FH 1.1
He had spent most of his life starving, but it wasn’t hunger that gnawed away at his life the fastest—it was poverty.
“Haa, haa…”
The stairs, smeared with dark stains, seemed endless.
He gripped the wall with his hand.
Ji-su, staggering up the stairs, stopped for a moment to catch his breath. Inside the plastic bag in one hand were tripe, rice balls, steamed eggs, and a cola.
Looking down, he saw his grimy sneakers with the toes completely worn through. The white laces had faded to a dingy yellow and were frayed, with threads hanging loose.
When he wiped his cheek with a gloved, skeletal hand, it came away drenched in sweat. The mid-July midday heat, soaring to 34 degrees, felt hot enough to melt skin. Wearing a thin long-sleeved shirt made it feel even more stifling. To make matters worse, the elevator was under maintenance, and since the delivery was for the 8th floor, he had to climb for a long time.
Feeling dizzy, he sank to his knees on the stairs. Though he wore a delivery vest, it couldn’t hide his paper-thin, 45kg frame. The bones of his bent knees protruded hideously, and his shoulders were so thin they looked as if they might shatter. If he took off his clothes, his spine would be revealed in a series of jagged bumps. Despite not being short, he looked so frail that an average adult man could have lifted him with ease.
His last meal had been three cherry tomatoes, three spoonfuls of sugar-free yogurt, and 50ml of low-fat milk at two o’clock yesterday afternoon; he had been fasting for over a day and two hours. He had managed to endure the morning, but after noon, dizziness set in and a ringing sound filled his ears.
As he curled up to catch his breath, a musty stench permeating the stairwell stung his nose. He began to climb again, devoid of strength, until he reached the 8th floor. There was hardened dog poop on the floor, but lacking the energy to avoid it, he stepped right over it.
After checking the unit number, he was setting the food down in front of the door when he lost his balance and fell sideways. It felt as if every bone in his body had shifted. Not only his pelvis, but the thigh bone, shin, and ankle of the side he fell on were all throbbing.
Finding it hard to get up, he supported himself with his arms and legs, crawling [stolen content]until he finally managed to stand. He knocked on the door and, as he turned away, straightened his crooked helmet. Then, like a toddler who had just learned [unauthorized copy]to walk, he gripped the railing and made his way down to the first floor.
He mounted his motorcycle, but the dizziness prevented him from starting immediately. As he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, his eyes grew hot. Tears streamed down his face, and as he rubbed his face with his glove, sweat and tears smeared together.
An intense hunger, bordering on abdominal pain, washed over him. Feeling as though he might faint, he took a deep breath and finally set off. As he circled through the parking lot crowded with cars and emerged onto the main street, a lukewarm breeze clung to his face.
“Haa… I’m dizzy…”
His body was truly like a twig; even facing the wind was a struggle. He was practically in a state of starvation, often fainting while showering. Because his hip bones were so prominent, he couldn’t sleep lying flat on his back, and he frequently felt pains in his heart. Running was virtually impossible, and even just standing was difficult. The fact that he was working a delivery part-time job was a miracle in itself.
Drenched in sweat and weighed down by the heavy vest, his shoulders kept drooping. His knees trembled incessantly, and the world spun before his eyes.
Suddenly, his surroundings blurred, and he lost sight of what was ahead, causing him to grip the handlebars tightly. He shook his head, trying to snap out of it, but his vision didn’t clear. By the time he could see again, it was too late to notice the stationary black Mercedes.
Thump!
Slamming into the rear of the Mercedes, Ji-su was thrown violently onto the ground. Because he had fallen while still gripping the handlebars, his leg got pinned under the motorcycle. Even through the helmet, he could feel the heat radiating from the boiling asphalt.
He tried to push himself up, but he couldn’t move the motorcycle. As he struggled like an overturned crab, the driver’s side door swung open and a man in a suit stepped out. He was a fat man with a protruding belly.
“Fuck. Do you drive with your nose?”
Ji-su struggled with all his might to pull his leg out from under the bike.
Meanwhile, the man checked the Mercedes’ bumper and spoke in an agitated voice.
