Run! I said run! Goddamn it! Look at that pathetic sight! Wahahaha-
Laughter erupted from all around as a beat-up, old quad bike spun around a pile of trash. A boy tied to a rope was dragged behind it, gasping for air, on the verge of passing out, trying to keep up with the bike’s speed.
“Save me! Save me, keuh-!”
The bike kept dragging the boy, who had tripped over a rock, while the men sitting around whistled and cheered.
“Idiot, puha-“
“His pants are coming off! Pants! Keuhaha-“
His pants were ripped off, revealing the boy’s pale buttocks to the world. Amidst the jeers and taunts, something flew towards the driver’s seat of the bike. A moment later, with a thud, the driver screamed and slammed his face into the handlebars.
“Argh-! Which bastard was it!”
The men all turned around at once. As someone appeared from the top of the mountain of trash, the boy tied to the bike cried out.
“Ire!”
The man called Ire tossed a stone up and caught it as he slowly descended. Everyone tensed up at the sight of his long, gray, shaggy hair tied up haphazardly. Meanwhile, the biggest man at the front pulled out a knife from his waist and sneered.
“Well, well, well, who do we have here? A Hybrid?”
As if on cue, knives were drawn from all around, and Ire stopped, keeping his distance. The stone continued to float in the air, landing in his hand repeatedly. Unlike his smiling face, the blue-gray eyes beneath his eyelids shone with an almost excessive light.
“Didn’t I tell you? Don’t touch my kids.”
“Ha, our kids? Are you their dad or something?”
Ire, who had been listening, clicked his tongue.
“That’s not what I meant. So, what I’m saying is…”
Ire’s eyes turned upwards. He couldn’t think of the right word. He was trying to carefully explain his relationship with Gangsan, who was lying pathetically on the ground, when suddenly a knife flew towards him. Ire lightly twisted his body to avoid it and hit the big man between the eyebrows with the stone he was holding.
With a thwack, the big man fell backward, and blood spurted from his forehead. The other gang members around him flinched and stepped back, and Ire chuckled, sticking his hands in his pockets.
“I was going to answer your question, but why are you in such a hurry?”
As he casually walked past them, the big man belatedly got up and screamed.
“What are you doing, you bastards! Get him!”
As the gang members swarmed him like a pack of dogs, Ire turned around and kicked up the dirt on the ground. The man leading the charge quickly covered his face with his arm and sneered.
“Who do you think will fall for such a trick!”
The moment he raised his head, he saw a foot in front of him, and it struck his face, sending his body flying. Keok! His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed, foaming at the mouth, turning the faces of the remaining men white.
Ire gestured towards the fallen man.
“Take him away. And don’t ever come into our territory again.”
“…”
“Are your ears blocked? I said get lost.”
The men were from B-4 district, and this was the border between B-3 and B-4 districts. There were occasional clashes here, and the men were always beaten up by Ire. But they kept coming back because of this mountain of trash. They often found useful things here.
Some of them were perverts who collected women’s underwear, and Gangsan, who was now lying on the ground with his buttocks exposed, was one of those perverts.
Ire approached Gangsan. Gangsan, realizing that the men were gone, belatedly cursed and wriggled his body.
“You bastards! Don’t ever come near here again! This is my territory, you hear? Why are you so late? Hurry up and untie me, quickly…”
Ire stood silently, looking down at Gangsan, who was holding out his bound wrists, and smirked. More precisely, at his pants and underwear, which were down to his thighs. No, at his dick sticking out of his pants.
“Hey, where are you looking! Just untie me. What? That smirk? Did you just laugh at my dick?”
Instead of untying Gangsan, Ire squatted down next to him and held out his palm.
“What…? Why are you holding out your hand? Are you going to kiss me or something?”
“You know why.”
“Ha, seriously. Are you and I that kind of relationship? Weren’t we like family? Why would family take money from each other?”
“I do.”
“…”
“You don’t have any? Okay, then.”
As he was about to leave without hesitation, Gangsan grabbed his pant leg. “You crazy bastard! Okay! Okay, I’ll give it to you! Just untie me first. I’ll give it to you when we get home.” Only after he pleaded did Ire finally sit down and untie him.
Gangsan hurriedly pulled up his pants and grumbled at Ire, calling him a heartless bastard. His arms and legs were scraped and bloody, and his face was a mess of bruises from being beaten.
“Look at my face. It’s completely ruined, right?”
“It was ruined even before you got hit. Get it away from me.”
“Asshole.”
Ire walked ahead, and Gangsan followed behind, blowing on his bloody arms.
“But how did you know I was here? You weren’t waiting until I got caught and suffered, were you? Just to get money. I believe your personality isn’t that trashy. Huh? Why aren’t you answering, you bastard? Hey. Michael!”
