Payback

There was no contact to go there that day, but I voluntarily went to the maze-like bar. However, I did not go there meaninglessly with the intention of being called 200 won several times on purpose. Instead, the manager who guided me to the room as though he knew I was coming, brought up an issue that pissed me off.

“Today’s homework is to be inspected by me.”

I stared at him without saying a word, but with a gentle smile on his lips as if he was a robot, he faithfully conveyed what the madman had said. 

“If you feel sleepy, you were told to use this to get coffee from the vending machine.”

He politely handed me a 100 won coin. Without answering, I stared at the coin in the palm of his hand and raised my eyes.

“How am I supposed to buy coffee with this?”

“He told you to spend the remaining two hundred won with your own money.”

“…”

“Shall I change the coin, Lee Baekwon-nim?”

I gave him a look, but it was useless in front of an unexpectedly formidable enemy. Yeah, it was only going to hurt my eyes if I tried to stare at the robot. Even if someone dances naked in front of him, he wouldn’t lose his gentle smile and was likely to say, ‘shall I play music?’. I picked up the coin from the manager’s hand.

“If I’m not sleepy, can I pocket this money?” 

When I asked bluntly, his robot-like smile deepened a little.

“Yes. I will keep it a secret.”

The tedious task of the day, which was described as homework, was to read a thick script. I was a student who had not attended school for a few years. It seemed that even a few days would not be enough for me, who had never read a book, to sit down and read that one book. Besides, the structure is unfamiliar. There was no narrative, and I couldn’t understand the content because it was all dialogue and stiff explanations of situations. There were some unknown symbols and terms that made the slow pace even slower.

Fortunately, I didn’t know if it was on purpose but there was a dictionary of scenario terms, so I was able to go through each chapter without moving for hours, searching for each term. I was half way done. The content has been out of my mind for a long time and I just want to read it all the way to the end. But half way through, the robot manager interrupted me. 

“Let’s stop for today.”

I turned my eyes to the clock on the wall as he looked down at me from the doorway. It was 2 a.m. If it wasn’t for an empty room without an owner, I would have insisted on watching it until the end, but the manager’s determined voice reminded me of what kind of place this is.

“It is time to close the Director’s room.”

Was this some kind of amusement park? When I heard that it was time to close the door, I almost had to laugh out loud, but I struggled to swallow it. Yeah, what’s wrong with that robot man? I closed the scenario I was reading and got up from my seat as he wished. The body, which had been stuck in one position, felt stiff. I gently shook my head from side to side and handed the 100 won in my pocket to the manager who was waiting for me to leave. Then for the first time a mysterious light appeared on his face. 

“Why are you giving it to me?”

“Entrance fee.”

He smiled as he looked at the 100 won in his hand. Unlike the maze-like interior, the back path for the employees was simple, so you could go up to the stairs by yourself without the guidance of the manager. Knowing this, the manager didn’t follow me, but I unexpectedly stopped in the narrow hall leading to the stairs by turning the long hallway.

Four employees lined up with their heads bowed and someone stood in front of them with an angry face. It was an unusual atmosphere to look at, but that didn’t stop me from walking by. No matter who the employees were, I didn’t care because resting my tired body came first. To be honest, I desperately wanted to catch some sleep. But the ‘who’ was the problem. 

“As I said before, I know everything.”

It was the owner of this place who opened his mouth seriously. With his chin raised in a stiff robot-like posture that resembled what a child put together, he scolded the trembling employees again.

“My sharp intellect and eyes can spot your lies at once. So, it would be better to stop talking nonsense in the first place. Do you understand?”

I almost burst out laughing at the words ‘sharp intellect and eyes’. Judging from the previous conversation, it was a laugh that would come out of knowing his sharp intelligence and eyes, but the reaction of the employees stopped me. One of them crawled to his knees and burst into tears, trembling as if the boss’s words were from a horror movie. 

“Heuk heuk~ Boss, I’m s-sorry! Actually, I didn’t mean to, I just…”

As he cried with his head bowed to the floor trembling, the boss quickly bowed his head and cut off the employee’s words.

