TE Ch 01

There were dozens of people inside the gambling house, but no one was having a proper conversation. The sound of shuffling cards, the sound of spitting phlegm, the sound of cursing mixed with cigarette smoke. Only vulgar and low-class noises filled the air. There was a young child who did not fit in. The child tightly gripped his dad’s worn-out cotton pants.

“Manager Yang, I’m begging you!”

“Hey, mister. You haven’t even paid off the last loan you took. What makes you think you can get another one? You don’t have anything left to offer.”

Manager Yang coldly closed the ledger. His one remaining eye turned to the man’s crotch. His gaze met with a young boy who was standing half-hidden. When Manager Yang grinned, the gold crown on his front tooth sparkled.

“Why would you bring a kid to a gambling den? Did you think I’d go soft if you put your child on the line?”

He looked about eight years old. The skinny, small child was clearly not being taken care of properly. Well. If he had thought of his child, he wouldn’t have gambled his money away. Manager Yang, who was closing the zipper of the bag full of money, took out a few bills. Then, he made a sound that one would make when calling a puppy and wiggled his fingertips.

“Coochie coochie coo~ How old are you?”

The small hand holding the man’s pants trembled. The frightened eyes scanned the surroundings. The adults sitting around each table had gaunt faces. The wide room was foggy and hazy from all the chain-smoking, and the stale, musty smell was nauseating. The child’s breath trembled at the curses and shouts coming from all around. Sweat began to form on his palms.

“Not answering when an adult asks you a question? Huh? Is your dad too busy gambling that he didn’t teach you that?”

Manager Yang chuckled and tapped the child’s head with a few bills. Each time, his thin shoulders hunched.

“Fine, I’ll leave him!”

“Huh?”

Manager Yang, who had been slumped over the desk, raised his head. The area around the child’s dad’s eyes was sunken and dark, and the corners of his mouth were flaky. The way his eyes darted around nervously was the face of a perfect gambler.

“I’ll leave him as collateral. He’s young, so he’ll be useful. You can make him work, or even beg, and he’ll do it well. Huh? Manager Yang, please.”

“Woah, mister. Do you know how hard it is to raise a child these days? Who would accept collateral that costs money?”

Manager Yang stuffed the bills into the neckline of the child’s stretched-out orange T-shirt. Then, he picked his ear with his pinky finger and pretended to be uninterested. When the atmosphere did not turn positive, the man added urgently.

“H-Hongju eats very little, and even if he’s hit, he doesn’t make a sound. Manager Yang! This time, if I win, I’ll pay you back everything! Even the last loan, all at once!”

“Haa.”

There were cases where people put their own organs on the line, but this was the first time he has seen someone put their child on the line. Manager Yang clicked his tongue and glanced back. He met eyes with Koo Bbing, who was lying down with her legs propped up on the windowsill. Koo Bbing, the owner of the gambling house, withdrew her gaze from the boy and nodded slightly. Manager Yang straightened his back and pulled the money bag closer. At the heavy movement, the man’s murky eyes flashed.

“Where did you play?”

“Over there, that side.”

The place the man pointed to was the table under the window. There, he met eyes with someone who was checking the playing cards with a cigarette in his mouth. He was a player who frequented the gambling house for fun. The player, who had flashy things dangling from his fingers and wrists, winked at Manager Yang. As long as he was involved, the probability of this man winning money was close to 0%.

“You got yourself into an interesting game.”

Manager Yang rolled one of his eyes and looked at the boy. His T-shirt was stretched out and his hair was a mess, but his eyes were clear.

“This is why you have to be born to good parents. Tsk.”

Manager Yang muttered softly and opened the zipper of the money bag. Ziiiip. As the blue bills began to appear, the man’s eyes flashed.

“5 million! 5 million is enough.”

“5 million. Let’s see, what’s your name?”

“Koo Hyeon-geun, Koo Hyeon-geun.”

Even while saying his name, he checked his watch with hollow eyes. He was losing money while the cards were starting to feel good in his hands, so he was nervous that the flow would be interrupted.

“We don’t usually lend money if the principal can’t be recovered. I’m doing this to save your face because of the kid. You know that, right?”

“Of course, of course.”

Manager Yang slowly opened the ledger. He scanned the ledger with his fingertips and searched for the name ‘Koo Hyeon-geun’. Soon, his short fingernail tapped on one spot.

“Our Mr. Koo has borrowed a lot, hasn’t he? Right now… the remaining amount is 40 million. If we add the loan you’re taking this time, it’s 45 million? You’ll have to rewrite the loan agreement.”

“Yes, yes! I can win it back in a few rounds!”

Manager Yang snorted and opened the desk drawer. He took out a loan agreement from the drawer full of them and began to fill in the blanks.

Total amount, 45,000,000 won. Prepayment interest, 9,000,000 won. Collateral… The pen stopped for a moment.

“Kid’s name?”

“Koo Hongju, Koo Hongju.”

What a pretty name. Manager Yang muttered indifferently and drew a line without hesitation. Collateral, Koo Hongju.

“Sign here.”

The man picked up the pen with trembling hands. Without even checking the contents, he scribbled his name in the signature field. In the meantime, Manager Yang placed four bundles of one million won on the desk. The prepayment interest was one million won.

“Take the money.”

The man, who put down the pen as if throwing it away, quickly took the bundles of money.

