By Zephyria 
Rubbing his head, Park Hae-jun turned around and spotted Lee A-gon sprawled on the ground, which made him laugh bitterly. An old motel by the roadside in the middle of nowhere. Left alone with a smelly homeless man.
What? Rest well? Talk sense. It would be impossible to bring this homeless person into a lodging establishment in the first place.
What trick could he use to check in with this guy? He wanted to just leave him, but the temperature was currently 4 degrees below zero. The wind chill made it feel like about -9 degrees. If he left such a thin and sickly-looking man outside, he might die.
“Shit.”
Park Hae-jun first hid Lee A-gon behind a corner before opening the motel door.
“Just you?” The owner, who had been dozing while watching TV, asked.
Park Hae-jun nodded vaguely and received the room key. It was an actual key, not a key card like in modern times.
Instead of going up to the room, Park Hae-jun hid behind the stairs, watching for his chance. When the owner disappeared behind the counter, he stealthily went outside, quickly hoisted Lee A-gon onto his back, and came back in.
“Ugh.”
The black, greasy hair wrapped around his neck. It was a skin-crawling sensation. The pitch-black bare feet dangled below his waist. After shuddering violently, Park Hae-jun strode up the stairs.
“Sir?”
Just as he reached the second floor, the motel owner called out to him. Park Hae-jun pretended not to hear and continued walking, but the owner came running up with heavy footsteps.
“Who is that person? Is he dead? Is that a corpse?”
“He’s not a corpse. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. Please let us stay just for one night. Please?” Park Hae-jun quickly apologized before the owner could shout.
“That’s absurd. I’ll cancel your card payment, so please leave quickly.”
“Mister. I’m begging you. It’s all fields and paddies around here—where am I supposed to go? If we leave now, we’ll freeze to death.”
“How did you get here in the first place?”
“We had a car, but it’s gone now. Someone drove off with it.”
“Then call them and tell them to come back.”
“Ah, come on, mister. Please.”
“Are you trying to ruin my business? Customers will leave once they smell this. Anyway, I can’t give you a room, so you should know that.”
The motel parking lot was completely empty. Park Hae-jun was the only guest.
“Then call a taxi at least…”
Park Hae-jun stopped mid-sentence and closed his mouth. Even if they took a taxi to Seoul, where would they go after that? He certainly couldn’t bring this man to his own home.
“I’ll take all the empty rooms.”
He needed to somehow stay here tonight. Park Hae-jun played his last card. Literally, his card.
“What?”
“You said other guests won’t come because of us. Then I’ll take all of them. All the vacant rooms in this motel.”
“What? All of them? That would cost about two… no, three million won.”
“That’s fine.”
It wasn’t his money, so he didn’t care. The person at fault was Secretary Yang, who had abandoned him here without any warning. Park Hae-jun became bold.
The owner thought for a moment, rolling his eyes, then finally took Park Hae-jun’s card. He seemed to have calculated that earning three million won for letting a vagrant stay was the better deal.
“If that man is dead tomorrow, I’m calling the police immediately.”
“Yes, yes. Thank you for your help.”
“No refunds, understood?”
“Yes, yes.”
Park Hae-jun continued up the stairs with Lee A-gon on his back. When they finally entered the room, he felt the warmth. With his tension released, Park Hae-jun tried to take off his shoes by lifting his heels, but lost his balance and fell. Lee A-gon collapsed on top of him.
“…This is driving me crazy…”
Pinned under the dirty, smelly man, Park Hae-jun was truly at his wit’s end. He couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation.
Damn it, whatever happens happens—as Park Hae-jun lay there resigned, he suddenly felt something ominous. The stomach of Lee A-gon, who had collapsed on top of him, began to convulse. With a bad premonition, Park Hae-jun tried to get up, but with a “urgh” sound, vomit poured out.
“…”
Sour stomach acid and white saliva poured onto his face and neck.
Park Hae-jun froze, turning pale. He was so shocked that he couldn’t do anything for a while.
“Urgh.”
Shortly after, Park Hae-jun urgently covered his mouth with his hand. He couldn’t suppress the rising nausea. He practically kicked Lee A-gon away and ran to the bathroom.
He threw up everything he had eaten, which wasn’t much, until stomach acid came out. But the retching wouldn’t stop, so Park Hae-jun had to keep his head in the toilet.
Even after washing his face and neck a hundred times, the unpleasant feeling wouldn’t go away. Finally, after washing his hair too, Park Hae-jun came out looking for the offensive homeless man. But the thin, tall man who should have been collapsed in front of the door was nowhere to be seen. The fury on Park Hae-jun’s face gave way to suspicion, which quickly turned to anxiety. He searched the wardrobe and under the bed, but Lee A-gon was nowhere to be found.
“Crazy.” Park Hae-jun covered his mouth.
On the first day of his assignment, the subject had disappeared.
Park Hae-jun ran down the stairs making loud thumping noises and shouted at the motel owner, “Have you seen that man? The man who went up with me earlier!”
The motel owner looked bewildered seeing Park Hae-jun chasing after him all wet, when it hadn’t been long since he’d gone upstairs.
