1. On a Rainy Dawn

Rring—

At the sound of the nerve-grating bell, a voice even more grating erupted from inside.

“Namu! A customer’s here! Get out here, quick!”

Today was a day when customers were flocking in unusually. Thanks to that, even the manager had to step in; he had been in a treatment room only to be interrupted by a succession of arriving guests, causing him to raise his voice repeatedly.

“Mu! Namu! Mu!”

When there was no answer despite the calling, the manager muttered, “Did this brat pass out again?” He asked for the customer’s understanding and stepped out of Room 3. In front of the checkout counter, where the sensor lights had gone off, leaving it dim, two hulking figures stood firmly in place.

The entrance was already narrow, and with two humans the size of barn doors blocking it, anyone looking at them would feel suffocated. Startled by the unexpected sight, the manager quickly regained his composure and entered the counter area with a sociable, bowing demeanor.

“Oh my. Sorry for the wait, guests. We’ve had so many people visiting today that our response was delayed.”

“I can see that. Does this place use a rake to gather every single customer in the neighborhood?”

“My, such kind words for a first meeting. Shall I set you both up as VIPs?”

The man, who didn’t answer the manager’s leading question immediately, looked at the menu attached to the counter top.

We are a wholesome massage establishment.

There are absolutely no indecent services other than wholesome massages.

VIP

(2 hours 30 minutes) 150,000

(Sports + Aroma + Thai + Foot + Skin Care + Stone Therapy + Dome Therapy)

Daytime Event

(11 AM to 7 PM)

Thai Full Body 50 min 45,000

Sports Full Body 50 min 45,000

Aroma Back Meridian 50 min 45,000

Foot 50 min 35,000

Foot + Dome Therapy 50 min 45,000

Skin Care 30,000

(Cleansing + Deep Cleansing + Decollete + Pack)

Aroma Meridian

Aroma Meridian | 60 min 65,000

(Sports + Aroma + Stone Therapy)

Recommended Aroma Meridian || 90 min 95,000

(Sports + Aroma + Stone Therapy + Dome Therapy)

Strongly Recommended Aroma Meridian ||| 120 min 120,000

(Sports + Aroma + Foot + Face Pack + Stone + Abdomen + Dome Therapy)

Thai Massage

Thai Massage | 80 min 65,000

(Thai Full Body + Mask Pack)

Strongly Recommended Thai Massage || 110 min 95,000

(Thai Full Body + Foot + Mask Pack + Dome Therapy)

Thai Massage ||| 130 min 120,000

(Thai Full Body + Foot + Aroma Abdomen + Stone + Mask Pack + Dome Therapy)

Traditional Thai Massage Gamgyul Baesang

The man leisurely scanned the menu—which was as tacky as the Thai-style interior that hadn’t escaped the 90s—as if reading a book, then replied with a smirk.

“Two VIPs. Separate rooms.”

Noticing the droplets of water on the man’s coat, the manager quickly read the room. Come to think of it, he seemed to have seen the bespectacled man standing behind him folding a wet umbrella.

“It must be raining hard outside? We’re stuck inside all day, so we don’t even know if it’s raining or snowing. Oh dear, those look like expensive clothes, and they’re soaked.”

“They’ll dry. Anyway. Does the massage start tomorrow?”

“Oh, my goodness, look at me. That’ll be 300,000 won upfront for two VIPs. Our place doesn’t have different prices for cash and card, so please pay however is convenient for you.”

The manager felt a secret sense of pride, as if having the same price for cash and card was a major differentiator in the industry. The man handed over the cash and put his wallet back. His thick yet well-tailored winter coat smelled of what one would call “money.”

With his neat appearance, he could have passed for a corporate executive, but the manager, who had seen it all in the notorious Gamgyul City, didn’t let his guard down easily. Contrary to his looks, which suggested someone who spent a lot of time wielding a pen at a desk, the man exuded the aura of a gangster.

The fact that the man didn’t even try to hide it made the manager even more nervous. It was nonsensical for wealthy, decent-looking people to be loitering around Gamgyul City. With people like this, the best strategy was to provide the highest level of service and get them out as quickly as possible.

“First, please change your clothes in the dressing room here. If you need to, you can shower in the shower room inside first. Once you come out of the dressing room, please wait on this sofa for just a moment.”

The dressing room attached to the counter was less than half a pyeong, too narrow for two large men to enter at once. The man, who let the bespectacled man in first, perched on the sofa and scanned the interior. The six-story commercial building, over 30 years old, was worn and grimy. It was a mirror image of the hopeless Gamgyul City.

Beyond the beaded curtains hanging diagonally from the dressing room, he could feel the manager moving busily. He heard the sound of a small room door—where employees ate, slept, and rested—opening and closing, and the manager’s voice leaked through the gap of the door that hadn’t fully closed.

“Mu, Namu. Wake up, Mu. Why can’t this kid wake up? Mu, Namu! A customer is here! You have to take the customer! Oh boy. This is bad. His illness must have flared up again. Mu, honey, Namu. Mu!”

It was a rural commercial building where one wouldn’t expect soundproofing in the first place, but the man, who had suddenly memorized the name of an employee he hadn’t even seen, chuckled and put a cigarette in his mouth.

Seeing that they employed someone with a chronic illness, he figured their skills must be useful. Or perhaps they had some other use. Quickly losing interest, the man snapped the cigarette as he looked toward the opening dressing room door.

“Is the clothing about to burst?”

“This is the largest size. I don’t think the boss’s shoulders would even fit in this.”

Jo Jae-woon, the bespectacled man, looked down at his top, which was barely clinging to him, frowned, but politely stepped aside. The dressing room entrance was as narrow as the doorframe was low. Since most buildings in this neighborhood were in this state, the man, who had grown accustomed to bowing his head every time he entered or exited, opened the locker.

Indeed, the treatment clothes neatly placed in the locker couldn’t even cover his broad shoulders and were tight on his thick forearms. In the end, the man threw off the deep blue top and donned a gown that looked slightly more spacious. Even that barely covered his shoulders.

From the ceiling and wallpaper to the shower curtain, the establishment was a hodgepodge of patches and additions over time, but its tacky aesthetic was consistently maintained.

The man, making no effort to close the faded gown, narrowed his brows as he stepped out of the dressing room. Jae-woon was nowhere to be seen, having already entered the treatment room, and in front of the sofa with the collapsed cushions, a “peach fuzz” was standing.

They called him “honey.”

“A middle schooler?”

“Huh? Oh, no. Sir, I am…”

Startled by the sudden question, the peach fuzz jumped and turned around. He then froze, looking up at the man’s face and massive frame, which towered far above him.

Standing dazed by a presence he had never encountered in his life, the peach fuzz belatedly came to his senses and hurriedly fumbled through his pockets. As if being mistaken for a minor wasn’t the first time, he hurriedly pulled out an ID card with ink that looked like it hadn’t even dried.

Just twenty years old. The peach fuzz, who looked so fresh that one might suspect the ID was a fake, was named Namu. It seemed like a name thrown together because he was born on Arbor Day.

“Sir. Y-you can give it back now…”

“What’s the proof that this is real?”

“Pardon?”

“These days, brats running around with fakes cause quite a stir. Don’t you watch the news? It’s not just once or twice that honest business owners suffer because of precocious minors. This piece of plastic seems quite insufficient as proof that… Mr. Namu is an adult.”

The man, intentionally stalling by pretending to look at the name on the ID, looked down at the peach fuzz, whose crown of the head didn’t even reach his shoulder.

W-what should I do…

Looking up at the man with eyes that revealed everything he was thinking, Namu wavered, then suddenly turned away with a brightened face. The man, who let him go knowing he was within his grasp regardless of where he ran, watched the fluttering hair.

Between the pupils that were larger than average and the hair that fluttered every time he moved busily, the already young boy looked even younger.

The man, who was an expert at screening, knew at a glance that the ID was real. He was simply testing to see what else he would present to prove himself and, while he was at it, judging the management level of the establishment. Just then, Namu, who had been diligently rummaging through his things in the small room, came rushing out with his hands full.

“Here, sir.”

His face, flushed with the joy of finally being able to prove himself, and his sparkling eyes were as noisy as a child’s, and his manner in extending both hands was very polite. If he was twenty, it meant he had been an adult for only five months, yet he had learned how to treat customers very well. It couldn’t have been the soft-hearted manager from earlier who taught him.

The man silently looked down at the light brown eyes that shone exceptionally, as if stars were embedded in them, and took what was offered. What he held in those two hands, as small as the boy’s frame, were a single copy of a resident registration abstract and a high school diploma.

“They’re all real. It would be better if I had a graduation album, but I didn’t have the money for that… Uh, I mean… please don’t report me, sir. I really am an adult. The manager and the boss are both good people. They’re the honest business owners you mentioned. They fed me, gave me a place to sleep, let me work, and also…”

“Mr. Namu, do you have no family?”

Namu, who had been piling up excuses in anxiety at the man’s indifferent attitude, opened his eyes wide at the sudden question.

“What…?”

He had expected the abstract, but not the diploma. Even an establishment like this would have checked a registration abstract. Whether they intended to scam him later or exploit him, a verified identity was very useful. Especially in a place like Gamgyul City, where illegality ran rampant.

The contents listed on the crumpled resident registration abstract were as thin as the paper itself. One line for the identity of a grandfather who had been processed as deceased five years ago, and one line for the identity of the peach fuzz who had just become an adult. There was no trace of parents in the document, as if they had never existed.

Since most of the people around the man were parentless, it wasn’t special that the peach fuzz before him was an orphan. However, confirming it directly through documents was refreshing. A diploma—how little must he have that he carried a diploma around to prove it was his? Even so, it was exactly the level of shabbiness and misery he had expected.

“Our Mr. Namu is a pitiful person.”

“…….”

Namu, who fearlessly faced the man whose every word seemed to poke at his heart or somewhere, hesitated to pull back and then bowed his head deeply. He was intimidated by the calm eyes that hid their true intentions. He had to be kind and obedient to customers. That was the only way Namu could manage a day without any trouble.

“Th-thank you?”

“You don’t raise the end of your sentence in a situation like this.”

“Ah… yes. Thank you, sir.”

“Unless we’re going to stay like this all night, I’d like to start.”

“Ah, yes! P-please sit this way.”

“Take these back.”

“Pardon?”

“They’re precious.”

“Ah, yes! Thank you, sir.”

Namu, who politely took back the pieces of paper and the ID that were nothing more than trash to the man, hurried into the small room and back out. Even then, finding the man still standing in front of the sofa, he approached with a flustered face.

“S-sir. Please sit here and have a cup of tea. While you drink, I’ll clean your feet first.”

In front of the sofa, whose cover likely hadn’t been changed since the opening, a foot bath machine that was not just cheap but faded in color was prepared. This insignificant establishment did everything.

The man, with a face devoid of laughter, sat on the sofa and spread his legs wide. Namu, kneeling before him, looked at the man’s thighs and calves, which were four times thicker than his own forearms, and spoke hesitantly.

“Sir, you need to put your feet in here… I’ll clean them well for you. I just drew the water, so it’s clean and warm. Uh, it’s cooled down a bit, but it’s still warm. Should I draw fresh water and clean them? Your foot fatigue needs to be relieved for the blood to flow well throughout the body.”

The man silently looked down at Namu, who, despite stuttering, said everything he needed to say, and then placed both feet in the foot bath. As expected, seeing the water splash over, Namu was startled and wiped the area with a towel.

“Wow, your feet are huge, sir.”

Seeing feet that looked twice as large as his own, Namu genuinely marveled and put both hands into the foot bath. In the already cramped foot bath, Namu’s two hands, which slid in, were white, small, and soft. Unaware that his hair had fallen over his ears due to his concentration, the fingertips kneading the man’s feet were quite firm.

His nape, which looked like it could be eaten in one bite, was covered in peach fuzz, and the pink short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts—which were supposed to be a uniform—were a medium size but still too large for him. Under the loose top, his protruding nipples and flat belly were clearly visible.

His knees, tucked together for convenience, his nipples, poking out sharply as if the indoor air was chilly, and his cheeks, flushed red from working hard, were all the color of a peach. Rather than doubt, a rational guess preceded the thought of how this green boy was going to loosen the muscles of a man several times his size.

Wholesome establishment, my foot.

“Um, sir. Now, please place your foot here.”

Spreading a towel over one of his thighs, Namu looked up at the man and beamed. He had no dimples, but his chubby cheeks were soft like glutinous rice cakes. He looked like he would sell well. If it were Boss Kwak, he’d be the type to pay a premium; why was he rotting in a place like this?

“Mr. Namu, I heard you have an illness that flares up every day.”

“Pardon…?”

His eyes, widening in surprise, rolled like glass beads. Instead of placing his foot on Namu’s thigh, the man leaned back deep into the sofa and smirked.

“What kind of illness is it?”

“H-how did you… Uh… sir, it’s bad for your feet if the water cools. Please put it here quickly.”

“So?”

“Ah…”

Flustered by the man’s attitude, which suggested he wouldn’t be compliant unless he got an answer, Namu suddenly blushed and replied.

“It’s called narcolepsy… do you know it? I first heard about it when I went to the hospital back then.”

Only then did Namu hurriedly wrap the man’s left foot in a towel to keep its temperature from dropping as he placed it on his thigh, pressing firmly to wipe away the moisture. Unaware that the foot covering his entire thigh was heavy, Namu was actually in a state of heart-pounding panic.

How did he know? Did he hear it from outside when the manager was waking me up? Thinking that even he wouldn’t want service from an employee with a strange illness, Namu began to explain proactively.

“Not often, just occasionally, very occasionally. I just fall asleep anywhere. But I’ve never had that happen while working. It’s not a contagious disease. I will never cause any harm to the customer. If, by any chance, I fall asleep while giving you a massage, another therapist will do a much better job. O-of course, I will also do my best to do it well. A moment ago, it wasn’t narcolepsy, I was just too tired… actually, it’s my break time right now. Ah, but I’m happy a customer came. When many customers come, the manager is happy, the boss is happy, the other therapists are happy, and I’m happy too.”

After cleaning the left foot and putting on a slipper, Namu switched thighs, laid out a new towel, and requested the man’s right foot.

“Sir, please give me the other foot.”

The man, who gave his foot without a word this time, looked at the rounded back of Namu’s ear and asked.

“When was that?”

Instead of questioning how he could be sure of the customer’s safety if he fell asleep during a massage, the man asked a different question while looking at the hand kneading his right foot.

Seeing that the hand continued to fiddle with the foot even after the moisture was gone, it seemed this question was quite troubling. Still, the man waited without rushing him. Catering to the customer’s mood was like a physiological phenomenon for those parasitizing in such establishments. The peach fuzz was no different.

“The day my grandfather passed away.”

After putting a slipper on the right foot, Namu looked up at the man. The tacky lighting cast an indifferent glow on his awkwardly smiling face.

“Now, please go into Room 7 and wait for a moment. I’ll tidy this up quickly and go in to provide the service. Uh…”

While quickly tidying up and lifting the heavy foot bath machine, Namu discovered a teacup that hadn’t been touched and looked somewhat troubled. The teacup was nothing more than a paper cup in a light green plastic holder, and the tea was just steeped from a tea bag.

