SS 8(2) Part 3

“We’re moving.”

“Moving?”

“Yeah. I have some money saved up.”

A week had passed since Bomin arrived in this place.

When Bomin first fell asleep in Song Jaeho’s shack, he firmly believed he would be back in the real world when he opened his eyes.

However, even after opening his eyes, the sight that greeted him was still the old ceiling with patches of mold.

‘…Really, let’s have a talk sometime, wherever you are.’

At that moment, Bomin couldn’t help but resent the god who might be somewhere out there. It was nice and heartwarming to meet the young Song Jaeho, but that was all.

Bomin’s time belonged in reality. Because everyone he loved was there. Even though Song Jaeho was here too, Bomin firmly believed that the Song Jaeho here and the Song Jaeho in reality were different people.

Because he had no memories with the Song Jaeho here. …And he couldn’t have s*x with a child.

‘Everyone has to work here. Even young children work to survive.’

Song Jaeho gave Bomin a job as soon as he opened his eyes. He handed Bomin a large amount of bead stringing work and then left.

Since Song Jaeho was the only person he knew here, Bomin spent the entire day in the small shack, stringing the beads from the overflowing sack onto the thread.

By the time he finished, his fingertips were swollen and red.

‘…Is this food?’

‘There are tons of people who can’t even eat this.’

Song Jaeho returned to the shack around sunset. He took the sack full of beads that Bomin had strung and went out, then returned with two fist-sized pieces of bread and a bottle of water.

He was hungry. He hadn’t eaten anything all day, so the moment he saw the bread in Song Jaeho’s hand, his stomach rumbled.

However, as soon as Bomin took a bite of the bread, he had to make a crying face. It wasn’t bread, but a rock. He touched his front teeth with his fingertips, which hadn’t been able to penetrate the bread.

He almost chipped a tooth on the bread.

Seeing Bomin struggling to eat the bread, Song Jaeho broke his own piece in half.

‘Slowly melt the edges with your saliva and eat it.’

Melting bread with saliva, as if it were ice cream?

It was a novel method, if anything. The bread also had a musty smell. If they were in the real world, even if Bomin wanted to eat it, others would stop him in horror.

But hunger was a powerful force. Perhaps the reason Bomin hadn’t had an appetite before coming here was because he had been surrounded by food he could eat at any time.

The realization that the only food available after being hungry for so long was this hard bread made it seem appetizing.

‘…Why am I even hungrier?’

Of all things, Bomin’s voracious appetite had awakened here. Even after finishing the bread, Bomin licked his lips. It hadn’t even touched the sides of his stomach. Even though he had chewed slowly, melting it with saliva because the bread was so dry.

‘Eat more of mine.’

Seeing the longing in his eyes directed at his bread, Song Jaeho finally handed his share to Bomin. His previously clean face had become grimy in just one night.

His soot-stained cheeks were still fair.

Song Jaeho seemed to be getting feverish again, so he turned his head and coughed, trying to shake off the strange feeling.

Stringing beads all day, sharing the rock-hard bread Song Jaeho brought.

After a week of this life, Bomin’s shirt was no longer white but gray.

Then, suddenly, Song Jaeho came in and told Bomin to prepare to leave.

“Did we have money to move?”

“Yeah.”

“…You were a miser.”

Even though he was in a position of dependence on Song Jaeho, Bomin felt somewhat wronged. He had never done such hard physical labor in his life, and his daily wage was only a piece of bread.

He had lived for a week, constantly hungry, to the point where the rumbling of his stomach now felt familiar.

He consoled himself with the thought that there were many people around him who couldn’t even eat that much, but it was inevitable that he found this hardship difficult.

Bomin realized that the things he had taken for granted in reality were things that some people couldn’t obtain even after investing an entire day.

If only the lunchbox Kim Seohun had packed for him in reality were here right now, he would devour it in an instant. He felt a great sense of longing.

“Hurry up and get up. We have to move before sunrise.”

Song Jaeho grabbed Bomin’s arm, lost in thought. Bomin’s snow-white legs were now covered in shabby pants. And a few days ago, he had also brought worn-out sneakers and put them on Bomin’s white feet.

“Tell me if your feet hurt while walking.”

“Okay.”

By then, Bomin had no time to be lost in thought. Together with Song Jaeho, he packed their belongings inside the house into bundles and carried them on their backs.

Bulky bundles filled with their possessions protruded from their backs.

“But why are we moving before sunrise?”