“Enough, stop! You’re already showing everything when you drop down! It’s not because your legs are weak, it’s like you’re trying to pretend to fall down on purpose. So it looks awkward, reaching your arms out in advance and placing them on the floor. Did you think that it would be enough if you took the blame and stepped down as the representative? Hm? Do I look that sloppy?! Besides, of the hands that are on the floor, four fingers are straight and pointing somewhere. Oh ho~ it’s trying to inform the real culprit unconsciously due to injustice! It’s the guy at the end!”

The boss pointed a finger at the employee at the end without hesitation. 

“You were the main culprit!”

The culprit was revealed without hesitation. Everyone’s faces burst into tears with astonishment.

“Keuk! B-Boss… you really knew everything!”

“Boss, please forgive me! Heuheu…” 

My mind, who had already been dazed by drowsiness, became even more dazed as I witnessed the president’s amazing reasoning. The shock twofolded.

The boss’s ridiculous predictions came true, and the employees’ faith in his predictions solidified. I quietly returned to the hallway I had come from. The begging of the employees, who were holding the boss’s trousers behind his back, and the boss’s laughter, who was happy that his thoughts were “as expected”, were mixed.

“Bfexfexfe, ws gfjrbclcu lr qfgofma!”

Cr P qea atf ybrr bc ws ilra bo qfbqif P rtbeivc’a wffa boafc jibcu klat Utbabugjqtfg Off, P gjc lcab atf wjcjufg ja atf mbgcfg bo atf tjiikjs. Lf abbx atf ifjv, rjslcu atja tf kbeiv uelvf wf j vloofgfca kjs jr tf lwwfvljafis cbalmfv atf rlaejalbc. 

Then, at the sound of the boss’s laughter that followed as if chasing, he turned to me and spoke to me seriously.

“Aren’t our boss’s predictions really scary?”

“…”

“Why did you suddenly stop walking?” 

To be honest, I’m more afraid of you. Instead of answering all the way up to his neck, I gave a short answer.

“Yes, it’s pretty scary.”

Then he exclaimed with a polite robot-like smile.

“If you have nothing to hide, he treats you kindly.” 

I also added the manager to my list of people I should not meet often. And I wanted to get out of this place quickly, so I walked up the stairs that the manager told me, just when he called me from behind. When I turned my head, I heard a robot-like voice that had the same facial expression.

“The director will come the day after tomorrow.”

It was unexpected so I looked down at him for a moment. He didn’t seem like someone who would give me that kind of information. If he was coming the day after tomorrow, I didn’t have to come here tomorrow, so it was convenient. He smiled a little differently as if it was revealed by my expression that it was surprising.

“It’s in return for the entrance fee.” 

———

It wasn’t that I was determined to do well in what I was doing, but when it was time to wake up, my eyes opened spontaneously. I slept only 3 hours, but this had always been the case for the past 5 years, so I forcibly pushed away the sleepiness that was hard to shake and sat up. I took a lot of vocalization lessons yesterday. Perhaps it was because of that, with a blank mind, I recalled the things I had heard during the vocal class. How to project a loud voice and correct pronunciation, how to use this type of vocalization to express certain emotions, etc.

Trying to come to my senses, I inadvertently stretched my hand out onto the desk next to me. That’s right, I recorded yesterday’s class. If I listen to it again…

However, when I pressed play on the recorder in my hand, there was no response. Only then did I fully wake up and remember where it had fallen into. I thought it would dry after a day. After pressing several more buttons, I finally got up with the recorder that didn’t work. As I moved to wash my face, I was thinking about how much the recorder would cost, along with the bankbook balance in my head. 

The class that the man with yellow hair and the good looking man told me to fear eventually approached, but I wasn’t thinking about it as much as they had expected. When I met my manager in the morning and parted a while before entering class, I borrowed a computer from the office to find out the price of the recorder. It was more expensive than expected, inevitably several times the account balance I had in mind in the morning.

And before going to the large gym where the physical class was, I finally gave a definite answer about the part-time job I was talked into yesterday. It was difficult, but if I did it, I’d definitely be able to make up for the cost of the recorder. Well, if the manager finds out later, he might get upset. I went inside the gym thinking that I could get the same recorder, but inside, waiting for me were four people who had come and prepared in advance.