Still, it’s better to drink it.

“If you drink warm tea, the blood flows better in your body, and your muscles will loosen more easily.”

“Forget it.”

“Yes… Th-then please go in first, ah, no, wait a moment!”

Even while carrying the sloshing foot bath machine, Namu moved lightly and turned the corner of the hallway between the dressing room and the small room. Soon, Namu came running back, holding a pink gown in his hand.

“Y-you looked uncomfortable.”

I wondered why he was walking on eggshells. It seemed he was bothered by the gown, which was hanging wide open. Whether it was the blue practitioner’s uniform that didn’t fit or the gown, the man simply changed into a new one without a word, thinking it was a hassle to put on something he’d just have to take off anyway.

The reward for feeding, putting to sleep, and dressing a brat whose blood hadn’t even dried yet surely wasn’t just the massage fee. Though it was called a managed district, Gamgyul City—which The Center had long since abandoned—was a chronic headache for the organization.

Take Im Chang-seok, for example. People like the CEO of ‘Tangerine Massage,’ who skimmed money from exploiting kids through the back door, were everywhere. It was a city where kids, unaware they were being exploited, rolled around like trash while others sucked them dry.

The pink nylon gown, mimicking high-end silk, was spacious enough to wrap around a bear, easily covering the man’s upper body. Namu, who had been staring blankly at the tattoos descending down to the man’s thick ribcage as they disappeared behind the pink fabric, quickly snapped back to his senses.

“T-then, please come this way.”

Having finished tidying up while handling the gowns, Namu led the way, pulled back the curtain of Room 7, and looked back at the man.

“You can lie face down on the bed. Before that, if you could take off the gown…”

“Why bother putting it on if you’re just going to take it off, Namu-ssi?”

Namu looked up at the man, who asked in a low voice, and hesitated before speaking.

“I-I thought you might be cold.”

May 12th, 4:30 AM. Thanks to the early heat, the massage parlor’s air conditioners were running at full blast 24 hours a day. While the outside air was as humid as a tropical rainforest due to the sweltering weather and torrential rain, the interior remained pleasant.

The Manager’s trivial remark—that once you’re inside, you can’t tell if it’s raining or snowing outside—wasn’t wrong. The fine peach fuzz standing up under Namu’s short sleeves caught the man’s eye. Thinking others were cold just because he was; he really was like a child.

“And the pants?”

“Huh? Oh, no. Our establishment isn’t… that kind of place.”

Answering with a face that had turned red again, Namu looked at the man while needlessly tidying the bed. The man was about to say something more, but wondering why he kept teasing a kid who hadn’t even lost his baby fuzz, he obediently lay face down on the bed.

“Eh?”

The damn establishment’s bed was so small that the man’s entire body didn’t just fit tightly—it was practically overflowing in every direction. While the man himself remained indifferent, Namu let out a flustered voice and scrambled.

“C-customer. We have a heated floor room too. Shall I move you there?”

After a moment of silence, the man answered with a sigh.

“Just do it.”

“Yes…!”

Namu carefully adjusted the man’s posture—whose thick arms and ankles were spilling over the edges of the bed—and took his position at the head.

He carefully slid his fingers into the hair, which was as stylishly groomed as the male leads in TVs or magazines. The thick, coarse hair was softer than expected, and the scalp touching his fingertips was warm.

It’s a bit damp. Is it raining outside?

Normally, he would have mentioned it lightly to a customer, but since the man was radiating an aura of annoyance, Namu didn’t tactlessly strike up a conversation. Instead, he began the procedure meticulously, as usual.

He smells nice.

Most customers at the parlor smelled of a mix of food, coffee, nicotine, and alcohol. He had smelled many perfumes, but the scent coming from this man was unfamiliar and subtle. The scent of autumn. It resembled the cool autumn breeze that blows before transitioning into winter.

As expected, the man’s neck was thick. He hadn’t realized it because it was so cleanly extended, but even combining both of Namu’s hands wasn’t enough to measure the circumference of the neck.

Tensing up unconsciously, Namu swallowed hard and moved his hands. He felt his way from the back of the head, along the cervical spine to the shoulder blades, checking the condition. Then, he shifted his position and carefully climbed onto the bed.

Screech. As the man’s weight combined with Namu’s, the massage bed let out a low groan. While checking for any signs of discomfort, Namu eventually found himself kneeling between the man’s thighs.

Wow.

Now able to look down properly at the man’s back, Namu couldn’t help but admire him. With a height that almost touched the ceiling and broad shoulders, the man possessed an extraordinary physique, and his muscles were indescribably large and firm.

The parts that needed to be large were large, and the unnecessary parts were sleek, as if carved with a chisel. It felt like seeing a real-life version of the perfect body type described in textbooks.

On the man’s back, where there wasn’t a single useless muscle, three snakes were coiled. The meaning of that tattoo was simple: this man was a member of one of the many gang organizations in Gamgyul City.

Even in Gamgyul City, where inhuman dangers lurked like a den of snakes, Namu was well aware of the notoriety of those who topped the list of people to be especially careful around. Namu massaged his stiff fingertips to relax them and slowly shifted his weight onto the man’s body.

“Mmm.”

This was the sound customers made when they were satisfied. Only after ten minutes of the procedure did Namu finally feel relieved, doing his best and mobilizing all the knowledge he had learned so far to work on the man’s muscles and pressure points. He was so focused that he didn’t even feel the indoor air, which was chilly enough to make peach fuzz stand up.

By the time beads of sweat began to trickle down the tip of Namu’s nose, he had both knees resting on the man’s buttocks while applying pressure to the scapulae.

Because of the tattoos that covered the massive body from the ribcage to the buttocks without a gap, he hadn’t noticed before, but there were a great many scars. Some were bumpy, some were smooth, and some looked almost like tattoos themselves.

It must have hurt a lot.

Becoming cautious whenever he accidentally touched a scar, Namu focused so hard that he ended up putting too much weight on the man. Startled by his own action, Namu quickly moved his knees off the buttocks and rambled.

“I-I’m sorry, customer. I was too heavy, wasn’t I? Did it hurt? I was just so focused that I…”

The weight was so negligible it barely registered, so the man simply gestured vaguely, leaving Namu to fuss by himself.

“Ye-yes? Customer?”

“It’s fine, just keep going.”

“R-really? I don’t usually climb on customers, but today the space is just too narrow… Ah, come to think of it, I climbed up without telling you. I’m truly sorry, customer. Even now, we could move to the heated floor room…”

“Unless you want to stay with me until sunrise, stop making a fuss and keep going.”

“Huh? Yes… yes, customer…”

Answering instinctively, Namu looked at the man’s reaction and hesitated before whispering softly.

“Customer… then, can I climb back up?”

The man, who was receiving a pleasant massage for the first time in a while and found it unfortunate that the nuisance was the practitioner himself, frowned and replied.

“Go ahead, Namu-ssi.”

“Yes, thank you!”

With a bright face, as if he had never been scared, Namu answered cheerfully and slowly placed both knees back on the man’s buttocks. Even after shifting his full weight, Namu’s weight was truly like a feather, making his own worries pointless.

To think I’m letting a guy climb on my ass, the man thought, inwardly chuckling at the realization.

* * *

‘Tangerine Massage,’ located in the most complicated alleyway of Block 47 in Gamgyul City, was doing quite well for itself. The establishment, which had never changed its sign since it settled in a new building 30 years ago, had as many regulars as it did transients.

While the procedure fees were cheaper than other shops, the biggest reason was that it was a truly wholesome establishment where anyone—regardless of age or gender—could visit as a customer.

In principle, minors were not allowed, but there was no problem if they were with a guardian. Thus, there were quite a few customers at ‘Tangerine Massage’ who came with children on their backs or in their arms to receive treatment.

It had been about eight years since the Manager had practically run the shop in place of the CEO, who only acted like a boss during weekly accounting. Thanks to the generous Manager, Namu had been able to adapt well even in the notorious Gamgyul City.

“Did those big guys from yesterday cause any trouble?”

“Trouble? What trouble? They didn’t throw any fits or pull any tricks; they just quietly got their massages and left. And they were generous with tips! If only customers like that came every day, I’d work 24 hours. Right, Namu?”

“Yeah, my customer was very kind to me too.”

All the man had done was stay still and receive the massage without complaint, but for a practitioner, there was no better customer. Most customers were prone to irritability, swearing, and even physical violence.

The majority of customers would take their anger out on the practitioner the moment they felt slightly displeased, or even for no reason at all, as if they had been waiting for any excuse. Namu felt that if only customers like those men from yesterday came, his day would be much easier.

“What about the tips? Did you get a lot too, Namu?”

“Yeah, 100,000 won.”

“Oh? I got 100,000 won too. Those hyungs must have coordinated.”

100,000 won was an amount one could earn only by working tirelessly for an hour and a half. The Manager, who had been listening to Namu and Jeong-gon’s conversation, cut in while placing a bowl of scorched rice on the table.

“100,000 won makes the math easy. Put 80,000 won each in the cash box. Don’t get caught by the CEO and beaten up like last time.”

“Our CEO must be the only person in the whole world who takes a commission even from tips. And 80% of it!”

“Stop talking about the whole world. Jeong Jeong-gon, are you too well-fed? There are kids all over this Gamgyul floor who work without getting the money they’re owed, let alone commissions. If you’re unhappy, quit. No one—absolutely no one—is holding onto you here.”

“Aw, Manager, why do you say such hurtful things? I just meant it as a figure of speech. A figure of speech! This is too much. Can’t I even complain a bit between us? Honestly, I can’t say anything.”

“What exactly are we to each other?”

“People who eat together!”

Despite the Manager’s rebukes, Jeong-gon continued to chatter, then suddenly raised his spoon and dragged Namu into it.

“You said people who eat together in one house are family! You did! Last time! Right, Namu?”

“Ugh! You brat! Stop dragging innocent Namu into this!”

“Ah, when did I drag the kid into this?”

“Anyway, both Jeong Jeong-gon and Namu, keep your wits about you and behave. These days, Gamgyul City is more than just restless; it’s razor-sharp. People are disappearing without a trace, collapsing in the streets, or dying in screams. Especially you, Jeong Jeong-gon! Don’t go wandering around uselessly and cause trouble!”

Jeong-gon pouted at the Manager, who was giving a serious warning while holding a rice spoon, and took a large mouthful of rice.

“You always pick on me.”

“Then why can’t you just do well on your own like Namu?”

Usually, after being scolded like that, one might throw their spoon and stand up, but Jeong-gon instead took an even larger scoop of rice and grinned.

“Namu is a natural monument.”

“Always talking in circles.”

The Manager laughed in disbelief and began using his chopsticks.

“But why is it ‘razor-sharp’ and not just restless? Since when was Gamgyul not like that?”

“CEO Byeon next door said The Center sent people.”

“Eh? You actually believe that? There was a rumor like that last time too, but nothing happened. It was just the same as usual Gamgyul!”

“You brat, I’m telling you it’s real this time. I heard the guys managing the illegal gambling den in the next building vanished without a trace.”

Jeong-gon inwardly snorted at the Manager’s excessive caution—even lowering his voice for the last part—but played along.

“But how are we supposed to be careful? Half our business is transients. We can’t be careful just because we don’t recognize a face.”

“That’s why I’m saying be careful in everything. Always be kind to customers. Don’t talk back! Listen to the CEO! Got it? Especially the tips! If you guys get caught skimming one more time, you’ll either be kicked out naked or beaten and kicked out. In these grim times, if you have nowhere to go and wander the streets, it only takes a moment to get swept up in something and die a sudden, screaming death.”

“Is that a curse? Or a prophecy?”

“This brat! Wordplay again!”

“No, I mean, you have to tell us exactly what to be careful of for us to know. We’re not fortune tellers.”

The Manager glared at the grumbling Jeong-gon, telling him to just eat his rice, then slapped the back of Namu’s hand—who had been merely picking at his food—with a loud smack and added one thing.

“Tattoos.”

“Huh?”

Namu, who had been counting grains of rice while the other two bickered, looked up with an awkward face, rubbing the back of his hand.

“Just be careful of tattoos. The guys coming down from The Center all have large tattoos on their backs. So just be careful of those people. Isn’t it lucky? Since our job is to look at customers’ backs, we can be extra careful.”

Jeong-gon was flabbergasted. He wondered why the Manager had built up the suspense for such information. In Gamgyul City, where it was faster to find someone without a tattoo than someone with one, a back tattoo? It was absurd.

“Sigh, who can I trust. Namu, don’t listen to him and just eat your rice.”

“This brat again?”

“Is it true? Do those people have tattoos on their backs?”

When Namu showed interest instead of the dismissive Jeong-gon, the Manager’s face brightened, and he nodded vigorously.

“Yes. Tattoos. I heard they have huge tattoos stuck right on their backs.”

“Ah, why are you scaring the kid?”

“I’m not scaring him; I’m advising him to be careful, you brat.”

“Hey, hey, don’t worry about it. Do you think the Center guys are crazy enough to crawl all the way down here? They’d probably change their minds the moment they saw the state of this building. Because it’s too luxurious. And why would The Center touch honest citizens like us, who live diligently earning a pittance in a tiny massage parlor? Don’t they have any shame? We just have to work hard as usual.”

“What? State of the building? This brat. This brat. This brat who speaks so ‘beautifully,’ this brat who never listens.”

Jeong-gon, dodging the Manager who hit him on the head with a spoon every time he spoke, eventually dove behind Namu. Namu, caught in the middle and suddenly becoming the victim, swayed back and forth while recalling yesterday dawn.

The three snakes lurking on the man’s back. Back tattoos. A stranger. Combining the clues that surfaced one by one, Namu spoke with a worried face.

“Yesterday’s customer had a tattoo on his back too.”

“What?”

“What?”

The bickering Manager and Jeong-gon looked at Namu simultaneously.

“Yesterday? Those big guys? The 100,000 won?”

“Yes.”

“Huh? My customer didn’t have anything on his back. Weren’t they together?”

“Was there something on his back?”

“Snakes.”

The tension that had momentarily clouded the Manager’s face vanished instantly.

“Ah, really? Then it’s fine. It’s okay. The Center guys only have tigers swarming their backs.”

“Do the hyungs from The Center identify their affiliation with tattoos instead of school uniforms?”

“Look at this brat’s mouth. Anyway, it wasn’t those big guys from yesterday. No matter how much they’re from The Center, wandering around Gamgyul alone without subordinates? That’s a great way to get stabbed to death. Do you think psychopaths and junkies can distinguish between Center guys and outskirts guys before they attack? And what about the hyenas of Gamgyul City who are constantly looking for an opportunity? So don’t worry too much, Namu. And you, Jeong Jeong-gon, always keep your mouth shut!”

The Manager, who didn’t forget to nag even as he breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly scowled.

“I mean, if they’re only going to live with tigers, why call it the Munhak Clan? Why the Munhak Clan?”

Thinking about it, the Manager seemed to get irritated by the Center guys’ naming skills, perhaps because he was frustrated by the situation where he had to walk on eggshells. He flopped back into his seat. Not missing the chance, Jeong-gon slid back into his spot and asked.

