PHUW 10

“Normally I wouldn’t say something like this. I shouldn’t, either. But Mr. Ahn Haeri, your situation is pitiful. On top of that, the perpetrator is well off, the kind of person who can live just fine without twenty million won. So I’m telling you this, but you must never say anywhere that I said it. I never said it, understand?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“When I put out this cigarette, it’ll be as if this conversation never happened.”

He understood well what the detective meant. The detective took a couple of long drags, then crushed the half-finished cigarette into the peach can.

“Let’s go.”

Detective Park pulled his car keys from his pocket and jerked his chin toward the parking lot. His car was conveniently parked right in front of the steps, the best spot.

Haeri got into the passenger seat as told and was just fastening the seat belt. At that moment, a very familiar black sedan slid in from the other side. The driver’s window tint was so dark he couldn’t see who was inside. But cars that expensive, imported sedans, didn’t just roam around here in multiples.

‘Is that Jeong Mok? Did he leave something behind?’

While Haeri tilted his head slightly to look, the detective’s car pulled out.

‘No, probably not. Even if it is Jeong Mok, so what.’

Haeri turned his head forward again.

The homeless shelter was about twenty minutes by car from the police station. The manager’s name was Kim Jeongwook, a man in his forties with a solid build and a cheerful temperament. He spoke proudly about how comfortable and pleasant the “Harmony Shelter” he ran was.

It was the largest shelter in the area. Compared to other smaller shelters, the facilities were cleaner and there were rehabilitation programs, so it was always packed with people.

“Mr. Ahn Haeri, you’re lucky. You got into our good facility with no waiting list. This morning one person ran away and another collapsed and was taken to the hospital, so two spots opened up. Normally, you wouldn’t have been able to enter.”

By that measure, bad luck was actually good luck. He had suffered a big accident and lost his memory, but he had met someone willing to pay expensive hospital bills. When that person stepped away, he had immediately gotten into a popular facility.

This building was the main hall and was for men only. Nearby there was a separate shelter for women.

In the office, he filled out and signed an admission form. The office provided toiletries, new underwear, and towels. His assigned room was on the third floor, but there was an elevator, so moving wasn’t difficult.

“Since Detective Park referred you, I gave you a single room. You’re lucky I was here today. Normally, it’d be impossible.”

“Thank you very much.”

“Let’s get along well from now on.”

Kim Jeongwook reached out for a handshake. His thick hand was colder and stickier than expected. During the handshake, he even stroked the back of Haeri’s hand with his other hand. The touch felt strangely sticky. Just as Haeri was about to feel unpleasant, the hand pulled away, so he wondered if it had been his imagination.

“Such a handsome young man… how did you end up losing your memory and becoming homeless? My heart aches for you.”

As he spoke, his eyes crinkled with wrinkles like a Hahoetal¹. Like his touch, his gaze was quite unsettling. One could even say it looked lecherous.

“Dinner time is six o’clock, and the cafeteria is at the far end of the first floor. The showers and bathrooms are over there. If you have questions, contact the office. Ah, should I give you my phone number? That would be easier.”

Without being asked, Kim Jeongwook patted his back pocket, saying he would give him a business card. From a worn wallet with edges bent to the shape of his hip, he dug around, then said he had none. He added he would fetch one from the office now.

“It’s fine. Give it to me later. It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

“Then I’ll give it to you at dinner.”

“Yes.”

Haeri nodded with an awkward smile. Kim Jeongwook lingered, but finally left after taking a call from someone looking for him. Haeri quickly went into his room and shut the door.

It was a tiny room, like a speck. On one side was a cheap three-tier drawer, and on top of it a landline phone and a small TV. There was no bed, only a topper and blanket set folded in three, smelling musty. The window facing the road was cloudy from lack of cleaning. He took off his shoes and stepped up, but his soles stuck to the floor. He wanted to lie down right away, but couldn’t bring himself to.

Of the two towels he received, he took the more worn one and went to the washroom at the end of the hall. Just as he was wetting the towel, someone appeared in the open entrance.

“Oh? A new resident?”

It was a dark-skinned, scrawny middle-aged man.

“Hello.”

“A young guy like you, how did you end up in a place like this?”

“I don’t know”

“Tsk, tsk.”

The man didn’t ask further. In a homeless shelter, that much was enough.

“What room are you in?”

“Room 301.”

At Haeri’s answer, the man’s expression hardened. He furrowed his brow deeply and clicked his tongue again.

“Always lock your door tight.”