“Are your eyes just for decoration?”
Ji-su hurriedly wiped the sweat from his forehead and stammered an apology.
“I-I’m sorry… A-are you hurt anywhere?”
The man, who had been about to yell, paused upon seeing Ji-su. He scanned him from head to toe and frowned.
“What the… you look like a corpse.”
Ji-su’s appearance was pitiful. While his cheeks were round due to some lingering baby fat, everything below his neck was like a skewer. It was hard to believe he could even walk. His neck was particularly thin, looking as if it would snap if hit once by a helmet.
“Why the hell did you ram your bike into a perfectly fine car?”
The man gave him a suspicious look.
“…I couldn’t see ahead properly. I’m truly sorry…”
Feeling the world spin, Ji-su repeatedly wiped the sweat from his face. Approaching the bumper to inspect it, he saw a scratch. A feeling of despair washed over him. If he settled this out of pocket, it certainly wouldn’t be resolved for under a million won. He would likely have to leave it to the insurance company, but he worried about the premium hike.
“Why couldn’t you see ahead? Were you on your phone?”
“It wasn’t that… I’m just not feeling well.”
His shoulder trembled with a tingling sensation from the impact of the fall. His shin, which had been pinned under the bike, throbbed. He wanted to lie down. He wanted to go back to his humid rented room crawling with cockroaches, turn on the fan, and sleep.
“Do you have any idea how shocked my Hyung was because the car suddenly jolted?”
At the mention of ‘Hyung,’ Ji-su realized there was someone else in the car. As he bowed his head once more to apologize, his vision blurred again.
As he swayed and touched his eyes, the man snapped.
“What’s wrong with you?”
Just then, the rear window of the Mercedes rolled down. The man quickly approached, bowed politely, and spoke with the person in the back seat. Then, he gestured irritably.
“Hey! Come over here and apologize!”
Ji-su hurried over and bowed to the person in the back seat.
“…I-I’m sorry. Are you alright?”
As he stood near the window, the cool air from the air conditioner brushed against his face. A middle-aged man wearing sunglasses was sitting in the back. He wore a short-sleeved Polo shirt, and there were tattoos on both arms. His physique was startlingly massive. His chest muscles were firmly defined and his stomach was flat, making the Polo shirt look tight. His thighs were thick and long, and the hand resting on his knee was terrifyingly large. A thick gold ring was worn on the middle finger of his right hand.
Feeling intimidated, Ji-su avoided eye contact and spoke.
“I’ll handle the insurance immediately. If stolen content[visit our site]there’s anywhere you’re uncomfortable…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence because the man lowered his sunglasses.
The moment he saw the man’s bare eyes, a chill ran down his spine.
His eyes, long and slanted without double eyelids, were fierce. The way his pupils moved slowly, like rolling marbles, was eerie. Even though the interior of the car was dark, his pitch-black eyes were strangely clear and glossy. He looked like a venomous snake. A sinister toxicity lurked within his persistent gaze.
The gaze shifted, and an unexpected question was thrown his way.
“How old?”
It was a low, thick voice. It sounded as if there were a deep space inside his throat where the voice resonated. His pronunciation was clear, so it was heard perfectly despite the surrounding noise.
“…I-I’m twenty-two.”
The man touched his lips with his fingertip. The back of his hand, with blue veins popping out, was rough. His angular nails were neatly trimmed and short.
The light changed, and cars began to move. The sound of honking could be heard in the distance.
“Why do you hit a car that’s standing perfectly still?”
The man soon pushed his sunglasses back up.
“Are you an insurance scammer by any chance? You’re fucking clumsy for one, though.”
“I’m sorry… I was distracted…”
“As long as you’re not a scammer, it’s fine. Things happen.”
“Is your neck or head alright?”
“As you can see.”
Having caused the accident unilaterally, Ji-su felt nothing but remorse. As he tried to apologize again, the man spoke in a low voice, just loud enough for him to hear.
You look like you’d be good at drinking piss.
As Ji-su’s eyes widened, the man smiled, showing his teeth. Then, as if he hadn’t said a word, he nonchalantly gestured with his chin toward the back of the Mercedes.