“But is it really ‘Munhak’ as in ‘literature girl’ or ‘literature boy’?”

“Yeah. The high-up there has a short academic background. So he has an education complex.”

The Manager, who emptied his water glass once more, answered Jeong-gon’s question readily. Getting excited and then forgetting it quickly—the Manager was quite simple.

“You guys might not know, but there was a time when Gamgyul City was indescribably noisy. It was all because of the tigers. The punks of Gamgyul City all flocked to get tigers on their backs to imitate the Center guys, and they harassed the tattoo artists so much. There was a skilled artist in the building right next-next door. Thanks to him, our shop did quite well. There were so many guys who dropped by to loosen up while passing by. Still, I’d rather close the business than take those kinds of people. Ugh, those punks.”

Recalling the bad memories, the Manager shuddered.

“No wonder there are so many customers with tigers on their backs. Namu, it was definitely snakes, right?”

“Yes, snakes.”

“The guest I had yesterday was decent, too. No tattoos on his back. He looked like a gorilla and was as big as a mountain, so I was a bit intimidated, but he was different from how he looked. He was a real human being. We got along great. You were intimidated too, weren’t you, Namu?”

“Yeah, a little.”

“I totally understand. Especially your guest. He looks like some high-flying CEO, but he reeks of gangster. Ugh. Usually, those clean-cut types are the scariest. Perverts and psychos. They do all sorts of weird things.”

Jeong-gon, omitting the part where he had swiftly snatched the big gorilla instead of the clean-cut CEO, held out his empty rice bowl. Namu, who had filled the Manager’s bowl with plenty of scorched rice, gave Jeong-gon a generous ladleful as well.

“My guest said he used to do Ssireum. I only spoke a few words to him, but I could tell exactly what his deal was. You know that route, right? A guy who has nothing but his body, takes one wrong turn, and ends up as a gangster or a thug. Your guest didn’t say much, did he, Namu?”

“He just… was kind to me. He listened to me well. And he overlooked my mistakes.”

Namu smiled faintly and added sincerely, “I hope he comes back.”

“Right, those hyungs don’t seem like total scumbags, do they? It would be great if we could make them regulars.”

“You little brats. Stop chatting and just eat your food. Don’t come whining to me about being hungry while you’re working.”

At the thunderous command of the Manager, who had finished eating first, both the grumbling Jeong-gon and the awkwardly smiling Namu quietly finished their remaining rice without another word.

* * *

They said this area got an unusual amount of rain. In the month since he arrived in Gamgyul City, he had seen rain three times a week.

A small city on the outskirts of the metropolitan area. A district densely packed with subcontracting factories. A spiderweb-like city where makeshift shacks, old villas, and newly built studio apartments had sprouted up like mushrooms.

Gamgyul City, where all sorts of entertainment venues and illegal establishments burrowed like mold into every complex alley and corner, was a place where people who had lost their homes to extensive redevelopment and those chased by public and private power were driven, as if besieged.

A city where innate and acquired poverty coexisted, and where criminals, homeless people, vagrants with nowhere to go, and people who didn’t move—not because they didn’t want to, but because they couldn’t—lived like mayflies, existing outside the reach of public authority. That was why all sorts of surplus humans, who still wished to live despite everything, flocked to this city every day, where fists were closer than the law.

Mu-won, who had been watching the raindrops fall from the eaves, noticed a pickup truck sliding up in front of him and snapped the cigarette he had in his mouth. The unlit cigarette landed precisely in a cluster of trash bags piled against the building wall.

“Hyung, everything inside has been sorted out.”

Mu-won, cracking his neck to loosen his stiff shoulders, climbed into the passenger seat.

“Shall I take you to the sauna? Or home?”

“Aren’t you tired?”

“I am. The bastards in this neighborhood are like cockroaches; no matter how many you kill, they never end.”

“Let’s stop by the massage parlor before going to the sauna.”

“I’ll contact Hak-dong.”

“No, go to the place we went last time.”

Jae-un, who had been about to make a reservation at the high-end spa they usually frequented, put his phone back in his pocket with a puzzled look. Then again, even at this hour when traffic wasn’t bad, it took at least an hour to get from Gamgyul City to Hak-dong. There was no particular reason to go that far while exhausted. Satisfied with his own reasoning, Jae-un searched his memory for ‘the place we went last time.’

“You mean Gamgyul Massage?”

“Yeah, there.”

“The kid’s touch there wasn’t bad. But the one assigned to you looked completely spineless. He had the face of someone who would be a huge success as a host bar worker. Should I tell them to assign a different kid this time?”

“Namu.”

“Yes?”

“His name is Namu.”

“Ah.”

“Namu’s touch is good, too. He’s good at mounting.”

Jae-un, racking his brain over the cryptic comment, gave up on trying to follow his hyung’s train of thought and called Gamgyul Massage.

“I’d like to book two VIPs. Jeong Jeong-gon and a kid named Namu.”

Hearing something from the other end, he pulled the phone slightly away and asked Mu-won.

“They say even if we arrive now, we’ll have to wait 30 minutes for Namu.”

“Tell them it’s fine.”

“What? You’ll wait?”

Mu-won gave a vague nod and leaned back into the seat with a tired face. Thinking it was strange but deciding not to question it further, Jae-un completed the reservation.

Namu was a kid who was pretty enough to leave an impression even with a fleeting glance. He was slender and seemed spineless, not sturdy like Jeong Jeong-gon.

Since a man who hated nuisances was willing to wait for him, Jae-un wondered if the kid’s skills were better than his appearance suggested.

“Go in first.”

“Yes, hyung. Call me immediately if you need anything.”

Mu-won responded with another vague gesture and, instead of entering the six-story commercial building, turned the left corner. He put an unlit cigarette in his mouth and leaned against the back alley between the buildings.

Tapping, tapping, tapping. The sound of rain falling on the large black umbrella he had received from Jae-un was quite rhythmical. Holding the umbrella and merely biting the filter, Mu-won stared at the heavy rain that showed no sign of stopping.

Then, he looked down at his wrist watch. 3:20 AM. The 30-minute wait time had decreased by about 15 minutes. Snapping the cigarette, Mu-won spoke.

“Aren’t you taking guests?”

Startled by the voice suddenly dropping from above, Namu jerked his head up from where it had been buried in his knees.

“Uh…?”

At the same time, Mu-won, facing Namu’s face, narrowed his eyes slightly. His pretty face was mottled, as if he had been beaten by someone. Judging by his swollen cheeks, it seemed it hadn’t even been an hour since he was hit. He wondered why the kid was acting so pitifully.

“G-guest…?”

“Are you trying to reject me?”

“What?”

“There’s less than 15 minutes left until the reservation time, and you’re sitting here like this. Does that mean anything other than you’re not taking guests?”

“T-that’s. Uh… were you the guest for the next slot?”

His pronunciation was slurred, as if the inside of his mouth was torn. Taking the silence as affirmation, Namu hurriedly stood up, stammering excuses that he really didn’t know it was him and that he had been planning to go in soon, but he stumbled violently.

Having been curled up for over 30 minutes, his legs had gone numb. If the hand that reached out at that moment hadn’t grabbed Namu’s forearm, he would have tumbled onto the ground.

“T-thank you….”

Feeling pain in the forearm gripped tightly by the man’s hand, Namu looked up instinctively and then slowly tilted his head back.

A large umbrella covered both the man and Namu. He thought the rain had stopped because the raindrops that had been battering his body like hail disappeared, but it seemed it was only where he was standing. Because of the kindness of the man in front of him, who held the umbrella so he wouldn’t get wet.

For some reason, Namu felt tears welling up, so he pressed his lips tight and bowed deeply.

“Thank you so much, guest.”

“There’s a lot to be thankful for. Our Mr. Namu.”

“I-I really am.”

Feeling that his thanks were being treated as a mere formality, Namu hurriedly spoke and followed Mu-won, who began walking without warning. The snapped cigarette in his hand was shoved into a trash bag at some unknown point.

“For catching me so I wouldn’t fall, and for the umbrella. Guest, but… uh, since when were you standing next to me? I really didn’t know. Your arm must hurt from holding the umbrella for so long.”

Following the man with the long stride, Namu found himself trotting along until they reached the building entrance.

“Go in.”

At Mu-won’s single word, having ignored the constant chattering, Namu stopped both his mouth and his feet. He almost slammed his face into the man’s back.

Whether he noticed or not, the man turned halfway and looked down at Namu. Namu instinctively gasped. The man was intimidatingly large in both build and height. His expressionless face was incredibly overbearing, and his eyes were sharp.

As Jeong-gon had said, he reeked of gangster, but his actions and demeanor were clean and full of composure, making him seem like someone from a different world. Above all, the man was very handsome. Like a male lead in the Hong Kong movies his grandfather had shown him when he was young—no, he was far more handsome than that.

“Ah.”

Snapping out of it at the look that asked why he wasn’t going in, Namu hopped into the building. Only then did the man, who folded the umbrella, enter as well.

In the entrance where the sensor light turned on, the man shook off the rainwater, neatly tied the umbrella, and led the way. Namu, who had been staring blankly, quickly followed so as not to lose him.

The man, who pressed the elevator call button, remained silent. Although he seemed indifferent, he had answered reasonably well before, but it seemed the man wasn’t naturally talkative.

Or, is he annoyed because of me? Because he thinks I’m rejecting him? Because he thinks I won’t keep the reservation time? I have no intention of doing that.

Whether they were regulars or strangers, he had never rejected a reservation. On the contrary, 24 hours a day wasn’t enough, and he cherished every single day. He had even set an alarm in advance.

Ah, the alarm!

Just as Namu was taking out his phone, remembering the alarm he had set for five minutes before the reservation time—

“Want me to punish them?”

“…What?”

Again, the voice dropped from above. Thinking he had misheard, Namu asked back and looked up at the man, stopping his attempt to take out the phone.

“I’m asking if you want me to crush the bastards who beat you like a punching bag.”

“…W-why?”

Why, guest?

Mu-won, understanding even the unspoken words, answered nonchalantly.

“Because if our Mr. Namu is in pain and rejects me, it’s my loss.”

“…….”

Namu’s large eyes filled with Mu-won’s face. Soon, like a stone thrown into a still pond, those clear pupils began to waver endlessly. Thump-thump, his heart rate accelerated strangely, and his vision blurred.

Uh, it must be another seizure. But he’d never had symptoms like this before. What should I do about the guest? I can’t do it if I have a seizure. The reservation… I’m not rejecting it. I don’t want to.

It was the moment his mind was becoming tangled while chasing these scattered thoughts.

Jjara jjara jjara jjara jjan-jjan-jjan! My love for you is unconditional….

Startled by the loud trot music breaking the silence, Namu hurriedly took out his phone and turned off the alarm.

What kind of ringtone is that.

Mu-won, looking down at Namu’s face, which had turned bright red from embarrassment, clicked his tongue repeatedly. Someone had absolutely wrecked the kid’s face, which wasn’t even a full mouthful. Under the faded treatment scrubs he wore as a uniform—short sleeves and shorts—his limbs were also covered in bruises.

The elevator arrived and the doors opened. Following Mu-won into the elevator, Namu quickly pressed the 3rd floor and stood staring at the floor, clutching his phone tightly.

His exposed nape was also a mess. There were marks where someone had squeezed his throat. Where would it be common to beat and strangle a male worker like a whore in a legitimate establishment? Naturally thinking of the CEO of Gamgyul Massage, Mu-won spoke abruptly.

“Can you even perform the treatment with that body?”

“What? Yes…! I can do it. Really. It doesn’t hurt at all. I’m not injured. There’s no problem with taking a guest.”

“…….”

Ding— the elevator stopped with a notification. Silence flowed until the doors fully opened, and in that brief silence, Namu felt suffocated. A single gaze from the man pushed Namu into a corner and made him anxious.

It wasn’t just because of the appearance that made people feel intimidated. The way he looked down at him. Whenever Namu realized he was defenselessly exposed to that gaze, something deep in his stomach tingled. It wasn’t that he was terrifyingly scared or afraid, but even he thought his reaction was too strange.

The man, who said nothing about whether he would receive the treatment or not, stepped out of the elevator first this time. Namu, following diligently, caught the glass door just before it closed and stepped inside cautiously.

The man had already entered the locker room, as his large frame was nowhere to be seen. The Manager, who was taking a reservation call at the counter, covered the receiver and whispered softly.

“He went to change. Even though there was a 30-minute wait, he specifically requested you. He seems to like you, so do a good job, okay? We need to make him a regular.”

“Yes, Manager.”

Namu, who smiled and said he’d do his best, frowned slightly. His cheek, which had been hit an unknown number of times, was still tingling. It seemed the dizziness he felt earlier wasn’t a seizure symptom, but because he had been hit in the face too much.

Relieved that it wasn’t a seizure, Namu quickly entered the preparation room. He filled a faded foot bath with lukewarm water, grabbed a towel, and crossed the bamboo blind. In the meantime, the man, who had changed his clothes, was sitting on the sofa. The gown, which Namu had bought with his own money just in case, loosely wrapped the man’s broad upper body.

Thank goodness. The size fits, and it looks good on him.

He had intentionally placed it where it was easy to see, and fortunately, the man had found it. His prediction that other people wouldn’t even look at a gown much larger than average was spot on. Actually, he had wanted to get treatment scrubs, but since even an XXXL size would obviously be too small for this man, he had switched to a gown.

The man, who had looked good even in a pink gown, looked even better in black. The cheap 5,000-won gown looked like an expensive one used in a high-end salon. It really suited him.

Without showing any sign of struggle while moving the heavy foot bath with both hands, Namu placed it in front of the man’s feet. He knelt as a matter of courtesy and waited for the man’s feet, then looked up.

The man, leaning back on the old sofa, was looking down at Namu. Unable to guess the reason why, Namu rolled his candy-like eyes tentatively.

Did I do something wrong?

A look of distress was readable on Namu’s flushed cheeks as he censored himself. Young people were all like that. When a problem occurred, they looked at themselves first.

Of course, even that was a rare sight in Gamgyul City. A city far removed from purity, cleanliness, and honesty. An anthill where everyone, child and adult alike, was buried in the black, sticky characteristics of the city, like smog.

“Does Mr. Namu like being pitied?”

“What?”

“Last time you bragged about being an orphan, and today you’re making it obvious you’re being beaten, so I wondered if you wanted to look pitiful.”

“…I never did that.”

Namu had never bragged about being an orphan, nor had he made it obvious he was being beaten. Last time, it was because they wouldn’t believe he was an adult. Today, it was because it was something that happened at least once a week.

Neither regulars nor one-time guests cared much whether Namu had bruises or wore disposable bandages. So he hadn’t thought the man would care. Above all, he hadn’t known the man was today’s reservation guest.

Ah, is it unpleasant to look at?

At the thought that suddenly occurred, his feeling of unfairness turned into caution.

“Does it bother you a lot?”

“Are you planning to put on a bandana or something?”

“I-I don’t have a bandana, but I have a mask.”

The man, resting his chin on his hand, chuckled.

“What about your arms and legs? Your neck was strangled, too. Do you want to wear long sleeves and a scarf? Can you even work wrapped up like that?”

