AT Ch8

There’s no such thing as a good thing here. So, you had to find something to smile about even in such small acts of kindness. Otherwise, your mood would hit rock bottom in no time, and you would be more likely to fall into bad temptations.

After Sooyoung passed away, Baekyoung began to see the world through different eyes.

Even a shitty Ant Tunnel like this was still a place where people live. So, there’s also kindness exchanged between people. And the kindness contained in the respirator and the banana milk was by no means small.

It’s still bearable. I can still endure.

If she had her way, she would have liked to relax until the bathhouse closed. Baekyoung, who usually just took a quick shower and left, had splurged on a bath this time. But Jang Heejo’s words, telling her to wait until he came out, were stuck in her head like a spell and wouldn’t leave for a long time.

In the end, she quickly got out of the tub and instead scrubbed her whole body red with the free soap, washing her hair five times before coming out.

She couldn’t leave later than Jang Heejo. He was someone who shouldn’t be kept waiting outside. Eventually, after an hour, she stood facing Myungjoo at the counter without even drying her hair. As promised, he held out a cold banana milk with a straw inserted.

“Why did you come out so early?”

“You told me to wait.”

“Ah… He’s not out yet.”

Myungjoo shrugged and told her where Jang Heejo was. Baekyoung suppressed her anxious heart with the sweet milk, leaning against the counter.

But even after 30 minutes, Jang Heejo didn’t come out. Eventually, Myungjoo placed a towel under Baekyoung’s head, who was half-asleep and slumped over.

It was only after two hours that Jang Heejo came out, humming and looking neat with his hair completely dry.

“Lead the way.”

Baekyoung, looking at him with sleepy eyes, silently took the lead. Retracing their steps through the maze-like corridors, they reached the 7th floor when she heard another small curse from behind. The sun had already set, and darkness had fallen outside along with the lights of the harbor.

Baekyoung leaned against the concrete wall to dry her still damp hair. Jang Heejo, who was about to enter his room, stopped when he saw her.

Now that she looked, the front door had been replaced with an incongruous steel door, complete with a keypad lock. This wasn’t a good sign. It meant that Jang Heejo would be staying here for quite a while.

“Are you going to stay here for good?”

“Why are you curious?”

He leaned against the opposite concrete wall, watching her as he asked back.

“…It’s uncomfortable to live here.”

Meaning, someone like you could stay anywhere nice.

“I have something to find, and there’s also some bastard looking for me right now. This place is complicated. That bastard only knows about the underground; he won’t be able to find me inside the Ant Tunnel.”

Because she had heard the story at the hospital today, Baekyoung thought she knew who “that bastard” he was talking about was.

A cold wind brushed past Baekyoung’s cheeks and swept to the end of the hallway. She silently looked at Jang Heejo across the large concrete opening.

In her heart, the words ‘I already cleaned up the people you sent away yesterday,’ and ‘You’ve been living up to the Undertaker name since you arrived’ swirled around, but she couldn’t say them to him directly.

“What are you looking at? I heard you’re dating Taekyung, so why are you looking at me like that?”

“We’re not dating.”

“Ah, so it’s okay to look at me like this because you’re not dating?”

“How am I looking at you?”

The wind swept Baekyoung’s bangs to the side, clearly revealing her eyes. The eyes that met his were closer to charcoal than black. But they didn’t look dim either, so Jang Heejo didn’t find the woman’s gaze unpleasant.

Jang Heejo didn’t know the people of the Ant Tunnel. Today was the first time he had faced a drug addict head-on, and he felt bad because they had a hazy gaze that didn’t seem human. And he didn’t look closely at the bathhouse guy because he seemed only interested in money. Choi Baekyoung was the first person he had looked at closely here.

To live here with that face and those eyes.

Jang Heejo slightly corrected his prejudice that only people who had fucked up their lives lived here.

“I don’t know what kind of eyes those are because I’ve never seen eyes like yours before. Are you trying to seduce me?”

That’s not it. When she’s trying to seduce someone, her eyes get a little hazy. They also become languid.

For Jang Heejo, humans were divided into two categories: those who were crazy about him and rushed to have him, and hostile ones who rushed to kill him.

