1.1 That Neighborhood (1)
You know how it is, right? Living in Seoul is fucking brutal. A boy his age, who rarely showed his face in the neighborhood anymore, had once said so. He also said that those who failed to carve out a spot for themselves there ended up bleeding outward and downward, like ink dropped in water. This place was exactly that. A place where people were washed away in waves from the center.
The skyscrapers of downtown Seoul, which supposedly glowed brightly even at dawn, were a distant tale unreachable by foot; this was a neighborhood where roughly scratched cement floors served as a substitute for black asphalt. The cramped alleys, consisting of steep slopes as if a mountain had been carved away, were a ruined village where everyone who could leave had left, and the rest had long since died.
About a month ago, eighty-nine-year-old Grandfather Park Young-il moved into the storage room of his grandson’s house far away. He had mentioned that a long time ago, quite a few people lived in this poor neighborhood. He meant that they had built real houses and lived like human beings. Spitting out those distant memories like a final will, he climbed onto a three-wheeled vehicle, limping and unable to straighten his back. He coughed in a worn-out voice, saying that the fare was too expensive, so he would have to walk from here on down.
No Entry
The board hanging from the barbed wire fence, erected along the edge of a weed-choked area where only ticks swarmed because no one ever entered, had long since rusted. Even without such a sign, no one would have entered the waist-high weeds anyway, so the sign had likely been stolen from somewhere else. Perhaps from the slums that began in the very next alley.
Unlike Seoul, where artificial intelligence was everywhere and life was convenient, this neighborhood was still about a century behind. Houses, forced together like scraps of cloth sewn into a garment, had walls that were only half-standing and looked as if they would tilt over at any moment. This was the result of the government that took power twenty years ago focusing on “urban purification” and shouting slogans like “Slam the Slums, Eradicate Illegal Strongholds!” as they demolished and blew up the dark houses across the country.
There had been an ambitious plan to plant trees and create forests or parks in their place, but when the government collapsed after three years, that plan burst like a bubble. Only the ultra-poor, who had been huddling in empty abandoned houses, were left without roofs, forced to live with iron plates over their heads or flapping waterproof tarps.
They said that’s just how it was. When the higher-ups swung their arms around to do something grand, it was only people like them who stumbled. Meanwhile, those people would think of something new to kill them with and then applaud themselves for having a brilliant idea. They were pages that no one ever underlined.
This was the story from around the time Geum Seoul, a twenty-year-old youth standing at the entrance of the alley, was born. As if he had been mocked for years, unlike his name, he had never once been to Seoul. He had settled here, in a place psychologically distant from the capital.
The peak of the heatwave. Despite it being late July, he was wrapped in clothes like a large swaddling cloth from his neck to his fingertips, sweating profusely without even thinking of rolling up his sleeves.
Screeech. Screeech.
Speakers mounted high and wide across the neighborhood wailed eerie sounds day and night. It was noise played to drive criminals out of high-crime areas, but the locals didn’t leave the place, even if it meant stuffing cheap cotton into their ears. Geum Seoul was Read on Read BL NovelsRead on Read BL Novels -->no different. He plugged his ears with the lumps of cotton he had bought for fifty won last time and raised his voice.
“Mister, it’s five hundred won today.”
“Two hundred?”
“Five hundred!”
Mr. Jang, who had silicone plugs in his ears that looked slightly firmer than Geum Seoul’s cotton, took the neatly folded clothes and fanned himself with a white fan, glancing at the youthful man before him.
His thin brown hair hung shaggily, poking his eyes. Moreover, his nose was bumpy and crooked, his cheeks were dirty with grime, and his upper jaw protruded, revealing silver braces on his upper teeth whenever he spoke. It looked as if he had tried to push in his protruding mouth with a bootleg correction, but seeing as it had remained the same for years, it seemed he had been properly scammed.
Then again, meeting a real doctor would cost an enormous amount of money; would those drifting from one shack to another have such luxury? If he had that kind of money, he would have left this place. Clicking his tongue, Mr. Jang rummaged through his pocket and pulled out two hundred-won coins. It came with a hot sigh of “Whew.”
“This is all. Nothing more.”
