Payback

The consequence of sleeping for 20,000 won with a man was greater than I thought. I remembered having a hard time for almost a week. And thanks to the blood on the bunny suit that day (probably the thug's blood), it was thrown away the next day and there was no need to wear those bunny suits anymore. Instead, I found a part-time job at the road construction site at night, and again my day was filled with earning money like a dog all day. It was difficult to endure it every single day. Looking back now, I think that was the longest period of time I gritted my teeth in resignation to something in my entire life. 

Just like that, 4 years and 6 months passed. The total debt of 153,277,360 won was paid off by me at the age of 26. Of which, the principal amount was less than 20 million won. When I went to the boss for the last time to pay him back, he gave me a wry smile and praised me, saying that his job would be easier if everyone was like me. The old man grinned and said.

“If you need money then look for me again."

I didn't answer him, but he suddenly called me back as if he had just remembered something.

"By the way, did you borrow money from other places besides me?" 

“No."

"Is that so? Hmm, I heard someone was looking for you these days. When you first started paying off your debt, the employment agency I introduced you to contacted me. Did you cause any trouble while working?"

When I first started paying off my debt, it was five years ago. What trouble could I have caused? The only thing the boss told me was the mascot suit and handing out flyers.

"I didn’t.”

When I spoke bluntly, he tilted his head with a ‘hmm’ sound.

"I told them I didn't know you because I was in a hurry."

He stared at me as if he wanted me to thank him, but I was done with what I had to do so I turned around. But he called me back again with a somewhat serious voice.

"Hey, why don't you continue working under me? " 

"I don’t want to."

"…You've really changed."

Subsequently, I heard him ask “Did you turn over a new leaf?” but I left directly because I didn't have time. Time was precious while delivering. If I started running now, I would barely be able to finish today's delivery.

Today seemed to be a lucky day. Or maybe it was just because I just paid off my debt that I feel that way, but I was able to finish the rest of today's work earlier than usual. When there was no one at home, all the people I called answered and told me where to leave the goods, and I didn’t have to walk up more than three floors with heavy packages for any of the houses. I felt like I was really lucky. But my luck seemed to have run out. As soon as I got into the car after finishing work, I got a call from the manager. 

“Hey, the delivery guy to XX has a bit of a problem. The car is broken, please help deliver it!”

The call was disconnected with a loud buzzing noise, the manager must have been going there himself. If it was XX, then it was located in the middle of a place where many agencies and offices gathered. Because it had to be delivered before the end of work, time was really tight. Looking at the clock, it was 5:30 pm. Even if the truck turned into an airplane it would be too late I thought, as I turned the steering wheel.

The last place I ran to as I sweated profusely was a seven-story building located in a prime location, in a place known for its sky-high land prices. I wasn’t assigned to this area, so it was my first time here, but there were a lot of delivery orders in such places where the whole building looked like a company. The person in charge of delivering the order with the car that had broken down said it was okay to go slowly because there were people staying here until late at night, and it seemed that was true. Even though it was past 7 pm, there were still a lot of people in front of the building, and there were quite a few people coming in and out.

What is this place? I wondered, as the people standing in front of this building seem to be all women, middle and high school students. I took the parcel out of the truck and loaded it onto the trolley, ringing the bell at the entrance of the building. Inside the closed glass door, the security guard saw me and opened the door immediately. Then, I saw the girls standing outside sticking their heads out to see the inside of the open door. Immediately, the sound of ‘kyaaa~ ‘ resounded and spread among the female students as soon as they saw the person inside. However, I didn’t know if this was a normal phenomenon, as neither the security guard nor the people walking around in the lobby seemed to be bothered at all. It wasn’t until I received an access pass from the security guard and pushed the cart in that I knew what this place was about. 

“I wonder if their parents know anything about their children doing that just to see the faces of their favorite celebrities.”

Listening to him grumbling, I turned my gaze to the floor-by-floor guide map on the wall behind me. The first line that caught my eye was the name of the company.

DREAM ENTERTAINMENT

Searching through my memories, I recalled what Myeongshin, my past lover, said. The best entertainment company he had always wanted to join. Ah, is that what it is? Turns out this is the place. Thinking back to a time when I couldn’t even remember the name of a company, somehow I found it funny. I had forgotten about it for a while. My ex-boyfriend even betrayed me. I slowly pushed the cart into the elevator and watched the number of floors slowly change. The two girls that I was with were very excited and continued to chat until I reached the destination. 