“D-Dad…”

He roughly brushed off the small hand that was holding onto his pants. The little child tried to follow his dad, sniffling, but was caught by a rough hand.

“Oho. Where do you think you’re going?”

“Dad!”

The money stuffed in his worn-out T-shirt fluttered to the floor. As if he couldn’t hear his son’s desperate voice, the man just walked away, cutting through the hazy cigarette smoke.

“Dad…”

The child kept calling for his dad. Until his eyelashes were soaked, and his lips trembled. But his dad, who disappeared behind the cigarette smoke, never came back. That was the first day Hongju came to the gambling house.

 

***

 

“Hey, hey, Hongju. Get up. You have to eat.”

Hongju, who was tossing and turning with an aching body, opened his swollen eyes. Did his eyeball burst? It was so swollen that he couldn’t open it properly, and it was hot as if it had been burned. When he managed to get up, a small table was placed in front of him. When he opened the lid of the pot, hot steam came out, and after it subsided, he saw well-boiled ramen. Now that food was in front of him, he felt hungry.

“Pfft. Hey, you look just like Manager Yang. Where did one of your eyeballs go?”

“What are you talking about?”

The thug who handed him chopsticks started laughing. His loud laughter was deafening. When he subtly covered his right ear, the noise subsided. His earlobe was warm, as if he had a fever.

“Who beat you up like that? The one at the billiard hall?”

The thug slurped the noodles loudly. Hongju quietly picked up the noodles, taking only his share in a bowl.

“No. The post office.”

“Ah, that guy. Even with a decent job, he just can’t quit gambling, huh? Isn’t that right?”

The thug took a handful of noodles and chewed them loudly. Hongju, who was quietly moving his jaw, nodded slowly. When people come to the gambling house, 100 out of 100 people are under the illusion that they will win money. Manager Yang was the one who lent money to those who had such foolish hope, excluding the prepayment interest. Most of the people who borrowed money became penniless at the gambling table, so they couldn’t pay back the money on time or ran away in the middle of the night. People just like his dad. Hongju’s job was to find such people and collect money. He was beaten up, had cold water poured on him in the middle of winter, and suffered all kinds of hardships. Nevertheless, Hongju was good at collecting money. Because that was the way to pay off his debt.

“When the gambling house gets bigger and hits the jackpot, ask to get another guy to collect money. A tough guy with a good punch.” He tapped Hongju’s bowl with his chopsticks and added. Although he was rough, Hongju knew that he was worried about him, who had been beaten to a pulp.

“Koo Bbing won’t like it. He’ll say it costs too much to feed more mouths.”

“That Koo Bbing, he always makes a fuss about food. That guy is so cheap.”

The thug put down his chopsticks and poured all the remaining soup in the pot into his mouth. Thump! The pot, which was put down roughly, had only a few pieces of mushrooms and noodles stuck to it. It was the timing when Hongju barely finished the noodles in his bowl.

“You’re done, right? We have to go to the temporary gambling house from today, so we have to leave early.”

“I know.”

“If you know, move quickly. Or Koo Bbing will get mad again.”

The thug roughly put the empty pot and spoon in the sink. Hongju got up from his seat, looking at the hideous sight of him wearing only a pair of trunks in the middle of winter. He moved his stiff body to the bathroom.

“I’ll do the dishes when I get back later. Leave them and get dressed.”

“Of course. You think I’ll cook, serve, and do the dishes?”

Hongju laughed softly at the answer that came back.

“Ugh.”

Then he frowned because his torn lip stung. When he touched his lip, blood came out on his fingertip. It’ll sting when toothpaste touches it. With such thoughts, he took out his toothbrush.

After getting ready, he left the house with the thug. The place where they are staying now was the lodging for the gambling house employees. Even though it was called a lodging, it was just three men living together in a small room, and two of them were big thugs who were security chiefs. Only Hongju was pushed around among them. But it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable. Because they didn’t bully or touch him.

The temporary gambling house was an inn building that was only left in form. There were many rooms, so it was good to set up a table or put a table in, and the surrounding buildings were already half-demolished, so even if someone ran away, they would be immediately noticeable. Whether it was because it was too expensive to call a truck to carry the tables and luggage, Koo Bbing used a van several times and made Hongju and the security chiefs work. Recalling the memory of carrying luggage without rest, his shoulders felt stiff.

“Oh, it’s the first day, and there are a lot of suckers here.”

As the thug said, there were already several cars in front of the inn. Even in such a poor place, there were many crazy people who came to try their luck with money. Hongju shook his head left and right and made a tired face.

“Hey, are you slacking off?”

A large figure who was standing in front of the building drinking canned coffee turned his head. It was Choi Gun, who worked in shifts with the thug. All they did was ‘resolve conflicts with force’, but there were dozens of fights a day in the gambling house. Their large size, intimidating appearance, and violent hands were very effective in suppressing the disturbance. Knowing this, Koo Bbing also took care of the two security chiefs in shifts.

“Damn it, I’m leaving an hour later.”

It should be time to change shifts. Choi Gun muttered annoyingly.

“Why?”

“They said they fired Uncle. They asked me to stay for another hour.”

Uncle was the name for someone who served or did odd jobs at the gambling house. He was there when they were carrying luggage in the van. Why did they fire someone who was doing well? Such curiosity didn’t last long. It was the same for the thug and Choi Gun.

“Let’s go up.”