4 – Chicken Game (7)

Chapter 6

When Seo Hae-young appeared in the winter park, where not a single soul passed by, his lovely scent, his constricting arms, and his resentful voice were all the same. It was terrifying yet reassuring; it felt like he had survived, yet also like he was about to die. These contradictory and clashing emotions eventually coalesced into a single answer.

He had struggled desperately to escape, but he had never escaped for a single moment. He lived within Seo Hae-young’s time, dreamed Seo Hae-young’s dreams, and played within the palm of Seo Hae-young’s hand. In the brief moment he was pulled into that broad chest, the past few months flickered before his eyes. Empty times spent merely being pushed around with nowhere to cling. He had just started wanting to live properly.

“How….”

A pitiful voice leaked through his barely parted lips. His bare feet landed softly on the ground, and the bodies that had been pressed tight without a gap separated.

Hae-won instinctively tightened his fingers as if to grab Seo Hae-young’s clothes and lowered his head. As his scarred insteps and Seo Hae-young’s shoes filled his swaying vision, a phone was held out where his gaze landed. A familiar name floated at the top of the screen, showing a call that had been active for over fifteen minutes.

Three letters of a name with a black heart attached.

The phone, which vaguely revealed the reason, was withdrawn, and a white hand reached out to wrap around his neck and jaw. Lifting the face that fit perfectly within his grip, Seo Hae-young stared quietly at the bruised and torn face.

Every time Seo Hae-young’s gaze brushed against his skin, a chill deeper than the cold spread from within. Hae-won looked back at Seo Hae-young, trembling just as much, and the jawline that had grown sharper over a year and the reddish eyes cast a stone into his anxiously wavering heart. After stroking the scratched cheek for a while, a hint of irritation flickered in Seo Hae-young’s eyes.

“Look at the state of you….”

The hand that had traveled up his cheek lightly tugged at his jet-black hair. Pushing his fingers into the scalp, Seo Hae-young watched the hair flutter in the winter wind before suddenly brushing the bangs up from the forehead. The hand that pushed aside the bangs covering the forehead gripped the black hair.

“Ah…!”

Hae-won’s head was jerked back, and he hurriedly grabbed Seo Hae-young’s arm. As he grimaced at the pain that felt as if his scalp were being ripped off, Seo Hae-young’s close-up face blurred. Seo Hae-young looked closely at the hair roots where a brownish tint was appearing, then let go of the black hair with a stiff expression.

“What is this?”

A cold gaze swept down over Hae-won, who was shivering with teeth chattering. The mottled arms, the t-shirt splattered with blood, the legs full of wounds, and the dirty bare feet. After taking in the toes pressing into the sand, Seo Hae-young gripped Hae-won’s thin forearm and began walking back the way Hae-won had fled.

Hae-won struggled to keep pace, but he stumbled here and there, unable to catch up with Seo Hae-young’s long strides. The moment he wondered where they were going, a horrific dream surfaced. A terrible dream where several chunks of flesh were forced inside, tearing every single hole. With a distorted face, Hae-won let out a shrill cry and tugged at the arm that held him.

He was the kind of person who would hand him over to the General manager without hesitation. A person who would laugh while watching him get beaten; he was more than capable of it.

While he sobbed and gasped, the entrance to the park appeared, and a semi-basement with a translucent screen was visible. The sensation of the General manager’s limp glans sliding between his buttocks ignited a spark of rebellion.

“I won’t go, I don’t want to go…! Don’t do this! That bastard hit me…! It hurts. It hurts, Hae-young….”

Hae-won arched his back and put strength into his legs to resist, but far from stopping Seo Hae-young’s pace, he was merely dragged along. Seo Hae-young headed toward the yard of the house as naturally as if he were visiting a place he had been to many times. From the iron gate, the General manager’s phlegm-filled voice could be heard screaming at the top of his lungs.

From the second-floor windows of the crowded residential area, a few people were looking out. Feeling the hidden gazes and fearing he might be caught in the crossfire, Hae-won immediately craned his neck. He let out a plea for help. When his hoarse voice reached them, the gazes shifted toward him, but they quickly turned away upon seeing Hae-won’s state. When Seo Hae-young glanced back, the eyes clinging to the second-floor windows vanished instantly. Then, dark curtains covered the small windows. It was such a common occurrence in this neighborhood.

Hae-won looked at the blackened windows one by one, barely exhaling his ragged breaths. Screaming solved nothing. Just as it had always been. With a grotesque expression, Hae-won wailed silently. Only the General manager welcomed the returned Hae-won with an unwanted reaction.

“That fucking… you piece of shit…!”

Hae-won, who had been clinging to the grime-covered iron gate, was dragged in, staggering. The General manager, who had rushed out into the dry cement yard, looked up with bloodshot eyes.

“You little slut, playing with people!”

The General manager, more preoccupied with the dragged-in Hae-won than the strange outsider, quickly stepped forward. He pushed away Seung-wan, who was hugging his waist, and stomped violently on the ground. The determination to make sure that expensive asshole could never be sold again was written clearly on his demon-like face. Hae-won kicked his feet and shook the captured arm, but Seo Hae-young didn’t budge.

“Let go! I hate it, I won’t do it…! I won’t…!”

After taking a wide look at the General manager approaching in loose underwear, the convulsing, sobbing Hae-won, and Seung-wan groaning as he lay sprawled on the stairs, Seo Hae-young immediately reached out his arm.

Hae-won closed his eyes, expecting to be slammed onto the cement yard, but the person who rolled across the yard was not him. A loud crash of something falling and breaking pierced his ears, but his body was fine. Gasping for breath that had reached the tip of his throat, Hae-won slowly opened his eyes.

The General manager was rolling on the floor. His wide-open eyes shifted from the flowerpot the homeowner had placed in the yard—which he had broken while falling—back to Seo Hae-young.

Dusting off the hand that had struck the General manager’s temple, Seo Hae-young took off his thick coat as if it were uncomfortable. Hae-won unconsciously hugged the offered coat and stared blankly at the General manager being dragged away by the scruff of his neck. Bright red droplets of blood fell drip-drop onto the white cement, following the dragged man.

A dry cough erupted from the throat that had screamed the moment he saw the blood. While he coughed and rubbed his wet face, Seo Hae-young, who had dragged the General manager—who was momentarily dazed from the head impact—down the stairs, gave a few kicks to the shoulder of the stunned Seung-wan. He pointed toward the open semi-basement entrance with a tilt of his head. Seung-wan, rising hesitantly, turned his head toward Hae-won in confusion, only to be slapped across the cheek.

“Stop looking.”

“W-who are you….”

He couldn’t understand how things were unfolding. That was what Seung-wan thought, but it was the same for Hae-won. Hugging the thick coat, Hae-won glanced at the house gate with eyes where the tears had dried. As he shifted his frozen feet and slightly turned his body, Seo Hae-young, who had pushed Seung-wan’s head into the room, looked back.

“Come here.”

When he didn’t approach readily and stepped back, Seo Hae-young, having thrown the General manager inside, hopped back up the makeshift stairs. Hae-won shook his head, gasping because he couldn’t breathe well, but Seo Hae-young was not one to be lenient. Hae-won was dragged into the semi-basement where liquor bottles lay scattered. The door to the small room, which felt narrow even with just two people, closed firmly so that no one could enter or leave.

“You die if you go out.”

Leaving a blunt warning, Seo Hae-young stepped into the living area with his shoes still on. Shrugging his shoulders, Hae-won covered his head and slumped down on the spot. He was tense, not knowing when he might be grabbed by the hair and dragged away, but Seo Hae-young’s objective seemed to be elsewhere.

The moment he buried his face in his knees, the sounds of breaking, smashing, and throwing mixed with Seung-wan’s pleading voice and the General manager’s curses as he regained consciousness. Added to this were the sobs of Hae-won, who couldn’t bear to look and blocked his ears; the semi-basement was a complete disaster.

It was exhausting just flinching every time an object bounced off the wall and landed at his feet. His weakened mind had reached a point where it could no longer cope. Cold sweat pooled in the hands covering his ears. The agonizing time, which he wanted to end by simply fainting, showed no sign of stopping.

Let this be a dream. Rather, let it be a dream. He closed his eyes tight and repeated only the words that he had to wake up. Every time he rocked his body back and forth, his curved spine thumped against the entrance door.

“Hae-won.”

At some point, a soft hand gently wrapped around his wrist. Even as the hand shook him gently from side to side, Hae-won resisted, never letting go of his tension. However, his wrist, which had begun to swell red to the point that his resistance was futile, was easily pulled away from his ear.

When he lifted his eyelids, he saw the back of Seo Hae-young and the wrecked interior of the house in a blurry form. Forced up, Hae-won was led, limping on numb feet, and sat down in front of a fallen clothes rack. He tried to stand up by bracing himself on the floor, but a white hand pressed firmly on his shoulder, keeping him seated.

“Fuck… that’s not it….”

The General manager’s slurred voice was heard from nearby. Startled, Hae-won lifted his head and flailed his limbs as if he had seen a ghost. A man, whose nose and mouth were completely covered in blood, was sitting with difficulty, his upper body swaying. He tried to create distance, but the pressure on his shoulder only grew stronger.

“Ugh, uuugh…!”

The General manager, dripping thick blood mixed with saliva from his lips, had a faint focus. He mumbled incomprehensible words and waved his arms; it sounded like he was making excuses, or perhaps cursing. The sight was so horrific that it was a torment just to look at, to the point that the sobbing that had been erupting throughout stopped abruptly.

“Fuck… I, I told you I was just keeping him… protection, protection… you son of a bitch, huh…?”

Seo Hae-young didn’t seem to be listening particularly closely to the General manager’s words. Rubbing his skin with his index finger as if the knit covering his neck was uncomfortable, Seo Hae-young spoke.

“Did you touch him?”

It wasn’t clear who he was asking. Thus, neither Hae-won nor the General manager could answer. Seo Hae-young glanced at the pale Hae-won and shifted his body.

Pushing his hand recklessly between the legs stained with wounds, Seo Hae-young pulled down the thin underwear. Reflexively closing his legs, Hae-won made a weak sound of refusal, “uuuh,” and tried to push away the firm arm, but it was completely useless. As the lowered underwear caught on his thighs, fingers slid skillfully between his legs, poking into the hole as if to verify, stirring the stretched inner walls.

Grabbing Seo Hae-young’s arm, Hae-won curled his back and bit his lip. As the wet sound of buttocks hitting a palm echoed in the silent room, the General manager’s vacant gaze and Seung-wan’s horrified gaze became fixed between Hae-won’s legs, which were emitting the sticky sound. Hae-won, whose face from his cheeks to his earlobes had turned bright red, couldn’t even push Seo Hae-young’s shoulder away and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

“Hic, ugh… don’t, don’t do….”

“Looks like something was put in?”

“Money! I told you I paid money. Fuck!”

The General manager suddenly screamed. Seo Hae-young, who had been checking the loose hole without consideration, slowly withdrew his fingers and stood up. He looked back and forth between the still-dazed General manager and Hae-won, who was covering his lower half with the hem of his t-shirt, then took a step.

Picking up a lamp placed on the desk, Seo Hae-young struck the General manager’s head without warning. Crunch! It was impossible to tell if the breaking sound came from the lamp or the General manager’s skull. The crude lamp relentlessly struck the crown of the General manager’s head, and droplets of blood splattered in all directions. Every time the lamp was raised, red blood sprayed in arcs across the yellowish wallpaper. When it struck down, the sound of crushing echoed in Hae-won’s ears.

With wide eyes and parted lips, Hae-won froze like a stone. Without even a chance to scream, his rigid eyeballs rolled, following the General manager as he collapsed.

“Hy-Hyung…!”

Seung-wan, who had been terrified after taking a few hits, hurriedly crawled out from the corner and grabbed Seo Hae-young’s arm. Throwing away the lamp, which was broken in half with its head dangling, Seo Hae-young kicked the clinging Seung-wan and picked up a rolling wooden clothes hanger. The closely cropped hair was stained with blood, leaving no spot untouched, but Seo Hae-young raised his hand without hesitation.

Just as Seo Hae-young, gripping the collar of the General manager who was bleeding from between his teeth, was about to strike his head, his right leg became heavy. His eyes, devoid of reason, rolled downward. The humid breath coming from burst and swollen lips warmed his thigh.

“D-don’t do that, stop it….”

Hugging the leg, Hae-won shook his head while trembling violently. Each time he did, tears clinging to his eyelashes dropped in clusters. His eyes, opened wide enough to see the faint edges, were consumed by fear.

“If he, if he dies, what then….”

