SN | Chapter 1.1

It’s a straightforward situation.

December 31st. No, it’s now January 1st. It was a bitterly cold winter with a fierce wind blowing. In a half-basement room with the boiler turned off, in an empty house, Yuwon was picking up the sound of the TV seeping through the cracks of an old window along with the cold air. It was a New Year’s program turned up loud by the hard-of-hearing landlord.

After a performance by some idol group he didn’t know, and interviews with citizens filled with happiness, the sound of the New Year’s bell began to ring. As he took in the clear sound, he imagined the crowd gathered at Bosingak to watch the bell-ringing ceremony.

He had seen people on TV smiling with anticipation for the coming day. Remembering those faces, he thought he might as well have gone to Bosingak instead of shivering in the cold at home. Now twenty, it seemed like the perfect age to commemorate.

“Yuwon-ah.”

An uninvited guest barged into the house that had always been just his. It was the moment when twenty-year-old Seo Yuwon was trying to vaguely picture his future.

“Seo Yuwon!”

The door rattled, and the lock, which he couldn’t afford to fix, gave way. The brown aluminum door swung open, revealing Seo Kyungyoung.

His unkempt beard covered his face, and his hollow eyes were unfocused. Nothing had changed from the last time Yuwon remembered. He stared blankly at Seo Kyungyoung as he walked into the entrance.

“You’re home and you don’t even answer…”

“…”

“Can’t even greet your own father? You ungrateful brat.”

The strong smell of alcohol made him frown. It had been years since he’d seen his father, but there was no joy in it. He was just curious about where he got the money to drink.

“Get up, we have somewhere to go. Hurry!”

Meeting his gaze, Seo Kyungyoung urged him as if he had seen Yuwon just yesterday. He didn’t seem at all curious about how his newly adult son had been living without proper guardianship.

Yuwon wanted to detach himself from the situation unfolding before him. He knew it would be a dreadful situation. So he stayed still, hoping it was just a passing nightmare.

“Anyway, you’re all grown up now, so shouldn’t you repay the favor of being raised? Just come with me and sit there. The customers will take care of the rest.”

But when Seo Kyungyoung said those words, he couldn’t stay silent. Every decision his father made had led to a downfall in Yuwon’s life. He couldn’t ignore the resolute tone in his father’s voice.

“…Sit there? What do you mean?”

“Can’t you figure it out? If you just go and spread your legs, I’ll get the money and save up for your marriage! Get up!”

What came back was a sentence that was hard to comprehend. No matter what, he never imagined his father would turn him into a prostitute.

Spread his legs? Get money? What was he talking about? He couldn’t fully understand and just turned pale. Then Seo Kyungyoung kindly explained in detail.

He heard that the son of Mr. Kim, who lived behind them, sold his body to raise money for his father’s gambling, and Mr. Kim swept the big game with it. A loser who wandered around met a good son… So, Seo Yuwon. Yuwon-ah, if you suffer for just a few days, I’ll make that money grow big, buy you a house, a car, and send you to college…

He couldn’t bear to listen to the rambling noise until the end.

“Are you really insane…?”

It was chilling. Could a father really say such things to his child? Where in the world could there be someone who would so naturally suggest that a child should sell their body for a gambling-addicted father?

“Get out of this house! Like you said, I’m an adult now. I don’t need a guardian anymore…!”

He jumped up and shouted, glaring at Seo Kyungyoung. Until yesterday, he was a minor who couldn’t do anything, but not anymore. Yuwon was a full-fledged adult, and if he set his mind to it, he could take care of himself.

“Hey. Yuwon-ah.”

“Don’t ever come back…!”

“This father won’t go back to Jeongseon alone. Got it?”

“So what!”

“Whether it’s a girl or a boy, I’ll take one with me!!”

But belatedly.

Faced with the vicious threat spat in his face, Yuwon realized he had forgotten something important.

When his parents divorced, Yuwon chose to live with Seo Kyungyoung. It wasn’t because of any lingering affection. His mother, who was about to divorce, wanted to live a life without ties to Seo Kyungyoung, and for that, he had to leave her side. If he stayed with his mother, Seo Kyungyoung would demand money from her countless times using him as an excuse. He didn’t want that.

“Well, if you don’t want to, there’s nothing I can do.”

So he ignored his mother’s pleas to come with her and followed his father.

“Let’s see, where your mom lives now…”

It wasn’t just because he was a minor that he endured violence, neglect, and exploitation in his father’s house. Yuwon loved his mother, and because of that…

“Don’t go.”

“What? Speak clearly.”

“I’ll go with you, Dad…”

He had no choice this time either.

“But don’t contact Mom. Promise me.”

“You’re my son, after all. So smart, Yuwon-ah.”