“Hmm… then I’ll just take this. Instead, please buy that for me next time you come.”
“What, what thing?”
Thump.
What he was offered was not even half of the requested amount, but Geum Seoul didn’t ask for more; he simply stood on his tiptoes and whispered something. It was a request to procure something he needed. After hearing an affirmative answer from Mr. Jang, he bowed his head and turned his plump body to leave the narrow alley. Done. This was the last errand for today. His sneakers, with the toes worn out and gaping, pressed hard against the cement as he moved forward.
Swoosh.
“Hot enough to kill me…”
A black wind of dust blew. When hair drifted into the gaps of his eyelashes and became itchy, he rubbed his eyebrows and forehead with a grimy hand. Without slowing his pace for a single step, the youth headed toward one of the few square buildings in the neighborhood whose four sides had not collapsed.
The building, which was said to have been a quite bustling shopping center in the past, still stood firmly in the center-north, as if it were the cervical spine of the village. Iron roofs and tents hung in clusters from the exterior walls, suggesting that people were clinging to the building for shelter. Geum Seoul opened the iron gate at the wide entrance and stepped inside.
“I’m back.”
A pungent, sour smell stung the nose. In one corner of the concrete building, where pipes of unknown length were exposed and connected, and the inner walls had crumbled to leave wide holes. A man sat in a chair with his legs resting on a dark green iron table, smoking heavily, and two visitors stood across the table. To be precise, one middle-aged man with sunken eyes, and a boy standing behind him with his shoulders hunched.
With a trembling boy of Geum Seoul’s age behind him, the middle-aged customer shook a gemstone in his palm and raised his voice.
“Look at this, CEO Park. This is almost emerald grade.”
“See how good the color is? I don’t know for sure, but it’ll probably get a B grade.” As the guest raised his voice, shaking his hand with curly gray hair once more, the CEO, who was smoking, poked out his chin and examined the object held in the grip.
“At best, it’ll barely hover around the middle of C. But where did you get it? You said you sold everything you had.”
At the lackluster reaction, the guest strained his thick neck.
“I don’t know. It was sleeping in my backyard at dawn. Maybe it was on its way somewhere, or maybe it ran away from another owner.”
“Hmph… Seoul.”
CEO Park, who seemed uninterested in the answer despite asking, exhaled a cloud of smoke and called the youth who had just entered the building. He stopped just as he was about to step up the stairs across the first floor.
“Yes?”
“Bring that over.”
His shaggy bangs swayed slightly. Then, blinking, he replied “Yes” in a small voice and approached the iron desk from a distance, at which point CEO Park took out a bunch of keys hanging from his waist and tossed them.
Jingle.
Caught. Geum Seoul, who barely grabbed them before they hit the floor, passed the stairs and headed toward the CEO’s office at the end of the first floor. Being incredibly paranoid, the man always kept the office locked even when he stepped out for a moment.
Clack.
In this building, where vinyl and the like fluttered instead of glass windows from the second floor up because it was so old, this was the only place completely sealed on all sides. Although the sound of the key turning was heard, the iron door was so heavy that Geum Seoul groaned for a while, finally managing to create a gap by pushing with all his might using his shoulder.
“I thought my arm was going to fall off.”
The inside of the CEO’s office was filled with safes. Square boxes of different sizes and colors were stacked neatly, filling two entire walls. One might find it strange to see them piled all the way to the ceiling, but Geum Seoul moved like a machine executing orders, indifferent to it.
Screak. Screak. Screak.
The cart right in front of the door was so old that it made a chilling sound from the wheels every time it was BL Novels" style="display:none;" aria-label="Read on Read BL Novels">Read [Read on Read BL Novels]on Read BL Novelspulled. A large black machine sat atop the transport cart, so Geum Seoul leaned his upper body forward, pushing with effort as he approached the man.
Screech.
Meanwhile, the CEO, Park Gil-pyeong, crushed his cigarette into a glass ashtray, rolled up his sleeve, and reached out his arm. The customer opposite him quickly stepped forward and poured the collected items into his hand. Geum Seoul, who let go of the cart handle and stepped back a couple of paces, let his eyes drift to the wide palm and then to the monitor on the machine’s control panel.