The one standing in front of him now was definitely not the latter, but her eyes were too clear to be the former. Still, just in case, he asked more directly.

“No.”

As if to prove that she wasn’t, Baekyoung turned her gaze back to the world outside the concrete opening.

Jang Heejo’s mood became strange as he looked at her. He felt even worse that she stated it wasn’t true and openly turned her gaze away.

He was always the center of attention. He did everything he wanted, and if there was someone he wanted to get rid of, he would take care of it himself without borrowing someone else’s hand.

That’s why anyone who knew him even a little wouldn’t make eye contact like this. And they definitely wouldn’t turn away from eyes that had openly met his.

A good smell wafted in the wind. It was a smell he had smelled on the blanket before.

Jang Heejo took another quick breath. He had definitely washed with the same stuff as her at the bathhouse, but the woman smelled different.

The mattress in the room he had taken from the woman had all the springs broken. He couldn’t sleep properly all night because it dug into his back. It felt more painful than when his older brother kicked him.

But the pleasant scent from the blanket instantly calmed the anger that had been rising to the top of his head.

Jang Heejo, who had a sensitive sense of smell, didn’t use just any perfume. Taekyung was worried that he wouldn’t be able to stand the Ant Tunnel for even a moment. But what overcame all that discomfort was his pride.

An item he had brought in himself had disappeared.

He knew it was the second oldest’s doing, but there was no concrete evidence. Fortunately, the second oldest hadn’t gotten his hands on the item either. All of that had allowed Jang Heejo to develop patience.

The virtue of waiting, bullshit, fuck that.

He had to find the item before the second oldest, Jang Baekjo. He could definitely kill that bastard with his own hands someday, so finding the item was the priority now. It was an item that couldn’t be sold as stolen goods anyway. He had to get it before the inauguration ceremony, no matter what.

The place where the item’s whereabouts became unclear.

Jang Heejo decided to start there. That’s why he was nesting in this Ant Tunnel now, but the person living next door was disturbingly bothersome.

“What’s not?”

Jang Heejo bent down and suddenly brought his face close to Baekyoung’s. A stinging gaze fell on Baekyoung’s profile. It was unbearable not to turn around.

“…I’m not trying to seduce you.”

Eventually, she turned her face and met Jang Heejo’s gaze. The distance was too close. Perhaps because she had just washed, her face without any makeup looked almost like a boy’s. It wouldn’t be strange if she was a newly debuted idol.

“That’s a relief. It would have been a problem if you were trying to seduce me. I can’t exactly not fall for someone who lives next door.”

…Does that mean he would fall for it if she tried to seduce him?

While Baekyoung was pondering the subtle undertones of his words, the steel front door suddenly opened.

The tension that had been building up because he was getting closer was instantly relieved. Taekyung walked out from inside the door.

“What time is it now to be coming in?”

“I got lost, and the neighbor gave me a bath and brought me here.”

Jang Heejo said to Taekyung with a sulky smile like a child. Taekyung looked at Baekyoung, who was standing next to him, with a dumbfounded expression. Baekyoung, unable to swallow the words swirling in her mouth, approached Taekyung and held out her hand.

“Give me the money. 50,000 won. Bath fee.”

Even if Jang Heejo didn’t have money right now, Woo Taekyung would.

“Isn’t that expensive for a bath fee?”

At Taekyung’s quiet question, Baekyoung replied shamelessly like someone from the Ant Tunnel.

“Includes the fee for guiding a lost child.”

“Am I only worth 50,000 won? And what, a lost child? Am I a kid?”

Jang Heejo’s mood soured a little as Baekyoung, who had been right in front of him, scurried over to Taekyung. He was dumbfounded to even hear the words “lost child.” He approached Taekyung and glared at him.

“Give it quickly.”

Baekyoung pressed Taekyung, wanting to quickly finish the transaction and go into her room to rest.

“Give her 100,000 won.”

Jang Heejo added from the side, saying that he was only worth 50,000 won and that he should give her twice as much. Eventually, Baekyoung got two 50,000 won bills from Taekyung and quickly opened the door to her room and went inside.

The hand holding the two yellow bills, bravely obtained, trembled belatedly.