The brittle frozen rice straw cracked. Park Hae-jun, chasing after Lee A-gon, lunged and tackled him. Another physical struggle broke out. Lee A-gon’s screams mixed with Park Hae-jun’s voice shouting for him to stop and go back. Blood ran from his face, scratched by the rice straw. He couldn’t subdue the skeletal thin man. The old saying that crazy people have unusual strength seemed to be true. He was so exhausted that he could barely breathe.
“I’ll help you!” Park Hae-jun grabbed Lee A-gon by the collar and shouted in his ear. “I’m going to help you, you idiot! I’ll make you better!”
Lee A-gon looked at Park Hae-jun with large eyes.
Park Hae-jun tightened his stomach muscles and bellowed. “Listen when someone is talking to you! I’m! Going! To be! Your helper! I! Came! To be! Your assistant!”
‘Ah geez, I’m really going to die.’ Park Hae-jun hunched over and coughed deeply. His face hurt from being scraped, his head was cold from being wet. His back also ached from the impact of hitting the ground.
“So shut up and follow me.”
“…”
“Come to me and I’ll save you, Lee A-gon.”
‘Haa, damn it.’ Park Hae-jun spat out the blood pooled on his split lip. As he jabbed Lee A-gon’s chest with his finger while growling, Lee A-gon stared at the finger that poked him.
“Grab it.”
Park Hae-jun struggled to get up. When he extended his hand, Lee A-gon just stared at it again.
“Grab it. Take my hand and get up… never mind.”
‘If he runs away again, I’m the only one who loses. Fine, let’s see how far he’ll go.’ Park Hae-jun sat with his back to Lee A-gon.
“Get on my back.”
“…”
“Hurry. I’m cold.”
“…”
“We need to go home.”
“…”
‘How long did he crouch there like that?’
Slowly, Lee A-gon’s weight settled on Park Hae-jun’s back. Supporting him, Park Hae-jun grunted as he stood up. Despite being so thin and emaciated, he was still a man and had considerable weight.
All the way back to the motel, Park Hae-jun kept repeating the same words to Lee A-gon on his back. “Aren’t you cold? Don’t do that again. I am your helper. Listen to your helper.”
Although he didn’t seem to understand, Lee A-gon no longer resisted.
Back in the room, Park Hae-jun stripped off all his clothes except his underwear. Naturally, he stripped Lee A-gon’s clothes too. When he removed the thin short-sleeved shirt, a terribly thin, twisted body was revealed. He was so emaciated that all his ribs were visible as they moved. Park Hae-jun thought he looked like a dirty bone. A bone so unappetizing even a dog wouldn’t pick it up.
As soon as he removed the pants, his genitals dangled freely. He apparently hadn’t been wearing underwear. Park Hae-jun grimaced at the sudden sight of another man’s private parts up close. Though his body was unattractive, his member was the size of a small plastic bottle.
“Stand there.”
Park Hae-jun sprayed water on Lee A-gon. He must have felt the cold as he shrunk his body. Park Hae-jun had wondered if he had lost sensation from wandering around in just a military jacket in the cold, but that wasn’t the case.
He pulled the lever more toward hot and offered a soapy shower puff, but Lee A-gon just stood still with a face that showed he didn’t know what it was. Park Hae-jun sighed deeply. It seemed bathing him was also his responsibility.
He sprayed water on the man’s body to loosen the dirt, then scrubbed him vigorously with soap. At first, no matter how much he rubbed, no foam appeared, but after washing about five times, foam finally formed. From the seventh time, the scent of soap rose.
He used half a bottle of shampoo to wash his hair. He also applied soap to places easily missed, like elbows and behind the ears. Lee A-gon made a humming sound. He seemed to be enjoying it.
“You like it? You’re happy? I’m dying here.”
Beads of sweat formed on his forehead. Despite priding himself on his good physical condition, this was really tough. Even after an hour, the bath wasn’t over. No matter how much he washed, dirty spots kept appearing.
An hour and a half passed. Now Lee A-gon had gone from a dirty bone to just a bone.
Park Hae-jun closed the bathtub drain and filled it with water. This motel had tacky wallpaper and broken bathroom tiles, but he liked the bathtub. It was wide enough that even a tall man like Lee A-gon could comfortably fit in it.
“Lee A-gon, now come here and…”
After filling the water and turning around, Park Hae-jun witnessed Lee A-gon taking something out of his jeans. It was a small ziplock bag filled with white powder.
‘What is this? Sugar?’ That’s what Park Hae-jun thought at first.
While he was watching in bewilderment, Lee A-gon dipped his finger in the powder from the ziplock bag and put it in his mouth, sucking on it. Then his eyelids rolled up, exposing the whites of his eyes. He dipped and ate the powder a few more times, then started giggling.
