.”

“Yes.”

Ji-woo bowed slightly and left the pool hall. Before closing the door, he took one last look at Hyun-joon, who was still playing pool alone. As he took the elevator down to the first floor, he saw the guys who had been with Hyun-joon in the cafeteria entering the building with cigarettes in their mouths. Ji-woo slipped out of the building past them.

The long summer seemed to be ending, and a slightly cooler breeze could be felt. If only it could always be this pleasant, any job would be easier.

Ji-woo adjusted his grip on the flyers and headed towards the apartment complex near the station.

After covering two apartment complexes and an alley full of villas, three hours had quickly passed. The once-heavy stack of flyers in his arms had been reduced by more than half, and feeling that continuing might make him too tired for school tomorrow, he decided to call it a day.

Ji-woo neatly organized the remaining flyers, carrying them draped over one arm, and headed back to the pool hall while drinking the ion beverage. His legs ached a bit from walking non-stop for three hours.

It took quite a while to return to the pool hall as he had gone quite far. He thought several times that he should have taken a bus, but he kept walking, thinking he was almost there. After walking for another 20 minutes, Ji-woo finally reached the station where the pool hall was located.

Wanting to get home quickly and sleep, Ji-woo went up to the pool hall and opened the door. Being a 24-hour pool hall, quite a few people were still playing despite it being almost midnight. However, due to the late hour, a part-timer was sitting at the large counter instead of the owner.

“Ah, I’m here to leave the remaining flyers.”

“Oh, okay. You can put them over here.”

The part-timer, who had stood up thinking Ji-woo was a customer, flopped back down and picked up his phone. Ji-woo neatly placed the remaining flyers on the desk beside the counter and turned around out of idle curiosity.

“…”

Hyun-joon’s friends were among the people playing pool, but Hyun-joon wasn’t there. He must have gone home early. Ji-woo felt a bit disappointed; if they had met now that his work was done, he could have told Hyun-joon to come to the classroom tomorrow.

“Goodbye.”

“Yeah, bye.”

Ji-woo bowed slightly to the part-timer who responded half-heartedly and went out to take the elevator. His home wasn’t too far, so if he hurried back to shower and sleep, he could be in bed within an hour.

Thinking he should watch the time tomorrow and only work for about two hours, Ji-woo got off the elevator and walked along the dimly lit corridor with a broken light to the exit. Though it was a short distance, the darkness made it a bit scary.

As he was leaving through the exit, he saw a very tall man standing next to the door. Thinking it might be Hyun-joon, Ji-woo quickly stepped out to check the man’s face. As the gaze from above slowly fell on his face and their eyes met, cigarette smoke dispersed from between Hyun-joon’s lips.

“Didn’t you go home? I thought you’d left since you weren’t upstairs…”

“You really are a stalker. Always looking for me.”

“It’s just… you’re the only person I know here, so I just checked if you were around. Of course, I do have something to say…”

“Don’t you get tired of this?”

“Why don’t you come to the classroom when you’re actually coming to school? If you don’t like the classroom, at least go to the teacher’s office and check in with the homeroom teacher.”

“Why should I go to the classroom? All my friends are in different classes, and I’ve got nothing to do there anyway.”

“Don’t you have any friends in our class?”

“No.”

“Then come to see me.”

“…What?”

Ji-woo expected Hyun-joon’s face to crumple immediately, but surprise came first. Hyun-joon’s bewildered expression slowly turned into a frown. Ji-woo calmly spoke again, habitually lifting his heel slightly.

“I’ll wait for you. So come.”

“…Are you crazy? Don’t you need something bigger to make me do such a bothersome thing? Don’t try to get a free pass. Make me have no choice but to listen to you. Is this your idea of being persistent? You’re just all talk and trying to take the easy way out.”

Hyun-joon dropped his shortened cigarette onto the ground littered with cigarette butts and stepped on it to completely extinguish it.

“If that’s the case, can I really do whatever I want?”

“Go ahead. You’re already doing whatever you want. Stalking me, pretending it’s coincidence, keep telling me to come to school when I tell you to get lost.”

“So you’re giving me permission?”

“Yeah. I’m curious too. To see how far you’ll go. I’m looking forward to seeing how persistent you can be.”

“…Alright. Then from now on, I’ll do as I please.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Hyun-joon let out a short breath while looking down at Ji-woo, then turned away and entered the building. Ji-woo, who had been staring at Hyun-joon’s back, followed him. Hyun-joon, who was about to press the elevator button, turned to look at Ji-woo.

“What now?”

“I want to spend more time with you.”

“What?”

“You said I could do what I want. This is what I want right now. To be with you.”

“…Fine, do as you please.”

Hyun-joon shook his head and pressed the button with a bit more force. Soon, the elevator doors opened, flooding the area with overly bright light. Ji-woo squinted at the brightness and quickly followed Hyun-joon into the elevator. He had planned to go home early and sleep due to the late hour, but it seemed that this unnecessary stubbornness and persistence would prevent him from getting to bed early.

“Hey, what’s that thing you brought with you?”

“Don’t know. Ignore it.”

Ji-woo followed Hyun-joon into the pool hall and calmly faced the various gazes directed at him.

“Wow, I never thought Hyun-joon would date a male omega.”

“It’s not like that,” Hyun-joon said.

“Why else would you bring him along? It’s definitely that.”

“I said it’s not.”

“Then what is it?”

“Someone the homeroom teacher sent.”

“Damn, your homeroom teacher still hasn’t given up?”

“Nope.”

Unlike Hyun-joon, who picked up a pool cue without paying any attention to Ji-woo’s presence, his friends seemed more interested in Ji-woo. Ji-woo let out a sigh-like breath and moved closer, sitting on the sofa where the guys’ bags were placed. His legs ached from all the walking, and he didn’t want to stand anymore. Soon, three large guys approached Ji-woo and surrounded him.

“Are you really here because Hyun-joon’s homeroom teacher sent you?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, that sounds like bullshit. You slept with Hyun-joon, didn’t you?”

“What?”

“You’re an omega, right?”

“Yes.”

“Shit, he is. They definitely did it.”

At first, Ji-woo couldn’t understand what they were saying at all, but when they asked if he was an omega, he could roughly grasp the context of their words. In short, they were harassing him now.