“I-if the guest wants me to. I’ll do it. I can still do it.”

Mu-won, gauging whether this fluff-ball was being stubborn out of a sudden surge of emotion, had just blurted it out, or if he was truly sincere, leaned his upper body forward from the sofa. Naturally, Namu and Mu-won’s faces grew close. Namu’s eyelashes trembled because he could even feel Mu-won’s breath.

As the hot breath touched his burst cheek, the pain rose like thorns. Namu couldn’t endure it for long and plopped down on his backside. In an instant, his heart rate rose and his body heated up. As he moved away from the man, Namu felt a wave of dizziness, as if the noose tightening around his whole body had suddenly snapped. The man, watching Namu’s clumsy display, curled the corners of his mouth.

“Mr. Namu is quite easy.”

Unable to tell what was ‘easy,’ whether the man’s anger had subsided, or if he should leave and call someone else, Namu’s eyes trembled anxiously as the man moved away. Leaning his upper body back against the sofa as before, the man put his left foot into the foot bath.

“Start.”

“…….”

Understanding a beat late, Namu hurriedly corrected his posture.

“I-is the water not too hot?”

Despite the question, the water had already cooled to lukewarm.

“I’ll change the water for you, guest.”

Watching the man’s reaction, Namu moved nimbly. He brought warm water in another foot bath and moved the man’s left foot into it.

“Guest, you have to put your right foot in too.”

The man, who had been slowly pushing Namu just a moment ago, complied obediently as if nothing had happened. He must be over his anger.

Only then did Namu, relieved, wipe the man’s feet with practiced skill. He didn’t wonder why the man had been angry. Not everything had a reason, and contextless anger and violence were a daily occurrence even for Namu, who wasn’t originally from Gamgyul City.

The man, whose clean feet were now in slippers, headed toward Room 7. Today, too, the man didn’t touch a single finger to the teacup.

“Ah!”

Namu, who was tidying up the sofa table, realized his mistake belatedly and ran toward Room 7. He had intended to do it in the heated floor room this time…!

Namu stepped inside, pulling back the bamboo blind, then hesitated and came to a halt. The man, who should have been lying face down, was perched on the edge of the bed.

The ceiling was so low it felt as if it would touch his head, and the man’s physique made everything around him look like a toy. Just by sitting there, the man’s presence filled the space so completely that the already small treatment room felt suffocatingly cramped.

Unconsciously catching his breath, Namu tightly gripped the hem of his top with hands that weren’t quite dry. The man, sitting and facing the entrance, stared intently at Namu, who stood pressed against the bamboo blind as if ready to bolt at any second.

The man didn’t have a menacing expression, nor were his small pupils glinting, but Namu found himself hunching his shoulders like prey before a predator. Still, feeling that he shouldn’t avoid eye contact, Namu managed to face the man, but just as he was about to drop his gaze, unable to endure it any longer—

“Take your clothes off.”

“Huh?”

Namu’s face turned pale as he snapped his gaze back up.

“Uh… Th-this… this isn’t that kind of establishment.”

“I’m not going to eat you, so just take them off, Namu-ssi.”

The man cut him off as if annoyed, making no effort to acknowledge the tremor in Namu’s voice.

“Do you want me to strip you?”

Wondering if there was no option other than to undress, and unable to guess why the man was suddenly acting this way, Namu spoke up as if being chased.

“Th-this isn’t that kind of place, sir.”

“I know.”

“Then why…?”

“If you don’t want to, leave.”

“…”

Namu looked at the man, who gave a slight jerk of his chin to indicate he had no intention of forcing him, and stepped back a pace, pushed by that indifferent attitude. Then, he noticed the man’s wet hair.

He couldn’t have showered in that short amount of time. Why was his hair wet? Namu remembered the man’s consideration in holding an umbrella over him while he sat in the alley behind the shopping district.

Did it get wet then? Was one of the man’s shoulders wet as he led the way? Like a male lead in a drama. As the man said, if he didn’t want to, he could just leave, so why was he thinking about these things?

The large hand that had caught him when he was about to fall.

The voice that had asked, ‘Should I punish you?’

Namu blinked his wide eyes as he recalled the man—the one who had shown him trivial interest when no one else cared, and who had brushed off his mistakes without a hint of displeasure.

The man checked the wall clock. Namu knew exactly what that small gesture meant. It meant that if he wasn’t going to listen, he should get lost without wasting any more time.

His anxiety was plain to see in the way his hand gripped the hem of his shirt. Even while hesitating, Namu was attuned to the man’s every movement, flinching and stepping backward. Then, startled by the sound of the bamboo blind touching his back, he took a step forward instead.

His heart hammered in his chest.

Come to think of it, the man was the same gender as Namu. That meant there was a high probability he was heterosexual. He was a different kind of person from Namu, who was treated like a boy selling his body to customers—especially men—at every turn.

It occurred to him now that the request to take off his clothes might not necessarily mean that. In fact, that should have been the obvious thought.

‘I’m not going to eat you, so just take them off, Namu-ssi.’

He had said so, after all.

The man looked like a heterosexual to anyone. Feeling a secret sense of relief, Namu gradually regained his composure.

The man was a customer. One who had given a 100,000 won tip during the first session. He wasn’t someone with bad habits, a foul mouth, or a violent streak. He wasn’t strangely unpleasant, didn’t cast creepy glances, and wasn’t so dirty that his stench was unbearable.

Rather, the man stood on the opposite side of such people. His thick hair was neatly trimmed, his short fingernails and toenails were clean, and a pleasant scent wafted from his smooth skin, save for the scars. Namu liked that such a man was his customer. He wanted a customer like this to become a regular.

He still didn’t understand the man’s request, but his tension and guard had loosened. Meeting the man’s eyes again, Namu pulled up the hem of his top as if avoiding his gaze. Under the yellowish lighting, Namu’s upper body, which began to be revealed, was pitiful.

His slender neck, thin shoulders, and the skin covering his prominent collarbones would have been white originally, but now they were bright red or deep blue with fresh bruises. The bruises grew darker toward the areas covered by his clothes; he had been kicked concentratedly in the stomach rather than the chest. His back, which he turned hesitantly at a single word, was no different.

Wooden clubs to the back and limbs, dress shoes to the chest and stomach. There were as many old marks as there were new ones. It meant this wasn’t a one-time assault. Mu-won, who easily deduced this from the marks left on the body, added one more thing.

“Take off your pants, too.”

“…”

Shoulders as fair and soft as his face flinched, and then he grabbed the waistband of his pants. It was easy to see into Namu’s mind, confused and unable to discern the other’s intentions. Children who have more memories of being rejected than affirmed generally fear and struggle with both being rejected and rejecting others.

Namu was exactly that case. A child with a poor heart. Therefore, an easy and pitiful child. A child who, being pretty and naive, even seemed promiscuous. And because of that, a child who was easily swayed by others. An underdeveloped adult. One of the many overflowing vagrants thrown into society without the luxury of letting their frame, mind, or heart harden.

Because of this, Mu-won had no hesitation in choosing the child before him. After fumbling a few times, the hesitating child pulled the elastic waistband of his pants down. The child likely wanted to look good to Mu-won. While there was a greed not to lose a regular, it wasn’t simply because of the money.

The child probably wanted a ‘normal’ person like Mu-won as a regular. The child had so little experience or immunity toward ‘normal and good’ people that he could mistake someone whose body was blackened with tattoos and looked like a gangster for a ‘normal’ person.

As the stiff fabric brushed against his buttocks, his slender arms trembled. After debating how far to pull them down, he pulled his feet out of the pants one by one. He wasn’t wearing underwear. No, he couldn’t wear any.

Below the buttocks of the child, who had gathered his hands in front of him, his round, soft testicles were slightly visible. Even that small piece of flesh was swollen blue. Because he was looking down at some spot on the floor, the spine below his tilted nape stood out, flowing down his back to his buttocks.

On the child’s buttocks, which were slightly collapsed asymmetrically, disposable bandages were haphazardly stuck on with clumsy skill. Mu-won, staring at the blackened buttocks that were not just bruised but had the skin burst from being hit with wooden clubs, picked up his phone. Jae-un, who was likely in the middle of a massage, answered before the phone could even ring twice.

Yes, CEO. This is Jae-un.

Jae-un was in Room 12 among the treatment rooms facing each other in a zigzag pattern. The rooms, created by erecting partition walls in a narrow space, had no soundproofing at all. Jae-un’s polite voice, even over the phone, echoed low through the narrow hallway. The same would be true for Mu-won’s voice.

“Is there a medicine kit in the car?”

Yes, CEO. There is.

“Bring it.”

Yes, understood.

Namu, who had been on high alert for the man’s movements after the call ended, shuddered. The black gown the man should have been wearing now wrapped around Namu’s naked body. His already large eyes widened, flashing a clear question mark.

Why… why is he being so kind?

Namu gripped his hands tightly, letting out several irregular breaths.

“CEO, it’s Jae-un.”

Startled by the voice coming from outside the bamboo blind, Namu pressed himself further into the corner of the room.

“Come in.”

Having received permission, Jae-un entered, bowing his head to avoid the low doorframe.

“Were you injured? Should I contact Director Park…?”

Contrary to the words, there was no worry in Jae-un’s voice. It was an attitude of certainty that nothing had happened in the 30 minutes they were apart, and even if it had, Mu-won couldn’t have been seriously injured.

Jae-un, who entered through the bamboo blind clutching a first-aid kit that held more than enough basic emergency medicines, stopped talking as he read the unusual atmosphere.

Glancing sideways, he saw someone draped in a piece of cloth—whether it was a gown or a wrapping cloth—standing with their nose almost pressed against the corner. Jae-un, looking at the body that seemed to be either in a position of punishment or desperate to hide in a mouse hole, set the first-aid kit down on the treatment table.

“Call me if you need anything else.”

Quick-witted despite his gorilla-like appearance, Jae-un easily deduced the purpose of the first-aid kit. He had caught a glimpse of clear finger marks on the kid’s nape. He could easily imagine the state of the body beneath that black gown.

Although Im Chang-seok, the CEO of ‘Tangerine Massage,’ was money-hungry, he hadn’t heard that he had bad habits. Either a customer had touched him, or he was the type to get beaten up everywhere. Feeling no particular emotion either way, Jae-un frowned upon discovering the clothes fallen on the floor.

They were the treatment clothes that the tangerine massage therapists wore as uniforms. The uniforms seen in saunas, which his talkative assigned therapist also wore; the fact that the kid had taken them off and was wearing only that gown.

Cha Mu-won was a man who did not take losses or do useless things, even for amusement. Jae-un, who knew this best, withdrew quietly without questioning what his Hyung was doing.

“Namu-ssi.”

“Yes…?”

Namu, who had remained standing with his forehead pressed against the corner even after Jae-un left, barely answered after peeking and confirming with his own eyes.

“Come here.”

“…”

The round pupils that had been scanning the exit rolled over to take in the first-aid kit on the treatment table.

“Um… are you going to treat me?”

Mu-won, answering with a glance, opened the first-aid kit and urged Namu forward. At the click of the lock opening, Namu, whose ears perked up, hesitantly turned around.

As he moved from the outside into the yellow light, the contours of Namu’s face became clear. On his face, which was pretty even when swollen, relief and questioning were mixed.

Relief that the man was truly a ‘decent person,’ and a question as to why he was doing this much for him. More than that, Namu, who liked the very fact that someone was paying this much attention to him, was barely managing his expression, his lips twitching.

“I’m okay.”

“Who hit you?”

“Huh?”

“Mutual agreement? One-sided?”

Asking the question while reaching out his hand, the man clearly expressed his desire for him to come closer this time. At a gesture that seemed like calling a puppy, Namu unconsciously took a step forward, and his wrist was suddenly snatched by a large hand.

“Ah!”

“Your wrist is swollen, too.”

Tsk, clicking his tongue, Mu-won let go of the thin wrist and trapped the soft body between his thighs. Namu, who didn’t even realize his retreat had been cut off in an instant, stared blankly at the man.

It was quite an arrogant and brazen action, but not a hint of that could be read from his defenseless expression and gentle gaze. He had the look of someone who, whether meeting a villain or a thug, would be sucked dry to the marrow and discarded like a log.

“Eh?”

While Namu was off guard, Mu-won stripped off the gown and wrapped his arm around the concave lower back. Just enough so as not to strain the beaten body. This time, Mu-won, who blocked the exit in a way Namu could notice, lowered his gaze.

Even with Namu sitting on the treatment table, his eye level was slightly above Namu’s. Namu’s light brown pupils, dilated in surprise, reflected Mu-won’s face like a mirror.

Perhaps because of the wind from the air conditioner running with a worn-out sound, the fine hairs on his naked body were standing up. His pink nipples and the deeper crimson areolae were also erect. The flesh clinging to his thin body like glutinous rice cakes was soft and smooth. If there was a flaw, it was the bruises covering his body.

“Do you want to move?”

“Huh?”

“I’m asking if you’ll run away if I let you go, Namu-ssi.”

“…”

Before he could even answer, the man’s hand left Namu’s lower back, and the thighs that had wrapped around his torso as if to pin him down loosened.

Before he could make a decision—no, before he could even fully understand the man’s words—Namu, now free, found himself unable to move. Standing blankly at the attitude of ‘I won’t hold you, so go if you want to,’ Namu looked puzzled.

“Are you going to hit me?”

The man did not answer.

“Are you going to harass me?”

There was no answer to the second question either.

“If you’re going to treat me… I won’t go.”

Namu, who said everything he wanted to say despite his hesitation, let his eyes roll down and stop at the man’s deltoid. After making eye contact with the tattoo of a snake with its nose wrinkled and head raised, he quickly looked up.

Even then, the man was looking at Namu. Namu knew the eyes of those who meant to harm him. However, the man’s eyes, while tense, were not dangerous. They were scary, but not horrific.

“You’ll… treat me, right?”

It was a cunning, transparent question. Of course, for Mu-won, who had laid the groundwork, it was within the expected range. If given a gap, children like Namu would leap away like frightened rabbits even without being specifically threatened. It was a characteristic of children who were easily and severely hurt if one let their guard down even slightly.

“What else would I do with you other than treat you, Namu-ssi?”

With a smirk, the man gave Namu’s chest a light push. It was just enough force to make him step back one pace. At the expected answer, Namu smiled faintly even as he was pushed back. It was a foolishly gentle smile.

Good. A child this gentle and easy.

“I wonder where the Namu-ssi who said he was okay a moment ago went.”

“Sir.”

“What?”

“Do you know you’re really cool?”

Mu-won, scanning down from the slender nape to the belly button that looked as if it had been carved by a skilled artisan, took out the bruise-removing ointment.

“Where?”

“Everything.”

Mu-won’s fingertip touched Namu’s Adam’s apple. It was the spot where the pressed marks remained most clearly. Goosebumps rose on Namu’s skin, though he flinched and didn’t step back or avoid him. Mu-won’s touch was bold as he spread the ointment, as if pressing down on the rice-powder-like goosebumps and fine hairs.

However, it wasn’t rough, so Namu felt ticklish rather than in pain. Everywhere the man’s fingertips touched, both the skin and somewhere beneath it felt ticklish, making him wiggle his toes, but he didn’t want to avoid that hand. The man was truly treating him.

