Chapter 1: Is Your Name Dongbang Su, by Any Chance?
Jaenam Dongbang Clan.
It was the oldest surname in the world, yet virtually no one knew that fact.
Dongbang Su was the 274th-generation descendant and sole survivor of that ancient Jaenam Dongbang Clan.
The successor born to such a great clan.
Clack! Clack! Clack!
Was nothing more than a poor pool hall part-timer.
He watched the ball roll across the pool table with half-dead eyes.
It wasn't particularly meaningful behavior.
He merely wished for time to pass.
'Time's moving so fucking slow today.'
Dongbang Su glanced at the clock and muttered.
Ding ding!
Just then, the bell rang, and a man walked up to the counter with a warped expression.
"How much?"
"Eight thousand two hundred won."
A punk who couldn't be older than thirty threw out informal speech on their first meeting.
Perhaps because it was a pool hall, these kinds of customers showed up several times a day.
If he hadn't had part-time job experience, he would have snapped, but he had worked nearly a hundred part-time jobs—if he exaggerated a little—so an incident like this was nothing to him.
Dongbang Su calculated the bill while furtively sizing up the punk's appearance out of the corner of his eye.
A floral shirt that looked like it had been picked up from the Dongmyo Market.
Necklaces and bracelets looped around him like chains.
With the finishing touch of a loan shark bag and crude tattoos scribbled here and there on his body.
'Just a punk? Or... is he a real loan shark?'
Whatever his true identity, experience told him that crossing words with these types never ended well.
"Huh? Eight thousand two hundred won? What kind of bastard charges by the minute down to the unit? Fucking ridiculous."
"I don't want to charge it either, but it's all done by the POS system, so there's nothing I can do about it."
"..."
The punk's face hardened, and the silence stretched.
The guy's physique and sleazy tone alone were enough to set one on edge, but at that moment, Dongbang Su concealed his emotions using the Iron-Face Divine Art.
Did that expression get on his nerves?
The punk fired back again.
"You disrespectful bastard. Look at the way a little shit like you talks. Is that what your mommy and daddy taught you?"
He could endure simple cursing, but a parent diss was foul play.
Dongbang Su looked straight at the punk with wide open eyes.
"I don't quite understand why you're in a bad mood, sir. If you tell me which part seemed disrespectful, I'll try to correct it."
A smiling mouth but sharp eyes—yet he damn well couldn't show any hostility.
Because he was a part-timer.
"Haah. Look at this, answering back point by point. Why would I talk to a part-time shit? Get the owner out here!"
Today seemed like he'd run into some bad luck.
Normally he'd let it slide, but from the look of things, the punk reeking of alcohol had no intention of letting it go.
He had to wrap this up quickly for the sake of the other customers.
Clinging to the last thread of his reason, he guided the conversation kindly, word by word.
"The owner doesn't come in during my shift, sir."
The punk's expression grew even uglier, perhaps because Dongbang Su's composure under the verbal abuse was even more irritating.
At the same time, the surrounding customers began watching the commotion with considerable interest.
A few of them sneakily took out their phones and fixed their lenses on him.
Only then did the punk feel the gazes stabbing at him from all directions.
"Son of a bitch."
The punk let out a deep breath and cursed under his breath.
He'd been about to raise hell and teach him a lesson, but in the end, he pulled out a ten-thousand-won bill and threw it.
"You're fucking ridiculous, you nobody. Fucking ridiculous. You—I've got you marked."
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The punk who'd thrown the money stomped his feet as if to drive home the point that he was angry, then headed for the exit.
"Sir!"
"What! You bastard!"
"You forgot your one thousand eight hundred won in change."
He hurried over and pressed the money into his hand, and the punk looked back and forth between the money and Dongbang Su in disbelief.
'If a punk like you reports me for not giving change, it'll be a bit of a hassle.'
There were pieces of trash who sometimes picked fights by not taking their change like this.
You'd think such a thing wouldn't happen, but wasn't the world wide and full of crazies?
"Haah. This bastard's completely nuts. You better watch your back on the street, for real."
"Yes, sir. Thank you for your concern."
Fighting fire with fire at a time like this was something only amateurs did.
'As if a punk could get my back. Iron-wall defense, iron-wall defense. Kekeke.'
The way he kept glaring was a bit unsettling, but punks like this rarely took any further action.
It was clear he was angry now because his little tricks hadn't worked.
Whether he was dumbfounded by Dongbang Su's answer or not, the punk glared at him for a long moment before leaving the pool hall.
He'd come and gone alone, as if he had no friends, and even looked a bit pitiful.
'Good riddance, and don't come back.'