“There’s a scratch, right?”
Ji-su was too bewildered to answer. Drinking piss? Why on earth would he say something like that…
“You should be careful about what you hit and when. You can’t just come and doggy-style it from behind.”
“…”
As the man lowered the window a bit more, Ji-su felt movement in the seat next to him. It was a dog. A large dog with black fur. It was blinking, showing the whites of its eyes. [unauthorized copy]It had been lying perfectly still, which is why he only noticed it now.
“Do you like dogs?”
The man asked, noticing his gaze. As if understanding the words, the dog placed its front paw on the man’s thigh. Then, puffing out its chest, it barked toward the window. Looking closer, its snout, paws, and parts of its face were tan.
“He certainly knows what’s pretty.”
The man made a playful joke while petting the dog’s head.
“Even dogs have a taste for faces. Cookie is barking because you’re pretty.”
Cookie. It was an unfitting name. The compliment about his appearance was also baffling. Not only was it not a situation for compliments, but he was a man.
“Even yesterday during our walk, this guy couldn’t stop staring when some slender young lady passed by.”
Having nothing to say, Ji-su just fidgeted with his hands. The comment about drinking piss bothered him. He also knew exactly what ‘doggy-style’ meant.
He found it burdensome and exhausting to continue the conversation, but the man asked casually.
“But why are you so thin? It’s like you haven’t had a scrap of porridge to eat.”
He then looked up with an expression that expected an answer. Ji-su lowered his gaze to avoid eye contact, but it was useless. The man seemed to wait for an answer for a moment, then muttered while staring intently at his face.
“Did his mouth suddenly get glued shut?”
Cars sped by behind him. Frightened, Ji-su shrank back, but the man reached out through the window and grabbed his wrist firmly.
“Good god, fuck. Your wrist is just a bone.”
He was startled by the sudden grip, but the strength in the man’s hand was so great that he had no choice but to stay still. The hand with the gold ring felt like a sturdy leather glove. The tattoos engraved above his wrist were so dark that almost no bare skin was visible.
“Do you have some kind of illness?”
“…No…”
“If not, why is your body like this?”
It was a somewhat excessive question for a first meeting, no matter how curious he was. As Ji-su hesitated, his lips parting, the man let go of his wrist and pointed to the motorcycle.
“Is there food in there?”
“…No.”
“Too bad. I was going to pay you back if there was.”
Ji-su couldn’t understand why he said it was ‘too bad’ instead of ‘a relief.’
The man chuckled and took a business card case out of his Read on Read BL Novelssuit pocket. At that moment, the man who had been [stolen content]standing to the side intervened politely.
“I’ll handle this.”
The man waved him off and held out a business card. He held it between his middle and index fingers, dangling it precariously over the passenger window.
“Send a text to this number. Let’s settle this without going through the insurance company.”
Ji-su hesitantly took the card. It had a company name he had never heard of. The man’s name was Jo Won-hyeop. He was the Chairman.
“I’ll get you a cheap estimate.”
Ji-su, who had been worrying about the insurance premium hike, felt a momentary sense of relief. However, he was concerned that ‘cheap’ might be based on the Chairman’s own standards. After all, a Mercedes was a Mercedes.
Still, he thanked him first.
“Thank you…”
“Keep that card safe. If you lose it, you’re dead.”
With a smirk, the Chairman rolled up the passenger window.
“Now, get going.”
As the cool air from the air conditioner faded, dizziness hit him again. After clenching his teeth and catching stolen contenthis breath, he tried to thank him one last time, but the window that had been going up rolled back down.
“I told you to go, why are you standing there trying to talk more?”
“…No. Thank you. I’ll send the text right away. Get home safely.”
The Chairman let out a short, airy laugh through his lips and rolled the window all the way up.
✿✿✿
“Yeah, I’m leaving now. See you at the three-way intersection.”
The sound of someone talking on the phone echoed from inside the villa building. It was the Housekeeper who lived on the 4th floor. Because the building was old and the first-floor door was wide open, the voice echoed. After grabbing his keys and getting off the motorcycle, Ji-su sent a message on his phone.