The touch was so plain it was almost indifferent—applying bruise-removing ointment to the bruised areas, disinfectant to the scraped or gouged parts, and ointment and bandages to the sensitively chafed areas. There was no sign of annoyance, irritability, or hidden intent. Namu liked that about the man.

“Everything is cool.”

“You’re quite good at flattering.”

“It’s not flattery, sir. I really, truly mean it.”

Though he could tell it was sincere just by looking at his face, Mu-won turned Namu’s body over without a word.

“Uh…?”

Namu, now facing the entrance with the bamboo blind, trembled at the touch pressing against his lower back. Even though the man’s fingertips were on the warmer side, the hair on his neck stood up as if he had touched ice.

Before he could shake off that strange sensation, pressure was applied to the hand pressing his lower back. With no strength to resist, Namu was pushed forward, leaning his upper body awkwardly as he asked.

“D-do I lie down?”

“Does your stomach hurt so much you can’t bend?”

“N-no. It’s more that…”

If I lie down like this, my buttocks…

Before he could finish his sentence, Namu’s ears turned bright red, and the color quickly spread throughout his entire body. Perhaps because he was young, the speed at which the heat spread was exceptional. Mu-won, scanning Namu’s lower back which had turned red like a ripe apple, asked back.

“More that…?”

“M-my buttocks…”

Even as he stammered, Namu, pushed from the back into a leaning position, instinctively braced himself with both hands on his thighs. Then, unable to bear the pain, he let out a low groan and his palms slid.

Namu’s lower body trembled as he barely managed to balance himself by bracing his knees. His thighs, beaten regardless of front or back, had turned black in the meantime.

Even seeing Namu almost lose his balance and fall, Mu-won didn’t particularly catch or support him; he simply lowered his gaze. The round buttocks were pushed out near Mu-won’s belly button.

The butt cheeks, bruised in a dull, reddish-purple hue, were burst in several places. The buttocks, which had collapsed slightly asymmetrically as if hit from only one side, showed clear evidence of having been struck dozens of times with wooden clubs.

“S-sir.”

The posture of having his buttocks thrust out in front of the man was beyond embarrassing; it was mortifying. Just as Namu, feeling he couldn’t take it anymore, tried to straighten his upper body, Mu-won’s hand touched his blackened buttocks.

“Hup.”

Namu froze, unconsciously catching his breath. Then, with a rip—the bandages stuck all over his buttocks were torn off.

“Ah, ugh.”

Even though they were being removed as slowly as possible, Namu, unable to overcome the pain, swayed as if he were about to flail before regaining his balance. Mu-won, who hadn’t made any move to hold him whether he trembled or not, didn’t delay any further, seeing that he was enduring it reasonably well.

“Ah! Ah-!”

Rrip— rip— As four or five bands were torn away at once, Namu, unable to hold back a scream, lost his footing and collapsed forward.

“Ah…!”

A large palm covered and pulled Namu’s lower abdomen, preventing him from falling flat on his face, but another surge of pain struck him violently. It was agonizing enough just to have a man’s hand touch his heavily bruised lower belly, but when pressure was applied to push and pull the flesh, the pain intensified several times over.

Tears pricked Namu’s eyes from a pain as sharp as being hit with a fist, and he instinctively clutched the arm wrapped around his lower abdomen.

“It, it hurts. Hic.”

“Want to stand and lean against the wall? I don’t think lying face down on the bed will work.”

“…….”

His mind went blank from the shock of the immense pain, and Namu trembled, on the verge of tears. After catching his breath a few times, he barely regained his composure and shook his head, biting his trembling lip.

If he stood and leaned against the wall, the man would have to stand up from where he was sitting. He was already beyond grateful to be receiving treatment; he didn’t want to cause any further inconvenience during the process.

“I, I can… hng… bear it.”

“Alright, then bear it.”

“Aaah—!”

Along with a monotonous voice, something cold touched his cheek. It was an alcohol swab, emitting a strong, characteristic scent. The moment it touched the wound, a dull pain resonated up to the top of his head, and Namu let out a scream before quickly covering his own mouth.

His own voice, echoing lonely in the quiet establishment, felt foreign. Feeling as if he had broken some taboo, Namu pressed his hand even harder over his mouth, while still tightly gripping Mu-won’s forearm, which remained wrapped around his lower abdomen.

“Hng, hng.”

Cold sweat beaded on Namu’s lower back as he flinched and groaned every time the gauze, soaked in disinfectant, brushed against the affected area. His legs had gone limp, leaving him clinging to the man’s forearm, but the searing pain in his buttocks made the pressure on his belly a secondary concern.

“Hnggh.”

Rough breathing filled the cramped treatment room for a while. From his buttocks to his thighs, as the alcohol swabs wiped and the ointment was applied, the only sounds echoing in the narrow space were small groans, whimpers, and breaths mixed with sobbing.

Drip, drip. The man’s treatment finally ended only after Namu’s face became drenched, to the point where he couldn’t tell if it was tears or sweat running down the bridge of his nose. Just as Namu, trembling, pulled away from the man’s embrace and tried to compose himself by wiping his eyes and swallowing his sobs—

Click— The sound of a camera shutter rang out behind him. Not once, but several times.

Startled, Namu forgot his pain and turned around, but the shutter continued to fire without pause. The man, holding up his phone ostentatiously to take photos, looked at the dumbfounded Namu.

“I have to leave evidence, Namu-ssi.”

“Uh….”

The shutter clicked again in front of Namu, who had forgotten to cover himself and was merely gaping.

“Cu-customer.”

Flustered, Namu couldn’t even bring himself to tell him to stop; he just waddled away, hunching his shoulders. Mu-won, who had been taking photos in succession until then, tossed his phone down. He no longer looked like the man who had been snapping countless pictures moments ago.

“Is it because you don’t need evidence?”

“…….”

“Namu-ssi.”

“…Yes.”

“I’m done here, so put your clothes on.”

Nodding, Namu looked for the treatment clothes fallen on the floor and put them on one by one. It hurt every time the fabric brushed against the wounds. It had been fine when he was curled up motionless, but now that they had been touched, it seemed to hurt even more. It felt as if the wounds had been needlessly agitated. He had clearly received treatment. Yet a stranger—a customer he had only met twice—had taken photos of his naked body.

He wished he could have them deleted….

“If you don’t need them, delete them.”

“…….”

While putting on his clothes, picking up his gown, and turning toward the man, Namu had been at a loss for how to bring it up. He finally looked up. The man was holding out his phone.

“The photos.”

“…….”

“Delete them. You do it yourself, Namu-ssi.”

Hesitating, Namu slowly reached out and took the man’s phone. He checked the already open gallery and scrolled through the photos of himself, one by one.

Even under the dim lighting, the wounds on Namu’s body were captured clearly. Because of the dim light, they looked even more grotesque.

Finding them repulsive just to look at, Namu suddenly felt sorry for the man who had examined them so thoroughly. He felt as if he had misinterpreted the man’s goodwill. For some reason, he felt as if he had deceived him.

“I wasn’t just beaten unilaterally.”

After about fifteen photos, Namu’s finger hovered over the screen after checking the last one.

“You… don’t need evidence, customer.”

Even so, unable to bring himself to delete the photos, Namu looked up at the man hesitantly.

“I really mean it.”

“It doesn’t look like a mutual fight, so if it wasn’t unilateral…”

The man seemed to be asking for confirmation.

“Then it was assault for payment?”

“…….”

“Our Namu-ssi. Do you like being hit?”

Sting. Namu flinched as if the skin below his chest had been pinched, and he shook his head violently.

“Then did you sell your body for money?”

It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the right meaning either. Just as he was about to shake his head again, Namu suddenly wore a blank expression.

Ah… is that not it? Since I agreed to be hit because I had no money.

Namu’s face turned red again, a thought that hadn’t occurred to him then, or even until just now. Hearing the man’s words, it felt as if he had done something incredibly shameful.

No, it was shameful. It was a fact that he had handed over the autonomy of his body to someone else for money. It wasn’t something he could casually tell others. The phrase ‘selling his body for money’ was an accurate expression without a single flaw.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s my body, I use it how I want.”

Wondering if it was sarcasm, Namu didn’t dare meet his eyes, but the man’s voice knocked against his ears once more.

“Delete them.”

“…….”

“Now that I hear it, you’re right, Namu-ssi. I did something unnecessary.”

“It’s, it’s not like that….”

Namu, who had been about to say it wasn’t like that, fell silent. If it wasn’t like that, what should he say? Even if he confessed the truth, the facts wouldn’t change.

Suddenly snapping back to reality, Namu wandered with his gaze, unable to find a place to look, before dropping it back to the phone screen. His swollen face was reflected in the now-black screen. Even under the dim lighting, his hideously swollen face was vivid.

“Customer… you’re right.”

After staring at the phone screen for a long time, Namu’s lips parted.

“Because I needed it… I asked them to hit me.”

Once again, his entire body flushed red as he spoke haltingly. Would there be contempt or disgust mixed into the gaze looking at him? Namu had occasionally received such looks for reasons like being an orphan, looking unpleasant, or being useless. Especially now.

“Because I needed it….”

“Stop.”

At the voice that cut him off, Namu’s fingers gripping the phone curled tighter. Should he not have done it? But that was the only way for him. There were only worse options than that. Even if he had known the man before making the decision, Namu would have had no choice but to make the same selection.

Besides, who was this man? For the sake of one customer he hoped would become a regular, he wasn’t in a position to care about what he liked or disliked. Therefore, it wasn’t something to be upset about, even if he received a condemning look from the man.

Rather, he felt a bit sorry. If the man had known from the start that he sold his body for money, he wouldn’t have been this kind to him. The man had wasted his heart and time on him for nothing.

“You must have had your reasons.”

Namu, who had been about to say he was sorry, only managed to part his lips.

“Don’t worry about what I said.”

He pushed up his eyelids, which felt as heavy as water-soaked cotton, and looked at the man. It wasn’t the look he had braced himself for. It wasn’t the familiar expression he had seen so often. That was strange. Very strange.

“Customer.”

The man, who had been about to check the time, looked back at Namu. The man was the same. Whether it was the first time he visited, or the second. Before or after seeing his beaten body. Before or after asking if he sold his body for money. Both the look in the man’s eyes and his attitude toward Namu remained unchanged.

“Will you… come again next time?”

And so, Namu blurted out the words he hadn’t even thought of saying aloud.

“I hope you come again.”

Then, he smiled like a fool.

It was a smile that others would call ‘easy.’

* * *

“…Mu. Mu, Namu.”

The hand shaking Namu’s shoulder, as he slept stuck to the wall, grew more forceful.

“Namu, wake up. You’ve got a reservation.”

A tiny room of about five pyeong, 2 PM. The room, where the only window was covered in cheap adhesive sheets that blocked out every speck of sunlight, was pitch black with the lights off.

“Mu.”

It had been only three hours since Namu, who had taken customers full-time for two consecutive days, had practically collapsed into the palm-sized room. There was only one reason why Namu, who usually sprang up the moment he was woken, couldn’t open his eyes. It was when a disease he’d never heard of—narcolepsy or something similar—flared up.

“Namu?”

“Mmm….”

The Manager, who looked disappointed thinking today’s reservation was a bust, looked down at the softly groaning Namu. The boy, who was already small, looked even tinier, curled up like a pill bug.

Observing Namu, who was burrowing deeper into the thin blanket as if suffering from a body ache, the Manager shook his shoulder again.

“Mu, baby. You have to take the customer.”

If it wasn’t narcolepsy but a simple body ache, there was no reason to skip the reservation. Despite his appearance, Namu had a good touch and was easygoing and diligent, so he had quite a few regulars even for someone only three months in. Some sought him out because they liked his technique, but just as many came for other kinds of fun.

For instance, the pleasure of flirting with a boy who never said a word of complaint even when they kneaded his soft, downy nape, his supple forearms, or his plump buttocks, pretending it was an accident or without ulterior motives.

‘Does the new kid not go for second rounds?’

‘Aw, CEO. You know this isn’t that kind of establishment.’

‘Oops, I misspoke. Not second rounds, but house calls. Outcall massages. The other kids go out often, don’t they?’

‘Namu hasn’t been here long. Let’s watch him a bit more.’

‘What’s there to watch? The kid’s a natural; he beams with joy when he’s touched, it’s like he was born for this. The Manager should get some fun too before someone else snatches him up. And we can fatten up President Im’s pockets.’

Because of the pub owner, the Manager had almost mistaken Namu for a fox pretending to be innocent.

In March of this year, Namu had come over through a referral from a boy the Manager used to manage, bowing politely with a bag as big as his own body on his back. He had said he was lacking but asked for their kindness, promising to work hard. He had smiled brightly with eyes as innocent as the world, looking as if he knew nothing, so the Manager had been observing him for now.

After all, if he sent just anyone out for a second round and an accident happened, the Manager was the one who had to deal with President Im’s fits of rage. It was in the midst of this that the pub owner had taken the bait.

‘Is the kid’s potential usable?’

‘Huh? You didn’t know? That little guy is quite the trickster, huh? He even fooled the Manager.’

Feeling somewhat resentful, the Manager had peeked at him like a hawk every time he went into a session, thinking, Just wait until I catch you, but he hadn’t been mistaken.

Namu wasn’t pretending to be innocent; he was innocent. He trusted people to a fault and gave away his affection and heart easily. He was the textbook definition of the affection-deprived nature common among the kids in this industry, so the Manager couldn’t even bring himself to scoff.

The reason he never complained no matter where he was touched was that he truly didn’t dislike it. Kids like Namu, who had been handled a lot since childhood to the point where they couldn’t even feel the emotion of dislike, were so starved for attention and affection that they welcomed even that kind of contact.

“Mu, baby?”

Namu’s forehead, drenched in cold sweat, was hot. He was suffering from a body ache with a slight fever. It wasn’t a cold, but a type of ‘beating sickness.’ It was an inevitable aftereffect for Namu, who was frequently dragged out to the workplace once a week to be hit.

“Namu?”

Despite looking as fragile as could be, Namu was still a man and had a decent amount of endurance; he didn’t whine, and using his raw youth as capital, he would shake it off and get back up in a day or two.

Even now, he wasn’t in such bad shape that he needed to be rushed to the emergency room. It was a body ache that could be shaken off by working a couple of sessions and sweating it out. The Manager had long since mastered the way to move Namu in these moments. Actually, it wasn’t even a matter of mastering.

“Look at this sweat. This won’t do, Namu, let’s rest today. No, let’s just take the whole week….”

“…Manager-nim.”

Leaning into the touch brushing his forehead and the temperature cooling his fever, Namu pushed up his tightly closed eyelids and looked up at the Manager, rolling only his pupils.

His eyes, soaked in damp heat, were blurry. He blinked those blurry eyes several times to push away the throbbing body ache and fatigue, then gave a faint smile. It was a smile so lifeless that it drained the energy of anyone watching.

“I want to do it.”

“Tsk! Stop talking nonsense and just lie down and sleep, okay? Instead of this, let’s go to a nearby clinic.”

