DHG Ch 10
by soapa“Your heat cycle may return once your body recovers.”
This was the most important thing to be aware of. Heewoo listened with narrowed eyes.
“It’s actually better to go through your heat naturally without suppressants or symptom relievers…”
The doctor, who had been about to encourage sexual relations with an alpha, looked at the monitor displaying the patient’s basic information and added thoughtfully,
“But since you’re young, I can prescribe medication if you’d like.”
Heewoo nodded. He expressed his thanks and then asked,
“Is it also possible to get tested for STDs?”
Working at Benny’s, there were things he learned whether he wanted to or not. The struggles related to STDs were one of them.
After learning that the escorts received regular checkups at a hospital affiliated with Benny’s, Heewoo had tried to go along, but Kim Jinhwan hadn’t even allowed that. Kim Jinhwan never used contraception. And there had been quite a few times Heewoo had been injured during their encounters, so he had been bracing himself.
Fortunately, he could get a blood test right away at the trait medicine department. They said the results would be out in two days. While Heewoo hesitated, unsure if he would be able to come back, Mingun, who had been patiently waiting, offered to come and pick up the results himself.
By the time all the procedures were finished, it was past noon. Mingun, who had only had a couple of triangle kimbap for breakfast, was hungry, so he led Heewoo to a nearby sundaegukbap restaurant.
“Is that your card?”
Heewoo asked suddenly after they had ordered and settled into a booth. Since he had been brought in penniless, Mingun had paid for the hospital bills. He wasn’t sure whether it was a personal card or Benny’s corporate card, and it would be troublesome if it was the latter.
At Benny’s, they frequently added extra debts to the escorts’ accounts, calling them supplementary expenses. These included room and board, living expenses, and even minor things like grooming costs, hair salon visits, and boutique expenses. Hospital bills were, of course, included. Depending on the item, up to thirty percent interest was added, often resulting in a massive debt, so it was natural to be wary.
Mingun replied,
“Don’t worry. It’s my card.”
“Tell me how much the hospital bills and meal cost. And the clothes too.”
“I’ll buy them.”
“I’ll pay you back.”
“…Just accept it.”
Mingun frowned slightly. He took a sip of water, averting his gaze.
I can’t tell him it’s not my card… but the new boss’s card.
Mingun hid his troubled thoughts. Unlike with Kim Jinhwan, he wanted to hold onto his position with the new boss, Jang Seungyung, as a lifelong job. His loyalty to his new boss unintentionally led him to lie.
“Think of it as clearing your old debt. It’s shameless to call it even with this, but…”
Mingun said, unable to hide his discomfort. Heewoo, who had been refilling Mingun’s empty glass with water with his unbandaged hand, looked up quietly.
Clearing his old debt?
Heewoo knew Mingun felt guilty towards him. Heewoo recalled four years ago when he first met Mingun. Although it was barely noticeable now, Mingun’s accent when he transferred to Heewoo’s middle school had been peculiar. Born to a Korean father and a Chinese mother, he had become an orphan and learned circus skills under a Chinese organization. Kim Jinhwan, who had connections with human traffickers, had taken an interest in Mingun and brought him to Korea.
Mingun’s first assignment had been to enroll in that middle school. There, Mingun had watched Heewoo. That was the reason for Mingun’s guilt, or whatever it was.
‘I don’t know if life before coming to Korea was better or worse than now. In your words… six of one, half a dozen of the other?’
Mingun had said something like that once.
‘No, wait. Being a gangster makes it worse, doesn’t it?’
Mingun, self-deprecating as always, had bought him a vegetable juice, even paying extra, before leaving.
Like that, Mingun never really hid anything, whether it was guilt or something else. Unlike Heewoo himself, who had always suppressed the resentment that would occasionally flare up, not only towards Kim Jinhwan, but also towards Mingun. But now, he felt a different kind of strangeness from Mingun.
Strangeness…
Come to think of it, there was something else odd. Heewoo glanced at the two large men sitting at a nearby table, laying out their side dishes.
“….”
They were the same group he had run into as soon as he left the hospital entrance. Mingun had even casually greeted them, as if he had nothing to hide.
Sipping some cold water, Heewoo recalled being restricted from leaving. He might be overthinking it, but both Mingun constantly staying by his side and the sudden appearance of the large men were suspicious.
“Are you watching me?”
He happened to have someone he could ask right in front of him.
Mingun blinked a couple of times and drank more cold water. Just then, two steaming bowls of sundaegukbap arrived. Mingun grabbed a piping hot bowl of rice and changed the subject.