He was someone he'd just met, but it was a face he never wanted to see again.
Perhaps because dealing with the punk had put him on edge, time flowed smoothly after that.
Before long, it was time to get off work.
Drrrriiiiiiiing!
The bell at the pool hall entrance rang loudly.
As Dongbang Su naturally turned his head, a familiar silhouette came into view.
A woman in her early twenties with a short cut hairdo exuding a lively vibe.
She was the worker for the next shift.
"Hey, hello!"
"Wow. You really show up right on the dot."
"Of course! I'm getting paid for this; why would I work more? I gotta keep it moderate. Hehe."
She talked like that, but she was more competent than she looked.
She'd been working alternating shifts for over six months, showing up right on time without much complaint and never causing any trouble.
An outstanding appearance and a great figure.
Any man would naturally feel favorable toward her.
Dongbang Su felt that way too, but knowing his place, he hardly engaged in personal conversation.
He stared blankly at her for a moment, then quickly shook his head and came to his senses.
"Great point. Anyway, I've mostly cleaned everything up, so I'm off work now! See you tomorrow!"
"Yeah, bye~!"
It had been a boring part-time shift, but the fact that there was a quitting time made it bearable.
* * *
Though it was late, past eleven o'clock, the city's glamour had not faded in the slightest.
Perhaps because it was a weekday, there weren't many people, but the expressions of those coming and going looked endlessly happy.
'Tsk tsk. How nice. What a shitty world.'
It was a leisure that was not permitted to the poor.
Setting aside gloomy thoughts, he thought of his mother waiting at home and put strength into his legs to take a step.
"Excuse me!"
A voice that seemed to be calling someone was heard.
'There's no way they'd be calling me, right?'
It had been three years since he graduated high school and moved to where he lived now, and there was no one who would know Dongbang Su.
Naturally, he didn't think he was being called, so he didn't stop walking.
"Excuse me!"
He heard the call again, but ignored it as expected.
"The man walking up ahead!"
Now that he could hear it so clearly, curiosity arose.
'Who on earth could it be?'
His head turned instinctively.
At the same time, he began scanning the other person.
It was a survival habit he'd learned to stay alive while poor.
'Height around 167 centimeters, weight around 50 kilograms. Face looks like she had her eyes touched up a bit. Did she get a skin scaling treatment? Even accounting for that, her looks are top-class. But she seems a little familiar. Who is she?'
It was a thought that passed in an instant.
"Ah, seriously! When someone calls you, shouldn't you answer?"
The woman shouted, putting her hand on her hip.
"Me?"
"Yes. You."
"Do you know me?"
Her face was somewhat familiar, but he couldn't think of any connection.
"Is your name perhaps Dongbang Su?"
"No, it's not."
There was no reason to reveal his identity just because she knew his name.
'As if there was anyone trustworthy in this world. Or should I say, any bitch?'
It wasn't like there would be a problem, but wasn't that just life—being suspicious first?
"No, but yes. Didn't you graduate from Gyeongho Middle School?"
"You've got the wrong person."
Even as he answered, he pondered endlessly over the woman's identity in his head.
Seeing that she knew him all the way back to middle school, he felt like he should definitely remember her.
Even though Dongbang Su answered with a straight face, the woman followed him, asking what was so suspicious.
"That's right. That's right. Dongbang Su. Class 3-3 at Gyeongho Middle School, Teacher Gim Yuil's class. Right? It's me. Bak Hyeonji. You don't remember?"
"Bak Hyeonji? Ah!"
Dongbang Su reacted to those words involuntarily.
If it was Bak Hyeonji, it was impossible to forget even if he tried.
She had been the most popular kid when they were in middle school.
Of course, the reason Dongbang Su—who had been famous for his lack of presence—remembered her was a different one.
"Come on, don't play dumb. Wow. It's really been a while. How have you been?"
"Ah... you know, the usual."
Bak Hyeonji, the strange girl who had confessed to Dongbang Su when he'd been quietly sitting in a corner during their middle school days.
It was strange that he had forgotten her until now.
'No. She had grown taller than back then, and her eyes especially look very different.'
She had been pretty back then too, but having definitely gotten work done on her eyes and wearing makeup, her appearance now was far superior.
"Now you stop pretending. Nice seeing you like this. What are you up to these days?"
"Just, you know, part-time jobs?"
It wasn't easy to say he was working part-time in front of a classmate who now seemed to have settled down pretty well.
Feeling somewhat dejected, he was about to say his goodbyes and part ways.
"I'm really happy to see you, so instead of this, want to grab a quick coffee?"
"No, my mother is waiting at home."