When Park Gil-pyeong pressed a button on the corner of the machine, a buzzing sound echoed and text appeared on the monitor. Zzzzt, zzzzt. As the customer’s face turned sour at the suspicious noise, Gil-pyeong tapped the machine with a thick finger as if boasting.
“This thing is the one that distinguished a B-6 grade amber not long ago.”
Praising the machine as if it were a person, Park Gil-pyeong picked up the most saturated gemstone among those poured onto the desk and placed it on the round glass plate atop the machine. The machine began its analysis with a beeping sound, firing a green laser in a cross shape over it.
Zzzzz. Zzzzz.
Inside the monitor of the machine, which was running with an uneasy sound, black began to slowly fill the empty bar. Occasionally, it made a whirring sound as if it were idling, or the laser flickered, but the gemstone appraisal machine was too expensive and hard to find, so they had no choice but to rely on this single unit in the vicinity. It was said that this, too, was something Park Gil-pyeong, who had rolled around in the back alleys for a long time, had obtained after scraping and squeezing someone for a while.
Beep!
With a thin sound, pitch-black letters appeared on the monitor.
●
SYSTEM
C-7
As if to show it off, CEO Park picked up the gemstone from the machine, moved it back to the table, and clapped his hands once. C-grade stones could be found anywhere in this area if one just poked around a bit.
“Ah, fuck, I picked this up for nothing? Hey, you said the grade was good!”
Smack!
A sharp cracking sound, different from the clap of hands, echoed through the building. The scrawny boy, who had been standing breathlessly half a step behind the middle-aged man, collapsed instantly from that blow.
“The condition… is bad right now…”
“Bullshit! Even if it’s good, it’s just so-so, who are you trying to fool!”
While shaking his head, Gil-pyeong didn’t particularly stop the assault; he pressed the machine off and extended his arm to the side. A hand smelling of cigarettes brushed against the lower back of Geum Seoul, who had gripped the cart handle again, and grabbed and slowly kneaded his plump buttocks.
Clack.
Without a word, Geum Seoul leaned his body forward and gripped the cart handle. At that movement, Park Gil-pyeong patted his buttocks and let go, saying, “Go on.” Although the flesh of the buttocks was chewy and clung well to the hand, looking at the plump waist or the plain face made his budding erection wither powerlessly. Rather than him… a sticky gaze, as if grease had dried onto it, crawled away from the departing Geum Seoul and toward the thin instep of the man rolling on the floor beyond the desk. He looked decent enough, but thin and supple was more his taste.
“Sigh, still, since CEO Lee graced us with his presence with a new gemstone after so long, I should give him a handling fee.”
He took out a round, flat electronic wallet he had been wearing on his waistband along with the office keys. The ‘Credit’ logo engraved in one corner was now worn down and almost invisible. After tapping the numbers a few times, the huffing customer hurriedly pulled out his own Credit. The fourth digit changed and went up. He’s giving me this much? Did the market price for C-grade gemstones rise without me knowing? He frowned for a moment as if contemplating, then shook his arm.
“Ahem. Next time, I’ll definitely bring a real one.”
The customer, rambling as if trying to salvage his fallen pride, nudged the boy who was still collapsed with his foot as he prepared to leave.
“Hey. Get up.”
Just as the middle-aged man was about to say something more, finding the sight of the boy unable to get up pathetic, he turned his gaze toward Gil-pyeong’s cackling laughter.
“Not so fast. Not so fast.”
“Huh?”
“CEO Lee. If you’ve received the payment, you should leave the item behind, right?”
At those words, the face of the middle-aged man, Lee Dae-chang, twisted. It was because he realized something. The money the CEO had shoved into his account was not the price of the gemstone. That snake-like bastard. In this field, Park Gil-pyeong was renowned for being dirty and petty. Indeed, that bastard, who would never give up money once it was in his hand and hated even the slightest loss, would never give this much as a “handling fee.”
“CEO Park, I discovered this.”
“And that’s why I gave you the handling fee.”
The face saying those words was utterly shameless, and CEO Lee glared sharply.
“Is this okay? Huh? Even so, for a mere few ten thousand won!”
“Think about it carefully.”