Clutching the pant leg, Hae-won met the eyes of Seo Hae-young, who was looking down with a face devoid of laughter. His lips trembled violently because the inscrutable gaze was so terrifying. He was afraid of being beaten, and afraid of being raped, but above all, he was terrified that Seo Hae-young would actually kill someone.

As he leaned his cheek against the firm thigh and sobbed, Seo Hae-young, who had been staring blankly, lowered his raised arm. Tossing aside the unconscious General manager and turning his head, he spotted the relatively intact Seung-wan crouching in the corner. The corners of his mouth twisted subtly. There was one more. He had never for a moment forgotten Seung-wan coming up the stairs on that snowy Christmas.

The moment Seo Hae-young put down the hanger, Hae-won rushed to the General manager, hesitating, unable to touch him carelessly. What if he’s dead? Is he breathing? He lightly shook the General manager, who was so covered in blood that his original appearance was unrecognizable. There was no response.

“W-what do I do….”

He placed his hand on the chest and lowered his head, but unfortunately, there was no leisure to confirm whether he was alive or dead. Upon spotting Seo Hae-young’s back as he strode toward Seung-wan, his heart plummeted steeply. Seung-wan, whose face had turned bluish after being beaten by the General manager and Seo Hae-young in turn, repeated that he was sorry the moment his collar was grabbed. It was a better choice than the General manager, who couldn’t make a proper judgment due to intoxication.

“He said he had nowhere to go… so I just kept him for a bit. The money, I’ll give all that money to you. I’m sorry….”

“Then you should have kept him well.”

After spitting out a half-hearted remark, Seo Hae-young struck the naive Seung-wan’s cheek violently. A force strong enough to ruin the face hit the left side of Seung-wan’s face several times. Seung-wan couldn’t swallow the blood rising in his throat, choking and then spitting it out like vomit. As Seo Hae-young grabbed his head to force it down and fumbled on the floor, Hae-won, who had crawled over, bleeding from his scraped knees, urgently intervened between the two, blocking them as if to protect Seung-wan. Then, he knelt.

“Move.”

Gritting his teeth, Hae-won quickly shook his head and poured out a breathless excuse.

“Seung-wan helped me…. He’s, he’s kind! Really kind. He’s a kind boy, so don’t hit him….”

With a snort, Seo Hae-young pulled the collar of Seung-wan, who was hiding behind, and Hae-won hurriedly pressed his two palms together. Rubbing his uncontrollably shaking hands, he begged desperately. Unstoppable tears fell drop by drop down his trembling chin.

“I, I’ll beg like this. I was wrong. I did everything wrong…. I’m sorry, Hae-young…. I’m so sorry….”

Hae-won, who had been stripped of all the money he and the other had, and even the watch he had intended to use as a lump sum someday, begged miserably as if he knew nothing. Perhaps he was begging for Seo Hae-young rather than Seung-wan. He admitted fault without even knowing what he was babbling. He begged for every sin, real or imagined—that he used the cards as he pleased, didn’t answer the phone, didn’t reply to texts. There was nothing to be embarrassed about, nothing to feel ashamed of.

“I was wrong, Hae-young. Please forgive me just once….”

Seo Hae-young looked down at the kneeling, begging Hae-won with an expression that wasn’t particularly pleased. The fact that Yoon Hae-won was bowing his head and coming in on his own didn’t feel good; rather, it felt foul. After slowly scanning the disheveled jet-black hair, the bruised eyelids, the faint blood smeared on the nose and lips, and the drenched cheeks, he gripped Hae-won’s two hands, which were making a rubbing sound.

“Why are you the one begging?”

His hands captured, Hae-won’s lips parted as he swallowed the lump stuck in his throat. As the grip on his hands tightened painfully, the truth leaked out from his distorted lips before long.

“If you, if you kill a person…. Then, then what do I do….”

This semi-basement was full of things to be afraid of and terrified of, so he didn’t have the confidence to utter a lie. As soon as Seo Hae-young let go of his hands, he busily pressed and rubbed his kneeling knees, reading the room as he always had. The expression was cold. Carefully reaching out, Hae-won touched Seo Hae-young’s dangling fingers, whispering, “Please, please.”

Seo Hae-young glanced down at the fingers entwined around his index finger. The back of the hand, where the skin had been scraped, looked pale. As he slowly shook the precariously hooked finger from side to side and cast his gaze downward, his thick eyelashes cast dark shadows over his eyes. After remaining silent for a long while, Seo Hae-young let out a low question.

“Who are you worried about right now?”

The soft joints of the fingers gently stroked the bloodless nail of the index finger. The fingers, digging into the gaps, repeatedly applied pressure as if to pry the nail up.

“Hmm? I asked who you’re worried about.”

While Hae-won was distracted by the fingers sliding away, a palm stained with someone else’s dried blood lightly slapped his cheek. Unable to keep his balance, Hae-won was pushed back and missed his chance to answer. With a sigh, Seo Hae-young stood up and gripped the hair of the curled-up Seung-wan. The moment Hae-won realized the situation, he urgently pushed himself up on his knees. He lunged forward, clutching Seo Hae-young’s waist as the latter strained his arm to drag Seung-wan away, panting heavily.

“You, you… I’m worried about you. W-what if you get caught? How am I supposed to live…?”

Clumsy sentences, fragmented and barely coherent, tumbled out in a jumble.

Seo Hae-young narrowed his eyes and looked down. For a lie intended to evade the situation, it sounded quite sincere. Every time Hae-won, clinging tightly to his lower body, opened his mouth, his crotch was subtly pressed.

“Ugh… I’m sorry, I’m sorry for everything… Hae-young-ah…”

The way he gripped the clothes tightly, the fragile voice calling his name endlessly, and the act of rubbing his cheek while pretending to be innocent were so absurd that it made him laugh. As he threw aside Seung-wan, who was barely breathing, and laughed, Hae-won looked up with blinking, tear-filled eyes.

Seo Hae-young stroked the hair ruined by harsh dye and then pinched his cheek. Even as the skin was stretched out, Hae-won only frowned slightly. He also cautiously gauged the reaction. It was a different response from the videos he had watched hundreds of times. Seo Hae-young slowly shook the pinched cheek before wiping away the damp corners of his eyes. The blood smeared, making him look even filthier, but it suited the current Hae-won quite well.

“Did you fuck again?”

“Huh…?”

Hae-won, smoothing his furrowed brow, asked back blankly. The tinnitus piercing both eardrums had intensified, preventing him from understanding quickly, but Seo Hae-young did not repeat himself. Hae-won could only tell that there was a hint of amusement in the monotonous tone he had caught. Seeing the smiling Seo Hae-young wipe his face, Hae-won assumed he had cooled off and gave a clumsy smile in return. His swollen eyes moved busily, following Seo Hae-young’s twitching lips.

“You didn’t think of me even once, did you?”

Not knowing how to read lips, he just smiled stupidly. Even as the dangling tears wet his cheeks again, he didn’t take his eyes off those curving lips.

“This isn’t something to laugh about.”

When Seo Hae-young released the arms wrapped around his waist and turned his head, Hae-won couldn’t even tell if he was speaking. He slowly tried to make a sound toward Seo Hae-young, who sat in front of him, producing a voice that sounded faint even to himself.

“I-I can’t hear… well…”

“I said it’s not something to laugh about, you fucker.”

The clumsy smile and the idiot-like laughter that had burst out seemed to fade as he faced Seo Hae-young, only to bloom brightly once more. To Hae-won, whose hearing was temporarily gone, Seo Hae-young’s expression was the only language he could understand.

Seo Hae-young was smiling. Since he couldn’t hear the softly spoken words, Hae-won believed that smile meant forgiveness. He thought it was forgiveness for deceiving him and leaving, and a smile granting pardon for mistakes he hadn’t even understood or committed. Thus, without understanding a single thing, he nodded and smiled, unaware that this was another mistake. Not realizing he had ruined Seo Hae-young’s mood, he let out a deficient laugh, his shoulders shaking.

“I-I’m sorry.”

He opened his lips to apologize and beg him to stop, but a large palm clamped over his mouth. Feeling the warm, soft skin against his sensitive lips, Hae-won’s eyes slowly widened.

The smile had vanished from Seo Hae-young’s face, replaced by an expression colder than ever, sending a chill down Hae-won’s spine. Those beautifully shaped lips parted slightly to speak, but Hae-won could not give any answer. He couldn’t hear, and there was no one to listen.

Freezing water, rising from his collarbone, swallowed his brain. The water, smelling of disinfectant, blocked both ear canals, covered his eyes, and prevented him from breathing even though his mouth was open. Hae-won flailed his arms as if splashing in deep water. A thunderous scream erupted from his gasping lips—did Seo Hae-young hear it? The rebellion of waving arms and screaming lost its strength the moment Seung-wan’s forehead hit the edge of the desk. After tossing the limp Seung-wan beside the General Manager, Seo Hae-young turned around.

“I told you not to do that. Repeatedly, several times.”

Occasionally, his hearing flickered back. Like a broken volume control, Seo Hae-young’s voice would suddenly blast loud and then shrink to the size of an ant’s whisper. Every time he heard the voice shifting responsibility and guilt, Hae-won unconsciously took on the guilt, thinking, ‘Ah, that’s why.’

“This is what happens when you don’t listen to me.”

Yes. It seemed so.

The leg draped over the broad shoulders shook helplessly. The bandage neatly applied in the morning fluttered as if about to peel off, and the half-healed wound beaded with blood.

Seo Hae-young was gluttonous. With his waist wrapped in long arms, Hae-won offered his body in a stiff, aching posture. Wide-open thighs, a lifted waist, a tilted-back neck, and hands gripping Seo Hae-young’s forearms for lack of anything else to hold.

“Ack…! Mmph… I-I was wrong, aack…!”

The t-shirt, pushed up to the limit, caught on his chin and occasionally covered his face. With his lean chest fully exposed, Seo Hae-young licked and sucked every single wound he had carved himself by punching, pinching, and scratching. The scars left to avoid thinking of Seo Hae-young were being devoured one by one by an oblivious Seo Hae-young. Not finding it dirty or creepy, he overlaid deep bite marks on top of them. While pouring out violence-like foreplay unilaterally, the movement of his hips never stopped for a second.

“Don’t tighten up. Where the hell did you pick up this kind of habit…?”

“Ugh, hng…!”

Hae-won, who had been limp as if dead, flailed his entire body. The hole, which hadn’t been used for months and had only ever taken fingers, could not easily accommodate Seo Hae-young’s member. Knowing that the inner walls, tightening tightly from the thick glans to the entire shaft, were excessively stiff, Seo Hae-young thrust his hips from the start as if intending to tear the mucosa.

“Ah! It hurts, aack…!”

His head, which had slid off the mattress, snapped back. Every time the thin mattress heaved, the crown of his head thumped against the old flooring. Coughing as pooled saliva went down the wrong pipe, Hae-won turned his head and locked eyes with the curled-up Seung-wan. Seung-wan, who had taken the beating meant for Hae-won, looked similar to the General Manager. With eyelids so swollen they couldn’t open properly, it was impossible to tell if the eyes embedded within were looking here or if he had simply lost consciousness.

“Worried again? That he might die?”

Seo Hae-young, roughly sweeping back Hae-won’s sweat-soaked bangs as if to tear them out, whispered into his right ear. The question, mixed with rough breathing, continued until Hae-won’s shoulders hit the floor. Unable to comprehend the question, Hae-won gasped and twisted his waist. His movement was limited. The part connected to Seo Hae-young, who was crushing him, twisted with a squelching sound. Blood began to rush to his tilted-back head. He urgently grabbed Seo Hae-young’s shoulder, but the soft knit fabric slipped through his fingers.

“Ah, ah-hng… Hae, Hae-young-ah…”

The friction of their colliding crotches was stinging. Every time the hot piece of flesh slammed in without pause, a sensation like being beaten in the stomach overwhelmed him. The person who had loosened the hole and the person actually using it were different.

“I-I’m sorry… Ah, I was wrong, I was… ugh…!”

“Do you know why he ended up like that? It’s all because you acted like a fucking piece of shit…”

Seo Hae-young, who had only undone his pant buckle, forced distorted sentences in along with his veiny member. As he braced his hand against the chest where the ribs were visible and lifted the upper body, the limp Hae-won let out a dry cough. The sunken lower abdomen twitched, and the already narrow hole contracted fully. It felt as if it would snap the member. Seo Hae-young grabbed the lean waist with both hands and lifted him closer. The sliding arms and the head unable to hold itself dangled like a stringless doll every time their crotches met without a gap.

Burying his face in Hae-won’s chest, Seo Hae-young bit down hard on the pale nipples with his canines to force them up, then sucked them painfully. The arched waist stiffened and then trembled violently.