Accident
Hello. I’m the delivery driver who had the fender bender earlier… I hope you got home safely.
10:32
Pigeons flew around the recycling area in front of the villa. Walking between the piles of standard plastic trash bags, the pigeons pecked at crumbs on the ground. They fluttered up onto a flowerpot filled with cigarette butts.
“Student, I’m glad I ran into you. I’m quite unauthorized copybusy, so could you do the cleaning for me?”
As he limped along with pain in his shoulder and shin, the Housekeeper from the 4th floor spoke to him. She was raising two sons, aged four and five, and he often ran into her at this time. He never saw her husband as he came home late from work.
Ji-su replied, wiping his flushed face with his forearm.
“…I did the cleaning two weeks ago.”
“I know, but I just don’t have the time. I have to go pick up Min-jun and Seo-jun right now.”
The villa residents took turns cleaning, and Ji-su had done it two weeks prior. Since only four households lived there, the turn came around quickly.
The dizziness was worse than before, and his body hurt so much that he felt he couldn’t possibly clean. However, the Housekeeper seemed to be in a hurry.
“A sudden appointment came up, so I’ll be having dinner with the kids before coming back. The Grandmother who owns the place will be coming to check soon, so please do me this favor.”
When he first moved in, she had pried into why he was so thin, but since he had started avoiding her whenever they met, she stopped asking.
He wanted to go home, shower, and lie down, but unable to refuse, Ji-su nodded.
“…Alright.”
“Thank you. Seo-jun leaked some urine on the 4th-floor stairs this morning, so please wipe the stairs with a mop.”
After handing him the broom [unauthorized copy]kept at the villa entrance, the Housekeeper [unauthorized copy]added one more request in her haste.
“Please throw away the trash bags in front of my door too. I sprained my arm while playing with Min-jun yesterday, so it’s hard for me to carry them down.”
“Yes…”
“Alright, good luck!”
The Housekeeper said as she hurried away.
“I’ll buy you an iced tea on my way back!”
At the mention of iced tea, Ji-su replied in confusion.
“No, it’s okay…”
But the Housekeeper didn’t listen and disappeared from the villa’s front yard.
Ji-su wiped the sweat from his forehead, entered the villa, and started sweeping the floor. Lacking strength in his hands, he gripped the broom tightly with both. He leaned down under the mailbox, which was stuffed with various bills and delivery flyers, to pick up loan business cards that had fallen on the floor.
He also swept the stairwell, where cardboard boxes, bicycles, and umbrella stands were haphazardly tangled. He had no strength left to walk up on his own two feet, but he gritted his teeth and cleaned from the 1st to the 4th floor. In an instant, beads of sweat formed on the bridge of his nose.
He wiped the urine stain on the 4th-floor stairs by wetting a mop from the rooftop. Scrubbing with force was an ordeal, so he stopped and slumped down on the stairs.
Feeling as if he might faint, he eventually lay down on the floor. Lying on his side with his arm as a pillow, he visit our sitegasped for air with a flushed face, [Read on Read BL Novels]and a ringing sound filled his ears. His vision flickered white and then went dark.
He opened his mouth as wide as possible to breathe heavily before shakily standing up. The pain in his shoulder and shin was unusual, but the thought of going to a hospital didn’t cross his mind. After finishing the floor and throwing away the trash, he entered his home on the 3rd floor.
The inside of the house was stifling, like a steamer. The humid air clung to his sweat-soaked cheeks. A cockroach was crawling on the entryway floor, but he lacked the energy to spray it, so he left it alone.
After taking off his shoes and going into the living room, the first thing he did was strip down to his underwear and weigh himself.
Wearing white underwear that was far too loose around the thighs, he weighed himself and took an appetite suppressant from the cupboard. He quickly swallowed a pill with hands that had just touched a trash bag. He drank several gulps of lukewarm water, straight from the kettle, that he had boiled in the morning, and gathered his towel and clothes from a rusted drying rack. Tears fell in droplets onto the floor as he walked into the bathroom.