Cutting him off, Park Gil-pyeong glanced up and grinned.
“It’s better for CEO Lee to keep coming and going here with a peaceful mind. Why take something that doesn’t make money and wander elsewhere?”
“That…”
“The fare will cost more.”
At the blatant threat, the anger that had been surging was swallowed back inside. People who bought and sold gemstones didn’t come to this backward neighborhood because they liked it. After the government changed, private auction houses disappeared and crackdowns increased day by day. Now, there were few places that would buy mediocre gemstones. Park Gil-pyeong, known to have many contacts through word of mouth, was the one who would take gemstones worth even a few thousand won.
Although he was a cheapskate who slashed the unit price, he handled things that other auction houses rejected as troublesome, so they had no choice but to come, crying as they ate mustard. Therefore, if he crossed him now… After running the calculator in his head, he let out a “Hah!” and spat out thick saliva. Just you wait. After saying such things, he turned abruptly and left the concrete building, stomping his feet.
“Safe travels.”
Clack.
Meanwhile, Geum Seoul, who had delivered the machine to the office, was lingering in front of the door he had closed to lock it again. The iron door was so heavy that it was difficult to close properly. A pitch-black shadow fell behind his back. Tap, tap. He patted his buttocks again.
“Give me the keys and go up. A spot opened up in the green room upstairs the other day, right? Get that room ready for this kid to sleep in.”
Turning around as if groping, Geum Seoul’s gaze touched Park Gil-pyeong once, and then the peer standing behind him once. His reddish-brown eyes, which barely lifted, caught the attention. Replying “Yes” in a small voice, Geum Seoul handed over the keys. “I’ll call you Nok from now on, so answer promptly when called.” The CEO’s voice behind him was so close it almost touched the shadow, so he strode up the stairs.
By the time he heard the sound of the heavy office door opening and closing, he had reached the second floor and quickened his pace. Hehe. Read on Read BL Novels]aria-label="visit our site">visit our site[stolen content]Hehe. From the speakers beyond the window, ghost-like sounds were now flowing out.
“Geum Seoul!”
Loud and clear. The gruff voice that echoed through the concrete building overflowed into the surrounding residences, where people had set up camp with waterproof tarps or scraps of tents beyond the windows. Just last dawn, the noise that had lasted for days from the speakers had stopped, and it was a quiet night for the first time in a while. Thanks to that, Geum Seoul, who had fallen fast asleep without cotton in his ears, woke up with a start and lifted his eyelids.
Swoosh.
The space under the stairs had a ceiling so low that he couldn’t even fully straighten his back upon waking. A half-pyeong room where he couldn’t even fully stretch his legs while lying down. From the place called a doghouse, Geum Seoul crawled out, not even having removed the sleep from his eyes. The soles of his sneakers were all fallen off and flapped every time he walked, but having already learned how to walk in that state, he ran along the long corridor. The man’s temper was formidable; if he didn’t show his face within five seconds of being called, he would throw a fit.
“I’m coming down!”
Among the iron doors lined up on both sides of the corridor, half were open and half were closed; from the third crimson door from the front, Bun-hong’s voice could be heard saying, “That son of a bitch Park Gil-pyeong is acting up again first thing in the morning. Again!” This meant it was still early. Despite that, Geum Seoul’s t-shirt was already damp with sweat.
“Just wait. He’ll know.”
By the time he had almost finished stepping down the stairs stained with black mold, he arrived on the first floor along with the voice that had started again. There were slightly fewer than ten people there. Why are there so many guests this early? Seeing unfamiliar faces, they weren’t from this neighborhood. Moreover, seeing Gil-pyeong’s humble posture… that is, they were high-grade guests.
They were either sitting on old sofas of different colors or standing and smoking, as if waiting for something, and a couple of them were standing in front of Park Gil-pyeong. Geum Seoul went and stood before CEO Park, who was tapping his feet with dusty shoes.
“Did you call me?”
Smack!
As soon as he opened his mouth, a flash of light flickered before his eyes and his body snapped to the side. He almost dodged it by reflex, but instead, Geum Seoul squeezed content">stolen contenthis eyes shut, dug his toes into the ground, and braced himself. His cheek rang with a stinging numbness. He kept his mouth clamped shut.