“Ouch, hot! Uh, um, should I mix your rice for you?”
He gestured towards Heewoo’s bandaged hand. Heewoo, who had been skillfully using chopsticks and drinking water with his left hand until now, gave him a rare look of displeasure.
“Seriously?”
“Uh… well. It’ll get cold. Eat quickly.”
Mingun swirled the well-cooked rice into the broth. He lowered his head almost into the bowl and started eating the sundaegukbap rapidly.
Still, the warm broth seemed to settle his uneasy stomach. After confirming that the food had arrived at the other table with the large men, Mingun lowered his voice.
“Well… Heewoo, you were caught running away, right?”
The interrupted topic resumed.
“We have to consider that.”
Like some of the people who remained at Benny’s, Heewoo was now in a position where he had to repay his debt to Jang Seungyung. Mingun pointed this out.
“And yesterday, the old boss… no, Kim Jinhwan came looking for you, right? If a debtor who hasn’t paid off their debt gets caught by Kim Jinhwan, it wouldn’t look good for the new boss.”
Mingun said, slurping down the sundaegukbap mixed with kkakdugi (radish kimchi). He chewed for a long time, as if something was stuck in his throat, and added to Heewoo, who was listening attentively,
“But if I were you, I’d just be happy.”
“…About what?”
“Because if you’re under Boss Jang, you won’t have to be dragged back to Kim Jinhwan again. He’ll protect you.”
Like that, Mingun said, gesturing towards the large men who were eating. It meant surveillance and protection. Protection from Kim Jinhwan. Something Kwon Heewoo would desperately want.
“Sometimes you should just…”
Live without thinking. Without questioning, just go with the flow. Then it would be easier. Mingun, about to speak according to his usual beliefs, hesitated. He wondered if he had the right to say that to Heewoo.
Mingun swallowed his words along with the kkakdugi, but Heewoo understood the unspoken message. You think too much. It was something he had often heard.
Just think positively. If you just give Boss Kim a kiss, he’ll be putty in your hands. You’re making things difficult for yourself.
“….”
Silence fell between the two as they finished their bowls. Neither of them was particularly talkative, and Heewoo didn’t want to reveal his inner thoughts to Mingun, so he remained quietly lost in thought.
By that time, he was preoccupied with the new creditor, Jang Seungyung.
About the moment last night when he had showered him with pheromones.
There was no doubt why Jang Seungyung had done that. He had said he wanted to check if Heewoo was an omega. The reason must have been a prank aimed at an easy target.
The strange thing was his own reaction. Why had he been shocked when the man had molested him? All of a sudden.
“….”
He rubbed his chest with his good hand, where a now-numb ache lingered. Recalling the inexplicable pain, Heewoo concluded that Mingun had a point.
He really did overthink things. Aside from matters concerning Kim Jinhwan, he was always caught up in things that had no answers, even if he pondered them. Things that weren’t important to his survival, like reflecting on his own feelings.
Would rice or money come from this? Time was too precious to be wasted on such things. The important thing was the amount of debt remaining. The fact that the new creditor wasn’t pressing for payment. Not his feelings towards that creditor.
And… the fact that he might be completely free from Kim Jinhwan.
That was important.
Heewoo thought about Kim Jinhwan, whom he had encountered last night. Although he had run away in fear, unlike before, the man hadn’t laid a finger on him. He had just given him a pheromone shower, that was all.
I hope I never see him again.
Heewoo felt a newfound gratitude for the large men eating nearby. Having experienced various things with Kim Jinhwan, he admitted that Jang Seungyung was protecting him better than the police.
Summer was fading. Taking a spoonful of the warm broth, Heewoo looked out the window. The rain had stopped, and sunlight filled the sky. The late September sky, welcoming autumn after a long summer, was breathtakingly clear.
✮⋆˙
Two days later, contrary to his worries, he was able to revisit the hospital quickly. It was thanks to Madam Won readily agreeing, her gaze fixed on Heewoo’s bandaged hand.
At the trait medicine department, which he revisited with Mingun, Heewoo checked the progress of his pheromones and received the results of his STD test.
While his pheromone condition required continuous treatment, fortunately, the STD test came back negative. The tension that had unknowingly gripped his body for the past few days slowly dissipated.
That day, Heewoo returned to Benny’s and sought out Madam Won again. He wanted to confirm whether the debt reduction and hospital bills had been added as additional debt. This was separate from his trust in Mingun.