RB 2

The workers’ diner at lunchtime was no different from a construction site.

The shabby plastic tables and chairs lined up in rows were packed with customers. It was not famous for its food, but since it was the only place in the area that served set meals, there was no choice.

Workers covered in dust busied themselves with rice and soup to fill their hunger. The menu changed daily, but the taste was always the same. They complained that they were tired of it, that the soup was bland. Meanwhile, outside, the banging construction noise kept hitting their ears without pause.

“Eunho, bring out more seasoned radish greens and young radish kimchi!”

The diner owner shouted in a loud voice.

Eunho rinsed the soap from his hands and picked up two trays stacked on the counter. The weight was enough to make both his hands tremble.

Even though his overgrown bangs covered half his face, he still managed to walk without stumbling. He weaved through the crowded diner. At the serving counter, he quickly pulled out the empty trays and filled the space with the new side dishes.

“Damn it, why is this young guy so slow?”

A few impatient workers could not hold back and cursed. Every time they smacked the counter with their tongs, red pepper seasoning splattered everywhere.

“……”

Eunho ignored it and just did his work. Workers always cursed as naturally as breathing. It was like filler words, so it was something he could let in one ear and out the other.

After finishing the errand, Eunho went back into the kitchen. Though he had been away only briefly, dirty dishes had already piled up to his hips in the plastic tubs.

Just looking at it made him sigh. Eunho pushed his arms into the filthy rinse water without a word.

When he was done working ten straight hours at the diner, it was already five in the afternoon. You could say it was a fairly early time to leave, but since he had started at seven in the morning, it was no different from working the entire day.

Eunho headed home at the same slow pace as he had when going to work. With each step, the black plastic bag hanging from his right wrist swayed like a pendulum. As always, the owner had packed a few leftover side dishes and cold rice for him. The pay was low compared to the work, but the advantage was that he never had to worry about meals.

The sun was starting to set, coloring the sky a pretty violet. But Eunho did not once look up. His worn-out sneakers dragged along the uneven uphill road.

The neighborhood he lived in had been transformed from a shantytown ten years ago into something livable, but it still had not shaken off the mark of poverty.

Since the age of fourteen, when his only guardian, his grandma, passed away, Sim Eunho had always been alone. He refused to go to an orphanage. Instead, he got by with the government subsidy, Haegang’s regular support, and the occasional perfunctory visits from social workers.

He was lucky enough to graduate high school.

After that, his life became nothing more than earning enough to survive day by day.

Was there even such a thing as joy in his life? With no family, no friends, not even a neighbor who cared about him, loneliness had become chronic long ago.

There were many days when he did not speak a single word all day. Even when his mouth was so dry that his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth, he never thought of it as discomfort. When was the last time he smiled? The only time he used his facial muscles was when he ate.

At the corner of the alley, he saw a foreign car parked. It looked completely out of place in the neighborhood. But with the recent redevelopment and investment boom, the area had become noisy, so he figured it must belong to a speculator.

Eunho cautiously passed by the car with its pitch-black tinted windows and went toward his home. Then he climbed the stairs to the rooftop. Even that little bit of effort left him short of breath. After glancing around the shabby rooftop, he went inside the empty house.

Because the sun never shined in, mold always spread across the walls. Eunho disliked the musty smell, he opened the windows wide to air it out. Then he tossed the plastic bag onto the sink and got ready to wash.

Since he only had a few sets of clothes, he had to wash them often. He took off his T-shirt, pants, underwear, and socks and soaked them in a basin. He grabbed a handful of powdered detergent and sprinkled it over the clothes.

While he showered, he scrubbed the laundry too. His protruding spine showed on his dry back as he crouched down. His posture looked pitiful.

After a long while, Eunho came out wearing nothing but underwear. In his hands, he held a bundle of wet clothes dripping with water.

“……!”

But inside the house, where no one should have been, a man in a reservist uniform was standing. His bleached yellow hair shone by itself in the dim light.

It was natural that Eunho was startled.

“…Why are you here?”

His first words of the day came out in a broken voice. He unknowingly stepped back.

Seeing his frightened eyes, the man’s lips twisted.

“Eunho, when you see someone, you should greet them. Why are you asking why I came?”

“……”

“Damn it, are you not going to answer?”

The man habitually raised his right hand. Despite trespassing into someone else’s house without permission, his attitude was arrogant.

Mr. Oh was a thug who worked in debt collection for a loan shark. Eunho had been tangled with him for nine years. As if he had nothing better to do, he often came to Eunho’s place.

“You idiot, did you forget what day it is? Did you forget it’s the twenty fifth today?”

“…I know.”

Eunho quickly turned around and opened a drawer. From the warped cabinet, he pulled out a T-shirt and shorts. He hurried to put on the shorts first, but the heavy gaze stuck to his side made his skin crawl.

At some point, Mr. Oh had started looking at him like that.

“……”

It felt like bugs were crawling over his body, but he ignored it and pulled out the envelope of money he had hidden deep inside the drawer. He could not remember how many times he had counted it. The principal was seventy thousand won, but the interest was five hundred thousand won.