“Where the hell is Noki, that Omega who came in yesterday?”
“Huh? He’s not in his room?”
Slap!
His face, twisted in confusion, snapped to the opposite side. He must have taken it full force; this time, his vision actually spun.
“The little brat is asking questions while guests are here.”
It felt as if ice water had been poured over his mind, which had been hazy from sleep until a minute ago. Geum Seoul hurriedly gauged the situation. Several guests he had never seen before. Park Gil-pyeong, with his hands on his hips. Geum Seoul immediately dropped to his knees and tilted his head back. His long, crude T-shirt clung to him, revealing the outline of his belly folding in half, and the sound of him rubbing his skin briskly against the floor followed.
“I’m sorry. I took him to his room just as you told me to, CEO. In the early morning.”
“What time was that?”
“Four a.m.”
It’s true. That’s all. With a face already glistening with sweat, Geum Seoul begged, rubbing his hands frantically as if he were about to grab the CEO’s pant legs. He begged so desperately that his kneeling knees were practically shaking.
“What? Did he actually run away?”
Park Gil-pyeong’s brow furrowed.
“What the hell were you doing all this time?”
At the sight of him groveling at his feet, Park Gil-pyeong lifted his leg and kicked Geum Seoul—who was barely half his size—square in the stomach with his dress shoe. With a choking sound, Geum Seoul collapsed backward, clutching his stomach with both hands and rolling around as if he were dying. Only after seeing him wheezing and gasping did the CEO look satisfied, turning back to the group behind him.
“Haa, this doesn’t happen often, but it does happen occasionally, like an annual event. Is another one not okay? I have something similar, a green one.”
The middle-aged woman standing at the front rubbed her chin, looking troubled.
“The thing is, they need that specific child, not just any gemstone. CEO Park, are you sure he’s not here? You mustn’t lie to these people.”
Park Gil-pyeong’s eyes narrowed. He had raised his hand to Geum Seoul just to show off and intimidate the guests, but he didn’t go so far as to lock the doors of the children who drifted here. They were kids with nowhere to go anyway. Even the low-grade ones, if pushed to leave, would huddle together and crawl back in. He heard other auctioneers just throw away the worthless ones, so he considered himself a generous man for giving them a chance to sell even a single stone.
“I mean, why would I lie about that? You heard what he said.”
“That’s true, but…”
“It hasn’t even been three hours. The roads around here are rough; if it’s your first time, you can’t even make it halfway up the hill in that time. Why don’t you go look for him? Ah, or maybe that bastard Lee Dae-chang came back secretly and took him?”
“Lee Dae-chang?”
“Yeah. That guy brought him here. The one who runs the factory in the neighborhood below.”
“Ah.”
Ssh, ssh.
“…”
While the two were talking, Geum Seoul, exhaling a pained breath, barely lifted his cheek that had been scraped against the concrete and blinked his heavy eyelids. His face was expressionless, as if his previous groveling had been a lie. He even lightly dusted off his sleeves.
Geum Seoul knew that if he prostrated himself and begged immediately after the first hit, Park Gil-pyeong would be satisfied quickly. Since it was a slap intended to establish dominance in front of new guests, it was something he was bound to suffer at least once anyway. He could protect himself better if he rolled around and pretended to be in as much pain as possible.
He tried to push himself up abruptly, but a sharp pain shot through his ribs. Ah. Unlucky. His tilted vision wouldn’t straighten out easily. As he reflexively held back tears and tried to stand up using the floor for support, suddenly, for no reason, someone caught his eye. It was one of the people sitting on the sofa.
His vision was blurred, so he couldn’t see the features clearly, but he could see jet-black hair and eyebrows. And he could tell that the man was looking at him.
After roughly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, his vision cleared. Even so, he did not look toward the sofa again. He bowed his head, braced himself against the floor, and set his knees. Once his upper body was raised past a certain angle, standing up was quick. Without even shaking his hands, he felt around his side and stomach, pressing down on the pain.
