Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4.1

Please be warned that this chapter has depictions of violence.

Eunsan clicked his tongue and added nonchalantly, “Great idea. Come here. Don’t waste your strength.”

Gisong started pleading with his hands and turned around as soon as Eunsan beckoned him. He floundered as if ready to bolt but collapsed to the floor within a second. Still, he didn’t give up. He crawled desperately on all fours like a dog.

Hongju saw fear in Gisong as he got closer and closer—a fear so intense it seemed irreparable. The sheer terror on his face made Hongju instinctively scramble off the sofa and step aside.

“Fu.ck! Fu.ck you!”

Eunsan scoffed. He followed Gisong, nudging his rear with the tip of his pointed shoe as if daring him to run. Gisong’s eyes, filled with a mix of humiliation and desperation, kept glancing back.

Only after heightening his prey’s tension to the limit did Eunsan kick him. With one swift kick, Gisong’s face hit the floor, sliding several meters, almost tumbling over.

“Ack!”

“Ugh, you bastard. Hey, I told you not to mess around, didn’t I…?”

“Ugh, keugh, keuk! Wait! Wait, da.mn it!”

Gisong, beaten several times, desperately tried to get up. He clutched his already swollen cheek and backed away. His legs trembled, but as soon as he distanced himself from Eunsan, he bolted like the wind.

But his escape route had long been blocked. A thug skilled in such assaults had already taken measures.

Gisong, bumping into the entrance door with a clatter, fell back from the impact. He groaned, trying to get up again, but his desperate resistance was futile before Eunsan. Eunsan smiled like a demon, waiting for this moment, and stomped on Gisong’s body with his heavy shoe.

“Sigh, this blockhead, really.”

“San—Eunsan, argh!”

“Park Gisong, I’ve given you three chances today. Right?”

Eunsan held up three fingers and grabbed Gisong’s hair. Despite his large build, Gisong was no match for Eunsan’s superior physique.

Gisong struggled, his muscles tense as the veins on Eunsan’s arm bulged.

“Don’t do it… Let go, let go! I said let go!”

Hongju, watching with her hand covering her mouth, suddenly saw herself in Gisong.

“Ah! Fu.ck! Yah! Our boss filled it in!”

Even though he knew he would be caught, he resisted to the end, just like her.

Finally escaping Eunsan’s grasp, Gisong faced off against Hongju, with the sofa between them.

“Bold.”

Eunsan snorted, scratching his cheek. He watched Gisong, who was panting heavily, climb over the sofa. He immediately grabbed Gisong by the back of the neck.

“Heuk!”

“Even you’re trying to let this slide nicely, this bastard.”

Eunsan seemed to enjoy watching Gisong flee, catching up with him in a few strides each time. His brutal and senseless nature was completely at odds with his seemingly normal appearance.

“With such a messy debt situation, how can this work, huh?”

“Argh! I won’t, won’t do it again…”

In the commotion, Hongju’s skirt was ruined. Eunsan’s muddy shoes trampled on her skirt mercilessly as he crossed over the sofa.

The soles of his shoes, dirty from the rain, left stains on her new clothes.

It was a new skirt she had painstakingly changed into in the cramped train bathroom. Buying a new one would cost money.

While it might not seem like much to others, Hongju was in no position to spare even a thousand won. She had no other clothes, having thrown away her old ones.

Staring helplessly at the dirt on her skirt, Hongju bit her lip, feeling both pathetic and resentful.

Her hands shook at the thought of the meager ten or twenty thousand won for new clothes. Eating a single meal a day, nibbling on a small triangle kimbap, and counting the remaining money. Curling up in a corner of a traditional bathhouse, only to flee when a stranger groped her…

It was a life she had never imagined living.

This kind of life, living like this, was foreign to Hongju. She had spent all her energy just getting through each day, always on guard, with no time to reflect on her miserable situation.

…How did it come to this?

As she pondered this, Eunsan’s voice echoed nearby.

“There won’t be a fourth time, Hyung. 24 hours a day, every day. 150. Make sure you get it right.”

The smile that had been on his face was long gone. Eunsan, now expressionless, was focused solely on beating Gisong. The store was a mess, with tables overturned multiple times.

“E-Eunsan… kuek, heuk. I-I understand…”

When Gisong tried to stand up, Eunsan kicked his rear, and stomped on his thighs, arms, and even his face and head, making bone-breaking sounds.

He showed no mercy. Even when Gisong was so bloodied that his features were unrecognizable, Eunsan merely shrugged.

“Eunsan is here. Why do you keep looking for Eunsan, you fu.ck?”

The punches never stopped. Eunsan pulled Gisong’s limp body and slapped his face repeatedly.