“What’s wrong? Did that person really die?”
“He’s disappeared. I even went upstairs to check, but he’s not there. Did you see where he went?”
“Geez, you scared me. I didn’t see him, but when I came back from taking out the trash, the back door was open. Maybe he went out that way?”The owner explained with relief that the man wasn’t dead but just missing.
Park Hae-jun rushed to the back door.
Outside, the cold wind cut through his wet clothes and hair. Park Hae-jun gritted his teeth. In this weather, sleeping outdoors would mean freezing to death. He didn’t care if the man died, but it couldn’t happen today. That homeless man needed to stay alive until tomorrow when he could hand him back to Secretary Yang.
The surroundings were an open field. To the left were rice paddies, and to the right stood scattered restaurants with their lights off. The edge of the field, beyond the reach of streetlights, touched the distant ridge of mountains. If he had gone that way, it would be nearly impossible to find him.
As Park Hae-jun was hesitating, not knowing which way to go, he turned around at the sudden sound of a car horn. From beyond the S-curved road that wasn’t visible, a horn sounded and a car passed by. Shortly after, another car passing from the opposite direction honked at the same spot. It sounded like a warning for something on the road to move out of the way.
Park Hae-jun ran toward the sound. Soon he found a man staggering down the middle of the road. A thin military jacket and bare feet. Black, greasy hair that didn’t flutter even in the cutting wind. It was Lee A-gon.
“What are you doing here!”
Park Hae-jun grabbed Lee A-gon’s wrist angrily. When he tried to drag him away, Lee A-gon struggled. The resistance from his emaciated body was stronger than expected.
A physical struggle broke out between Park Hae-jun trying to pull and Lee A-gon resisting. Then Park Hae-jun’s foot slipped, and the two of them tumbled down a shallow slope.
“Ugh.”
Park Hae-jun, who fell back-first onto the frozen ground, couldn’t move for a moment. By the time he managed to get up, Lee A-gon was already far ahead.
“Hey!”
This is really infuriating. Park Hae-jun cursed as he ran and caught Lee A-gon. He shook Park Hae-jun off and continued walking.
“Your body is ice-cold. Where are you trying to go alone? Do you really want to die?”
“…”
“Say something! Where are you trying to go?”
“…”
His vacant eyes had no focus. He seemed completely deaf to Park Hae-jun’s shouts. Like a broken robot. He just kept moving forward without any purpose.
“You really!”
Finally, Park Hae-jun held Lee A-gon tightly. When he forcefully embraced him from behind to prevent him from going anywhere, Lee A-gon began to tremble.
“Ugh, ugh.”
After making small moans, Lee A-gon suddenly screamed so loudly that Park Hae-jun’s ears rang. It was almost at a level that burst sound. Startled, Park Hae-jun inadvertently let go, and Lee A-gon began walking again, panting.
After hesitating, Park Hae-jun chased Lee A-gon again. In the streetlight, he could see blood coming from Lee A-gon’s feet. It was natural that his feet were bleeding as he walked barefoot over the short rice stubble left after harvest.
“Hey, Lee A-gon.” Park Hae-jun caught Lee A-gon with a more careful gesture. “Look at me. You’re bleeding. See?”
He still just walked like a broken robot. Park Hae-jun followed behind him. After walking for who knows how long, Lee A-gon’s steps finally slowed down. This time, without applying force, Park Hae-jun just lightly held his collar and gently led him, and Lee A-gon allowed himself to be guided toward the road. If he could coax him well like this, it seemed possible to return to the motel.
It was just as they climbed back up the slope where they had slipped while fighting. Lee A-gon, who had been docilely following, suddenly pushed Park Hae-jun away and ran forward. At the same time, the headlights of a car blinded them. Lee A-gon was standing in front of the white lights.
Park Hae-jun moved without time to think. He grabbed Lee A-gon and fell forward. Their bodies rolled down the slope they had just climbed. The car, severely crossing the center line, honked madly as it passed by.
“Huh, huh.”
His white breath rose over the cold field. Park Hae-jun grabbed Lee A-gon’s collar with trembling hands.
“Do you really want to die?”
Blank expression. Unfocused eyes. Lee A-gon didn’t answer. He seemed unaware of what he had done.
Park Hae-jun lifted his collar up and shouted, “If you want to die, then die! But not today—tomorrow! Don’t die in front of me, die somewhere else! Got it?”
“Ugh.”
As his throat was being squeezed, Lee A-gon frowned and let out a short moan. This hurts? You’re in pain? Damn, the bastard who just tried to die thinks this little pain hurts?
“Don’t you have a mouth? Answer me, you bastard!”
“Ugh, uhhh, ugh. Uh.”
Lee A-gon’s body began to tremble violently. The moaning sound escaping through his teeth grew louder.
What’s wrong with this guy? Park Hae-jun, who had been watching in confusion, soon panicked. Lee A-gon let out another ear-splitting scream, then shook Park Hae-jun off and ran away. It was truly absurd. Park Hae-jun, who had been laughing in disbelief, jumped to his feet.
“This is really!”