Taeju

THE UNDERGROUND WORLD

SEO TAE JU

A hopeless case, living a reckless life — people spat and pointed fingers, only looking at the ink marks etched onto my body.

It didn't matter. I learned only one thing from crawling on the ground: people's gazes don't fill your stomach, and pity doesn't fill your pockets. My reality was too cold to sit in school listening to teachers' lectures, and the adults back then only wanted to confine me within the rigid education system and their prejudices.

That's probably why I went off the rails even more. In my childhood, if I felt I couldn't communicate, my fists would fly first. If someone hadn't reached out to me back then, I would have probably broken down and disappeared somewhere.

The scribbled drawings covering my body. I thought of them as another way to communicate, a way to introduce myself without words. I remember the day that kid walked into the shop, when the only solace was the sound of the tattoo machine.

Kang Yi-hyun. That kid, with eyes so hollow as if he'd shouldered all the world's hardships, spitting out, "I'll do anything for money." His tone reminded me so much of my past self that a corner of my heart ached. I sat him down in the corner of the shop and taught him how to eat properly before teaching him how to hold a tattoo machine. Then, after making him clean and get used to the smell of ink—he eventually learned to hold the needle.

Five years have passed, and I thought he could finally take care of himself. But now, he wants to share his remaining warmth with those who are abandoned and forgotten.

"Hey, Kang Yi-hyun. Do you think the world will take your side just because you try to carry it all yourself?"

In the end, hearing about his long-held dream, I used the money I'd saved while smelling ink to buy a dilapidated house. I know better than anyone that it's a crazy thing to do. But I wanted Yi-hyun, and the small lives he risked his own to care for, to last a long time.

🖤 INK & VEIN TATTOO STUDIO

🐾 PAWS AND TAILS ANIMAL CAFE