“But… why do you all flock here like a pack of dogs and stir things up so early in the morning? Ahem, it’s not even auction day…”
Gil-pyeong, who had been vaguely lowering his posture at first, quickly changed his attitude when the people who had stormed in began to turn and leave without providing any significant gain. He had been happy, thinking they were guests coming to buy gemstones, but if that wasn’t the case, he had simply been plagued by bad luck since morning.
“Ah, here, you know, that… why…”
“What?”
The middle-aged woman, who had been mediating between Park Gil-pyeong and the visit our [Read on Read BL Novels]sitestrange men, was Choi Suk-jin, the wife of Mr. Jang, who had sent Geum Seoul on an errand yesterday. She glanced at the man standing behind her and the people scattered haphazardly throughout the building.
“That, Iljang Trading…”
At that word, Park Gil-pyeong’s eyebrow twitched. Iljang Trading was a group of gangsters who had grown their organization to a massive size by picking the filthiest bottom-feeding jobs in the outskirts of Seoul. They rarely came to this area because it was populated by the desperately poor lower class, where illegal activities were so rampant they were useless, but it was said that even if one just spread a mat on the street in this neighborhood, those bastards would take over sixty percent of the earnings as protection money.
If things went south, they’d just kidnap people and send them as overseas transporters. He’d heard a few words at a Hwatu game a few days ago that they were even trying to build connections in politics. Gil-pyeong rolled his eyes, scanning the surroundings to gauge the situation. In a world full of swindlers, Gil-pyeong was a man whose primary diet was the grit of the streets; he wasn’t one to blindly believe such talk.
They were all young. At most, they looked to be in their twenties, and though their clothes were worn, there was something subtly noble about each of them. For example, even if the clothes they wore were frayed and soaked in dust, they generally had muscular builds, or hair that looked neatly trimmed at a shop. Moreover, that irritating aura that crept up on him… they were Alpha bastards. Deep wrinkles formed beside his eyes from the instinctive repulsion.
From their clean scent, which suggested perfect pheromone management, they looked more like the Iljang Trading she mentioned than mere thugs wandering the streets. The best course of action was to avoid conflict.
“Ah. Anyway, even if I wanted to keep him, he left on his own in the early morning. I’m a man who was willing to feed and house him, even if he was only C-grade. Ms. Choi, you know that, right?”
From Park Gil-pyeong’s perspective, it was quite unfair. He had bought the boy for tens of thousands of won, not because of the murky gemstone, but for his own temporary pleasure. A flat stomach and a lean frame were exactly his taste. He had already tasted all the kids on the second floor, or they had become boring, so he needed something new. That’s why he had paid a generous price. The more he thought about it, the more he felt cheated, and his fist clenched.
Ssh.
“So you’re saying you don’t know where he went?”
A man standing one step behind Choi Suk-jin asked. He had reasonably broad shoulders and a soft impression. Not the boss, maybe a lieutenant. Gauging this, Gil-pyeong intentionally puffed out his chest to act superior. His greasy belly pushed forward along with it.
“That’s right. I didn’t even lock him up, so how was I to stop him from bolting while I was asleep? It’d be faster to circle the area than to spend time here. Who knows if he died on the way down in this weather or got picked up.”
He wondered what the boy was to make even the Iljang Trading gangsters come and search for him, but Park Gil-pyeong did not ask about the internal details. Generally, the best policy was not to know the inner workings of dirty business. Trying to satisfy curiosity could put one’s own limbs at risk. That instinct was what allowed Park [stolen content]style="position:relative;display:inline;">[unauthorized copy]Gil-pyeong to continue living as an auctioneer in this underworld. The man from before turned around and headed toward the sofa.
Ah. Is that the ringleader? There were about ten of them scattered around the first floor, and he had only skimmed the atmosphere without looking closely, but the way the man who just asked the question approached and reported made it clear he was the highest-ranking person. His face was hidden by his back, but he was obviously just devising a plan. Suddenly, a merchant’s desire surged through the gap. This, too, was the reason he had survived.
“Hmm!”
Clearing his throat, Park Gil-pyeong glanced at Geum Seoul, who was standing in a corner like a dead mouse. Because he had been hit, blood was leaking from his burst lip, creating a bright red trail across his shoddy front braces. Since he couldn’t close his mouth properly, his unsightly appearance was fully visible.
