AT Ch5

Despite the somber atmosphere, the sandwich went down smoothly. She needed to eat quickly, gather her strength, and look for work for the day.

Just as Taekyung’s palm casually landed on the crown of Baekyoung’s head, the loosely fitted door swung open.

“What’s this? Are you two dating?”

Jang Heejo asked, his brow furrowed, looking the same as he had when he’d entered her place yesterday.

“Yeah. We decided to start seeing each other today.”

Taekyung affirmed, when Heejo had probably expected him to deny such nonsense.

“Bullshit.”

Whether he believed it or not, Jang Heejo just spat out the curse, leaving it ambiguous.

He grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the small refrigerator and gulped it down, crushing the empty bottle in his hand. The bluish veins on the back of his hand and the knuckles of his fingers stood out. Jang Heejo’s hand was quite large, almost completely enveloping the 500ml water bottle.

The room was barely big enough for two people, and now there were two more burly men besides her.

Thinking she needed to get out of there quickly, Baekyoung got up from the bed. Then, she roughly brushed off the breadcrumbs that had fallen from the sandwich.

“I don’t like people eating on the bed.”

Jang Heejo, who had come right up to the bed, said something out of the blue. Baekyoung widened her eyes and checked to see if there were any remaining crumbs she had dropped.

Wasn’t he calling someone to clean today? She wouldn’t be sleeping in this bed again anyway, so why was he telling her this?

“Sorry, I didn’t know your preference.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. We’ve never shared a bed.”

Baekyoung thought that no answer would come back no matter how politely she apologized, but unexpectedly, Jang Heejo responded readily. It was as she lowered her gaze and passed by Taekyung.

“Bye, honey.”

Taekyung said, covering Baekyoung’s small head with his large hand. There was no hint of a smile in his voice.

Baekyoung knew that this was a warning disguised as a joke.

“Sister-in-law, farewell. Your room’s blanket smells nice.”

Jang Heejo was the only one smiling in this place.

A nice smell.

The day before yesterday, she had dragged her tired body to the laundromat and put the blanket in the extra-large washing machine for 5,000 won. She liked the blanket with the strong scent of fabric softener, so she took the plunge and bought two 500-won fabric softeners to put in. It was only natural that it smelled nice.

Recalling the scent of capital bought with money, Baekyoung slipped out of the room.

The work she was assigned to today, despite the effort of hurrying to the bathhouse for a quick wash, was cleaning the operating room at the hospital. She didn’t know whether to call it an operating room or a base for organ trafficking, but since she hadn’t directly seen any organ trafficking, it was an operating room for now.

There was blood everywhere, even outside the operating room, as if a mass slaughter had taken place. Dried blood was difficult to clean, but the pay was good accordingly. So, it was one of the jobs she preferred, even though she didn’t like it. A job she regretted after doing because the smell of blood wouldn’t leave her body for days.

“I heard Chairman Jang’s second son caused trouble yesterday.”

There were three people mobilized here today, probably because it was too difficult to do alone. Among them, Park Cheolsoo, whom she knew, approached Baekyoung and whispered while pushing the mop listlessly.

“Little Director Jang?”

“Uh-huh.”

The first son was called Big Director, and the second son was called Little Director. There were rumors that the second son, Jang Baekjo, had a fiery temper and even fought with his brothers with sashimi knives. Usually, Jang Baekjo’s name was always mentioned in such bloody incidents.

“…He was discharged from the military, right? I heard he was hanging out with guys from Hong Kong after being discharged and just came back?”

Park Cheolsoo’s voice became so low that it was hard to understand.

Jang Heejo was the only one in Chairman Jang’s family who could use the word “discharged” because he had gone to the military as soon as he turned twenty.

Jang Heejo and Jang Baekjo had a particularly bad relationship. The two, who were fifteen years apart in age, were more like enemies than brothers.

Of course, Baekyoung had only heard rumors and had never seen the two of them together.

“He brought something with him when he came in from Hong Kong, and it seems Little Director messed with it.”

Ah, whatever it is, it’s gone now.

Baekyoung nodded vaguely, looking at the water in the bucket that had already turned dark brown. She needed to rinse the mop one more time and change the water.

“Little Director is denying it vehemently, and surprisingly, … is quiet, but that must have pricked him, so he went on a rampage with knives against …’s guys yesterday.”