“My heart was beating so fast that I thought I was going to die. Well, Director Yoon found out that the marketing department made a mistake.”

“Oh my, how did he know?”

“I don’t know. Anyway, you also know. Director Yoon always makes people shiver when he smiles.”

“I know. When Director Yoon returned from overseas 2 months ago, I thought he was an easy-going person because of that smile, but there were one or two people who got fired, right?” 

Perhaps because it was really scary, the woman shrank her shoulders.

“He is still young and had been at the foreign branch for 4 years, so I thought he’d be a free-spirited person…”

Ting~

The sound of the elevator rang and I finally got off out, the girls’ voices also ceased. I quickly pushed the cart out of the open door, my mind was filled with the desire to finish the delivery quickly and leave. But because of the hat I was wearing, I couldn’t see the face of the person who just entered the elevator at the same time I got out. I turned my head because of the voice. It had been 5 years, but it was still familiar to me. 

“Hurry up and come! Why are you so slow? I’m late for the shoot!”

When I turned around to the direction of the annoyed voice, a young man standing in the elevator with his arms crossed was staring at someone running in a hurry in the hallway with his arms folded. Well-groomed hair, designer clothes and moderately muscular body. It was the person who ran away with my money 5 years ago, Myeongshin.

“Leoo, teoo… lr atlr atf gluta bcf?”

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“No.”

Following those cold words were a string of profanities.

“Dumbass, don’t you know what I like?”

There was a look of embarrassment on the man’s face, but the others didn’t react. No one cared about Myeongshin being rude to an elder, as if it were a daily routine. On the contrary, it seemed like I was the only one who stopped and watched. 

“I’ll give you five minutes. If you still can’t bring me the drink I want, I’ll make you get fired from the place you’ve just come to. Understood?”

The elevator doors closed with his irritated threat. His gaze briefly drifted over to me before the doors closed. It was only for a short while but I made eye contact with him. But he quickly turned to the man next to him. I could hear the elevator move after the doors closed, but my eyes lingered there for a while. It didn’t feel anything special. There was no anger or disappointment when he didn’t notice me. Maybe it was because there were no more emotions left. His betrayal was now only a fragment of the past for the present me.

“For the children’s school fees, for the children’s school fees…”

Turning my head towards the source of the sound, the man with the beverage was muttering in his mouth as if he were quenching his anger. Then he sighed and turned around and started running. At the same time, I also turned around and returned to my work. I didn’t think about these past memories until I returned to the elevator after delivering the order. But the person who took the elevator with me reminded me of Myeongshin again. The man was holding all kinds of drinks to his chest. Probably because he didn’t know what kind of drink Myeongshin liked, he just bought them all from the vending machine. There was an appearance of a bitter smile. 

In the past, Myeongshin rarely spoke, but when alcohol kicked in, he often talked a lot about himself. Most of them were stories about being bullied at school, and he confessed that he hated running beverage errands everyday the most. The vending machine was far from the classroom, so it was hard to get there during a short break. However, the drinks that he picked out became useless. He said that he had to run to the vending machine again and again although he didn’t want to, and eventually bought all the drinks from the vending machine. The allowance he received at home was used to pay for the drink every time. He couldn’t cope with being bullied anymore, so he ran away from home, but still couldn’t get rid of that dark memory. But now that he was in power, he was doing the same things as those bullies who bothered him did.

Clang.

A bottle of beverage fell to the floor from the man’s chest. I bent down and picked up a rolling bottle in front of me and stuck it out to the man. But the man was hugging a lot of cold drinks, so he didn’t know what to do with the bottle I held towards him.

“I’m sorry, but can you just put it on top of this?” 

As soon as he bowed down and asked for a favor, the other drinks fell to the floor. ‘Aigoo‘, he exclaimed, and I picked up the second bottle for him again.

“I’ll hold it.”

“Thanks.”

After greeting him, he smiled despondently as if he knew I was a courier who witnessed the situation a while ago. 

“Oh dear, I look funny right? I have no other choice, because I have to eat and live. This is the only place that accepts me after my company closed down, so I’m grateful that I can at least make a living…”

He suddenly lowered his voice as if he had just remembered he was talking about himself to a stranger.

“Ah just in case, you shouldn’t post the incident you just saw about Song Yoohan online.”

“Who is Song Yoohan?” 

“Huh?” He opened his eyes wide.

“Don’t you know Song Yoohan? It’s the damn guy who made me buy this… Cough, he is a celebrity.”