“Go bring Rini.”
“Yes.”
At the low, short command and a flick of the head, Geum Seoul quickly stepped onto the stairs. Watching him waddle slightly as if his body were heavy, Gil-pyeong looked forward again and took a step closer.
“Since you’re here, would you like to see anything else? This place is better than most spots in Seoul, let alone this neighborhood. I even run auctions as far as Cheongsa-dong…”
“Look here, Mr. Park Gil-pyeong.”
The words he was stretching out were cut short. When a brat much younger than him called him by his full name, his sparse eyebrows shot up. The one who spoke with such arrogance was the action-leader type who had been turned away. As if refusing to let him approach the sofa, the man stepped forward and blocked his path. Park Gil-pyeong took a step back in turn. A finger flicked in the air. It meant get lost.
“Just step back.”
“…”
Despite the fact that they had entered his building and set up camp. It was a remark that could have burst his inflated pride, but Gil-pyeong only narrowed his eyes and didn’t add a word. This, too, was an instinctive judgment. He merely glared [Read on Read BL Novels]at Choi Suk-jin, who was laughing softly beside him in satisfaction. That fucking…
Ttap, ttap.
Unaware of such feelings, Geum Seoul was coming down the stairs with Rini. His insides boiled, and his fist clenched again. The pride that had bowed so easily before the Iljang Trading gangsters ignited like it had been doused in kerosene when faced with someone weaker than himself.
“CEO.”
Turning his body completely, Park Gil-pyeong walked toward the two who had just descended the stairs. Rini, who followed while yawning with a disheveled face as if just waking up, was the one who used the largest room on the second floor. Among the Omegas here, Rini was the most pretty, and the gemstone was a high-grade B. Gil-pyeong had struggled a bit to tame Rini at first, but since Rini was so popular in this area, he couldn’t risk breaking them. Park Gil-pyeong’s sharp eyes turned to Geum Seoul, who was blinking beside him.
Ssh.
He grabbed him by the scruff of the neck in one motion, and the body, light compared to the bulky frame, was easily dragged forward.
“We’ll deal with you after the guests leave.”
After the short warning, he pushed the gripped collar back. The pushed body fell over and hit the stairs. In that moment, to avoid injuring his head, Geum Seoul braced himself against the edge of the stairs with his arm, and his palm was scraped against the rough surface.
“Oh!”
It was Rini who let out a surprised sound. The voice echoed through the wide interior, drawing the eyes of the people on the first floor, but the victim who had been pushed over simply curled up, clutching his head. Rini covered her mouth with a flustered expression. Realizing she had caused a commotion, her cheeks flushed red.
Geum Seoul quickly folded his leg, which had been scraped along the edge of the stairs. It was fine. His head wasn’t cracked, and the bruises would heal in a few days. More than that, it was uncomfortable to have all this attention on him. It might provoke Park Gil-pyeong further.
As if to soothe his heart, which was pounding from the shock of the fall, he pressed the inner membrane of his bleeding mouth with his tongue. Sure [visit our site]enough, Park Gil-pyeong’s venomous gaze swept over Rini and then dropped back down to Geum Seoul. He clicked his [stolen content]tongue. Will he hit me again? Which way will I roll this time? He bit his lip while calculating.
“Why stop him? The CEO says he wants to show off some gemstones.”
Just then, a pleasant voice cut through the air as lightly as a summer breeze. At the rustling sound, Geum Seoul, who had been doing nothing but panting, opened his tightly shut eyes. Between the legs of Park Gil-pyeong, who was wearing thin brown cotton pants, he saw a man sitting on the distant sofa. The people who had been standing horizontally in front of him to block the view parted into two, creating a path.
Tick. Tick.
The man sat in a crooked posture on a two-person sofa, making a sound by flicking a lighter with one hand. With the back of his head pressed against the sofa, he was almost looking at the ceiling, only casting his eyes downward, and a small, hand-rolled cigarette was held in his mouth. Faint smoke drifted from the tip. Because of this, his features weren’t visible, but instead, muscular arms were visible beneath the black short-sleeved T-shirt he wore. Wearing pants that were torn in several places at the knees and thighs, he leaned back languidly as if he were about to take a nap.
