By Zephyria 
“Wow, it’s Chi-young Oppa~!”
A cute voice sounded from right beside him. Before Chi-young, who had been picking up cigarette butts fallen under the roadside trees, could even look back, a small impact hit him as someone hugged his waist tightly.
“Uh.., …….Ju, Juri-ssi.”
Looking over his shoulder at the cute young lady rubbing her face against his back, Chi-young called her name awkwardly. She was one of the youngest girls working at the establishment. He remembered being flustered when she, who had been there since he first started coming to the place, had innocently pestered him for a celebratory gift, saying she had just become an adult last week. When he asked with a serious face if she had been a minor, she had giggled and run away, saying, “It’s a se-cret from the others!”
“Oppa, when are you frying gopchang for us next? Ugh, while eating today’s greasy appetizers, I can’t tell you how much I craved the gopchang you fry! Huh? When are you bringing it next? I’m off on Thursday, you’re not bringing it then, are you?”
Looking down at this youngest girl, who was loved by everyone for being affectionate regardless of who they were, Chi-young smiled as if he had no choice.
“I’ll bring it tomorrow.”
Hearing Chi-young’s words, she exclaimed “Really?” with delight and hugged him tightly once more. Chi-young stood there awkwardly with his arms floating in the air, but since he knew she would let go soon, it wasn’t too uncomfortable.
It wasn’t just her; there were several others who asked about the gopchang. Because Yoon Jun-young had been extremely busy being held back by his professor for a while, Chi-young had naturally stopped bringing gopchang to the establishment.
In the days where there was no gopchang without Yoon Jun-young, he had finally contacted Chi-young, saying he would have enough time to stop by the establishment tomorrow. So, Chi-young was just thinking that he should receive a generous amount when the supplier delivered tomorrow.
If he prepares as much as he did last week, it should be enough.
Chi-young recalled the beginning of last week, the day Yoon Jun-young had last visited the establishment. On that day, when he had brought the ingredients prepared with the determination to leave plenty of leftovers, Yoon Jun-young finally seemed to have eaten to his satisfaction. Even when the wok began to show its bottom as the gopchang disappeared into people’s mouths, he didn’t look sorrowful. He had simply put down his chopsticks, murmuring a satisfied “I ate well…”
Only then was Chi-young able to escape Kwon Kang-hee’s piercing gaze, and he smiled at Yoon Jun-young while inwardly sighing with relief.
‘Did you enjoy it?’
‘Yes, it was delicious.’
Yoon Jun-young looked at Chi-young with narrowed eyes, appearing satisfied despite his indifference, and added one more comment as if in a good mood.
‘It’s a good thing you come here, Chi-young-ssi. I can eat it more often than when I first moved. Since moving, I haven’t had time to go to the shop.’
‘Still, please visit the shop occasionally. Ui-geon-ssi seemed very sad after you moved, Jun-young-ssi.’
Only after saying that did Chi-young shut his mouth, feeling Kwon Kang-hee’s piercing gaze as he listened to their conversation silently from behind, but Yoon Jun-young remained unfazed.
‘Ui-geon… I’m most envious of Ui-geon these days.’
He murmured in a slightly gloomy tone, “That guy can eat Chi-young-ssi’s gopchang every single night if he puts his mind to it.” For a moment, the thought crossed Chi-young’s mind that perhaps Kwon Kang-hee’s greatest rival was nothing other than gopchang. Quickly erasing the thought, Chi-young smiled shyly. To such a Chi-young, Yoon Jun-young looked at him as if he had suddenly remembered something.
‘I don’t think Ui-geon knows that you come here, Chi-young-ssi.’
‘Huh? ……..Uh, yes.., I didn’t really tell him in detail..’
As Chi-young scratched his head, Yoon Jun-young murmured, “Ah, no wonder.”
‘I had lunch with Ui-geon a few days ago, and when I mentioned I saw Chi-young-ssi, he kept prying, asking when I saw him and if the two of us met. I just told him that where Chi-young-ssi works is near my house, but… did you steal money from him?’
“He asked as if a detective were interrogating me,” Yoon Jun-young said, looking at Chi-young suspiciously. Chi-young widened his eyes and quickly shook his head, saying, “Do you think so?” Then, he looked a bit embarrassed.
‘It’s probably because whenever Jun-young-ssi came to the shop or I had a reason to see you, I always contacted Ui-geon-ssi and called him.’
