UCCU | Chapter 3.2

As Seonwoo watched him warily, An Hyungtae hummed as he drove. He said he had to run an errand and dropped Seonwoo off in a faraway neighborhood, so Seonwoo, with no money, ended up missing dinner at the orphanage.

After that, An Hyungtae drove Seonwoo to the playground every day. Sometimes he’d give him snacks or candy, sometimes drinks, to take with him. Seonwoo would share them with Iwon at the playground.

At some point, Iwon started waiting for Seonwoo at the playground. Both of them were easygoing, so they got along great and became fast friends. Seonwoo even got to know Iwon’s guardian and would greet her.

If anyone asked what school he went to, he’d answer just like An Hyungtae told him. Bouncing on the colorful seesaw, Seonwoo admired,

“Your mom always wears such cool clothes.”

“She’s not my mom, just an aunt who takes care of me. My parents are super busy making money.”

They got to know each other, sharing little bits about their lives. As he lied, Seonwoo wished everything he said was true. Even as a kid, he could tell Iwon was loved by his whole family. On the way home in An Hyungtae’s car, Seonwoo would daydream about being Iwon’s brother.

𓂃𓍼 ོ☁

After more than a month of hanging out, Iwon’s guardian was totally relaxed, glued to her phone. She’d probably been bored watching Iwon play alone or playing with him herself. Now, with the two kids getting along so well, she let her guard down completely.

While building a toad house, Seonwoo chattered about his recent trip to the arcade. Iwon was fascinated.

“I’ve never been to an arcade. At home, I’m not really allowed to play games, and I have set TV time.”

For the first time, Iwon looked jealous, and Seonwoo felt a little proud. He glanced at Iwon’s guardian and whispered,

“There’s an arcade on the way here. Want to go play for a bit?”

“What? But I’ll get in trouble if I get caught.”

“If we just play one game, no one will know.”

Hesitating, Iwon pulled Seonwoo under the ship-shaped slide. They left their bags visible and snuck out of the playground. One game turned into two, but Iwon’s guardian didn’t notice a thing. Sharing a secret made them even closer.

On the way home, An Hyungtae asked what they’d done, and Seonwoo answered obediently. When he said they’d gone to the arcade, An Hyungtae’s eyes sparkled, but Seonwoo, fiddling with the little dinosaur keychain Iwon had won for him, didn’t notice.

“Really? The guardian didn’t go with you?”

“We snuck out…”

He answered awkwardly, but instead of scolding him, An Hyungtae said, “Good job.” Why was sneaking to the arcade a good thing? Seonwoo didn’t get it, but he put the keychain in his pocket, feeling uneasy.

A few days later, An Hyungtae gave Seonwoo pocket money instead of snacks. He’d gotten pocket money from him before, so Seonwoo bowed and accepted it. An Hyungtae patted his head like a nice adult.

“Go to the arcade, buy some snacks, play some games.”

“Yes, thank you!”

Excited to play with Iwon, Seonwoo ran to the playground. When he arrived, out of breath, Iwon jumped up from digging in the sand. Seonwoo greeted him and bowed to the guardian.

“Hello.”

“Seonwoo, you’re always so polite.”

Iwon’s guardian smiled, happy to see him. She focused on her phone as the boys played on the swings and crawled under the ship-shaped slide. After a few texts, she started a call, and Seonwoo whispered to Iwon,

“I got pocket money. Let’s get cup tteokbokki and go to the arcade.”

“Okay!”

They left their bags and shoe bags where the guardian could see them and ran off. They bought fish cakes, then cup tteokbokki, and headed to the arcade. With plenty of money, they played every game they wanted. With the leftover change, they tried the claw machine, then left the arcade.

“Isn’t it too late to be playing?”

“It’s fine. I’ll just tell my aunt we went to the bathroom together… Next time, let’s play ‘Return of King Leo.’”

“Yeah! That was the most fun.”

They were chatting as they headed back to the playground when a dark van pulled up beside them. Without thinking, they kept walking, but familiar faces jumped out of the van. It was An Hyungtae’s gangsters.

They covered the kids’ mouths so they couldn’t scream and threw them into the van. The door slammed shut, and the van sped off. Seonwoo was so shocked he couldn’t do anything, just watched as one of the gangsters tied up Iwon’s wrists and ankles with rope.

“Hey, loosen up on his mouth. The kid’s gonna suffocate.”

“Oh, right.”

Iwon’s mouth was gagged with cloth, but Seonwoo was left free. An Hyungtae laughed and roughly ruffled Seonwoo’s hair.

“Good job, Seonwoo. I was wondering how to snatch that brat.”

“I, I…”

Seonwoo stammered, unable to believe what was happening, staring at Iwon. Iwon already had a scratch on his pretty face. His eyes, brimming with tears, glared at Seonwoo with betrayal.

“Here, I’m in a good mood! Pocket money. Go play at the arcade with your friend all day, eat some jjajangmyeon, okay?”

An Hyungtae pulled out some bills and shoved them into Seonwoo’s hand. It was the first time he’d ever held a 10,000-won bill. His sweaty hand took it reflexively, and An Hyungtae cursed at him for being rude.

Seonwoo realized there was nothing he could do, and if he didn’t thank him for the money, he’d get beaten to a pulp.

“Th-thank you for the pocket money…”

While Iwon sobbed into his gag, Seonwoo bowed his head to An Hyungtae, eyes squeezed shut. The guilt was suffocating.

