#219

After his release, the Man, except for meeting with Attorney Park Soo-nam, had mostly just slept. On Sunday afternoon, he visited Dongjam-ri. For the time being, only the man and Seon-jae would remain in Seoul, while the the child would stay with So-jin’s family.

Visiting his hometown for the first time in two months to drop off the the child at So-jin’s, the man wore a troubled expression.

“It feels strange. I know it’s not really my hometown, but I still missed it. When I was in the detention center, I often thought about coming back here. But now that I’m actually back, it feels stifling again. I don’t even understand my own feelings.”

He confessed his honest feelings.

Unlike the troubled Man, the the child, who would be staying with So-jin at her grandmother’s house, was very energetic. He was excited to see his old friends after a long time.

The village atmosphere wasn’t the same as before, but compared to right after the fraud case, it probably seemed almost back to normal in the the child’s eyes. However, the already small number of children had been cut in half. Not to mention the number of residents.

“There are a lot fewer kids in town too,” the the child said innocently.

The fraud committed by Kwon Il-taek and his son had devastated not only Dongjam-ri but also neighboring villages and the town itself. Many were struggling with debt and had no choice but to leave their homes, and the agricultural cooperative and Saemaul Geumgo, which had invested large sums, were even being audited.

The only church in the village had also closed down. As a result, the the child’s study room, where he received tutoring at the church, disappeared. The elderly, who used to have lunch after the service every weekend, also lost their place to go. There were many churches in town, so they could go if they wanted to, but transportation was a problem. The city bus schedule didn’t work, so the only option was to charter a bus. But they couldn’t afford the bus rental fee. They asked the youth association, which was in charge of transporting the children to and from school, but were refused. None of them attended church, and they had a mountain of problems to solve besides the church.

The Man’s house, along with half of the youth association members, were in danger of losing their homes due to unmanageable debt. Already, many elderly people were out on the streets. They had nowhere else to go, so they illegally occupied empty houses around the village or made the village hall’s guest room their new home. For that reason, the village hall was more crowded than ever before.

The Village Chief and the head of the youth association couldn’t speak loudly like before. The Village Chief, who had been running around trying to get compensation for the damages, fell ill after realizing there was no solution, and the head of the youth association locked himself in his office and only used the computer.

The Eagle Five Brothers were the only ones taking care of the village. They were victims as well, but the children were still young, and they were too young to give up. What else could they do? They had to work hard on the farm, as that was all they knew.

In Ms. Hyun-sook’s case, she even received divorce papers from her Husband. It was because Ms. Hyun-sook had taken out loans without his permission. She had been solely responsible for the family’s livelihood and had even taken care of her mother-in-law, but he showed no gratitude for any of it. The Husband, who had never contributed to the household, demanded half of the assets.

Ms. Hyun-sook, already overwhelmed with debt, was furious with betrayal. She immediately kicked her Husband and mother-in-law out of the house. The house and orchard they were currently living in were in her Father’s name. He was still alive, even though he was in a nursing home.

Besides, Ms. Hyun-sook had an older brother and a younger brother, so the house and orchard wouldn’t be entirely hers anyway. Ms. Hyun-sook was dumbfounded by her Husband, who demanded half of the assets without even knowing that, and she laughed and cried. There had been no communication between them at all, so an amicable divorce seemed unlikely.

Seon-jae and the man only stayed in Dongjam-ri for half a day, but they learned all the details of the villagers’ family situations.

Soon, rumors would spread in this small town that the man wasn’t the real Yoon Ki-beom.

The the man worried about how to tell the the child the truth.

“He’s still a the child. As long as Ki-beom is his Father, what does it matter if his Father’s name changes? Don’t you think?”

The the man smiled faintly at Seon-jae’s advice.

“I still have to explain it properly. Why I had to use the name Yoon Ki-beom…”

The the man sighed, adding that he didn’t want to talk about the orphanage.

“Let me worry about it. As you know, I’m better at lying than you are.”

“It’s my problem.”

“Are you saying that to make me feel left out? Your problem is my problem.”

The the man felt sorry when Seon-jae acted sulky.

“Ji-hye is still young. So, there’s no need to bring up the orphanage. Let’s just lie enough to make it easy for the the child to understand, and then when he becomes an adult, you can tell him everything honestly.”

The the man didn’t answer yes or no.

“Did you pack everything?”

“Yes. Roughly.”

“Let’s go, then. I’ve packed everything too.”

Seon-jae held up the Boston bag he had brought when he first came to Dongjam-ri. All of Seon-jae’s belongings were in it.

The the man packed his necessary items in a black backpack.

The emptiness of the rural house was much more noticeable than in Seoul. The garden was overgrown with weeds as tall as a person, making it difficult to distinguish between a garden and a thicket, and the yard and the area around the stone steps were also overgrown with weeds, though not as much as the garden.

