By Zephyria 
‘That guy is that one, the one who was doing bat-like behavior.’
He was a man who, long ago, had volunteered to bring over information from a competitor. Gyu-oh thought things had been settled and they had parted ways cleanly. He wondered what kind of grudge such a person had suddenly developed to be acting like that in front of Hyung’s office, but before he could even grasp the situation, it was Gyu-oh’s job to kick the man out of the building.
‘Oh, right.’
‘But why come all the way here to do that? What is he talking about spreading?’
‘…….’
Standing before the mirror, Gyu-oh examined the area around the nape of his neck where a tattoo was engraved. Because the man had struggled and scratched with his fingernails, red lines had been drawn across the tattoo.
‘It’s been settled for so long, is there even any information to spread?’
He muttered, slowly rubbing the swollen skin. An awkward silence flowed for a moment, but Gyu-oh didn’t mind. He didn’t particularly expect an answer to return.
‘……It’s not information. He’s saying he’ll spread that I meet men.’
‘A man meeting a man, of course. Meeting a wom—’
Gyu-oh, who had been responding while looking down to check his nape, suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Didn’t the words just connect strangely? As he slowly lifted his gaze, his eyes locked with Min-ho’s, who was staring at the mirror with arms crossed a couple of steps behind him.
‘He’s throwing a fit because he says I ate him up and threw him away.’
If he combined those incomprehensible words, there was only one conclusion.
‘……Hyung, were you dating that guy?’
‘No. We just slept together once.’
Min-ho’s eyes, meeting his through the mirror, were indifferent as always, but a hint of inner tension was conveyed.
Since when? Did you originally meet men? Other than that person? There were many things he wanted to ask, but what actually came out of his mouth was a short phrase.
‘Why?’
‘When I can’t sleep, I do that. There are times when even alcohol doesn’t work.’
He answered while stretching his stiff neck long from side to side.
‘…….’
Gyu-oh prided himself on being quick-witted, but it seemed he never grew intuitive in this particular area.
‘I didn’t really want to talk about it. But I think that bastard will come back.’
‘……Ah.’
‘It’s better than hearing it from someone else.’
With that plain explanation, Min-ho shrugged and turned around. Gyu-oh looked at the back of the shirt, which remained without a single wrinkle despite him sitting in a chair all day, and searched his memories.
Come to think of it, had Hyung ever shown him someone as a girlfriend? He didn’t think he’d ever heard that Min-ho was seeing anyone. It wasn’t that he didn’t have time to date because of work; there was a reason like that.
Though he was genuinely flustered, Gyu-oh accepted the situation quite quickly. Another Hyung he worked with had a male lover, so he assumed Min-ho was just meeting people out of curiosity, influenced by that.
However, on the day he found out that Min-ho had been meeting men before that Hyung, he couldn’t sleep a wink. It was that much of a shock. He wondered how on earth he found the time while working all day, he was surprised that he met other people and even had relationships while Gyu-oh was watching with wide-open eyes, and he understood even less why he only had one-night stands instead of dating.
That was how Gyu-oh came to share Min-ho’s secret. He tried his best not to be conscious of it, but after that, he couldn’t help but be focused on Hyung’s every move. If Min-ho said he was leaving the company, Gyu-oh worried about where he was going, and if he said he had plans, he wanted to know everything about the purpose of the meeting.
Of course, Gyu-oh strove not to voice those feelings or act upon them. As always, his role was simply to be the good younger brother who was as close as family but never crossed the line.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you leaving?”
His gaze returned to Gyu-oh, who was standing there blankly. Gyu-oh grumbled as if throwing a tantrum for no reason.
“What does it matter to you? Whether I freeze to death here or die of boredom, you don’t care, do you?”
Unable to tell him directly not to go meet some strange guy, he just spouted useless words. But his opponent was Cha Min-ho. Such a clumsy move would never work.
“Make sure to wear a helmet when you ride the motorcycle.”
“…….”
If only he could offer worries so easily. He was in a situation where he could neither readily step across the drawn line nor move away from it.
“I’m leaving first. Lock the doors well before you go.”
Once he refused, that was the end of it. He wasn’t the type to ask two or three times. So, speaking like that meant he had no intention of canceling the ‘suddenly arranged mysterious appointment.’
He knew he had no right to tell someone else how to live their private life. Yet, whenever a situation arose where he had to let Min-ho go like this, he felt a strangely subtle emotion. Was it because Min-ho was always on his side and took care of him? Suppressing the strangely churning heart whose cause he didn’t know, he spoke.
“……I’m coming to work at 7 tomorrow, so don’t be late, Hyung. If you’re late, I’m going to flip this whole place upside down.”