After washing his hair and body with a single bar of soap, he finished his shower and stepped out. He sat in front of a dusty electric fan, but his shoulders hurt too much to shake out his hair. He sat there blankly with his head bowed, then lay down on the mattress with his hair still damp.
A pitch-black money beetle crawled up the wall, but he found it too difficult to get up. As he rolled onto his side, his hip bone pressing against the floor, he burst into tears. Sobbing and wiping his eyes with the blanket, he eventually drifted off to sleep, exhausted by hunger.
He woke up four hours later, his entire body drenched in sweat. The vibration of a phone echoed through the dark house. He forced his swollen eyes open and checked the number. With a fever burning in his forehead and his hand trembling as he picked up the phone, he couldn’t see the number clearly.
The call didn’t cut off and kept ringing, so he finally answered.
“Hello…?”
The rattling sound of the fan behind him was loud, making the voice seem distant, but he could hear laughter over the phone. Still half-asleep, he couldn’t recognize it immediately and trailed off, “Who is…?”
[The estimate for the bumper repair is out.]
In a daze, he quickly sat up. It was that man.
“Ah, hello… I didn’t expect you to call today. By the way, are your head or shoulders hurting?”
[I’m fine.]
The sound of a dog barking could be heard over the phone. It seemed to be the dog he had seen during the day.
[If you’re okay, come over here now.]
The man seemed intent on receiving the repair costs in cash rather than via bank transfer. Knowing that older men often preferred that method, and not being in a position to question anything, he answered immediately.
“Do you mean I should come to your house?”
[That’s right.]
He didn’t know where the house was, but he didn’t find the idea bothersome. He had already decided on this and hadn’t taken photos of the accident scene. Even if he had to compensate for the repairs in a more cumbersome way than this, there was nothing he could do.
However, just as he was about to ask for the address, the man said something unexpected.
[Your voice is damn sultry.]
The words that followed sounded half like a mutter to himself.
[I’ll have to eat you up.]
This was the third time, following what had been said during the day. He had no choice but to perceive it as sexual harassment.
“…….”
He slowly pulled the phone away from his ear. Beyond being bewildered and creeped out, he felt a sense of fear. He didn’t want to hear such things. While it was true that the fender bender was entirely his fault, he didn’t think it was a grave enough matter to justify enduring such comments.
[Give me your address. I’ll send a taxi, so take it here.]
He began to blame himself. Why had he been so foolish to cause an accident? How could he have thought of doing a delivery part-time job when he couldn’t even drive properly?
Wiping his tears with his sleeve, he put the phone back to his ear. He wanted to pay the repair costs and put this matter behind him as quickly as possible.
“……How much was the repair cost?”
As he asked while holding back tears, the man spoke with a rhythmic tone, as if humming a song.
[Come and hear it.]
Feeling like he needed to shower again, he packed some underwear. He had sweated so much while sleeping that his panties were damp. He felt he should take a break from deliveries tomorrow.
“……You don’t have to send a taxi…. If you give me the address, I’ll find my way.”
[Suit yourself, then.]
✿✿✿
Won-hyeop was sitting on the sofa wearing a white bathrobe. Right next to him, Cookie was lying down, using a cushion like a human. The L-shaped luxury leather sofa was spacious enough to seat ten people.
“Then let’s handle it that way.”
“Yes. I will proceed as quickly as possible.”
Jang-ho, Won-hyeop’s executive secretary, organized the documents on the living room table and put them in his bag. For someone serving Chairman Won-hyeop, Jang-ho was quite young; he didn’t just look young for his age, he actually was young. Normally, he would be at home putting his three-year-old daughter to sleep at this hour, but he was still here today due to work.
The grand, sprawling living room felt more like an art gallery than a private home. It exuded an air of sophistication, filled with whiskey cabinets and expensive framed paintings common in such houses.
Originally, the garden was visible through the living room windows, but when Won-hyeop bought the house, he cleared the garden and laid down a stone deck. He had left a small flowerbed, pretending to care about landscaping, but he found flowers as bothersome as weeds and paid them no attention. The paintings hanging in the living room were the same. He didn’t know how to appreciate art, but he hung them for the sake of cultivation.