Namu stared blankly at the Manager, who was intentionally making a fuss, and unconsciously relaxed his grip on the blanket. His white fingers crawled out from under the blanket and lightly tugged at the Manager’s sleeve.

“I want to do it.”

“This brat?”

“You know… that I need money.”

I know.

I know very well.

Unable to resist Namu’s clumsy, pleading touch, the Manager sat down, his face full of worry and sighs.

“Oh, my head. Why are you so stubborn? Huh?”

“They said people my age used to chew through rebar.”

“Who told you such nonsense?”

“The CEO.”

Once again, Namu’s smiling face was bloodless. With a face as white as flour and only red lips standing out, it might have been unbearable to look at, but he was different. There were plenty of perverts who loved the sight of him beaten until he was a bloody mess, so no matter how he was used, it was a profitable business.

Of course, Im Chang-seok, the CEO of ‘Tangerine Massage,’ who realized the situation late, was dying of regret over the wasted potential, but for the Manager, who only cared about his own profit, it was like watching a fire across the river.

Anything that grew too large tended to cause trouble. The Manager was satisfied with filling his own pockets by scamming several people little by little and normally, just as he had always done. Especially in turbulent times like these, the best policy was to stay out of sight and lie low like a dead mouse.

The news that ‘Daehap Farm,’ the largest dogfighting ring in Gamgyul City, had been raided a couple of days ago must have stirred up not just the shopping district but the entire city. Rumors were rampant—that the police raided the farm, that it was a turf war between thugs, or that it was the work of people from The Center.

In Gamgyul City, which lacked a single proper key industry, shitty workplaces that gave pittance wages through layers of subcontracting were treated as dream companies. Even then, a few third-rate organizations that had carved up Gamgyul City like a cake were shaking things as if they owned them.

In a city where the heads of businesses, the executives, and even the lowest-ranking employees were all gangsters and thugs, it was only natural for gambling dens and the entertainment industry to flourish.

It meant that whether one was a native born and raised as an ordinary citizen of Gamgyul City, or a migrant who had crawled in while being chased to a dead end, it was nearly impossible to make a living without having a foot in this underworld.

The Manager had grown up as a native in a city where the boundary between illegal and legal was practically void. To him, scamming innocent kids with a smiling face was as natural as breathing.

‘Manager-nim…. I have a younger friend I know well.’

The guy who had moved workplaces on the condition of pushing a ‘friend’—who knew him well and followed him loyally—into ‘Tangerine Massage’ instead of himself wasn’t particularly evil either.

Just as the Manager had scammed many people little by little, that guy had simply scammed Namu, one of many, a little bit before fleeing. Though in reality, he hadn’t even been able to flee.

In any case, even if Namu, who had rolled into Gamgyul City after being deceived by a close Hyung, found out the whole story late, it wasn’t something to be resentful about.

The fact that he was ignorant and complacent, despite having nothing but his own body, was a great mistake in itself. Especially in Gamgyul City.

At first, it was just a few swats on the buttocks. Originally, he was supposed to take exactly ten, but because he couldn’t keep the promise—breaking his posture or miscounting before reaching ten—it jumped to fifty.

Namu had chosen the implement himself. Square timber, golf clubs, belts. When hit with square timber, splinters occasionally got stuck in the wounds, and golf clubs damaged the bone. So, Namu chose the belt, which he had never been hit with. He thought the belt would hurt the least.

Namu’s expectation was spectacularly wrong. The belt hurt and injured Namu just as much as the square timber and golf clubs. Every time the thick leather, which neither broke like timber nor bent like a golf club, lashed across his buttocks, tears fell in droplets.

Whenever the hard gold buckle whipped against his pelvis, Namu had no choice but to break his posture with a sharp cry. When that happened, the count started all over again from the beginning.

“Namu, Namu. Why aren’t you sleeping?”

Namu, who had barely managed to plant his backside in his tiny room after working five consecutive two-hour shifts, struggled to open his eyes as the bright light flickered on. Jeong-gon, who had burst in and flipped the switch, dove into the blankets while still wearing his windbreaker.

“Ugh, it’s cold, so cold!”

With rain falling day and night for two consecutive days, the nighttime temperature had plummeted. Just two weeks ago, it had been so hot it felt like a tropical night, but now that summer was right around the corner, the weather was acting up. The Manager and the customers, as well as Jeong-gon, had plenty of complaints.

“Should I turn on the electric blanket?”

“Ugh, forget it! I don’t want to hear a lecture.”

Shaking his head violently at the thought of the Manager’s nagging, Jeong-gon sat down so close to Namu, who was curled up in the corner of the room, that their hips were practically touching.

A strong scent of cigarettes wafted over, perhaps from one he’d smoked during a break. Namu tried to hold onto the scent of rain at the tip of his nose longer than the smell of smoke. Though he didn’t succeed.

“Huh? What’s this? I haven’t seen this before.”

“Ah.”

Instead of turning on the electric blanket, Namu had been covering Jeong-gon with his own blanket; he trailed off and subtly hid the object.

“Hey! Why are you hiding it? Do you think I’m going to steal it?”

“W-why would you say that?”

Looking more hurt than anyone, Namu told him that wasn’t it and not to misunderstand. After hesitating for a moment, Namu slowly pulled out the object he had hidden behind his hip. It was a small black plastic bag, not even the size of a fist.

“What is it? What’s so precious that you’ve got it wrapped up so tight?”

“It’s not that…”

Seeing Jeong-gon poised to rip open the plastic at any moment, Namu finally took the object out himself.

“A teacup?”

“Yeah… I asked the Manager for help.”

“Ugh, it’s tacky.”

“Really?”

“How much did you pay?”

“Five thousand won…”

“Since when did the cheapskate spend money? You don’t even buy socks because you’re saving up for your ‘beating money.’”

Jeong-gon frowned, recalling how Namu had almost gotten frostbite by dragging around the shop’s slippers on bare feet during a cold snap when temperatures dropped to minus 20 degrees.

“You could’ve bought three more pairs of socks with that money. What a waste.”

“Is it really that bad?”

“Yeah. You threw away five thousand won, you brat. Well, the Manager’s taste is exactly like that.”

Namu’s eyes widened, wondering if the Manager had heard, and he peeked through the half-open door.

“Hey, hey! Don’t be scared! The Manager went to take a dump!”

Jeong-gon, loudly announcing the reason for his absence, chuckled and flopped down. In the process, the ceramic teacup slid off the blanket and rolled across the floor.

Namu narrowly caught the teacup just before it hit the floor and shattered, inwardly sighing in relief. He then examined the cup closely.

The teacup, coated in a yellow glaze over a bumpy surface, had red dots scattered here and there—whether by mistake or design, he couldn’t tell.

Staring at the dots, which he had thought were balloons before looking closer, Namu carefully placed the teacup back into the black plastic bag. To prevent it from getting bumped and breaking, he tucked it into the dresser that occupied the corner of the tiny room.

“Was that really five thousand won? Did you buy a thousand-won one and lie that it was five thousand?”

Turning toward Namu and resting his head on his arm, Jeong-gon’s face was a mix of mischief and spite. Namu, who understood the mischief but not the spite, gave him a puzzled look. Jeong-gon didn’t bother hiding his disapproval.

“Hey, I heard you turned down President Yoon?”

“Huh?”

President Yoon was the owner of a raw fish restaurant located on the first floor of the same commercial building. A man in his 50s, he was quite tall—around 170cm—with a belly that stuck out like E.T.’s, and he wore long hair that covered his ears like a wig. Having been in business for three years, he was now a regular for Namu, who was in his fourth month.

“He said he’d buy you beef, and you said no? For real?”

“…It’s not that I said no.”

“You definitely said no. Wow—this guy. He’s really acting high and mighty.”

Suddenly labeled as “high and mighty,” Namu spoke up as if making an excuse to Jeong-gon, who was even pointing a finger at him.

“He just said he’d buy it because beef is expensive.”

“So you refused? You frustrating brat, if you felt bad, you should’ve just treated him well in return for the meat! You’re not a piece of beef, so why are you acting so expensive?”

“He’s a customer.”

“Customer? Wow, look at how cold-hearted he is. The President was just trying to get closer, and you just cut him off! Why do you have no human touch? The President feels bad and sorry that you’re struggling in a strange city at such a young age! Huh? He sees you as a nephew! He just wants to be nice, and you…?”

From the first day, the Manager had drilled into Namu’s ears until they bled that he must not associate with customers privately. Jeong-gon must have known that too. Reading Namu’s confusion, Jeong-gon sat up abruptly, making an exaggerated fuss.

“Don’t tell me you suspect President Yoon?”

“Huh?”

Jeong-gon’s sidelong glance was meaningful.

“I’m asking if you’re just jumping to conclusions and misunderstanding President Yoon’s pure intentions on your own!”

“……”

“Look at this, look at this. Look at how he can’t even speak! Wow—this guy, with that innocent face, he’s not just climbing the kitchen hearth, he’s building a 108-story tower!”

Faced with Jeong-gon’s relentless pushing, Namu couldn’t hide his embarrassment, but he didn’t say this or that. It was because Jeong-gon was right.

While he felt cautious about President Yoon’s offer to buy expensive beef, he also worried that he might be taking a customer’s kindness the wrong way.

Jeong-gon, stealing a glance at the face that laid those thoughts bare, smirked inwardly. For Jeong-gon, who had agreed to get beef and pocket money in exchange for coaxing Namu, this naive reaction was nothing short of a green light.

That pervert President Yoon can’t even win over a kid who’s lighter than a speck of dust. Tsk.

Facing Namu, who seemed like he would fall for it if just coaxed and soothed a little, Jeong-gon didn’t rush. Instead, he smoothed over his irritation and carefully managed his expression.

* * *

Namu, who had been peeking out the door for no reason, brightened at the sound of the door chiming and leaned his upper body far out of the counter. Hanging from the counter almost as if dangling, Namu was greeted by the Manager, who had gone to take care of business. Seeing Namu’s inability to hide his disappointment, the Manager laughed with an absurd expression.

“What’s this? Such a passionate welcome? Should I go back out?”

“Ah, no, it’s not that.”

Namu, terrified, grabbed the Manager who was trying to step back out the way he came as a joke, breaking into a cold sweat.

“Then is this the inside or the outside?”

“Yes, it’s the inside, so please come in.”

The Manager, who found that jokes didn’t work on Namu at all, lightly pushed Namu’s forehead and stepped inside, shaking off raindrops.

“Ugh—this rain just comes at all hours.”

At the complaints of the Manager, who was even more tired of the rain because he was a native of Gamgyul City, Namu quickly brought a towel and shook off the raindrops on the Manager’s back. It seemed the rain that started yesterday was still falling.

“Is it raining a lot?”

“I thought it stopped, so I went out without an umbrella, and it’s raining like crazy.”

“You should have called…”

“Aigoo, forget it, forget it. What kind of trouble would I have caused by calling you?”

Namu laughed awkwardly and took the wet towel at the mention of his chronic illness, which caused him to collapse without warning, much like the fickle weather. In the beginning, there had been a huge commotion when he fell asleep on the street while running an errand.

“Anyway, who are you waiting for so anxiously? Did you make a lover behind my back?”

“What? Ah, no, I didn’t.”

Not only did he shake his head, saying it absolutely wasn’t like that, but he waved both hands, which only made him look more suspicious. Unaware of this, Namu quickly retreated behind the counter, his ears bright red.

Looking at the exposed nape of his neck, the Manager clicked his tongue habitually. Still, it seemed he hadn’t been touched in the neck for a few weeks, as the dark finger marks had almost faded.

For the Manager, who wished that wherever he was touched, the visible areas like the face or neck would be spared, this was good news. Separately, it was also true that it was uncomfortable to see the face of a kid he spent every day with looking like a bloody mess. It didn’t look good for the customers, either.

“Two 100,000-won customers are coming at 3 o’clock. Get ready.”

“Really?”

Namu, who had been burying his nose in the ledger without focusing at all, snapped his head up. Only then did the Manager give a triumphant smile, leaning his arm on the counter and glancing with narrowed eyes.

“Caught you, you little rascal. So, you were waiting for those people, huh?”

“Ah… yes.”

This time, instead of jumping up in denial, Namu scratched his head, his cheeks turning red. Either way, it looked much better than being red from a beating.

“I guess it’s great since they give 100,000 won in tips each.”

It wasn’t just because of that, but Namu didn’t add anything. For some reason, he felt he shouldn’t reveal his feelings. Not that those feelings would actually become anything. He wanted to keep the feeling of liking a man as a customer to himself.

“Speaking of which, Namu, don’t do anything funny with those customers, okay?”

“What?”

“We got a complaint because of you last time.”

“What kind of complaint?”

“Moaning sounds.”

“…Ah.”

“Tell me honestly. What were you doing?”

The Manager didn’t care what Namu did with a customer inside the treatment room, but if sounds leaked outside the room, it was a different story. Although the Manager could easily guess what Namu had been doing in that half-baked secret room, he wanted to make it clear this time.

Under the Manager’s interrogation, as he leaned further over the counter and brought his face closer as if whispering a secret, Namu instinctively shrugged his shoulders and answered obediently.

“Treatment.”

The Manager’s expectation was not wrong. In fact, it wasn’t even an expectation. He had checked the CCTV because he heard moaning. Neither the customers nor general employees like Namu knew about the existence of the embedded CCTV.

“What kind of treatment?”

“Um… for where I was hit. The customer treated me.”

“Aigoo, you’re so desperate to tell the whole neighborhood that you’re paying for breaking someone’s things with your own body? Namu, Mu, you thoughtless child.”

Namu liked it when the Manager called him that. It reminded him of his grandfather. That’s why it felt even worse when he was being scolded like this. Namu’s eyes drooped as he became sullen. Looking at him pitifully, the Manager began to nag in earnest.

“Did you tell the customer everything?”

“Ah… no. I didn’t tell them everything.”

Understanding the Manager’s words a beat late, Namu quickly shook his head.

“So you did tell them something?”

“Not everything. I only said I got hit because I needed to.”

Namu quickly added that and looked up at the Manager with eyes pleading for him to believe that he really hadn’t said everything. His light brown eyes, which always looked teary, were truly desperate.

Confirming the truth by the way he spoke, the Manager picked up a candy from a basket. Namu quickly took the candy from the Manager’s hand, unwrapped it, and popped it into the Manager’s mouth. Accepting it habitually, the Manager frowned and clicked his tongue loudly.

“Mu, baby, you really don’t know how scary the world is, it’s a real problem.”

“Manager…”

“What’s the point of telling a customer things like that? Do you think the customer will get hit instead, or pay for it? You’re just making yourself into a kid who throws his body around uselessly. Do you think you’ll see anything good by looking pathetic to a customer?”

“……”

Namu, fidgeting with his clasped hands, quietly shook his head. He didn’t voice the thought—which would sound absurd to the Manager and even to himself—that the customer wouldn’t be like that.

“Last time you said you got hit because you needed to, today you say why you needed to, and then what? Do you just let your tongue wag without thinking about what comes next?”

“…No.”

“I don’t know how it was in the neighborhood you lived in, but in this neighborhood, you don’t just show your weaknesses. I’ve told you repeatedly that if you don’t keep your wits about you, you’ll get your nose cut off while your eyes are open. How can you not understand? Namu, you’re not that stupid, right?”

