Healer

Yaba dragged his legs and sat down on a chair, leaving a space between him and Hashish. Whether his belly fat was folded or not, his spread hips were protruding into the sitting chair, he was helpless. Hashish even looked at Cocaine and Cha Yiseok with his wry eyes. Cha Yiseok stared at the other with languid eyes. The scene was like a battlefield of male snakes fighting a bloody battle with a female snake. Of course, only one side is male, though. Cocaine introduced Hashish to Cha Yiseok with a bewildered look.

“The introduction was late. This is a singer I work with. He wore a mask so you might not have recognized him, but he’s often with me. Strangely today, I didn’t want to go alone, so I asked him to come with me… Isn’t that right?”

Hashish didn’t answer. When it came to Cocaine, he was infinitely soft-hearted. Cocaine knew that too, and took advantage of it when necessary. Cocaine saw him as nothing more than a friend. Hashish didn’t approve of such Cocaine. And Yaba doesn’t approve of Cocaine leap. The seed of all unhappiness comes from ignorance.

Hashish seemed to want to run away immediately, but he couldn’t leave behind Cocaine with Cha Yiseok, so it was obvious that he was forcing himself to endure. It was the same with Yaba. However, he did not want to share that identity with him.

Cocaine sighed a little as Hashish unfolded the menu with a calm face. Immediately, looking at Cha Yiseok, his neat lips curled provocatively.

“Can I get an expensive one? I’m going to get my debt back today.”

Cha Yiseok slowly stared at Cocaine and pulled his lips together. A cold light scratched his eyes and then disappeared.

“How precocious.”

The slow flowing voice was like snake venom that melted raw skin. Cocaine caught his gaze and quietly closed his eyes. Yaba wanted to pierce those eyeballs that overlap each other. He wanted to go. He wanted to run away from here. He was desperately looking for other reasons as to why he had to be here, why he had to endure this place because he didn’t want to leave them alone.

Cocaine added as he looked at the menu.

“Right, how’s your mother?”

“Regardless, you should drop by tomorrow.”

“Will it be around four in the afternoon?”

“You can go anytime. Her daily routine is to roll around in bed with a bottle of wine.”

Cocaine nodded and looked at the menu again. Hashish pulled his torso forward, then put his head together with Cocaine and chose the food. Hashish’s eyes turned to the menu board, but he could feel his nerves turn to Cha Yiseok, who was all over Cocaine. Cha Yiseok leaned his body back and loosened his tie. He pushed the rest of the menu to Yaba.

“The set meal here is the neatest. Note that there is sashimi.”

Yaba looked at the menu board that didn’t catch his eye. Then, a stubborn gaze that could not be ignored was attached to the back of his nose. Like Hashish, his eyes and nerves stood in different directions. Then the vibration of the cell phone pounded on Yaba’s groin. It was Kang Giha.

— Why aren’t you answering the phone?

“I didn’t because I didn’t hear it.”

— What are the guys talking about? Why did Cocaine go to Cha Myunghwan’s villa?!

It was a somewhat bewildered voice as the gangsters who arrived first reported it. Yaba said.

“Everyone found out that you guys have cheated and deceived Chairman Cha.”

At that moment, everyone’s eyes turned to Yaba. Yaba calmly continued the conversation among the gaze.

“Chairman Cha said he would not let everyone go, so be prepared. What will you do now?”

— … What are you talking about? Speak in detail!

“It’s hard to explain. I’m hanging up.”

Yaba turned off the phone and shoved it into his pocket. To distress Kang Giha, he left out saying that Cha Yiseok showed his wits and overcame the crisis. Cha Yiseok wiggled the base of his eyebrows, but didn’t ask any more.

He was a really mysterious person. Wasn’t it time for him to sit around his desk and worry about the future, rather than being in a fairy tale? No, he looked thoughtless, but he might be sharpening a knife inside him. He was reluctant to even bring the eunuchs here. Maybe this was the last supper eaten by a death row inmate the day before being taken to the prison?

