By Zephyria 
159
At that, Ho-eun chuckled. He did like fruit, but not to the point of overeating. Tae-muk wouldn’t be too pleased if he knew, so he decided to keep it to himself.
“Yes, I understand.”
Ho-eun nodded slightly and took a piece of rice cake. The rice cake was soft and savory, and the sweet honey made it even better. Ho-eun looked at Tae-muk and nodded to show that it was delicious.
“……”
Tae-muk tore off the remaining rice cake like tearing meat. As he did, he stared at Ho-eun’s white cheeks moving as he chewed, without blinking. As he did so, he couldn’t tell whether the soft thing in his mouth was rice cake or Ho-eun’s cheek.
Soon, Tae-muk’s Adam’s apple bobbed and the rice cake went down. As soon as his mouth was empty, he suddenly felt thirsty. He licked from the inside of his cheek to behind his lower lip, and unable to resist, he pushed the floor with his heels and slid closer to Ho-eun. Then, he pressed his lips firmly against his twitching white cheek and pulled away.
“……”
Ho-eun raised his eyebrows in surprise, then smiled bashfully and continued to chew on the rice cake. He didn’t push Tae-muk away, telling him not to do that and to keep his dignity.
Now, Ho-eun wasn’t embarrassed to hold hands, hug, or kiss. He still flinched when he was touched, but he seemed to have gotten used to light contact.
It was partly because Tae-muk was constantly caressing and pecking at him, but Ho-eun didn’t seem to have a strong aversion to other people’s body temperature in the first place. He liked to be hugged to sleep, and you could say he was easily attached, or that he was used to being loved. It seemed he had been petted and cherished quite a bit at home.
…He was only like that at home, right?
“……”
Tae-muk’s brow furrowed as he thought that far. He carefully examined Ho-eun’s profile as he sat upright like a scholar, reading a book.
A beautiful face that you couldn’t help but look at again once you saw it, a magnificent house and wealth, and on top of that, a personality that was so affable and gentle. He must have been quite popular in Hanyang.
Well, it didn’t matter. He was his now. His destined partner connected by the heavens. What dog would dare covet him? Even if they did, it’s not like he would give him up.
Even as he thought that, Tae-muk felt uneasy for no reason, so he grabbed Ho-eun and placed him on his lap.
“Oh… General?”
Ho-eun turned to look at Tae-muk with a puzzled expression. Tae-muk wrapped his arms around Ho-eun’s waist without saying a word. Then, he dragged the desk closer and placed it in front of him. It meant that he would hold him, so he should continue what he was doing.
Ho-eun looked at Tae-muk, saying, “Hmm…” and started reading the book again without saying anything else. Tae-muk rubbed his lips against Ho-eun’s neck, put his nose between his braids to smell them, and fidgeted with his waist. Ho-eun continued to turn the pages of the book, rustling.
“How many times are you going to read the same thing? It’s nothing special.”
Tae-muk asked, fiddling with Ho-eun’s Hair Tie. Ho-eun nodded as if in agreement.
“Yes. It’s really nothing special. Isn’t it strange?”
“What is.”
“That it’s nothing special. It’s a book about Devouring Ghouls, but there’s so little new information… Most of it is obvious, even children know it.”
“Only the noblemen write, that’s why. The one you’re reading now was probably written by a nobleman.”
“……Yes?”
Ho-eun’s mouth opened slightly. He didn’t understand why noblemen were suddenly being brought up. At that, Tae-muk reached under Ho-eun’s armpits, closed the thin book, and tapped the title, which read 『Myriad Calamities Record』.
“A nobleman who has only lived within the castle walls his whole life has never actually seen a Devouring Ghoul, but he wrote it in a plausible way. There’s no way you can get anything from what such a guy wrote.”
“……”
“The guys who actually encounter Devouring Ghouls outside either don’t know how to write, don’t have time to write, or die before they can write.”
“Ah……”
Ho-eun sighed softly. Indeed, those who write books must all live within safe castle walls. It would be impossible to write in this battlefield. He was reading a book because he was in a great unit like the Crimson Rain Brigade, and because he was being taken care of by Tae-muk, but other units would be so busy trying to survive that they would be losing their minds. So there was no way the information written in this book would be of good quality.
Then where should he get that good quality information? He wanted to know more about Devouring Ghouls… Was there no way…?
Ho-eun, who had been pondering with his lips pursed, suddenly raised his head. Then he slowly turned to look at Tae-muk.
