Chapter 55
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 55
There was nothing he could do.
Dokyun could only follow her, feeling like livestock being led to the slaughter.
His second outing since being imprisoned here.
He never thought he’d feel this way, but Dokyun wished this outing was a lie.
He wished it was just a cruel joke she was playing to mess with him.
He wished that her dizzying internet slang, this whole outing, was all just an act she was performing to torment him.
But reality was always cruel, and what was meant to happen would happen, one way or another.
Dokyun looked up and saw her opening the garage door.
She stood with her weight on one leg, radiating pure delight with every slight tilt of her head. Her posture made it clear she had no intention of backing down.
Finally, as the garage door opened to reveal the interior, she broke into a wide grin and greeted the cars on display.
“My babies! Did ya miss your big sis!”
How was it that not a single one of her word choices was normal?
While Dokyun clutched the back of his head as another wave of dizziness hit him, she cheerfully began to inspect the cars.
She went to the Porsche he had driven before.
“Chun-shik! Lookin' sleek as ever today!”
Then to the Ferrari next to it.
“Byeong-shik! Did ya miss your big sis!”
And then to the Rolls-Royce beside that.
“Chang-shik! You're so voluptuous, just unbelievably lewd!”
It was dizzying.
And what was with that naming sense?
The sight of her greeting each car after giving it such a folksy name filled Dokyun with a profound sense of despair.
After greeting her cars for a while, she went to the Ferrari, opened the door, and called out to Dokyun, who had been standing at a distance.
“Gei! Shouldn't we get going now!”
Hearing what sounded like a death sentence, Dokyun felt a thick despair wash over him. He forced a smile and replied.
“Ah, alright…”
He managed to answer, but his feet wouldn’t move.
He couldn't tell if it was sadness or despair that rooted his feet to the spot. All he knew was that the thought of getting into that car, of passing the point of no return, made his chest ache.
As Dokyun stood frozen, she waved her hand energetically at him again, urging him on.
“Hurry up! What are you doing!”
He squeezed his eyes shut.
This was it. There was nowhere to run.
Dokyun waved back at her and forced his feet to move, one step at a time.
Now, he was on his way to be buried by society.
*
The destination was a tented food stall not far away.
If there was any silver lining, it was that the stall was empty except for them, and the owner seemed to know her.
An old man, his face deeply etched with the lines of time, smiled and greeted them as he and Eun-sam entered.
“Aigoo! Eun-sam, it's been a while!”
As he beamed, revealing his teeth, the wrinkles on his face deepened, giving him a comfortable, gentle look.
When the old man greeted her, Eun-sam pulled a hand from her pocket, waved it high in the air, and answered energetically.
“Aigo, boss! It's been a long time! I had some business to attend to, so I couldn't stop by!”
Dokyun's eyes widened at her words, and he stared at her.
Her way of speaking was still strange, but she wasn't using her internet slang.
Ilko. [A slang term for pretending to be a normal person.]
She was putting on a ‘normal person’ act.
Listening to their conversation, Dokyun felt a sudden surge of indignation and glared at her sullenly.
‘Then why, with me…!’
He felt wronged, but he already knew the answer.
The community. That damned online community was the problem.
If only he hadn't been a part of that community, she would never have revealed her true colors to him.
He wouldn't be suffering like this.
As expected, social media was the root of all evil.
Dokyun felt his eyes squeeze shut in misery.
‘Sir Alex Ferguson…’ [A reference to a popular Korean internet meme quoting Ferguson: "SNS is a waste of life."]
You've chalked up another win today.
Even as Dokyun trembled in misery, the conversation between the two continued.
“Hehe! Eun-sam, you haven't changed a bit!”
“Of course! They say that when a person changes suddenly, it means their time has come!”
Her speaking in that formal, archaic style, as if she were some grand hero from a martial arts novel, was utterly absurd.
He wondered if she was incapable of speaking normally, but the old man in front of him seemed quite used to her speech style, smiling as he took it in stride.
As the two continued their conversation, the old man finally noticed Dokyun and asked Eun-sam a question.
“By the way, who's the young man with you? Is that your husband, Eun-sam?”
At the old man's words, she finally turned to Dokyun, stared at him with half-lidded eyes for a moment, then broke into a bright smile and clapped him on the back.
“Nope! He's my little sister's boyfriend!”
“Huh?”
“This Eun-sam brought the punk out to see what kind of man he is!”
He felt himself growing speechless again at the lie she delivered without batting an eye, but he didn't let it show.
While he was reeling from the absurdity, the old man approached, offered a handshake, and greeted him.
“Nice to meet you. I'm the owner of the shop Eun-sam frequents.”
Dokyun looked at the old man for a moment before shaking his offered hand, smiling as he replied.
“Ah, yes, it's a pleasure to meet you.”
Dokyun said, studying the old man.
He had a kind face. He was an old man with a kind, warm smile that perfectly fit the saying that wrinkles are the traces of a life well-lived.
After shaking his hand for a while, the old man suddenly seemed to remember himself, letting out a little “Oops!” as he spoke.
“Aigoo! I've kept my guests standing at the entrance! My apologies. I'm getting old and forgetful these days!”
“Haha… Not at all.”
He was a very affable person.
After speaking, the old man led them to a table and shouted a question as he headed for the kitchen.
“Hey, Eun-sam! The usual?”
“Of course! Give us that!”
Eun-sam finished ordering with a conversation only they understood, then sat down and spoke to Dokyun.
