PSY CH 42

It was 11 PM when he returned to the lodging house. Despite the late hour, the hallways were brightly lit. With an uncomfortable expression, Jooyoung walked down the corridor and soon bumped into Sunwoo, who was coming from the opposite direction.

“Good evening, Jooyoung-ssi!”

Sunwoo greeted him with a bright smile. Perhaps aware of the late hour, his voice wasn’t as loud as usual. 

Since he wasn’t feeling well, Jooyoung intended to just exchange greetings and walk past. But Sunwoo called out to him.

“Jooyoung-ssi, is everything alright? No missing items or anything like that.”

Without beating around the bush, Sunwoo went straight to the point. 

“Oh, you haven’t checked the bulletin board, have you? There was a theft report a while ago, so I posted an announcement on the board. It was just a small incident, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.” 

“…”

“If you have the time, please take a look.”

“…Yeah, I’ll do that.”

Perhaps that was all he had to say, as Sunwoo quickly disappeared with a wish for Jooyoung to have a good night.

“…”

A theft report.

It wasn’t unusual for something like that to happen when many people were living together. Back in college, a friend who lived in the dorms used to complain about his roommate constantly stealing his stuff. 

But as soon as he heard the word “theft,” a tight pain gripped his chest, throbbing sharply. Jooyoung tore his gaze away from Sunwoo’s retreating figure and resumed walking. As soon as he entered his room, his weary body collapsed, sliding down.

“…Gasp.”

He buried his face in his cold palms. Whether it was a small incident or whatever, he didn’t want to be involved in anything like that. Even if it had nothing to do with him, just hearing about it was stressful. 

Tap. He leaned his head against the door, staring blankly at the empty space. The sound of rain, which had been constant until now, had stopped. The silence in the room was strangely eerie.

Bzzz. The peaceful air was broken by the vibration of his phone.

[010-XXXX-XXXX]

The number that appeared on the screen was an 11-digit string. It wasn’t a saved contact, but Jooyoung knew it was Dohyun. The vibration continued for a long while before finally stopping. 

“…”

Jooyoung sat on the floor until his unwashed body complained about the discomfort. His eyes, now adjusted to the darkness, began to recognize his surroundings. His gaze lingered on the desk calendar. 

August. There was still a long way to go before a year would pass.

How many more pages would he have to turn before he could leave this place? How long until he would be free from Dohyun’s threats? The thought of having to wait until summer again felt distant and far-off.

“If you sleep with me a hundred times, I’ll delete that.”

A hundred times…

The distant number felt suffocating. 

The mockery directed at him was so clearly reflected in the words. Dohyun held the power in their relationship. That was an undeniable fact. 

“…”

He had a feeling that he could no longer treat Dohyun the way he did before. Just because they had slept together didn’t mean the world would fall apart, but their relationship had now entered a completely different phase.

He didn’t understand what Dohyun wanted to gain from this relationship.

“You only treat me like a person when it suits you…”

“You’re fucking selfish. You know that?”

The words Dohyun had slurred while laughing drunkenly came to mind. It felt as if someone was telling him the answer lay there. But could it be that they remembered their shared memories differently?

He didn’t know.

His chest hurt even more than before. He remembered the doctor’s advice to avoid stress, but it did little to help.

“…Asshole.”

Jooyoung clutched his chest, the frustration overwhelming him, and gripped his head. He had to find a way out. The number “a hundred” meant nothing less than a promise to never erase the video.

***

Ironically, daily life continued on without any sharp edges, flowing peacefully. 

Jooyoung went to work at the pawnshop, carrying the discomfort of the pain with him, and greeted customers as usual. The only things different were his slightly feverish condition and the call from Dohyun that had come again in the morning.

“Sigh.”

Jooyoung wiped the sweat from his forehead and the back of his neck, then zipped up his hoodie all the way to the top. It hadn’t hurt this much the first time he had sex. He thought that maybe it was because he was tense when he did that, and his body had been startled by the experience. Jooyoung decided that, even if he had to close up the shop a bit earlier, he would need to go to the pharmacy. 

There was one good thing about the pain, though. With his body feeling so sluggish, all his attention was focused on the discomfort, and naturally, he thought less about the video and Dohyun.

