The moment his breathing grew ragged, a thick cherry scent reached him. His emotions had clearly surged so strongly that Chaegong’s own scent had filled the room as well. Chaegong rubbed his face hard against the blanket he had picked out with Woojin, then said with his voice thick from crying,

“I, hyung being my roommate made me so happy. I was always grateful. Thank you for taking me in, and thank you for teaching me all sorts of things.”

Woojin did not answer. He only reached out and roughly ruffled Chaegong’s hair, half-buried under the blanket. His hand was trembling, but it was warm all the same.

The old front door opened with a loud creak. And only after enough time had passed to have retied his shoelaces five more times did it close again. At that, Chaegong shot upright. His entire face was soaked with tears as he opened his mouth and cried like a child, but no one came to comfort him.

He already missed the cherry scent, which was fading away so quickly.

Inside the bankbook was a month’s wages, along with all the money he had brought with him when he left Hyunjo’s house. It was all of Chaegong’s assets. Even though he had no money to spend immediately, Chaegong was even more curious about whether Woojin had used that money to settle things.

Foolish Chaegong felt more hurt that Woojin had not told him about his injuries than that he had stolen his money. Had he not considered him close enough to share something like that? Thinking that, Chaegong felt a little ashamed of having laid out every last detail of his own situation.

As expected, Woojin had taken everything, even the deposit, and the landlord, after hearing Chaegong’s circumstances, gave him a little over a month. He had to vacate the place in that time, but Chaegong didn’t know how to find a new place, nor did he have the money to do so.

But he wasn’t too worried. There was a small break room at the factory for the employees, and he had been told he could stay there for a while. Beside the boss, who was patting Chaegong on the shoulder, Seyeon whispered,

“You might even be able to stay there for good. The break room hardly gets used, and the boss likes people who work for a long time.”

Chaegong, with no family to support and not much to spend on food anyway, allowed himself to feel a little more at ease. Maybe that was why. Why he decided to take on the worst burden Woojin had left behind instead.

On a Saturday weekend, with less than a week left before Chaegong had to vacate the house, someone came knocking quite early. When he opened the door, hair still tousled and hastily pushed into place, two sturdy men were standing beyond it.

Neither of them was particularly small, but the man with the especially sharp eyes gave off such an oppressive air that Chaegong’s legs involuntarily stiffened.

Just as Chaegong was clutching the door and darting his eyes around, the man who had pulled his jacket zipper all the way down to his navel, despite it not being cold enough for that on a winter day, tipped his chin at Chaegong.

“Choi Woojin’s in this house, right? Tell him to come out.”

“Why are you looking for my brother?”

“Because there’s something he needs to pay back. Cut the chatter and call him out.”

The gold necklace visible beneath the jacket, the swaggering manner, and that confident attitude too. Maybe it was just prejudice, but Chaegong somehow felt like he knew who these two were.

“You’re loan sharks, aren’t you? My hyung borrowed money?”

“Well, look at you, figuring that out? If you knew, then hurry up and tell Choi Woojin to come out. We came all the way here in this cold to collect it ourselves.”

He never would have imagined that Woojin had gone so far as to borrow from loan sharks. Maybe he had been living like this all along, stealing money in this way. Chaegong unconsciously touched his right earlobe. The face that had smiled as it put this on came to mind. He knew that Woojin had deceived him, but Chaegong did not think even their memories were fake. The days they had laughed together were still vivid.

“…How much did hyung borrow?”

“And what would you do if you knew?”

Chaegong swallowed hard. That dawn, the hand that had ruffled his hair came back to him. So did the tearful apology that had echoed in his ears.

Maybe it was just stubborn pride, but.

“I’ll pay it back in his place.”

“……”

“I’ll pay back what hyung borrowed, so stop bothering him.”

The two loan sharks were silent for a long time. Just as the hand gripping the doorknob began to feel painfully cold, the man who had not said a word until now slowly opened his mouth.

“Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

At the extremely low voice, Chaegong’s shoulders hunched. But soon he nodded. His gaze met the pitch-black eyes set within those sharp features for a long moment, and then the man slowly looked away.

