Chapter 3
Is the commonality between a kid who dropped out of school and a social person who quit their job that they feel a great catharsis in a short amount of time?
Even though I knew it was happiness that wouldn’t last long, I did my best to enjoy the short freedom.
I went to the Han River and casually enjoyed the subtle autumn sunshine while ordering delivery food, and if my body felt stiff, I rented a bicycle and rode along the Han River.
Even though the sky, which should have been typically clear blue in autumn, turned yellow due to fine dust, I kept moving. I led my body with the single thought of enjoying everything I couldn’t enjoy before.
Next is there, then there, even though I’m already approaching my 30s, I wandered around as if I had regressed to a freshman in my early 20s.
It was basic to go into a coin karaoke room and sing passionately alone, and I went into a comic book cafe, which was already half out of trend, read comics that I had missed, and devoured jajangmyeon.
And with time to spare, I was heading to a pub before office workers even got off work.
It’s a little early, but I’m thinking of having a glass of cold draft beer with chicken, which is a delicacy with tender flesh and crispy fried coating. And I’m thinking of washing away the tiredness of the day while watching sports broadcasts on the TV hanging on the pub wall.
When entertaining people who can handle alcohol well, there are often cases where I take the last train from a pub or a street stall after going through the 2nd and 3rd rounds.
My preference is to drink moderately, but when entertaining, I went along with the drunkenness of heavy drinkers with professionalism, tenacity, and a little bit of trickery.
Thanks to that, the pub owner, who I’m acquainted with, didn’t glare at me for coming to visit early in the evening.
Rather, he looked at me strangely and asked a question, seeing me not in my usual suit and not coming in with someone’s arm around my shoulder.
“Assistant Manager Han, what brings you here alone today? Judging by your attire, you seem to be on vacation?”
“I quit my job. I don’t think I’ll be able to increase sales here anymore.”
“Man, when did I ever discriminate between customers who increase sales and those who don’t? It’s just a neighborhood business, so it’s not like I’m doing it big. But why did you suddenly quit your job that you were doing well at?”
“There’s a person who saves the company and a person who kills it, and the person who kills it happens to be the boss.”
“Tsk tsk, this is why the higher-ups shouldn’t be stupid. It’s so convenient to have someone like Assistant Manager Han under you, but they don’t even know that…”
“I’m not going to work part-time here even if you praise me like that.”
“You got me!”
The pub owner laughed heartily at my joking reply and slapped his forehead.
He may look like a shabby neighborhood ajusshi on the outside, but he’s actually a great guy who is a former hotel chef.
He couldn’t stand the hierarchical bullying culture and corruption that occurred within the kitchen and bumped into the sous chef, so he was put on a blacklist in the industry. So he gave up on becoming a master chef and instead opened a pub, utilizing his own know-how.
Thanks to that, there are quite a few customers who come to enjoy the fantastic chicken and various snacks made by him along with alcohol.
I also knew about the rumors of this place, so I often used it as a place for the last round of entertainment.
“The usual, right?”
“I came alone this time, so please give me half a chicken. And a full 500cc glass of draft beer.”
“That ‘full full’ thing, really. Eat this while you wait.”
A snack plate that he brought casually was placed in front of me.
He said he poured his heart and soul into developing snacks to make customers order alcohol no matter what, and it wasn’t a lie.
The surface of small peanuts coated in sweet caramel was lightly sprinkled with a secret seasoning with a mild salty taste. Koreans who are crazy about sweet and salty flavors go crazy once they taste this.
Next to the peanuts were biscuits that had almost no taste or aroma, but had a proper texture, and small pieces of dried meat were scattered around as if decorating the surroundings.
This dried meat is also very popular among customers because he made it himself after setting up a workshop. As expected, people who have learned something professionally have the ability to make even trivial things great.
If my life was made by someone, that person must have not learned a professional life-creating method.
“Here, Salty Mayo Chicken and draft beer.”
“I’ve always wondered, but aren’t you thinking of changing that menu name?”
What is Salty Mayo?
“It’s Salty Mayo Chicken because it’s salty fried chicken topped with a special mayo sauce!”
