By Zephyria 
“Haa……”
Tae-muk devoured Ho-eun mindlessly. Ho-eun sensed something strange in it. At first, he thought Tae-muk was doing this to tease or intimidate him, but it didn’t seem that way.
Teasing requires composure. One has to watch the other person feel ashamed or tormented. Tae-muk had been like that until now.
But the current Tae-muk was not. Rather, he seemed more impatient than Ho-eun, who was being kissed.
Could this be not teasing, but the act that the God of War and Bondmate are supposed to do? He vaguely had such thoughts.
Finally, Tae-muk released his lips.
“Heut……”
Ho-eun quickly groped his lips. He was checking if his lips were still properly attached. His entire mouth area was burning and throbbing. He had suffered from all sorts of minor ailments, but this was the first time his lips hurt.
“Ha, shit……”
At that moment, Tae-muk, who had his head bowed deeply, bit out a curse. Then, he clenched the wall with his hand. It was clearly a wall, a very solid wall made of bricks, but his fingertips went into the wall as if digging into mud. With a crunching sound, the wall crumbled.
“Hu……”
Tae-muk remained frozen for a moment. His shoulders trembled very thinly and finely. He looked as if he was trying to endure something. It also looked like he was digesting something. Anyway, it was an extremely bizarre sight. So Ho-eun couldn’t even ask what that act was just now.
“……”
“……”
The two men caught their breath at different rhythms. Then, at some point, Tae-muk slipped his hand into Ho-eun’s Dopo.
“Aaaagh!”
Ho-eun screamed so loudly that the space echoed. But Tae-muk didn’t care and rummaged through Ho-eun’s clothes, seeking his bare skin. The well-dressed clothes were crumpled and stretched haphazardly. The cloth seemed like it would be torn to shreds by the brutal force.
“General, please don’t do this. Maintain your dignity, maintain your dignity.”
“Dignity?”
Tae-muk chuckled as if it was ridiculous.
“Do you think I have anything like that?”
His eyes, shining wildly, were no different from a beast. The black pupils were swirling fiercely. Ho-eun was afraid of those pupils. It felt like he would really do something to him.
“Let me go!”
“Why? You don’t like it? You said you’d do anything. What use is a Bondmate if they don’t do that?”
“General!”
“If you keep acting up, I’ll break your wrists. You don’t need wrists to fuck anyway.”
At Tae-muk’s cruel words, Ho-eun’s eyelashes fluttered. He closed his eyes tightly, then opened them and tried to calmly appease Tae-muk.
“I, I don’t mean I won’t do it.”
“Then do it.”
“But I want to spend today with my parents.”
“Ha.”
Tae-muk cut off a short laugh.
“Why should I care about your situation?”
Just as he put his hand deeper into Ho-eun’s clothes, filled with sneering, Ho-eun whispered in a tearful voice.
“Please. I might not be able to…… come back.”
“……”
At those words, Tae-muk’s movements stopped abruptly. Ho-eun looked up at Tae-muk with tearful eyes. Please, please…… He mouthed silently.
In fact, a Bondmate should not refuse the God of War’s request. It wasn’t stipulated by law, but it was supposed to be that way. The God of War’s vitality plays a very important role in saving the country and its people.
So it was right to respond to his request, but not today…… because it might be the last night to spend with his parents.
“……”
Tae-muk was silent for a while. Ho-eun quietly waited for his decision. Meanwhile, a stream of tears flowed down his white cheek.
How long had it been? Tae-muk released Ho-eun with an annoyed sigh. Then, his heavy military boots moved with heavy steps.
“……”
He passed by Ho-eun as he was. Ho-eun turned his head to follow him. He saw Tae-muk’s back as he returned to the dining room. Then he turned the corner and disappeared.
At the same time, Ho-eun, whose legs gave way, slumped down against the wall. He sat sprawled on the floor for a long time, catching his breath. Then, he wiped away the heavy tears that had gathered in his eyes and stood up, staggering and leaning on the wall.
His clothes were a mess. They were crumpled and torn here and there by Tae-muk’s brutal force. His neat hair was disheveled, and his neck, which had been grabbed by him, and his lips, which had been bumped, ached as if they were bruised.