Celebrity… So he became the celebrity he really wanted to be. He changed his name, changed his face, and abandoned his weak image. If you didn’t pay attention, you wouldn’t be able to recognize it.

“Even though he doesn’t receive an annual salary, he’s getting quite popular lately. He’s also done a lot of commercials. He also participated in a weekend variety show 2 months ago…” 

“…”

“…”

“Um, sorry but…”

He suddenly stopped talking and stared at me. Just as I started to feel uncomfortable by his gaze, he suddenly made a strange request. 

“Can you take off your hat?”

“I don’t want to.”

I refused immediately, a flash of embarrassment appeared in his eyes.

“No, I don’t mean anything strange, it’s just that your eyes are very beautiful. I just want to see your face a little more clearly…” 

Ting~

It wasn’t until I heard the elevator arrive that I remembered I didn’t press the button to select the first floor that I wanted to go down to.

Drrr~

Looking at the open door, I put the two beverage bottles on the man’s hand who was still trying to say something. 

“How old are you? Are you a student by any chance? I’m really not a weird person…”

“5 minutes.”

I pointed towards the underground parking lot outside the elevator.

“I think it’s past that time.” 

When he was reminded of Myeongshin, who had changed his name to Song Yoohan, this uncle jumped out of the elevator in surprise. But he still didn’t forget to speak to me aloud.

“Wait a moment here! Don’t go anywhere, wait for a minute!”

He disappeared into the parking lot with a reckless jump and the beverage almost seemed to drop again. I tried to press the elevator button to go up. I wasn’t even curious as to why he told me to wait, and I wasn’t surprised when Myeongshin, whom I met again after a few years, became a celebrity and didn’t recognise me. Rather, I only thought of quickly returning to the distribution centre to complete the sorting for the night shift.

However, the emergency stairs that was a little way from the elevator suddenly opened, and someone stepped out of it. Myeongshin, whom I saw for the second time, was walking into the parking lot while talking with a man in a suit in his early 30s, walking in the opposite direction to the uncle running with a drink. The funny thing is, before he left, he glanced in that direction. Although it was a bit difficult to see because it was blocked by cars and pillars, he must have seen the uncle running in that direction, so he chose to go in the opposite direction. He smirked. 

That laugh made my feet move automatically without realizing it. I was just a little curious. A little curious to determine if he really had turned into a completely different person. I had never been interested in anyone or anything, I must have moved out of curiosity about this person I haven’t seen in a while. No, I could have ignored it and went back. If I did, then I would have gone back to my daily life of still working on delivery services and lived like that. Little did I know that this small curiosity would change my life.

Screech-

The sound of wheels of the cart screeching on the ground sounded exceptionally loudly underground. I stowed it next to the elevator and quietly walked towards the direction where Myeongshin disappeared. He disappeared behind a pillar at the end of the large underground parking lot with a man in a suit. Leaving the protruding wall of the elevator, I slowly walked to the place that was not visible from the direction the soda uncle had disappeared.

I wasn’t expecting anything, I was just curious. I wanted to try to confirm it because I was surprised by his smile earlier. I wonder if it’s still the Myeongshin that I know. Of course I knew. Maybe the guy from the past was just my own delusion, or maybe I may not have ever known what his true self was. Either way, I was betrayed 5 years ago. 

“Oh right, did you look into it?”

When I could hear a barely audible voice, I stopped walking and hid behind a tall van. Following Myeongshin’s voice, the voice of a person in the suit continued. There was a sense of helplessness in his voice.

“I don’t know the details either. I asked the Chief Park, who is Director Yoon’s secretary, a little bit. But he refused to say anything about Director Yoon’s work.”

“But Director Yoon was looking for someone as soon as he returned to Korea, right?” 

“Mhm, that is true but…”

“So who is he looking for? I have to somehow make ties with Director Yoon to get the lead role for the drama that will start next year. If I do well, I will give you a portion of the profit. You know, I’m a man who keeps his promises. ”

Since I didn’t hear an answer, the man in the suit must have signaled that he understood.

“Apparently it was someone he met about 5 years ago. I snuck a peek at the note that Chief Park wrote, the name was…” 

“Name?”

“…”

“What’s the name?”

“Jihwaja.” 

Suddenly, there was silence. At that moment, I doubted my ears for a moment. I wondered if I heard the name correctly. Any parent who gave their child this name must have been out of their mind to be so optimistic. As I was thinking about it, I heard Myeongshin’s voice in disbelief.

