Five minutes before I die

07 . My girlfriend

"Is sundae-guk okay?"


"You already got here and now you're asking?"


"hahaha, if you don't like it, go somewhere else."


"Forget it, I like sundae-guk."


"Well, that's a relief-"


"Who did you learn to drive from?"


"I taught myself."


"Haha, you're lying again."


"I'm serious."
"I learned by crashing into a tree, me."


"hahahaha what are you even saying....seriously."














"Did you sleep okay?"


"Yeah, you took me home yesterday, right?"


"Yeah, I almost died carrying you up the stairs."


"Huh, there's an elevator."


"...I just went up the stairs."


"Choi Yeonjun, this tiny thing is already lying the second he opens his mouth-"


"Tiny? haha"
"You're almost 30 cm taller than me, sir?"
"Have you seen a tiny thing this tall?"


"Wtf, it's not 30 cm!"
"I'm tall for a woman too."


"What are you talking about, you're not even 160."


"Sigh.....seriously."
"Yeonjun, would it be okay if I hit you once?"


"lol sry."











"...But seriously, how did you two meet there?"
"Me, I actually thought your voice sounded kind of familiar when I heard it on the phone."
"It sounded like a voice I'd heard somewhere before, but I was about to die so I didn't have time to worry about that."


"I knew it was you, sir, the second I heard your voice."


"Lying again."
"Haa-"


"Ah, was it that obvious?"


"Yeah."


"Haha, it's the first time I've seen someone ask me to fish out their corpse because they're going to die."
"I never would have guessed it was you, sir."
"Because the image of the Bae Eun I knew is completely the opposite."


"Haha....."
"But I really didn't think you'd come."
"I've never seen some bastard show up in a police car because a civilian was crying."


"I just didn't have anything else to do."
"I went because you were a woman, okay?"


"Damn it...."
"All mouth and no action-"















....this is....awkward.....

















"Can I ask you just one thing?"


"What is it?"


"Why did you say that to me?"


"....Say what?"


"You said that if there was anything hard while counseling with you, I could tell you anything."
"You said I must have been in a lot of pain, that I must have had it really hard."
"It could've just been empty words, but I was just curious."


"Just... sympathy?"


"Why sympathy?"


"I actually grew up getting hit by my dad too."
"So I know pretty well how you feel."
"That's why I said that-"


Choi Yeonjun said nothing for a while after hearing me out.





(Rr.)
(Rr.)
(Rr.)





Then, several notification sounds rang from my phone.





I checked my phone and, without meaning to, muttered to myself.





"Ah, fuck, seriously...."






And my expression kept darkening.

“What is it?”

“Who is it?”

“Ah, nothing.”

I kept talking with that person.

Lee Dong-hyung, this man—no, this bastard—is my ex-boyfriend, whom I met on a blind date a few months ago.

But he was the one cheating, and now he wants me to forgive him. Fuck.

Even after we broke up, he kept coming to my studio apartment, showing up at my workplace, and even stalking me, so I can't even remember how many times I moved or changed jobs. It's especially bad when he drinks.

Any time he drank, he'd grab whatever was around him and throw it, smash things, even hit people, so it was really awful—but lately he'd been quiet, and now he's starting again.

Seeing his true colors, I knew he'd been drinking again since morning.

I was so scared Lee Dong-hyung would come looking for me that I kept glancing around.

Seeing me like that, Choi Yeonjun took the phone from my hand.

“Hey, what are you doing?!”

Looking at the messages on my phone, Choi Yeonjun's expression hardened more and more too.

“What are you doing, give me my phone, hurry up.”

I tried to take back my phone from Choi Yeonjun's hand, but he didn't budge at all.

“Who the hell is this bastard?”

“What kind of bastard is he?”

”Haa... it's my ex."

”That bastard's insane."

”You can't just deal with him carelessly."

”So give me the phone already."

"Why is he crazy?"

"What did he do to you, sir?"

"He does whatever he can to find where I am and stalks me."

"So hurry up and give me the phone."

"What are you going to do with my phone."

"You just put up with a bastard like that?"

"Because he's not someone you can just take on carelessly."

"If he comes again, I'll really report him to the police. Don't worry."

"Stalking carries up to three years in prison."

"The police are right next to you, so why would you report it to the police again?"

Choi Yeonjun muttered.

Then, once again, a notification sound rang from my phone.

Choi Yeonjun, who had my phone, looked at the screen the moment he heard it.