Since there weren’t even streetlights, the surroundings were pitch black. Bomin carefully moved step by step, holding onto Song Jaeho’s arm.

“People will swarm us and steal everything we have if they know what we have.”

Song Jaeho lowered his voice. His sharp eyes scanned their surroundings. He was also holding a metal pipe in his right hand.

“There are still places like this?”

Bomin also lowered his voice and looked around. He still didn’t know where this was. Bomin had entered the novel much later than this point in time.

He looked around to see if there was an association building nearby, but all he could see were endless shacks and towering piles of garbage here and there.

“Why are you so late?”

“I came on time.”

“Don’t you know that ‘ppalli ppalli’ (quickly quickly) is a basic virtue in our country? You have to arrive ten minutes early.”

At the place where Song Jaeho led Bomin, there was a middle-aged man standing with his back to a motorcycle. A cart-like contraption for people to ride was attached to the back of the motorcycle.

“Give me the money first.”

“Here.”

Song Jaeho took money out of his pocket and handed it to the grumbling middle-aged man. The man’s eyes momentarily glinted as he scanned Song Jaeho’s pockets, but it was too dark for either Song Jaeho or Bomin to notice.

“I’ll give you the other half when we arrive at our destination.”

“…You sly little brat.”

The middle-aged man expressed his displeasure at Song Jaeho’s words, but he obediently started the motorcycle.

“Will this even move?”

Bomin looked at the vehicle with a serious expression, thinking it would fall apart if he and Song Jaeho got on.

“No time to dawdle. Hurry up.”

Song Jaeho grabbed Bomin’s hand and pulled him up first, then sat down next to him.

Contrary to Bomin’s worries, the cart carrying them, although rattling, moved quickly behind the motorcycle. Song Jaeho turned his head and looked at the receding neighborhood.

It was the place where he had lived miserably for a year. He thought he would feel relieved when the moment came to leave the place steeped in the joys and sorrows of life. But strangely, Song Jaeho couldn’t take his eyes off the scenery being swallowed by darkness until the place he had lived in was completely out of sight.

“…Something’s strange.”

Bomin whispered in Song Jaeho’s ear in a small voice. The sun had already risen in the sky, and the surroundings were bright.

He didn’t know where Song Jaeho was going, but he felt strangely uneasy. At Bomin’s words, Song Jaeho anxiously gnawed on his lower lip with his upper teeth.

The path the middle-aged man was taking was definitely in the direction of the place he had asked to be taken to. But strangely, there were no people around.

It was early, but it wasn’t too late for people to start their day’s work.

“We’re here. Now give me the rest of the money.”

The motorcycle finally came to a stop as the two tightened their grip on each other’s hands, feeling a strange sense of unease. The middle-aged man, still on the motorcycle, held out his right hand to Song Jaeho.

“Just a moment.”

Song Jaeho let Bomin get off first, then put his hand inside his clothes to take out the rest of the money from his pocket. That was the moment the man’s eyes glinted again.

Unlike before, the surroundings were bright, and Song Jaeho, with a sudden bad feeling, stopped taking out the money and grabbed the man’s shoulder.

The man’s eyebrows furrowed at the grip, surprisingly strong for a child.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Get off. I’ll pay you for the ride later.”

Song Jaeho looked around and pulled the man’s arm, dragging him down. The man was helplessly pulled down to the ground by Song Jaeho’s hand.

Bomin, sensing the urgency of the situation, brought the bundle forward and took out the metal pipe from inside, gripping it in his hand.

“You little bastard! Hey~! What are you all doing? Come out!”

His uneasy premonition was right. People who had been hiding in the alleyways revealed themselves. They were all holding hideous weapons.

Bomin realized that some of their faces were familiar. They were the guys who had been chasing Song Jaeho when Bomin was first thrown into this world.

“Did you think we wouldn’t know you were running away? We have so many kids planted in that neighborhood.”

Song Jaeho blocked Bomin, his face hardening. Since they were surrounded, it seemed difficult to break through even if they got on the motorcycle.

After shaking off the men chasing them a week ago, Song Jaeho had been avoiding them for a while. It was possible because they didn’t know where he lived. He had even forbidden Bomin from leaving the house, worried that something might happen to him.

However, contrary to his worries, he had been relieved that there had been no sign of the men. He had asked a broker he knew from when he got the shack to arrange transportation, but…

He hadn’t expected the broker to be in cahoots with them. It was his mistake.