Summary

Part III, “Love in the Big City” (135) begins with Chapter 1. Young and his boyfriend Gyu-ho were planning to go to Japan, but Young realized his passport was expired. He told Gyu-ho to go without him and “Have a million affairs” (136). Gyu-ho and Young had not had sex for a long time. The two met at a gay club in Itaewon. Young was at the club with his younger friends. One friend, Ji-yeon, tried to fight with the DJ, and accidentally hit Young in the lip instead. Gyu-ho, the club's bartender, held a bottle of water to Young's lip and Young kissed him. He then worried because some of his blood went into Gyu-ho's mouth.

Years earlier, when Young was on leave from military service, he went to a motel and had sex with his then-boyfriend. He later discovered he had contracted HIV from...