I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 101
Dongsoo smirked at Hyunjin as he blocked their path. However, he was still forced to take a step back as Hyunjin’s fist came flying for him. Jaewoo took advantage of the situation, struggling desperately against Dongsoo’s grasp. If he let himself be dragged away now, he didn’t know what would happen.
Mujin quickly joined the fray, but before he could reach them, Jaewoo had already wiggled free. As soon as he did, he scrambled away and took up a position next to Hyunjin. As the four men squared off against each other, passerbys began to look at them curiously.
‘We can’t afford to have anyone call the police.’
If the police came, Jaewoo, not Mujin, would be the one in trouble, due to his lack of documentation. Jaewoo nibbled at his lip for a second, then he raised his hands in a placating manner and said.
“How about we talk first?”
“A talk? I don’t think we have anything to discuss. Unless you want to talk about the fickleness of your friend, there?”
Hyunjin responded calmly to Mujin’s mocking words.
“My feelings for Jaewoo haven’t changed at all.”
“No, they’re different.”
“That’s your opinion.”
“You think so?”
More people were stopping to stare. Jaewoo clutched Hyunjin’s arm, holding him still as he said.
“Then let’s sit down and talk.”
“Where?”
“There’s a cafe nearby.”
Jaewoo suggested a completely normal meeting place, but Mujin just scoffed. He turned around and re-entered the soup restaurant instead. It looked like he had no issue with bothering the owner over this.
For now, Jaewoo decided to follow him inside. When he entered, he saw the old woman fidgeting with her cell phone.
“Did you call the police?”
“No, not yet. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Oh my word, who are these people? Gangsters? Why did they come here?”
“I want to ask him that too.”
“You don’t owe them money, do you?”
“Not at all.”
Jaewoo didn’t owe Mujin anything. And even Hyunjin had told him that his debt had been cleared.
“Why don’t you go to the kitchen, ma’am? I’ll let you know once we get this all sorted out.”
“Yeah, I think I’d like to do that. If you’re in danger, tell me right away and I’ll call the police.”
“Yes ma’am.”
First, Jaewoo started cleaning up the mess in the restaurant. He righted the fallen chair and wiped the seasoning stains off the floor. After that, Jaewoo and Hyunjin were able to sit down with Mujin across from them.
When he saw that Jaewoo was unhurt, Mujin clicked his tongue and seemed displeased. On the other side, Hyunjin was watching Mujin warily.
“It stinks in here.”
The air definitely smelled of kimchi. Even Mujin’s suit jacket stunk of it, from where Jaewoo had smeared seasoning on it as he was being dragged away. Mujin stripped off his jacket with a grimace, throwing it into a corner of the room.
“That’s better.”
Then he walked over towards the refrigerator where they stored their liquor and took out several bottles of soju. For a moment, Jaewoo thought that he wanted all of them to drink together, but it quickly became apparent that Mujin didn’t intend to share. He poured a glass of soju and gulped it down, then poured another before suddenly speaking.
“That trash isn’t Seo Jaewoo.”
Even though Jaewoo was right there, Mujin didn’t pull any punches, his tone harsh.
“You shouldn’t call people that.”
“What do you care? Is he even a person? After all, there’s no birth certificate.”
Mujin snorted and drained the last of the soju before pushing the empty bottle away. Jaewoo glanced over the number of soju bottles Mujin had collected and mentally calculated how much they’d cost. Whatever Mujin drank, he intended to see him pay for.
“Even so, he’s still a person.”
“Alright, fine. I’ll accept that he’s a person. So you just switched your affections to him, so much that you forgot all about Seo Jaewoo? Did you even forget why he died?”
Hyunjin would never forget that Seo Jaewoo had died at the hands of his father. Mujin just said that in order to provoke him, but Hyunjin merely stared back at him, unmoved. He didn’t care about Mujin, but the way he clung desperately to the past was pathetic.
“I haven’t forgotten.”
“Then why!”
With a crash, Mujin threw the bottle he’d been drinking from across the room. Luckily, the glass bottle didn’t break, but the liquor inside spilled out over the floor. As the person who would have to clean that up, Jaewoo really wished he wouldn’t cause a mess when he drank. Now that his bottle was gone, Mujin got up and headed toward the refrigerator again.
Enough. Jaewoo grabbed his mop and stood in front of the fridge, blocking Mujin’s path.
“What.”
“You’ve had enough to drink.”
“Is it because of the cost? Just put it on my tab!”
That wasn’t it. Jaewoo’s hand clenched on the mop handle.
“It’s not for sale!”
Mujin ignored Jaewoo, trying to push him aside. However, although Jaewoo wasn’t as muscular as Mujin, and didn’t even exercise, he was still a grown man, and he refused to give in without a fight. He was forced to resort to his secret weapon – from the time he was young, Jaewoo’s teeth and jaws had been strong.
Mujin reached towards him, and Jaewoo jerked forward and bit down on his hand.
“Huh?”
A light returned to Mujin’s cold, dead eyes, as if the pain had awakened him. Mujin raised his free hand high, preparing to bring it down on him. Jaewoo knew he was going to be struck, but he refused to let go. He bit down even harder, letting his resentment out.