“But the Manager is a good person. The President, and Jeong-gon too. Everyone is a good person.”

While scoffing at the one-dimensional thinking that anyone who is nice to him is a good person, the Manager maintained his cautionary stance.

“How long have you known them to call them all good people? You could really get hurt acting like that.”

“They say truly good people don’t call themselves good people.”

“Who says that?”

At the Manager’s question, Namu only smiled brightly with an innocent face.

He was truly a pushover among pushovers. Even though he was in a position to take advantage of him, the Manager clicked his tongue at Namu’s foolishness and returned to the main point.

“Anyway, I barely stopped that customer from reporting you, thinking you were having sex.”

In reality, it wasn’t a report but a request for a second round, but there was no reason or need to tell Namu the truth.

“It’s not a good thing for you or for our shop, so refuse from now on. It’s not like there’s no one here who can treat you. No, from next time, come to me.”

Originally, Namu had no intention of showing his wounds to anyone. He felt ashamed, uncomfortable, and sorry. If it hadn’t been for the customer’s forced-not-forced demand, he would never have taken off his clothes and shown his body.

That remained unchanged. Therefore, Namu couldn’t readily nod to the Manager, who offered to treat him himself, and could only manage an awkward smile. Since the Manager had spoken lightly, he didn’t push further for a definite answer.

“Any other reservations while I was gone?”

“Oh Mun-ju said she’d call back at 10 o’clock.”

“Requesting you?”

“Yes.”

“At this rate, Namu’s going to sweep up all the customers in our shop.”

Namu laughed awkwardly, agreeing with the Manager as he naturally changed the subject.

“What are you doing?”

Namu, who had his face buried in the wide-open dresser as if he were about to climb inside, looked back.

“Teacher Choi.”

“What are you looking for? Did you lose something? Someone would think a thief broke in.”

The practitioner, who was around the age of Namu’s parents, entered while taking off a thin windbreaker. Indeed, because he had rummaged through the small room, the shared break area was a mess.

“What are you looking for?”

“Ah, that.”

Snapping back to his senses at Choi Jin-sun’s words, Namu hesitated as he cleaned up the mess he’d made.

“A teacup.”

“A teacup?”

“Yes, there’s a teacup I bought—no, a teacup I bought with the Manager’s help, but it’s gone. I can’t find it no matter how much I look.”

“Good grief, you’re young but you’ve got no head on your shoulders. Didn’t you just forget where you put it? Who’s going to steal a teacup? How much could it even be worth?”

“Ah, no. It’s not that someone stole it.”

“Ugh, I’m tired. Let me lie down.”

Jin-sun, making it very clear that Namu shouldn’t make a fuss over nothing, immediately found a spot and lay down. Pushed to one side, Namu sat with his back against the wall. Before long, Jin-sun began to snore softly. Namu, who had been holding his breath with a bewildered face, finally moved cautiously.

With quiet and quick movements, he finished tidying the room while his mind wandered, searching for the teacup’s whereabouts. However, Namu’s last memory was still of it being in the dresser. But no matter how many times he opened the dresser, only miscellaneous junk rolled around, except for the teacup.

The man dressed in a pitch-black suit looked strangely disheveled. His neatly swept-back hair and his clothes, black down to the dress shirt, were slightly damp. Beside him, the ever-present Jo Jae-woon clung like a shadow.

“Let’s shower first.”

The man, tossing the words abruptly to the Manager standing at the counter, strode toward the inner hallway. Despite the words being more of a notification than a request for understanding, the Manager escorted them without a hint of displeasure.

It was the Manager’s usual philosophy that the best way to deal with thugs or punks who lead with their fists was to avoid them entirely. Above all, they were quite big spenders.

Namu, who had just finished cleaning the restroom and sprang up like a coil at the sound of the chime, saw the dressing room door just closing. Namu’s pace quickened as he managed not to miss the large frame through that small gap.

“Manager, did the customers arrive?”

“Yeah. The people you’ve been waiting for so desperately are here. They said they’ll shower first, so keep an eye out and see if they need anything.”

“Yes.”

Answering readily, Namu checked the clock on the wall and turned the left corner toward the dressing rooms. They had arrived 30 minutes early. While there were often customers who showered after the treatment, this was the first time in Namu’s five months that a customer showered before the treatment.

Standing before the tightly closed dressing room, Namu took a moment to prepare himself mentally. Just as he was about to knock—clack—the door swung open. His heart, already thumping with excitement at the arrival of a guest he hadn’t seen in nearly three weeks, nearly leaped out of his chest.

Seeing Namu react like a startled rabbit, Jae-un narrowed his eyes. Between the step down from the dressing room to the hallway and the fact that Namu was much smaller than him, Jae-un had to look quite far down to meet his gaze.

“Uh…”

The timing was so awkward that it looked as if Namu had been secretly spying on the inside of the dressing room. Namu started to offer an excuse, but under that piercing glare, his lips snapped shut.

Regardless, Jae-un stepped inside with a look that said this was actually perfect timing, then reappeared a moment later. In his hand, he held a black suit, bundled carelessly.

“Leave this at the laundry on the first floor.”

Having said only what he needed to say, Jae-un tossed the bundle of clothes to Namu and slammed the door shut. The pile of clothes, which didn’t even span the length of one of Jae-un’s arms, barely fit in Namu’s two arms as he hugged them tight.

Clutching the clothes of two men—a volume that exceeded any normal range—Namu found himself waddling as he walked. Seeing this, the Manager burst out laughing.

“President Jang at the laundry hit the jackpot. Tell him he’ll make a killing today if he gets them pressed clean within two hours, Mu.”

“Yes.”

Even the Manager, who was generally reluctant to let Namu go out, turned a blind eye to trips around the shopping complex. Since anyone who fell asleep anywhere in the complex would immediately contact ‘Tangerine Massage,’ there would be no repeat of the last time when contact was lost and everyone panicked.

“I’ll be back.”

The Manager went out of his way to walk around the counter to open the exit for him and even held the elevator. Namu smiled and thanked him, though he was so buried in the mountain of clothes that only his eyes were visible.

Is he really twenty?

No matter how many times he checked, Namu’s ID was genuine, not a fake, yet the Manager often couldn’t shake his doubts. As Namu stepped into the elevator and gave a nod and a smile instead of a proper bow, the Manager hid his skepticism and gave a kind smile back.

Watching the Manager through the closing gap of the doors, Namu stood silently in the moving elevator before slowly lowering his gaze. He ended up burying his nose in the armful of clothes.

The smell of rain, a faint scent of cologne, cigarettes, alcohol, and blood.

Smelling the mixture of scents, Namu looked up. He had already arrived on the first floor. Forcing down the worry that surfaced even before the source of the blood smell, Namu hurried his pace. It took less than three minutes to reach the laundry on the first floor of the adjacent building.

* * *

Having washed himself with what amounted to a quick rinse in a shower room far too narrow for two men to jostle in, Jae-un stepped out of the dressing room wearing a blue practitioner’s uniform that barely fit his frame.

“Hello, Hyung-nim!”

“Cut the crap.”

Since when were we on such terms? Jae-un brushed aside Jeong-gon, who was clinging to him with flattering chatter, and sat on the sofa. As expected, a cheap foot bath and a cheap tea bag awaited him.

Every time he came here, he felt it: this place was absolutely not his taste. Jae-un, longing for a high-end spa with a spacious tub of steaming hot water, a pleasant sauna, fragrant tea leaves, and the constant availability of professional touch that was on another level, kicked off his worn-out slippers.

While the skill of the practitioner assigned to him was decent enough that it wasn’t the worst, it was nowhere near enough to offset the advantages of his regular spa.

“Hyung-nim, even for a former ssireum wrestler, aren’t these calves incredibly thick?”

Seeing the water splash over the edge as he dipped his feet, Jeong Jeong-gon was as noisy as ever, unable to hide his admiration. Jae-un wasn’t surprised; he had dealt with plenty of guys desperate to get on his good side just to squeeze out a few more pennies.

If anything, he felt it was a relief that a fluffy little thing was in charge of his Hyung-nim rather than a guy like this. His Hyung-nim hated noisy people. Clicking his tongue, Jae-un leaned back and looked toward the dressing room. Seeing the sound of the rushing water gradually stop, it seemed his Hyung-nim was about to come out.

It was a good thing they were wearing black, because today, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Mu-won and Jae-un were covered in blood. Jae-un had only handled the minor cleanup; Mu-won had dealt with half the guys who attacked. The lamentations of the old men who complained weren’t wrong. Cha Mu-won was far too potent to be retiring from the field.

“Hyung-nim, please have a cup of this hot tea. I specially prepared it for you…”

“Shut up. Just bring me a glass of water.”

“Yes, Hyung-nim!”

Without a hint of disappointment at the irritable command, Jeong-gon shouted energetically, abandoned the cheap tea, and rushed to the water purifier. Filling a paper cup with lukewarm water—neither hot nor cold—Jeong-gon offered it with both hands.

To survive by clinging to others, being shrewd was the answer. When Jae-un expressed discomfort with the practitioner’s uniform, Jeong-gon had offered a black gown that was clearly meant for the Hyung-nim; today, instead of a paper cup, he presented a second-hand teacup he’d picked up from somewhere. He had even remembered that Jae-un only drank lukewarm water. His level of sycophancy was exactly that.

Fucking neighborhood.

What was even more fucking annoying were the old men who had demoted his Hyung-nim—who had spent two years behind bars taking the fall for the superiors’ charges—to this fucking neighborhood. They called it a retirement gift. Sending only Mu-won and Jae-un to a godforsaken place that a dozen so-called leaders couldn’t even manage was no different from telling them to just drop dead here.

Of course, Jae-un trusted Mu-won implicitly, enough to believe that beans could be used to make meju. What angered him was the attitude of those who showed zero respect for his Hyung-nim, despite him doing more than his fair share for the organization. Fucking bastards. Grinding his teeth with a menacing expression, Jae-un suddenly looked up.

With a tinkle of the bell, a kid who looked like his blood hadn’t even dried yet appeared. Namu. The kid whom his Hyung-nim, who was usually picky about people, allowed to touch him while he waited. To think that this tiny thing was so much to his Hyung-nim’s liking. It was fascinating every time he saw him, but Jae-un’s curiosity was a one-time thing. His Hyung-nim, being picky, especially didn’t keep anyone close for long in a private capacity.

“What is it?”

At the blunt question, Namu, who had been standing blankly, started and took a step back.

“Huh? No, I, that is…”

Trained by his demanding Hyung-nim to gather every scrap of intuition, Jae-un was quicker than anyone. He glanced aside. In the spot where the kid who had entered was unable to take his eyes off, a cheap teacup sat.

Realizing the situation instantly, Jae-un frowned. He had seen the signs from the moment Jeong-gon had blindly offered the gown that was clearly for the Hyung-nim. One of those habits that can’t be fixed even if you beat the life out of someone is sticky fingers.

From the gown to the teacup. Just as he was wondering what else the persistent Jeong-gon had stolen or snatched after being rejected once, Jae-un felt unpleasant, as if he had been dragged into a power struggle between kids. Just as he was about to let out a string of curses—

Click. Mu-won appeared through the gap of the opening door. Stepping out of the dressing room while roughly shaking his damp hair, Mu-won took in the three of them in a standoff that wasn’t really a standoff. Draped over his broad shoulders was the black nylon gown. The very gown Jae-un had rejected.

The subtle silence was broken by light footsteps. The thought that Namu’s footsteps had actually developed a sound crossed Jae-un’s mind. In the meantime, Namu, who had pressed close to Mu-won, was lifting the gown without permission. His face had completely forgotten about the stolen teacup.

“A-Are you hurt?”

Namu’s cheeks turned pale as he confirmed the wound that had been hidden by the gown. He hadn’t seen wrong. The red line that had flickered when Mu-won moved was a mark sliced by something sharp.

It must hurt.

The white hand, which had been hovering around the wound without daring to touch it, suddenly pressed down on the injury. It was a reflexive yet cautious touch. The thought that he had to stop the blood slowly seeping out came first, and his hand moved before he could think. Just as Namu realized his mistake and tried to pull his own top to stop the bleeding—

“Mr. Namu.”

Namu, who reacted more sensitively than anyone to the low-dropping voice, looked up. Mu-won’s expression was the same as usual. However, Namu could feel a difference as thin as a thread.

The surrounding temperature dropped a notch. It was just a single low word, but Namu felt his heart drop. Mu-won, looking down at him with the light behind him, felt unfamiliar. Perhaps it was because of the shadow cast over his face.

Knowing the answer was ‘no’ but still wondering, Namu parted his lips. He probably tried to answer. Or perhaps he wanted to ask if he was okay. However, Namu couldn’t even twitch his half-opened lips at the indifferent word that fell.

“Take your hand off.”

“…….”

Namu, who had frozen for a moment, recoiled as if burned. The white hand that had been pressing the wound until then was stained red. Without even glancing at that, Mu-won moved. Namu, naturally stepping backward, ended up looking as if he had been pushed.

What, they aren’t even that close.

It had been since the night he heard strange noises from the treatment room, making him wonder if they were fucking instead of working. He had thought Namu was being favored because a kid who had lived like a beggar and never snacked in his life was acting out of character, spending a huge sum of 5,000 won to buy a teacup. It was a great delusion. Far from it, seeing that he wasn’t even allowed to touch a fingertip, it seemed Namu had been chasing a mirage alone.

That brat must be so fucking embarrassed.

Feeling a strange sense of relief, Jeong-gon barely managed to suppress the twitch of his lips.

Meanwhile, Jae-un, with a face that suggested he was used to such situations, stepped aside and offered a seat.

“Please sit, CEO.”

Jae-un, who freely switched between ‘Hyung-nim’ and ‘CEO’ depending on the time and place, quickly read the atmosphere. Whether he was shocked by his Hyung-nim’s cold attitude or terrified, the kid remained frozen, unable to even blink.

It was quite ridiculous that someone whose only use was the skill of massaging shoulders was acting up just because the Hyung-nim had called for him a few times. How dare he lay a hand on him. Those who climb up just because you’re a bit nice to them had to be stepped on from the start.

If he weren’t a civilian, his wrist would have been snapped or he would have been sent flying by a punch; Jae-un wondered if the kid, whose blood hadn’t even dried, realized how lucky he was that it ended with a single word.

Squeak— The groan of the old sofa broke the now-chillier silence. Leaning back, Mu-won looked at Namu. Standing exactly as if he had been pushed, Namu was merely picking at his fingertips, thinking he had made a terrible mistake.

Is he crying? A guy, tsk. The kid was a problem from the start. He didn’t even have the capacity to use his talent to be a male prostitute.

Scanning Namu as if he were a useless object, Jae-un nudged his forearm. Namu looked up at Jae-un with wide eyes.

Contrary to expectations, no moisture could be found in those wide pupils. Though he was surprised, he didn’t seem scared. Whether it was stubbornness or obstinacy. Judging on his own that the kid was struggling to hold back tears to protect a trivial bit of pride, Jae-un tilted his chin.

“Aren’t you working?”

“Ah.”