“At least call it Salty Mayo Chicken!”
As expected of an ajusshi, his naming sense…
Even while grumbling like that, I quickly picked up a piece of steaming chicken with a fork. The freshly fried boneless chicken first invades my mouth, followed by crunchy pickled radish.
I clenched my lower body involuntarily because I felt like my mind would be dazed if I poured cold draft beer into my mouth, which was covered in oil.
Sometimes, when I felt monotony, I put the chicken’s soft meat and mayo sauce on a biscuit and swallowed it in one bite like a canapé.
“Did you come here after starving for three days? You’re eating so heartily.”
“I’m the type to relieve stress by eating and sleeping.”
Rather, there were no ups and downs in life other than eating and sleeping to my heart’s content.
I did well today, let’s do well tomorrow. Now, let’s just eat, drink, and sleep!
I’ve been going to a mental hospital, but I’ve continued my bad lifestyle habits for 3 years, so I’m just used to it now.
“Those d*mn bastards. They’re really crazy. They got a three-strike out there?”
“It’s not like you’re a Hanwha Eagles fan for just a day or two.”
“I wish they would win for the sake of the fans who have been fans for more than a day or two.”
Even while saying that, he’s busy receiving customers who are flocking in, aiming for dinner time.
There are a lot of loyal customers who sell well for a neighborhood pub, so seats start to fill up at this time. I’m thinking of eating and drinking moderately and getting up for the next customer.
At that time, there were men who opened the pub door roughly. Because of that, the bell hung on the door rang loudly, making the customers frown.
But the men frowned back as if they didn’t know what the problem was and sat around the largest 6-person table. There were only 4 people in the group.
“Hey, owner. 2 of the best-selling menus here and 4 glasses of 500cc draft beer.”
“…What are you guys doing in someone else’s store?”
As expected of the person who bumped into the sous chef in that brutal hotel kitchen, the owner ran out while frying chicken.
The men were clearly thugs who had eaten fist rice somewhere. At best, they looked like employees of a labor dispatch company, and at worst, they looked like gangsters.
Sure enough, as soon as the owner reacted sensitively as they wanted, the men frowned and shouted.
“Is this a d*mn place of business? Where is there an owner who treats customers like this? If a customer comes, you should run out, take their order first, and serve the food!”
“Do you think it’s that easy to take someone else’s money? You have to have a conscience!”
“Is this guy deaf? I said two of the best-selling menus and four glasses of 500cc draft beer!!”
“Tsk tsk, the owner’s personality is like this, so I know what the food will be like without even looking. What are you still doing standing there? If you want to make even a penny, you should quickly serve the customers!”
It was a very blatant and tiresomely conventional act of business obstruction.
I can’t believe there are still people who openly obstruct business in a way that would only appear in outdated movies or dramas.
In the past, even if thugs suddenly took over a store and obstructed business, it was always the owners who suffered the damage, but now the law has changed so that the police will handle it if you actively report it.
But the owner was trembling with his fists clenched, not reporting it to the police. Just like I always did.
That’s not a situation right before anger erupts, but rather forcibly holding back anger.
“Hey, did we break anything here? Or did we stop customers from coming in? We just want to have some of that famous chicken and draft beer!”
“If you call it business obstruction just because we shouted a little, then people who make noise in restaurants should all be arrested? Surely you’re not going to report it for that reason, are you? Uh-huh!”
“Well, I wouldn’t stop you if you want to come out like a man and have a physical conversation, but that’s not what we want.”
“That’s right. We just came as customers, wouldn’t it be disadvantageous only to the owner if you suddenly overreact?”
I thought the business obstruction episode was all over the place because the prologue was terrible, but they were quite good.
The way they talked nonchalantly, the way they subtly teased people, and even the meticulousness of not subtly crossing the line of the law. Even if I called the police, it would only end with a simple warning.
‘Even if the law is revised, the world is still screwed up.’
Since I had almost finished eating my chicken, I got up from my seat because I wanted to go home feeling lighthearted again. The owner wouldn’t try to k*ll me for putting it on my tab once, right?