Looking around, there was no one who looked like an instructor, and they were the only ones wearing comfortable training suits and boxing gloves in their hands. Among them, the ugly guy whose father was the chairman of the credit union came to me with an angry expression on his face. As soon as the guy approached, he threw the empty boxing glove he was holding in his other hand at me.

Thud. 

As I picked up the glove that was thrown hard with one hand, the guy’s annoying voice reverberated inside the gym.

“Fuck you, you beggar bastard. Put that on and come at me. I’ll crush your lips for talking nonsense.”

I turned my eyes away from him who suddenly spat out curses, and looked behind me, where a sharp-looking guy was standing with his arms crossed as if it wasn’t his business, and the blondie and good-looking man looked at me with eyes mixed with curiosity and concern. As our eyes met, they both averted their eyes. I don’t know what was going on, but let’s go with the flow for now. I should have asked for the reason first, but arguing was annoying. I slowly put my hand on my glove and remembered the call I had made for the part-time job a while ago.

‘What? You can’t hurt your face? Dude, that would be doing me a favor. You, who were hired as a boxing sparring partner and whose hobby is to KO your opponent in a single blow? Anyway, go easy on me!’

Go easy. 

I moved my hand into a familiar glove and then pointed to the ring at the end of the gym.

“Can I do it over there?”

Without listening to an answer, I moved slowly first. Even if it was a ring, it was just a simple imitation, it was just a pole on the floor and rope attached. Since this place itself had a gym atmosphere rather than an actual gym, it might be rather strange to have an official ring. I stopped in front of the destination and checked the elasticity of the rope by hand.

Still, the string, which had been pushed slightly, returned to its original position with strong force as the pillar was firmly erected. The ugly guy behind me followed the path I had been walking on, and he continued to spit harsh swear words from his mouth. 

“Wow, that motherfucker is so shameless. After all, he’s like a rat swearing at other people from behind, so he’ll be arrogant without fear. This son of a bitch. Hm? Do you think I’ll spend my money wildy and turn into a beggar and get laid off? God, crazy bastard. Are you fucking around without knowing what kind of place this is?”

He got more and more agitated and clapped his gloved fists with a ‘bang, bang’. Swears were added to every threat that came out. I didn’t know the exact situation, but someone probably messed around between the two of us saying I talked behind his back.

The elementary school student-like childish recorder prank was probably the work of one person. But this was just a fleeting thought. There was no banding of his hands, no head mask, no mouthpiece, but I thought he would deal with it properly. Whatever the situation, I was not generous enough to be nice to anyone who insults me openly. In fact, I never really learned boxing. I became a sparring partner for the first time 5 years ago because I had been looking for a job with good pay and I had fought a bit in the past anyway.

No matter how much I punched, my opponents were experts who were preparing to be pros. Of course, I was almost beaten to death until bruises were all over my face and upper body. Still, I undertook the job the next time because I clenched my teeth and survived the 3rd round, and I also hated getting hurt, so I naturally learned to imitate the opponent who hit me. Two years later, I was the one hitting. 

So I didn’t think I was going to lose in this fight. Although there was the madman who beat me up a bit, he was an exception. That guy was a monster. Even if I officially learn boxing to death, I could exclude him because he was one of the few people in the world whom I couldn’t win against. There shouldn’t be any opponent in front of me who was a monster of the same level. Among all four people here. So there was no rush.

On the contrary, I was a little worried. It was the ugly guy I wanted to knock down right now, but I also wanted to take care of the guy who had been stirring the pot. However, I didn’t exactly know who the latter was. So the method is simple. I had to deal with all four. How should I go about facing all four of them? Then, the sharp-looking guy who was leaning against the pillars of the ring, tilting his head, spoke up.

“You really are a slow-witted guy.”

The ugly guy was twisting his arms, legs, and neck, saying that he was warming up his body as if he was trying to intimidate me. When I turned my eyes to the side, the guy with the sharp face met my gaze and lifted at the corners of his mouth. His whispering voice lowered so that only I could hear it. 

“Are you really going to deal with that guy? Think carefully. What do you think the guy who set this up wants?”

