#128

Leaving the sleeping Man, Tae-heun went outside. The hotel lobby was deserted. Everyone must have gone out to play or was having sex in their rooms, just like they had.

Tae-heun called a taxi and went to a nearby mart. Perhaps because it was near a love hotel, there was a variety of condoms that were usually hard to find. Although there wasn’t his usual brand, he felt like he’d struck gold when he found the right size. Next to the condoms were massage oils, including lube. It was something the man definitely needed, so he grabbed two without hesitation. With condoms, massage oil, cigarettes, and a disposable camera in hand, he returned to the hotel.

He sat down at the lobby coffee shop where he had sat with the man earlier, ordered a coffee, and then got up again as if he had remembered something to do. He went to the front desk and asked the manager if he could use the phone. The manager readily handed over the phone they used.

Tae-heun paged his Helper and returned the phone, asking, “I’m expecting a call on this number, would it be alright to take it?”

“Of course.”

“Great. When the call comes, please bring it over there.”

Tae-heun pointed to the coffee shop.

“Yes, I understand. What is your name?”

“Kim. Tae. Heun.”

He answered proudly. He barely resisted adding that he was Yoon Ki-beom’s Husband.

“Kim Tae, with the character for ‘big,’ and Heun, with the character for ‘teach’.”

“Not ‘teach,’ but ‘Heun’ as in ‘trace’.”

“Ah, yes. Heun.”

The manager repeated the name as he wrote it down on a memo pad.

“I’ll bring the phone to you as soon as it comes.”

“Thank you.”

Tae-heun handed him a tip.

Then he went back to his seat. As if on cue, his iced coffee arrived. He tipped the waiter as well, took out a cigarette from the pack, and unwrapped it. He tapped the cigarette case, and one popped out, which he put in his mouth.

He had shared cigarettes with the man until he was sick of them, but he already craved one. As he smoked, he felt the afterglow of their sex. Man’s tight hole and firm back, slender waist and soft skin. Even the way his hips shook helplessly at his thrusts. Thinking of his hips made him dizzy. Heat rose through his body, and blood rushed downwards.

He laughed inwardly, thinking he was going to get an erection in the lobby of a love hotel, and gulped down the cold coffee. Only then did he come to his senses a little. But his mind was filled with thoughts of having sex with Man, so he was engulfed in heat again as if nothing had happened. No matter how much cold stuff he drank, his desire wouldn’t subside.

The Helper was late in contacting him. It wasn’t a 24-hour service center, and there was no need to respond to his calls immediately. That wasn’t what they had agreed on in the first place. Still, he was impatient. He wanted to wake up Man, who was probably deep in Dreamland, and have sex with him quickly. He was even more anxious because there was no telling when he would get to be with the man again.

The coffee was quickly gone. He ordered another iced coffee and turned his gaze to the lake. The lake, where lovers had been riding Paddle boats even in the scorching sun, was now very still. As if not a single breeze was blowing, the Paddle boats parked side by side on one side of the lake looked like a still life painting.

Bored, he asked the waiter for a newspaper. He was diligently reading the freshly delivered sports newspaper and evening paper when he heard someone call out, “President Oh Dae-ho.”

“You have a call.”

The waiter said this as he placed the coffee on the tray and handed over the cordless phone with both hands.

“Thank you.”

Tae-heun took the phone. Only after confirming that the waiter had completely disappeared did he put the receiver to his ear.

Is Chungju Lake beautiful?

The Helper asked abruptly. Tae-heun laughed.

“Yeah. It’s not just beautiful, it’s crazy good.”

He answered without even glancing at the lake.

It must be nice. How come you don’t have any sense of crisis?

He said sarcastically. There was no follow-up. The other side of the receiver was busy. Perhaps because he was busy, the Helper brought up Detective Oh instead of the nagging he had expected.

He still hasn’t come out of the room salon.

“Still? What time is it? Didn’t he leave through the back door?”

Of course, I was watching that too.

What do you take me for?

He added as if protesting.

Tae-heun chuckled briefly. “I know, you’re good at what you do,” he said, soothingly.

“But he still hasn’t come out?”

Nope.

“Did he pass out from getting service all night?”

Or maybe he’s dead.

“Don’t say that.”

They both giggled.

Surely, that couldn’t be. No matter how reckless Nam Ji-hoon was, he couldn’t possibly do anything to a detective. Not unless he wanted to rot in jail for the rest of his life.

“No one went in or out?”

Nam Ji-hoon went in and out three times, and the thugs who came with him also went out and came back in the middle. Some of them went out and never came back. And around 2 a.m., a guy who looked to be in his early 40s went in alone. But he’s also gone missing.

“Oh?”

It’s not him. He looks different. He must be one of Nam Ji-hoon’s crew or someone Oh Dae-ho knows.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

When Tae-heun answered listlessly, the Helper chuckled. It was a laugh as if he knew it, as if he knew why you had called.