"Come on, you see your mom every day. Let's go, let's go!"
It was true that he felt infinitely small, but he wasn't entirely without joy at seeing her.
While he hesitated for a moment, Bak Hyeonji boldly linked arms and pulled him along.
Swallowing hard at the proud, tingling sensation at his elbow, he eventually let himself be pulled along helplessly.
'Hmm... at this level, is it a C-cup? I don't think it was like this before...'
Concluding that her face wasn't the only thing different from their middle school days, he followed where she led.
Sometimes, this didn't seem so bad.
His mother would be waiting at home, but wasn't it worth experiencing the life of a mature(?) adult as well?
Even as they walked, Bak Hyeonji kept asking questions, seemingly in a very good mood.
"But is life worth living these days?"
"So-so. But, Hyeonji."
"Hmm?"
"Where are we going right now?"
He was sure she'd suggested getting a quick coffee nearby, but before he knew it, they were in an unfamiliar, gloomy back alley.
It was his first time in this place since living in the neighborhood, and for some reason, the streetlights were out too.
In the ominous atmosphere, his reason—until now led by instinct—finally returned.
"What do you mean, where? We haven't seen each other in so long; I'm just saying let's talk."
Bak Hyeonji was still smiling, but Dongbang Su felt uneasy.
"If we're talking, why come to a place like this?"
It was utterly incomprehensible.
He could accept running into Bak Hyeonji by chance, but why had she brought him to such a place?
"Come on, why ask that? There are no people around; isn't that nice?"
Bak Hyeonji leaned her body closer furtively.
Together with that, a strange fragrance stabbed at his nose.
'What? What? Is this a green light? But why come to a place like this if it's a green light?'
Her blushing face as she spoke didn't match the atmosphere of this place she'd suddenly brought him to at all.
Just when he couldn't easily judge the situation.
A familiar bulky figure entered the alley where Dongbang Su and Bak Hyeonji were.
The man who appeared suddenly opened a shit-reeking mouth.
"Well, well. Who do we have here? Isn't this the pool hall part-timer?"
"Huh? Mister...?"
"Hehe. Mister? This punk really acts up just 'cause he's next to a girl. Keke."
It was the punk who had picked a fight with him during his shift.
Dongbang Su's brow furrowed involuntarily.
In an instant, the events of the day flashed through his mind.
It had almost been an ordinary day like any other, but then there was Bak Hyeonji who had suddenly appeared to greet him, and the punk who'd picked a fight during work.
The day had become something unusual.
"What brings you here?"
"Do I need your permission to be here? I knew you were a worthless piece of shit from before. Frowning and talking shit."
Dongbang Su looked around and opened his mouth again.
"So what do you want?"
"What do I waaant? Keke. Forget it. Why don't you drop dead today, huh?"
"Drop dead? Did I do something wrong?"
"Kwahahahahaha."
The punk laughed like a maniac, as if something pleasant had suddenly occurred to him.
"Su... Suya... That man is scary."
Bak Hyeonji, who had stepped closer to Dongbang Su at some point, spoke in a frightened voice.
"Haah. This is driving me crazy."
Dongbang Su, who had muttered lightly, first moved the trembling Bak Hyeonji behind him.
He didn't know what the punk was thinking, but he didn't seem to have good intentions.
In the hand of the punk, who had laughed his fill, was now a knife pulled from inside his clothes.
"Kyaah! He's crazy. A knife! A knife!"
Terrified by the sight, Bak Hyeonji screamed.
The loud noise ringing in his ears from up close nearly made them ring, but this was a situation where he had to calm her down first.
"Hyeonji, calm down first..."
Stab—!
There was no warning whatsoever.
A long, cold blade lodged itself into his stomach.
Gurgle, gurgle!
Red blood flowed out along the knife.
Dongbang Su touched the wound and then raised his hand.
His hand was quickly dyed completely red.
"...What is this?"
It was absurd.
To think the knife he'd thought was just for intimidation was lodged in his body.
His face went pale from the unreal pain, but he couldn't stay like this.
He had to survive somehow, and he had to save Bak Hyeonji, who was standing behind him.
"Hey. Mister. Calm down..."
Crack!
But Dongbang Su's words couldn't continue.
This time, it was the back of his head.
As his consciousness grew hazy, his gaze naturally turned backward.
At the end of that gaze was Bak Hyeonji, glaring at Dongbang Su while holding a blood-stained brick.
"Why... why?"
"Hohoho. You insulted me."
The crazy woman was laughing and spouting crazy nonsense.
'...Fucking bitch.'
With that thought, his consciousness faded away.