“Promise me!!”

Only after receiving countless assurances that he wouldn’t contact his mother did he leave the house. As he looked back at the closed door of the empty half-basement room, what was he thinking? He was glad he hadn’t gone to Bosingak. Glad that Seo Kyungyoung had found him first instead of his mom.

You never know. Maybe Dad really has a talent. Like that Mr. Kim or Mr. Park, maybe he’ll really sweep the board…

Even while miserably following Seo Kyungyoung, he tried to think positively. Not once did he consider escaping through death.

That was Yuwon’s way of protecting the ones he loved. Seo Kyungyoung was a man who destroyed not only himself but everything around him, but his son, Seo Yuwon, was someone who knew how to sacrifice himself to protect what little he had.

Seo Kyungyoung knew this about Yuwon. Even though he was a lousy father who wandered while Yuwon grew up, he understood very well what kind of person his son was.

So even while moving to the shantytown, he snored on the express bus and didn’t hold onto his son’s wrist. He was completely confident that Yuwon wouldn’t run away.

They arrived in Jeongseon on the first express bus. From there, they took a village bus, passing winding roads until they arrived in front of the shantytown.

Old shacks, snow-covered greenery, everything in sight was unfamiliar. Only the dazzling tower of pleasure shining in the foggy mountain was the same as in his memory. The only difference was that unlike 15 years ago, when he knew nothing, the building no longer looked impressive.

“Come this way!”

Leaving Yuwon standing there, Seo Kyungyoung quickly walked up the hill. Wrapped in indescribable emotions, Yuwon watched his broad back before moving his heavy steps.

The next three days were heaven.

Seo Kyungyoung took care of Yuwon with utmost devotion. With the money he claimed to have won at the casino, he bought Yuwon’s favorite fruits and personally prepared every meal, making him feel like he had returned to his childhood.

A life with nothing he wanted to do or could do. He even had the naive wish that it would be nice to live like this with his dad forever, it was such a peaceful time.

But as always, Seo Kyungyoung just knew. He knew that if he did this, Yuwon would easily accept his situation.

The man barged in with the cold wind at dawn.

While he was sleeping, the door suddenly opened. Shivering from the cold, Yuwon woke up and froze at the unfamiliar presence.

“Who are you…?”

“……”

There was no answer. The man standing in the doorway exuded an indescribable heat. His body instinctively sensed danger and screamed to run, but by the time he came to his senses, he was already unable to escape the man.

It was a horrific first experience.

There was a hand that covered his mouth as he screamed for help. Something forced its way into a tightly closed hole. The organ that mercilessly stirred inside swelled in his belly, spewing boiling seed repeatedly, urging endless reproduction.

It was a merciless time, and a time when he truly understood what he had to do.

But the man who was the beginning of his resignation appeared before him again.

“Why are you trembling? I haven’t done anything yet.”

Unable to say anything and just looking up, the man frowned and muttered with a smile. Soon, the cigarette in the man’s mouth was crushed into the mud. Holding an umbrella in one hand and leaning on the car with the other, the man bent down.

Even as his hair and face were soaked by the rain and wind, the man leaned his waist and brought his face close to Yuwon’s. Only when he stopped at a distance close enough for their breaths to mix did he seem satisfied and smiled.

“……”

As Yuwon held his breath in surprise, the man silently rolled his eyes. The inhumanly blue-gray eyes scanned Yuwon’s pale face thoroughly.

Long eyes, thin double eyelids, eyelashes casting shadows even on cloudy days. After staring at that face for a long time, the man suddenly lowered the hand resting on the car. Grabbing Yuwon’s slender chin, he made him look straight up, then stuck out his tongue and licked the rain-soaked cheek.

“Hut…!”

The creepy sensation, like a snake crawling, continued to his ear. The flickering tongue poked into Yuwon’s ear. The sticky, explicit act of deeply inserting it made his spine tingle.

“Stop…”

As he grabbed the man’s arm in embarrassment, the man finally stopped and laughed. The hot breath gently seeped through the small gap. The man whispered with his lips against Yuwon’s ear.

“With a face like a flower, you should be grateful I let you off.”

What? Before he could question it, his body was lifted, and the world turned upside down. Slung over the man’s shoulder in an instant, Yuwon could see the mud being crushed under the man’s shoes.

Even as his head dangled, Yuwon tried to grasp the situation as best as he could.

Seo Kyungyoung must have caused trouble again. That’s why he was dragged here instead of his father, who couldn’t pay off the debt.

“These idiots, leaving this tiny thing in the car when they’ll be dead by tomorrow?”

Whether it was a coincidence or not, the man who had taken his first time was part of San.

“Ah, Boss. But it’s a guy with a dick, what could happen?”

…Or the owner of San.