That was his creed in life. To maintain his dignity, he didn’t smoke inside the house, and no matter how furious he became, he rarely slapped his subordinates. Even if he were on the verge of starving to death, he didn’t eat greedily, and he never bragged about his money first.
Because he wasn’t born elegant, he strove to suppress the vulgarity ingrained in him and live a high-class life. Even so, the fact that he came from a gang background would never change, and he couldn’t quite fix his oily way of speaking, but thanks to years of effort, he wasn’t called ignorant wherever he went.
“Gyeong-jin says he’ll arrive within 30 minutes,” Jang-ho said, looking at his phone. Won-hyeop nodded.
“Perfect timing.”
Gyeong-jin was Jang-ho’s female [Read on Read BL Novels]cousin and a professor in the Endocrinology Department of a famous university hospital. He had met Won-hyeop a couple of times. He was on his way here.
“Are you truly alright regarding the fender bender from earlier?”
“I’m fine. It was just a light bump.”
Won-hyeop straightened his back and looked out at the yard through the living room window. Though he couldn’t possibly see the front gate from there, he was filled with anticipation. Just imagining Ji-su walking up the gravel path of the yard made his mouth water.
“Exactly what state is that delivery driver in? Will Gyeong-jin be of help?”
Having personally invited Gyeong-jin to his home for Ji-su, Won-hyeop intended to find out what was wrong with Ji-su’s body.
“His body is practically a corpse.”
“Do you mean he is very thin?”
“Yeah. At first, I thought he was a cancer patient.”
Jang-ho had a general idea of the accident after hearing from a junior employee who had been at the scene. He understood why Won-hyeop had called Gyeong-jin. It was essentially a house call, a level of kindness far too excessive for a mere delivery driver. He knew this was Won-hyeop’s style. The fact that he had only met him for the first time today would be of no importance to Won-hyeop.
“He has a pretty face, I don’t know why he’s like that.”
Tsking, Won-hyeop rubbed his groin. Since he wasn’t wearing underwear, his genitals were felt through the robe. Because of the sunflower-shaped implant, it was lumpy.
“Well, as long as the bone tastes good, that’s all that matters.”
Cookie, lying next to him, let out a loud fart. Startled by the sound of its own gas, Cookie jumped up and looked around.
He patted Cookie’s rump.
“Fancy you farting for once.”
Though Cookie had a cute face, he weighed nearly 53kg and was not an ordinary dog one would see on the street. He was a Rottweiler, classified as a fierce dog under animal protection laws. If he jumped up on his front paws, he could tackle and knock over a healthy adult male. His head was unusually large, and his bite force was incredibly strong. If Won-hyeop hadn’t separately trained him, he would have already bitten other dogs several times during walks.
“But I don’t know where that kid lives.”
Won-hyeop scratched Cookie’s chin with the hand that had been patting his rump.
“Looking at him, he doesn’t seem to have a mother or father. He probably lives in some shabby studio apartment.”
A moment later, the living room video phone rang.
When Jang-ho approached to check, a scrawny man was standing at the front gate. Won-hyeop’s words were immediately understood.
“I’ll bring him in.”
Jang-ho opened the gate and went to the entrance to greet Ji-su. Because the house was like a maze, he had to walk a long way down a long corridor to reach the entrance. As he stood waiting by the open door, Ji-su walked up the yard stairs. His body was so eerily gaunt that Jang-ho couldn’t take his eyes off him. Though he hid his body under long clothes, his gait was abnormal. Because of his age, his face was plump and youthful, which made the contrast even more grotesque.
Standing directly in front of him, Ji-su bowed his head down to waist level.
“…Hello. Is this… Chairman Jo Won-hyeop’s… residence? I’m the delivery driver who came to pay the repair costs for the accident.”
His voice was barely audible. He didn’t look well, and Jang-ho’s gaze fell upon his politely clasped hands. The shape of the bones was so prominent that they looked like a skeletal model rather than human hands.
“That is correct. Please come in.”
Jang-ho stepped aside to let Ji-su enter and closed the door behind him.