“Ji…hwaja?”

“Yeah, Chief Park still couldn’t find that person, so he keeps cursing this Jihwaja name a lot. On top of that, this person also has a nickname.”

“What’s the nickname?” 

“Rabbit.”

“…”

“His name is Jihwaja, but he must have a very cute face.”

“Does Director Yoon like the cute type?” 

When Myeonshin muttered, I heard the other party’s rebuttal.

“It might not be like that.”

“But he’s looking for a person whom he has met once 5 years ago. Is it like, love at first sight or something like that?”

“I thought so too at first, but it’s Director Yoon.” 

“…”

Myeongshin immediately accepted the fact that the word ‘Director Yoon’ covered the whole reason, so there was no answer.

“Rather, he’s probably seeking revenge for 5 years ago, that suits him more.”

“That’s true.” 

“Besides, I heard from a female employee at the office that Director Yoon laughed when he ordered the work. To the point that his dimples could be seen.”

“It must be his enemy.”

If you smile so wide that you have dimples, does that mean that person is an enemy? I doubted for a moment if I heard something wrong about the conversation that I didn’t understand with ordinary common sense.

“But just in case, find out more and let me know. Who knows? Director Yoon might really be looking for his first love… it’s impossible to conclude immediately.” 

“I’m sure it’s an enemy. Still, I’ll investigate and let you know as soon as I know. You’re going to stop by again at night, right? By the way, aren’t you late right now?”

He asked in a hurry, Myeongshin replied in a calm manner.

“Ah, it’s late. But if I want my manager fired, I have to be late.”

“Manager? Ah, CEO Choi who came here after his agency collapsed.” 

“Pfft, what CEO.”

Myeongshin snorted contemptuously, the other said back in a mocking tone.

“But he’s the CEO of the agency you were at before. Cut him some slack.”

“It’s because of me that he’s managed to come this far. On the contrary, how hard did I work when I was under him? He’s the one who couldn’t get a proper sponsor, and every day he said nonsense that I couldn’t get a role because of my lack of acting skills. Then did all the guys who can play good roles just get their acting skills? Anyway, I knew that bastard would go out of business.” 

The tone of sneering at a person sounded natural. It was enough to tell how often and familiarly it came out of his mouth. Even if the soda uncle ran over with the cold drink now, the results were obvious. I don’t think I need to hear any more. Their conversation on the contrary only pissed me off so much that I wondered what I wanted to confirm in the first place.

So I turned around and tried to return to my usual life. However, the following conversation held me back. It seems that the guy in the suit asked, if he left late, he’d have to drive a lot, what if he got into an accident, wasn’t he afraid? Then Myeongshin replied. In a tone that sounded like he was bragging about something to be proud of.

“Afraid? I was almost stabbed to death by a knife, what would I be afraid of.”

…Stabbed with a knife? 

Maybe it’s because what happened 5 years ago has occupied my mind, so I listened without realizing it. However, when asked by a man in a suit, “Really?”, Myeongshin’s answer sounded strange, “Yeah, it was about five years ago. I’ll tell you later, I have to go now.”

I heard their voices and footsteps and hid myself behind the pillar.

Clack clack clack.

The traces of the shoes were ringing in the basement, but for no apparent reason, I felt so terrible that I couldn’t hear anything. What Myeongshin said might be nothing. Maybe he was just talking about a different experience. Even though I thought that in my head, the dirty feeling spread inside like a light fog. After a while, I got out of hiding behind the van and went to the front of the elevator. A growl mixed with frustration came from somewhere that was as faint as a murmur, and then someone rushed towards me. The uncle with sweaty clothes, just like the drink he was holding, looked at me, panting and held out his business card. 

“I’m sorry. I’m in a hurry, I’ve got to go. Here’s my business card, if you have time-”

“I have time tonight.”

It was probably unbelievable that I would accept his offer immediately, so he just stood there blinking even though he was in a rush.

“Ah, then that’s good…” 

“I’ll come here. It’s fine even if it’s at dawn, what time do you finish work?”

The uncle asked, “Really?” and soon changed his expression at the loud sound he heard from somewhere. Then he turned around, gasping for breath, and ran back to the direction he had come from in the first place. His face was red and sweaty, in his head there was only school expenses for children. I put the damp business card in my pocket and waited for the elevator. Now there was only one thought in my head. I needed to confirm it.

Something nasty made me feel dirty.