All eyes were now on Min Hyun and the three men standing behind him. Prosecutor Choi pushed away the girl that was clinging to his arm and tried to stand up but gravity was not on his side, and he fell right back onto his fat bottom like a giant roly-poly which caused the other two men to laugh disgustingly loudly. Min Hyun sighed, grabbed a small black sealed bag handed to him by Ji Seon, and tossed it on the table in front of Mr. Choi.
"Done. See you next time, then."
"Wait, wait, wait, wait! What's the rush, Lee Min Hyun? Aren't you happy to see me?"
The man's large, greasy face melted into another wide smile as he moved forward on the leather couch and wrapped his bloated fingers around a half-empty bottle of whiskey.
"Come on, join me for a drink, for old times' sake!"
He poured the brown liquid into a thick empty glass and casually pushed it across the table. Min Hyun would never drink anything offered by that man even if he were to pay him millions for each and every drop, however, he also knew that treating his father's "friends" was part of his job which he always had to do perfectly. Or at least try to. He sighed, rolled his eyes, then walked up to the table, reluctantly took the glass as if it was filled with toxic waste, and downed it all at once in order to finish that unpleasant activity as soon as possible. He then wiped his lips, put on a fake smile, and asked through clenched teeth,
"Are you happy? Can I go now?"
Mr. Choi stared at him for a few moments with a rather serious look and burst into laughter.
"This rude punk! He never shows me any respect even though I was the one who practically pulled his sorry ass out of the gutter!"
He looked at Min Hyun with his tiny, pea-like eyes and grinned, pointing his fat finger at him.
"He looks fine now, does not he? If I had not known what kind of work he was doing, I would have taken him for an ordinary office worker!"
Min Hyun watched him blabber on with a composed look like a predator watching his prey struggle to scare him off, while the fat man wrapped his arm around a young girl's neck, pressed her closer to his bloated body, and continued,
"He was a mess of a guy, this asshole! MMA fighter, my ass. This fellow over there..."
He shifted his tiny eyes back to Min Hyun and smiled,
"Is a murderer!"
No one spoke, as it seemed, for eternity. The lively background music now seemed extremely inappropriate, echoing through the motionless room.
"Boo!"
Prosecutor Choi yelled in the girl's ear and the room was once again filled with the sound of women screaming and men laughing like drunk hyenas. Min Hyun clenched his fists and gave the man a warning look but the latter was too drunk to take it seriously. Instead, he grabbed the black bag into his sweaty hands, and continued in a mocking voice,
"This - is a small price to pay, Lee Min Hyun."
He waved the bag in front of his face.
"This, according to your fucking family, is the price of human life. But I guess a deranged piece of shit like you will never understand the problem... Which is rather splendid news for me!"
Mr. Choi laughed again, inviting others to join him, and they followed him at once like broken musical instruments. Min Hyun relaxed his hands, lowered his face, rustled his hand through his hair, and was about to jump and rip that piece of lard apart when Ji Seon grabbed him by the other hand and whispered,
"Let it go, hyung, he's not worth it."
Min Hyun jerked his hand off, walked up to the prosecutor, took a cigarette from the pack in his pocket, lit it up with a candle from the shelf above the couch, blew a thick cloud of smoke into the man's shiny face, then smiled, and drowned the cigarette in his whiskey glass.
"Enjoy your evening, you fat fuck."
Mr. Choi's frantic yelling was heard even when the door to the room was already closed behind Min Hyun's back. What was he yelling about? Probably that the guy would regret it. Or that his father would regret it. It did not really matter. He should consider himself lucky that Min Hyun did not make him eat his cigarette back then.
"Fucking junkie pig."
Min Hyun murmured it as he got into the car and leaned back in his seat. Ji Seon looked back at him from the driver's seat and sighed.
"Hyung, can you let it slide at least once? It's been years already, he is the only one who is still talking about it and he's obviously doing it just to antagonize you."
"Whatever, just drive."
Ji Seon pouted and offered him a subtle bow, then started the car, and asked,
"Straight to your father's house, then?"
Min Hyun wiped his exhausted face with both hands and nodded.
"Yeah, let's go."
He was not very eager to face his father that night, however, just like all those times before, meeting Mr. Yang after insulting his "dear friend" Choi Il Jae became a part of his routine. He could not help it. Ji Seon was right - he should let go of his past and move on, it would have been easier for others, and probably for him as well, but he could not help it. His past was a part of his nature, as well as the reason why he was now who he was. That past mistake was what lead him to his present agony, but also - to his salvation.
As the car was gliding through the night city, Min Hyun could not help but think about Yoon Se Ah. How come she was running from her mistake instead of embracing it as he did? What was she trying to change? What would she do if he told her that he would embrace her mistake instead? Would she be happy? Would she love him for that?
She would. Once she finally sees how similar they are, she would have no choice but to love him.