So, what do you really want to say?

The Helper set the stage for him.

“Galilla Orphanage. It was in Ansan or Anyang. I don’t know if it’s still operating.”

He was in an orphanage too?

“Yeah. For about a year.”

Yoon Ki-beom’s life has been quite eventful.

He pitied Man.

Tae-heun thought that the life of the man who had been in the same orphanage might have been even more tragic than Yoon Ki-beom’s. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have risked getting caught to try to live a new life under someone else’s name.

“Find out about the kids who were admitted between ’82 and ’84, and the list of all the children.”

Okay. I’ll do it.

He readily agreed. But there was always a catch.

But.

“I know. This is the last time.”

Tae-heun said what the Helper was going to say.

Promise me you’ll keep your word.

“Consider your worries gone.”

He answered clearly.

“This is the last time. I promise.”

This was really the last time he was asking the Helper for anything related to Man. From now on, he was going to find out for himself. The data was just for reference; to confirm what Tae-heun wanted to know, he had to meet people. He didn’t want to reveal Man’s secrets, even to the Helper he trusted so much. That’s why he had to do it himself, and that was the safest way.

He laughed at himself for talking about safety while he was in hiding. For someone who was using someone else’s name like Man, he was incredibly reckless. Wanting to do everything he wanted and be safe was greedy. He knew that well enough, but that didn’t mean he was going to stop. It was for the future, even if it was dangerous right now. To be safer than anyone else, Tae-heun boldly chose the tightrope. He pushed himself to the edge of the cliff.

Yet he wasn’t afraid at all. On the contrary, his adrenaline was pumping.

Be careful.

The Helper warned.

“We’ll see.”

Tae-heun answered jokingly and hung up the phone.

He didn’t have time to be sitting here like this. He didn’t even touch his coffee and got up from his seat right away. It was time to hold the man again. All night long, he would hold him and hold him again. He smiled as he looked at the bag containing the condoms and oil.

* * *

The two didn’t get to eat spicy fish stew or go to a live cafe, but they boarded the first bus with more satisfied faces than anyone else. They should have been tired, but the two men’s faces were flushed with excitement and anticipation.

As soon as the bus started, Tae-heun opened a Let’s Be coffee with his own hands and handed it to Man. the man received the can, which was already beaded with condensation because of the heat, with a happy expression.

“Are you okay?”

Tae-heun asked Man.

Man, who was sipping his Let’s Be, answered, “Yes,” with a sweet scent. Unlike his gruff tone, his face was slightly red. the man avoided Tae-heun’s gaze and drank his coffee. Tae-heun stared intently at Man’s profile, fiddling with the can he wasn’t going to drink.

An awkward atmosphere hung between them. For people who had just engaged in the most intimate act, they were overly conscious of each other. Tae-heun wanted to look better to the man than before, so he fussed over his appearance for no reason. He spoke kindly.

“Is the seat uncomfortable?”

“…Yes. It’s okay.”

“It’s hard, isn’t it?”

“Yes, a little.”

“I told you we should have rested longer. If we had, we could have bought a cushion.”

Tae-heun blamed the man for rushing to catch the first bus. What cushion? Because there were no stores open, they had to make do with a bag of bread and milk from the tiny terminal store for breakfast.

Then the man pouted and grumbled, “I let you rest, and that’s all I get.”

Tae-heun was embarrassed.

“I’m sorry. Well, who told you to be so handsome?”

He blamed the man again.

“What am I supposed to do when this thing can’t stay still for a moment because of Ki-beom?”

He slyly made a lewd remark while glancing down, and the man turned his body completely and chugged his coffee. The back of his neck was bright red.

“Drink slowly. You’ll choke.”

Tae-heun smiled broadly and gently stroked Man’s back.

To feed his first night partner convenience store bread and put him on public transportation.

That was something that would never have happened to his past self. He probably would have gotten angry, asking what they took him for. Probably, no, he definitely would have.

Lee Seon-jae, who had grown up under an Uncle who valued the opinions of others more than anything, had been gradually influenced by him. It was a world where “face” was everything. As he rose in rank, he frequented luxury hotels, high-end hostess bars, designer stores, and expensive restaurants, as was customary.

Before he knew it, Lee Seon-jae was also obsessed with the word “luxury,” just like his Uncle. As if that was the only way he could become luxurious, he hated poverty and cheapness to the extreme. The more he hated it, the poorer his life and heart became, but he didn’t realize it at the time. He only realized it after meeting Man.

Tae-heun rested his head on Man’s shoulder. the man turned around. His kind eyes gazed at Tae-heun. the man carefully put his arm under the backrest and hugged Tae-heun’s back. It was a narrow seat, but there was enough space to share love. They thought they were touching without a gap, but there was a gap to embrace each other.

“I like you.”

Tae-heun whispered into Man’s shoulder.

“I really like you.”

The word “love” is scary.

The word “like” is much better.

Tae-heun took Man’s words to heart.