By Zephyria 
And so, he fell asleep with his head buried in the dining table.
How much time had passed? When he slowly opened his eyes again, Eun-myeong was in the hotel room.
When did I come back here? His mind felt hazy, as if it had melted. It felt like he was walking on white clouds. The surroundings were incredibly dark, and a fierce wind and rain raged outside the window. Thunder and lightning flashed violently.
‘I’m scared….’
Eun-myeong curled his body up. Ever since being trapped in the attic, he had suffered from trauma. Whenever he saw darkness like this, he became like an idiot, unable to do anything and trembling in fear.
‘Did you sleep well…?’
Then, a tender voice drifted down from above. Before he knew it, Eun-myeong was cradled in the man’s arms. Both were naked, as if they had been doing something erotic. It slowly dawned on Eun-myeong that he was dreaming of things that had happened in the past.
‘You have to eat, right?’
In the darkness, the corners of the man’s mouth curled upward. He spoke in a feigned tender voice, looking down with a leisurely gaze. It was so sweet that Eun-myeong’s heart melted and his face flushed bright red.
‘I’m not really hungry.’
It was as sweet as a frozen persimmon in midsummer melting away under a spoon, making Eun-myeong squirm for no reason.
‘I just want to sleep more….’
Eun-myeong lightly rubbed the inside of his thigh against the man’s lower abdomen. Pubic hair, soft as the fur on a puppy’s belly, tangled against the man’s leg. He felt embarrassed by the rustling sound it made. When he snuggled closer into the embrace, the Boss laughed softly. Ha ha.
‘Is it because you’re scared?’
Had he been acting too much like a child? Eun-myeong began to worry about how he was being perceived. In his heart, he tried to slightly blame the man. But it was because the Boss treated him so much like a child….
He stole a glance at the man’s expression, but the man was looking down at him as if he were something cute.
‘Babies are allowed to be spoiled and act unsightly.’
The man opened his mouth and pinched a handful of Eun-myeong’s cheek.
‘Yes, from now on, just keep burying your head in Mister’s side and hide.’
Far from scolding him, the man comforted Eun-myeong, saying a baby could do that as much as they liked. He defended Eun-myeong’s clumsy behavior, praising him for being pretty and treating him with affection.
‘Right? If so, what scary thing could possibly exist in this world?’
The man was hot, hard, and sometimes fierce. Yet, Eun-myeong wondered why he felt as comfortable as an egg sheltered by a mother bird in a nest….
It truly felt as if everything would turn out fine as long as he was in that embrace. He didn’t envy those born with silver or gold spoons. It felt as if every soft thing in the world was cradled within him.
‘Yes….’
A tickle stirred between his ribs. Perhaps new feathers were sprouting there. Eun-myeong felt as if he were mutating through his love for him.
“…Eun-myeong.”
But then, he heard a voice calling him from somewhere. A crack suddenly splintered across the face of the man looking down at him.
‘Ah, …no.’
Unconsciously, Eun-myeong murmured softly. This wasn’t him breaking out of the egg. Someone was forcibly trying to wake him from his dream.
“…Eun-myeong!”
His forearm was grabbed. His body was shaken back and forth. When he snapped his eyes open, his Noona was shaking him.
“Ugh, yeah….”
Eun-myeong woke up groggily from the dream. His eyelids were swollen and his cheeks were flushed red. The surroundings slowly came into focus. What is this…. He had fallen asleep completely wasted on alcohol.
“Did you fall asleep while drinking alone?”
Unable to answer, Eun-myeong bit his lower lip hard. This was no different from some pathetic drunkard making a scene after a heartbreak. To show his Noona this side of himself—it was truly the worst.
Noona picked up the soup bowl from the table. Then, she added with a distressed tone:
“Just what kind of person is that piece of human trash that makes you go this far?”
“…….”
“Anyway, that man is finished now.”
Noona spat the words out like a curse. Following her lead, Eun-myeong chewed over the word ‘finished’ in his mouth. Why did the final pronunciation fall so coldly from the tip of his tongue? Eun-myeong felt as if his vision were turning black.
“No, Noona, the Boss isn’t human trash….”
So, he shook his head slightly.
“He got caught because he did that to the Director because of me.”
Whenever a storm raged, whenever the wind and rain blew, he had always hidden in the man’s embrace. He had thought it was strange that he acted like someone under a spell.
That’s right, there had been such things between him and the man.
Until he met the man, Eun-myeong had many unhappy dreams. Being trapped somewhere, being bullied, or being beaten until his lower abdomen swelled….
But only after meeting the man did he realize. They say dreams can manifest the things one desperately desires. Then, was what he wanted to be with the man again?
Why couldn’t his heart distance itself even a little? Why am I….
“Someone reported seeing a man throwing something into the sea in front of the coast.”
A detective named Ji Jun-il had told Eun-myeong this. That he had received a report from an anonymous person.
Even thinking about it now, it felt as if his chest were collapsing. Who on earth had seen that…? What if the informant actually knew everything about the man in detail?
“If he hadn’t been involved with me…, he would have lived normally. So please don’t call him human trash.”
He had never once been of any help to the man, and now the man was about to roll down into a pit because of him.
He was like a water ghost, grabbing the man’s ankle and dragging him down.
I am….
The Noona holding the bowl stopped speaking for a moment. Looking down at Eun-myeong’s sunken face, she let out a deep sigh.
“It would have been better if you’d never met.”
Eun-myeong agreed with the following words. If this was the kind of meeting, it would have been better if they had never met at all. Then neither the man nor he would have suffered like this.
“…I’m sorry.”
He felt sorry for seeming to rebuke his Noona when she was speaking for his sake. When he apologized softly out of distress, Noona smiled faintly, saying she understood.
The weather was gloomy, as if it were about to rain. Eun-myeong gathered the laundry one by one. Even though he had only drunk a little, his stomach felt twisted.
Still, he endured it, scrubbing the floor clean and folding plenty of towels. He also made a heap of rice balls. He wrapped the tightly clenched rice in seaweed and then rolled them in plastic wrap.
As he began putting them into the freezer one by one, a whole shelf was soon filled. It felt as if his heart, which had seemed empty, was filled at least a little.
“Why did you make so many?”
Coming out of the bathroom after washing, Noona’s eyes widened as she shook her damp hair dry with a towel. She had seen the mountain of rice balls.
“Noona.”
Eun-myeong stopped wrapping the rice in seaweed and smiled awkwardly.
“I’m going to go to the hotel to get my things.”
“To Kang Pyeong-won?”
“Yeah….”
Eun-myeong nodded slightly. He tried to force a smile, but the corners of his mouth kept drooping.
“But it might take some time. Make sure to eat well, sleep well, and since it looks like it’ll rain for a few days, make sure to lock the doors properly….”
“Why are you talking like someone who’s leaving for a long time?”
Eun-joo frowned. It wasn’t a baseless worry; her brother’s complexion was poor. Although his round eyes curved softly, the area beneath them was as red as a nine-tailed fox’s, making her wonder if he had fallen asleep crying again yesterday.
Eun-joo wasn’t unaware that her brother spent his nights lying on the living room blanket, crying himself to sleep.
She hoped that time would resolve the heartache…. Strangely, it felt as if time was flowing very slowly only for Eun-myeong.
“It looks like a heavy rain is about to fall outside.”
Moreover, the wind and rain outside seemed poised to rage. Eun-myeong’s heart was currently too worn out to push through that storm. It would be disastrous if he were swept away by that wind.
“Eun-myeong, let’s go together after Noona comes back from work.”
“No, I’m fine.”
Eun-myeong grinned, showing his front teeth. Eun-joo was lost for words at the face trying so hard to look cheerful.
“…….”
Eun-myeong always looked somewhat pitiful and heartbreaking. With a youthful face like a baby who needed to be held and comforted immediately, she always felt as if he were standing on the edge of a river.
In her heart, she wanted to tell him not to go…. But she didn’t know if she had the right to say such a thing.
“Alright, go ahead.”
So, she didn’t say much and simply told him to do so.
Eun-myeong moved diligently and finished everything he had to do. He left a phone message saying he wouldn’t be able to go to work at the shop. He also sent a text to Yong-hee saying he was sorry.
[Yong-hee, it’s Hyung.. I’m sorry for everything.^^ ]
Eun-myeong put on a white raincoat. He fastened the buttons one by one and pulled up the hood. When he stepped outside with a determined look in his eyes, a torrential rain was pouring down.
Tap, tap, tap! The rain beat against his entire body like a whip. Facing the fierce wind, he entered the market.
Because of the rain, the market was in total chaos. Even in a storm, people had to make a living, so many were moving busily through the rain.
Furthermore, everyone was wearing raincoats, making it impossible to tell who was who.
Eun-myeong glanced around. There was someone selling fish over there, and someone selling vegetables over there.
Is it that person? Or the person who just made eye contact with me…?
The words Jun-il had spoken to him at the orphanage played back in his mind.
‘There are people following Eun-myeong-ssi…. If you can just shake them off, we’ll come pick you up.’
He had come out, but Eun-myeong was actually full of worry. Could he really shake off the people the man had sent? He was too inexperienced; it was certain he would be found out.
That was why he intentionally chose the crowded market. On a rainy day like today, it was incredibly chaotic and noisy. Even so, he thought he might be able to hide his small frame for a moment.
Whether it worked or not, it was something he had to do. Eun-myeong moved his feet quickly. After weaving through the market, he slipped into a public restroom.
How much time had passed after that? The man’s subordinates, sensing something strange, burst into the restroom.
In front of the urinals, there were only unfamiliar faces. Overcome by fear, a subordinate quickly smashed the handles of each closed stall door and opened them. A middle-aged man who had been defecating appeared.
“Wha-what is this, you people!”
Since the last stall was closed, they kicked it open and entered. But to their surprise, it was empty. The white raincoat Eun-myeong had worn was shoved into the trash can, and one window was wide open, with rainwater pouring inside.
One of the three subordinates who followed let out a curse.
“…Hey, fuck, we’re screwed.”
An emergency had been declared. Director Park had warned them that the Boss clung to that tiny body so much that if they lost sight of him for even a second, they would be destroyed that very day.
“Hey, hurry up and chase him!”
Soon, splash, splash, splash! The sound of wet footsteps echoed through the restroom.