At least the inside of the house was the same as before. It had the musty smell of a house that had been empty for a long time, but it was basically clean. It was thanks to the Man’s diligence in sweeping and cleaning.

Even though he had to leave the house empty for more than a month again, the man took a sickle and cut the weeds covering the yard. He wanted to clean the house as well, but he didn’t have much time.

It was autumn, and the sun was already setting.

The the man locked the doors and windows again and looked around the yard. He looked at Yoon Ki-beom’s house with a lonely expression.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

The the man stroked the high wall with his palm one last time and closed the gate.

“Let’s have dinner in town before we go. How about cold noodles?”

The the man said, “Okay,” to Seon-jae’s suggestion.

Before getting into the car, Seon-jae looked up at the blue roof. He remembered the time when he and Detective Oh Dae-Ho had inspected the ledger that would be important evidence and explained to Detective Park Dong-Hee how to distinguish counterfeit bills. They had called each other by childish code names like Turtle and Rabbit, Wolf, and had snacks and chatted together, but in the end, only he had returned to his original place.

Was Detective Oh still alive?

Could Detective Park survive in prison?

It was hard to be sure about either of them.

Seon-jae and the man were silent all the way to town.

The cold noodle restaurant in early autumn was deserted.

The two men each ate a bowl of cold noodles and a plate of dumplings, and then took a walk around the neighborhood with full stomachs.

The the man walked through every corner of the town, which he knew so well he could walk with his eyes closed, and took it all in. It was partly because he missed it, but it seemed like he thought he might have to leave this place forever.

Seon-jae didn’t offer the man any words of comfort or advice, but silently stayed by his side. He liked this moment of walking shoulder to shoulder with him and felt like he could walk like this forever.

Before they knew it, they were at the parking lot.

They had their own place to stay in Seoul, but somehow, they felt it was a shame to just leave.

“Do you want to stay the night?”

Seon-jae asked.

The the man nodded without hesitation.

As if they had made a promise, they walked to the motel where they had first kissed and grabbed each other’s genitals.

It had been a long time. Seon-jae, who had barely been able to hold hands since his release because he was with the the child, got an erection from the entrance of the motel. He would have been thoroughly embarrassed if there had been any customers at this early hour.

Seon-jae barely managed to pay and didn’t know how he got to the room.

As always, the memory of the first ejaculation was vague. Whether he had kissed or caressed, whether he had carefully loosened the hole so it wouldn’t hurt, whether he had thrust deeply into it at once when he inserted it, etc. Only after ejaculating did such things float around in his head like clouds.

Seon-jae buried his face in the Man’s sweaty back and took a deep breath. He hugged the Man’s back, which had become thinner in the past two months.

“Did Ki-beom also cum?”

“…Yes.”

The Man, who was lying awkwardly with his face buried in the bed sheet, barely answered.

“Do it again.”

Instead of waiting for the Man’s answer, Seon-jae raised his upper body and completely covered the Man’s back with his chest. Then he turned the back of the Man’s head to the side and kissed him. The Man, who was always active during sex, stuck out his tongue and stimulated the tip of Seon-jae’s tongue. The two men quickly became erect.

Seon-jae fondled the Man’s genitals with one hand and grabbed his own cock with the other, searching for the Man’s hole, which was full of his semen. His lips sucked on the Man’s wet back, and he occasionally licked his back with his tongue. The Man, who was very excited, trembled at Seon-jae’s small touches. Seon-jae, who loved the man so much, panted like an animal.

As always, insertion was not easy, but once he put in just the glans, the rest was easy.

The Man’s hole gripped Seon-jae’s cock tightly. It was moist, hot, and tight, and his mind went blank.

“Did anyone touch Ki-beom there?”

Seon-jae asked, panting.

“Yes. But I touched them too,” the man replied with a voice full of laughter. He breathed roughly.

Seon-jae thrust his cock in deeply. With a groan, the Man’s whole body shuddered. The hole narrowed mercilessly and gripped Seon-jae’s cock tightly.

As if there were barbs inside the hole, the Man’s inner walls stimulated his cock breathlessly every time it went in and out. Groans burst from Seon-jae’s mouth as he moved his hips.

“Was there someone prettier than me?”

Seon-jae growled and bit the Man’s earlobe.

“It’s not that, it’s just tight.”

“As tight as here?”

Seon-jae pushed his cock in with a whoosh. Then the man trembled and his upper body sank down.

Seon-jae grabbed the Man’s pelvis with both hands and lifted his buttocks, which were about to fall down along with his upper body.

The the man shook his head, panting.

“Then, was there someone bigger than me?”

He pulled his cock out and thrust it in again.

