I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 16

Apart from that, it seemed like he was trying to live a normal life, but, well. His debts had piled up like a mountain, and the interest was too much to pay off normally. Even if he worked hard, eventually his body would wear out, and there was still the principal to be repaid. Still, there were ways out of that life if you were willing to take them.

All you had to do was give up. Give up your body, give up your morals and your pride, and a path would open before you. Either find work as a gangster, like the ones you hated so much, or sell your body. There were options. Of course, once you’d entered that life, there was no going back.

Mujin narrowed his pitch-black eyes.

“You can’t accept his card. Why don’t you understand how dangerous he is?”

Hyunjin told Jaewoo firmly. Even if he didn’t know Mujin personally, he knew the people at his company.

“What? What makes you think I don’t understand?”

“The way you’re treating him right now.”

Jaewoo looked puzzled.

‘Well then.’

Hyunjin was the one who had spoken up, but Jaewoo seemed to know something too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have looked like that when he received his business card. Was he a debtor like Hyunjin? Or was it something else? For the first time in a while, Mujin was interested in someone.

Mujin lay down on the bed in a relaxed position and said.

“Next time, please treat me to a meal as well.”

It was such a contrast to the previous day, when he had spat out curse words and spoken violently. At that, Jaewoo asked with a worried expression.

“Are you sure you don’t need a hospital?”

“I don’t need one, not for something minor like this. If you’re really worried, you can get me some antibiotics.”

Jaewoo started to nod his head without speaking, but before he could, Hyunjin grabbed him and pulled him behind himself. Then he slammed the door wide open.

“Who’s worried? You need to leave, right now.”

“But he’s injured.”

Jaewoo said with an awkward smile. If Mujin left now, who knows when they’d be able to meet again? Would Hyunjin and Mujin still be able to fall in love with each other? He wouldn’t be able to rest easy if they let Mujin leave right now. However Hyunjin, one of the parties involved, was not a fan of that idea.

“If he’s hurt so badly, he should go to the hospital.”

“I don’t need it.”

Mujin drawled.

“Shall I call 119 and ask them?”

“You’d just be wasting everyone’s time.”

Gradually, the atmosphere between the two began to heat up. Jaewoo, caught in the middle, was trying to mediate somehow, but Mujin seemed to have a knack for getting under Hyunjin’s skin.

“Hey kids, why don’t you go back to your room for a bit.”

Jaewoo quickly herded the children away into their room. Meanwhile, the atmosphere outside was becoming explosive.

“Get out, now!”

“What if I don’t feel like it?”

“Then I’ll make you.”

“You? I’d like to see you try.”

If this went on for much longer, it felt like the two of them were going to be at each other’s throats. Although Jaewoo knew it would eventually develop from enemies into lovers, being stuck in the middle was really unpleasant.

Impatiently, Jaewoo raised his hand and slapped Mujin’s arm. His muscles were so solid that it actually hurt Jaewoo’s hand, and he bit back a wince.

“Enough!”

The two of them fell silent. Unfortunately, it only lasted for a moment. Mujin spoke up in an indignant tone.

“Why are you only hitting me?”

At those words, Jaewoo looked at Hyunjin. Even though he was eating better these days, he was still so thin. The strong chest muscles from earlier this morning had been wiped from Jaewoo’s memory. Instead, all he saw was a young man who needed to eat more.

“How can I hit him? He’s all skin and bones1.”

Mujin could barely hold back a laugh at Jaewoo’s confident answer. Hyunjin may not be as big as Mujin, but he was both taller and wider than Jaewoo, and yet he was apparently “all skin and bones”. This had to be projection.

“The only small one here is you.”

“What? Y-You’re kidding me!”

Jaewoo raised his voice. He’d been an idol-wannabe! He wasn’t small, the problem was that as the leads, Hyunjin and Mujin were both outliers who were taller and more muscular than he was. He wasn’t small. Jaewoo believed that in his heart.

“You’re pretty tiny. Here, look at this.”

Mujin pulled Jaewoo’s hand up and placed it against his own. Jaewoo’s hands weren’t that small, but Mujin’s were both larger and thicker than his were.

“You’re wearing gloves.”

Jaewoo pointed out. Mujin removed them and placed their hands together again. His were still larger. Aside from that, the palms of his hands were calloused and rough. It gave Jaewoo a bit of a glimpse into the difficult life he must have led. In the novel, like Hyunjin, Mujin had a tumultuous past, which led to him being unable to trust people. He also suffered from insomnia.

Although Mujin may have appeared relaxed, the truth was, he was still suspicious of Jaewoo. If Jaewoo made one wrong move, Mujin was ready to end him at any time.

“See, doesn’t it look bigger like this?”

Mujin kept his cards close to his chest. You’d never know what he was thinking from the outside.

“What are you doing!”

At that time, Hyunjin pulled Jaewoo back. The hand that had been pressed against Mujin’s fell away. Hyunjin stared at Mujin warily, ready to intervene again if he tried to push things. Mujin just looked back, and after a moment, the corners of his mouth curled up in a mocking expression.

Hyunjin’s frustration was palpable. Unconsciously, Jaewoo put his hand on his arm and patted him.

‘It’s okay, it’s okay.’

Slowly, the tension in Hyunjin’s body began to unwind. Mujin looked at him with an interesting expression.

“What’s the relationship between the two of you, anyway?”

