By Zephyria 
My state was strange. Perhaps it was because a slight fever lingered in my body, but for some reason, my mind and body felt oddly adrift.
…Moreover.
Eun-myeong bit his lower lip hard. While sitting on the edge of the bed, he quietly shifted his gaze to the side.
He saw the man standing in front of the mirror. He was grooming himself, sweeping his hair back from his forehead and applying wax. His movements were incredibly fast, swift, and precise.
The shirt wrapping tightly around his waist was pressed with razor-sharp precision, as if refusing to allow a single stray wrinkle. Eun-myeong gazed at the man as if possessed.
Then, in an instant, his eyes met those pitch-black pupils in the mirror.
“Hmm?”
The man arched a thick eyebrow. Realizing his mistake, Eun-myeong jumped up from his spot.
“You’re just peeking at me. Since when did the baby develop such a hobby?”
A scoffing laugh echoed. At the crude remark, Eun-myeong rubbed the rim of his ear.
However, the truly troubling part was that it wasn’t a lie. Eun-myeong often found himself stealing glances at the man without realizing it.
Was it because the man, who had once been nothing but terrifying, was no longer just that? The image of him stroking Eun-myeong’s head and asking tenderly what he had been so afraid of while he was trembling in terror remained vividly etched in his mind.
The man smiled, his eyes curving suggestively.
“It almost makes me feel like I should loosen my cock to meet your expectations.”
At the vulgar words, Eun-myeong instinctively dropped his gaze. The tips of his earlobes, visible through his long hair, were flushed red.
“N-no, it’s not like that. But, um.”
As he tentatively spoke, the man turned his head completely this time. He was skillfully tying his necktie.
“I have to go to the sashimi restaurant….”
Eun-myeong confessed what had been weighing on his mind. The man, the debtor, was preparing to leave so diligently, while he, who owed a mountain of debt, was sitting here in such luxury—was this situation right?
The sashimi restaurant was truly breathless with work. If even one person was missing, the remaining staff had to shoulder the burden.
“I wonder how much longer I have to keep playing around like this.”
As he hesitated, chewing over his words while gauging the man’s reaction, the man immediately glared at him. His piercing gaze was a vivid blue.
“In that state? The customers will lose their appetite if they think the quality of the fish is poor.”
He pushed a cufflink deep into the slit of his sleeve and curled his lip into a crooked smirk. The corner of his mouth looked as if it had been caught on a fishhook.
“Do you want to ruin someone’s business?”
At the blunt rebuke, Eun-myeong bit his lip. He worried that a strong fishy smell still clung to his body.
“If you want to marry into a pretty place, you should be good at housework and behave modestly.”
Leaving Eun-myeong behind, the man left one final remark before heartlessly departing the room.
“I’ll let the sashimi restaurant know you’ve caught a contagious disease, so keep your dick in check and stay lying down.”
The door closed with a thud.
“…….”
Left alone, Eun-myeong naturally glanced at the cell phone on the nightstand. This must be incredibly expensive…. If he couldn’t work, he didn’t know how he would ever pay back the things he had received from the man.
He was also afraid. Was it okay for him to have something this nice? Would he be punished for being greedy…?
Furthermore, this wasn’t paying off a debt, but rather accumulating more. A sense of indebtedness piled up in his heart like a heavy pressing stone.
Out of worry, Eun-myeong let out a deep sigh before finally picking up the cell phone. Since it was his first phone, he touched this and that, fascinated.
Then, something occurred to him, and he let out a small gasp. He thought about contacting his noona. He pressed the keypad firmly.
[Noona]
A reply came back immediately.
[Who is this?]
Life slowly returned to Eun-myeong’s round cheeks.
[Eun-mung]
Due to his clumsiness, he made a typo, and Eun-myeong’s fine brow furrowed slightly. However, his noona understood perfectly and replied incredibly fast.
[Omg, is this Eun-myeong??? Whose phone is this?]
Seeing Eun-joo noona so visibly happy made Eun-myeong feel good as well.
[It’s mine hehehe]
He fiddled with the phone. In truth, he was quite worried, but on the other hand, having something so high-end compared to his previous phone, which was practically a piece of junk, made him very excited.
There was something bulging on the back; he wondered if this was the camera he had only heard about. Gasp, then could he take photos with this?
Floating on a cloud because the phone was much better than he had imagined, Eun-myeong suddenly sank back down. He couldn’t bring himself to be openly happy. After all, there was nothing he could do for the man. Because he had no money….
So, Eun-myeong began to slowly look around the room. He was searching for something he could do. The staff came and cleaned everything perfectly, so if he touched it, it would only be a nuisance….
Eun-myeong began to think slowly about the man. He swept his hair back with wax every day, wore suits, and wore a watch.
“……Ah.”
Finally, his thoughts shifted to the shoes. Yes, he should polish the shoes. Eun-myeong quickly approached the nightstand.