“This way.”
As Jang-ho led the way, Ji-su followed, answering with a barely audible “Yes.”
With an uncomfortable gait, Ji-su walked with a limp, like someone who had sprained an ankle. Because his pants were too large and kept sliding down, he held onto his waist with one arm.
The reason for the limp was his shin. Every time he took a step, he felt pain in his right shin. He had gained a bit of strength thanks to the sleep, but the hunger and dizziness remained.
Won-hyeop’s house was surprisingly nice. The floors were so clean they seemed slippery, and the entire interior was bright and cool, like a hotel. However, intending to pay the repair costs and leave quickly, he didn’t look around. Upon reaching the end of the corridor and entering the living room, he saw Won-hyeop sitting on the sofa. ‘Cookie’ was there too.
“You’re here?”
Won-hyeop greeted him as if he were someone he knew well.
Ji-su bowed his head deeply, just as he had done for Jang-ho.
“…Hello.”
Cookie approached and put its nose to his hand, as if trying to smell him. The sensation of the nose felt strange, and when Ji-su quickly pulled his hand away, Cookie stepped back in surprise. The dog moved its head back and forth as if reading his mood.
Flustered, Ji-su stammered.
“S-sorry.”
Won-hyeop found something amusing and grinned as he called Cookie. Cookie obediently returned to the sofa and sat next to Won-hyeop, thumping the leather sofa with its tail.
“Come here and sit.”
Won-hyeop pointed to the sofa, and Ji-su cautiously approached and sat down. Cookie stared at him intently; the dog was incredibly large. He looked less like a dog and more like a bear cub.
“Have you had dinner?”
Jang-ho brought a glass of cold water and then vanished. Although Cookie was there, it felt as if Ji-su were alone with Won-hyeop in the living room, and he fidgeted with his hands. Wanting to pay the repair costs quickly, he lied.
“Yes…. I ate.”
Won-hyeop stared at his face as if observing a specimen. Feeling uncomfortable under the gaze, Ji-su huddled his body and spoke.
“I’ll give you the repair costs right now…. But I don’t have much money on me, so stolen contentI think visit our siteI can only give you a part of it. I’ll pay the rest gradually by doing part-time work…….”
Won-hyeop spoke leisurely.
“You worked hard to get here, so drink some water first.”
Won-hyeop leaned back deeply into the sofa and pointed to the glass of water.
Ji-su lowered his head, feeling uncomfortable in his seat. It was even more uncomfortable that Won-hyeop was staring at him with eyes wide open, as if his eyelids were being pulled up.
He had thought this once during the day, but Won-hyeop was a massive man. He remembered the sexual harassment over the phone.
Just as he clenched his fists, he startled and looked up. He doubted his own eyes. He had seen Won-hyeop’s genitals between his legs in the robe. It wasn’t a mistake. The thick thing hanging below the hem of the robe was definitely a penis. The skin on the nape of his neck tightened, and goosebumps broke out all over.
No matter how much it was his own home, he hadn’t expected him to be wearing nothing under the robe. Encountering another man’s genitals without warning made it hard to remain composed. As Won-hyeop shifted his posture, the dark glans swayed heavily.
Terrified and disgusted, he turned his gaze away, but Won-hyeop pulled a piece of paper from a table drawer.
“Fill this one out.”
Because the distance was far, he had to tilt his chin up to see. It was a settlement agreement. There were many blanks to fill in: name, resident registration number, address, car number, driver’s license number, and so on.
Won-hyeop pulled out a ballpoint pen and tapped the seat next to him.
“Sit here and write.”
But his buttocks wouldn’t budge. This was Won-hyeop, who had blatantly sexually harassed him several times. He couldn’t obediently follow the instruction to sit right next to him. He couldn’t even fathom how much misfortune the fender bender from the afternoon had brought upon him.
“……Once I write that, can I just give you the repair costs and leave?”
He fixed his gaze on the table, not wanting to see Won-hyeop’s genitals.
“Yeah.”
It was impossible to pull the paper and pen toward him from where he sat. His hand couldn’t reach.