Ho-eun straightened his clothes with a pale face. But soon he slumped down again. He pressed his lips hard with the back of his hand and shed tears silently.
He thought the Bondmate would be his salvation.
He had a feeling that it might become a curse.
Ho-eun, dressed in a Military tunic that he wore when hunting, came out of his room and sat on the porch. Inside the room were his mother and father. The two had spent the night in Ho-eun’s room.
First, his mother came, then his father came. The three of them huddled together on the narrow bed and chatted all night. Then his mother cried first, and Ho-eun followed suit. His father was silently staring at the darkness.
Ho-eun, who had not yet fully erased the aftermath of crying, sniffed and swallowed his snot. He rubbed his heavy eyelids, which were swollen, and kept missing the shoes as he put his feet into them. It was because they were not the usual shoes, but long boots for military use.
“I’ll do it for you.”
His father, squatting in front of the stepping stone, began to put on his shoes himself. Ho-eun stayed still without stopping him. Because this could be the last time. He couldn’t count how many times he had used the word ‘last’ since yesterday.
Last when eating with his parents, last when eating refreshments, last when his mother ironed his clothes by hand, last when holding his father’s hand, last when falling asleep, last when crying, last when waking up, last, last, last…….
“When your older brother left home for the first time, I put on his shoes like this.”
“Did you?”
“Yes. Your brother was young back then too. It wasn’t as small as your feet, but his feet were small. When he said he was going to the battlefield with those feet, I really……. I never thought I’d feel that way again.”
His father’s voice, reminiscing about the past, was not very bright. Ho-eun’s heart was heavy with guilt.
“I’m sorry, Father.”
As he apologized in a subdued voice, his father suddenly raised his head.
“What’s there to be sorry about!”
“……”
“If you’ve become a man, it’s right to play in big waters. If you’re going to go to the battlefield, you should be in the Crimson Rain Brigade.”
“……”
“I have to brag to the whole world. That our youngest son, our Eun-i, has joined the Crimson Rain Brigade.”
His father smiled at Ho-eun. Soon he finished putting on his shoes and got up.
“It’s all done.”
“……”
Ho-eun tapped the floor with his neatly arranged shoes. But at that moment, something came into the front yard, tap- tap-. It was a black horse. Ho-eun stared blankly at the horse, which was standing proudly and snorting.
“That is……”
“It’s my horse. Ride it.”
“Father’s horse? But…… I don’t know how to ride a horse.”
When Ho-eun awkwardly turned his gaze away, his father laughed and stroked Ho-eun’s cheek.
“Do you think your father looks like a fool? I know that your second brother taught you how to ride a horse.”
“……”
He knew. It was a world where you could easily see cars on the street, but horses were still the main means of transportation. As such, even if young children couldn’t ride horses, they rode donkeys, but Ho-eun couldn’t ride either. Because he wasn’t healthy.
His second brother, feeling sorry for Ho-eun, taught him how to ride a horse without his parents’ knowledge. But all he did was ride on his back while his brother held the reins and walked slowly around the backyard.
So, when you think about it, it was right to say that he didn’t know how to ride a horse.
As Ho-eun looked at the horse with a face mixed with fear and tension, his father dragged him to the horse.
“This guy has never run outside the capital, but he’s smart, so he’ll lead you well.”
“……”
Ho-eun carefully stroked the horse, whose fur was glossy. A fancy saddle and shiny stirrups.
Ho-eun, who was examining them one by one, smiled faintly. It was because he was excited. He was going to the battlefield to protect the country riding such a horse. Wasn’t it cool? He couldn’t help it even if he thought he was immature. Every man dreams of such a thing at least once.
At that time, another horse appeared. It was pulling a cart, and the cart was full of luggage. It was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was as big as a house. Nurung-i circled around the cart, sniffing.
“The luggage……”
Ho-eun looked at his father with an astonished face, and he slyly avoided his gaze.
“Ahem……. I packed plenty because you’ll need a lot.”
Ho-eun opened his mouth to say something, but stopped. He couldn’t refuse because he thought it was all his parents’ worries. And probably his mother’s worries were loaded more than his father’s.
Ho-eun glanced at his mother, who was standing behind his father with her head bowed all the time. But his mother didn’t look at Ho-eun.