CH 24.1

As soon as Morphine opened his eyes, he ran to Yaba’s room. He said at dawn that he had seen Marijuana, and since then he didn’t want to leave. Hashish was seen walking through the living room through the open door. Morphine said at the sight.

“His face is so shitty, really. Hashish said earlier that he was going out with Cocaine, so he was spirited. Cocaine went on a business trip to Director Cha’s family home, and there hasn’t been any contact for a while? I heard he was not even going to the villa today…”

“…”

“By the way, did you hear? Some time ago, Cocaine was on a business trip, and a motorcycle came after him. The thugs got down and tried to catch him, so he quickly ran away, but he wore a helmet and covered his license plate so they didn’t know who it was. But you know what’s really creepy? The next day, the motorcycle haunted the spot where it missed him and followed him all the way to the neighborhood. Isn’t it really creepy?”

“…”

“Cocaine had been stalked before. But this time, it must really be a psycho. So the boss added more thugs. But Hashish keeps saying strange stuff like there’s a suspicious bastard? Anyway, that Hashish bastard also has a stalker temperament. If Cocaine is uncomfortable, he should keep people at a moderate distance, people are so…”

Yaba flipped through his book and shoved Morphine with his feet.

“Go away. Go to your room.”

“Hey! How much space do you think I need to occupy? Why did the inside of the room become narrower than the one-pyeong closet while using the widest room? Think of me as just a pillow! What’s the use of your delusions when it doesn’t work in times like this?”

“It’s time to wash the pillow, do you want me to take off your skin and return it to the washing machine?”

“Aye~, why are you so scary?”

Morphine grinned mischievously. Last night, Yaba was in a messed up condition because he paid Cha Yiseok for the medicine. The scene lingered all day long, so my head couldn’t rest, and now even Morphine was annoying him.

“By the way can you do something about those clothes?! What the hell are you wearing like that at home? I feel stuffy looking at you… !”

The clothes he wore were knitwear that covered up to the bottom of his lips. In order to cover the marks remaining on the nape, he had to endure the stuffiness. Inside, he wore a shirt he had stolen from Cha Yiseok. The shirt was not removed from the body when sleeping or going out. The light blue shirt stained with that man’s scent was now covered with his own scent.

Cocaine really didn’t snitch on him and Yaba didn’t get punished by Giha. He didn’t like it at all. It was a kind of debt. Next time something similar happened, he would have to close one eye too. But he had no intention of repaying the debt. He would definitely do it if he had to tell him, but it was Cocaine’s choice not to. He’ll have to ask Giha how much his penalty points were later.

Morphine went to Cocaine’s bed, lifted his little chest of drawers, and his eyes lit up.

“Huh! Is that a Patek Philippe watch? It’s worth thousands! In a bag, a necklace… ! I could buy a house. I’ve never seen this before, but I think he got it from another customer. Then again, if I had a lot of money I would do the same. Listening to Cocaine’s songs puts your mind at ease and your skin gets better, and you don’t have to go to the hospital and spend money. Could it be that Cocaine is not a drug, but a health food? There are people who sometimes go crazy about health food. But the strange thing is, why are we okay while the customers are squandering all their money and become wastes?”

“You guys are normal. They are crazy.”

Yaba threw out a cold voice. Morphine chuckled. He took everything out of the closet again and talked about the products one after another and their prices. Morphine closed the drawer, savoring the expensive luxury. He stood up, looked out the window, and trembled.

“Oh? Someone must be moving in. It’s the house next door. Why is moving stuff so boring? Is that person who moved in? They’re tall and have a good looking face? Oh! So muscular! Hey, lunatic. Come and have a look too! Hurry!”

Yaba shook off Morphine’s hand trying to force him to get up and looked at ‘Poe’s Collection of Short Stories’.

“What the hell do you do for fun? Do you go shopping or do you have a favorite celebrity…”

“You don’t need to have fun to live. A lot of people just live.”

“That’s dog shit philosophy.”

Morphine pursed his lips and looked out the window again. Cocaine who came back from a business trip entered the dormitory.

“Cocaine! Why did you come only now~~~? I have a bruise on my knee!”

Morphine ran to him. He nudged him here and there and eventually embraced Cocaine. Cocaine grinned.

“If you apply a warm towel, it will get better soon.”

“Are you really sick? I’m here to listen to your song and chat and so. By the way, why are you so late?”

“I had some tea.”

“With Director Cha? What did you drink?”

“It’s nothing much. I drank ginger tea, and Director Cha drank coffee…”

“The boss would be freaking out if he knew. Then again, that bastard boss is okay with anything if it’s you. What were you talking about while drinking tea?”