Chi-young had always done that. He couldn’t suddenly start helping Jang Ui-geon now, but whenever Yoon Jun-young said he was visiting the shop, he always told Jang Ui-geon. Thinking that he might be happy if he could see a face in the process.
‘……..Was that so?’
But at that very moment, a low, cool voice sounded from behind Chi-young, freezing his spine. Kwon Kang-hee’s calmly murmured voice was incredibly eerie.
‘Huh? Uh.., well,.., it’s better when more people meet..’
‘I see. Next time there’s such an occasion, I’d like you to be sure to call me too.’
‘……., ……Yes.’
But even without being called, whenever Yoon Jun-young visited the shop on the rare occasion, Kwon Kang-hee almost always followed. It was truly rare for the three of them to meet without Kwon Kang-hee.
Chi-young murmured with his head bowed low, feeling as if he had committed a crime, and Kwon Kang-hee’s gaze, which had been looking down at him coldly, only dropped after a while.
‘But the important thing isn’t that.’
Yoon Jun-young murmured casually over the head of the gloomily bowed Chi-young. Taking out his phone and looking at the calendar, he frowned. “That stubborn old man is going to keep me tied down for a while,” Yoon Jun-young grumbled, then turned his gaze to Chi-young.
‘I think it’ll be hard to come here until the end of this month. So for a while, ……, ……I’ll have to practice abstinence.’
Murmuring in a slumped voice, Yoon Jun-young looked at the empty wok regretfully. Chi-young didn’t know since when not eating gopchang became “abstinence,” but seeing him look so sad, he smiled awkwardly and murmured, “Ah.”
‘Come to think of it, I’m taking a day off here at the end of the month.. I have to go down for my mother’s 60th birthday.’
‘Which day is it?’
“I guess I can’t eat gopchang that day,” Yoon Jun-young said, marking the calendar. Then, after staring at the marked calendar on the screen for a long time, he sighed and looked up.
‘Let’s meet once next week. ……I don’t have the confidence to practice abstinence until the end of the month. Next Friday or Saturday.., let’s meet around then. Saturday would be good.’
Writing “Gopchang that day” and even adding a heart mark at the end, Yoon Jun-young put his phone away with satisfaction once Chi-young nodded.
And just as he said, he didn’t see Yoon Jun-young for a while after that. And since he couldn’t see Yoon Jun-young, he also didn’t see the figure of the Kwon family, who he heard didn’t visit often unless it was when Yoon Jun-young came.
“…….”
Chi-young was actually relieved not to run into them.
He didn’t dislike them. No, to be precise, while he felt that Kwon Kang-hee was difficult to deal with, he had feelings close to liking toward Yoon Jun-young.
Nevertheless, whenever he faced them, a corner of his heart always felt a heavy ache. It was because behind them—who lived interlocking with each other, with very minor friction but without lack or excess—there was a heart that had lost its way.
“By the way, Chi-young Oppa, are you friends with our CEO?”
When the young lady, who had been clinging to Seo Chi-young as if dangling from him, looked up and asked, Chi-young blinked, turned his gaze toward her, and gave a lukewarm smile.
“No, it’s not like that. Just… a regular customer at our gopchang restaurant… is that person’s friend.”
There were still moments when Chi-young found himself at a loss for how to describe this relationship. “Classmate” was the most honest and accurate term, but it felt subtly different from the actual nuance. Then there was…
Friend.
Jang Ui-geon called him a friend. That word, the most common and inclusive of all, wouldn’t be wrong. To Jang Ui-geon, Chi-young might indeed be a friend. But was he truly a friend to him? …With these kinds of feelings?
As Chi-young wore a bittersweet smile, the young lady below said, sounding slightly disappointed, “What, so it’s not really a big deal then?” Chi-young smiled and murmured, “I guess so.”
“After being told so many times not to touch women, now you’re just hugging one right in front of the shop? The Chief’s backing really is impressive, huh?”
Still holding his arms awkwardly in mid-air, Chi-young gave a slight shrug and looked back. The last lady he had to drop off today, whom he had been waiting for, was there. It was Lee Sun-mi.
Receiving her ice-cold gaze, the young lady shrank back as if frightened and stealthily took a step away from Chi-young.
“……Then, Chi-young Oppa, I’ll see you tomorrow. Sun-mi Unni, please get home safely too.”