I picked up a very thick and sturdy beer glass, empty of its contents, and walked towards the entrance.
Then, on my way, I roughly hit the back of one thug’s head and kicked the chest of the guy trying to get up from the other side, knocking him over.
And I ran out of the store like crazy.
At least I tied up two of them, so only two would be chasing me, right?
“Hey, you son of a b*tch!”
“Stop right there, you m*therfucker!”
“You’re dead if you get caught, really!”
“Catch that son of a b*tch! Catch him and k*ll him!!”
It seems the world doesn’t work as easily as I thought.
I thought the surprise attack went well, but unexpectedly, all four of them ran out of the store and started chasing me.
Since I couldn’t go back home like this, I went round and round. I desperately tried to shake off the pursuit by crawling into narrow alleys or climbing over head-high walls.
But I was eventually caught because of the difference in basic stamina compared to the thugs.
“You son of a b*tch! I told you you’d be dead if you got caught?!”
The thug who grabbed me, gasping for breath, threw a punch out of nowhere.
Thanks to some fighting experience in my school days, I managed to dodge it instinctively, but I got hit by the kick of another thug who followed and flew away.
And what followed was an indiscriminate beating from the thugs. It was one-sided violence without giving me a chance to dodge or block.
“D*e, you son of a b*tch!”
“Why the h*ll did this crazy b*stard hit an innocent person’s head?!”
“Make him into mush! It’s self-defense anyway!”
“What did this insignificant b*stard believe in to act so cocky?!”
Insignificant b*stard.
B*stard without parents.
The b*stard who has been causing trouble since he was young because of his anger management issues.
The b*stard who had to become a s*cker-like social person because of that d*mn orphan label and his lowlife status.
The f*cking b*stard, Manager Man, who threw personal insults at me and I couldn’t even throw a punch, only talking back before leaving.
The biggest idiot in history who thought he was something, threw the first punch at a customer in someone else’s business, and now gets beaten like a dog.
…Chuckle.
The strange laughter that was clearly heard amidst the insults and beatings was definitely laughter mocking me.
How long are you going to keep getting beaten up like that?
Did you become a coward all of a sudden because you used to act cocky when you were a minor?
Are you only going to clench your fists every time there are guys insulting your parents who you don’t even know if they went to heaven or disappeared into the ground?
Are you going to live a miserable life, deluding yourself that you’re something, like you’re doing them a favor?
Wouldn’t it be better for the world if a loser like you just killed himself quickly? Hahahaha!
Yeah, a loser like me should just k*ll himself quickly. But it’s okay to take these guys with me before I k*ll myself, right?
“Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!”
I rushed at the guys, screaming, and threw punches without caring if my bones broke.
I charged blindly even though I couldn’t see well with one eye because blood seeped into my eyeball. When a fist flew, I blocked it with my face and returned it with my fist.
Then, when I got hit by a kick again and fell to the ground, a stone rolling around caught my eye strangely.
I reached out desperately, even though it was out of reach.
Then the stone rolled towards me by itself and I grabbed it.
I swung the stone at the guys who were rushing at me again. For the first time, I heard something breaking from them, not me.
This is fun!
It’s so much fun that this misfortune, this pain, this despair is not just mine, but applies equally to the other side!
Yeah, you guys need to know this too. You have to feel how I’m living this s*itty life.
There’s a saying,”Put yourself in someone else’s shoes”, right? Let’s experience it by switching places!
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Ugh… Someone… Catch this b*stard…”
Hit the stone, break it, hit it, break it, hit it, break it, hit it, break it, hit it, break it.
Even when there was nothing left to break, I just swung the stone like crazy. When the stone finally couldn’t withstand it and broke, I swung my fist, my finger bones shattered.
How much time has passed like this?
I stood firm, having turned the four thugs who were trying to turn me into mush into mush.
I, who had never been the final victor even once, trembled all over with overflowing excitement and pleasure.
I’ve never done drugs, but maybe this is what it feels like?
The smell of blood and flesh splattered on the ground feels fresher than a bathroom air freshener.
At this moment, for the first time in my life, I’m grateful to be alive!
…Chuckle.
