Sentimental Shower

#020

The room had everything necessary, but it was boring to stay alone. Mr. Yoo considered exploring the rest of Eden but decided against it. He remembered that most of the VIPs who came here had perverse tendencies. He had been lucky not to encounter them before.

As he thought about this, the piano room came to mind. It seemed out of place no matter how he looked at it. He wondered if Yeon Tae-soo had a hobby of playing the piano, but couldn’t easily imagine him playing an instrument.

‘A baseball bat suits him better than a grand piano.’

Of course, not for playing baseball.

It was quite a good piano. No, it was beyond good—it was a masterpiece. There probably weren’t many 2nd generation Steinway pianos left in the world.

‘I want to touch it again.’

Any musician would covet such an instrument. Even its maker would have been amazed.

It was strange. Despite the pain and repeated attempts that had led to coughing up blood, why did he want to do it again?

Perhaps because he was created for that purpose. Do all beings with a purpose feel such sudden urges? If so, wouldn’t humans feel the same?

‘I should ask Yeon Tae-soo.’

He had been angry when he talked to someone else back then, but not because he played the piano. If asked nicely, he might allow him to play.

As he approached the door, thinking he could ask any big guy outside where Yeon Tae-soo was, the door opened without him touching it. He was startled, and even more surprised to see Yeon Tae-soo standing there.

“Pretty one, did you rest a bit?”

He seemed to have settled on calling him ‘pretty one’. It didn’t matter what he called him. Seeing Yeon Tae-soo’s face made him realize how bored he had been.

“I’d like to ask you to eat together, but you never take off your mask. How about we have a drink? I’ll give you a straw.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity.

Suddenly, he thought it might be okay to show Yeon Tae-soo his bare face. There was an extremely low chance, but what if he couldn’t recognize his face?

Even his mechanical brain, far from calculations, pointed out the ridiculous probability of this thought.

“…Later, let’s eat together.”

It wasn’t a lie. To be protected by him, he would have to take off this mask someday.

“That’s an honor. Just tell me whenever you want to eat something. Of course, you can eat other things besides food.”

Yeon Tae-soo made a circle with his thumb and index finger and brought it to his mouth. He stuck out his tongue through the circular hole, leaving no doubt about what he meant.

“I just dropped by because I wanted to see your pretty face while working. I’ll go now, you rest.”

Yeon Tae-soo waved his hand. A shadow suddenly fell across his playful eyes.

Again. That expression tinged with emptiness. The boredom sleeping within the splendor seeps out, unable to contain its size.

The lingering boredom bothered him even after Yeon Tae-soo left, so he rubbed his eyes. Fine noise interfered with his visual display before quickly returning to normal.

***

Yeon Tae-soo had as many enemies as he had “friends.” Eden was a fortress and castle that those enemies could never breach.

Eden wasn’t a place just anyone could enter. First, you needed an enormous amount of cash just to cross the entrance. And it didn’t end there—anyone who had caused trouble in other gambling houses or looked suspicious at a glance was absolutely forbidden from entering.

Despite this, Yeon Tae-soo’s enemies endlessly attempted to infiltrate Eden. They would send in spies. Most were due to bad blood from his gangster days, but they were usually filtered out at the entrance, and even if they got in, they were caught by the keen eyes of security staff experienced in fighting.

The one caught this time wasn’t exactly Yeon Tae-soo’s enemy. If categorized, he was more like a rat that occasionally appeared no matter how much they tried to screen them out.

Kim Gil-ho knew he had to report to the boss—no, the representative—immediately, but fear paralyzed his feet.

Recently, the boss—no, the representative—had sternly warned the staff:

‘There’s a precious guest in Eden now, so manage everything thoroughly. Know that you’ll all die if anything happens.’

Lately, the representative had been completely smitten with some pretty veterinarian, visiting the animal hospital every day, and now he had even brought that vet to Eden.

Pretty men frequently entered and left Yeon Tae-soo’s VIP room. But this time was different, they said. He wasn’t given a VIP room, but a separate bedroom. Some even joked about whether he was treating him like a wife.

Therefore, Kim Gil-ho felt he was in even deeper trouble. With a precious guest present, a theft had occurred due to poor management of the place. This wouldn’t end with just a few slaps.

‘What should I do….’

But he also knew the punishment would be worse if he reported late. Kim Gil-ho squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them.

“Brother Gil-ho, I heard the big boss is with that vet right now.”

To make matters worse, someone reported where the big boss was.