After bowing politely to both Chi-young and Sun-mi, the young lady trotted off toward another car that had been waiting to pick her up. Chi-young gave a small nod in return and slowly turned back to her.
Standing with her arms crossed, looking up at Chi-young askew, she let out a scoff as their eyes met, then approached, opened the passenger door, and sat down.
“What are you doing? Get in. Aren’t you going to drive?”
Hearing her slow, drawling, high-pitched voice, Chi-young felt a mixture of relief and apprehension as he sat in the driver’s seat.
As soon as he entered the car, the smell of alcohol wafted over him. The scent was so thick he felt he might get drunk just by smelling it, emanating from her with every breath she took. It seemed she had drunk significantly more than usual today.
Chi-young glanced at her through the mirror with concerned eyes, knowing she had severe drinking habits. Even though he hadn’t turned his head, she somehow knew and looked back at him.
“What are you looking at secretly? Is it that fascinating to see a bar girl drunk? …Or are you scared?”
Cackling as she lit a cigarette, she looked, at a glance, to be in a good mood.
He hadn’t spoken with her since that night. After Chi-young rejected her impulsive confession, she hadn’t initiated conversation with him. She didn’t get angry or sneer. She thoroughly ignored him, and whenever Chi-young occasionally spoke to her—saying “Please fasten your seatbelt” or asking “Are you okay?” because she looked unwell—she would glare at him with a gaze so blue it was chilling.
Very occasionally, the way she would suddenly glare at him with glistening eyes was enough to give him goosebumps.
And yet, whenever he saw her looking exhausted at night or pale from alcohol, he couldn’t help but ask if she was alright, even if he received nothing in return but that chilling stare.
That was why he felt a flicker of gladness that she was speaking to him, even if it was after a long time and in a cold, sneering tone fueled by alcohol. She seemed to be in a good mood, laughing and giggling incessantly.
“Do you like young girls? Flirting away? Where did that bastard go, the one who acted all noble, saying he had someone he liked?”
Leaning deep into the passenger seat as if she could barely support her own weight, she glared languidly at Chi-young. When Chi-young hesitated, she let out a scoff.
“Ridiculous, really… the more I think about it, the more ridiculous it is… What makes you so special, Darling? It’s all obvious. You city boys…”
She murmured in a blurred voice, sounding more like she was talking to herself than to Chi-young, while the cigarette burned down in her hand. Perhaps it was because her bare thigh was exposed right beneath it.
…., Ms. Sun-mi. I think the ash is about to fall.”
Chi-young spoke, but she didn’t budge, as if she had sunk deep into the alcohol and her consciousness had drifted away. If she hadn’t been humming a little tune, he would have thought she had fallen asleep.
Chi-young glanced at her half-closed eyes and quietly reached out. He carefully plucked the cigarette from between her fingers as she leaned lightly against the window. But then.
Suddenly, her arm wrapped around Chi-young’s neck and yanked him forward.
“Uh…!”
As if a pale beauty had suddenly turned into a vampire in the middle of the night, the woman who had been languidly drunk suddenly pulled Chi-young in and bit his neck. A sharp pain stung his neck. Startled, Chi-young pushed her away and recoiled. Looking at the spot with wide eyes, he felt a slight indentation from teeth, but it seemed there was no blood or serious wound.
She cackled. Lighting another cigarette, her eyes were still glistening with alcohol, but she wasn’t asleep.
“You know, most of the customers at host bars are hostesses.”
Speaking with a slurred tongue and a wobbling smile, she leaned toward Chi-young, smelling strongly of liquor. She pulled him in, almost embracing his arm as he tried to back away. Her large breasts pressed softly against Chi-young’s arm.
As Chi-young flinched and looked down at his arm, she smiled, pressing her chest more firmly against him.
“Is the girl you’re pining for bigger than me? Hmph, you know, I spent eight million won to get these two years ago. The bastard who was my boyfriend at the time insisted on it. Do you know how much he loved them after I borrowed money for the surgery? He was all over them, sucking and licking, it was madness. I can’t even breastfeed a baby now. …Ahaha, then again, what baby? I probably couldn’t even give birth. More importantly, the surgery went wrong, so I have almost no sensation in my breasts. That’s the real problem for me, right?”
She laughed loudly and began to fumble across Chi-young’s chest with her hand.
She pressed her body close to Chi-young, who stared at her with wide, startled eyes.