Then he followed the ugly guy as he entered the ring.

“If you get hit in that ring, you alone will bleed, but if you hit him even once, you and everyone else connected to you will be cut off from the company one after another.”

After removing himself from the pole, he suddenly shouted out loudly to the guy in the ring, “Take him down!” 

I looked at the ugly guy staring at me in the ring, and then I looked back at the man with yellow hair and the nice looking boy looking at me with a funny face. The two of them noticed what I was watching, and cheered, telling me to do well. I just stood on the spot for a while. In the ring, the ugly guy urging me to come rang in my ears.

As I moved my legs, I finally made eye contact with the guy with the bitter face. He had a sharp sneer in his eyes and twisted his lips. I would be a fool to do what they wanted me to do. Well, what was I going to do? As a freshman on a one-month contract, my goal was to stay here right now. That’s right, for now.

I swallowed the word ‘for now’ like ice. I walked to the center of the ring and opened my mouth to the ugly guy with my weight on one leg.

“I heard you’re acting with your feet. Are you really going to do boxing? I’m sure you’ll flounder your arms and tire yourself out, panting.” 

“You motherfucker!”

Swish!

The fists that flew in a large semicircle along with profanity flew backwards and passed my eyes. I purposely made more sarcastic insults to him.

“See? Do you think you’re boxing just by wearing gloves?” 

Swish! Swish!

He swung his fist in anger and recklessly. I kept taunting him, and frantically evaded him in the ring. It looked cramped, but it was quite difficult to keep running in tension in the ring. We both ran out of breath quickly. His face turned red as if about to explode, and he started growling like an animal towards me, who was narrowly escaping.

“I’m going to kill you!”

As I moved to a blind spot behind him, I kept looking for the person I needed. It was difficult to run away and search inside the large gym, but fortunately, there was a sound of the thick iron door opening. As soon as the person entered the gym, he was surprised and ran over. Finally, the instructor came. At that moment, I stopped running away and deliberately bumped into the ring’s rope. A strong wind blew over my bowed shoulders; I avoided the punch by a hair’s width, but it was impossible to move quickly because of the balance I had lost as I bent down. 

Beep!

Before the sound resounded, the shock on my shoulder informed me that his fist had hit me. It was a half-miss, but it was so close that I instantly shrank back. I looked up with a sneering eye at the man who was excited by getting a hit on the upper body.

“Are you ticklish?”

“Shut up!” 

Tap, tap!

His fists flew towards my face. I quickly wrapped my arms around my face, the entire body was hit hard. I staggered and was pushed back to the ropes without releasing my arms that were covering my face. Naturally, the exposed abdomen became the target of the opponent.

Smack!

… Urgh! 

This one hit the pit of the stomach exactly. In an instant, the strength of my knees relaxed and I crouched down on the floor with my trembling body. The pain that made it difficult for me to breathe put pressure on my upper body, so there was no time to look around. All I knew was that it was getting noisier with the ugly guy giggling and swearing and someone running into the ring to stop him. It was probably the instructor, but the guy who didn’t calm down just kicked and stepped on my collapsed body.

“Son of a bitch! You’ll never be able to set your feet on this field! Fucking bastard!”

“Stop it! What is going on?!”

The instructor’s voice also rose, and after a while the kicking ceased. It was only then did I finally loosen my arms that had been wrapped around my head and lifted my head. The first thing I saw was the ugly guy being pulled out of the ring by the instructor. When his eyes met, I deliberately twisted my lips. 

“Even a five-year-old must be stronger than you.”

“T-t-that bastard!”

The aggravated guy floundered wildly, but the sports instructor was strong enough to drag the ugly guy away. I barely got up as I watched the guy being dragged, but the sharp-looking guy approached me with a frown.

“Are you a dumbass? I gave you the answer, but why can’t you do it properly?” 

He was probably needlessly provoking me. Without saying a word, I got up completely and brushed him off. Then he grabbed my arm from behind. Looking back at me, he opened his mouth with a frown on his face.

“Want me to give you one more piece of advice?”

“No.”