Who knows. It’s hard to even think about it now. At that moment, the door engraved with gold leaf opened on both sides. Behind the gisaeng who led them to the room, a group of bow tie waiters entered carrying low tables one after another. The table was full of colorful food.

Cocaine handed the towel to Cha Yiseok and showed courtesy to the rest. Hashish’s complexion hardened even more. The gisaeng lined up meat and mushrooms on the grill in the center of the table. He placed thick slices of mushrooms and onions on a heated grill, spread a transparent sauce, and finally sprinkled with parsley and wine. Mushrooms and meat writhing on the fire spit out the smell of death.

“It is a wild pine mushroom. The smell is different from the cultivated ones. It’s meatloaf. It’s great today.”

Cocaine took the uncooked mushroom and inhaled it lightly. He had a grin on his pretty lips and lashes that hung down, as fresh as an innocent college student. Yaba’s intestines were about to turn over, wanting to have that white face on the fire. The medicinal energy quickly circulated through the blood vessels and took over the body and mind. Yaba tried to be numb by looking at the fire that would melt the snow. Charcoal crackling and sparking was like human bones. He wanted to touch the texture of the flames swimming over the dance moves of the bones.

Suddenly, an embers-like presence touched his eyelashes. Yaba laboriously lifted his lowered eyelids. For some time on the other side, Cha Yiseok was looking at Yaba with his hands on his temples. His gaze was closed with the hand movements of the gisaeng in between. The gisaeng and the bow tie servers withdrew. Cha Yiseok pulled his upper body back and sat down on the chair. He took out a cigarette and bit it without igniting it.

“Since when did you start doing such a job?”

It was a non-specific question. After an awkward silence, Hashish answered.

“It’s been around since the age of fourteen. Most of them are children without parents, and we have been together for 10 years.”

“You sing fluently in Italian and German, did you receive any training?”

“All of us did not finish middle school properly. When the boss picks out a list, all we have to do is write down the solo and memorize it. We’re school dropouts that can’t even compare to the guests”

Hashish exquisitely blended self-help and ridicule. Cha Yiseok digested the food wonderfully.

“But people are eager to hear you dropouts sing.”

Cocaine looked at Cha Yiseok and smiled softly. It was Hashish who didn’t look good.

“It’s actually Chaewoo’s song. Oh, we call each other by our real names outside..”

Hashish added something that was not asked, revealing that he had the upper hand.

“It’s the first time I’ve been asked such a question, so I’m embarrassed. Until now, no one had ever wondered how miserable singers are.”

Hashish gave a particular accent to the word ‘guest’. However, Cha Yiseok simply loosened the sensitive atmosphere created by Hashish.

“Because there is nothing to do until the meat is cooked. I’m bored, who wants to pick a song for me?”

Cha Yiseok raised the spoon like holding a microphone and looked at the eunuchs. The eunuch singers were at a crossroads as to whether they should take this as a joke. Cocaine wrinkled his forehead and smiled, while Hashish made a displeased expression. Yaba looked at the spoon that Cha Yiseok was holding. Hashish said coldly.

“Our lives aren’t fun enough for Executive Director Cha to kill boredom with.”

“Even if you are in the gutter, you have to find the fun yourself. So is there anyone who can sing?”

Cha Yiseok turned the spoon round and round. Hashish twisted his lips.

“What kind of skill do you have to find fun in a life like ours after being dragged away by the boss and being banned from going out? Chaewoo wouldn’t be here either, but because he was dragged in by someone annoying…”

“Dongwoo.”

Cocaine hastily restrained Hashish. It was no because he wanted to defend Yaba, he didn’t want to think of the uncomfortable past. Moreover, it was in front of Cha Yiseok. Hashish suddenly turned an arrow at Yaba.

“Usually, you have something to retort, but why are you quiet?”