“Ngh, hng…!”

A wet tongue licked the erect nipples as if flicking them. He nibbled them with his front teeth before digging into the center with a pointed tongue. Hae-won instinctively tensed his entire body. The folds gripping the member twitched, and the hands clutching the thin mat on the mattress turned white. His blurred vision flickered stark white. When Seo Hae-young’s thumb crushed the nipple while pushing his lower body forward, his rigid toes curled.

“Ah, ah-h… ugh!”

A projector begins to roll.

For the past few months, he had taken medication every single day. Then, he could always dream. Nine out of ten were happy dreams. They showed a beautified past. Sometimes they showed a happy future that could never come true, so Hae-won waited for those dreams, even if the memories weren’t intact upon waking.

And then there was the remaining one. Though it was only one out of ten dreams, Hae-won feared that one terribly. Every hole was blocked, and verbal abuse and violence poured in. The entities were faint. Seo Hae-young, Go Tae-gyeom, and Joo Hyun-woo appeared, or they were all Seo Hae-young. Occasionally, when he had such a dream, he would wake up drenched in sweat and rush to the bathroom without even having time to fully wake up. And then…

‘You’re such a fucking slut.’

Ignoring the voice echoing in the empty space, he had to scrub the underwear damp with seeped semen. He struck his erect member while crying, poured cold water over himself, and masturbated until his skin peeled. And then he cried again. Unable to even ejaculate properly, he tried poking his back with fingers. Of course, it all failed. Shuddering with self-loathing, he drenched himself in cold water and trembled. In the early dawn when the General Manager and Seung-wan were fast asleep, Hae-won was consumed by the past alone in the cold bathroom, doing everything in his power to overcome it.

He had worked so hard, really tried his best. But it seemed something had gone wrong.

A fire swept through his bruised and wounded body. The bitten and beaten parts burned hot, and his member, beaded with transparent fluid, pressed tight against his lower abdomen. Before he knew it, Hae-won, clutching Seo Hae-young’s forearms, was lifting his aching waist himself toward Seo Hae-young, who was between his legs.

When he lifted his hips off the mattress, the thick member pushed into the gasping hole, and when he lowered his waist, it slid halfway out. He couldn’t even perceive what he was doing. Whether it was an act of seeking forgiveness or chasing pleasure.

“Nng, haa… ah… I was, wrong…”

The lotion Seo Hae-young had recklessly inserted before penetration dripped down in white clumps. Putting strength into the legs stepping on the mattress, Hae-won gradually increased the speed, chasing pleasure by pushing the thick member into himself and pulling it out.

He loved the hard glans and veiny member pushing into the inner walls. He loved the shadow cast over him as if it would block everything. He loved the scent tickling the tip of his nose where blood had dried, and he loved the brutal grip. It was terribly wonderful, just like the wet dreams he had while dreaming of being beaten and raped.

“Ah, Hae, Hae-young-ah… ha-eung, nng…!”

Seo Hae-young, who had been biting his lip, let out a long breath and released the sneer he had been holding back.

“Ha… Hey, hey. Hae-won-ah…”

Gulping down pooled saliva, Hae-won thrust his waist shallowly to accept the member deeper inside. Seo Hae-young laughed vacantly while supporting the lower back of Hae-won, who was clinging to him in a way that was both pathetic and pitiful. The thin mat made a rustling sound, and groaning moans intertwined confusingly. The clumsy hip movements that only skimmed the surface were tantalizing. His exhausted thighs trembled violently. As he panted like a beast, pulling on Seo Hae-young’s forearms, the sneer returned.

“Does it feel good? Fuck, you actually like this shit?”

“I’m so, so sorry… It’s good, because it’s good…”

Beneath the sneer ringing in his ears, the tears that had stopped flowed incessantly. When he closed and opened his eyes, his vision cleared and then blurred again. The tears flowing from the corners of his eyes ran up toward his forehead.

The semi-basement, where no sunlight entered, was narrow. The house was so small that not only the sound of skin clashing violently, but also the sound of viscous fluids mixing and the creaking of the mattress’s flimsy springs echoed everywhere.

His glazed eyes rolled. In the tiny room that felt full with just three people, he saw the General Manager collapsed near the clothes rack. His face was covered in blood. He couldn’t be sure if he was still breathing. Shifting his gaze slightly, he saw Seung-wan, pushed back to the edge of the wall, staring blankly. Because of the hand covering his mouth as if suppressing vomit, only his swollen eyes were visible. Seung-wan’s horrified expression seemed like a hallucination, yet also felt like reality. Hae-won blinked his bloodshot eyes.

‘You whore!’

‘This cheap piece of shit…’

‘You should pay me back for sparing your life.’

Even though no one had spoken, the voices remaining in his memory rang like bells. Perhaps fragments of memory, similar in meaning to those looks, pierced his eardrums.

Over the bloodshot eyes, the image of a child in a blue vest running breathlessly overlapped. Seung-wan’s face, whose awkward smile had offset his occasionally uncomfortable behavior, shattered in an instant. There was no trace of his former self.

“Ah, ah-eu, hu-eu…”

Hae-won traced the faint face and kindness in his memory, then stopped the desperate hip movements he had been using to push himself up. Suddenly, his senses returned. Where he was, how many people were in the room, who was watching, and what had happened until a moment ago.

Dropping onto the mattress, Hae-won looked around, his legs trembling from a heat that wouldn’t easily fade. The texture of the knit in his hand was vivid, and the breath leaving his mouth was hot. Though his vision was slightly blurred, the wrecked semi-basement was clearly visible. He felt his face. The skin touching his fingertips was too realistic, and the member slowly entering and exiting the tip, and the hole opening and closing, were vivid.

“W-what do I do, Hae-young-ah… I, I… what do I do…”

“Why stop?”

He couldn’t hear anything. Hae-won only made strange ‘ah, ah’ sounds, muttering as he pulled on Seo Hae-young’s arm.

What do I do now. I think I’m losing my mind. Being here, in the house I lived in, doing this with you. Seung-wan, his face ended up like that, and doing this in front of him is too, too strange. This is a dream, right? Fuck, this isn’t real, right?

“What are you talking about…”

With a hollow laugh, Seo Hae-young gripped his waist. Cold sweat soaked his back. Though it wasn’t cold, Hae-won trembled violently in all four limbs, clutching and tearing at Seo Hae-young’s clothes. He felt like he was going to die of fear. Something was wrong, terribly wrong.

Please answer me. Am I strange?

His lips parted repeatedly, but he couldn’t hear his own voice. A chill starting from deep within spread through his veins, and while he was clutching his chest and gasping, the back of his head was enveloped by a large palm.

The moment his aching head hit the mattress, a heavy lower body descended, and the member pushed instantly into the hole. The member, brutally forcing open the narrow path, filled the interior completely. His limbs, which had been trembling uncontrollably, froze as if struck by lightning.

“Kkeuk…! Ah…!”

Dirty feet kicked at the crookedly scattered mat, and chapped lips parted wide instinctively. Without time to adjust, his testicles, perineum, and butt cheeks were crushed messily. While their skin clashed dozens of times, the member, which had pulled out leaving only the glans, entered all the way to the root. The vibration in the lower body was similar to the noise of being beaten. The member, carrying all its weight, recklessly stirred Hae-won’s organs.

“Heu-uk…!”

“Listen carefully, Hae-won-ah…”

Hae-won, eyes wide open, could only make gasping sounds. Not even a moan came out. The wrinkled inner walls surged along with the member that curved slightly upward and gouged deep inside. Every time Seo Hae-young’s cock filled the hole without a gap, a sensation like falling off a cliff washed over him like a tidal wave.

“Huck, ha-euk! U-eu… ah!”

Hae-won, his chin tilted back, gasped for air as he clawed at the mat. His mind was so cluttered with pleasure that he wouldn’t have cared even if his nails snapped and tore away. The moment the glans pressed against the plump area deep inside, the pelvis pinned beneath him grew damp. His lower abdomen, which bulged with every thrust of the organ, became drenched and stained with the semen it spewed. Twisting his ankles, Hae-won leaked a watery fluid from his erect member as if he were losing control of his bladder.

“Remember this… well.”

Seo Hae-young pressed down on the lean shoulders and drove himself frantically into Hae-won’s organs, as the ejaculation had not yet finished. As he pushed his hips forward with a momentum that seemed to shove even his testicles into the hot, humid hole, Hae-won’s fragile, tear-filled eyes were hidden beneath trembling eyelids.

“Ah, hng… hng…!”

“This is why… you became like this….”

There was no trace of the gentle, quiet, and clean version of him to be found. He had become someone who cried at the drop of a hat, rebelled, and looked cheap—like some street-born whore. As Hae-young gripped the dark hair that looked disgustingly vulgar, a defiant expression emerged. Hae-won, exhaling hot breaths with a pale face where blood and tears had dried, called his name in a voice that sounded as if it were about to break, sending a fine shiver across Hae-young’s cheek. Brown eyes, not knowing where they were looking, rolled erratically.

“I-I was wrong! Ah! Hng, Hae…young…! I’m sorry, sorry, ah, stop…!”

He couldn’t be let out into the world like this. Twisting his reddish lips, Seo Hae-young pressed down on the lean shoulders with enough force to crush them, just to keep from strangling the slender neck.

“It’s because you didn’t listen to me….”

His clenched fist trembled. Turning Hae-won’s head to the side, Seo Hae-young kissed the bruised temple before biting down on the flushed earlobe. Licking the bite mark where blood seeped through, he whispered clearly so that he could understand.

“Look…. All the bastards who help you end up like that.”

Seo Hae-young slapped the cheek of the sobbing, eyes-tightly-shut Hae-won. Look straight, look with your own two eyes at the mess you’ve made. Rather than the palms that struck him several times, the thrusts of the hips—as if trying to pierce through the abdominal wall—forced Hae-won’s eyelids open.

“If you worry about someone else in front of me, that bastard will end up like that too. Got it?”

Seo Hae-young’s voice piled up steadily in his muffled ears. Clutching his stomach where a dull pain rose, Hae-won looked at the General Manager and Seung-wan through a frantically shaking field of vision. Unintentional moans escaped his lips along with gasping breaths. The voice he had heard for over twenty years felt foreign. It didn’t sound like a sound a human should make.

“And… I’m showing you just how much of a slut you are. Like today.”

Listening to the voice that sounded as if it were crushing something, the limp Hae-won stared blankly at Seung-wan. He was having sex with Seo Hae-young while Seung-wan and the General Manager were just three steps away. In front of the two people who were bloodied and unable to even leave the house, he was being impaled by a man’s cock, letting out beastly screams.

He was aroused, he felt it, and it felt good. The moment the organ pushed deep into the organs of his stomach, a ticklish sensation burst open.

“Hng, ugh…. Hup…!”

Hugging his stomach with both arms, Hae-won bit his lip hard. However, before long, his chest heaved as he laughed. Tears continued to stream down without stopping. It was painful. He tried to endure it, but neither the laughter nor the crying could be suppressed. Even after rubbing his eyes wildly with the back of his hand and covering his mouth, the laughter that burst from his throat spread through the room. The agonizing laughter echoed through the blood-stained living room, the small bathroom, and the old kitchen. Hae-won flailed his legs, trying to push Seo Hae-young’s stomach away.

“I, hic…! I’ll… I was wrong. Ah! Hae, Hae-young…. It’s my fault, ugh, I was wrong….”

“Is it funny? What’s so funny?”

Without budging an inch, Seo Hae-young instead thrust his hips upward violently, stroking the cheek of Hae-won, who was vomiting laughter with a vacant face. The melted lotion left a sticky sensation every time their lower bodies collided and separated. The sound of their flesh slapping together made it seem as if they had been born connected, showing no sign of separation.

“Why, hic…. Why are you laughing, Hae-won….”

Seo Hae-young, who had been sliding his organ deep in and out, began to laugh as if infected. His cheek, splattered with blood, flushed red, and a low chuckle escaped.

“N-no…. hic, it’s just, I like it…. I like it too much…! I-I’m sorry, hng….”

Hae-won sobbed and laughed convulsively, though there was nothing funny about it. He couldn’t keep his body still. He waved his arms, pushing Seo Hae-young’s shoulders away, then pulling him back to face him.

Seo Hae-young’s laughter seeped through their colliding lips. Their tongues tangled thickly before parting with a lingering laugh. When Hae-won pushed him away, annoyed by the smacking sound of the lips, persistent kisses fell upon his eyelids and the tip of his nose. Receiving the kisses from Seo Hae-young, which he had once longed for, Hae-won cried and laughed frantically.

“Ah, I’m… I’m… hic…! Nng, ah…!”