“It’s not just women who feel it. Men actually like it when you suck their nipples…? Have you tried it, Darling? I go to host bars often, and there’s something I always do. Hold on, I’ll do it for you.”
She placed the newly lit cigarette into Chi-young’s empty hand. Before he knew it, Chi-young found himself holding cigarettes in both hands; he quickly moved them toward the ashtray, but in that moment, she expertly undid the fasteners of his clothes. Unable to even stub them out properly, Chi-young barely managed to drop the cigarettes into the ashtray and called out in panic, “Sun-mi!”” but she didn’t even seem to hear him. Unable to push her away violently and hesitant to use his fists or palms, Chi-young grabbed her shoulders to push her off.
While it is said that the raw strength of a drunk person is hard to handle, he was still able to detach her, as she was smaller in stature than he was.
Sun-mi, wait. D-don’t do this…”
But the moment Chi-young spoke in his flustered state, she reached out without hesitation and grabbed Chi-young’s crotch.
Her merciless grip was so strong it felt as if she might crush him, and Chi-young gasped, shrinking back. The pain was so intense it made his heart throb and his mind go hazy.
Sun, Sun-mi, stop…”
He couldn’t put any strength into the hand pushing her away.
“Hmph, men are so pathetic, acting all high and mighty until their dicks are grabbed. Why are they all so obnoxious? It’s okay, though, because you’re cute, Darling. I really like men like you. You know that, right…?”
She loosened Chi-young’s tie, unbuttoned four or five buttons of his shirt, and pulled the fabric open. In Chi-young’s blurred, teary vision, her red lips seemed to enter his field of view.
And simultaneously, those small, red lips took Chi-young’s nipple into her mouth.
“……….”
A sharp, stinging sensation from the strong suction raced through his chest. Chi-young flinched and tried to move away quickly, but the hand gripping his crotch tightened again. A groan escaped him, and cold sweat broke out on his back.
He fumbled for the door handle, trying to get out of the car, but she was pressing down on him so haphazardly that even that was difficult. Clinging to Chi-young’s chest, she giggled, smelling of alcohol.
“Hmph, look at it getting hard… But you’re incredibly sensitive, aren’t you? Usually, they don’t react this quickly. …Hmph, even if they say they hate it, they’re like this if you suck it well. Just look at the tension in your lower half.”
The hand gripping his crotch slowly stroked his entire lower area as if rubbing it. She suddenly glanced up at Chi-young. Seeing him looking down at her with confused eyes while fumbling for the door handle, her glistening eyes seemed to smile. Lowering her head, she took Chi-young’s nipple into her mouth again. And at that moment.
“Ah…!”
Chi-young let out a short, suppressed scream. He reflexively pushed her away hard, and this time, she let go easily. Then, she burst into loud, cackling laughter. The piercing sound of her laughter drilled into his eardrums.
“Right, I do like you, Darling. But, because I like you too much, I find myself hating you, you know?”
After saying this in a slurred voice, she laughed so hard she even stomped her feet. Beside her, Chi-young shrank back, unable to even touch his nipple, which was red, swollen, and slightly bleeding. The piece of flesh she had been gnawing on before finally biting down hard wasn’t seriously injured, but the skin had been peeled back enough to bleed.
“I always do this when I go to host bars. Then they get faces that look furious to the top of their heads, but since they’re employees, they can’t actually get angry. It’s so funny to see those faces. Why, does it hurt a lot? What’s the big deal over a little bite? I get bitten all the time; sometimes I even have to wear bandages. Why don’t you wear a bandage too? It’ll be fine in two or three days. Ahaha, ahahaha. Come here. It’s a waste if only one side is like that. I’ll suck the other one too, okay?”
She beckoned to Chi-young with her hand. Chi-young’s hand finally caught the door handle, and he flung the door open and rushed outside. Perhaps in a state of light shock, he couldn’t think straight.
As Chi-young stumbled out of the driver’s seat, clutching his disheveled clothes with a look of sheer panic, Gi-do, who was standing in front of the shop, looked at him with wide eyes. Hearing the woman’s manic laughter erupting from the open car door, Gi-do approached with a bewildered expression.
“What the hell? What happened?!”
“Ah, ……..uh.., that,..”
Looking at Chi-young, who looked like he was about to cry and didn’t know what to do, Gi-do saw the mess of his clothes and his hunched shoulders. Finally, seeing the woman inside the car, smelling of alcohol and showing no sign of stopping her laughter, Gi-do frowned and gave a twisted smile.