“Sorry?”

“Didn’t you hear me? Lock up properly.”

“Ah, yes.”

Why was he suddenly worried about someone else’s door lock? Instead of giving a reason, the man just shook his head and walked past.

After struggling with his trembling body to clean the whole room, it was already dinnertime. Even during dinner, the same kind of conversations from the washroom continued.

Middle-aged men of all sorts came up to him, asking if he was the new resident, if he had amnesia, how it had happened, what room he was in. He repeated the same answers he had already given.

Some men clicked their tongues like the one in the washroom and told him to keep his door locked. Others told him to transfer to another facility. And a few exchanged creepy smiles with each other, just like Kim Jeongwook. When Kim Jeongwook appeared during the meal to hand over an unnecessary business card, that creepy smile spread through the whole dining hall.

The reason for the strange atmosphere revealed itself that dawn.

With a heavy heart, he pressed down the old-fashioned doorknob lock as he had been told and tried to sleep. After lying in a musty old topper instead of the comfortable hospital bed, his back ached, and he kept tossing, unable to fall asleep easily. Then someone grabbed the doorknob from outside and turned it. He shot upright in shock.

“Who’s there?”

“Mr. Ahn Haeri. It’s me.”

It was Kim Jeongwook.

Normally he would have opened the door right away. But because his body was sore from all the cleaning earlier, it was hard to get up. He forced himself to sit up first and raised his voice to ask what he wanted.

“What brings you here at night?”

“I have something to say.”

Something to say?

“I’m tired, can’t you say it in the morning?”

“I came to check how you’re sleeping. How can I check that in the morning?”

It sounded plausible, but it was a strange excuse. Why would one man check another man’s sleeping arrangements? He wasn’t a little child with a runny nose or an old man on his deathbed. But since the man was the facility manager and didn’t look like he would go away soon, he had no choice but to get up.

When he turned the doorknob, Kim Jeongwook was standing there, staring straight at him.

“Why are you naked?”

“I’m wearing underwear.”

Since he couldn’t sleep in a tracksuit, he was in just his underwear. Kim Jeongwook’s gaze slithered over his skin like a snake. He felt disgust rose in him. He grabbed the tracksuit top he had taken off and put it on. When he covered his torso, the other man’s eyes fixed on his lower body, clad only in briefs.

“You’re going to sleep, so why put it on?”

“I’m not sleeping yet.”

“When you do sleep, do you take it off again?”

His words grew shorter.

“I suppose so.”

“Even the underwear?”

“What?”

What kind of question was that? As Haeri’s face twisted, Kim Jeongwook once again smiled with wrinkles creasing his eyes. Meeting that greasy look sent chills over Haeri’s whole body.

Only then did he realize why the men had told him to keep his door locked. Fuck. Kim Jeongwook was a pervert. A pervert who lorded over homeless people with nowhere else to go.

“You’ve seen enough, so leave. I need to sleep.”

“Yes, if I’ve seen, I should go.”

At the curt reply, Kim Jeonguk licked his lips with a lewd smile.

“Sleep well. See you in the morning.”

After he left, Haeri locked the door again. He rubbed his goosebumps-covered arms roughly.

‘Fuck. Why is someone introduced by the detective doing this?’

***

Kim Jeongwook’s night visits continued. Sometimes he ignored the knocking and pretended to be asleep. Then Kim Jeongwook would come with a key and unlock the door, forcing Haeri to jump upright in shock.

In a place full of men, the weaker ones became targets of harassment. The military had been the same. This wasn’t the army, but it was just as rotten, a closed society of survival of the fittest.

The problem became serious after he received an additional prescription for tranquilizers through a public health doctor who regularly visited the facility. The oath of medical confidentiality meant nothing inside the facility Kim Jeongwook controlled.

Once it became known that Haeri suffered not only memory loss from cerebral edema but also nervous instability, the secret harassment quickly escalated into direct molestation.

The perpetrators weren’t only Kim Jeongwook. The men who had exchanged creepy smiles on the first day also groped him whenever they could. They would approach him pretending to help him walk, though he could walk fine on his own, and squeeze his waist or the soft flesh inside his upper arms. In the hallway, they would pretend to bump into him by accident and rub their filthy crotches against his ass. Compared to that, pulling on his cheeks with both hands and pressing their dirty mouths to his was almost tame.

“Fuck.”

It was fucked. Everything was fucked. Worst of all, he had to endure the sexual harassment because he had nowhere else to go.

1. Hahoetal ↩︎