3.1 – Private Domain

Boys in school uniforms were boarding the bus in a line, pushing through the pouring rain. A teacher raised his voice beside them.

“Don’t push, get on slowly! You won’t get on any faster by doing that.”

They had waited for over an hour, but far from stopping, the rain fell harder, and the meteorological office reported that it would continue through the night. Eventually, the teachers announced that they would wrap up the field trip. It was an inevitable decision, as the heavier the rain, the more the roads back to Seoul would congest and the higher the risk of accidents became.

“Ah, I didn’t get to ride the Extrain.”

“Idiots, you should’ve ridden it first while the weather was good.”

The children who hadn’t played as much as they wanted pouted and grumbled, while those who had diligently moved around and ridden all their target attractions giggled and teased their friends. The interior of the bus, which had been harmonious and boisterous on the way there, soon grew tense, as if a fight were about to break out.

“Everyone be quiet and sit down quickly! From now on, anyone who talks will have it reflected in their attitude score!”

The homeroom teacher shouted before a full-blown commotion could erupt. The children quickly scrambled to find their seats. Although the grumbling and chatting continued afterward, the atmosphere didn’t overheat any further.

Even inside the noisy bus, there were students who remained quiet. It was Seung-pyo and Jae-min, sitting side by side in a two-person seat.

They had sat with different people on the way there, but since they had been moving together since the restaurant, they ended up boarding the bus one after another. Consequently, they naturally sat in the empty seats in the order they entered. Because the children were rushing in due to the heavy rain, they didn’t have the luxury of picking their favorite seats or carefully deciding who to sit with, as they had on the way there. Following the teacher’s instruction to change seats only after boarding, the children swarmed in and crammed themselves into any available spot.

Of course, Seung-pyo and Jae-min didn’t bother changing seats even after everyone had boarded. Taking advantage of the remaining noise, Seung-pyo asked in a very low voice, as if transmitting a coded message.

“Is no one at home?”

“The helper is there. My parents aren’t home today, so she’ll be staying overnight.”

“What, so it’s not empty…”

Seung-pyo muttered, sounding somewhat disappointed. Whether it was his own home with his older brother or Jae-min’s home with a helper, there wasn’t much difference. Seung-pyo’s brother would likely be holed up in his room all day with a hangover anyway, not even glancing at what his only younger brother was up to.

“The helper finishes her work around 10 PM and goes to her room; she doesn’t come out. Once she falls asleep, she doesn’t wake up easily.”

“…….”

“Our house is big… it’s quite a distance from her room to mine.”

At Jae-min’s further explanation, Seung-pyo, who had been lounging in his seat, straightened his posture. Come to think of it, Jae-min wouldn’t have invited him over with such a careless plan. Who was Ryu Jae-min? He probably had everything planned. Thinking this, Seung-pyo relaxed and found himself valuing Jae-min even more highly than before.

Looking out the window, Jae-min felt his phone vibrate and checked the notification. A new message had arrived on social media.

But if I have to wait until 10 PM, does that mean you want me to sleep over at your place?

Jae-min stared silently at the message for a moment before replying.

Is that not okay?

Seung-pyo let out a scoff as if it were absurd, glanced at Jae-min, and tapped the keypad.

If I’m sleeping over, I have to tell my family in advance.

I thought it would be fine since it’s just you and your brother.

It was true. As long as the two brothers of the Oh family confirmed that the other was alive and safe without doing anything bad, they didn’t interfere with where the other spent a night or two. He sent a quick reply.

Yeah, it’s actually fine.

He heard a snicker beside him. Turning his head, he saw Jae-min indeed laughing quietly.

Seung-pyo instinctively reached out toward him, but regained his senses and clenched his fist tight. No matter how good it felt to kiss Ryu Jae-min or touch him, there was a time and place. It would be a relief if he were just like Pavlov’s dog, reacting only to specific signals; he became afraid that he might lose his mind and reach out even in a classroom full of people.

As the engine started and the bus began to rumble, Seung-pyo crossed his arms and leaned deeper into the backrest. The buses departed one by one, starting from Class 1. Sitting by the window, Jae-min rested his arm on the sill and looked out at the rain.

The children, who had been energetic, must have been exhausted from the intense day; as the bus started moving, they closed their eyes one by one. By the time the bus picked up speed on the highway, many had fallen fast asleep.

It wasn’t even 4 PM yet, but the sky had descended heavily and turned dark, as if it were already night. Rain fell outside, and the bus carrying the children swayed in a steady rhythm. To growing boys who were chronically sleep-deprived, the heavy clouds were like blankets, and the swaying bus was a cradle.

Feeling drowsy, Seung-pyo also blinked slowly, on the verge of falling asleep. Come to think of it, he hadn’t walked that much or ridden any particularly thrilling rides, but perhaps being trapped and trembling in the Ferris wheel for a long time, or the… that kind of thing he did with Ryu Jae-min there, had exhausted him. He felt quite tired for someone who had played leisurely.

“Hey, aren’t you sleep—”

Seung-pyo started to speak to Jae-min without thinking, but then shut his mouth.

He had never seen Jae-min doze off at school. Although he looked tired occasionally, as the top student and model pupil, Jae-min had never shown himself nodding off during class or during breaks, nor had he ever slept face-down on his desk like other kids. Of course, he didn’t observe Ryu Jae-min 24 hours a day, so he couldn’t say for certain, but that was how it seemed to him.

So, even as he turned his head to speak, he thought of Jae-min’s usual self. He expected that even now, while everyone was drenched in fatigue and dozing, Ryu Jae-min would be looking out the window with the same detached expression he had when they first boarded.

But he wasn’t. Perhaps because of today’s events, Ryu Jae-min was indeed dozing with his eyes closed. Moreover, his neck was bent sharply, and his head was nodding and dipping.

He’d be able to sleep more stably if he just leaned against the window. Does he not know how to nap because he’s never done it in public?

Just as he had almost reached out to Jae-min earlier, Seung-pyo hesitated, clenching and unclenching his fist several times. He glanced around, feeling as if someone might be watching. At least the kids in his immediate vicinity were all asleep, heads tilted back and mouths open.

After checking the surroundings, he quickly reached out toward Jae-min. He had to be careful not to wake him, but his urgency made him hurry.

His large hand gently pushed the swaying head in the air, tilting it toward himself. Jae-min’s face touched Seung-pyo’s shoulder. The head, which had been swaying unstabley like a pendulum, became still once it found a support. It made the observer’s heart feel much more at ease.

Fortunately, Ryu Jae-min seemed to be in a deep sleep, as he didn’t open his eyes even when his position was changed. Seung-pyo swallowed hard. He hadn’t done anything grand, yet his heart was pounding and his face kept flushing.

After all, this was a bus filled with classmates, and what Seung-pyo had just done was an embarrassing action for male classmates to do together.

It was something that could be more shameful than hiding in a private space to kiss, suck nipples, or stroke a cock over pants.

* * *

As expected, the roads were congested due to the rain, and it was around evening by the time they arrived at school. Leaving the buses parked in the schoolyard behind, the children said their goodbyes and scattered.

Seung-pyo and Jae-min walked out of the school gate together. They kept a slight distance as if they had different destinations, but they were heading in the same direction. Seung-pyo asked,

“Isn’t the Benz picking you up today?”

“That’s for when I go between academies; it doesn’t come when I go straight home from school.”

“Aw, I thought I might get to ride in a Benz for once.”

“…Should I have asked it to come?”

As if taking the joke seriously, Jae-min looked a bit troubled. Seung-pyo chuckled and shook his head.

“Forget it. I’ll buy a Benz with my own money later. I’m going to get my driver’s license as soon as I graduate. My dad said he’d give me the car he’s driving now once I go to college.”

“Does your brother have a car too?”

“Yeah, he got a used car, but Dad’s giving me the one he currently drives. My dad is overseas a lot, so he doesn’t drive it that often. Total win.”

In the meantime, they arrived at a nearby bus stop. Their conversation continued while waiting for the bus.

“Did your father take your phone wallpaper photo too?”

“Yeah, on a boat. It’s a place most people can’t go. Right in the middle of the ocean.”

Seung-pyo looked down at his own phone wallpaper and then sighed, as if a different thought had occurred to him.

“I really need to decide on my major now…”

“Do you have something in mind?”

“Natural Sciences or Engineering at Hankuk University. You?”

Jae-min remained silent, looking at the road where cars were passing, before answering.

“I’m thinking Engineering too… but my parents want me to go to law school after I graduate from university.”

“Wow, already?”

Then wouldn’t he have to keep studying even in college? He knew many people went to law school after graduating from undergrad regardless of their major, but to Seung-pyo, that was still a far-off future plan.

“I heard your father is a law professor. Are you going into law like him?”

“Hmm… I’m considering it for now. My parents want me to.”

“What professor is your mother?”

“Fine Arts.”

“Do you have any talent for art?”

“Just average. My sister was the one who was good at drawing…”

“You have a sister?”

Seung-pyo asked, his eyes suddenly widening. Jae-min nodded blankly. Seung-pyo’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

“Having a sister is great, right? My brother is seriously the most useless thing in the world. It’d be better if he didn’t exist. Wow, I wish I had a sister instead of a brother.”

“Well… we get along okay, but she works at a company and doesn’t come home often, so I don’t see her much.”

“She works? There’s quite an age gap, then?”

Jae-min nodded.

“We were closer when we were younger…”

As he spoke, the bus they were to take arrived.

Boarding side by side just as they had on the express bus, the two held onto the poles crossing the ceiling and passed several stops in silence, each looking at their own phone. After getting off the bus, they walked side by side again, though with a moderate distance, and arrived at an apartment complex.

Seung-pyo’s home was nothing to be envious of, but the apartment where Jae-min lived was a famous place in the area, rumored to be where many celebrities lived. Since it was known that non-residents couldn’t even enter, Seung-pyo looked around, wanting to sightsee since he had come along.

“It’s expensive, so it really is nice. Must be a great place to live.”

Jae-min didn’t answer.

The two took a spacious elevator and finally arrived in front of the house. Right in front of Ryu Jae-min’s home. As they reached the front door, the reality hit him, and Seung-pyo suddenly felt a creeping nervousness.

If the announcement for the resumption of service hadn’t played inside the Ferris wheel, he surely would have put his hand inside Ryu Jae-min’s pants. Even though Jae-min had said no with his words, it was obvious he had hesitated in the face of that touch. Even the hand that had gripped his sleeve at the end hadn’t had any real strength in it.

At that moment, he had forgotten the fact that he, who had a fear of heights, was trapped in a Ferris wheel stopped 70 meters in the air, and thought only about what to do with Jae-min, who wore an unusual expression and didn’t know how to handle himself.

Once I enter this house, ‘the next part’ will begin… Before he could finish that resolve in his heart, Jae-min opened the door.

“Welcome. Jae-min brought a friend over.”

“Hello.”

As they stepped inside, a middle-aged woman, who appeared to be the helper, immediately came to the entrance to greet them. When Seung-pyo bowed politely, the woman’s face brightened.

“The friend is very handsome too. As expected, they look like they belong together.”

“Thank you. You’re very pretty too, ma’am.”

“Oh, such a smooth talker. You’re hungry, right? Wash up and wait a moment. I’ve prepared lots of delicious food since I heard a friend was coming.”

As the woman headed back to the kitchen, Seung-pyo whispered in Jae-min’s ear.

“Hey, she’s totally like a mom.”

“She’s kind to me.”

Although she had acted as his father’s hands to rummage through his things, Jae-min didn’t resent the helper for it. No matter how good a person was, she was in a position of being paid by his parents, so it would have been difficult for her to refuse their demands.

Moreover, the woman had later apologized to Jae-min, feeling deeply sorry about the incident. Jae-min hadn’t encountered many adults who apologized to him. For that reason alone, Jae-min could still like her, and he thought it was a relief that he could.

“Did you tell your parents I was coming?”

“No.”

“Is it okay not to?”

“They won’t be back until tomorrow afternoon anyway. We’ll be at school and gone. I asked the helper to keep it a secret too.”

Seung-pyo looked at Jae-min with a peculiar smile. Jae-min also looked back at Seung-pyo while putting down his bag and asked,

“Why are you smirking?”

“Your parents have no idea you’re like this, right?”

Jae-min chuckled and loosened his school tie.

“How would they know?”

At that, Seung-pyo giggled. Jae-min smiled along. Feeling strangely good, he almost added, No one knows but me, but he kept his mouth shut.

“Jae-min, get ready for dinner.”

“Yes!”

“Both of you change your clothes and give me your uniforms. You have to wear them tomorrow, so I’ll wash your friend’s too.”

Seung-pyo’s eyes widened, and he shook his head.

“What? No, it’s okay. I can wash it. I always do my own laundry at home.”

“Oh, what a filial son. You do your own school laundry? Your mother must love you.”

“Yes, right?”

Jae-min, knowing that Seung-pyo didn’t have a mother, momentarily froze with an awkward expression, but as the conversation continued without hesitation, he slowly relaxed and watched the two.

Then, he lowered his gaze slightly and gave a bitter smile. It was the first time since middle school that he had brought a classmate home…

For once, home feels like a home.

Although Seung-pyo was larger in build than Jae-min, there were some of Jae-min’s clothes that he could wear. After changing and finishing the preparations for the meal, the two sat at the dining table.

The sizable table was packed full; rather than a dinner set for a single visiting classmate, it looked more like a spread for a birthday party. Seung-pyo was continuously impressed.

“Insane. Do you eat like this every day?”

“No, not really.”

The helper smiled and set down a pot. When she opened the lid, a beautifully colored blue crab tang appeared, filled with large, plump crabs.

“I’ve worked here for several years, and this is the first time Jae-min has brought a friend home. Eat plenty. The friend doesn’t look like a picky eater, right?”

“Ah, that’s right. I eat as much as I look like I do.”

“Eat lots of delicious things with Jae-min. I’m worried because he’s such a picky eater.”

Jae-min protested as if he couldn’t accept this.

“Auntie, I really don’t eat that little.”

Then, instead of the helper, Seung-pyo cut in, waving his empty chopsticks toward Jae-min as if pointing a finger.

“No, you do eat little. Sometimes during lunch, he just has a chocolate milk and calls it a meal. I could never stand it; I’d be starving by 5th period if I ate like that.”

“That’s only occasionally when I don’t have an appetite.”

“I never don’t have an appetite.”

What a boast. With no more words to say against the firm rebuttal, Jae-min began to eat, grumbling.

As he had declared, Seung-pyo really ate well. Jae-min had seen Seung-pyo eat at the school cafeteria, but perhaps because it was school food, he had never thought he ate that much. But with a home-cooked meal spread across the table, the plates were being emptied one by one at a rapid pace.

The helper also seemed surprised. She had prepared a lot since a guest was coming for the first time in a while, but she hadn’t expected him to actually eat this much. When Seung-pyo’s bowl became empty, the woman asked,

“Friend, do you want more rice?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a good age. I guess everything you eat really goes straight to your height. Jae-min, do you want more too?”

Normally, Jae-min would have declined here. It would be foolish to compete over the amount of food one eats. However, for some reason, a sudden urge to not lose surged within him, and Jae-min nodded.

“Give me more too.”

“I guess your appetite has returned since you’re eating with a friend today.”

The lady, who stood up to scoop more rice, muttered to herself and gave a small, clicking tsk of her tongue. Jae-min flushed, feeling as though he knew exactly what she was thinking. He felt as if he had garnered pity for all the wrong reasons.

But her guess might be correct. At home, he had absolutely no appetite. Sitting at the large dining table with his parents, listening to nothing but stiff, formal conversation, the food he forced down his throat always tasted of nothing.

Most of the days when he “skipped meals for chocolate milk,” as Seung-pyo put it, were because he was in a bad mood due to things that happened at home. It wasn’t that Jae-min was the kind of kid who struggled to eat school lunches or pushed his tray away because he felt sick.

The two of them eventually stood up only after emptying two bowls of rice each. When Seung-pyo offered to help with the dishes, the lady chased them out of the kitchen, telling him not to interfere since she was paid to do the job and that they should go play. She even sliced some fruit for dessert, but Jae-min put his fork down after eating only two pieces of apple.

“Why aren’t you eating more?”

“I’m full.”

“Eat up. We’re going to be hanging out until late today.”

“I don’t think my stomach will be empty until tomorrow morning even if I don’t eat more.”

Seung-pyo picked up the remote on the table, turned on the TV, accessed a video platform, and asked while looking at Jae-min.

“What channels do you watch? Anything you like?”

Jae-min’s living room had a large TV just like any other house, but it was closer to a decoration. Since neither his father nor his mother ever watched it, Jae-min naturally didn’t use the living room TV much either. Whenever he wanted to watch something, he usually just used his laptop in his room.

“I don’t really watch. There’s nothing.”

“I guess since you don’t play games, you wouldn’t watch this kind of stuff much.”

As they sat on the living room sofa chatting, having cleared the fruit plate, the lady poked her head in after a while. She spoke with a smile.

“I’ve finished all my work, so I’ll be heading out. Since you have a friend over today, it’ll be better for you to play if I get out of the way quickly, right?”

“No, you don’t have to worry about that.”

Seung-pyo gave a polite, empty response. Jae-min looked at the clock. Usually, when the lady stayed over to look after Jae-min because his parents were away all night, she would move around the house tidying up until 10 PM, but today it was early, just past 9.

“It’s good for me to get some rest early too. I’ve washed and ironed your uniforms, so you can wear them tomorrow. See you tomorrow then.”

“Goodnight!”

Seung-pyo greeted her energetically. The lady smiled back and headed toward the small room furthest from the living room.

Seung-pyo and Jae-min had been maintaining a reasonably calm conversation, but once they were left alone in the wide living room, it fell silent. An awkward atmosphere settled in, as if they had suddenly run out of things to say.

Looking around, Seung-pyo spoke first.

“My house isn’t exactly small, but this is the first time I’ve seen a house this big. Do just you and your parents live here?”

“Yeah, but my father has a separate study, my mother has a room she uses as a studio, and my Noona’s room is still kept… every room is used; there aren’t any spares.”

“A study? That’s cool. Can I take a look?”

Come to think of it, despite bringing him over as a guest, Jae-min hadn’t even thought about showing him around the house. When Jae-min didn’t answer immediately, Seung-pyo, thinking it might be a difficult question, changed the subject without lingering.

“If not, it’s fine. It’s your father’s study, so maybe I shouldn’t just go in.”

“No, you can go in.”

He had only been dazed for a moment by the unexpected question, but this time, Jae-min answered like a bullet.

When he was home alone, he never felt the need to enter his father’s study. The same went for his mother’s studio or the other rooms.

Most of the books filling his father’s study were difficult academic texts, so there was nothing for Jae-min to read. Furthermore, since the study also served as his father’s home office, even though he had never been explicitly told not to enter, it was naturally a place Jae-min felt he should not enter without permission.

Even when his Noona lived at home, he had never seen her enter the study unless his father called her first. Almost every time his father called him or his Noona into the study, it was to scold them severely while avoiding the eyes of his mother or the housekeeper, so honestly, it was a place he didn’t want to be near.

But thinking about it, was there any reason he shouldn’t enter when he wanted to, given that he lived with someone who entered rooms that weren’t theirs and rummaged through things as they pleased?

Of course, he considered this house to be his father’s and mother’s, and himself merely a dependent being sheltered there until he became an adult and gained independence.

However, the people who set the rule that one room in this house was ‘Ryu Jae-min’s room’ were the owners of the house, his parents, and until that promise was broken, no one had the right to rummage through his territory without permission. It was the same logic as to why Jae-min or other family members could not rummage through the helper lady’s room just because it belonged to the house.

“Really? Won’t you get in trouble?”

“How would my father know if we went in or not?”

At that, Seung-pyo nodded as if it were a valid point, but his expression became mischievous.

“I mean, is this even a big deal? We’re going to do way worse things anyway.”

At those words, Jae-min couldn’t help but chuckle.

He was right. In this house without his father and mother, Jae-min intended to do the things his parents hated most with Oh Seung-pyo today. Even if he roamed the house like a hooligan in their absence, nothing could surpass the impurity of the purpose for which he had brought Oh Seung-pyo here.

Jae-min felt a surge of courage, like a warrior about to step into a danger zone, and stood up, gesturing for Seung-pyo to follow.

The study was located such that one could see Jae-min’s room immediately upon opening the door. It was a room that faintly smelled of old books, like a library.

“This is insane.”

Even though it was an unoccupied room, Seung-pyo lowered his voice in admiration. Three walls were lined with bookshelves, and a large, dark brown wooden desk with a black leather chair behind it sat heavily, as if telling them exactly what kind of person the owner of this room was.

The desk was full but neatly organized, and there wasn’t a speck of dust on the densely packed bookshelves. Since the house employed a housekeeper, the owner likely didn’t do the dusting himself, but regardless, the space felt quite oppressive rather than cozy as one might imagine. Seung-pyo looked through the books on the shelf and looked surprised.

“Wow, all the book titles are written in Hanja. I guess you need to know Hanja to study law. Do you learn Hanja too?”

“No, I’ll just memorize it later if I need to.”

Jae-min looked around as if he were entering for the first time. Seung-pyo asked in an amused tone.

“Why are you looking around like that? It’s your house.”

“Coming in like this, it feels like a different room.”

“How is it different?”

Jae-min answered as he walked slowly past the bookshelves as if viewing exhibits.

“Well… there are books, and there’s a desk… it’s just a room.”

“It’s a study, so of course there are books and a desk. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t have to.”

After answering, Jae-min sat on a small sofa by the window. Unlike the office chair in front of the desk, this one looked softer, perhaps for resting, and there was a small sofa table in front of it. The table was also made of an antique wood material. It was polished and smooth without being flimsy, as if it had been used and broken in for a long time.

Leaning back against the sofa, Jae-min pointed to the table.

“When I was little, if I did something wrong, I’d be made to stand on this and get my calves hit by my father.”

“Calves? Like a tutor from the Joseon Dynasty? Your father is really old-school. My dad just starts swinging his hands when he gets pissed.”

“Really? Your father hits you too?”

“Hmm… not exactly ‘educationally,’ but sometimes when he’s really angry? Once, before my Hyung went to college, after he got into early admissions, he stayed out playing until morning without calling. When it’s just Hyung and me like today, we don’t care if the other stays out, but we can’t do that when Dad’s around. Dad got so pissed he hit Hyung once, but my crazy Hyung wasn’t fully sober and hit Dad back, asking ‘Who the hell are you to do this to me?’ I almost died laughing watching from the side. I’m still bummed I didn’t record it on video.”

As he told the story, Seung-pyo let out a giggle, seemingly amused again. Jae-min, confused as to whether this was a story he should laugh at, changed the question with a bewildered face.

“Your Hyung hit your father? Was your father okay?”

“Ah, you’re like this because you’ve never seen my dad.”

Seung-pyo picked up his phone, tapped a few times as if searching for something, and held it out to Jae-min. On the screen was a photo of a middle-aged man who looked like he could take down two robbers by himself anywhere.

“It’s a miracle Hyung didn’t die that day. I’m going to work out and build more muscle once I go to college. They say if you build too much muscle now, you won’t grow taller.”

“I think you don’t need to grow any more…”

“If I grow just 2 more centimeters, I’ll be 190. Since I’m growing anyway, I might as well hit 90.”

Tapping the top of his own head, Seung-pyo scanned Jae-min from top to bottom and asked.

“How tall are you?”

“I was 180 when they measured at school last year, and since then…”

“Stand up.”

Why the sudden fuss about measuring height? Complaining inwardly, Jae-min stood up from the sofa. Following Seung-pyo’s gesture to come closer, he stepped right in front of him, bringing their faces completely within reach.

Seung-pyo reached out to gauge the height difference between them and said,

“I think you’ve grown more than last year too. There’s a guy in the next class who’s 180, and you definitely seem taller than him.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. And your face is smaller too.”

Indeed, the difference in eye level wasn’t that great. It was only a matter of slightly shifting his gaze up or down to meet his eyes. Jae-min said,

“I’m still growing, so maybe I could hit 190 too.”

“You probably won’t.”

“Why?”

“They say if you’re too horny during your growth spurt, you don’t grow well. Because you use too much of the energy needed for growth on erotic things.”

“Are you introducing yourself?”

“I am not.”

Seung-pyo murmured playfully. Jae-min narrowed his eyes and looked at his face. Because they were standing so close, it was actually hard to focus. Long eyes, separated by a straight bridge of the nose, were slightly downturned in a smiling gaze. His well-shaped lips were also smiling.

I didn’t bring him home just to trade jokes like this. Thinking that, the words Oh Seung-pyo had just said to tease him weren’t entirely wrong.

As he looked at him silently, feeling a bit absurd, the smile lingering in Oh Seung-pyo’s eyes and lips gradually vanished. He spoke in a low voice.

“Ryu Jae-min.”

“Yeah?”

“Can I kiss you now?”

Oh Seung-pyo, who would try to kiss him whenever they were alone in a place where they could avoid others’ eyes at school, was unusually cautious now.

Even though he had been timing the moment to kiss him just a few seconds ago, Jae-min couldn’t readily decide on an answer. Although he had boldly entered the study without permission, there was an invisible limit to trespassing on what had been his own kind of taboo. He felt a dizzying illusion that if they kissed, his father might be watching them from somewhere with a hardened expression and a cold gaze.

When Jae-min remained silent, the corners of Seung-pyo’s mouth curved up slightly again. A large hand wrapped around the back of Jae-min’s neck.

“Seeing as you didn’t answer immediately, I guess it’s a yes.”

No. If you had asked one more time, I would have said no.

As Seung-pyo’s face slowly approached and the sensation of soft lips meeting hit him, Jae-min closed his eyes tight. It felt as if everything—from the nape of his neck where fingers brushed to the fine hairs on his cheeks beside their locked lips—was standing on end.

Kissing was truly mysterious. When you closed your eyes and kissed, every location became equally dreamlike, and it didn’t matter where you were.

Just as he had forgotten for a while that the Ferris wheel hanging high in the sky had broken and stopped, Jae-min intended to forget where he was this time as well.

The time that had belonged only to the two of them inside the Ferris wheel had merely paused; it had neither ended nor disappeared. The heat that had filled his body like a thick mist had also only subsided for a moment; as soon as their lips overlapped, it revived instantly as if an execution command had been entered, beginning to burn all the way to his fingertips.

Both of them wanted to explore the inside of each other’s mouths and hastily pushed out their tongues. Soft pieces of flesh entangled chaotically. The roof of the mouth was scraped, and the smooth flesh inside the cheeks was rubbed. For some reason, the kiss in the ownerless study was more urgent than the one in the sky where a time limit had been imposed.

“Hng… ngh, hhh.”

While Jae-min always beat Seung-pyo in tests, he lost every time when it came to kissing. This time too, Jae-min, who ran out of strength first, helplessly accepted Seung-pyo’s tongue as it rummaged through his mouth.

Noticing this, Seung-pyo’s arm gripped Jae-min’s lower back tightly. At the kiss that went deep into the oral cavity, moving up and down and poking the sensitive spots, Jae-min unconsciously flinched and kept arching his back.

Seung-pyo leaned down, refusing to let go of Jae-min’s lips and following him, until he eventually pulled Jae-min upright and lifted his own head.

“Haa…”

Seung-pyo wiped his wet lips with his fingertips. Then, he flicked Jae-min’s chin with a finger.

“Why do you keep trying to lie down? Are you filming a movie?”

He hadn’t done it on purpose, but he had nothing to say once he was teased. Feeling as though he had lost, Jae-min shut his mouth tight, and Seung-pyo pushed him back against the wall.

No, to be precise, against the bookshelf. Jae-min leaned against the frame of a perfectly organized wooden bookshelf, packed with books containing golden rules, which had stood like a guardian totem against this wall for a long time.

For a moment, his back felt chilly. His inside was hot and his back was cold, and he almost shuddered at the temperature difference.

But Seung-pyo, who had no way of knowing Jae-min’s internal state, traced his fingers over the t-shirt, found the nipples through the fabric, and began to fiddle with them.

“Stick out your tongue.”

His mind seemed to slow down, and he couldn’t think of anything. Jae-min followed Seung-pyo’s words.

Seung-pyo lightly bit the tip of the extended tongue with his lips and sucked it gently. It wasn’t his usual playful sucking that made a popping sound, but a quiet, slow draw of the tongue tip, followed by swallowing the tongue whole, repeating the action.

“Hng, ah… ahh…”

As his tongue was devoured so many times that he lost count, moans escaped his open mouth before he could stop them.

“…Ngh…!”

The fingers that had been groping his chest over the clothes pinched the nipples that had been sucked for a long time during the day. Haa, Jae-min let out a deep sigh and draped his arm over Seung-pyo’s shoulder. The strength in his lower back vanished, and he felt as if he might just collapse on the spot.

Oh Seung-pyo was the one moving, and he had just been standing still, yet he felt drained of energy as if he had used it all himself. His breathing grew increasingly ragged, and his back, which had been chilly for a moment, was now completely hot. A heat he had never felt in his life tormented him, swelling inside his body, making it so difficult that he almost wanted to cry.

“What’s with your face?”

Seung-pyo hugged Jae-min’s waist again. The hand that had been circling over the clothes slid inside the thin indoor t-shirt. His sensitized skin reacted with an embarrassing start to even the casual touch, shaking his composure. Jae-min grimaced and let out a low moan.

“Ah…”

“Do you not want to do this right now, but you’re forcing yourself?”

“…”

“If you hate it here, we can go to your room.”

Seung-pyo asked, shifting his angle to meet Jae-min’s eyes as if trying to gauge his inner thoughts.

Even though he had thought he would answer ‘no’ to the second question, Jae-min gave an answer different from his initial intent again.

“…We don’t have to go.”

At that, Seung-pyo gave a knowing smirk.

“You too, huh?”

“…What?”

“Maybe it’s because we keep hiding and playing at school that it’s become a habit. We finally came home, and yet we’re sticking together in a place like this again.”

There was a small area designated as Ryu Jae-min’s space, however imperfectly, yet even in this wide, empty house, they were touching each other with pounding hearts in a space where they couldn’t completely let go of the worry that someone might suddenly burst through the door, or that someone was actually watching.

If it was a habit, it was a dangerous and bad one. Thinking that he had developed a bad habit, Jae-min’s heart beat faster and faster.

The hand that had been creeping up the skin hidden inside the clothes finally reached the nipple. The fingertips rolled the small protrusion, which had stiffened from tension, rubbing it up and down and tapping it.

Because his hand was hidden beneath the clothes and out of sight, the sensation against his skin felt even more vivid. Jae-min, who usually countered Seung-pyo’s mischievous jokes with a sharp tongue, didn’t dare answer now; he swallowed his voice and let out ragged breaths.

“I mean, it’s not my house, so as long as you’re okay with it, I don’t mind, but…”

The hand that had been fiddling with his nipple suddenly slid down. Unconsciously, Jae-min leaned his face against Seung-pyo’s shoulder and let out a cry.

“Ah, ah…!”

“Ha…”

A reflexive sigh escaped Seung-pyo’s lips as well.

The hand that had hesitated and failed to make a move at the amusement park now entered inside his pants in one swift motion. Since coming home, Jae-min had changed out of his school uniform into comfortable pants with a loose waistband, making the intrusion that much easier.

However, instead of gripping his member immediately, the hand that had entered his pants stroked the supple, soft skin of his inner thigh. Everywhere the fingers passed felt hot enough to cause a burn, yet it also felt as if a damp moisture was gathering.

“Haa, mm, ngh…”

Jae-min felt dizzy, as if every sensation he experienced was a crystallization of contradictions that didn’t add up. Seung-pyo’s voice reached his ear in a low murmur.

“Hey, you know… I didn’t follow you home just to kiss you and leave.”

Still leaning his face on Seung-pyo’s shoulder, Jae-min nodded. Then, he heard the sound of Seung-pyo swallowing hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing briefly.

The large hand that had been caressing his thigh climbed back up the skin, the tense fingertips brushing the boundary between his waist and pelvis before fumbling their way inside his underwear. Between the kissing and the touching of his chest and stomach, his groin, where the blood had rushed, was far hotter than any other part of his body.

Inside the underwear, his erect member was already making its presence clearly known. Even though he would reach it if he pushed his hand just a little further, Seung-pyo didn’t move recklessly. Jae-min could easily tell that while Seung-pyo pretended to be relaxed and composed, his hand was wandering like a lost child, unsure of where to go.

But such a minor hesitation was not enough to cool the heat surrounding the two of them. Even though the hand had barely touched his bare skin hidden by clothes and hadn’t yet reached his member, Jae-min trembled violently and leaned his weight further into Seung-pyo.

“Ah, hngh…”

Seung-pyo also exhaled uneven breaths as he pulled Jae-min into an embrace. Though he was impatient, he swallowed hard to avoid rushing and slowly pushed his hand further down. Finally gripping the feverish member, he paused for a moment before applying pressure and sliding his hand all the way up to the glans.

“……!”

Jae-min opened his mouth and trembled silently before slowly biting his lip. It was the first time in his life that someone else’s hand had touched him in such a private place for the purpose of pleasure. His vision blurred and swayed.

What would it feel like? How good would it be? He had wondered what would happen if Oh Seung-pyo’s hand, which he had seen in videos sent via SNS, touched him in the same way.

He had thought about it for days. Perhaps even up until this moment. And the current feeling was simply beyond words.

Since Jae-min didn’t say anything, Seung-pyo’s movements continued carefully. The hand, which had initially stopped while cupping the glans as if gauging Jae-min’s reaction, slid down the shaft and stroked the entire length of the member.

“Hng… ugh, hng.”

It wasn’t rough or fast, but it was a thick, lingering touch, as if squeezing out sensations that weren’t even there. The lip he had been biting loosened involuntarily, letting out a sound like a low sob.

After only a few strokes, his member twitched and Jae-min’s waist shook uncontrollably. Despite not doing anything strenuous, his legs felt weak, as if he were about to collapse. It was an overwhelming level of pleasure.

He had never felt his waist melt like this when masturbating alone, and he wasn’t even doing anything particularly special. To think that just having another person’s hand touch him could make such a massive difference.

Neither of them spoke. Both the one touching and the one surrendering were too tense to open their mouths. Only Jae-min’s faint moans leaked out occasionally, interspersed with Seung-pyo’s quiet but increasingly heavy breathing.

As the way Jae-min clung to him became more desperate, Seung-pyo held onto Jae-min’s waist and continued the handplay inside the pants. Because they were pressed tightly together, the sensation of their thighs touching clearly informed Jae-min that Seung-pyo’s own member had also grown hard and voluminous. Every time he felt it, Jae-min grit his teeth, overcome by a feeling of wanting to shudder.

Before long, the clear fluid leaking from the glans acted as a lubricant. The sensation became smoother than before, but even with relatively loose pants, it was uncomfortable to touch his member inside the clothes. Seung-pyo let out a short, dissatisfied cough from the back of his throat. Then, while keeping his arm around Jae-min’s waist, he moved and sat Jae-min down somewhere.

Realizing where he was, Jae-min nearly jumped up in surprise. The place he had sat his buttocks on was the wooden side table belonging to his father, which he had shown Seung-pyo moments ago.

“Why here…?”

But Seung-pyo looked nonchalant.

“Is it not allowed? You said you’ve even stepped on this thing before.”

He had misguessed the reason for Jae-min’s panic. As if he had been very focused on the handplay, he let out a sigh and quickly knelt down, attempting to pull Jae-min’s pants down. Flustered once again, Jae-min grabbed the waistband that was about to be dragged down.

“Why the clothes too?”

“It’s uncomfortable to use my hand while you’re wearing them.”

Seung-pyo clicked the tips of his right fingers together a couple of times like castanets, then, as if a mischievous idea had struck him, he smiled and pulled out his phone.

“Hey. Want to make another bet?”

“…What kind of bet.”

“I’ll set a timer for 10 minutes and give you a handjob. If you can hold it in without cumming, you win.”

“And if I can’t?”

“Then I lose. As for the condition… let’s do a wish, like last time.”

At this point, he was a betting addict. However, Jae-min didn’t shake his head. Instead, he attempted to negotiate.

“10 minutes is too long. Make it 5.”

“Are you premature? You can’t even last 10 minutes?”

“You try it. It’s different from doing it alone…”

Stung by the word ‘premature,’ Jae-min blurted it out, only to realize the flaw in his words and quickly trail off. ‘Try it’—how? Whose hand was he supposed to try it with?

Sure enough, even while chatting idly, Seung-pyo smiled and rubbed Jae-min’s still-erect member through the clothes.

“Try it? You’re going to do it for me?”

When Jae-min didn’t answer and faced Seung-pyo with a displeased expression, Seung-pyo stopped joking and stripped off Jae-min’s pants. This time, Jae-min didn’t act surprised about why the clothes were coming off.

As Seung-pyo tried to remove his underwear, Jae-min flinched and tensed up with a bit of resistance, but eventually, he lifted his hips slightly and let Seung-pyo make his lower body completely naked.

Jae-min’s white thighs rested quietly on the wooden table, which was a dark brown that looked almost black. Because he wasn’t wearing clothes, there was a sense of incongruity, yet it was a scene that could almost look neat—if not for the member standing wet and glistening between his legs, which made it impossible to deceive the eye for even a second.

Seung-pyo stepped closer and clarified the terms of the bet.

“Fine. Then 7 minutes. Deal?”

He leaned down slightly and gripped the member again. Without further preamble, he immediately applied pressure and stroked upward with a slapping sound, causing Jae-min’s waist to jerk. His stomach flattened, and his underdeveloped abs appeared and twitched.

“Ha, ha, haa.”

His breath came out in short, fragmented gasps. Jae-min’s hands gripped the edge of the table tightly. Soon, the strength left his legs, and his gathered thighs slid open limply.

Clear pre-cum gathered at the urethral opening once more and then spread. When Seung-pyo rubbed it with his thumb, Jae-min groaned, biting back the sound like someone in pain. He covered his mouth with his hand and then grabbed Seung-pyo’s wrist. Seung-pyo smiled but coldly pushed the hand away.

“That’s cheating. We made a bet. You can’t interfere.”

Pressing down firmly on the hand that had committed the foul to keep it from moving, Seung-pyo slowly stroked up the shaft and covered the damp glans with his palm.

He cupped the sensitive glans in the center of his palm and rubbed it in a circular motion. Jae-min’s eyes widened, and he tilted his head back.

“Ah, aaah! Ha…!”

“You like this, don’t you?”

Jae-min’s waist bounced. His buttocks lifted slightly off the table and sank back down, and his member twitched from the root as if it were about to erupt at any moment.

Then, like someone who had just noticed a cup of water tipping over, Seung-pyo let out a surprised “Uh,” and gripped tightly just below the glans. The pleasure that was about to burst was suppressed and surged backward into his body. The sensation of ejaculation, which had tried to escape only to be pushed back in, made his entire body ache with a tingling intensity. Jae-min panted, feeling his eyes grow slightly hot.

“You’re gonna cum already? Hold it, Ryu Jae-min. Even so, cumming in your father’s study is a bit much.”

“Hngh, hukk, ah…”

“Only 4 minutes have passed. 3 minutes left.”

3 minutes, 3 minutes, 3 minutes…

Jae-min repeated the words in his hazy mind, like someone receiving a punishment to endure pain for a set amount of time.

“Here, hold this. Don’t drop it.”

Seung-pyo handed him the phone with his remaining hand. While Jae-min blankly took it and looked down at the timer counting down second by second, Seung-pyo began to move his hand again.

As Jae-min’s body heated up, Seung-pyo’s movements became bolder. The caution from when he first put his hand in the pants was gone; his hand swept rapidly from the root to the tip, cupped the sensitive end and spun it, or rubbed only that specific part quickly.

Jae-min’s face turned completely red. Not just his face, but a light sweat was breaking out across his body. His thighs periodically tensed up, and his toes, dangling below the table, repeatedly stiffened and relaxed. He tapped the floor a few times as if stomping.

Even then, he gripped the phone Seung-pyo had given him so tightly that he didn’t let go, effectively leaving both of his hands tied.

“Hng! Hng! Ngh!”

20 seconds, 19 seconds, 18 seconds… Jae-min grit his teeth, focusing all his attention on the time with a clouded mind. Seung-pyo, who had been acting relaxed and telling him to hold it, seemed to feel that time was running out and began to move his hand more aggressively.

His palm rubbed the member, which had become as sensitive as possible, with rapid speed. Jae-min struggled to hold back the fluid that was about to spill over like water exceeding a dam. He squeezed his eyes shut. He felt as if his entire body were on fire, but there wasn’t much time left.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

“Haaa…!”

The moment the timer alarm went off, Jae-min’s entire body shook violently, and thick, white semen shot out from the hard, twitching member.

The released semen soiled not only Seung-pyo’s hand but also the antique table he was sitting on and the dust-free floor. But Jae-min couldn’t see any of that. The finally arrived sense of liberation, the pleasure of his sharply strained nerves melting away in an instant, left him gasping for air, his vision going dark as he trembled.

“Wow…”

Seung-pyo’s voice of admiration and the sound of him muttering something while rubbing the semen off his hand seemed to come from far away. But by the time his body heat suddenly drew near and he stroked Jae-min’s shaking shoulder, Jae-min managed to lift his head and look at him.

“Ah… you actually held it until the end. I didn’t think you could.”

“…….”

“I should have gone for 10 minutes.”

To think a person could feel this driven to madness in less than 10 minutes.

He could have felt embarrassed by the sight of himself, half-naked, panting after ejaculating. But for some reason, he didn’t feel that strange sense of alienation or humiliation he had tasted when Seung-pyo suddenly pulled away in the Ferris wheel, as if he had been abruptly thrown aside. It might be because Seung-pyo was still looking at him with heat in his eyes and continuing to touch him.

Still, once he escaped the vortex of sensation, he felt it was somehow unfair. He had been disheveled twice, while Oh Seung-pyo remained so composed.

Unlike Jae-min, who was barely regaining his senses after being tormented to the point of losing consciousness, Oh Seung-pyo, who had only moved his hand diligently, naturally looked perfectly fine. His face was slightly flushed, as if he were equally excited, but that was all. He hadn’t taken off his clothes, nor had he panted and ejaculated like Jae-min. While the ejaculation inside his pants might not be as neat as it looked, it was at least something he could hide.

Having regained his reason, Jae-min finally looked down between his thighs. Semen was messily smeared on the side table his father cherished. Seung-pyo followed Jae-min’s gaze, realized the situation belatedly, and looked around.

“I should wipe this quickly. It looks like your father really treasures this.”

Seung-pyo, who seemed to be looking for wet wipes or something similar, stopped searching and turned back to Jae-min. Jae-min, with a face that hadn’t yet cooled from the excitement, remained silent and held onto Seung-pyo’s arm.

Even though Jae-min hadn’t complained, Seung-pyo recalled the incident in the Ferris wheel. There was no need to button anything up this time, but Seung-pyo postponed cleaning up and took Jae-min’s hand.

The reason he held his hand was that he couldn’t just hug or stroke Jae-min as he was. While they touched and hugged when starting a kiss, this was after it was over. But once they held hands, Jae-min’s mouth went dry, thinking it was an action that was worse than not doing anything at all.

As the heat that had reached its peak subsided, what remained was a somewhat unexpected awkwardness. Since they weren’t at school, there were only the two of them in the house even if they left the study, and there was no guide to open the door and lead them back to their usual space. Seung-pyo cleared his throat once and spoke as if giving credit where it was due.

“You won.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re good at holding it.”

Even to these ambiguous words, which could be neither a congratulation nor a compliment, