Romantic Gangster

#33

“This time I’ll only need 10 minutes.”

“…Okay.”

“I’ll be back soon.”

Hyun-joon grinned again and approached the door with his arms around the men’s necks. Ji-woo stared at his retreating figure before slumping into his chair. He had been scared, disgusted, and really hated the situation, but as soon as he saw Hyun-joon’s face, he felt relieved again. He felt like it was all over now, and a gentle sense of relief spread through him as he thought everything would be okay.

Without realizing it, he seemed to have become much more dependent on Hyun-joon than he had thought. In the past, he would have been wary of relying on someone too much, fearing he might not be able to stand alone, and would have tried to maintain his balance and strength on his own. But now… those thoughts didn’t come easily. He had realized how good it felt to have someone by his side to feel reassured.

‘This time I’ll only need 10 minutes.’

It seemed like only a minute had passed since Hyun-joon left, but Ji-woo was already waiting for him. Even though he knew it was a bit strange, he couldn’t take his eyes off the closed convenience store door.

As the 10 minutes that felt unusually long passed, he waited for the moment Hyun-joon would come in.

* * *

Only after reaching a dark alley behind the shopping complex did Hyun-joon release his arms from around the two men’s necks. The staggering men looked up at Hyun-joon with faces that realized something had gone terribly wrong.

“Why, why are you doing this…”

“I came in a bit late earlier so I didn’t hear what you said up front, so tell me everything you said to the part-timer.”

“What? Ah, no, I just…”

“Just? Saying it felt like you touched a dick and asking to be touched next time, was that just saying something?”

“Ah, that, that was a joke. No, I thought the part-timer might be sleepy at night so I just said it to make him laugh…”

Hyun-joon’s hand flew out and struck the face of the man who said it was a joke. The man staggered and trembled, bracing himself against the wall with both hands.

“Ah, to make him laugh. But you know what? F*ck, it wasn’t funny at all.”

Hyun-joon stood askew with his hands deep in his pockets and pushed the inside of his cheek with his tongue. The men, who seemed to have sobered up completely and even lost half their senses, glanced at each other. They seemed to be gauging the timing to run away.

“Want to run?”

“What? Ah, no… We’re sorry…”

“Forget it and just recite what you said to the part-timer. If there’s even one funny thing, I’ll let you go.”

“We, we didn’t say much… We were just joking around…”

“Hey.”

“…Yes?”

“So tell me what kind of joke you made and how. Don’t make me ask twice. F*ck, if I have to tell you to speak properly one more time, you’re dead.”

At that moment, one of the guys standing at the edge of the alley ran away. Hyun-joon lightly ran after him, grabbed him by the nape as he tried to leave the alley, dragged him back in, and threw him to the ground.

“Just ask with words if you want to be beaten the same way. Don’t make me waste energy unnecessarily.”

Hyun-joon grabbed the fallen man by the collar and slapped his cheek just as he had done to the other man earlier.

“Do you want to get hit more before talking, or do you want to talk quickly? I need to go in 10 minutes. There’s less than 5 minutes left now.”

“…I’ll, I’ll talk. I’ll tell you… After drinking, I always get hungry so I of-often stop by convenience stores… Today I wanted to eat sausages so I bought them. But, but maybe because I was drunk, I suddenly felt like joking around…”

“Don’t pause, keep going.”

“…I joked that this was bigger than his d-dick, and then I just jokingly asked the part-timer which one looked bigger…”

“And then?”

“…If he couldn’t tell, I said he could touch it…”

Hyun-joon had wanted to know how such a f*cked up statement came about, but he regretted hearing it. It made him genuinely want to get rid of these two bastards.

“I’m sorry, it was really just a joke. We were drunk, we just said it without any meaning… We didn’t really mean for him to do it.”

“So what?”

“What?”

“It doesn’t matter what you meant or whether it was sincere or not. What matters is that the part-timer heard that stupid shit and was upset. Sorry? What are you going to do if you’re sorry? Can you turn back time so he never heard it? Can you completely erase those words from his memory?”

The men said nothing and pressed themselves against the wall, glancing around as if looking for help. But no one came to the dark alley. There was no sign of anyone passing by nearby.

“We, we won’t do it again. We’re sorry…”

“You should have not done it in the first place. There won’t be a next time.”

Hyun-joon grabbed the face of the man who had told Ji-woo to touch him, crushing it with his long fingers. As he applied pressure, the man started screaming in pain and struggling.

“F*ck, stop exaggerating.”

Hyun-joon knocked the man down and kicked him in the stomach. The man clutched his stomach and rolled on the ground. Seeing this, the other man who was trying to crawl away was caught by the nape by Hyun-joon and fell to the ground again. Hyun-joon kicked him in the stomach too and alternately stomped on them before taking a deep breath. He wanted to beat them to death, but he felt Ji-woo wouldn’t like it if he beat them too severely. Thinking Ji-woo might say he was acting like the gangster he was rumored to be, he decided to stop at this point.

“If I see your faces around here one more time, know that I’ll really crush your dicks then.”

When he raised his foot high as if he was about to crush their genitals, the men covered their groins with both hands and nodded frantically. They looked so desperate that even Hyun-joon’s desire to beat them to death faded.

“Get lost.”

The severely beaten men managed to get up, almost crawling on the ground, and limped away. Even as they left the alley, they kept looking back, afraid Hyun-joon might follow, and showed their cowardice by bowing whenever their eyes met.

“F*ck, how annoying.”

He had just managed to calm down his lower half, but these bastards had to act up and make him furious. He didn’t want to return to the convenience store feeling like this.

Hyun-joon took out a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it. After inhaling deeply and exhaling the smoke a few times, his irritation subsided a little. The remaining annoyance seemed like it would only be resolved once he saw that Ji-woo was okay.

“Ah.”

I shouldn’t have smoked. I’m going to smell like cigarettes.

He waved his hand around belatedly, but having already smoked half of it, it would be hard for there to be no smell at all. Hyun-joon sighed softly and headed towards the convenience store as if he had no choice. He was a bit concerned, knowing that cigarette smell couldn’t be a condition for appealing with a good image, but since Ji-woo already knew he smoked, he thought it might be better to just let it slide today.

As he approached the convenience store, he saw someone else standing in front of the counter. The man, who looked to be in his early twenties, was smiling at Ji-woo. And Ji-woo smiled back at the end of whatever the man was saying.

F*ck, I really can’t leave for even a moment. Clicking his tongue, Hyun-joon flung open the convenience store door. The man standing at the counter turned his head, looking startled, and looked up at Hyun-joon.

“Then think about it, and if you’re interested, please contact me.”

“Yes, thank you for considering me favorably.”

“I’m not whining for you to do it, so don’t feel pressured. It’s just that you’re really my ideal type… Well, I’ll drop by again next time.”

“Okay, take care.”

Hyun-joon looked at Ji-woo and the unknown man chatting politely with eyes that said they were fooling around. He was annoyed by the talk about contacting and ideal types, but what he disliked more was that Ji-woo, unlike earlier, wasn’t showing an unpleasant expression. When he saw Ji-woo smiling and saying thank you while holding what looked like a piece of paper with contact information, he felt a surge of heat inside.

“Who’s that?”

“Ah, just a customer.”

“He’s not asking you to do something, is he?”

“Ah… He’s a photographer preparing for a personal exhibition. He said he liked my vibe and gave me his contact information in case I want to work together if possible.”

“Bullshit, work my ass, f*ck, that’s a very detailed approach.”

Even if he generously gave the benefit of the doubt, there was only a 3% chance that he genuinely wanted to work on photos together. Hyun-joon recalled the face of the man who had glanced at him before leaving. Judging by how he was sneaking glances as he left, there was no way his intentions were pure.

“It’s not like that. He really seemed like someone who works…”

“Then why did he say crap about ideal types and stuff? Who talks about ideal types when asking to work on photos? And those eyes checking things out were clearly those of a pervert.”

“…Really?”

Seeing Ji-woo tilt his head quizzically, Hyun-joon held out his hand. Even though he hadn’t asked for anything, Ji-woo placed the paper with the man’s contact information on his hand.

“You don’t need this.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t going to do it anyway. I don’t have the time, and I’ve never done anything like that before, so I don’t want to be a bother.”

Hyun-joon tore the paper into pieces and put it in the trash can near the convenience store entrance, then naturally entered the counter area and sat down next to Ji-woo. As soon as he sat down, Ji-woo’s face moved slightly towards his shoulder and then away. It seemed like he had momentarily smelled the cigarette odor.