“……”
Was he an idiot? Why bother looking at books? The Crimson Rain Brigade, who had encountered the most Devouring Ghouls in the world, and Tae-muk, were by his side.
Ho-eun pushed the desk forward and got up.
“I have something to show you.”
But before he could even lift his butt, Tae-muk grabbed his waist and pulled him down again.
“Where are you going.”
“Just a moment, please let me go for a moment.”
“Why. It’s cold outside.”
“I’m not going outside. I’m going to the next room.”
“Why to the next room.”
“I told you I have something to show you.”
“……”
Tae-muk looked at Ho-eun, who was struggling to push his arm down, and reluctantly let him go, pulling his lips to one side. Ho-eun, who had jumped up, took a breath and patted his clothes.
“I’ll be right back.”
He opened the door connecting to the next room and went out. Tae-muk was quietly listening to Ho-eun’s movements. He heard a drawer opening and the sound of rummaging through something. Then the drawer closed again, and he heard small heels tapping on the floor, and then Ho-eun came back. In his hand was a small leather notebook.
Ho-eun, who had returned, pulled up his long clothes and pushed his butt towards Tae-muk’s thigh as if it were natural. Tae-muk naturally accepted him, pulled him into his arms, and sat him down.
“Look at this.”
Ho-eun flipped through the notebook and showed him something. There, five or six oval stones were drawn at regular intervals. There were shapes overlapping the stones, and they all looked different. Below, it was written [Sprout], [Trident], [Double Horn], [Leaf].
Tae-muk, who had been looking at it quietly, slowly opened his mouth.
“Devouring Ghoul antennae.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Ho-eun replied in a slightly higher voice. He was excited that Tae-muk had recognized the picture at a glance. He pointed to the first picture he had drawn and said.
“These small antennae with two overlapping leaves, um, I call them sprouts…”
Ho-eun glanced at Tae-muk. He wondered if the name was too cute to attach to a Devouring Ghoul. But Tae-muk was looking at the picture with a serious expression.
“Continue.”
At his permission, Ho-eun continued to speak clearly with an excited face.
“Yes. These sprout-shaped antennae were on the head of the first Devouring Ghoul I saw when I left Hanyang and headed to the garrison. In the valley full of white stones. You saved me from hiding between the rocks, General.”
“…You remember that?”
“Of course. It was the first time I saw a living Devouring Ghoul, and it was the first time I was almost bitten by a Devouring Ghoul. I even remember how many teeth that guy had.”
“……”
Tae-muk narrowed his eyes. How many teeth… He had taken so many Devouring Ghoul heads, but he had never counted their teeth. He had never even thought of counting them. But Ho-eun remembered all of that. It was more than amazing, it was strange.
Meanwhile, Ho-eun moved his hand to the next picture.
“I saw this in a small village. The village that was farming near the previous garrison. At that time, the antennae of the leader who had cut off the ankles of the nobleman and thrown them as bait and was hiding in the house were shaped like this trident.”
“……”
“Also, I saw this at the Ramjae Town hospital. There were two things like deer antlers on both sides like this, and that guy moved the cannon with his hands and shot at the hospital. He was the smartest guy I’ve ever seen. I called this guy Double Horn Type.”
“……”
“And finally, this is a leaf, which I saw when I was moving from Ramjae Town to Myeonghwa Town. The guys who appeared when I was moving with the refugees. You took care of the antennae guy alone at that time, General. You were holding only the head… That guy had antennae in the shape of a leaf on his head.”
Ho-eun finished explaining the shape of the last antennae. Tae-muk looked at them carefully and asked.
“Why did you draw this.”
“Um… In my opinion, the shape of the antennae is different depending on their intelligence. The larger and more ornate the antennae, the higher the intelligence seems to be…”
“Explain.”
“For example, the leaf type just ran at people when they saw them. They were no different from beasts. Next, the sprout type was hiding in the valley water. It seemed like they knew how to use ambushes. And the trident type seemed to be able to use ambushes as well as bait, and finally, the Double Horn Type… I don’t want to believe it, but it seemed to understand how to use weapons like cannons.”
“……”
“There must be other antennae shapes besides these, but these are the only ones I’ve seen… So that’s my opinion for now.”
Ho-eun finished his explanation clearly without stuttering once. It was because he had thought about it a lot, and for a long time. Tae-muk stared at the notebook filled with writing.