At that, Jaewoo looked at Hyunjin and replied.

“I’m his landlord.”

Mujin suppressed the laughter that wanted to burst out. What landlord would prepare a feast for his tenants, and what tenant would throw himself at someone for the sake of his landlord? In a slum like this? That was absolute nonsense, as Mujin knew well.

Suddenly Mujin had an idea. Twisting and manipulating other people’s emotions had become Mujin’s hobby. Jaewoo may have done him a favor, but so what? If a person let themselves be manipulated, then what happened after that was on them. How far did this landlord-tenant relationship extend? Mujin hid his coldblooded feelings and shut his eyes.

Hyunjin couldn’t hide his worries until he left for work.

“Don’t trust him.”

“I don’t actually trust him at all.”

“I don’t believe that. Jaewoo-ssi has no sense of danger.”

“Me?”

“People don’t usually pick up random strangers off the side of the road.”

“I usually don’t do that either!”

This time was an exception. Jaewoo protested, but Hyunjin was unmoved.

“Isak Finance is a company founded by gangsters, they’ll do anything for money.”

Of course, some things are against the law. But since when do gangsters care about that? If gangsters took your family hostage and threatened them, what could the law do about it? Not much, Hyunjin thought. He just wanted to make sure Jaewoo didn’t become involved with anything like that.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. When would I ever need to borrow money?”

Jaewoo said as if to comfort Hyunjin. Who would know better than him what an immoral, poisonous person Mujin was? He was ruthless, twisted, and deeply flawed. He was the sort of person who delighted in dragging others down into misery. But right now, all of Mujin’s focus should be on Hyunjin, with no room left to focus on Jaewoo.

“I… guess that’s true.”

Hyunjin spoke between gritted teeth.

“Get him out as soon as possible.”

“Okay. The moment he can walk, I swear.”

Waving his hands in a carefree manner, Jaewoo handed Hyunjin his lunchbox and sent him off to work. Once Hyunjin had left, Jaewoo returned to the kitchen. Earlier, the children hadn’t been able to finish dinner due to the argument, so he wanted to make some snacks for them.

He took the lid off a pot that was lying in the corner, heated it up over the fire, and added a bit of water. Then he spread some rice in a thin layer and cooked it on both sides until it was brown and crispy. He placed the rice cracker2 on a plate and repeated the process until he had several stacked up. Then he took a frying pan and filled it with oil for frying.

After frying the rice crackers until they puffed up, he took them out of the oil and sprinkled sugar on top, then mixed them together to make sure it was evenly spread.

Fried rice crackers.

It was a snack that you could find yourself binging on, because it’s crispy and savory but also sweet. Actually, was it alright for a crazy top to eat this sort of thing? Jaewoo hesitated for a moment, then shrugged. He’d already ruined Mujin’s image with the barley tea rice. And besides, if he fed him well, maybe it would make his relationship with Hyunjin go smoother.

Jaewoo put some of the fried rice crackers in a bowl and gave them to the children. Then, he headed back to his room and opened the door. Mujin was still lying on the bed, but whether he was actually asleep or not was anyone’s guess. In the novel, Mujin’s insomnia was well established.

“Are you asleep?”

At those words, Mujin opened his eyes.

‘As expected, he’s still awake.’

“Do you want to eat some fried rice crackers?”

Jaewoo asked him.

“Fried rice crackers?”

Jaewoo nodded as he held up a bowl of the leftover rice crackers.

In truth, Mujin had never eaten fried rice crackers before. When he was young, his family would never have made them, and as an adult, he never felt the urge to try. Without many expectations, he picked one up and brought it to his mouth. It’d probably taste like burned rice, he thought.

Crunch.

That’s what he’d thought, but why was it so delicious?

Crunch crunch.

The fried rice crackers kept going into his mouth one by one. After only a short while, Mujin had emptied the entire bowl.

‘Are there any more?’

Without realizing it, that was the first thought that came to Mujin’s mind. However, he refused to lower himself to ask. Luckily, Jaewoo spoke in a calm voice.

“Would you like some more?”

Mujin couldn’t bring himself to say no. Jaewoo went into the kitchen with the bowl, and after a while, he appeared again with more fried rice crackers. The second batch were just as delicious as the first one.

Jaewoo sat next to Mujin and ate some of the snacks while explaining about the house.

“The bathroom is over there, and there are new toothbrushes in the closet. You can use those.”

Mujin wiped the sweet sugar off his thumb and stared at Jaewoo. Why was he showing him such generosity? Didn’t he know what he was capable of?

‘Why?’

“Has anyone ever told you that you’ve got a couple of screws loose?”

“Hey! Pay attention.”

Jaewoo glared at Mujin petulantly. Seeing Jaewoo getting angry, Mujin stretched out a hand towards him. Although Mujin had been sitting next to him calmly, when he reached for him, Jaewoo flinched. As expected. After Mujin had nearly strangled him earlier, if Jaewoo hadn’t appeared scared, Mujin would have been even more suspicious.

Footnotes
“저기에 때릴 데가 어딨다고.” – “There’s nowhere to hit there.” Basically, according to Jaewoo, Hyunjin is so small/fragile that there’s no place safe for him to smack.
누룽지 – nurungji, scorched rice. Scorched rice is the thin layer of burnt rice left at the bottom of a cooking pot. Here, Jaewoo is scorching it deliberately, then frying it up into crackers.