At that moment, Ire forcefully pressed Gangsan’s head down and hid him inside the pile of trash. Soon after, they heard the ground rumbling and the sound of a car engine. Peeking out, they saw a large military truck passing by in front of them.
Gangsan, who was watching with him, muttered to himself.
“What is it? Soldiers… What are they doing here?”
“They’re probably going to C district.”
“Why there?”
“There was a big explosion yesterday.”
“How do you know that?”
“I don’t know.”
Gangsan narrowed his eyes at Ire’s brazen attitude.
“You don’t know… Don’t tell me you were lurking around there again. Why do you keep doing that? Are you dying to go into a place full of criminals? Have you forgotten what Sister Agape said? Michael. You have to live a good life. Never do bad things.”
Ire covered Gangsan’s mouth. They heard footsteps. Come to think of it, the sound of the car had stopped sometime ago. The moment he squeezed his eyes shut, a gun was pointed at his face with a click.
“Come out.”
They raised their hands to shoulder height and slowly got up from their seats. The soldier, whose face was half-covered, had a fierce frown on his face. Then, a voice was heard from afar.
“What’s going on?”
“There are rats hiding here!”
At those words, Gangsan smiled sheepishly and sized up the situation.
“Rats, not rats, we’re just here,”
“Shut up!” Swish- In an instant, the rifle butt came flying, and Gangsan braced his jaw to keep his teeth from flying out. Today is the day my face gets smashed. But he didn’t feel any pain. When he cautiously opened his eyes, Ire was holding the rifle butt with one hand, confronting the soldier.
Gangsan shouted, his face pale.
“I’m sorry! He’s not usually like this! No, he is usually like this, but that’s not the point, hey Ire! Let go, you bastard!”
The soldier shook off Ire’s hand and quickly aimed his gun.
“You bastards!”
In an atmosphere where he seemed ready to fire at any moment, someone suddenly intervened. “Stop it.” The tall man who revealed his face was clearly as hard as steel, and his eyes shone sharply like awls. Ire’s gaze reached the mark on the man’s left chest and then fell away. The man brushed the gun away with the back of his hand and checked Ire and Gangsan alternately.
“Where are you from?”
Ire calmly spat out the words.
“B-3 district…”
The man gestured to the back, and another soldier soon appeared, holding a machine the size of a palm. Ire and Gangsan knew exactly what it was. They took out their citizen IDs from their back pockets, and the man brought the machine over, and their photos and personal information appeared on the screen.
“Twenty years old, huh? The age when you’re full of energy.”
The man’s gaze reached Ire’s hair and then moved to his subordinate.
“Send them back.”
“But,”
The man who was about to speak immediately shut his mouth. “Yes, sir.” Then, he roughly pushed Ire and Gangsan’s backs forward. After confirming that his superior had left, the man lowered his black mask. There was a hollow scar on one side of the man’s cheek, as if it had been burned with a cigarette.
“Hey, you rats. Especially you, Hybrid. Don’t ever let me see you again. Next time, I’ll put a bullet in your head.”
After threatening them, the man went back the way he came. Seeing the car about to leave, Gangsan grabbed his chest and slumped down. Then, belatedly filled with anger, he shook his middle finger at the disappearing car.
“Crazy! Why are they causing trouble all the way here. You sons of bitches!”
“Dogs are cute, at least.”
Ire muttered, and Gangsan agreed with him. How dare they compare those things to dogs. But even if they said that, most people living in B district would envy them. At least they wouldn’t have to worry about making a living day by day.
“They’re special forces, right?”
“Probably.”
He had heard that only a small number of soldiers were selected for the special forces. They mainly passed by this road, and their destination was presumed to be C district. If I followed them, could I get into C district too? Wouldn’t the medicine I’m looking for be there?
Then, Gangsan, who had been chattering, suddenly clapped his hands.
“Oh, did I tell you? Hairy wants to give you a job?”
“To me?”
Hairy was a well-known thug in B-3 district. He got the nickname Hairy because he was literally hairy. Besides, he was lecherous towards both men and women, and he had been severely beaten by Ire two years ago for hitting on him.
As he was about to refuse because of the unpleasantness, Gangsan rubbed his thumb and index finger together. It meant the pay was good.
“It’s nothing much. You just have to keep watch.”
“…”
“You need money, right?”
When he kept his mouth shut, Gangsan put his arm around Ire’s shoulder. It would be more accurate to say that he was hanging on him because he was shorter.
“You’re not doing anything bad, you’re just keeping watch. It’ll be much more profitable than extorting money from me.”
After a long silence, Ire looked at Gangsan.
“Where do I have to go?”