He shouted nonsense at the receding back. While he could manage to stay awake until 7, actually coming to work at that time was a very daunting task for Gyu-oh. And that was a fact Min-ho knew well.
“As if you’d actually come to work then.”
“I will. 7 o’clock, don’t be late.”
“You too.”
After snapping back, Min-ho left the office without lingering. Left alone in the spacious area where the owner had vanished, Gyu-oh vented his frustration by aimlessly kicking the desk.
About five minutes after Min-ho left, Gyu-oh headed toward the wide window and looked down at the distant ground. He saw a black car speeding out from the direction of the underground parking lot.
“……Should I just go interfere?”
Should he say the pizza he just ate was bad and ask to be taken to the hospital? If he said the motorcycle ran out of gas and asked to be taken home, would he come back? No. Hyung would immediately realize that was a trick to hold him back. He could never deceive Hyung with such a pathetic ruse. It would be better to just openly tell him not to meet strange guys……
“He’d hate it.”
And since meeting someone like that or falling asleep drunk was Min-ho’s own way of relieving stress. Knowing that he was a person who couldn’t easily fall asleep otherwise, it became difficult to actively stop him.
“……I’ll just go work out.”
After sweating it out for a few hours, the nerves focused on Min-ho would scatter a bit. This was one of the methods Gyu-oh had mastered after shouldering Min-ho’s secret. Once he decided on a destination, his footsteps felt a bit lighter.
* * *
On a day like today, sleep doesn’t come easily. He couldn’t focus on the relationship, and alcohol wouldn’t go down. After washing up, he left the hotel immediately, leaving behind the partner who had already fallen fast asleep. A strange scent surged all over his body, and his lower abdomen felt sore.
“Ah, I feel sick.”
Whether it was a scent that simply didn’t suit him, his stomach felt nauseous. He rolled down the car window all the way and increased his speed.
Buzz. Buzz. The phone in his pocket had been vibrating repeatedly for a while. The notifications that started when he went up to the room continued to ring even while he was entangled in bed with a guy he’d only met a couple of times. Even now.
Checking the screen briefly, the name ‘Viper’ was listed in a row. It was a nickname he’d been called years ago while undercover in a gambling house for the redevelopment project, and since it suited him so well, he’d saved it that way and hadn’t changed it.
“……Does Won Gyu-oh not sleep?”
He had always been the clingy type, but the intensity had increased recently. Was it after he found out that Min-ho met men lightly, or after he witnessed the scene of a guy he’d collaborated with a couple of times flirting with him? Regardless, even during the twenty-minute drive to the office-tel, Won Gyu-oh’s interest grated on Min-ho’s nerves.
Even after returning, he didn’t bother to check the messages. It was obvious he’d sent a link to a YouTube video with animals or talk about a game he had no interest in.
After going into the bathroom and washing again, only then did a familiar scent linger at the tip of his nose. Dragging the loosely tied gown string, he headed toward the bed. His whole body felt heavy and limp, as if soaked in water. He flopped onto the bed and closed his eyes.
Even as he slipped into unconsciousness, a faint vibration landed by his ear. Even in his hazy state, the phone call he’d had with Gyu-oh after he finished work came to mind.
—I’ve cleared it!
—Hyung, are you still at the office?
It was clearly a perfectly ordinary conversation, so why did it keep coming back to him? The sound of the wind heard beyond the familiar voice, the sound of footsteps brushing against the dry dirt floor, the resonance unique to an abandoned factory, the sound of an iron door piercing the ears sharply. Was it because those things felt like signals trying to uncover the nightmares he had barely managed to suppress?
“Haa.”
Min-ho eventually forced his eyes open. His bloodshot eyes were stiff, but he simply couldn’t fall asleep.
“I worked, and I had sex. What’s the problem, what is it?”
Was it because the partner was too lacking? But he couldn’t just call that guy again.
“Aaah.”
His voice was cracked, drenched in fatigue. Min-ho buried his head in the pillow as if in pain. The dull headache that always persisted showed no sign of leaving.
After lying there for a long while, he finally sat up and headed for the refrigerator. Inside, various types of liquor bottles were lined up densely. The reason he kept them stocked, despite not enjoying alcohol, was to be able to sleep for even just a few hours.
He drank straight from the bottle without any snacks. Occasionally, his stomach felt sick and his taste was bitter, but he forced the bottle empty. After drinking a certain amount, heat rose in his body.
“Ugh……”
Buzz, Won Gyu-oh’s interest still hadn’t ended. He’d have to reply or else the kid would pout. Even while thinking that, he didn’t try to hold back his gradually loosening body and mind.
The pitch-black unconsciousness took Min-ho back to the nightmare. To that moment he wanted to shake off, but could never erase.