After catching his breath, he finally forced himself up. Instead of sitting next to Won-hyeop, he sat far away, with Cookie between them. Cookie showed interest and pushed its head close.
“Hey, you brat.”
He flinched at the sudden curse, but Won-hyeop playfully tapped Cookie’s rump.
“Go over there. You, come here.”
Surprisingly, Cookie understood the words and moved.
With Cookie gone from the middle, Ji-su had no other choice. His body was tense, but he had no option but to move and sit next to Won-hyeop.
His spine tingled and his hands shook, but he gripped the pen tightly and wrote the agreement. If he hadn’t filled his stomach with water before leaving home, he wouldn’t have had the strength to write properly. He planned to walk home on the way back. It would take [visit our site]about two hours, and it was uncertain whether he could hold his urine.
As he leaned over awkwardly and began writing his name, Won-hyeop peered in from the side.
“Yeom Ji-su? Even the name is pretty.”
Even those words sounded frightening, but it was a relief that the genitals were no longer visible. Won-hyeop showed his interest by blatantly staring at his profile. Feeling creeped out, he huddled his head as much as possible and filled in the blanks.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
Sitting close, Ji-su could smell something pleasant coming from Won-hyeop. It didn’t seem like perfume.
“……No.”
He prayed in his heart that he could finish the agreement and pay the repair costs safely, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Won-hyeop began rambling about something random.
“I know a lot from a fortune teller I was close with in my youth, so I know how to read people.”
Ji-su bit his lower lip hard.
“Looking at you, your face is full of yin energy. You need to meet someone with strong yang energy to receive some. That’s the only way your eyes will regain their luster and your complexion will improve.”
Unable to find words to answer, he [unauthorized copy]bit his lip even harder, and then Won-hyeop unauthorized copytouched his buttocks.
“Look at this. There’s no flesh at all.”
The moment the hand touched him, his body froze.
“This is why you need to have sex.”
The hand left quickly, but Ji-su couldn’t even utter a word. As the heat left his face, a terrifying thought occurred. He wanted to leave this house. He didn’t want to be in the same space as Won-hyeop.
Tears felt as if they would burst forth, and as he remained silent, Won-hyeop brought his face frighteningly close. He sent a gloomy gaze and licked his lips with his tongue.
“You’re so delicate and dainty, you’re truly pretty.”
Fear was greater than helplessness or shame. He couldn’t predict when Won-hyeop would act without hesitation again.
As he held his breath in fear, a pinky finger suddenly entered his ear canal. Startled, he dropped the pen, and Won-hyeop laughed like a child.
“Are you listening to me?”
Won-hyeop wiggled his pinky and muttered, “The ear canal is just like a brat’s.”
“I-I-I am l-listening…….”
“If you’re listening, you should show it.”
Despite choosing only words that made it impossible to react normally, Won-hyeop shamelessly expected a reaction.
“Respond, act cute.”
“…….”
“Again, like a mute who’s eaten honey.”
Won-hyeop couldn’t hide his laughter, making a ‘slurp’ sound with his mouth. He rolled his eyes, scanning Ji-su up and down to his heart’s content. His groin was itching so much he felt like twisting his body.
Because of Ji-su’s intimidated expression, his solar plexus felt ticklish. He felt that if Ji-su chattered, laughed, touched him first, and acted affectionately, he would look ten times prettier.
“…I-I’ll f-finish writing this.”
Ji-su picked up the pen again. Not daring to say anything else, he buried his head in the agreement.
Won-hyeop changed the subject, as if intending to stop the sexual harassment.
“About the repair costs.”
Huddling his shoulders, Ji-su looked at Won-hyeop out of the corner of his eye.
To Won-hyeop, he looked like a flounder. His eyes were so wide that the whites were clearly visible, which looked exactly like Cookie when he had caused trouble and was reading the room. With his face and clothes stolen contentlooking grimy and impoverished, he looked even more like a stray dog. His wrists beneath the sleeves were [Read on Read BL Novels]so gaunt they hardly looked human, which was unsightly, but as he had told Jang-ho earlier, he didn’t mind as long as the taste was good.
“The estimate came out high.”
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