𓂃𓍼 ོ☁

“Hey, what’s up with you these days?”

Yoochan nudged Seonwoo, who was squatting on the ground, with his foot and asked. Lately, Seonwoo had been talking way less and his face looked gloomy, so it seemed like Yoochan was worried.

With a sigh, Seonwoo got up and kicked aside a crushed can. The can rolled noisily down the alley.

“It’s nothing.”

“If it’s nothing, then why are you like this?”

Recently, Seonwoo had started to resent Yoochan more and more for dragging him into a place like this, so he just held back his heavy breathing, afraid he might say something harsh. Yoochan, meeting Seonwoo’s glare, blushed and quickly turned away.

In Seonwoo’s head, he kept replaying the day a few days ago when Iwon was kidnapped by An Hyungtae. And Iwon, who had looked at him with those resentful eyes. Seonwoo knew all too well what a scumbag An Hyungtae was, so his face darkened with worry and anxiety.

If it weren’t for him, Iwon would probably be at home right now, hanging out with his parents, his hyung, and his noonas.

Because of him… Iwon was basically kidnapped because of him. Sniffling, Seonwoo banged his head against the wall once, then dusted himself off and stood up. He nudged the sulking Yoochan.

“Let’s go. If we’re late, we’ll just get beat up for nothing.”

“Yeah…”

Yoochan didn’t look any better. Lately, he’d been constantly compared to Seonwoo, who had suddenly become all polite and quick on the uptake.

He kept getting smacked or kicked for being a middle schooler who was worse than an elementary kid. As this kept happening, Yoochan started to hate Seonwoo more than the gangsters.

Seonwoo pretended not to notice. Since Yoochan dragged him in, he figured Yoochan should take responsibility for this too, grumbling to himself inside. His mind was a mess because of Iwon. He’d been tossing and turning at night, unable to sleep.

The gangsters’ hideout was, as always, filled with a haze of cigarette smoke. Ever since kidnapping Iwon, An Hyungtae had been grinning like he’d won the lottery. As soon as he spotted Seonwoo and Yoochan, he called out loudly.

“Oh, Seonwoo, you’re here? Come over here for a sec.”

Even at his young age, Seonwoo instinctively knew not to show a bad attitude in front of An Hyungtae. So he ran over with a big smile, and An Hyungtae smacked him hard on the back, saying, “You little punk.”

“So, did you eat something good?”

“I had tteokbokki with my friends. Thank you.”

When he answered in a clear voice, An Hyungtae scolded him, “Tteokbokki? Of all things, tteokbokki?” But he still puffed out smoke, looking pleased. As Seonwoo ran errands and eavesdropped, he realized not as many people knew about Iwon’s kidnapping as he thought.

Why was that?

Seonwoo tried to figure it out, but as a kid with little experience or knowledge, he couldn’t guess that this was a contract kidnapping to crush a rival business, and that An Hyungtae had only told his closest people so he could keep all the ransom for himself.

Like a prey animal, all he could do was keep his ears perked and listen carefully to every conversation.

“Ahjussi will order something tasty, so eat up.”

“Thank you!”

“Yeah, you gotta eat well and grow up strong. Aren’t you our little gangster?”

Seonwoo bowed his head as if grateful for the praise, but quietly clenched his fist.

‘Little gangster? No way, I’m never becoming something like that.’

Unlike Yoochan, who admired gangsters and thought An Hyungtae’s words were like the law, Seonwoo’s disgust for the gangsters only grew day by day. To him, everyone here was human trash.

He didn’t even care about Yoochan anymore—he just wanted to get out of here, no matter what happened to him. But for now, his fear of An Hyungtae and worry for Iwon weighed down his heart.

Soon, the food An Hyungtae ordered arrived, and Seonwoo quickly set the table and unwrapped everything. He felt bad seeing Yoochan staring hungrily, but there was nothing he could do.

An Hyungtae hated it when people did things he didn’t ask for, and inviting Yoochan to eat together would definitely count as that.

Seonwoo perked up his ears, hoping to catch any info about Iwon from An Hyungtae’s words. He had thought about going to the police, but there were things that made him hesitate. At the very least, he wanted to find out where Iwon was being held.

Unfortunately, An Hyungtae never mentioned Iwon. After eating his fill, he just called over the nervous Yoochan and made him eat the leftovers. Yoochan, looking humiliated, kept his head down and scarfed down the scraps.

Seonwoo acted even more polite than usual, volunteering for errands for the gangsters. It was so he could walk around the hideout without raising suspicion.

The place they used as a hideout was a pretty big motel, so there were lots of places to check out. In every room, gangsters were sprawled out reading comics or playing cards. Disappointed, Seonwoo sat on the stairs and sighed. That’s when a man called out to him.

“Hey, go up to the roof and bring in the laundry.”

“Okay!”

Seonwoo answered cheerfully and ran up to the roof, sweating buckets under the blazing sun as he gathered the laundry. Suddenly, he heard a faint sobbing sound from somewhere. At first, he thought it was a ghost and got scared, but then he changed his mind.

‘Wait, isn’t that Iwon crying?’

Swallowing hard, Seonwoo put the laundry down and looked around. He checked if there was an illegal rooftop room, but it was just a storage room.

Then he realized the sobbing was coming from inside a drainpipe connected to the roof. Seonwoo quickly finished gathering the laundry and looked for where the pipe led.

‘The basement!’