As if he had forgotten the fact that he was in the middle of work, Namu snapped back to his senses and ran to the utility room. He was surprisingly fast, but his feather-light footsteps made him look even more pathetic.

“Should I bring a hemostatic agent, CEO?”

“No need.”

Mu-won, who answered shortly, was the same as usual. No, he actually looked to be in much better condition. Jae-un didn’t find this strange. Like Jae-un himself, Mu-won’s body felt much lighter after a good wash following a bout of activity.

Just in case, Jae-un glanced at the wound visible through the wide gap of the gown and felt relieved. The bleeding had stopped long ago. It certainly wasn’t the effect of those fern-like hands. It was a wound that would have stopped quickly anyway.

And that was a man’s hand.

Recalling the hand that had fearlessly touched Mu-won, he was appalled once again. Just because he was allowed to touch his body for a massage, to just grab him whenever, acting as if he were something special.

He could have disciplined him more, but Mu-won had handled it just enough. In fact, it barely counted as disciplining. He probably liked him quite a bit as a masseur.

“Um…”

Hearing a voice from behind, Jae-un glanced back and cleared the way. Namu, who had filled the faded foot bath with water, passed the spot Jae-un had been guarding and knelt before Mu-won’s feet.

Satisfied with the disciplined appearance, Jae-un was about to greet his Hyung-nim to excuse himself.

“…….”

Mu-won, straightening his leaned-back torso, reached out. What he grabbed was the teacup containing the tea that had gone completely cold. It happened just as Namu, who had been settling in after putting down the foot bath, inadvertently noticed the teacup and realized his mistake once more, about to bring fresh tea.

Drinking the cold tea in one gulp, Mu-won placed the empty cup back in its spot. Namu couldn’t take his eyes off that hand. It was merely the simple action of drinking tea. Yet, despite that, a strange silence descended once more upon the damp establishment.

Mu-won never touched a single drop of water that had been handled by others. Jae-un, who knew that habit better than anyone, suddenly realized. Mu-won had known from the start what kind of teacup that was. At the same time, a question arose. Then why? But he soon brushed the question aside. There was always a reason for everything Mu-won did.

“Aren’t you going in?”

At Mu-won’s word breaking the silence, Jae-un reacted immediately.

“Yes, CEO. I’ll head in first.”

Bowing his head, Jae-un practically dragged Jeong-gon, who couldn’t manage his expression at all, toward the treatment room. In the quiet establishment, Namu felt as if only the sound of his own heart was echoing.

The moment he saw the man hold the teacup he had bought and drink the cold tea, he felt something melt away. However, because he didn’t know what it was, Namu became frightened by the growing sound of his heartbeat.

Worried that Mu-won might hear, he held his breath and took his eyes off the man’s hand. The hand, which looked as if it would suit holding a pen, had hard calluses. Still, it was a cool hand, thick and long.

“Are you not open for business today?”

Namu, who had been staring only at the clear water because he had nowhere to look, flinched and looked up. His eyes met the man’s. Hesitantly looking up at the pitch-black eyes that were looking down at him as before, Namu relaxed slightly. The man now was not unfamiliar like before. It was the expression, the gaze, and the atmosphere he knew. So, Namu could summon a little courage.

“Guest.”

The man, answering with a look, waited for Namu’s next words. Though he hesitated slightly, Namu spoke in a small voice.

“May I… touch you?”

“And if you don’t?”

“But earlier…”

Namu, who was about to ask if the guest hadn’t told him to take his hand off, pressed his lips shut. Strangely, his eyes stung. It was nothing. It was his fault for acting so carelessly toward the guest.

Blinking several times as his eyes felt gritty, Namu looked at Mu-won. He felt that if he did, the unfamiliar emotion that made him feel nauseous like motion sickness would subside. That the hot heat rising to his chin would cool down. But without fail, Namu’s expectation missed the mark.

“Touch me.”

“…….”

“You can touch me as much as you want.”

Namu’s pupils wavered, unable to understand Mu-won’s answer. Even while seeing right through Namu’s confused mind, Mu-won did not speak first. He gave Namu time to understand on his own.

Before they knew it, the water in the foot bath had cooled to lukewarm. Only then did Namu, having finally organized his thoughts, speak.

“Can I touch you when I’m working?”

The man did not deny it.

“Can I only touch you when I’m working?”

The man, leaning back against the sofa, gave a slight nod. Then, he wore a smile as if praising a puppy that had found a solution on its own. Despite that, Namu suddenly felt like he could breathe.

Until a moment ago, he had been racking his brain—which wasn’t even working well—anxiously wondering why the man had done that to him, what he had done wrong, how big the mistake was, what he should do, and if the man would stop seeking him out in the future.

Namu was happy that the answer he came up with was the correct one. He thought he might not see the man again. It was a relief. Only after breathing became easy did Namu realize how tense he had been, and he chewed over the answer he had barely found several times.

Do not touch unless it is for work. Never let a single fingertip touch.

Then, he suddenly looked up.

“I’m sorry, Guest.”

“For what?”

“For touching you without permission. I won’t do it again. Really, never again.”

Namu, unable to say so please keep coming to see me, smiled innocently.

Mu-won simply looked down at Namu with eyes full of amusement.

Today, too, Mu-won undressed Namu. To Namu, who said he was really okay, Mu-won did nothing. It was simply that Namu, unable to withstand the staring gaze, hesitantly took off his practitioner’s uniform.

Namu’s claim that he was truly fine was not a lie. It was because he hadn’t been summoned for a beating in the past week. Nevertheless, Mu-won, who had made Namu turn around in a circle, only finished his inspection—which felt like a medical exam—after verifying everything with his own eyes.

“Can I… put my clothes on?”

“Do it naked if you want.”

“O-oh, no. I’ll put them on quickly.”

Shaking his head hurriedly, Namu scrambled to dress himself. Perhaps because he lived a life chased by instability and spent most of his time reading others’ moods, Namu had a quickness to him that didn’t match his appearance. It was a trait mostly seen in his ingrained habits.

On the other hand, he was remarkably clumsy when dealing with people. Anyone who didn’t intentionally harm him was a “good person,” and he always volunteered for the subordinate position, suffering losses without even realizing he was being taken advantage of.

That was why Namu’s life was simple. He was kind to good people, avoided those who harmed him, took responsibility for his mistakes, and since he mostly didn’t notice when he was losing out, it wasn’t particularly grueling.

Even so, recent events had been a bit overwhelming for Namu. It was only natural; just as his body would begin to heal, he would be summoned to pay off his debts, and he could never quite get used to the repeated violence of that process.

They were clearly people who harmed him, yet he couldn’t avoid them because he had to take responsibility for his mistakes. Even if he tried to escape, Namu vaguely knew it was something he couldn’t avoid.

Having recently rediscovered exactly how much physical violence hurt, Namu couldn’t simply let things slide. That was why he couldn’t easily give up his resolve even after being scolded once. Mu-won, who was taking off his gown, looked at Namu, who was hesitating and fidgeting without saying a word.

“What?”

“…Well.”

“If you have something to say, say it.”

“…….”

“Are you afraid you’ll get hit if you say one wrong word?”

“N-no. It’s not that.”

“What do you mean, ‘not that’? Do you think I’ll go easy on you, Namu-ssi?”

“It’s not that. The, the guest wouldn’t hit me.”

What on earth was he talking about? Instead of a look of absurdity, Mu-won gave him a gaze that demanded evidence for such a thought, and Namu hurriedly added, fidgeting with his tightly clenched fingers.

“If I don’t make a mistake, if I don’t do anything wrong. The guest wouldn’t hit me.”

If Jae-un had heard this, he would have scoffed.

“Like earlier. Even though I did something wrong, you didn’t hit me. O-of course, my heart sank because you spoke so coldly. But that’s okay. I can bear that.”

Having drifted off-topic, Namu pulled himself together and returned to the point.

“You didn’t hit me even though I was wrong, so if I do well… if I don’t make mistakes and don’t do anything wrong. You won’t hit me.”

Mu-won wondered where such confidence came from; Namu truly had no eye for judging people. However, instead of offering a hollow or sincere piece of advice, Mu-won created a ripple with a single sentence in response to the eyes asking, ‘Right?’

“That is something you’ll have to find out for yourself from now on.”

It was an ambiguous answer—it wasn’t clear if he was saying Namu was wrong or right. As Namu stood there confused, he suddenly snapped out of it. ‘From now on.’ Those words meant the man would continue to visit him. That was enough. Namu would try his best not to make mistakes in the future, and even if he made a huge mistake and got hit, it was better than the man stopping his visits.

Above all, Namu had a grounded belief that the man in front of him would not beat him indiscriminately. The man Namu had experienced was a good person. He wasn’t rude, he was clean, and he was kind. Though he could be scary, he wasn’t always filled with rage. Among the people Namu had encountered, this man was a very good person.

Watching Namu’s ever-changing expressions, Mu-won asked a question to regain his attention.

“So. What did you want to say?”

“Huh? Ah…!”

Namu, who had almost drifted off-course again, smiled awkwardly and opened his red lips. Even without being beaten, his red lips looked like cherries, as the common saying goes.

“The place where you’re hurt.”

Namu’s gaze landed on Mu-won’s wound, which was more visible now that the gown was off. He couldn’t remember exactly if it was a graze from the guy who had been swinging a broken beer bottle or something else. The long horizontal mark stretching from the flank to the navel wasn’t deep, and the bleeding was minimal. While it was laughable that Namu was making such a fuss over nothing as if he were someone important, it was also tedious because his intentions were so transparent.

“Can I treat it for you?”

“Do you want to do that that badly?”

“Huh? …Yes.”

Namu, eyes widening in surprise, slowly nodded his head. As if the slower and more precise the nod, the more his sincerity would be conveyed. While appearing slightly annoyed, Mu-won silently exposed the wound.

The wound was reflected in eyes that sparkled exceptionally under the yellow lighting. A thin Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. It was a neck that looked as if it would snap if gripped with one hand.

“Go ahead.”

Although Mu-won had shown the wound, he hadn’t given verbal permission until now, so Namu had only been fidgeting with his fingertips. A look of joy flashed across Namu’s white cheeks.

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt as much as possible.”

“Before that.”

Namu, who was about to leave to get the first-aid kit, stopped dead in his tracks and looked back at Mu-won.

“Wash your hands first.”

“Huh?”

Mu-won was pointing to Namu’s hands, which were resting neatly beside his thighs. Looking down at his hands, Namu let out a small “Ah.” The voice sounded just like him.

“I washed them while filling the foot bath earlier, but I must have missed a spot. I’ll go wash my hands properly. So please wait just a moment.”

Fearing that Mu-won might change his mind, Namu turned and hurried away. Tadak, tadak. The sound of footsteps running across the grime-stained cement floor grew distant and then close again. Soon, Namu pushed through the bamboo blind, his face appearing first. He was panting slightly, as if he had been in a great rush.

Without even catching his breath, Namu placed the first-aid kit on the wall shelf and spread both hands out in front of Mu-won. After showing the backs, palms, and even the nails of his hands, he looked at Mu-won with a flushed face.

“I washed them clean. I’m not dirty now.”

What had bothered Mu-won wasn’t the presence or absence of cleanliness. He simply didn’t want to see the blood stained like a smudge on those soft, white hands. Pushing aside the trivial thought as if clearing away a nuisance, Mu-won pulled the first-aid kit toward himself. It was the one Mu-won had left behind previously.

“Ah, I forgot to return it back then. I’ll return it after I treat you today.”

Placing the first-aid kit beside him, Mu-won released the latch. Namu, tentatively reading the room, spoke cautiously.

“I didn’t touch it. Really. I haven’t touched a single fingertip since that day. I was told not to touch other people’s things carelessly. I’ve never once done that until now.”

“You’re quite different from that friend or colleague of yours.”

“Huh?”

Mu-won handed an alcohol swab from the kit to Namu and met his eyes. His eye level was still slightly higher than Namu’s. Before he knew it, Namu’s body was trapped between Mu-won’s wide-spread thighs. Unaware of this, Namu couldn’t control his expression at all at Mu-won’s words.

“That was mine, right?”

“…….”

“The teacup.”

Namu’s lips parted slightly as he blinked rapidly. He had no idea how to answer.

“When you don’t know what to do, just answer truthfully.”

Namu did as Mu-won taught him.

“Yes….”

He must have done something useless, thinking the man might drink the tea if it were served in tea ware rather than a paper cup.

“You’ve got it wrong, Namu-ssi. It’s not because it was a paper cup that I didn’t drink it.”

Namu’s light brown pupils dilated.

“Then why?”

“I don’t put anything in my mouth that someone else gives me.”

“…Why?”

“Because I have bad memories.”

“Ah.”

Namu, who reflexively took the alcohol swab Mu-won handed him, tore open the packaging as if possessed.

“How could someone like Namu-ssi, who was beaten like a piece of dough because of debts, afford to buy that teacup?”

“I-I didn’t steal it.”

“I know.”

Even after opening the package, Namu held the damp alcohol swab and couldn’t take his eyes off Mu-won.

“You probably took out your secret savings and bought one with great determination. And then your friend?”

At Mu-won’s question about his relationship with Jeong-gon, Namu nodded.

“Yes.”

“Right, and that ‘friend’ of yours swiped it.”

“…….”

“Am I wrong?”

“I… don’t know for sure yet.”

Mu-won didn’t press further. Namu would know best. It was a simple cause-and-effect: if Namu hadn’t lent it, it had been stolen.

“A-actually, it’s okay even if Jeong-gon did it.”

Mu-won wondered what kind of nonsense this was. Namu seemed to avoid Mu-won’s piercing gaze before lifting his long eyelashes again, his soft cheeks flushed red.

“Because the guest… drank from it.”

The eyes reflecting Mu-won wavered like the surface of water. Even Namu himself didn’t know why he felt this way.

“You said you don’t eat or drink anything given by others.”

“…….”

“But you drank what was in the teacup.”

Even though it wasn’t tea that he himself had poured.

Suddenly, a sugar-like smile melted onto the lips of Namu, who had been breathing clumsily as if it were difficult to breathe.

“It’s because you knew it was my gift, right?”

While more than half-certain, Namu’s eyes were filled with an inevitable mixture of expectation and anxiety, fearing he might be mistaken. Then, as if to block Mu-won’s mouth, he hurriedly added another word. Anxiety had won over expectation.

“No, no. It’s okay even if it wasn’t. It’s enough that the guest used it. You don’t have to answer.”

Watching Namu play both sides of the conversation by himself, Mu-won raised a finger and poked his plump cheek.

“Eh?”

“Namu-ssi, who never touches other people’s things, yet touches other people’s bodies without permission.”

“Ah… th-that’s.”

“Fifteen minutes have already passed while you’re ‘treating’ me. Should I call someone else?”

At the thunderous news, Namu shook his head vigorously. Then, realizing that the distance between him and Mu-won was far too close, he recoiled in shock.

Neither smiling nor frowning, Mu-won let Namu pull away. The alcohol swab caught between Namu’s fingers had dried up in the meantime. Thump-thump. Namu’s heart beat so rapidly it felt as if Mu-won could hear it. However, Mu-won remained indifferent, as if he hadn’t noticed.