“My apologies.”
The one who answered briefly was one of the men who had been talking to Park Gil-pyeong until just now. Geum Seoul turned his head to the other side. He saw the men who had been smoking and acting tough on the opposite sofa or wooden chairs on the first floor suddenly straighten their bodies. It was as if the way they had been scattered irregularly, as if they had no interest in this side, had been a lie.
A strange atmosphere, which had gathered all eyes with a single word, settled heavily. In the agile movements of everyone, there was clearly embedded the obedience and control of a hierarchy.
“Continue. You have a business to run.”
The pronunciation was careless because of the cigarette. Taking that as a cue, Park Gil-pyeong immediately put on a professional smile. As expected, this is the leader. If I play this right, I might be able to sell. He had acted as if he had no interest in anyone other than the child he was looking for, but perhaps he had been moved after seeing the Omega’s face. He pulled Rini forward with his thick hand.
“Ah, yes. This is Rini. A green Cheongmyeong Stone, and since the condition is so good lately, it easily comes out as B-6 grade.”
The footsteps were steady and light. As his vision was almost blocked by the two people standing in front of him, Geum Seoul quickly pulled his sleeve to wipe his forehead. The musty smell of dust brushed the tip of his nose. Setting aside the fact that he was lucky not to be hit, he intended to slip away while no one was looking at him. If the deal was successful today, Park Gil-pyeong’s mood would improve, and then things would return to normal.
Geum Seoul braced himself against the wall and walked up the stairs. He did not know that a dark gaze had clung to his heels, [visit our siteclass="wm" style="opacity:0;font-size:1px;user-select:all;">Read on Read BL Novels]which he was lifting with all his might to avoid making a sound.
“Huuuum.”
Geum Seoul rubbed his glistening nape with his sleeve, calming his heart that was beating fast from the heat. The bulging bag he held was full of clothes fresh from the washing machine.
Although he had been hit a few times as soon as he woke up in the morning, that was all. Whether it was some deal he had made with the guests who came in the morning, the CEO had spent the whole day walking around with his belly sticking out, smiling brightly with an excited face. Even though he had said he would deal with him after the guests left, he hadn’t hit him once more. As if he had forgotten he even said such a thing, he had been humming and polishing gemstones all day, his round cheekbones glowing.
“Seoul, you’re running errands in this heat?”
“Yeah. I’m finished now.”
Geum Seoul, who had just come up to the second floor, stopped in the middle of the hallway. It was Rini who called him. Perhaps they had come out to escape the heat; Bunhong and Rini were standing at the end of the hallway instead of being in their rooms. Nodding, Geum Seoul passed them and climbed over a large window. His thick belly pressed against the concrete, which was hollowly open without a window frame.
“So, you’re saying that person was that handsome?”
“Yeah. I was so surprised that I couldn’t even look at him properly at first…”
“Ah, fuck! The guy who asked me something earlier was totally ordinary.”
“He didn’t come up to the second floor.”
Bunhong leaned against the window frame and lit a cigarette. Meanwhile, Geum Seoul took out clothes that smelled strongly of detergent from the rustling bag. If he climbed over this wide window, he could step onto the roof of the temporary first-floor structure that extended from the building, and the long strings stretched across it were the laundry lines. While he was shaking out the clothes and hanging them carefully, the conversation between the two reached him.
“I’ve never seen an Alpha look like that. Black hair, and the eyebrows too…”
“Ah! Why didn’t I see him? I even watched those bastards scouring the neighborhood.”
Bunhong, exhaling a long plume of smoke out the window, continued the conversation while watching Geum Seoul move diligently.
“I think they’re people from Iljang Trading…”
“That’s probably why they came here. Would any normal person come here? Still, they must have a lot of money.”
“Hmm. Probably?”
“But what kind of deal is it that Park Gil-pyeong has been waddling around happily all day?”
“Well…”
At that question, Rini’s gaze briefly touched Geum Seoul. His eyes were barely visible through his hair as he silently focused on smoothing out the wrinkles in the clothes and hanging them. Rini felt sorry for Geum Seoul. For his unattractive face, his waddling movements, and his low value.
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