Kim Gil-ho imagined himself getting beaten for hiding this incident from the big boss, and then getting beaten right after reporting it now. And he made his decision.

***

The melody seemed to flow along the walls. It filled the space and spread out, then retreated as if shy, and then carefully raised its head and moved again, seeming almost alive.

The piano sound, almost visible to the eye, tickled Yeon Tae-soo’s heart. Mr. Yoo’s piano playing resembled him. Especially in how it gave an unfamiliar tickle, and in how terribly beautiful it was.

Though Yeon Tae-soo was accustomed to vulgarity, he could recognize precious things well because of it. Just as he had recognized Mr. Yoo as a person, he could also tell how precious the performance he showed was.

Usually disregarding manners like dog shit, he was now careful even to breathe. That’s how fragile Mr. Yoo’s piano sound seemed.

So even after the performance ended, he stared for a long time at Mr. Yoo, who sat awkwardly in front of the piano looking back at him.

“Wow, I almost came.”

This isn’t right, his mouth moved on its own.

“I mean, that was amazing.”

He quickly added, inwardly cursing his own vulgarity and frowning. He could have said something much nicer.

But when the eyes visible above the mask slightly crinkled with a smile, Yeon Tae-soo forgot even his own foolish mistake.

‘This is driving me crazy, really.’

He rubbed his face vigorously, trying somehow to calm himself down, and averted his gaze.

“I didn’t know you could play the piano so well. Did you teach yourself?”

“…I learned from my father.”

The smile disappeared from the pretty face, which was a bit disappointing. He doesn’t seem to smile much in general.

“Your father must have been an excellent performer.”

“My father…”

Mr. Yoo hesitated a little before continuing.

“My father thought I had to do music.”

Not that he wanted him to do music, but that he had to. From Mr. Yoo’s nuance and the look in his eyes visible above the mask, Yeon Tae-soo could guess that he didn’t have only good feelings about his father.

“But you didn’t want to?”

When he asked, Mr. Yoo shook his head.

“I never thought about whether I wanted to or not. It was just… decided that way.”

Maybe their relationship was quite bad.

“There’s no such thing as something being decided. What a funny guy, your dad too.”

Mr. Yoo’s eyes curved roundly. It was a bitter smile this time, but just as pretty as before.

“So he probably never imagined I’d end up treating animals.”

“He’d know even less about you reattaching severed hands for guys who come in. And charging 50 jeon for anesthesia.”

It was meant to be a joke, but the smiling eyes turned slightly sharp, so Yeon Tae-soo averted his gaze slightly.

“Well, my birth father probably didn’t know I’d become a gangster either. No, he probably had no idea what I’d become. I heard he ran off right after knocking up my birth mother.”

Yeon Tae-soo himself didn’t care, but usually when this kind of story came up, most people would be flustered or the atmosphere would become awkward, so he deliberately grinned and shrugged his shoulders.

“I didn’t know I’d become a gangster either. Believe it or not, I used to live a diligent life under bureaucracy.”

It wasn’t a lie at all. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was at the pinnacle of bureaucracy. Of course, that’s not important now.

“Mr. Yoo playing the piano was beautiful.”

It wasn’t a lie either.

“But you’re beautiful no matter what you do.”

Yeon Tae-soo regretted having overused the word ‘beautiful’ until now. He was frustrated that he could only express his impressions with such a common word.

Mr. Yoo stood up from his seat. Then he slightly bowed his head.

“Thank you.”

Yeon Tae-soo was momentarily dazed, as if he had been hit on the back of his head.

“…You’re thanking me for letting you play the piano, right?”

His heart was pounding so hard it was painful, so he asked to confirm. But Mr. Yoo just stared back at him without answering.

Looking into those clear eyes made him feel as if all the sins he had committed were being exposed. Yet, why wasn’t he afraid?

Yeon Tae-soo took a step forward.

“From now on, if there’s anything you want or want to do, just tell me. Who am I? I’m Yeon Tae-soo. I’ll let you do whatever you want.”

He deliberately smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth, but he couldn’t help his mouth going dry. He licked his lips with his tongue. Hoping that this action would be seen as just a pervert licking his lips, rather than stemming from thirst.

Yeon Tae-soo’s gaze shifted to Mr. Yoo’s mask. Reading where his gaze had gone, Mr. Yoo turned his face to the side, avoiding it.

“I don’t care what your mouth looks like. It’s fine even if you don’t have a mouth.”

He was sincere. It wouldn’t matter even if his entire lower face was distorted.

“But it’s a bit of a shame that we can’t kiss.”