Choi Yeonjun glanced at my phone and swept his hair back with a cold look.

"How does this person know you're here, sir?"

"I don't know, he keeps finding me somehow. It feels like he put a tracker on me."

"What should we do now?"

"Three-way showdown?"

"Hey.. you're joking in this situation?"

"What do I have to be scared of, sir-"

"The police are right next to me."

"Who said I was scared?"

"I don't know if Choi Yeonjun is a cop I can trust-"

Honestly, I acted calm in front of Choi Yeonjun. But.....I was really fucking scared. It really felt like he was going to show up.

Still, it's one of those things where you just talk big, right? He'll scare me and then not come?

Thinking that, I subconsciously looked toward the window on the right.

But then I met the eyes of that huge, brutish mass of muscle, tall as a lamppost, glaring at me with a ferocious stare.

Lee Dong-hyung motioned for me to come out.

I froze on the spot and couldn't say a word.

I wanted to tell Choi Yeonjun, but my mouth had gone stiff and no words came out.

I could only keep staring at those eyes.

Choi Yeonjun seemed to notice that I'd been startled by something and looked toward me.

Then he asked me.

“Is that him?”

I just gave a small nod without answering.

Even that one nod felt too heavy and hard.

Lee Dong-hyung's eyes rolled toward Choi Yeonjun.

Then he looked back and forth between Choi Yeonjun and me.

As if possessed by something, I got up from the chair and went outside.

When I came to my senses, I was in front of Lee Dong-hyung.

Maybe he was deliberately bulking up, or maybe it was just my imagination, but he looked even bigger than usual today.

"....H- how did you get here?"

"You were talking all tough on KakaoTalk a minute ago, so why now?"

"Scared now that you see me up close?"

"I said, are you scared?"

"....."

Fuck, I'm really fucking scared.

"Why aren't you answering, Eun-ah."

"I-I'm sorry."

"Ha haha."

"You pathetic bitch."

"Who is that guy?"

"H-he's just...."

"Just....someone I know...."

"What?"

"Speak properly."

"Do you think I'm going to kill you or something?"

"Anyway, you're as damn useless as ever, just like before-"

He clicked his tongue and made a swatting motion at me.

I reflexively raised my arms to shield myself from the old trauma.

Lee Dong-hyung looked at me with contempt, then suddenly changed his tone and said,

"Our Eunie hasn't forgotten her oppa yet, right~?"

"Oppa was wrong-"

"Mm? We can start over, can't we?"

I couldn't say anything. I was too afraid to even imagine that hell starting again.

"Answer me, Bae Eun."

"Hey."

"Aren't you going to answer?"

The man kept poking me with his finger, and the force kept getting stronger and stronger. Then the hitting started again.

That familiar smell of alcohol that always came in situations like this stabbed at my nose, and the memories of before kept flooding back, making me even more scared.

By the time my shoulder started aching more and I let out a groan, someone came out of the restaurant and grabbed that man's wrist.

"Why don't you just stop?"

Choi Yeonjun stared at Lee Dong-hyung very directly, very coldly, and very piercingly.

"Who the hell are you?"

Lee Dong-hyung, startled by Choi Yeonjun suddenly appearing out of nowhere, shook off his hand.

"Assault can be grounds for criminal punishment-"

"And just because your hand touched me doesn't mean you're the only one who's disgusted; I'm disgusted too."

"I don't want to hold hands with a man either."

"Who the hell are you?"

"I've been watching for a while, and I think you're being a bit too rough with my girlfriend."

?

What the fuck?

Girlfriend?

Girlfriend?!

At Choi Yeonjun's words, I could only stare blankly at him with my eyes wide open.

Lee Dong-hyung looked flustered too.     Like hell he did-

I don't believe it at all.

"Haha"

"I can't help laughing because this is so fucking ridiculous."

"Girlfriend?"

"Who's your girlfriend, bastard-"

"Just now Eun-i said I was just someone she knows."

"Wow, someone she knows?"

Choi Yeonjun suddenly met my eyes and said,

"'Someone she knows' is a bit too much, noona~"

"We've done how much together-"

Choi Yeonjun smiled at me.

No, is Choi Yeonjun actually insane?

Lee Dong-hyung's eyes are sparking right now.

Ah, I'm fucked.

Ha, fuck, but why is my heart pounding like this?!

"Ah, but this bastard-"

Lee Dong-hyung threw a punch at Choi Yeonjun's face.

And then the two of them started brawling.