It’s a dream. This is all a dream, and when I wake up, I just have to wash the underwear soiled with semen. Tearing at his blackened hair, Hae-won let out a pungent laugh. When Seo Hae-young grabbed the wrist that was pulling the hair, he laughed even louder and closed his legs. Laughter was so strenuous that his eyebrows crumpled into a mess. He ejaculated while receiving the organ that entered deep, his broken body trembling violently.

I was wrong about everything.

Because I was too stupid, because I was born that way.

Yes, that’s it.

Lips that let out a vulgar laugh while being torn wide open became drenched in tears.

* * *

A reddish sunset cast over the naked body that had become a rag. His groin, glistening and soaked with semen and watery fluid, should have been shameful, but he had neither the strength to close his legs nor the strength to feel shame. His eyes were open, but he was unconscious.

“If you received a gift, you should open it. Think about the person’s sincerity.”

Seo Hae-young’s voice echoed from afar. A gift wrapped in colorful paper was pushed toward him, but Hae-won couldn’t move his eyes. With his gaze fixed on the yellowish ceiling, he gasped faintly and shuddered. The heat rising from the hole that had been forced open did not easily subside. It felt as if his internal organs had been ravaged beyond repair. Thin streaks of tears dropped from his raw eyes, wetting the crumpled mat.

The sound of wrapping paper rustling was heard, and the t-shirt that was barely hanging on one arm was stripped off. The hand holding the thin t-shirt reached between his legs and carelessly wiped away the messy traces. Every time the fabric brushed the area around the hole, his buttocks twitched and tightened.

“Just because we did it once….”

After a sneer implying he was pathetic passed, clothes that smelled new were put on him. A cozy sweater and soft pants hid the skin full of wounds, but his feet remained bare and blackened. While fastening the pant buckle, Seo Hae-young slid his hand into the loose waistband and frowned his nose as if dissatisfied.

“Gain some weight. They don’t fit.”

Having dressed him in new clothes without much effort, Seo Hae-young, already neatly dressed, stood up and turned his back. He spoke to Seung-wan, who was retching, but only his back was faintly visible, and the conversation didn’t reach Hae-won’s ears. Seo Hae-young, turned away, shook something in his hand, but there was no way he could recognize it.

Hae-won closed his stinging eyes, and at that moment, his damn Blinking Disorder flared up. That strange illness, where time and space jumped erratically, began again.

With one blink of his bloodshot eyes, he was held in Seo Hae-young’s arms; with two blinks, he was passing through a narrow alley. With three blinks, a blue slate roof came into view. The icicles had long since melted without a trace. Four blinks, he was in the back seat of a familiar car. Five blinks, he was in front of a large mirror.

He had no time to check what happened to Seung-wan or if the General Manager was still alive. Perhaps he didn’t want to think about it. A guilt of unknown origin stabbed at his tear glands. If only he hadn’t run away and had faced it, if only he had ignored Seung-wan’s suggestion, if only he had returned to Seo Hae-young on his own.

Unable to break the bad habit of hypothesizing about past moments, Hae-won stared at the hair being cut away.

The long hair that had tickled the nape of his neck because it was untrimmed was now neatly shaped. The black color that had been stained splotchy had faded to yellow and was dyed a color similar to before. The reflection in the large mirror was chillingly similar to last summer. Mi-jeong, who had been trimming Hae-won’s hair for several years, whispered carefully as she removed the cutting cape.

“Do you not like it? Why do you keep crying….”

Hae-won, who used to smile with a shy expression and quietly talk about his recent life, had done nothing but shed silent tears throughout the haircut. Even though he was wearing only a dress shirt in a cozy interior, he trembled as if he were in the middle of a winter street. Mi-jeong, who pulled out a tissue and patted his drenched eyes, sighed and stroked Hae-won’s shoulder.

She didn’t know how surprised she had been when he suddenly made an appointment over the phone thirty minutes ago and was dragged in barefoot. Not only could he barely walk, but his pretty face was full of marks from being beaten. To a Hae-won who was so frozen he couldn’t even answer when asked who had beaten him, the only consideration Mi-jeong could offer was giving him slippers and a hot towel. He was a customer she had accidentally taken over when the director in charge moved to the main branch, but the vague affection she had developed over time made her overstep her bounds.

“Do you want Noona to do it again? Do you want to eat something?”

Seo Hae-young, who was sitting on the sofa flipping through a magazine, answered instead without even lifting his head.

“It’s because he’s sick.”

“I wasn’t asking you….”

His hearing was sharp. Mi-jeong, who signaled the staff—who were cautiously glancing around because it was late—to get ready to go home, scanned Seo Hae-young with a skeptical expression. Despite the fight, Seo Hae-young’s face was pristine. Comparing their physiques, it was plausible that Hae-won had been unilaterally beaten. Feeling a sudden inkling, Mi-jeong turned her back to Seo Hae-young and asked in a very low voice, pretending to trim Hae-won’s hair.

“Are your parents at home? Do you want to give them a call? I can do it for you if it’s hard.”

Hae-won, who was tossing and turning because even sitting with a straight back was difficult, lifted his heavy head and looked into the mirror. Mi-jeong’s face, with a furrowed brow, was full of worry. Mi-jeong didn’t know the fact that everyone who knew knew. That Hae-won had neither a home nor parents.

“Is there anywhere you want to call?”

Knowing nothing, Mi-jeong asked once more to Hae-won, who only chewed his lip without answering.

A place to call. Hae-won searched his vacant mind with all his might, but it was filled only with people related to Seo Hae-young and this situation. It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought of contacting someone completely different—someone he could seek help from. It was just that he couldn’t think of it after he actually made the call.

In his deficient imagination, Hae-won hesitated for a long time on what to say before hanging up. No matter how many times he thought about it, the things he couldn’t say with his own mouth poured out and blocked his throat.

His moist eyes rolled slightly. Seo Hae-young, who had closed the magazine by now, was staring at him with his chin resting on his hand. The moment he spotted the long legs dangling and the white hand resting on the sofa armrest in the mirror, terror surged.

‘All the bastards who help you end up like that.’

The blood-soaked General Manager and Seung-wan overlapped smoothly over Mi-jeong. Gasping for air, Hae-won moved his stiff neck and shook his head. Creak, creak. He was like a broken doll.

“No, no. I-I’m okay….”

Hae-won gave a faint smile toward Mi-jeong, who wore an uncomfortable expression. Nothing was okay, but he had no choice but to pretend. Seo Hae-young, whose eyes met his in the mirror, laughed lightly as if he had expected as much. The hard-won smile collapsed pathetically.

It was a burden that could be told to no one and had to be endured entirely alone. Seo Hae-young, with a lovely smile, repeatedly pushed him from behind. Without a moment’s rest, toward the cliff, he pushed people….

As the long day came to an end, Hae-won’s body was burning. He couldn’t hear any sound, and even the settling dust felt like needles piercing his skin. As they turned the final curve, the white slippers hanging on his instep fell thud with a sound under the back seat.

Unfortunately, the bag that had accompanied his short outing was placed in the passenger seat. It was out of reach. Now that was the only thing he had left, but Seo Hae-young wouldn’t even give that back. If he lifted his chin slightly, the buildings he had seen while passing by flashed quickly past the car window.

When the vacation ended, when he was carried away with his head on Seo Hae-young’s lap, there was a destination. Home. My small home, which was narrow and shabby, but one I had never been ashamed of. However, the home that was vividly drawn inside his eyelids even when he closed his eyes was no longer a space where he could hide. He looked at the sky beginning to turn indigo and turned on his side. He didn’t know where a destiny without a destination was being carried.

Before he knew it, the back door opened and a hand carrying a chill was placed on his forehead. Leaning his cheek against the hand that stroked his face as if stealing the heat, Hae-won blinked his narrowly open eyes and exhaled a ragged breath.

“Are you sick again?”

“Ugh….”

Seeing the bag hanging on Seo Hae-young’s arm, Hae-won instinctively reached out. However, no matter how far he reached, his hand only stirred the empty air. Seo Hae-young, who gripped the fingers that were like dry twigs, whispered low as if soothing the delirious Hae-won.

“It’s okay now. We’re home.”

Hae-won lifted his head slightly, which didn’t move well, and looked around. It was the garage he knew well. He remembered the bus number he had taken while clutching snacks in his arms, that smell, and the sunlight that came through the window. Memories based on excitement, all the way to Seo Hae-young’s birthday, which was stained with filth. Hae-won rubbed his cheek against the cold palm and murmured quietly.

My home isn’t here. This isn’t my home.

But Seo Hae-young, with a strange expression as if he had heard or not, wrapped around the nape of his neck and lifted the hot body. Exhausted, Hae-won leaned his forehead against the shoulder covered by a single layer of thin knit. No tenderness could be felt from the palm patting his back. Hae-won could predict to some extent the words that would come out of that mouth.

“Let’s wash up and take medicine.”

A complete dismissal.

* * *

Steam rose from the bathtub filled with transparent water. The bathroom light was brightly on, but the door was firmly closed. Seo Hae-young sat on a chair without armrests, flicking water droplets onto the pale face.

“Are you going to keep being like this?”

He doesn’t laugh, he doesn’t cry. It was completely boring. But was it annoying? Not exactly. The way he didn’t answer the questions but gripped his sleeves tightly with pale hands was somewhat cute. If he just lifted his body now, he would be terrified and lunge. Not feeling particularly inclined to do so, Seo Hae-young rested his arm on the edge of the tub, leaned his head back comfortably, and enjoyed the face revealed under the bright light to his heart’s content.

Eyes holding a hazy light dissected his neat appearance in detail. Water droplets fell from the wet hair, cutting across the cheek that had a deep blue bruise.

As if possessed, Seo Hae-young leaned in, sucking the water droplets hanging from the chin before naturally pressing their lips together. He pushed his tongue into the lips of Hae-won, who gave no reaction. He swept across the neat teeth and wrapped around the soft tongue holding a hot heat, quietly exchanging breaths. Soft pieces of flesh carefully attached and detached, filling the bathroom with ticklish sounds.

He didn’t want to let go of the lips. Seo Hae-young dipped his arm into the bathtub, from which a sweet scent rose almost sickeningly, and grabbed the sliding body.

“Hey, Yoon Hae-won. Hae-won. Hae-won.”

He continued the ticklish kisses while calling his name. He kissed the cheeks, nose, eyebrows, and forehead in no particular order, but Hae-won kept his eyes tightly shut and did not respond. Standing between the two paths of regret and annoyance, Seo Hae-young needlessly felt around the flat chest. The area around the pinkish nipples was full of red bite marks. He pinched and pulled the red nipples, which looked painful just by looking at them, with two fingers.

“Answer me.”

Hae-won flinched noticeably, but out of some stubbornness, he grit his teeth and turned his head away. The reaction, so pathetic it didn’t even warrant a snort, didn’t stop the crooked mischief but only encouraged it. Seo Hae-young, unaware that his rolled-up sleeves were getting soaked, rubbed the protruding nipples and leaned his forehead against the wet shoulder. The sound of the heart beating faintly and the round pieces of flesh felt at his fingertips were strange.

“You don’t want to answer?”

He knows Hae-won is in too much pain to answer. He knows that while he hadn’t been like this before, for the past few months, he’s been frail and sickly at every opportunity. He knew clearly that after being given medicine, Hae-won struggled even to hold up his head, like a sick chicken, but when those pale eyes opened, a kind heart rarely surfaced. It was an indescribable emotion. It was a kind of sickness—something he couldn’t handle himself, something that wouldn’t improve no matter what education he received.

He had learned that following his impulses in times like these always led to bad results, but whenever he rested his finger on the trigger and hesitated, Hae-won would pull it himself, by his own hand.

For a brief moment, the arm that brushed away the hand hovering over his chest sank with a glug into the transparent water. Just like now.

“Ah… ugh…”

As he slid his hand under the armpit and lifted him up, warm water spilled out of the bathtub in a rush. Even as he wrapped him in a large towel and roughly wiped away the moisture, he gripped Hae-won’s forearm—whose knees buckled several times—and strode out of the bathroom.

Entering a room with a bed large enough for two people to lie on, he drew back the curtains. When he opened the tightly shut glass door, a cold wind rushed in, though they said the cold snap had passed. Without a second thought, Seo Hae-young flung Hae-won onto the veranda, where a single ashtray sat.

Abandoned with the wet towel, still not fully dried, Hae-won trembled violently and struggled to push his upper body up. Seo Hae-young stroked the hair of Hae-won, who was looking up with hazy eyes, and murmured.

“Think carefully. About how you should behave.”

