Cinnamon Candy - Episode 137
137
Episode 137
I tried gently pulling on the hem of the clothes, but the animal clung to the owner even more persistently. It doesn’t seem like they’ll ever let me go, and no one is chasing me, so what’s the rush on the way there? It’s a long road anyway, so let’s take a moment to catch our breath. Seonju changed his mind and sat down.
Then the beast burrowed into my arms as if it had been waiting. He scratched the owner’s shins and rolled his body into a ball on his legs. As if they were trying to prevent it from going anywhere by pressing down on it with their own weight. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked up, and snot like clear soap bubbles formed in the nostrils of her nose.
“Why aren’t you going back and doing it for me?”
Seonju was concerned about the tears forming in her eyes, so she brushed her pink nose and wet eyes with her thumb. The beast closed its eyes and thrust its head under the owner’s palm. The soft fur tangled in her hands reminds me of someone.
Who was that?
It’s almost like I can’t remember anything, it’s hidden in a hazy haze and I can’t see it. Even though he narrowed his eyes and searched his mind, the person’s name, appearance, or anything else came to mind. Even the voice is blurry, like the wind flowing from over a high hill.
Wasn’t it precious?
Or will precious memories be forgotten?
I couldn’t find the answer at all. Seonjoo was lying down on the floor. When I wake up, this little beast will leave me too. I didn’t want to worry about anything. The uneasy feeling of not being able to tie something was taken away by the grass grazing my skin.
It was peaceful here. Not sick, not hungry, not in pain.
The beast came onto the owner’s ship. I curled up as if I was lying down in a nest and closed my eyes with the owner.
* * *
After finishing treatment, Cheonil left the warehouse. His face and shoulders showed signs of exhaustion, like a doctor after a long surgery. Hyeongwoo glanced at him and then moved his gaze straight ahead.
As soon as he closed the door, Cheonil took a deep breath and removed the remaining smell of blood from his nostrils. If I could, I wanted to run to the bathroom right away and wash everything out of her nose and lungs with the strongest-smelling soap.
I thought I had seen everything I couldn’t see on the farm, but it was a huge mistake. Even though it’s a warehouse, I never thought I’d encounter something like this. Although Kwon Hee-seong was not a butcher, he had a high level of skill in tearing apart people’s every word, as if he were trying to turn them into a body.
“Ugh,” Cheonil said in disgust. This is why I thought of Han Myeong-ju, who I saw as soon as I opened the warehouse door. He is tied to a chair, and at first I thought a bucket of seonji had been thrown over his head. His face, feet, and even the chair were covered in blood, and the smell of blood mixed with the sewage at his feet created an indescribable stench in the warehouse. A few days ago, it wasn’t like this.
Han Myeong-ju, who had lost consciousness, woke up shivering only when a needle was stuck in her arm. She somehow lifted her swollen eyelids, looked at her for a thousand days, opened her chapped lips, and sobbed hoarsely.
‘Please save me. I will do anything. Money, I can even give you money! Or please report it… … !’
Cheon-il did not respond and quietly did his job. He stopped the bleeding to prevent him from dying from excessive bleeding and gave him fluids so he could survive without water or food. Seeing the silent Cheon-il, Han Myeong-ju must have realized that he was also an accomplice, and changed her posture and cursed without swearing, splashing blood and spit. He struggled and even tried to hit Cheonil.
I almost had the back of my neck bitten by those yellow teeth. A chill ran down his spine, and Cheonil quickly wrapped his palm around the back of his neck. Eyes that were sparkling like ghosts flickered before my eyes.
“Can I hold on to that for a long time?”
“Anyway, I was a person who had no regular contact and only wandered around gambling circles. There is no one to report missing. Even if you do, if you are an adult addicted to gambling, will you find it properly?”
Hyeong-woo answered the words he said alone with sincerity. Cheon-il looked at him with pitiful eyes, thinking that this person was having a hard time too. In fact, Hyeong-woo didn’t pay much attention to Cheon-il’s sad look.
“How long are you going to hold on to this?”
Cheonil asked vaguely. Hyeongwoo flicked the cigarette ash with his fingertips and tilted his head slightly to the side as if tilting his head.
“Probably until Han Seon-ju wakes up?”
“… … .”
I had nothing to say about him. Is there a law that says when a person in a coma will wake up? Han Myeong-ju’s escape from the warehouse may never happen.
I don’t know the details, but it was a very unfortunate thing for Han Myeong-ju. He cuts off one of his fingers a day. If I cut everything off, I’ll cut off his toes, and if there’s nothing left, I’ll break every bone. Just hearing it gives me goosebumps, but I wonder if the person who experiences it directly must be appalled. It might have been easier to die as soon as possible.
