#138

The ramen after sex was as heavenly as a cigarette after a meal.

Tae-heun and the man shared a pot of ramen amicably. Well, “amicably” was a lie; they ate very competitively. Tae-heun would take one chopstick-full, and the man would take two. It was because the usually ungreedy the man realized that Tae-heun’s one chopstick-full was excessively large.

Tae-heun should have been yielding to the man who had worked so hard to receive him, but instead, his eyes blazed. He didn’t usually talk with food in his mouth, but the situation called for it.

“Hey, how much do you think I’m eating?”

Tae-heun complained. But with his mouth full of ramen, only incomprehensible sounds like, “Hey I’m eatin’ ow much I’m eatin’?” came out.

The the man completely ignored him and busily moved his chopsticks. Speed was key, so Tae-heun shut his mouth and attacked the pot with a vengeance. He couldn’t yield. It wasn’t because he begrudged the food going into the Man’s mouth, but because he was newly aware of his own gluttony. He felt strangely excited.

Human instincts were truly messy. Just a few tens of minutes ago, they had been with dying villagers, and they had headed home to escape that shitty atmosphere, but they had fallen into heavy silence the whole way. Yet, as if nothing had happened, the two had sex. Their lust had burned more fiercely than ever. They had fucked and then ravenously filled their bellies. Frankly, they were no different from beasts.

Outside, there were people starving and clinging to life, but only the man and Tae-heun were in another world. But far from feeling guilty, they didn’t even feel disgusted with themselves. Just because they had been scammed and might end up on the streets, didn’t mean they had to give up this good stuff.

Tae-heun wanted to live like this with the man forever. Without thinking about the complicated world, throwing away all pretenses and formalities, and living only for his instincts, only looking at the Man. A life of rolling around and fucking whenever and wherever, eating, shitting, and working.

Five packs of ramen disappeared in an instant.

“I thought ramen was the best, but this coffee is the perfect finishing touch,”

Tae-heun said like an eighty-year-old man as he drank his iced sweet coffee for dessert, and the man laughed.

The two sat on the porch in their underwear, sipping coffee and killing time. They didn’t look at each other or say anything lovey-dovey, but the atmosphere was meltingly sweet.

Under the porch, the dogs snored as they napped. Drrr, drrr. They were so loud.

“Why do those dogs snore like people?”

The the man replied to Tae-heun’s words, “They must have played hard.”

“Come to think of it, Ki-beom sometimes snores too.”

“I only do it when I’m tired.”

Tae-heun scratched his eyebrow, feeling awkward at the Man’s blunt reply. Then, he nudged the Man’s arm and said, “Ki-beom will probably snore a lot today. He must be tired.”

He cast a subtle glance, thinking of their sex just now, but the man crunched on ice instead of answering.

“Is your insomnia gone?”

The the man asked, holding the second piece of ice in his mouth.

“Well, I think it’s gotten a lot better.”

“How many hours better?”

“About 2, 3 hours? It’s a dazzling improvement compared to before.”

Tae-heun poured all the remaining coffee in his cup into his mouth.

It felt like only yesterday that he couldn’t sleep for even 30 minutes, but he wondered when he had started sleeping so much. He had definitely stayed up all night even in Chungju. Back then, he was so aroused that he couldn’t close his eyes for even a minute. But since that day, he would come to his senses and realize that a lot of time had passed. He had fallen into a deep sleep for nearly 2, 3 hours.

It seemed like it had been over a week since he had last seen the head of that two-story house who appeared in his dreams every day. He used to visit, even if only briefly, to say hello, but now even that was gone. Tae-heun pondered the dates and realized that the two-story house had magically disappeared from his dreams after he had dyed his nails with balsam juice.

“How spooky.”

He muttered to himself.

“What is?”

“This. The ghost is really gone.”

Tae-heun said, spreading his fingers wide with the back of his hand facing out. The the man chuckled at Tae-heun, who kept saying strange things. Soon, the Man’s gaze went to Tae-heun’s fingernails.

“It’s still the same. It hasn’t gotten any shorter.”

