“Whoa.”
The rippling waves along with the scorching heat embrace the whole body. I was very satisfied with the refreshing feeling that rose from the depths of my heart.
It’s a jjimjilbang, it’s been a really long time.
In the past, I liked this feeling and used to come here often, but since some time I have been banned from entering.
The reason was to prevent any unfortunate accidents in advance, but now that I have retired, that is a thing of the past.
“… … .”
The place where the heat has disappeared is filled with miscellaneous thoughts.
Now that there is no need to go to the company to make money or achieve goals, what should I do? Was there something I could do?
When it comes out, it’s empty. Luckily, the company was able to mop.
That’s right, you can slowly sort things out by watching the movie you’ve been putting off.
With that thought in mind, I got out of the bath and pulled out my cell phone from the locker, which was very strange. It doesn’t respond no matter how much you press it, as if it had been discharged.
“Why is this?”
Fortunately, the phone was restored to its original shape as soon as the charger was plugged into the bathroom wall.
“what?”
As usual, I pushed out and unlocked the photos I took with my friends during my club days, and I was quite surprised to see the information displayed on the screen.
＜Missed calls: 65>
＜ Talk 300+ Company Talk: I know you’re watching this quickly… >
＜ Talk 300+ Chae Seol-ha: You answer the phone right now.>
＜ Talk 300+ Garyun-i: Hyung, where the hell are you now… >
＜ Talk 300+ Dasomi noona: Do Jin-ah, where the hell did you go? >
＜ Talk 1 Minseo: Did you make a big decision? lol >
Could this be the cause of the cell phone being discharged?
Was the notice of resignation too sudden? Well, how many years have we spent together?
Because they had such a good heart that they couldn’t even cut me off because of my love in the first place.
I manipulated my phone to delete messages sent by people in my company, and then blocked my contacts one by one.
Something I should have done someday, even for them. It’s just that I haven’t been able to make a decision.
Meanwhile, a push message arrived with a small vibration.
＜Limited price reached: Novel Coin reached 98,000 KRW>
When did the coin, which used to be around 40 won half a year ago, grow so much? Its growth is terrifying. If this is enough, there will be no hindrance to living in the future.
I just packed my things and left the jjimjilbang. And it came back not long after.
“Bachelor, didn’t you come earlier?”
The old man who was looking at the counter opened his mouth without accepting the card.
“Yes, I have some circumstances.”
A car with a familiar design was parked in front of his bedroom.
Maybe the people at work are waiting for me to come back in the house. I know the password, so there’s nothing strange about it.
“Then it was money. Just go in.”
“thank you.”
After changing clothes, I lay flat on the floor of the jjimjilbang.
rather good There was nothing to do, but for the time being, let’s spend some time looking for a house to move to.
After all, the contract period was short, and when it came to furniture, there were only things that came with basic options.
It’s a great opportunity to get away from them and organize your thoughts.
* * *
It was already late at night as I looked through the properties using my smartphone. The people we were chatting with began to lie down one by one and go to sleep, and the TV, which seemed to be on for 24 hours, is now turned off.
I also tried to run away into my dream, closing my eyes and getting rid of the things of the past that floated in the darkness, but the warm air peculiar to a jjimjilbang was making my head cloudy.
Around the time I spent about two hours wrestling with sleep that didn’t come like that.
“-Oh.”
From the quiet corner of the jjimjilbang, a thin sound, like a woman’s sobbing, flowed into her ears.
“I- I don’t like it… … .”
An unpleasant, mournful sound kept pounding in my ears, but the surroundings were still quiet. Can’t everyone hear it? No, I might be pretending not to hear.
It’d be good to check if you can’t even sleep anyway. Because I want to sleep, and I refuse to be noisy.
Rubbing his blurred eyes, he moved towards the place where the sound was coming from.
In the strangely quiet jjimjilbang, only the pounding of my footsteps reverberated little by little.
“quietly-“
“… … no.”
Finally, I checked the source of the noise, the corner of the sleeping room, and there were two shadows intertwined.
One is a middle-aged man with a foul smell of alcohol. And the other is a girl, only half the size of a man.
“No… I don’t like it… ! No, no, no, no, no, no, no!”
“Come on, say goodbye, little by little.”
The girl’s voice, resisting the man’s abusive language, trembled thinly. It’s not like a fantasy. It was shaking up my world as a substance.
Without hesitation, I pulled out the chunk of meat that was holding the girl and subdued it.
“Aww!”
The hand that had been wriggling frantically was now firmly fixed in my hand and slammed into my back.
“Ah, ah… … .”
The girl’s eyebrows, covered with orange fluorescent lights, were trembling thinly. It’s a feeling I can’t even imagine.
“I’ll be holding you, so can you call the boss at the counter? Your parents too.”
“yes… … ?”
“Sorry, I don’t want to have you do something like this, but it’s only you and me here right now.”
This kid wouldn’t even have time to care about that now.
“My parents, why… … .”
“You should report it to the police.”
“yes? Hey, are you a police officer?”
The girl’s waist rose upright when she heard that it was a police officer.
“All right, all right. ’cause I’m fine There is no need to report anything.”
“What?”
“Shit, f*ck it, let it go!”
While I was organizing my thoughts on the absurd answer, a middle-aged man threw away my hand and ran outside.