“You got hit by Sun-mi too? Tsk tsk, I told you to be careful. I’m telling you, she’s a nasty piece of work. When things go south, she goes absolutely feral. I don’t understand the guys who are attracted to a woman like that. Seriously. —Hey, Cheol-ho! Come over here. Drop that woman off instead of this guy. This one’s lost his mind; he can’t drive.”
Though his tone was rough, Gi-do seemed to be considering Chi-young in his own way as he called another man who had been lingering a short distance away. Chi-young stared at them in disbelief. Then he looked at her with a bewildered gaze. Her manic laughter had subsided, and she was murmuring to herself, “See, they’re all the same. All the same. What did you expect, you stupid bitch,” while laughing drunkenly.
“That woman once got beaten up and ended up in the hospital because she was acting out while drunk; that sickness of hers never goes away. Never. You should’ve just given her a discreet punch in the stomach. You could’ve just knocked her out and taken her home.”
As the man approached and climbed into the driver’s seat in place of Chi-young, Gi-do clicked his tongue and spoke beside him. Chi-young remained silent, shaking his head almost imperceptibly. As he let out a silent sigh, his racing heart calmed down a bit, but his mind was still a mess.
If he didn’t care about the method, there was no way he couldn’t have gotten her off. As Gi-do said, he could have done it through a fistfight. But that wasn’t a method Chi-young was capable of.
Curled up in the passenger seat with her knees hugged to her chest, she didn’t look back at Chi-young once until the car drove away. Seeing that even her humming had stopped, she might have simply passed out from the alcohol.
After the young man—who gave a nod to Gi-do and looked at Chi-young mockingly—drove off, Chi-young, left behind, let out a quiet sigh. Beside him, Gi-do patted Chi-young’s shoulder as if it were nothing.
“Just act like you were bitten by a dog and stay sharp next time. If she does that again, just smack her. Not that it’ll make her come to her senses. …That was the last one for today, right? Go report to the manager and then head home.”
Speaking as if this wasn’t the first or second time it had happened and there was nothing to worry about—and seemingly not caring himself—Gi-do yawned and strolled back toward the shop.
Chi-young awkwardly straightened his clothes, bowed to Gi-do, and slowly walked toward the shop.
Stopping abruptly as he descended the stairs, Chi-young frowned and hunched his shoulders. His chest stung where the shirt fabric rubbed against it. Since it had been bitten enough to bleed, it was only natural for it to hurt.
“Ouch…” Chi-young murmured to himself, staring blankly at his feet. More than the stinging wound, his heart felt heavy and depressed.
—I do like you, Darling. But because I like you too much, I find myself hating you.
The sincerity contained in those laughing words pierced his heart. Both the words of liking and hating were a plea from that small body that had staggered forward alone with nowhere to lean.
Hating someone because you like them too much.
Chi-young shook his head. That was an emotion he didn’t know. No, it was an emotion he didn’t want to know.
He could be exhausted and miserable because of love, but he didn’t want to hate. Or rather, in truth, he couldn’t bring himself to hate her.
“Ouch…”
Chi-young frowned and placed his hand over his stinging chest. He couldn’t even touch the spot that hurt just by brushing against it; his hand merely hovered nearby. Just as one cannot fully confess a truly aching heart.
Thinking of her—someone he didn’t particularly like, but didn’t exactly hate either—Chi-young wondered.
If you hate because you like, then when do you ever find peace?
‘Even if it hurts, don’t rest and make sure to come in today. If you don’t, I might cry because I’m sad. —Yoon Jun-young.’
Checking the message, which seemed to have been autocorrected from “I’m sad because I can’t eat gopchang,” Chi-young sighed with a troubled face and closed his phone.
Come to think of it, something similar had happened not long ago. Although this time the impact was greater, there had been a time before when he had suffered at her hands and become gloomy. And that incident had spread through the mouths of almost everyone who frequented the establishment, regardless of Chi-young’s will. Even people who didn’t know the name Seo Chi-young would have heard of it.
He suspected this time would be similar.
Even in Yoon Jun-young’s message, the hidden meaning—'(Even if the place where she bit you last night) hurts, don’t rest and come in’—was clearly visible.
Chi-young unconsciously rubbed his face, which had turned slightly red.
People would probably just giggle and laugh it off, so there was no need to worry much, but he was still embarrassed. What kind of face should he make when he saw them?