As he lifted the nightstand slightly, crumpled bills appeared from the floor. Twenty-eight thousand won. It was money he had tried to give the man previously for the cost of the jar, only to be coldly rejected.
He had secretly picked it up and put it here while the man was away. It was emergency money he had stashed away, not knowing when he might need it. This was perfect.
Eun-myeong quietly opened the hotel door and stepped out, entering a nearby mart.
Some time passed.
“Goodbye.”
What Eun-myeong held in his hand as he left the mart was none other than a shoe brush and shoe cream.
Returning to the hotel, Eun-myeong crouched by the shoe rack and slid his hand into the man’s shoe. The foot was so large that Eun-myeong’s wrist could almost fit inside. The feeling of the soft leather clinging to his hand was very pleasant.
Would he like it if he saw this? Since he loved things clean and tidy, he might smile. Eun-myeong smiled softly in anticipation. Looking closely, the heel of the left shoe was more worn down. Just as the right sleeve of his shirt tended to wear out more.
Eun-myeong rubbed and polished the shoes until his cheeks turned red. When he was finished, they had a luster so brilliant that a fly would probably slip and fall. Eun-myeong gazed at his work with satisfaction.
Then, he opened the closet and ironed the man’s shirts. He sprayed water with a mister and pressed the collars and cuffs into sharp angles before hanging them in the closet. He placed the iron neatly beneath them.
Haa, Eun-myeong let out a proud sigh. Though he had broken a slight sweat from moving around while not yet fully recovered, the sense of fulfillment was greater. He hoped the Boss would return soon and see this….
When would the Boss be back?
Eun-myeong took out his cell phone and stared at it for a long time. He stared at the Boss’s number on the screen, agonizing over it. Should he call or not? Should he, or shouldn’t he? It was a real headache.
‘He’s probably busy.’
Deciding not to disturb him, he tried to close the window, but accidentally pressed the call button. The ringing sound went through.
Before long, the man’s voice pierced through to Eun-myeong.
—Yeah.
It was an excessively low voice. It was a voice with such a deep tone that it held a clear resonance even in a noisy restaurant filled with people.
“That is….”
It felt as if his soul was being sucked right out of him. His entire body turned red as if heated by fire. The man had simply answered “Yeah,” but Eun-myeong stood there like a nailed-down statue, as if he had suddenly lost the ability to speak. Even though it was just one word, his heart pounded for no reason. He completely forgot what he had wanted to say.
While he hesitated, the call clicked off. It was a choice typical of the heartless Boss. Only after the call ended did Eun-myeong suddenly remember his purpose.
He had wanted to ask the man when he would return.
The man returned only after the sun had set. Eun-myeong, who had spent the whole day waiting for any sign of presence beyond the door, rushed out the moment he heard the sound of shoes in the hallway.
He was standing in front of the shoe rack even before the door clicked open.
“You’re back?”
The man looked down at Eun-myeong with a deep scowl.
“Doing something strange, like a damn dog.”
Eun-myeong rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Even he thought that the way he had scurried out at the sound of footsteps was exactly like a dog.
“I should put a leash on you and take you for a walk.”
The man spoke tonelessly as he took off his jacket. Behind him, Bear took the jacket and hung it on a hanger.
When would he notice the shoes were polished? Waiting for that moment made his heart feel ticklish. It felt as if a dandelion seed had secretly drifted into his chest.
However, contrary to his expectations, the man seemed very busy with work even after returning to the hotel. He took frantic calls from various places and pulled at his tie to loosen it.
“Why the hell are they handling the work like that? I told them not to make things complicated, didn’t I?”
Eun-myeong quietly watched him, as he seemed quite irritable.
Then, suddenly, the man’s hand reached out and snatched Eun-myeong.
“Ah.”
The man pulled Eun-myeong toward him. Before he knew it, he was seated on the man’s thigh. A thick thigh pushed in between the two halves of his buttocks.
As a sudden wave of heat surged through his body, he became indescribably embarrassed. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t had relations once or twice, so why was he reacting like this?
Moreover, they weren’t alone in the hotel. Conscious of the situation, Eun-myeong looked at Bear, who was sitting on the single-person sofa like a stone statue. However, as usual, he was merely staring into space without a hint of agitation, like a military dog.
A large palm was suddenly placed over Eun-myeong’s eyes.
“Do you like that bastard?”
The man’s voice pooled in his ear. Eun-myeong quickly shook his head. Telling him it wasn’t like that.
“Give me the address. I’ll send someone there, so send the items.”
The man pressed a piece of notepad from the hotel onto Eun-myeong’s thigh. Then, he scribbled on it with a pen. The handwriting was very rough and had a wild feel to it.
As Eun-myeong writhed because the ballpoint pen tickled his sensitive skin, the man whispered in his ear, “Is the baby ticklish?” and lightly bit his earlobe. In an instant, goosebumps broke out all over his body.
At the same time, noticing something, Eun-myeong puffed up his reddened cheeks.
…As expected.
The man was indeed right-handed, just as he had predicted.