If you look at the CCTV, you can catch it quickly, but it would be better to catch it here now before it gets complicated.
With that thought in mind, I got up and grabbed me by a bare, boneless hand.
“I really don’t care. Thank you for your help, but please move on.”
I was speechless at the strangely calm tone that seemed to have put everything down.
“You may be fine, but your parents aren’t. It’s all right, so bring it with me, it’s not going to be nearby.”
“yes? I came alone.”
“What are you talking about, how can a minor come in alone at this hour?”
“No, I’m a college student.”
A girl with a national ID card out of her pocket brazenly tilts her head.
“It’s fake.”
“No, no, what are you talking about? Why is this-”
The girl started making excuses, but when I didn’t reply, she bit her lip.
Although it looks plausible on the surface, there are not one or two places where it is sloppy.
If the person who made design as a business doesn’t recognize this, that’s a bad thing.
I’m sure I didn’t check it properly when I came in.
Considering the loose personality of the boss who looked at the counter, it was a story that was likely to happen.
“Did you run away?”
Hearing my words, the girl’s shoulders twitched and jumped.
“I’m sorry, I’m leaving right away in the morning, so please don’t report it.”
The image of a girl kneeling in front of me and repeating the words sorry mechanically was somehow familiar.
Soaring bookshelves, ragged books, the smell of wax, the shock felt behind my back.
I grabbed my aching head and managed to open my mouth.
“… … rice is.”
“yes?”
“Did you eat dinner?”
* * *
I took the girl to the convenience store near the jjimjilbang. I wanted to buy something a little more decent, but the only restaurant that was open late at night was a bar.
As soon as the calculation was over, the girl began to eat gimbap without a fuss.
“What would you do if I was a really bad person?”
“I still don’t think of myself as a good person.”
“Not that.”
“And there is no way to do it. It is true that I am starving.”
The girl who responded to my question had completely regained her composure.
Considering that he has calmed down to some extent over time, it was an incredibly fast recovery considering what this child had just gone through.
“Why don’t we go to a youth shelter or something?”
“I’d rather die than go back there.”
There was a subtle echo in the girl’s voice.
“sorry. I was indifferent.”
“You don’t have to apologize. I’m not stupid enough to complain at the person who even bought me food… Heck, Kek.”
I handed the drink I bought at the convenience store to the girl who was suffering from a sore throat.
“I told you to eat slowly.”
The girl bows her head and licks her lips. A rotten me was flowing out of his eyes, a moist light shining through his hair that grew haphazardly like weeds.
Instantly, I felt a great discomfort in my chest. I reflexively opened my mouth at the feeling of vomiting as the tide rushed in.
“If you break up with me, are you going to go back to that jjimjilbang again?”
“It would be. There is no place to sleep.”
The girl replies as if it were natural.
“Then I’ll get you a room, so you can sleep there.”
“yes?”
“I’ll get you a motel room, so you can sleep there.”
“Hey, I don’t understand the situation.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong. I’ll get another room and I’ll sleep there.”
“No, over there.”
The girl slammed the table with her palms and stood up.
“I closed my eyes of running away and bought a meal for you, so now you’re asking me to give you a room? I’d rather just say it out loud, I want to sleep with you. I would never do that.”
“I? with you? I have no hobbies.”
At first, I wasn’t even interested in that.
“I don’t quite understand. What you’re talking about right now is a violation of the offense of abduction and inducement of minors?”
“okay?”
“No, this guy is really… … !”
“But now, if you just let it go, your dreams will be wild.”
A life that has already been twisted in the old evening, and falling a few more times doesn’t change much.
It bothered me because I thought that I would not be able to sleep anymore if I sent back the girl who had been horribly abused a little while ago, and who seemed to be going through similar things in the future.
It would be appropriate to say that the sensation is similar to wanting to feed a stray cat while sleeping.
“… … Are you sympathizing now?”
“yes.”
In a nutshell, it is hypocrisy.
A feeling of mere self-satisfaction. I am trying to take care of this child because I am pitiful, even though I cannot solve the underlying pain and problems.
“… … What kind of person is this?”
“It’s okay if you don’t like it.”
“what?”
The girl looked at me with a puzzled expression and then immediately lowered her head.
“… … Where do I have a choice? As you said, I don’t have a place to sleep tomorrow.”
A dark shadow lay beneath the clenched fist. He took a deep breath and continued talking.
“I obviously declined once. It is not my responsibility whether the police come or not. If I see anything strange, I will run away immediately.”
“okay.”
The girl ruffled her hair and clicked her tongue.
“This is the first time this has happened.”
“what.”
“I do not know.”
There’s no need to ask if you don’t like it.
-Oh, where are you-
-hey-! here-. come out!
– Tongue… !
―Do-Gina―… ”
The sobs of drunkards echo through the alleyways. You’d better leave before anyone else notices you.
“If there is nothing more to say, let’s go.”
“yes.”
The way they walked towards one place while maintaining a certain distance clearly showed the relationship between me and this child.
“name is? I have to write it down when registering accommodation information later.”
“… … .”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a pseudonym.”
The girl licked her lips for a while before opening her mouth.
“… … midsummer. What about it?”
“Yoo Do-jin.”
The night was getting deep.