Yaba just looked at the table far away. He could feel Cha Yiseok staring at him from the other side. He was worried that Hashish would slip up and expose everything, and that Cha Yiseok would pry into it. What he would think, what he should say… all kinds of thoughts ran through Yaba’s mind. His energy has already hit the bottom, but the world would not leave him alone. Compared to his lethargic head, his heart pulsated vigorously. Yaba looked straight at Hashish and squeezed his voice.

“Is that what you think? Or are you thinking of Cocaine?”

“No matter what anyone thinks, the truth doesn’t change.”

“Therefore? What are you going to do now?”

“So shameless, I didn’t expect anything from you anyway.”

Hashish’s eyes were clear with contempt.

“The truth depends on whose position you are in.”

The voice that suddenly intervened was Cha Yiseok. Cha Yiseok crossed his index and middle fingers back and forth to wipe his lips.

“There is no need to feel wronged. Because of him, Cocaine is more revered than Jesus, right?”

Cocaine’s eyes met Cha Yiseok’s side profile. It was a wounded expression.

“Yes…”

Cocaine laughed like it was going to break. Yaba wanted to laugh like that. He bit his lower lip tightly. Hashish responded in a twisted voice.

“It’s not about adoration, it’s about ruining his life. If you don’t know, don’t meddle.”

Cha Yiseok watched Hashish closely.

“Everyone is so cute. If it wasn’t for today, I would have been able to play comfortably.”

Cha Yiseok placed the spoon he was holding until then on the table. At that moment, his eyes gleamed eerily like a cold-blooded animal.

“You can’t crawl on top of the table just because you’re sitting together at the head of the table.”

It swam quietly through the wetlands, and aggressively stretched out and exposed its teeth. The shapeless attack seemed to rip through the opponent’s marrow and fall to the bottom. Hashish’s mouth gradually stiffened. Hashish had a withered look, but he held a cold smile on his lips.

Among them, Cha Yiseok was the only one who was not an eunuch. Cha Yiseok will get an erection and ejaculate if he feels lust. Hashish hid his inferiority complex with the quarrel, but it only looked like an adolescent bullying an adult. From the beginning, victory and defeat were decided. There was a stiff air. The culprit in this mood soon turned his attention to the corpse. Cha Yiseok placed his fingers on his temple and looked over at Yaba.

“What about you?”

Yaba stared at him with his dazed eyes.

“What?”

“Real name.”

“What are you going to do knowing that?”

He licked his lips slightly.

“To call you.”

Liar. Don’t lie.

His eyes, as if drunk on drugs, were anxious. Just like when he first told him his name ‘Yaba’ and he forgot it the next day, if the same thing happens over and over again, he would not be able to bear it this time. After this dinner was over, there was no reason to call him anymore. Jang Sejin the snitch. The snitch, Jang Sejin. He’d rather be a cheap drug or estrus than a snitch. Cha Yiseok set up his stretched upper body on his chair. He put his weight on both of his elbows and penetrated deep into Yaba’s eyes.

“Why are you so weak? Like a snake forced to hibernate in a vegetable box.”

“…”

Yaba narrowed his brow and bit his lips.

“It’s all cooked. Can I eat now?”

Cocaine skillfully stole Cha Yiseok’s attention. Cha Yiseok returned his gaze to him for a moment. He pulled back his upper body and persisted.

“Now, what’s your original name?”

“I don’t want to say it.”

“Why?”

“Because I forgot.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Then don’t believe it.”

“I want to believe you.”

“If you want to be backstabbed, do that.”

After the fraudulent activities at the villa were discovered, Cha Yiseok was the only one who was fine. Yaba shot back,

“More than my name, I’m more curious about your future.”

“To plan for the future, you have to solve what is right in front of you. Think again. Then you might remember?”

“I forgot, how would I remember it? It must have been just a dull name.”

Cha Yiseok raised one eyebrow. His gaze observing himself took on an ambiguous light. But he never backed down.

“Come on, name.”

“If you’re curious about it, do your own research.”

“Then I will call you as I please, butterfly.”

“…”

A sudden surprise made Yaba shut his mouth, and the other curled his lips like a victor. The well-formed facial features were obnoxiously calm.