“The money Choi Woojin borrowed was 40 million won. You’re saying you’ll pay that back?”

Chaegong’s mind began to race. After tax, Chaegong’s monthly wage was around 2 million won, and if he worked weekends from now on too, he could earn more than 2 million won steadily. Excluding a little for food, if he repaid 2 million won every month, he could clear it in about two years.

Just the thought that Woojin might return in two years already made Chaegong flutter with excitement. If he told him that he had paid off all his debt, Woojin might hug him and thank him. Then they could live together like before. Eat together, spend the weekends together. Even on ordinary days, they could smile peacefully and go to bed.

Chaegong had even rolled down the stairs himself in order to get back the kindness Hyunjo had shown him. In the end, he had failed and run away, but if there was a safe and certain way to get that kindness back, there was no reason not to do it.

With a small smile, Chaegong nodded again and again that he could do it.

“I’ve lived a long time and never seen someone like this before.”

The man with the gold necklace muttered, and in the house he would soon have to leave, Chaegong signed the papers filled with all sorts of difficult words. The two men said it didn’t matter as long as they got the money, took the documents, and left the house.

Chaegong had lived in Hyunjo’s house for three years and had received a fairly large amount of money from him every month. Having never experienced social life even once, Chaegong did not properly understand how much money that was, or how much work it would take to earn it. In other words, his sense of money was worse than other people’s.

And Chaegong did not know why people avoided loan sharks. Thinking only of repaying the principal, he had not taken the enormous interest into account, and that would soon bring a huge change to his daily life.

He had never spent much money to begin with, but not doing something and not being able to do it were completely different things. Chaegong began getting by on nothing but cup ramen for all three meals. Even that often had to be skipped because he felt the boss watching him, and he would sometimes fill in the lacking nutrition with snacks the factory employees gave him.

The factory employees did not go to the break room often. That was because it was hot in summer and cold in winter. He had not spent a summer here yet, so he wasn’t sure, but the part about it being cold in winter was true. Even if he turned on the electric blanket Woojin had used, his throat would sting and the tips of his toes would be cold when he woke in the morning.

With meals in such poor shape and even the sleeping arrangements no good, it was only natural for him to catch a cold in the winter wind. Chaegong’s hands trembled as he bought a box of multi-symptom cold medicine at the convenience store, not even wanting to spend the money.

He went to the bank and opened a new account. This time he went alone, but he was able to do it without trembling. Thinking of Woojin, who had made that possible, this life did not feel so hard.

After receiving his salary, Chaegong immediately handed 2 million won over to the loan sharks the next day. But he could not pay the interest. Even if he tried to take on more work, he did not even have the time for it. Contrary to Chaegong’s thoughts, the debt did not shrink quickly. Because the interest kept piling up as he repaid the principal, it only went down little by little.

How much longer was he supposed to keep living like this? It was while he was rubbing his cold fingertips together, thinking that.

“You need money, don’t you?”

The one who said that was Seongjun, a male omega who came to the factory to work occasionally. They did not know his exact age, but he looked a little older than Chaegong, so he was someone Chaegong called hyung.

“How did you know?”

“There isn’t anyone here who doesn’t know that. Anyway, why don’t you take on a part-time job?”

Chaegong worked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. He worked without missing even weekends, barely managing to pay down the principal, so he had no time to take on more work. As he said that and fumbled awkwardly, Seongjun tapped Chaegong’s arm.

“It only takes an hour or two at night. It isn’t all that hard, and it pays pretty well. So?”

Chaegong needed money. Seongjun, who came and went to pick up his daily pay, never seemed to have any steady job, yet he always spent money without restraint. He was clearly spending more on snacks for the workers than he earned in a day at the factory. If that was related to his ‘part-time job,’ Chaegong thought it was worth trying.

“Okay. When do I start?”

Seongjun smiled brightly, as if pleased Chaegong had made the right choice.

“Let’s meet in front of the factory at 10 tonight. I’ll pick you up.”

If he went out at 10 and worked part-time for about 2 hours, then he could come back to the factory and sleep for at least 8 hours. Chaegong bowed his head again and again, thanking him.

✿ • ✿ • ✿