The Man’s ankles, who was kneeling and lying down, were lifted up. A strange groan flowed from the mouths of the man and Seon-jae almost simultaneously.

The the man could no longer answer Seon-jae’s questions and shook his hips. Seon-jae’s mind went blank, and he even forgot that he had asked a question.

The two men fucked each other mindlessly. Every time Seon-jae fucked, thrust, pushed, and lifted, the man screamed, struggled, and shuddered. He poured out all kinds of groans and called each other’s names.

They were still Ki-beom and Tae-heun, but soon they would call each other by the names Kang-woo and Seon-jae.

The the man heaved greatly and ejaculated first, and then Seon-jae roared and ejaculated inside the Man. Seon-jae collapsed as if fainting, putting all his weight on the Man’s back. He buried his face in the Man’s neck and became intoxicated with his scent.

“You’re always the only one who smells good.”

He grumbled and kissed him.

Seon-jae put a cigarette in the Man’s lips. When he lit it with a lighter, the man sucked on the cigarette until his cheeks were hollow. Seon-jae reached out and took the cigarette from the Man’s mouth and put it in his own mouth. He licked the spot where the Man’s saliva had touched with his tongue and then smoked the cigarette. He exhaled a long stream of smoke.

“Oh, you didn’t answer the question I asked earlier.”

“What?”

“About Ki-beom’s butt.”

“Ah.”

The the man chuckled.

“There were too many people in the room, so I slept on my side. So, my butt touched someone else’s butt or something else. Well, it was the same for me.”

“Was it that bad? Our Ki-beom must have suffered a lot.”

Seon-jae said this and put the cigarette directly into the Man’s mouth with his own hand this time. The moment the man pursed his lips, he pushed his tongue in instead of the cigarette. The the man sucked on Seon-jae’s thick tongue, thinking it was a cigarette. Seon-jae chuckled and put the cigarette back in the Man’s mouth.

They shared a cigarette amicably like that, alternately sucking on the cigarette and each other’s tongues.

It was a time where languor and excitement coexisted.

Seon-jae and the man lay side by side, gazing at the ceiling. They giggled and burst into laughter at the silliest things. They hadn’t drunk a single drop of alcohol, but they were as giddy as if they were completely drunk.

They deliberately avoided any serious topics. Although they had a mountain of things to resolve in the future, they acted as if nothing was wrong.

Wouldn’t it be okay to escape reality for just a few days?

man had every right to do so. And so did Seon-jae.

They decided to enjoy the long-awaited leisure as much as time allowed.

“I wonder who will do the harvest.”

man said in a wistful voice.

“Whoever does it will make quite a bit of money. Ki-beom’s land is the most fertile, after all.”

man genuinely regretted not being able to harvest the rice with his own hands. Even though he would receive almost no money for his share this year.

“I’m more worried about what happens after the harvest.”

It was originally supposed to be Man’s rice paddy. Even though it was leased, the man must have been filled with anticipation at receiving the best paddy, but he didn’t even know who the landowner was, let alone practice duck farming.

“Do you still want to farm?”

Seon-jae asked.

man hesitated to answer.

“Why? Are you tired of farming?”

“No. It’s not that.”

“Then?”

“Because the land isn’t contracted in my name…”

man became dejected.

“The landowner has changed anyway, so what’s the point of the contract you made with Chairman Kwon? Don’t you think?”

“Even so…”

Seon-jae thought he should contact Jeong Eun-hee, the Helper, and ask what happened to the land.

He had been so insistent on buying it, but he had completely forgotten about it. The Helper was probably so busy that she might not even remember it.

“If Ki-beom wants to make a contract, he can quickly find the owner and make a new contract. This time, not in the name of Yoon Ki-beom, but Shim Kang-woo.”

Seon-jae said this and lay on his side.

“Just say the word. Anything. Is a mere piece of land a problem? I can pluck the moon and stars for you.”

He made a bold promise.

Then the man chuckled and wiped his cheek with the back of his hand.

“Hey? Did you just wipe my bed?”

“No. Not that.”

man rubbed his cheek, feeling awkward.

“No? Ki-beom, you’re hopeless. You’ve picked up bad habits in the last two months.”

Seon-jae scolded Man, using an unnecessarily stern tone.

“You need a spanking.”

Saying this, he tapped Man’s butt with his half-erect penis.

man laughed, “Heh,” and pushed Seon-jae away.

Seon-jae laughed along and climbed on top of Man.

“I thought you said you only had enough strength to hold a cigarette?”

man subtly provoked him.

Seon-jae brought his face close to Man’s and said, “You don’t know how heavy a cigarette is, do you?” He pressed his lips firmly against Man’s lips. They laughed in that position. Man’s lips parted beautifully, which naturally made Seon-jae’s lips curve into a pretty arc as well.