“C-cold… it’s too… here…”

Roughly shaking off the hair wrapped around his fingers, Seo Hae-young left the veranda, leaving behind the awkwardly crawling Hae-won. As soon as he closed and locked the door, a wet hand tapped against the glass. As if even that were too much effort, Hae-won leaned his forehead against the pane and began to rub his two hands together, not even knowing his own fault.

With an expressionless face, Seo Hae-young slowly bent his knees and sat down. Beyond the thick glass, the dark veranda was faintly visible.

Fear was creeping across the face of Hae-won, who had pulled the wide towel around himself as much as possible. As the sound of tapping on the window grew louder, lips that had been closed the whole time began to open and shut. Only then did Seo Hae-young let out a small laugh, his twisted lips twitching.

“…You mustn’t hate me, Hae-won. You can’t do that.”

The dark curtains shielded the interior. Trapped on the veranda where night had fallen, Hae-won groaned as he tried to open the thick glass window, but soon gave up. No matter how hard he tried to open the window, which seemed to be locked from the inside and wouldn’t budge, his frozen fingers only hurt as if they were about to snap off.

The veranda, open to the air with only a transparent fence between them, robbed him of his body heat in an instant. Far from warming him, the wet towel only poured a shivering chill over him. Yet, he couldn’t even take it off, leaving him in a state of utter hopelessness.

“Hae-young… Hae-young…”

No matter how much he tapped the glass with fists whose knuckles were red and chapped, the drawn curtains did not move. He remembered lying in the backseat, but everything after that was blurry. He rubbed his cold forearms roughly, trying to hold onto a consciousness that flickered in and out. Despite his efforts to raise his body temperature, his teeth chattered and his knees shook uncontrollably.

“It’s too cold here… open it. I was… I was all wrong…”

It felt as if someone were gripping his head with both hands and crushing it with all their might. He felt as though he were being sliced from every single strand of hair to the tips of his toenails, to the point where he couldn’t pinpoint where it hurt. As a hot fever rose from his forehead, even keeping his bloodshot, raw eyes open became a burden.

“I… because I was sick… I must have lost my mind for a moment. I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

If he looked back, there was a space where he could have fled, but Hae-won leaned his forehead against the unopened glass window and turned his back on any vain desires. This place beyond the glass, where nothing was expected and everything was full of fear, was his reality.

No matter how grueling and painful a situation is, one eventually adapts if they endure it for a long time. The cruelty that started with his father, passed through nameless people, and was inherited by Seo Hae-young had silently consumed Hae-won. The limits he had moderately defined—’just a slap, just the head, just the stomach’—had now expanded to a place beyond reach. He no longer felt violence as violence, nor did he perceive abuse as abuse. It was the way the penniless Hae-won survived.

Hae-won let out a strained laugh and repeated only the words “I’m sorry,” as if doing so would allow him to endure any pain.

The sound of tapping on the glass beyond the curtains echoed through the quiet room. Sitting facing the veranda, Seo Hae-young set a timer on his phone and rested his chin on his hand with boredom. The hoarse voice, repeatedly begging and sobbing, delivered a muffled resonance blocked by the thick glass.

Following the countdown of the numbers, Seo Hae-young’s eyes narrowed. The hand resting diagonally on his knee tapped against the hard bone, like pressing piano keys. His face was indifferent, but his inner thoughts were not.

Since birth, he had nurtured a thorny mass inside his body. Usually, it wandered leisurely through his veins, but occasionally it would burst, and when it did, his vision would be stained crimson and the back of his neck would turn cold. The thorny mass was an impulse passed down through the bloodline. He only sought ways to hide it; he felt no need to fix it. Thus, the family trait that stretched from his parents to the eldest, Seo Jae-young, the second, Seo Ga-young, and finally to Seo Hae-young, grew more foul and potent over time, like stagnant water rotting in a pond.

Even now, that strange impulse heated his head. As the urgent tapping on the glass grew quieter, and as the strength left the wailing voice, a thrill similar to impatience surged readily. Though he knew it wasn’t time yet, he wanted to open that door.

Clenching his fists to suppress the urge, Seo Hae-young went further and covered his ears. That cunning voice had the power to shake a person. Contrary to the thought that he would become calm, as he sank into a silence like a swimming pool, the desire took on a more vivid form and surged up in waves.

He wanted to warmly embrace and soothe the shivering Yoon Hae-won, yet he also wanted to plunge him headfirst into ice water. He wanted to caress those long, straight limbs, and then break them to the point of pain. He wanted to kiss the knees marked with tiny scars, and then terrify him as if he were about to crush them right now. When those brown eyes, which made one’s mood strange, looked at him with trust, it was perfect; yet he also wanted to wound him so he could never look at him that way again.

Whenever he thought of Yoon Hae-won, it was all contradictions. It had always been so. Not just from the summer he first pushed his member into that vulgar hole, but from the very starting point of their long connection.

A loud alarm extinguished the swelling imagination. The Hae-won in his mind, broken to the point where it was hard to move, scattered into the distance. Checking his phone, twenty minutes had already passed, as if the time had been carved away. Looking down at the back of his hand, all the way to the skin, Seo Hae-young finally stood up.

He drew back the curtains and lightly tapped on the glass. Hae-won, wrapped in a single towel and curling his limbs, slowly lifted his head. When he met the pitiful gaze sent by eyes devoid of vitality or will, his long fingers twitched and curled.

As soon as he turned the handle slightly, the door that wouldn’t open no matter what Hae-won did on the veranda opened effortlessly. The night air ruthlessly scattered the hair of both men. Following the violently rushing wind, Hae-won’s upper body wavered and then slowly tilted.

A hot forehead touched the dry, white bridge of a foot, and the breath bursting from parted lips tickled the skin. Hae-won’s lips, bowing his head in the lowest posture, brushed against the bridge of the foot. Looking down, Seo Hae-young pulled up his voice, which had sunk to a distant depth.

“Did you think about it carefully?”

A tear clinging to long eyelashes dropped and flowed down the cruel bridge of the foot. Prostrate like a dog, Hae-won kissed the fair skin and clumsily begged for forgiveness. A frozen tongue spat out awkward sentences. In a daze, he murmured words that he thought would please Seo Hae-young.

That he was sorry, that he was wrong, that he liked him, that there was no one but him.

He meant please save me, but he didn’t know if it was conveyed well. As the hand under his armpit pulled his body up, a severe bout of dizziness returned.

Having practically thrown Hae-won, whose head snapped back, onto the bed, Seo Hae-young stripped off his top, the sleeves of which were damp. He dropped the heavy top to the floor and closed the glass window; the faint light coming from the hallway weakly illuminated the bed. The light reached only as far as the chest, which bore reddish marks, and the dark bedding and the wound-filled body formed a strange contrast.

Seo Hae-young had no intention of ignoring the heavy pulling in his lower abdomen. He climbed atop Hae-won, who was trembling and instinctively pulling the blanket to warm his body, and stripped the blanket away.

“Hey. Hae-won.”

Eyes hidden in shadow distorted with pain. As he lowered his upper body toward Hae-won, who was shaking his head as if pleading, Hae-won frantically burrowed into his chest in search of a small amount of warmth. The arms urgently hugging his neck and the body clinging to his waist were like sheets of ice. As he stroked the cold skin, Hae-won began to tremble and rub his cheeks against him. Seo Hae-young pressed his thick, erect lower body firmly against Hae-won’s groin and warmed the frozen earlobe with his lips.

“If you behave, I wouldn’t have to do this. Don’t make me upset.”

He put his weight on the thin body and left a light tooth mark on the sharp jawline. Instead of answering, Hae-won nodded frantically, and Seo Hae-young brought the hand—which was frozen blue and wouldn’t easily regain warmth—to his mouth and blew warm breath into it. He didn’t seem to be in his right mind. Gripping the two hands that trembled even when interlaced within his large palm, Seo Hae-young nibbled on the protruding middle finger and continued.

“We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other now, aren’t we?”

Whether he didn’t remember the words he had spat out a few months ago, or whether he couldn’t hear them, Hae-won stared blankly. When Seo Hae-young lowered his lips to Hae-won’s eyes, they flinched and shut tight. Letting out a smirk, Seo Hae-young kissed the thin eyelids and slid his lips down to the red, frozen tip of the nose. His erect member, distinct enough to be seen through his comfortable pants, poked at Hae-won’s perineum as if finding its way. Seo Hae-young nonchalantly massaged the gripped hand and added in a slow, very small voice.

“Back then… I was a little fluttered.”

A veil-like smile on the surface concealed his true feelings. The playful smile was so bland that even the person delivering the words could have been fooled.

* * *

If you go just three blocks into the lively university district, a neighborhood appears that is so quiet it feels as if the world has been turned upside down. At the edge of a residential area where the only difference compared to the neighborhood where the two grew up was that there were many empty houses without owners. The house, surrounded by walls high enough that no one would know if a person died inside, looked like a smaller, streamlined version of Seo Hae-young’s family home.

That was why Hae-won, who had come to this strange neighborhood to meet Seo Hae-young, was able to grow fond of it quickly. There was just one thing: because of the original owner’s taste, the interior was excessively clean, which made it feel somewhat dull.

Except for the dressing room and the bedroom, there were empty rooms that were closer to warehouses, and a living room that was desolate without a single thing to play with. When Hae-won first stepped into the place that felt like a new house at first glance, he wondered and asked cautiously if his Noona had taken all her things. Seo Hae-young, sitting with his back against the headboard of the bed with a laptop, shook his head and gestured.

“She breaks everything when she’s annoyed. So she probably didn’t leave anything.”

At that time, Hae-won thought Seo Hae-young was quite gentle compared to his sisters. Lying on his stomach beside Seo Hae-young, who spoke as if it were someone else’s business, he looked around the bedroom. One large bed in the center of the room, tall bookshelves lining the walls, and a desk where simple work could be done. The boring room didn’t seem to suit Seo Hae-young very well.

Lying with his arm as a pillow, Hae-won stole a glance at the profile of the man typing on the laptop, and his eyes met Seo Hae-young’s just as he turned his head. Because he was staring so intently, Hae-won let out a few awkward smiles, and Seo Hae-young reached out and handed him a piece of paper densely printed with small letters.

“Study.”

Having unexpectedly received a pencil, Hae-won stared blankly at the paper lying on the blanket. It had been a long time since he’d touched studying, but he was confident in pretending to do it. Provided, of course, that it wasn’t all written in English. Since the only things he could recognize were numbers and the alphabet, he tried turning it upside down and held it up to the sunlight to see if a different picture would emerge, before placing it back on the blanket. After pressing his name firmly at the top, Hae-won hesitated and then poked Seo Hae-young’s arm with the back of the pencil.

“Tell me any English word. An easy one.”

It was a game he used to play often during his school days. Once he set his posture by propping up his elbow, Seo Hae-young continued typing without any particular question and spoke. Listening to the low voice, Hae-won searched for the correct alphabet and drew a circle over it.

Dog, apple, sadness, school, bug, book.

It was still easy, and he found every word, but—

“Warehouse.”

In the next moment, the pen that had been moving smoothly across the paper faltered. Warehouse? What was warehouse in English? He rolled his eyes back and forth, agonizing over it, but whether it was because he had graduated school or because he was slow, he couldn’t remember at all. Too embarrassed to say he didn’t know, he drew meaningless squares in the corner of the paper and waited for Seo Hae-young to call out another word. However, the pleasant voice did not come, and the sound of calm typing stopped.

“You don’t know?”

When he peeked up, Seo Hae-young, who had stopped his hand, was looking down at him with lowered eyes. Hae-won, letting the pen slip, couldn’t withstand the piercing gaze and let out a bland, “Heh” laugh. He was truly embarrassed, but he wasn’t born smart. This was a fact that Seo Hae-young knew well.

“…Another one.”

Just as he was about to add that he wanted something easy, like ‘cat,’ a snap sounded on his forehead, and a searing pain shot through him. “Ah!” clutching his forehead, Hae-won looked at the withdrawing hand with wide eyes. As he let out a hollow laugh in disbelief, Seo Hae-young, who had suddenly flicked his forehead, grinned.

“If you don’t know, you have to be hit.”

“I’m just… just doing this for fun?”

“I’m not.”

Shrugging his shoulders and mockingly repeating the last words, Seo Hae-young spat out a new word before Hae-won could even protest. Unconsciously, Hae-won searched for the alphabet, and before he knew it, the clean paper became messy with small circles. As soon as he gained confidence, the difficulty, which had been at an elementary school level, gradually rose. Because he poured out words that would be hard to explain even in Korean—like ‘consultation,’ ‘reinforcement,’ or ‘coordination’—Hae-won’s forehead was soon filled with reddish marks.