“Um…”

Just then, a middle-aged woman entered the pawnshop, and Jooyoung noticed her glancing nervously behind her, as if she were being chased. Her gait was strange, as if she were hesitating, crossing her arms to hug herself.

Jooyoung put on the mask he had taken off. Due to his bad complexion, Aunt Sooeun, who had visited that morning, stayed too long and meddled unnecessarily. He didn’t want that to happen again.

“Do I have to have a certificate for the jewelry?”

“Is it gold?”

“Yes, it’s gold, but…”

“What about diamonds?”

“Pardon?”

“Does it have diamonds in it?”

“Oh, no. It doesn’t.”

“Then, you don’t need the certificate.”

The woman sighed softly, as if relieved. Then, she carefully opened the zipper of her old leather bag. What came out was a purple velvet ring box. The box, which clearly showed its age, looked almost impressive for not having any mold on it. 

“Here it is. Please take a look.”

Inside the ring box was a simple gold ring with a long platinum line across the center. It was a design that could easily be found at any local jewelry shop.

As Jooyoung carefully examined the ring to check the hallmark, the woman suddenly spoke.

“It may be old, but it’s real gold.”

“Yes.”

“Would it be worth around five hundred?”

Jooyoung didn’t respond. His eyes, partially hidden by the mask, glanced indifferently at the numbers on the scale. The woman couldn’t hide her growing nervousness.

“We can offer up to 300,000 won. The interest is per month—”

“Excuse me?”

The woman interrupted, leaning in closer to the counter. She looked quite flustered, clearly surprised by the low offer. 

“T-That can’t be right. This is real gold.”

“It’s 14k, and it’s only 2 don^[1], so I can’t offer more.”

“It’s real gold… but that’s all it’s worth?” 

Jooyoung pushed the ring box toward the woman.

“This is a pawnshop.”

“…”

“If you want to get more, you’d be better off selling it.”

The woman drooped her arms with a dismal expression, her voice lacking strength as she mumbled.

“…It’s a wedding ring. How could I sell it?”

Jooyoung was a little surprised, as he hadn’t expected it to be a wedding ring. The ring was a simple design, and it was even 14k, after all. 

The woman didn’t even take the ring box back. She simply stared blankly at the floor. An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Jooyoung, who was hoping she would leave quickly if she wasn’t going to borrow money, was at a loss.

After a long while of standing motionless, the woman suddenly rolled up her sleeve. Slowly pushing up her sleeve revealed a bracelet.

“Then, how much could I get for this?”

The woman extended her wrist with the bracelet, but Jooyoung’s gaze was still on her arm. The thin arm that had briefly been exposed, hidden beneath her sleeve, was covered in dark bruises. It was far too widespread to be just from bumping into something. It looked as if it had been kicked…

“Young man.”

“…”

“Young man?”

“Ah, yes.”

Jooyoung belatedly took the bracelet from her. It was warm to the touch, as if it had been worn for a long time. Despite the many small scratches on it, the weight itself was noticeably different from the ring.

Ding—

As Jooyoung was inspecting the bracelet, the sound of a bell echoed. The woman half-turned and hurriedly answered the phone. 

“Yes, Joon’s dad.”

The voice from the phone was loud enough for Jooyoung to hear. What stood out was how the person on the other end was shouting loudly.

“I said I got it! Geez, why are you coming at me like this again?”

“…”

“We have a freshly cooked rice in the rice cooker… If you take that and eat it with some seaweed soup… yes, yes, I know. I’ll go right away.”

As she constantly pushed her hair behind her ear, the woman nodded as if the person on the other end was here in the room with them. Jooyoung couldn’t help but keep glancing over, even though he tried not to.

After a while, the woman hung up.

“Oh, I’m sorry, my call took a bit longer than expected.”

The woman, who had been staring blankly at her phone, quickly turned her body toward Jooyoung.

“How much can I get for this?”

When Jooyoung told her the available loan amount, the woman’s face briefly turned sorrowful.

It seemed like this bracelet was something significant to her, just like the ring. Her expression told that much.

“Alright, there’s nothing else I can do, then. I’ll leave it with you.”

Jooyoung slid the paperwork over to her. The woman hunched over and began writing slowly, pressing each letter down carefully. It was clear she wasn’t used to writing.

“Lee Jung… Sook. Is that correct?”

The woman spoke her name in a halting manner, as if unsure. A hesitant smile lingered on her lips.