He pointed to his fingernails, dyed with flower juice, to the man as if boasting.

“That’s right. It’s really the same.”

“Ah!”

Tae-heun exclaimed and squeezed his eyes shut, and the man asked in surprise, “What’s wrong? Did you bite your tongue?” He asked worriedly.

“I shouldn’t eat too much protein, but I forgot.”

“Huh?”

“Protein. I drank a lot of that in there.”

He gestured with his eyes towards the Man’s lower body. Only then did the man understand Tae-heun’s words and quickly turned his head away.

“It’s already this late.”

He got up, pretending to be busy even though he wasn’t wearing a watch.

“Where are you going?”

“The sun will be setting soon.”

The the man gave a non sequitur and hurriedly passed through the sliding door and went inside.

“What’s he talking about? The sun is still high in the sky.”

Tae-heun chuckled and looked up at the sun, which was slightly lower than the center. It was obscured by clouds, so the sun looked hazy, but it was enough to gauge its position. The temperature had dropped a lot compared to a few days ago, but heat rose to his entire body in an instant. Even chewing on the remaining ice in the cup didn’t easily cool down the heat. It was because of the Man.

“Ki-beom, shall we have a cold shower?”

He shouted inside.

“Let’s do it. Let’s get naked and have a cold shower!”

Tae-heun didn’t wait for the Man’s reply and quickly took off his underwear.

He stepped down into the yard naked. The flagstone felt hot on his bare feet. The dry soil softly wrapped around the soles of his feet. He spread his arms wide and stretched his upper body towards the shining sunlight.

“Ki-beom, hurry!”

He urged the Man.

“I just washed, why would I take a cold shower?”

“Aren’t you hot? I feel like I’m going crazy from the heat?”

He asked for agreement, but there was no reply.

“I’ll stay like this until Ki-beom comes out, so do as you please.”

Tae-heun said he was hot, but he ran around the yard like a madman. Because of that, the dogs sleeping under the porch woke up. They slowly crawled out, yawned widely, and soon ran with Tae-heun. They barked well.

Hahahaha. An absurd laugh burst out. It was a strange voice, as if it wasn’t his own. He had the silly thought that there must be a drug component in the Man’s semen. There was no other way he could be like this.

The Man, who was watching Tae-heun through the window of the main room, was very shocked.

“Why are you running when you’re hot? Please put some clothes on!”

He shouted.

“Mansu, Mugang! Why are you running? It’s hot, go inside!”

But Tae-heun had no intention of stopping. The dogs were also excited and ran to the window where the Man’s voice was coming from, then back to Tae-heun, making a fuss. Dust rose.

The the man chuckled in a flustered and dumbfounded manner, and eventually came out to the porch.

“Oh, geez. Why are you doing this? Put some clothes on. What if someone sees you!”

“Who’s going to see me? And what if they do? They can take a look at this rare sight, and everyone wins.”

Tae-heun said, shaking his lower body. Then, his erect penis drew a large parabola left and right, up and down, moving as it pleased. The the man frowned as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

The dogs tried to jump onto the porch where the man was standing. The big one was more than capable of getting up, but the little one was too short and only pretended to jump.

“See? The dogs are also making a fuss for you to come out quickly.”

“Okay. I’m coming down.”

The the man finally surrendered.

The dogs surrounded the man who had come down to the flagstone. The the man squatted down and carefully stroked each one’s head and body.

“Hey, you guys should take turns. It’s my turn, why are you getting a massage?”

The the man glared at Tae-heun with a look that wasn’t hateful.

“Come on quickly. I’m going to burn to death like this.”

He whined. He took a step back and went to the faucet, turning it on. Water splashed everywhere with a loud noise.

The the man got up from his seat. Then, without a moment’s hesitation, he lowered his shorts and underwear in front of Tae-heun. He threw the clothes he had taken off onto the porch. The Man’s body shone with a soft brown color.

Shit. He’s so beautiful.

Tae-heun swallowed hard.

The the man was surprisingly open about sex. He was usually so shy, but it was amazing and surprising how he could be like that.

