Life, Once Again!

Chapter 957. Crank Up 7

‘Cheonho’ recalled when he first met ‘Gukji.’ The boss brought Gukji, saying that he’ll be in charge of the shed. What caught Cheonho’s eyes more than his inch-short hair were the blank eyes that he could not tell what they were looking at. He thought that the boss brought someone with a loose screw. During their introduction, Gukji left without even greeting him properly, and when Cheonho came back from some business in the city center, he came across Gukji looking at a dog lying down in front of a cage. He approached him and asked what he was doing. Gukji replied that he was watching to see if the dog was going to survive or die.

That was three days ago. Since then, Cheonho did not give Gukji any interest. With the previous guy in charge of the shed, Cheonho would often go to the city center and they would buy women together, but he didn’t even speak a word to Gukji. He instinctively realized that Gukji was someone who could never enter the boundary known as society. He had the skin of a human, but the one inside definitely was nothing close to one.

“Oppa, where’s Gukji?”

‘Maehwa’ was asking him as she swung the stockings with a hole in them. There was a gold bracelet he had never seen before on her wrist. She did say that she managed to find someone gullible about a week ago, and it seemed that she got it from that guy as a gift.

“Where else but the dog shed?”

“It’s because I don’t see him. But hey, you’re really on the edge whenever Gukji’s name comes up. Does he owe you money or something?”

“Didn’t you feel it the moment you see him? He’s someone you shouldn’t get associated with. I’ve seen a couple of guys with dead fish eyes like him, and every single one of them caused trouble. They would beat someone up without reason, or even stab someone.”

“Someone might mistake you for a civil servant. You’re used to beating people up too, aren’t you?”

“Rotten bitch, I only beat people up for a reason. That fucker might change suddenly and stab someone out of the blue.”

“Why are you so sensitive today? Anyway, alright. I’ll look for Gukji, so you set up tonight’s match. The head manager told me that some oldie who’ll rake in money will be coming today.”

Maehwa walked over to the dog shed while shaking her hips. Cheonho looked at Maehwa’s ass which swayed like a pendulum before picking up his phone.

“Yoonsoo, how’s Pocky doing today?”

* * *

Maehwa opened the door to the dog shed while pinching her nose. She had been in the dogfighting business for years while visiting various dogfighting arenas throughout the country, but she could never get used to the stench coming off of dog sheds. She was even used to old men sneaking their hands over to cop a feel of her chest too.

“Gukji, Gukji, this noona has a gift for you.”

The gleam of the ferocious dogs filled the pitch-black darkness of the dog shed. Maehwa kept calling out to Gukji from outside the shed. She did not want to enter. Getting showered with a foul stench was terrible after all. When she remembered how she had a hard time because the smell wouldn’t disappear no matter how much perfume she used, it was very difficult to set foot inside the dog shed.

Just where did he go? She sighed and was about to close the door to the shed. Just then, she saw something dark turn around at the end of the shed. She wouldn’t have seen it if her eyes hadn’t gotten adjusted to the dark. Maehwa used the flashlight feature on her phone and lit up the inside. The dogs, which had been growling in a low pitch, started growling at her all at once. One dog in a cage right next to her bit the cage bars with its teeth. Maehwa was startled and faltered back. Ever since she got bitten once, she would freeze stiff whenever she stood in front of a big dog. If it wasn’t for the money, she would’ve quit a long time ago.

She took two steps back from the entrance of the shed and raised her flashlight again. The light, which had diffused due to all the dog hair and dust in the air, reached a black object. It was Gukji. He was wearing pitch-black jeans and a pitch-black hoodie, so he couldn’t be seen easily.

“You should’ve answered me if you were here. You scared the heck out of me.”

Gukji stood up slowly and opened his eyes. Maehwa could not differentiate between the eyes of numerous ferocious dogs and Gukji’s eyes. She recalled what Cheonho said: that fucker might change suddenly and stab someone out of the blue. Maehwa faltered back again when she heard the screeching noise. The dog that was biting the iron cage bars with its teeth had bashed into the cage. Maehwa subconsciously covered the back of her neck. It was only then that the dog turned around from the edge of the cage.

“G-Gukji? Can you come out for a second?”

Guji slowly stood up and walked out of the dog shed. His body reeked of the foul stench from the dog shed. Maehwa covered her mouth and nose with her hand.

“Don’t tell me you’ve never gone to get washed ever since you came here, have you?”

Gukji did not reply. He only took off his hood and stared at her, as though to tell her that she should get to business already. Maehwa took out an envelope from her clutch bag.

