The Butcher’s Price
Yoon-gi shouted internally, and with a reflexive jolt. ‘Finally…!’
A face he could never forget. The sallow, jaundiced skin that couldn't be hidden even by the flush of alcohol. The bloodshot eyes, perpetually inflamed from constant drinking. The stubble covering his face, left to grow in patches because he couldn't be bothered to shave. And the clothes, stained with coal soot and puddle water from rolling around in the streets in his drunken stupors. The image of the "Butcher"—a man he could never forget even if he tried—was burned into Yoon-gi’s vision.
“Who the hell is Choi Yoon-gi?!”
The arrival of such a dangerous-looking adult brought the noisy lunch hour to a grinding halt. The children froze in their tracks.
“That’s me.”
When Yoon-gi stood up amidst the heavy silence, the other children erupted in panic.
[No, Yoon-gi!]
[We'll go get the teacher!]
But Yoon-gi shook his head. “No, it’s fine.”
Jin-su and Won-hee tried to hold him back as well. “Yoon-gi, that man is weird. Don’t go.”
“Yeah. My grandpa told me never to follow people like that.”
Still, Yoon-gi shook his head. “Don’t worry, trust me. And don’t follow me.”
Finally, Choi Deok-bae chimed in. ‘But, I know him better than anyone else.’
Yoon-gi glared at him, and Choi Deok-bae quickly averted his gaze, quietly floating behind Yoon-gi as he followed.
“Are you Choi Yoon-gi?”
A meeting that transcended time, taking place at the classroom’s front door. But this time, it would be different.
‘Amazing. I’m not even trembling.’
Back in the day, when he lived under the Butcher’s beatings, he had once even wet himself just from seeing the man. And his mother, who lived with them? She meant nothing. She had left her own child to be neglected, busy only with extorting money from her son just like the Butcher.
"I told you to prepare money other than what you give that bastard!!!"
Recalling the memory of being stripped naked and kicked out into the dead of winter because he didn't have extra money stashed away after polishing shoes all day, a cold, hard desire for revenge began to settle in Yoon-gi’s heart.
“I asked if you’re Choi Yoon-gi!”
“Yes.”
As he looked him straight in the eye with confidence, the Butcher seemed a bit taken aback—it wasn't what he expected—but he shouted even louder.
“Follow me!”
Yoon-gi followed him without hesitation. They arrived at the gym storage room. Perhaps the Butcher had bribed the janitor with some alcohol, as the man who should have been guarding the area was nowhere to be seen. Left alone, the situation was set.
“I told you not to follow me!” Yoon-gi shouted as soon as the gym storage door closed. The Butcher jumped, looking around in surprise.
“S-sorry…”
“I said don’t follow me!” When Yoon-gi shouted again, Won-hee scratched the back of his head and slowly drifted away from the storage room. Once it was confirmed that no one else was around, the Butcher opened his mouth again.
“I heard you beat my kid to death?”
Yoon-gi smirked and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Yeah~?” The Butcher’s voice rose in disbelief, but Yoon-gi wasn't afraid at all.
“You don’t seem to grasp the situation. There’s no one here. I could kill a little brat like you in one hit. Still don’t get it?”
But Yoon-gi just smirked again. ‘At the very least, I’ve prepared enough to run away.’
The reason for Yoon-gi’s confidence was his physical training, which was far beyond what a typical elementary school student would have. He had enough strength to escape the storage room, avoiding the Butcher’s alcohol-addled physical abilities. Moreover, this storage room door didn't require turning a knob—it opened just by pushing—so he was confident in his escape. Besides, Yoon-gi knew the Butcher’s mindset 100 percent, so he wasn't worried from the start. The training was just a precaution for a one-in-a-million scenario.
“You little shit!” At the Butcher’s shout, Yoon-gi spoke in a tone dripping with mockery.
“How much do you want?”