I pulled my arm away from him, who was a little stiff, and walked towards the ugly guy who was still held on to by the instructor. Seeing me approach, the ugly guy floundered again, and the instructor frowned. 

“Are you a new rookie? What the hell are you doing as soon as you arrive?”

I glanced at the ugly guy and opened my mouth to the instructor.

“That was pretty shitty.”

“W-what did you say?” 

“Because you learn in a ring that’s like a children’s playground, aren’t you just messing around like that person? You think it’s boxing just because you put on gloves.”

At my words, the instructor looked at me, astonished.

“Look here, how can you say something like that now?”

“You bastard! Are you not beaten enough yet? Want me to beat you to death again?” 

I turned my expressionless face to the ugly bastard who was struggling to pounce at me.

“Never mind. Can you get away with not setting up properly? Teacher, I don’t want to learn boxing like this. Please remove me from now on.”

After I finished my words, I turned around and slowly walked towards the door.

Creak~ 

As I pushed the heavy door out, the sound of footsteps from the two immediately followed me.

“Taemin, are you okay?”

The concerned voice came from the man with a good appearance. Then the yellow haired one added,

“You were beaten up a lot… Doesn’t it hurt?” 

As I stared at them without saying a word, the two of them chuckled awkwardly as if they thought it was embarrassing.

“Still, it was refreshing to agitate him with words. It was pretty amazing. Even in that situation, you are not discouraged.”

“I know right. By the way, the rumors here are so fast that it spreads throughout the building in a matter of hours. Well, it’s not good, but if it’s cursing that guy, we do it too, so I understand. Still, we met just yesterday, and when did you offend him?”

“I never did.” 

Then they both looked startled. One of them must have been acting, but I couldn’t figure it out. Could it be that the person whom Hansoo and the manager told me was good at acting was one of these two?

“You really didn’t? So what on earth did he hear to take his anger out for? Sorry. We didn’t come forward because we thought it was true. If you step up and get targeted by that guy… We would be in trouble too. You understand, right??”

The good-looking man smiled apologetically.

“Yes, I understand.” 

When I replied casually, I noticed a strange expression for a moment, and then he changed the topic and suggested,

“Then, as an apology, you come empty-handed when we go to drink tomorrow. Originally, you have to give a tip too, but since it’s Taemin’s first time, you don’t have to pay anything. Okay?”

As I nodded, the yellow-haired man next to him tilted his head.

“I’m curious anyway. Then who was it that agitated that guy with words that Taemin didn’t even say?” 

I know. I was curious too, which one of you two was it?

Although there was a bruise on my body, my face was still safe, so fortunately Mr.Choi wouldn’t know anything about it.

Even if I had blue bruises on my body, my face was fine, so fortunately, my manager didn’t notice what happened that day. The inconvenience was that the ugly guy looked at me in the next day’s class and screamed something like he was going to kill me, but it was enough to ignore the noise. He didn’t make a move as if he knew that he would get in trouble with the company no matter how much money he had if he started throwing his fists when it was not a special situation. So he could only glare at me, who didn’t respond.

Taking advantage of his glaring gaze, I went outside after finishing the class that lasted until late. The yellow-haired man and good-looking man who were waiting in the car in advance noticed me first. 

“Here~”

As I approached the old heavy car, the blondie stuck out of the window in the front auxiliary seat.

“Get in the back.”

Clatter, tap. 

As soon as I closed the door and sat in the back seat, the car began to move. And while the car stopped for a while to change lanes, the good-looking man who was driving made eye contact with me via the rearview mirror.

“Don’t you want to know where you’re going?”

“No.”

For a moment, a surprised light flashed through his eyes, but soon turned into a smile. 

“Is that a lame joke?”

“No, it’s not.”

A cold wind blew during the silence, but I turned away from the window without paying attention. I could hear his words mixed with a belated grin.

“It’s a very famous place in the industry. It’s Alice’s Labyrinth.” 

It didn’t matter where we were going but he revealed the shop’s name. Who’s Alice, and what’s the mystery? However, when I arrived at the destination and looked at the sign, I knew that the situation had begun to get complicated.

‘Alice’s Labyrinth’

It was the madman’s store that I went to every day these days.