His forehead was burning and stinging, but strangely, a vacant laugh escaped him. The way Seo Hae-young, who had since closed his laptop, rested his chin and prepared to flick him; the mess of the paper; even the cozy spring breeze blowing through the open window. Everything was so interesting that Seo Hae-young’s new space rushed into his heart without a chance to stop it.

It was like a tide. It rushed in all at once, and he was certainly happy.

The wide bed that had brought out a pure smile with just a piece of paper and a pen now accepted rough movements without a single creaking sound. The chilly dawn illuminated the bookshelves packed with books. Hae-won tore at the blanket with veins popping in his hands, exhaling trapped breaths. Cries that sounded like they were scratching his throat burst out, mixed with coughing. His throat, which had been tight, was liberated, but a greater pain awaited.

“Ah, aagh—!”

His head snapped back, and his trembling thighs tightened around Seo Hae-young’s waist. The hand that had been strangling his neck until a moment ago now rapidly shook the erect, twitching, smooth member, and a thin liquid leaked out. His vision turned dark. Making sounds that were neither cries nor moans—huaaa—he didn’t have the presence of mind to face Seo Hae-young’s mocking expression.

“Joo Hyun-woo taught me something good, didn’t he?”

“Hng, hng…!”

Seo Hae-young gripped Hae-won’s waist painfully as he struggled between pain and pleasure, coughing, and shoved his member in. As the member entered deeply, the semen that had been released long ago was pushed out from the hole that had stretched to fit the volume.

“Your fever has dropped a lot… You’re not hot anymore.”

“Hng, k-ugh… haugh…!”

Measuring the heat by shoving his index finger into the hole, Seo Hae-young patted the bruised buttocks. As if he had done well. Hae-won trembled, his shallow stomach sinking. His slow-recovering body couldn’t endure it and suffered small spasms.

Two weeks since entering this house. It was an ordinary morning sex.

Snap.

The sound of a neat fingernail flicking his forehead echoed. His waist gave a small flinch.

Another flick.

“I should have studied more…”

“Do it when you want to.”

“Are you paying my tuition?”

“If you want to.”

Lifting a trembling hand, Hae-won gently stroked his forehead, which remained clean and free of bruises. Nothing had actually touched him, yet it stung with a sharp ache, as if he had truly been flicked.

* * *

His torn lips had healed. The deep purple bruises that had covered his cheeks and eyelids faded to yellow and sank beneath the skin, and new flesh began to grow over his scraped knees. His neatly trimmed hair swayed softly whenever the wind blew, and a faint scent, the same as Seo Hae-young’s, wafted from his body.

Looking more radiant and clean than ever, Hae-won hopped across stepping stones every time he opened and closed his eyes. Unless someone told him what date it was or what tomorrow brought, he had no idea, nor did he care much. He gazed at the world with hazy eyes, as if wandering through a dream, and stopped thinking. If he couldn’t escape, and had no confidence to do so, he had no choice but to comply.

The hot air from the dryer seeped into every corner of his scalp. There were moments when it felt too hot, but his soft lips remained lightly closed instead of complaining of the pain. After smoothing down the dry, moisture-free hair, Seo Hae-young turned off the dryer and rested his chin on Hae-won’s thin shoulder.

In the full-length mirror, he stared intently at Hae-won, who was held quietly in his arms, then buried his nose in the nape of his neck and inhaled the scent. Despite using the same products, a strangely different fragrance drifted out. The thick scent permeating his nostrils wasn’t bad. He lightly sucked on the skin where handprints remained—marks that wouldn’t easily disappear—before pulling his wet lips away.

“Keep in touch, eat well…”

He listed the things Hae-won had to do one by one, but Hae-won, with his thick eyelashes cast down, remained dazed, his gaze fixed on the empty floor. Seo Hae-young clicked his tongue lightly and touched Hae-won’s forehead. The fever that had caused him so much suffering for so long had subsided, leaving only a lukewarm trace, but his eyes remained vacant, as if still flushed with heat.

Sliding his hand away, Seo Hae-young snapped his two fingers together right in front of Hae-won’s nose. Startled enough for his shoulders to jump, Hae-won lifted his lowered head, wondering what he had been thinking about.

“What did I tell you to do?”

Having been spaced out for a moment, Hae-won stared obsessively at Seo Hae-young’s twitching lips through the mirror before biting his lower lip.

His left ear was acting up. After his severe illness, his ear could barely capture even the smallest sounds. Rubbing it slightly, Hae-won spoke in a frail voice. He cautiously brought up the points Seo Hae-young always emphasized every morning. The warnings given while drying his hair were generally similar.

“E-eat… and stay quiet…”

“That’s not it.”

The tone was cold. Hae-won, who had stopped mid-sentence, hurriedly turned around and locked eyes with Seo Hae-young, who wore a sullen expression. A habitual “I’m sorry” popped out first. Just as he was about to ask him to say it again, a short laugh burst out.

“I’m joking. That’s right.”

The hand that had harshly pinched his stiff cheek let go. While Hae-won rubbed his cheek, which hurt enough to bring tears to his eyes, Seo Hae-young stood up and tidied the dryer cord, placing it on the table.

Lifting his palm to discreetly tap his failing ear, Hae-won pulled his legs in and rested his chin on his knees. His buttocks, overworked last night and early this morning, throbbed with a dull ache, but in the face of an unknown chill, this position was the most comfortable. The lingering aftereffects of the dawn did not fade easily even after washing, leaving his fingertips twitching. It grew worse by the day. He wondered if Seo Hae-young was becoming more skilled, or if, as someone had said, he was becoming a slut obsessed with a man’s cock.

“What do you want for dinner? I’m thinking of buying something.”

As Seo Hae-young headed toward the dressing room connected by a narrow hallway, he pulled off his T-shirt, revealing scratch marks from fingernails on his back. Hae-won hid his hands—the ones that had left scars ill-suited for such a well-muscled back and forearms—below his elbows. He had left those marks without realizing it while being strangled, but Seo Hae-young said nothing. As if it were nothing to worry about.

Seo Hae-young’s true intentions remained ambiguous. Hae-won had expected to be beaten almost every day, but except for when they had sex, he was similar to how he used to be. Fairly kind, fairly cruel… exactly as he had been when he was loved.

“Hmm? I asked what you want to eat.”

While he was immersed in deep doubt, a white finger tickled the edge of his ear. After stroking him like a pet, Seo Hae-young put on a dark-colored coat in front of the mirror. Having nothing in particular he wanted to eat, Hae-won gave an answer slightly better than “anything.”

“Anything is fine…”

“I am?”

The sudden question cut him off. The trivial, bland joke instilled a sense of bewilderment. As he hesitated, unable to answer readily, Seo Hae-young, who was tidying his hair, began to chuckle. Finding something so funny, he laughed foolishly with his eyes curving deeply, strolling out of the hallway before looking back.

“See me off.”

Following Seo Hae-young, who left the room first, with his eyes, Hae-won slowly stood up and limped after him. Holding onto the stair railing and shifting his weight, he carefully descended one step at a time, glancing at the man ahead.

He was dressed lightly, as if to signal that the weather had warmed up, but it wasn’t a casual outfit. From a certain point, Seo Hae-young began leaving the house in neat suits and staying away for more than half a day; Hae-won didn’t know what he was doing. Whether he was using his aptitude to go around beating people, or if he had started a corporate life that was foreign to Hae-won. The man himself hadn’t said, and Hae-won hadn’t dared to ask, so it was natural not to know.

Instead of leaving immediately, Seo Hae-young put his hands in his coat pockets and gazed at Hae-won, who had followed him to the entrance. Wearing navy pajamas that roughly fit his size and revealing his white bare feet, Hae-won lifted his pale face. His complexion hardly returned to normal and grew increasingly gloomy, yet there was an atmosphere to him that stimulated people in its own way.

Estimating the time in his head, Seo Hae-young didn’t strip the loose pajamas off him at the entrance, but instead leaned down slightly. Hae-won steadied his head, which had almost instinctively turned to the left, and looked down. Their lips maintained a precarious distance, almost touching.

“Say ‘ah’.”

A low voice reached him. Hae-won opened his lips just enough for a couple of fingers to fit. Soon, lips carrying a refreshing scent softly brushed against his flesh. Without clashing, the lips lingered on the surface, and a red tongue flickered intermittently through the gap. The center of his palm felt ticklish. Clenching his fists, Hae-won shared a kiss like a children’s game with Seo Hae-young in the entrance where not even the sound of breathing could be heard. It was a very short kiss, but the time surrounding them flowed so slowly—a strange farewell.

Pulling away from the slightly swollen lips, Seo Hae-young scanned Hae-won’s body with a contemplative expression before turning around abruptly. His retreating back as he left the entrance without a single word of greeting looked like a high, solid wall. A giant wall that could neither be broken nor climbed.

The moment Seo Hae-young left, Hae-won lived his day as prescribed. It wasn’t that something terrible would happen if he didn’t follow the rules, but he no longer had the strength to endure any potential mishaps. The simple and boring routine quickly seeped into his hole-ridden mind.

First, eat the individually packaged meals in the refrigerator, take a photo, and send it via text. Of course, the portions were too large to finish, so half went into the trash. He would cover them with a handful of tissues so he wouldn’t be caught throwing them away. So far, he hadn’t been caught.

Second, weigh himself immediately. He wasn’t supposed to weigh himself right after eating, but that was the only way to get a higher number. Hae-won compared the number on the electronic scale with the number written on the memo pad. He had gained 500 grams compared to a week ago. After writing today’s weight on the memo pad Seo Hae-young had attached, Hae-won brushed his teeth and climbed the distant stairs.

Finally, third: kill time. This was the hardest part of the routine. Next to the bedroom, opening the firmly closed door revealed a spacious room flooded with sunlight. A home theater, video games, board games, comic books, and all sorts of Blu-rays. A room filled entirely with things to play with was a space that hadn’t existed before.

A few weeks ago, when he was delirious with fever, this was where Seo Hae-young had forced a game console into his hands. He couldn’t bring himself to smile back at the face that smiled brightly, as if asking for praise. Seo Hae-young was the only one who didn’t know that while he seemed to think Hae-won was obsessed with this kind of thing, Hae-won had only pretended to like it more because he wanted to be with him.

Neither the games, the movies, nor the dramas were interesting. After putting on a movie at random and letting an hour pass, he took a photo and sent another text. Usually, replies were slow when he was out, but today the confirmation was fast.

[Write a five-page review]

Hae-won, who had been sprawled on the rug with a beanbag as a pillow, rolled his eyes the moment he saw the reply. This was because he had only turned the movie on and never actually watched it. As soon as he bolted upright, two more texts arrived in succession.

[Just kidding]

[Enjoy the movie]

With the corners of his mouth drooping, Hae-won silently scrolled up the window and read the exchanged texts one by one. The bland jokes tucked between the photos reporting his day frequently made his heart drop to his toes. Even if he couldn’t learn much about Seo Hae-young, it was clear that he enjoyed teasing people in this way.

Sprawled in the beanbag, Hae-won cried a little, though there was nothing particularly sad. He would suddenly cry while eating the prescribed meals at the empty table, and he would sob while watching a movie that didn’t catch his eye. Since Seo Hae-young hated crying, he thought he should cry as much as he wanted while alone, but then he would become depressed again, not knowing why the tears were falling. Hae-won spent the whole day circling the same spot, repeating the cycle of endless self-abuse and sinking into melancholy. Such was a life that had lost its purpose.

* * *

Perhaps he had fallen asleep while crying. Lying on the rug without a single blanket, Hae-won woke from a light sleep due to a cluster of light brightening his eyelids. As he sat up groggily, Seo Hae-young, who had turned on the room light, entered with a frown.

“I told you not to take naps. That’s why you can’t sleep at night.”

He didn’t know how long he had slept, but it was pitch black outside the window. His head was foggy, intoxicated by the untimely nap. Rubbing his eyes that wouldn’t open easily, Hae-won looked up at the hand that held several shopping bags instead of packaged dinner. Since the man was incredibly fickle, it wasn’t particularly surprising.

“No greeting? Aren’t you glad to see me?”

Tossing the shopping bags onto the wide rug, Seo Hae-young carelessly shed his coat and jacket, which carried the cold wind, and rolled up his shirt sleeves. He strode forward and kicked a shopping bag as if it were a nuisance. He plopped down in a spot close enough for their knees to touch, and finally, their eyes were at the same level. In his haste to greet him, Hae-won stuttered slightly.

“Welcome… welcome back?”

A greeting he hadn’t used in years suddenly popped out. A simple “Welcome home” would have sufficed, but he had uttered something strange. Hae-won rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants and read Seo Hae-young’s expression. Fortunately, Seo Hae-young let out a light laugh and pulled the fallen shopping bags toward him.

“I’m not your father.”

“I made a mis…”

“Who fucks their own son? Disgusting.”

It was a foul joke. As soon as Hae-won’s expression stiffened, Seo Hae-young grinned while maintaining eye contact and whispered enticingly.

“Do you like that kind of thing?”

Hae-won shook his head frantically. Shrugging as if disappointed, Seo Hae-young stopped tormenting him and pushed forward the shopping bags lined up in a row. The stiff shopping bags varied in size and color. Some bore familiar brand logos, while others were plain. Seo Hae-young took Hae-won’s hand, which was looking at them inquisitively, and placed it on the largest shopping bag.

“Open it.”

“I-it’s okay…”

It was a phrase he used habitually when receiving something. However, Hae-won’s “it’s okay” resembled a hesitation born of not knowing what would come out, rather than a gesture of refusing an excessive gift.

And since Seo Hae-young had known Hae-won for a long time, he wasn’t so dull as to miss the meaning of that expression. While the scarred fingers toyed with the black ribbon, the lips, which had been raised just enough to show a pleasant mood, parted.

“Why. You’ll take things from Go Tae-gyeom, but you hate it from me?”

A name had appeared out of nowhere. Hae-won wondered if his ear was acting up again and lifted his head, then pressed his lips shut. A gaze that looked beyond unpleasant—almost absurd—pierced his face without filter.

“What are you pretending not to know?”

“I didn’t… I didn’t receive anything like that…”

Reflexively feigning ignorance, Hae-won straightened his back and then slumped, fully revealing his guilt. The hand that had retreated from the shopping bag merely clawed at the hem of his pajamas. There had been one watch he kept as emergency funds, but he had met Seo Hae-young before he could get it back from Seung-wan, and he didn’t particularly want to think about it since then. The answer likely lay in the bag that had vanished without a trace after he entered this house. Unfortunately, the only thing he got back from the bag was his phone.

Had he perhaps brought the watch too? He might have mentioned the source of the watch by accident, but he remembered nothing.

“You didn’t receive anything?”

“Ah…”

Hae-won mumbled, his eyes darting. If he mentioned one thing, many others would come tumbling out. The day he received the watch and various stories about Tae-gyeom. Regardless of anything else, it was clear that these were not stories Seo Hae-young would appreciate. Hesitating, Hae-won lifted his chin and locked eyes with a gaze that looked calmer than expected. Whether it was because he hadn’t fully woken up or because an early fear had paralyzed his thoughts, the person before him possessed an atmosphere different from before.

The eyes framed by long eyelashes held a plain kindness, and the beautifully colored lips let out a gentle “Hmm?” as if willing to listen to any story.

“Tell me. I’m not going to say anything.”

As his sensitive nerves leaped, his stomach, which had never hurt before, began to prick. Wrapping his arms around his stomach, Hae-won swallowed the saliva pooling on his tongue.

Dealing with Seo Hae-young was like walking on a floor scattered with thumbtacks. He moved slowly, walking on his tiptoes to stealthily avoid the sharp tacks, and would often stop in his tracks out of fear that his foot might be pierced at any moment. Not knowing which path was the right one, he would take endless small steps and stand before numerous crossroads of choice; this was that moment.

Should he speak and be beaten, or not speak and be beaten more?

Being beaten was fine. However, he was terrified of being locked in the veranda or the bathroom, so he had no choice but to utter the truth instead of a lie.

“I-I did receive it… but I was going to sell it. I never even opened it, that’s how it was…”

He wondered if he should add that Tae-gyeom had forced it into his hand, but his stiff lips closed of their own accord. Making a poor excuse would only lead to more beatings. Clenching his teeth and bracing himself to be hit, Hae-won glanced at the hand that didn’t rise even as time passed. Then, he looked at Seo Hae-young with a puzzled face. Was he angry? Or was it okay because he told the truth? It was an expression he couldn’t gauge at all.

“You’d sell the things I give you too?”

Raising an eyebrow, Seo Hae-young asked a playful question. Hae-won immediately shook his head and pulled up the corners of his mouth. Since it had been a long time since he had smiled, the smile hanging on his lips was clumsy. As soon as he saw the awkward expression, Seo Hae-young burst into a loud laugh and reached out.

“Burn it with you when you die. I’ll check.”

The hand that touched his outer ear crushed the soft cartilage. After pinching his earlobe, the hand slid down his neck and entered the collar of his pajamas. It was a touch so natural, as if he were touching him simply because there was nowhere else to put his hand. Unable to shake the uncomfortable feeling, Hae-won hurriedly pulled the black ribbon slightly, asking for permission.

“…Can I open this?”

Whether the effort to change the subject worked, Seo Hae-young gave a dubious smile and flicked his hand. Before any other words could come out of that mouth, Hae-won quickly unwrapped the package. The moment he took the black box out of the shopping bag, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. The familiar logo and weight were similar to the one he had carried on his back all along. When he opened the lid of the box, Hae-won stared blankly inside before letting out a belated exclamation. It was a forced and unnatural exclamation.

“It’s pre… pretty. Thank you…”

“Do you like it?”

He should have answered that he liked it, but his throat felt tight. The gold rim, the leather strap—the watch face, identical to the one Seung-wan had been wearing, sparkled under the bright lighting. As Hae-won nodded repeatedly, Seo Hae-young took the watch and rolled up the loose pajama sleeve.

“You should. It was hard to find.”

The cold metal surface brushed against his skin, and the tightly fastened watch strap constricted his bony wrist. The hand that had fastened the watch lingered, tracing slowly from the back of his hand to the tips of his fingers before pulling away.

“I guess you do have an eye for things.”

The subject was ambiguous, but both of them were picturing a person who wasn’t there. A pain like a needle stabbing upward grew more intense, but without a moment’s respite, the next gift was ready. With trembling hands, Hae-won unwrapped and unwrapped again. As the crumpled wrapping paper and empty boxes piled up, cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

A watch, a watch, and another watch. They were all watches.

Watches with different straps, different colors, and different sizes now shackled both of his wrists. After fastening the fourth watch, Seo Hae-young straightened his back, his smile gone.

Seo Hae-young knew everything. Everything from what he knew to what he didn’t. It would be better if he just said something, but Seo Hae-young repeatedly gripped and released the wrists that now bore two watches each. Hae-won wanted to know what was going through that head, yet at the same time, he wanted to never know.

When a white hand covered his own, Hae-won had the illusion that the area had vanished. A strange imagination where nothing remained below the wrist. This extreme fantasy summoned an even worse, more cruel image. Like a staple of the horror movies they always watched in the summer, afterimages of limbs being hacked off were superimposed over his own arms. Suddenly, the area covered by Seo Hae-young’s grip felt a sharp, tingling ache.

“Ugh…!”

Startled, Hae-won twisted his captured wrist. When a gaze immediately snapped toward him, his heart hammered as if it would leap out of his chest. Fidgeting and shifting his body, Hae-won quickly extended the hand he had wrenched free. Raising his knees made the abdominal pain worse, but he forced himself to hug Seo Hae-young’s neck and bury his face in his trembling forearm. He was terrified because he had done it instinctively, but he knew he had to speak.

“I really… I have… no one but you. There’s no one left, just… you know. I’ll listen to you. I, I’m really good at listening. You can hit me, you can do that… just don’t be angry…”

They say that repeating the same words over and over makes you unconsciously believe them, and Hae-won began to vaguely understand that meaning. He felt as if he had been dropped into a vast, empty wasteland, and the only person by his side was Seo Hae-young.

“Hae-young, don’t be angry…”

That was what his old friends, who had taken turns suffocating him, always said.

“Hae-won. Be smart.”

It wasn’t a lie. He was dim-witted, had no exceptional talent, no one to lean on, and now he couldn’t even hear well. Even if he worked until his bones decayed, how much could he earn? He’d probably have to be prepared to starve to death just to buy one of these watches. Looking at it that way, perhaps living like this wasn’t so bad. It would be a bit hard, painful, and hurtful, but…

A question rose within him as to whether it was right to think this way, but he didn’t want to dig any deeper. As the desire to escape these tedious thoughts intensified, he clung to the fragrant chest that smelled faintly of cigarettes.

Soon, the slack arm wrapped around his waist and pulled. The wrapping paper beneath his knees crumpled with a rustling sound. Moving as the hand supporting his buttocks guided him, Hae-won found himself sitting atop Seo Hae-young’s thighs, consumed by a contradictory sense of relief.

“Is this all?”

The hand that had traveled up his waist slightly separated their touching upper bodies. A gaze stripped of its ominous energy and a low whisper guided Hae-won toward the path he had to take. He slowly tilted his head and first kissed the lips that instilled fear in him. As he pushed his tongue into the naturally opening gap, the sound of slippery flesh mixing inside Seo Hae-young’s willingly accepting mouth was trapped.

“Haa…”

Taking advantage of the moment their lips parted, he inhaled and crashed back together, sharing a wet, sticky breath. The hand that touched his earlobe and stroked the back of his head gripped his waist, demanding more. The beginning and end of the day—sunrise and sunset—were always the same, so there was no way he didn’t know the meaning of this.

“Hng, nnh…”

Supporting himself with one arm on the floor, Seo Hae-young leaned back leisurely. Without stopping the rubbing and entangling of tongues, Hae-won let his hand slide down. With trembling fingers, he undid the belt and lowered the zipper, and a menacingly erect piece of flesh brushed against his knuckles. As soon as he lowered the drawers, the penis sprang out; no sooner had he gripped it with both hands than a hand entered the elastic waistband of the pants and spread his buttocks. Fingers pushed into the place where the stinging, burning sensation had not yet faded. Though they had spent plenty of time together in a space where they could join their bodies at any moment, today, both of their touches had a sense of urgency. Their hands hurriedly rubbed sensitive spots, sparking heat.

“Ngh… hng!”

Every time the long fingers blindly poked around the tight interior, Hae-won flinched, quickly shaking the arm weighted by the heavy watches. A spot deep inside, unreachable by fingers, tingled with a learned pleasure. With a sound of suction and release, Hae-won parted his lips and rested his chin on Seo Hae-young’s shoulder as if collapsing, letting out a shallow moan. Even the slight pain felt like pure pleasure. Two fingers that had entered all the way moved around inside the inner wall, and the hand shaking the thick penis paused each time.

“Ah, mmp…!”

“Do it properly.”

The heat-infused voice was more coercive and slower than usual. Forcing his fluttering eyes open, Hae-won used his thumb to rub the reddish glans. From the tip of the penis, where the pulsation was clearly felt, a slippery fluid welled up, making his fingers sticky. When their lower bodies, which had been apart as if that were enough, pressed close, a moment of hesitation occurred. Seo Hae-young, pulling down his pajama pants, looked ready to shove it in immediately without any preparation.

“Hae-young, ngh… Hae-young…”

If he were to tear, he wouldn’t even be able to sit properly. Straightening his collapsed upper body, Hae-won slowly slid backward.

“What now…”

Seo Hae-young, who had lost the earlobe he was nibbling on, replied vaguely. Unable to meet his gaze and bowing his head, Hae-won asked for permission out of habit.

“C-can I do it with my mouth first…?”

As soon as he heard the small murmur, Seo Hae-young smoothed the furrow of his brow and quietly asked, stroking the hair of the red-cheeked Hae-won.

“Do you want to suck it?”

“…Yes.”

It would hurt less when inserting if he was wet. As he nodded helplessly, a light laugh was heard. Fingers slid into his hair, and the hand, gripping his hair to a slightly uncomfortable degree, led him downward.

“If that’s what you want, do it.”

It was as if he were granting a favor to someone desperate to suck him. Fearing his mind might change at any moment, Hae-won hesitantly slid off the knees and knelt between the arrogant Seo Hae-young’s legs. In the brightly lit room, the erect penis came vividly into view. Bringing his lips to the tip and extending his tongue to lick upward, a low moan flowed into his right ear. He sucked on the shaft before opening his lips to lightly take the glistening glans into his mouth.

The first time he had sucked someone’s penis, he had cried quite a bit, unable to overcome the shame, but now it felt natural. The piece of flesh sliding down his throat wasn’t disgusting, and his aching, wide-open jaw actually felt comfortable.

“Hmp, huu…”

Relaxing his jaw, throat, and tongue, Hae-won pushed the penis deep inside and slowly moved his head. Whenever the glans touched the roof of his mouth or his uvula, he flinched reflexively, but he quickly found his way and pushed it into his throat. Saliva pooled in his mouth and dripped down following his bowed head. He gripped Seo Hae-young’s thighs, but the smooth suit fabric made his hands slip. Eventually, gathering his hands neatly on the floor, Hae-won put strength into his cheeks and sucked upward with the modest intention of keeping at least one foot out of his throat.

“Mmp, ugh… hng…!”

With his cheeks sunken, Hae-won worked hard, making loud sucking sounds. Stretching his long legs comfortably and leaning his upper body back as if lounging, Seo Hae-young tilted his head crookedly and looked down. When the brown back of the head buried between his legs moved up, the lips tightened around the shaft; when it moved down, the wet upper opening swallowed the glans.

“Haa…”

Even without forcing his head down, Hae-won swallowed it all the way on his own; whenever his nose flattened against the groin, his prone back trembled. Rather than pain, it was a reaction as if he were feeling pleasure even while sucking someone else’s cock. If those pants were removed, his smooth penis would surely be sloppily leaking thin semen. Whenever he stole a glance as if checking if he was doing a good job, an erotic emotion stirred.

It was true that he hadn’t felt particularly good. Seeing him still blurting out lies first, it was only natural to be angry. But Hae-won, whose only growing habit was flutteringly seducing people, wasn’t that bad, and that seemed to be why he was gradually softening. With a sigh, Seo Hae-young gripped the hair and peeled away Hae-won, who was clinging like a leech.

“Hng…!”

Saliva trailing from the red tongue wet the glans. Suddenly deprived of the penis he had been sucking so well, Hae-won lifted his half-closed eyes.

“Stop that and put it in. Don’t try to play tricks.”

“Ah, yes… sorry…”

Hurriedly wiping his wet lips with his sleeve, Hae-won carefully gripped the penis that hadn’t been allowed to ejaculate and climbed onto the thighs. While he shifted his body to slightly lower the pants, Seo Hae-young continued trivial pranks, such as pinching his nose and fiddling with his lips, offering no help at all. Since most of their sex was in a form where Seo Hae-young unilaterally suppressed him, the position of Hae-won being on top felt unfamiliar.

After hesitating, Hae-won wrapped one arm around Seo Hae-young’s shoulder, raised his knees, and aligned the tip of the penis—now slippery with saliva—with his hole. Taking a deep breath, he slowly lowered his body. As the thickest part forced the narrow path open, a frown naturally formed between his brows.

“Hng… ah…”

Parting the lips he had been biting, Hae-won hugged Seo Hae-young’s neck with both arms and sat down completely. His insides were filled to the brim. Perhaps because he had inserted it too hastily, a tingling area was suddenly crushed, and a shiver starting from his tailbone shot up his spine.

“Ugh…!”

Burying his face in the warm chest, Hae-won trembled and pressed his knees together. Though he hadn’t quite reached ejaculation, the taut pajama fabric was becoming damp. His dizzy vision flashed. Balancing on a precarious edge, Hae-won caught his breath and slowly straightened his waist. Turning his arms to brace the floor in a position similar to Seo Hae-young’s, he grit his teeth and lifted his hips. Loathing, self-hatred, relief, and shame were tangled together in an unrecognizable mess.

“Hng, ugh… ah…!”

The groins of the two, with only their buttocks and genitals exposed, quickly met and parted. The sound of fabric rubbing was slightly louder than the sound of skin meeting. The position of facing each other with overlapping bodies was more uncomfortable and more stimulating. Not permitted to close his eyes, Hae-won had to look at Seo Hae-young while his tilted waist bobbed.

Looking at the slightly parted lips exhaling breath, the narrow eyes, and the trace of a smile on the face, his dizzy mind became even more blurred. The face he had loved, the scent he had loved, and the smile he had loved. The fact that dirty lingering attachments remained, rather than being dismissed as the past, was proven by the erect penis twitching despite not being touched once. As Seo Hae-young’s breathing grew rougher, the glans, beaded with transparent fluid, became damp.

His staggering head snapped back. The speed of the descent gradually increased, and his strained arms and thighs trembled violently. From the tip of the penis protruding beyond the elastic of the thighs, thin semen burst out.

“Ah… hng…!”

The blackened vision cleared. Drenched in exhaustion, Hae-won let out a ragged breath and looked down at the point of connection. The penis, enveloped by the inner walls that were tightening and loosening on their own from the afterglow of ejaculation, was still hard. It was a disaster.

“Yoon Hae-won, are you a premature ejaculator? I’m really disappointed…”

A sneer broke out. It was an indisputable fact. Giggling while fiddling with the penis of the head-bowed Hae-won, Seo Hae-young reached among the scattered shopping bags and brought over a black ribbon, slightly thicker than a finger joint. The large hand holding the ribbon shook the deflated penis as if masturbating it.

Hunching his shoulders, Hae-won teared up, unable to withstand the excessive stimulation that followed immediately after ejaculation. Every time the palm, which looked soft but was calloused in places, persistently rubbed his skin, an overwhelming pleasure surged.

“Ah, it hurts… it stings, Hae-young…”

“Try to endure it.”

A pained moan escaped from between the teeth of Hae-won, who held on with eyes squeezed shut. When the penis, dyed a deep pink, was half-erect, Hae-won felt a slippery sensation on the sensitive spot and slowly lifted his eyelids. His eyes, brimming with tears, flew open in an instant. The black ribbon was being wound tightly from the base of the penis.

“Why, why are you doing this…”

Flustered, he grabbed Seo Hae-young’s forearm as he tied the final knot, but the response was blunt.

“Since you cum so much, I’m just helping you out.”

“Ah…!”

As soon as the knot was tied, the erect penis felt as if it were being squeezed to the point of bursting. It was a suffocating pain. Tapping the glans, which was already starting to turn red as blood rushed in, Seo Hae-young chuckled and unbuttoned the pajama shirt one by one.

“If you work hard, I’ll play with you tomorrow. Okay?”

Looking down at the penis tied in a pretty ribbon shape, a tearful Hae-won lifted his exhausted gaze.

“…Are you not going anywhere tomorrow?”

“Why. Do you want me to go?”

“Ugh…! It hurts…”

Seo Hae-young stroked Hae-won’s thin chest, then pinched the protruding nipple hard and shook it, asking mischievously.

“Or should we do it while you’re getting beaten? So you can’t get up tomorrow.”

Licking the nipple, which had become plumper than before from how much it had been sucked, Seo Hae-young pulled down the pants that were hanging uncomfortably on Hae-won’s thighs and adjusted his position. Placing the hand laden with watches on the lower abdomen and spreading the knees touching the floor a bit more, it became a sight to behold. Stroking the prominent ribs, Seo Hae-young lay comfortably with his head on a beanbag and gave a slight upward thrust of the hips as if demanding an answer. The glans, driven deeper by Hae-won’s weight, stabbed the swollen inner wall.

“Hng…!”

“Shall we go play tomorrow, or do you want to be beaten starting now?”

A large palm slapped the trembling thigh. As the tender skin, where a red handprint was instantly engraved, burned hot, there was only one choice for Hae-won facing the meager options.

His top slid down. His shoulders, densely marked with bite marks left this morning, glistened, wet with leaking sweat. With a vacant expression, Hae-won slumped down and took the penis deep inside. The pain felt from the penis that couldn’t ejaculate was stronger than the stinging coming from the hole that had no day off. He thought he had used up all his tears for today, but they overflowed without drying.

“Auuu…! Quickly, haa… Hae-young, please…”

Since all he did was eat, cry, and sleep, the muscles in his entire body had already begun to tighten; Hae-won struggled, clutching Seo Hae-young’s shirt. The desire to rest and the desire to ejaculate were mixed, and he didn’t even know what he was begging for to be done quickly. Whenever he tried to rest for a moment, the other would thrust up hard from below; whenever he tried to untie the ribbon tightening his penis, his wrist would be grabbed and twisted. Unable to do anything, Hae-won wailed, hoping only that Seo Hae-young would quickly cum and let him go. Even though it was difficult to even raise his knees and sit, he clumsily rotated his hips as if rubbing, feeling no shame.

Looking up at Hae-won, who was letting out moans with his eyes, cheeks, and the tip of his nose dyed red, Seo Hae-young’s lips curled into a wide grin. The sight of Hae-won, with his top open and his clean, hairless penis tied with a ribbon while shaking his hips, brought an inexplicable irritation rather than satisfaction. From the lips that curved in a fine line, another malicious word popped out.

“What’s so hard… You were fucking great on top of Joo Hyun-woo…”

The more Hae-won was hurt, the more his expression distorted, the deeper the smile became.

“Did you get on top of Go Tae-gyeom too? Haa… he likes it too, right? Huh?”

“No, I didn’t…! Hng…!”

Gripping Hae-won’s hips, which were moving lukewarmly, Seo Hae-young thrust upward violently, matching the length of time Hae-won had stalled. Their upper bodies crashed together. Pressing his lips against the curve of Hae-won’s ear, Seo Hae-young began to pour the dark fantasies he had harbored about Hae-won into his ear.

“Did it feel that good, taking your friends’ dicks? You kept looking at them while thinking about that, didn’t you? Since a long time ago….”

“Ah…! Ge-gentle…! Hae-young, ah! Slowly, hng…!”

“It’s true…. That’s why you’re so… easy….”

The sound of flesh slapping grew more intense. The veiny member plunged deep into the flushed hole, hitting the root before sliding all the way out. Gritting his teeth, Seo Hae-young gripped Hae-won’s waist painfully, forcing him back down as Hae-won tried to push off the floor to escape. Since his hips were held fast and shaken up and down, his struggling was useless.

“Agh…! It hurts, hng!”

“You… don’t even know why I’m so annoyed.”

Seo Hae-young let out a late laugh, but it wasn’t one of leisure. It was the kind of laugh that served as a precursor, creeping out when he couldn’t contain a temper as foul as Tae-gyeom’s.

In an instant, Seo Hae-young pushed himself up and pinned the oblivious Hae-won beneath him. As he grabbed the back of Hae-won’s knees and pushed his legs upward, Hae-won let out a scream of pain, his waist folding. With Hae-won’s smooth legs spread wide, Seo Hae-young continued his rough thrusts as if he intended to destroy every internal organ. Buried among the unpacked boxes, Hae-won gasped and writhed his entire body.

The member rubbing against the stiff shirt turned a deep crimson. As pleasure surged without respite, the legs shaking aimlessly in the air no longer felt like his own. Hae-won let out animalistic moans, twisting his waist frantically.

“Ah, ngh…! Too heavy, sl…slowly…! Ack…!”

Completely suppressing Hae-won, Seo Hae-young pressed their foreheads together and slammed his hips upward.

“Hmm? Hae-won, ah….”

Movement stopped for a moment as his member buried itself to the root in the hole that had been shared with so many others. The sensation of thick semen erupting made him grit his teeth. Seo Hae-young held onto the trembling Hae-won and thrust in short, shallow motions, ensuring the cloudy semen—steeped in greed, betrayal, and anger—soaked into every corner.

Nothing came from the tip of the member tied with a ribbon, but Hae-won stopped breathing as if reaching a simultaneous climax. Seo Hae-young pressed a short kiss to his lips and whispered in a voice so low only the person right in front of him could hear.

“Do you know that you were the one who took my virginity?”

“Hng… ah….”

A breath laced with a faint smile settled on his lips. Eyes that never saw a day without tears were half-closed. The pleasure and shock felt only through his back hole left a long lingering aftereffect, and it took some time for him to comprehend the short sentence. As soon as the dizzying lights covering his vision vanished, his heavy eyelashes slowly lifted, and his clouded brown eyes widened. It was because he had only just understood the words that had passed by. As he lifted his chin, panting heavily, Seo Hae-young let out another strange sound with a slight smile.

“You fucked me…. But you weren’t a virgin.”

Hae-won, whose throat was so raspy it was difficult even to make a sound, couldn’t say anything, but he knew those words were a lie. Seo Hae-young, who had met quite a few people even if he had never been formally introduced, was lying to someone who knew him all too well. Hae-won let out a hollow laugh, his body twitching slightly, completely drained of strength to move a single finger. Just then, an irresistible drowsiness washed over him. His convulsing legs dropped onto the rug.

Seo Hae-young leaned against Hae-won’s trembling shoulder and reached out. He took Hae-won’s wrist and pushed up the sliding pajama sleeve, revealing a glittering watch. Fiddling with the watch that looked brand new, a confident mutter escaped Seo Hae-young’s lips.

“I was clean. Just me.”

So… whose fault is it?

He asked while nibbling on Hae-won’s fingers, but no answer came. The reason he didn’t feel like slapping Hae-won’s cheek to wake him up was, as expected, because he had become too soft. Seo Hae-young let out a deep sigh, lamenting that he was in trouble, and the pale night faded away along with his grievances.