“This is from the head manager. Apparently, you don’t have a bank account, right? Do you have a phone?”

She handed the envelope to him, but Gukji did not even move. Only after flicking the envelope once as a gesture to take it did he reach out. If he received it, he should check the contents inside, but Gukji just stuffed the envelope inside his jeans pocket.

“Aren’t you going to have a look at how much it is? What if I took some of it?”

“If you want to, then go ahead.”

Gukji pressed one side of his nose and blew his nose towards the ground. Maehwa took out some tissue from her bag.

“You should blow your nose here.”

After receiving the tissue, Gukji just stuffed it into his pocket again. Now that she thought about it, she never saw Gukji use any items. At best, she saw him use a spoon during mealtime, but he never fidgeted with his phone, put his earbuds on, or even took out his wallet. What could he be doing inside that dog shed clad in pitch-black clothes that would make him invisible at night?

“Is it over now?” Gukji asked.

Maehwa nodded. Gukji then put his hood on again and entered the dog shed. Was that smelly place his refuge? Maehwa fidgeted with her fingers on her bag before speaking,

“Isn’t it cold in there at night? There’s a gas stove in the container, so you should sleep there at night. Also, you should get washed too. If you get sick, it’ll all come back to haunt you. You should eat some more as….”

Gukji closed the door to the shed. The rusty metal created a creaky noise. Maehwa scratched the ceiling of her mouth with her tongue before spitting.

“Someone’s talking to him. What nerves.”

She could just ignore him, but he kept catching her eye. Was she overly concerned? It seemed that she was a truly foolish woman for showing concern for others after experiencing something that changed her entire life. Maehwa wiped her nose before turning around. The barking of the dogs slowly died down.

* * *

‘Gukji’ took out the envelope and the tissue from his pocket. He put the tissue down on the ground and bit the envelope with his lips. He then used a trowel to dig up a corner of the dog shed to take out a tin can. He opened the lid of the tin can, which was once his candy container. He put the envelope in his mouth into the tin can, on top of all the other envelopes. He wondered how many he collected now. He stared at the interior before closing the lid again. It didn’t matter how many envelopes he had collected. He only collected them since he heard that he should not lose them and that he should collect them.

He buried the tin can again and returned to his place. It was a place where he could watch over all the dogs in the shed. The dog in the cage to his right curled up and started gasping. Its eyes were stricken with fear. Gukji could not tell what people’s eyes were saying, but he could see what dogs’ eyes were saying: loyalty, love, jealousy, fear.

Gukji picked up the rod to his left and stood up. He walked around in front of the cages and looked into the eyes of the dogs. The dogs that locked eyes with him all put their snout against the ground and lowered their stomachs without exception. Three days ago, there were some that bared their fangs at him, but there were none now. Even the most resilient one waved the white flag yesterday. It probably had a hard time enduring the boiling water falling on its head.

He stood in front of the dog curled up inside the third cage to the right. That dog was the one which did not give any response from the first day he came here. Even when people came around, even when the door opened, and even when there was a commotion, that one just lay low on the ground as though it had become one with the floor. The only time it moved was when it ate and when it went out to fight.

Gukji looked at the dog that lay strewn across the floor of the cage. He didn’t remember how old he was, but every time he moved around to various dog sheds, he always came across dogs like this one. No matter which dog shed, there was always one that lived like it was dead. Gukji felt relieved when he looked at the eyes of such a dog that looked like it would not react no matter what stimulus it was given. Such dogs felt similar to him.

He brought a sleeping bag and lay in front of that one. How long would this one last? From his experience until now, dogs that were similar to him did not live for long. They lived like they had no attachment to life, and died just like that. They died while sleeping, while fighting, and even while eating.

Gukji pulled down his hood and closed his eyes. The night air was cold.

* * *

“Cut.”

Joongjin looked at Maru raising his head while lying on the ground. He shook his head at the young man who sought answers from him. Although the scene looked really good and the emotion was good as well, there was no striking feeling. Maru did not say anything and moved the sleeping bag to its original position before sitting against the wall. Joongjin stood up from the monitor and approached Maru.

“How do you feel?”

“I want to do it again if we have the time.”

“That’s the answer I want.”

Joongjin left behind the minimum number of people and told the others to go down. Only the directors of each part remained behind. He also told Gyungjin and Yoojung to go back and rest, but they kept their place as though they felt something as actors.

“Then let’s do that again.”

There was still some time left until sunrise.