“Hmm…!” The Butcher’s movements stopped dead, as if he’d finally heard the words he wanted. He didn't like Yoon-gi’s informal tone, but his goal was money anyway. He had only shown up after realizing Yoon-gi was from a rich family, hoping to squeeze some cash out of him using his son as an excuse.
“Money is your goal, right? So, how much?”
“You little brat…” The Butcher tried to maintain a shred of pride, but when Yoon-gi pulled a few 10,000-won bills from his wallet, the Butcher’s expression melted like butter on a frying pan. Seeing that sallow face turn into melted butter, Yoon-gi sneered again.
Thud, thud!
“Oh!” As the bills fell to the floor, the Butcher forgot that a 10-year-old child was standing in front of him, bowing and scrambling to sweep up the money.
“So, how much?”
“W-well… at least enough for the kid’s hospital bills…”
Spring, 1977. The difference in the cost of living between now and 2019 is roughly over eight times. Yoon-gi smirked, pulled out 100,000 won, and scattered it on the floor.
“Uh! Uhhh!” Watching the Butcher on his hands and knees, grabbing the bills, Yoon-gi felt the wounds of his past healing, if only slightly. Though the hatred hadn't vanished.
‘Slowly, very slowly. Until I become an adult, until the day you die, I will play with you. You won’t be allowed to die from alcohol.’
Unaware of Yoon-gi’s thoughts, the Butcher, having collected all the money, looked up with a servile grin, rubbing his thumb and index finger together as if asking for more.
“You want more?”
“Oh, I’d be grateful if you gave me more. As expected of a rich young master, you’re very generous.”
The Butcher wasn't the type to risk his own life. He was the kind of person who acted tough in front of others but was more servile than anyone if there was even a small profit to be made. Furthermore, he was the type to be more cruel than anyone if he could exploit someone. That was why Yoon-gi gave him one instruction.
“I don’t like your son. How about you?”
“Oh, I’m the same. That brat is useless! He doesn't earn money when I tell him to, and he doesn't listen. I wish the little shit would just drop dead! He’s like a moldy parasite just eating my food.”
Listening to him, Yoon-gi found one difference from his past. ‘A tough nut.’ He was a tough nut. To endure such insane beatings and still refuse to hand over money—the thief was, without a doubt, a tough nut.
“Your son is acting up too much at school, and it’s tiring me out. I don’t want to deal with him. So, I’d like you to educate him well. Can you do that?”
As he tapped five more 10,000-won bills against his palm, the Butcher began to bow repeatedly.
“Oh, of course! Of course!”
Thud. As the money fell again and the Butcher bowed, Yoon-gi turned his back and walked out of the gym storage. ‘Still not enough.’ The hatred had not yet faded.
It had been five days since he was beaten by Yoon-gi. The thief, Kim Chan-yeol, appeared in class with his wounds completely unhealed. If anything, the bruises seemed to have increased. Seeing one of his eyes turned pitch black, the other children looked puzzled, but no one asked, “Are you okay?”, “Who did that?”, or “Hasn't it healed yet?” That was how many children disliked Kim Chan-yeol, and since entering the third grade, Yoon-gi had made sure everyone around them knew how powerless Kim Chan-yeol truly was.
“He’s awfully quiet, isn't he?” At Won-hee’s comment, Jin-su shrugged, and Yoon-gi didn't react at all.
“Everyone, open your books.” Even Park Seon-ja, who entered after the bell rang, didn't pay any attention to Kim Chan-yeol. As if he had hoped the teacher would show him some interest, Kim Chan-yeol looked at Park Seon-ja, but seeing his homeroom teacher not even make eye contact, he hung his head in disappointment.
The next day. Kim Chan-yeol’s bruises increased. The day after that, they grew darker. And the day after that, his other eye turned black as well. And then…
“Sir, I’ll walk today.” When he told the driver, the man nodded as if it were routine and drove off. It had already been cleared with his grandfather that he wanted to walk home with his friends sometimes.