Baekyoung stared silently at Park Cheolsoo, who called the fiery-tempered Jang Baekjo “Little Director” but self-censored someone else’s name as if it were taboo to mention it.

“I see.”

She had to pretend to listen. Baekyoung made eye contact with Park Cheolsoo and nodded to maintain her social life.

“Baek, you didn’t hear a word, did you?”

“I heard everything. So, no one got hurt?”

If this much blood was spilled, there wouldn’t be any injured people, only dead ones.

“The inpatient rooms are full right now. The undertaker, no, … wasn’t in his room, so innocent people died needlessly.”

Jang Heejo’s brothers are called Big Director and Little Director here. Taekyung also calls Jang Heejo Director Jang. But the people in the Ant Tunnel called Jang Heejo the Undertaker. As if something terrible would happen if they said that name.

How did Jang Heejo get the nickname Undertaker at such a young age? She was sometimes curious, but Baekyoung didn’t want to know the reason any further.

Perhaps Jang Heejo’s nickname was established when the morgue on the 4th floor of this hospital was full, and the smoke from the chimneys of the private crematorium next to the Ant Tunnel billowed non-stop for a week.

“They don’t know where he’s hiding. Little Director is grinding his teeth. He says he’s going to kill him this time for sure.”

Uh-oh, he was next door to us until this morning.

At this rate, she might get caught up in the brothers’ fight. Baekyoung prayed inwardly that the apartment next door would be empty when she returned in the evening.

“You think you’re getting paid for nothing? Why aren’t you working faster?”

The crazy doctor, who was an alcoholic and whose hands trembled even when holding a scalpel, kicked open the operating room door and shouted. There were rumors that he didn’t tremble from the moment the scalpel touched human skin. She hadn’t seen it herself, so she didn’t know the truth.

If he had really failed in surgery because his hands were shaking, he would have died here unnoticed long ago, but as far as Baekyoung knew, the crazy doctor had been working here for over 10 years.

“Choi Baekyoung!”

Kim Kwangsoo, the nutjob doctor, whose nose was already red and flushed, approached Baekyoung and greeted her familiarly.

“Hello. You’re drunk again today.”

“You know I like you, right? This, this!”

“Don’t just say I’m pretty a hundred times, give me money.”

“You never back down, this one.”

Kim Kwangsoo, who was probably in his mid-50s, was particularly lenient with Baekyoung. The pay he gave while assigning work was neither more nor less than the set amount, but he always picked Baekyoung when several people applied. This level of banter had reached the point where she could just ask for money instead.

Dirty social life.

“Wash up a bit. I don’t know when I might get hurt, and I don’t want to be treated by a doctor whose hands are shaking.”

“Baekyoung, it’s free if you come! I’ll stitch you up nicely for free. Just don’t come when you’re dead. Our Baekyoung’s organs must be pretty too, oh dear, I might cry?”

Kim Kwangsoo laughed gruffly, spouting words that were hard to tell whether they were drunken ramblings or genuine. Baekyoung felt a strange tingling in her internal organs and rubbed her lower abdomen with her gloved hand. Kim Kwangsoo, noticing her nervousness, laughed and tapped her on the shoulder. At the same time, Park Cheolsoo kicked her with his shoe.

“Ouch! Why are you hitting someone who’s just standing here!”

“I heard you telling her scary stories and making her nervous. Stop talking nonsense and clean well.”

“No, I was just telling the truth….”

Park Cheolsoo protested, feeling wronged, but the shoe came back again. With a thud, Park Cheolsoo, who had been knocked away, quickly grabbed the bucket and left the operating room to avoid getting hit again.

“For the time being, don’t go to the underground room or the gambling den, and come to work here. Don’t catch the Little Director’s eye.”

“If you pay me a lot.”

The underground was a space allowed only to a select few.

It was completely different from the shabby and dilapidated exterior of the Ant Tunnel, which looked like ghosts would come out at any moment.

Sometimes, they would call Baekyoung, who was good at her job, to the underground. That place was another world. Beautiful women forgot day and night and entertained key figures in the political and business world, and it was no exaggeration to say that all of Chairman Jang’s affairs revolved around that place. Everything happened in the basement here.

Baekyoung hated and liked that place at the same time.

She could bring out delicious food when it was over, and the pay was good for helping drunk women or taking care of the cleanup. But it was also a dangerous place where it was easy to get caught up in fights, and she could become the protagonist of the blood pooling on the floor.