“But I didn’t say anything about pulling out my teeth or tongue.”
“I think I’ll choose that too if I have the chance.”
Cheonil muttered. If Han Seon-joo doesn’t wake up even after breaking every bone in her body, they’ll tear out everything in sight. For Kwon Hee-seong, that would be enough.
At that time, a familiar car came from over there. This is why stories about tigers are not told by mistake. Cheonil looked at the car approaching in front of him without hiding his distorted expression.
Kwon Hee-seong got out of the car. Every time I see you, you’ve lost weight and the clothes that used to be tight around your arms are now a little loose. The cheeks were sunken and the eyelids became deeper, but on the contrary, the eyes had a luminous glow. I thought Han Myeong-ju was a ghost, but this person was a ghost. No, whether it was a ghost-slaying goblin, an animal, or anything else, the energy emanating from it was so strange and cold that it could not even be compared to Han Myeong-ju. So much so that I wanted to hide behind Hyungwoo’s wide back without even realizing it.
I barely resisted the urge and nodded my head in a sort of greeting. However, Kwon Hee-seong opened the iron door and went inside as if he had not even seen the two, let alone said hello. Before the door closed, I think I heard a scream that sounded like a scream.
Hyeong-woo seemed familiar, took out a cigarette and offered it to Cheon-il. Cheonil calmly took the cigarette and put it to his mouth. Then, before Kwon Hee-seong went inside, I noticed the tool she was holding in her hand, so I asked her as if I was looking at it.
“The one in Kwon Hee-seong’s hand. Isn’t that a chisel? “It’s what you use when cutting rebar.”
“It will be right.”
“Are you going to cut it with that?”
“Because it’s neat. “They said it wasn’t working well yesterday, so I guess they bought a new one today.”
Little finger, ring finger, middle finger. And today it was the index finger’s turn. A series of faint screams escaped beyond the iron door. Cheonil pretended not to hear and looked up into space.
“You weren’t the type of person to torture like that to begin with.”
“I did. In the past.”
“Are things different now?”
“I think it’s because I might go crazy if I don’t do something like that.”
Hyeongwoo also seemed unconvinced. Cheonil briefly remembered Han Seonju lying in the hospital bed. He looked peaceful, as if he was taking a nap. So much so that she felt sorry for telling her to stop standing up.
“… … “I need to stop the bleeding and go.”
“no. You can just go. “They brought out a torch and an iron.”
Of course, throwing it away quickly is also a way to stop the bleeding. The taste of cigarettes disappeared. Cheonil scratched his chin and then threw more than half of the remaining cigarette into the empty can.
“Then let’s go first.”
Cheon-il said he would bring antibiotics next time and said hello briefly and got into his car. The room mirror showed Kwon Hee-seong leaving the warehouse as if work was over. He didn’t bother to stop the car. Even if he went back and waved in front of his nose, I doubted whether he would see me.
“zero… … Look, by the way.”
As much as I hate it, it’s not good to see Kwon Hee-sung losing his temper and hurting others. Although he felt very sorry for Han Seon-ju, Cheon-il hoped that he would wake up from his peaceful sleep as soon as possible. I wanted to wake up quickly and comfort Kwon Hee-seong and hug him. So, Kwon Hee-seong wanted to return to his original appearance of being unlucky, shameless, and sly.
Because Kwon Hee-sung, who smiles immaturely like a boy, is much better than the butcher who goes on a rampage covered in blood.
As the warehouse moved away, the two large figures standing in front of it disappeared beyond the road. Cheonil let out a heavy sigh that no one could hear and turned his steering wheel.
* * *
The smell of blood permeated even under my fingernails. Kwon Hee-seong wet his pale hands with water and rubbed them with soap. Blood came back to his bruised knuckles, but it was washed away by running water.
No matter how many times I washed it, the stench that seemed to have come from a warehouse could not be completely removed. I sprayed deodorant, perfume, and changed clothes all over my body, but it didn’t help. Would alcohol have any effect? While I was leaving, I filled the bathtub with alcohol and thought about soaking in it. It was a waste of time.
When I entered the hospital room, Mrs. Jin, who had been taking the place of Kwon Hee-seong, stood up hesitantly. Kwon Hee-seong did not even make eye contact with her.
Now Mrs. Jin no longer nags him to do this or that. She sometimes said that she couldn’t stand it anymore and that she should get some sleep at home, but as usual, Kwon Hee-seong didn’t listen to her.