All the hardships he’d been forced to endure because of Mujin passed in front of his eyes like a movie. As Mujin’s palm fell, Jaewoo closed his eyes tightly, but the blow he’d anticipated never came. Hyunjin had quickly rushed forward and blocked the hit.
“Fuck off, this garbage bit me.”
“You should have listened to him in the first place!”
“Why should I?!”
“This isn’t your restaurant.”
As the two of them argued, Jaewoo slowly unclenched his jaw and moved back. He’d bitten Mujin’s hand so hard that blood was dripping from it. That was probably why Mujin didn’t seem inclined to let it go. He swung his fist at Hyunjin instead, but Hyunjin dodged backwards, avoiding the blow. A struggle broke out between the two.
‘This is bad!’
If the two of them fought, Hyunjin would almost certainly lose. No matter how strong he was, how could he possibly compete with an actual gangster? Jaewoo screamed in his head and raised his mop high, preparing to hit Mujin.
‘…Huh?’
Jaewoo had been planning to intervene as soon as he could, but Hyunjin was doing better than he’d realized. Now that Jaewoo thought about it, the same thing had happened when Hyunjin had fought Dongsoo earlier. He’d moved in a way that made it seem as if he was experienced in fighting.
‘Oh, I remember…’
Hyunjin had also worked as a gangster for a time. This was probably the remnants of that, combined with the innate skills of a main character.
Meanwhile, the fight between the two seemed to be coming to an end. Luckily, neither of them were hurt. It was said that fights between two experts don’t result in injuries, and that was exactly what had happened.
“Fuck!”
Mujin let out his anger by kicking a chair.
‘He’s cursing again, damn him!’
Jaewoo wanted to punch him in the jaw, but managed to hold back this time.
“Did you really think you could win when your body’s like that? You’ve been smoking and drinking every day, and you haven’t been eating.”
Was that so? It was true, Mujin did seem very skinny. A surprised expression crossed Jaewoo’s face.
“What do you know?”
“If you keep on like this, you’ll die.”
“If I die, then I die.”
Mujin took out a cigarette, his expression unconcerned.
“No smoking inside!”
Jaewoo darted forward and grabbed the cigarette from Mujin’s mouth. Mujin let out a vicious swear, but this time Jaewoo was ready and slapped him on the cheek. Mujin stared at him in shock.
“Do you have nine lives1?”
“Just the one.”
No, maybe two was more appropriate. After all, he’d already died once and returned.
“Then why do you keep getting in my way?”
“You keep provoking me.”
“You keep talking back.”
“You make me do that too.”
“This sucks.”
Jaewoo felt like he was having a conversation with a toddler. Mujin sat down against the wall, his bleeding hand held in front of him. Jaewoo left the room for a moment to find the first aid kit.
In the kitchen, the old woman still had her phone in her hand and was looking worried, but she didn’t blame Jaewoo in any way. She really was a good person.
Jaewoo left with the first aid kit and knelt down in front of Mujin.
“Please show me your hand.”
“I don’t need it.”
Jaewoo forcibly pulled Mujin’s hand closer, ignoring his displeasure. Feeling annoyed, he deliberately poured a large amount of disinfectant on Mujin’s bite wound, but Mujin didn’t even flinch. Jaewoo sprayed the wound with a hemostatic agent, applied some ointment, and covered it in gauze.
“Be sure to get a tetanus shot.”
“What are you, a dog?”
“Seems appropriate, since my opponent was a beast.”
“Fu–”
Smack.
Jaewoo slapped his hand over Mujin’s lips to hold back his swear before standing up. As he walked away, Mujin’s voice came from behind him.
“Strange.”
“What’s strange?”
“You are.”
Mujin fell quiet for a moment, as if he was lost in thought. In the meantime, Jaewoo and Hyunjin began cleaning the room, although no matter how hard they scrubbed, the mess seemed never ending. After working hard for a while, Jaewoo paused to stretch his back. Then Mujin spoke up.
“How are you connected to Seo Jaewoo?”
Jaewoo instantly responded.
“I have nothing to do with him.”
“And yet you act this similar?”
“Are we similar?”
Mujin nodded.
Mujin was confused. When he’d first come to the restaurant, he’d planned on scolding Hyunjin for abandoning Jaewoo’s memory and getting rid of the annoying pest that had begun hanging around him. But after their argument that evening, he’d changed his mind.
The other Jaewoo resembled Seo Jaewoo too much. It wasn’t that they looked alike; rather, their words and actions were exactly the same. No wonder Hyunjin had been taken with him.
‘It’s the same with me.’
After Seo Jaewoo had died, he’d stayed close with Hyunjin in order to honor his memory, but what if there was a better way? Someone that resembled Seo Jaewoo so closely that it was like he’d never died?
‘Still, he’s not actually Seo Jaewoo.’
Mujin was a rational man who believed in science. Stories about the dead coming back, possessing someone else’s body, were nothing but nonsense. Things like that didn’t happen in real life. Mujin wholeheartedly believed that.
Footnotes
“넌 목숨이 두 개냐?” – “Neon mogsum-i du gaenya?” – “Do you have two lives?” Mujin is basically saying “Do you have a death wish?” because Jaewoo is treating him so disrespectfully. I went with nine lives instead because it’s a more common English expression