“It’s just this and that…”

Cocaine lowered his gaze and replied with a smile. Yaba clutched the book as if he was tearing it apart. Even though it was his favorite book, the words didn’t catch his eyes. Cocaine messed up Morphine’s hair and entered the room. He went straight to the water purifier and drank water from his mug. Yaba looked at him from the side. He also poisoned it this morning. The poison bag was left quietly in the toilet water tank.

Cocaine drank the purified water casually after that day. It was one of the two; he couldn’t even imagine what he put in it, or pretend he didn’t know. If he knew what was in it, he wouldn’t be able to drink it like that. He pretended to be smart, but he might have fallen unexpectedly dull.

No, no. Cocaine was not so green. He may have drank the water like that and then threw it up in the bathroom, or changed it with fresh water while Yaba slept. He pulled it off with his face, but he can’t be relieved when he would stick a knife in his back.

Yaba thought that he would have to feed the poison some other way. A little bit of poison on his mask or toothbrush… The reason he insisted on the water purifier was because he wanted him to die little by little. If he changed the method, he would need to study the appropriate amount again. There was a lethal difference between drinking something diluted in water and touching one’s lips directly. He got nervous when he suddenly had something to do.

“I like Ligeia the best among Poe’s short stories.”

Cocaine spoke up abruptly. Yaba raised his eyes.

“Did you touch my book?”

Cocaine replied with wide eyes.

“When did you see me touch your stuff? I read Ligeia when I was in middle school and it’s not in that book. It’s a book that you’ve read dry and worn out for half a year, and you didn’t know that?”

Yaba himself could clearly feel the redness of his earlobes. He had bought this book and read it without missing a single page or a single day. He even memorized what kind of scenes were on what page. However, he didn’t even know what ‘Ligeia’ was about. All the memories were entangled. To hide his embarrassment, Yaba raised his lips and said.

“I know about that. I was confused because there were so many of Poe’s short stories.”

“Don’t trust yourself too much.”

Cocaine replied indifferently, took off his coat and went into the bathroom. Why was he showering as soon as he arrived? His gait seemed unstable when he came in earlier. He had been drinking tea with Cha Yiseok. He sat face to face with him, making eye contact, putting a teacup to his pretty lips, exchanging smiles…

Did they really just drink tea?

There was a sizzling fire in his chest. Yaba bit his lip and opened the book. He quickly turned to the front page. At that moment, his mind went blank. ‘Ligeia’ was clearly embedded in the table of contents. Yaba picked up a sharp breath and looked at the shower door. The sound of singing mixed with the sound of the water was heard in the bathroom. The sound was like a laugh.

***

“Hey, how did this happen…”

Sung Haemin, who untied the bandages and pulled out the last stitch, was astonished.

“In two days, how did… so many wounds… ! Look at this. Except for the seams, it’s just as good as new! You didn’t know that it got better?”

“It’s the first time I’ve taken the bandages off.”

Sung Haemin pressed her fingernails on the spot where his wound had been. In addition to the traces of the puncture of the stitches, the pain and scratches had completely disappeared. The pain in his hand after the suture operation had not been felt since last night. He was so absorbed in Yaba’s body and lullaby all night, there was no time to feel pain. Soonyi had bitten him right after Yaba fell asleep. The snake teeth marks that had been there until morning were also completely gone. Somehow.

“How could so many wounds be fixed in two days… What did you do?”

Sung Haemin turned Cha Yiseok’s hand over and checked it several times.

What did he do… Then he realized he had just heard a song of Cocaine in his parents’ house a while ago. His mother called in the morning and was hysterical. When he stopped by the house to check on his mother’s condition, she waited for him with clearer eyes than expected. Her alcohol consumption has also decreased a lot. The attitude of distrusting the healer completely changed. He came back after drinking tea with Cocaine as a reward. But when he got home, Cocaine’s song was nearing its end. Did it mean that just listening to it a little would heal one so perfectly?

Cha Yiseok opened his eyes and alternately observed the hand that was torn by the glass and the hand that was bitten by Soonyi. It seemed as if something was being caught, but nothing was clearly established. If the power of Cocaine was much stronger than he thought, he would not be relieved by Cha Myunghwan’s issue either. Whether Cha Myunghwan cut Cocaine off would be decided by the results of the detailed examination.

Sung Haemin was prepared to pry into this mysterious incident. It was better to cut out useless curiosity.

“Aren’t you the only one who can do this?”

“What are you talking about? This is impossible no matter how great I am! Did you really get hurt back then? No, I definitely sealed it up… It’s really absurd.”

Sung Haemin jumped up and looked bewildered.

Cha Yiseok refused Sung Haemin’s offer to have dinner together and left the hospital.