He had never been the first to suggest it, but once he started, he was as active as Tae-heun. He got hard easily, and his lust was strong.

Look at him now.

He was standing in front of me, casually showing off his dick.

It was hard to believe that such a person had been celibate for nearly 10 years. Kwon Yong-joon had sucked him off, but unlike Tae-heun’s expectations, it was only once every few months. A youth with boiling blood couldn’t possibly be satisfied with being sucked off once every few months, not even once a week, but the man endured it. He abstained. He was curious about how he had suppressed his lust all that time.

At that moment, a small sound disturbed this blissful moment. It sounded like a camera shutter clicking. Tae-heun immediately looked up. There was someone on the blue roof. It was definitely a person.

The Man, who knew nothing, took a step to approach Tae-heun. Tae-heun raised his hand to stop the Man. He raised his index finger to his lips and shook his head. The the man tensed up.

It was also at that moment that the dogs ran to the front gate. They started barking madly towards the outside. They were reacting to the sound of a motorcycle. It wasn’t that he had misheard it earlier. That motorcycle had arrived at that blue roof before them and had been waiting all this time.

Tae-heun quickly kicked open the gate while still naked. The dogs also ran like arrows through the open door. By a hair’s breadth, a man dressed all in black and wearing a black helmet passed Tae-heun and the dogs.

Tae-heun and the dogs simultaneously started running towards the motorcycle. The big one almost caught up with the motorcycle, but unfortunately missed it.

The distance between them and the motorcycle grew further and further. Nevertheless, the dogs were excited and chased the motorcycle. Then they disappeared around the curve.

“Mansu! Mugang! Come back!”

The Man, who had put on his pants in the meantime, called the dogs loudly from in front of the gate. He whistled, and surprisingly, the guys who had disappeared from sight returned.

Tae-heun watched the scene, panting. The dogs quickly got closer. Both of them were breathing heavily, but they were smiling. It seemed like they thought they were playing a game of tag.

Coming to his senses, his soles tingled. He lifted one foot at a time while standing to check his soles. There were small stones stuck here and there, but there were no tears. Tae-heun roughly brushed off the stones with his hands.

“Are you okay?”

The Man’s voice trembled as he asked. He was pale, probably very surprised.

“Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Who is it?”

He asked as if talking to himself.

“Nam Ji-hoon.”

Tae-heun was sure. His build was exactly like that bastard. Even though he had covered his face, he had a unique posture. He had been here before, and he knew the geography of this place better than anyone.

“Huh?”

The Man’s eyes widened.

“It’s that bastard Nam Ji-hoon.”

“Why would he….”

The Man, who was muttering as if surprised, carefully asked, “Did he see us?”

He seemed to know what he was worried about.

Tae-heun shook his head confidently.

“What do you think of these guys?”

He said, pointing to the dogs.

“They would have barked like crazy even if they saw just a person’s shadow, right?”

“Ah.”

Only then did the man feel relieved.

Knowing better than anyone what those bastards were like, Man’s complexion had returned to normal. He looked at the dogs with a satisfied expression, then bent down and carefully stroked each one.

“You guys were surprised too, weren’t you? Good job.”

He spoke affectionately.

“What about me?”

When Tae-heun whined, the man raised his head to look up at him. Man’s gaze went to Tae-heun’s groin.

“Do something about that.”

man shook his head and smiled faintly.

“It’s not mine, so how can I? Ki-beom has to take care of it.”

Tae-heun shook his penis. More precisely, he wiggled his butt.

“You’re so silly.”

man groaned and stood up.

He asked Tae-heun again if he was okay, and then stared at the direction the motorcycle had disappeared.

“Let’s go.”

Tae-heun said.

“Yes.”

The two walked barefoot on the hot dirt, matching the rhythm of Man’s slow, unsteady gait.

Tae-heun let the man and the dogs go through the gate first, then turned around. The surroundings were quiet and the scenery was peaceful, but Tae-heun’s intuition sensed danger. It was ringing alarms loudly.