“…”
It gave him a strange feeling. Park Hae-jun strode over and snatched the ziplock bag from Lee A-gon. When Lee A-gon tried to take it back, Park Hae-jun turned his back and sealed the bag. His heart was racing. He didn’t want to believe it, but it seemed his suspicions were correct.
“Lee A-gon, is this possibly…”
Just then, a strong force shoved Park Hae-jun from behind. He fell without being able to fight back.
With a splash, he fell into the bathtub. Water entered his mouth when he opened it. Lee A-gon climbed on top of him and was shouting something.
Splash, splash—Park Hae-jun desperately twisted his body. Air bubbles poured from his open mouth. He wanted to shout for him to move, but he couldn’t speak.
He became increasingly desperate. No matter what he did, he couldn’t escape from Lee A-gon who was pressing down on him. Suddenly, Park Hae-jun realized he might actually die like this.
‘Why?’
‘What did I do?’
‘I’m going to die like this? Me?’
Park Hae-jun’s mind raced frantically. He tried with all his might to push Lee A-gon away. But Lee A-gon was above the water while Park Hae-jun was below. Despite being stronger, he couldn’t win.
His splashing movements weakened. Through the clear, rippling water, he could see Lee A-gon. Park Hae-jun desperately stared into his eyes. It was the only thing he could do. Every cell in Park Hae-jun’s body reached out to the soul that must exist somewhere in those black pupils. He wanted to somehow connect with him, to beg for his life.
The next moment, Park Hae-jun was in a wasteland.
In a world with no sky, no ground, only dust clouds that swept by and disappeared, he stood alone.
Confused and looking around, Park Hae-jun suddenly noticed tears flowing down his cheeks. Bewildered, he wiped them away, but they fell faster than he could wipe them. Then profound loneliness washed over him. The loneliness was so deep it felt like his heart was bruising.
Sobbing, Park Hae-jun buried his face between his arms. He curled up into a ball and sat down like an insect trapped in a cocoon made of loneliness, surviving only on its own tears. He felt the weight of solitude that someone destined to be alone from birth until death might bear.
Park Hae-jun closed his ears and eyes. He didn’t want to feel lonely anymore and wished instead to become numb. He desperately wanted to become like a rock, feeling nothing, eventually forgetting even himself. Even the blowing wind hurt him.
“PUAHK!”
Park Hae-jun shot up above the water’s surface, breathing violently. Water spurted from his mouth and nose.
“Cough! Hack! Cough!”
After desperately fighting his way out of the water, Park Hae-jun’s first action was to open the ziplock bag and pour out its contents. The white powder dissolved and disappeared in the water.
“Haah. Hoo, ugh.”
Blood and water dripped from his nose. With bloodshot eyes, Park Hae-jun threw the empty ziplock bag at Lee A-gon. Lee A-gon scraped his finger inside the bag a few times, then began to cry.
“What? Why are you crying?”
‘It was absurd after nearly dying. I’m the one who almost died, I’m the one who should be crying, so why are you crying?’
“Sob. Huuk, ugh. Uh.”
Tears flowed incessantly down the face where bones protruded from extreme thinness. Snot ran too. It was truly messy.
“Stop crying. Damn it, who is actually… now. Hah…”
‘Let’s stop talking.’
Park Hae-jun collapsed on the floor. And without caring whether Lee A-gon was crying uglily or not, he just stared blankly at the orange light.
It took a full three hours to finish the bath.
Lee A-gon, having lost his white powder, became docile again, and Park Hae-jun brushed his teeth and even shaved him before finally managing to wash himself.
“From now on, I’m going to assist you.” Park Hae-jun declared, having seated Lee A-gon on the bed.
Lee A-gon remained vacant.
“You’re a power-holder and I’m a helper. When I hold your hand and push energy into you, you receive the assistance. How about that? Easy, right?”
“…”
“Fortunately, our compatibility doesn’t seem bad. Do you remember what happened earlier? That’s called a link. It means souls are chained together like links. Well, you don’t have to do anything. I’ll take care of everything.”
Seeing Lee A-gon just blinking, Park Hae-jun decided to just proceed with the assistance. The guy didn’t seem to understand a word he was saying.
Park Hae-jun held Lee A-gon’s hand. Since they had already experienced a link, he was confident about providing assistance.
A link was a phenomenon said to occur between power-holders and helpers with high resonance rates. He’d heard there were no cases in Korea yet, only a few abroad.
If their resonance rate is high enough for their souls to connect, then assistance should be a piece of cake. Park Hae-jun concentrated on Lee A-gon’s hand and pushed assistance energy into him.
“…”
Nothing happened.
Park Hae-jun held Lee A-gon’s hand more firmly.
Still, nothing happened.