The loan his grandma had taken when she was alive had ridiculous interest rates. They had pretended to be generous, saying Eunho could start repaying after he became an adult, but in reality, it was only a trick to balloon the debt. By the time he was old enough to pay, what lay in front of Eunho was a mountain of debt. No, even now, the loan grew larger with every breath.

How could he ever repay it like this? But Eunho was trying with everything he had.

“Here, this month’s payment.”

He held out the crumpled envelope. Mr. Oh, who was leaning against the wall, snatched it away. He stared at Eunho while pulling out a cigarette. As soon as he flicked his lighter, smoke filled the room.

“Sim Eunho, even you think your life is fucked up, right?”

“……”

“Hey, what do you even live for?”

“……”

“Living every day in this miserable state is also a skill. This isn’t even dog food, why do you always bring this crap?”

Mr. Oh flipped over the plastic bag on the sink, and leftover rice and side dishes spilled into the basin.

Eunho stared with hollow eyes at the mess of food that looked no different from scraps. No, it had been leftovers from the start.

He swallowed his bitterness and spoke.

“If you’re done, leave.”

“The way you talk, damn it. Even when someone worries about you, you act up.”

A thick palm came down on top of Eunho’s head before he could stop it. Every tap made his head droop helplessly. Drops of water still hanging from his hair fell instead of tears.

“Ha, pathetic bastard…. How are you ever going to pay off your debt and get out of this neighborhood like this? From what I see, you’ll eat dog food until the day you die.”

“……”

By then Eunho also felt his chest tighten. Mr. Oh’s abuse was nothing new, but today everything about him–the military boots he wore, the cigarette ash falling everywhere, the spilled dinner–made him sick to his stomach. He could not stand it.

“I’ve been… paying every month. Why do you keep tormenting me?”

“Are you crazy?”

“The contract itself is a scam. How can two million won turn into twenty million? Do you know how much I’ve already repaid? By now, I must have paid off the principal long ago.”

He tried to gather courage and talk back. But that seemed to trigger Mr. Oh’s temper.

“Damn it, then you shouldn’t have borrowed money! You gladly took it when you needed it, why do you complain now? You don’t even appreciate the favor I showed you when you were a kid, and now you dare to talk back?”

Mr. Oh grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the wall. After being hit on the head a few times with his hand as big as a pot lid, Eunho’s vision spun. Before he could recover, Mr. Oh’s grip tightened around his throat.

“Ugh, uhh!”

Eunho’s face turned bright red, and he stood on tiptoe. He could not shake him off with strength, so he had to struggle just to breathe.

“Eunho. Live on, even if you suffer until you die. That way I can come and mess with you from time to time.”

Mr. Oh mocked him to the very end as he looked down at his pained face.

“Do you know? I live for the fun of tormenting you, Eunho.”

Eunho flinched in shock at the thing pressing against his thigh.

The desire revealed by the man was terrifying. He wanted to escape the damp breath on his face, the rough stubble scraping his cheek. But in reality, he could not move even a finger. All he could do was shut his eyes and groan.

“No one but me would ever show interest in someone like you. Look now. Even with the noise of me breaking you, do the neighbors open their doors?”

“Don’t, ugh, stop…”

“You still don’t get it.”

Mr. Oh raised his hand again. The sound of blows and Eunho’s groans leaked out through the open window. But the neighborhood stayed deathly quiet.

“Damn bastard, try acting up one more time. Next time it won’t end with just a beating.”

Ptoey–! He spat phlegm at Eunho’s feet and rubbed it into the floor with his boot before leaving.

Eunho crouched flat on the ground. He squeezed his eyes shut to hide his empty gaze.

Why am I living like this? Why can’t I even desire the happiness that others enjoy so easily?

He had a ridiculous thought, that somewhere out there someone else had absorbed all of his share of happiness. Otherwise, how could a life be this miserable?

Even when he clawed at the floor with all ten fingers, all that came into his hand was sticky spit and cigarette ash.

“…I’m sick of it.”

That he had no one to open his heart to. That there was no one to rely on. That he was so useless. He was sick of it all.

Even if he disappeared right here, no one would know.

The gnawing loneliness made life even harder for Sim Eunho.

He stayed crouched like that for a full thirty minutes.

Knock knock.

There was a sound at the metal door.

“Mr. Sim Eunho.”

A calm voice called his name. Since no one ever came to see him except Mr. Oh, the voice felt like an illusion.

“Mr. Sim Eunho, are you at home?”

The voice called him again from outside.

Only then did Eunho slowly get up. When he opened the door, a man in a suit was standing there politely. The man showed no change of expression even after seeing Eunho’s ghostlike face.

Eunho opened his swollen lips.

“…Who are you?”

“Hello. I am from the Haegang Foundation.”

A business card was placed in Eunho’s hand.

[Haegang Foundation, Director Hong Namyeong]

Eunho gasped when he saw the word ‘Haegang.’

“Our chairman wishes to meet you, Mr. Sim Eunho. Could you spare us a moment?”