“Ya~ It's nice to be out for a change!”
The moment they were alone, her internet slang came back as if summoned by a ghost.
Dokyun felt his head spin again. He sighed and retorted.
“You come here often?”
Dokyun cut his sentence short, leaving no room for her internet slang, and looked at her, waiting for an answer.
He'd asked because he didn't quite understand.
That creature known as Go Eun-sam was, after all, just one of Go Eun-ah's alternate personalities, so it was unlikely she had anyone to drink with. But judging by her rapport with the owner, it seemed she'd been here more than once or twice, which puzzled him.
As Dokyun watched her, lost in thought, she blinked, then broke into a wide grin and replied.
“Of course! In my prime, I was basically the idol of this place!”
In my prime. It was a dated phrase to come from the mouth of a 22-year-old woman.
As Dokyun was thinking this and forcing an awkward smile, the old man returned with their drinks and food.
Bright red chicken feet and a bottle of soju.
It was the perfect menu for a tented food stall.
After setting everything on the table, the old man patted Dokyun's shoulder twice and spoke with a smile.
“Hang in there!”
Words of encouragement.
Hearing them, Dokyun felt a sense of anxiety bloom in a corner of his heart as he replied.
“Haha… Yes…”
The old man walked away. When Dokyun looked forward again, she was handing him a soju glass filled to the brim.
“Here, take a glass. We have to start somewhere.”
She said with a playful smile.
Dokyun took the glass, feeling the anxiety inside him grow.
Seeing the glass filled to overflowing, he felt a sense of déjà vu.
He thought for a moment and soon realized he had experienced this exact situation before.
‘That’s right…’
More than a week ago now. The day of Eun-ah's first outing.
The day he'd gotten drunk and been devoured by her.
Shudder.
Goosebumps prickled along his spine.
Dokyun looked at her with trembling eyes.
She was raising her glass with that same playful smile.
“Cheers?”
She was prompting him for a toast.
He realized it in an instant.
‘If I get drunk, I'm fucked!’
He didn't know if her goal was his body or something else entirely, but he could sense the malice in her expression.
‘Not a second time…!’
I won't let it happen.
Feeling his tension spike, Dokyun clinked his glass against hers.
Clink—.
As the glasses clinked, he watched her drink the soju, took a few small sips from his own glass, and clenched his empty fist, renewing his vow.
Tonight, he would walk back home on his own two feet.
*
The drinking session continued.
She wasn't a fast drinker, so Dokyun had relaxed for a moment, but he soon felt trouble brewing from an unexpected ambush.
Dokyun looked up and saw the people urging him to drink.
Faces laughing heartily, clad in grime-stained work clothes.
They were customers from other tables who had started to fill the stall.
“Hey, you're Eun-sam's brother-in-law? Here, have a drink from me too!”
“Haha… Yes…”
Dokyun couldn't bring himself to refuse the drink from the friendly middle-aged man and cursed inwardly.
‘Shit…’
It seemed she hadn't been lying about being the idol of this place. Without exception, every new customer who came in spotted her, came over to say hello, and offered him a drink.
“Hey! You guys, take it easy. My brother-in-law is gonna die~.”
Dokyun glanced over at Eun-sam.
The sight of her playfully telling the other customers to stop while cackling away made his stomach churn with anger.
This was dangerous.
He was long past his limit. His stomach was churning, and his vision was starting to swim.
The thought that he had to stay conscious kept his mind working, but honestly, he wasn't sure if he was even thinking straight anymore.
Even as he trembled with a sense of crisis, the steadily growing number of customers came to their table without exception to greet her.
“Hey~ Eun-sam, long time no see!”
“Mr. Kim! You've gotten more wrinkles since I last saw you!”
“Eheheh! Still as cheeky as ever!”
Even though the conversation was happening right in front of him, the words weren't registering.
He just kept accepting the glasses offered to him as if it were the natural course of things, and downing them.
After drinking like that for a long time, his head spinning, he heard her speak to him from across the now-quiet stall.
“Gei.”
Hearing her call him, Dokyun forced his eyes to focus and replied.
“Yeeah…”
His voice was slurred, but Dokyun didn't even have the presence of mind to notice. He just clutched his spinning head and stared at her.
‘Is she smiling…?’
He couldn't tell. His vision was too blurry to make it out clearly.
Through his wavering vision, he saw her jaw move once more.
“It's nice meetin' people like this, ain't it?”
Isn't it nice to meet people? That's what the question sounded like.
Dokyun simply nodded in response. After he answered, Eun-sam made a soft “Mmm” sound and continued.
“Yeah, you gotta meet lots of people like this. That's how you get some energy, right?”
Nod.
He nodded in reply.
That's right. You have to meet people to get energy. If you just stay cooped up at home, you'll only get more depressed, won't you?
The small talk continued, and Dokyun kept nodding along.
After this went on for a while, Eun-sam, who had been watching Dokyun reach a point where he could barely keep his eyes open, spoke.
“Gei.”
“Ughhh…”
A groan straight out of a zombie movie escaped his lips.
Dokyun shook his head violently and tried to focus on her again.
As their eyes met, he saw her, who had been silent, break into a smile so bright he could recognize it even in his current state.
He stared at that smile for a moment before her lips parted.
“Gei, you interested in investing, by any chance?”
He heard the words. He heard them, but he couldn't quite grasp their meaning.
So, he nodded.