“You guys wait and look at the candy stall over there for a bit.” After sending Jin-su and Won-hee toward the candy stall near the school gate, Yoon-gi followed the Butcher, who was giving him a servile grin, into a quiet alleyway. There was no one passing by.
“Young Master, I’m working really hard just as you asked. So… uh…”
Yoon-gi didn't say a word, simply pulling out 100,000 won and scattering it on the floor again.
“Oh, thank you!” The Butcher scrambled to pick up the money, but when he stood up and saw Yoon-gi was gone, he was momentarily flustered. But that was all. Having enough alcohol money for a week, the Butcher whistled and disappeared into the alley. Yoon-gi, having watched from another direction, headed toward the candy stall.
‘People who haven't been through it don't understand the psychology of a bad person.’
‘Of course not. I will thoroughly crush him until the day his life ends.’
Yoon-gi walked slowly toward the candy stall where Jin-su and Won-hee were getting heated.
“You idiot! Use your spit to carve it out carefully!”
“Ah, shut up! You’re making it break because of you!”
Watching Won-hee try to carve a star shape with a needle while Jin-su gave advice from behind, they looked like typical third-grade elementary students.
‘I wanted those so much when I was young…’
Prizes made of melted sugar in the shapes of guns or turtles. Yoon-gi’s eyes sparkled with childhood innocence.
“Mister, give me one too.”
“Sure, it’s 20 won.”
“Yoon-gi, me too!”
“Mister, give him one too.”
“Alright, that’ll be 40 won.”
Watching the three of them huddled together carving star shapes, Choi Deok-bae lay tilted in the air, muttering to himself so Yoon-gi wouldn't hear.
Four days after the Butcher took the money in the alley, Kim Chan-yeol finally didn't show up for school.
‘He must have been beaten pretty badly.’
Yoon-gi had been happy at first, but when Kim Chan-yeol didn't show up for over ten days, he grew puzzled. ‘Even so, there’s no way he wouldn't show up for this long?’
It wasn't that he was worried. If anything, he was annoyed. Watching Kim Chan-yeol suffer had been his recent joy.
“Sir, please stop by my friend’s house for a moment today.”
“Won-hee or Jin-su?”
“No, it’s someone else. He hasn't been to school for a while, so I’m worried he might be sick.”
Hearing that he was going to visit a sick friend, the driver thought, ‘As expected of the young master,’ and drove the car with a proud heart.
‘Right, this is where I used to live.’
A crumbling shantytown. In this era, when people said a place was crumbling, it really was. A place crowded with houses eaten by rats, covered in mold, and beyond repair. He had lived a life of being beaten to death, working to death, and begging to death here.
‘Damn it, why am I remembering bad memories.’
When he got out of the car, the driver followed, but this time he let him. It wasn't bad to show the driver this kind side of himself.
‘It was definitely here…’
A crumbling house in the middle of the shantytown. But even after knocking, there was no one home.
“Grandma, where did the kid who lived here go?” he asked the neighbor who was fanning herself in the yard. The grandmother asked back.
“Are you friends with him?”
“Yes.”
With a look that suggested it was to be expected, the grandmother sighed and opened her mouth.
“He couldn't take the beatings from his parents anymore, so he ran away.”
“He ran away?”
“Yes, and that’s not all. After he ran away, that human Butcher started beating his wife, and she couldn't take it either and ran away.”
“Then, what about my friend’s dad?”
“That man went to prison because the woman reported him to the police. The son of the family over there works at the police station, and I heard he went to the detention center? They said he’d be living there for a few years.”
The grandmother said a few more things, but Yoon-gi couldn't hear them anymore.
‘I endured even while being beaten like that, but he found a way to live and escaped. He…’
At Choi Deok-bae’s words, Yoon-gi looked toward where the spirit was floating.
‘Come to think of it, driving away the con artist when I was young was also…’
‘Is there a future I have to endure? Given these conditions, the word “endure” doesn't seem to fit very well.’
Hearing Yoon-gi’s words, Choi Deok-bae smirked and dropped a bombshell.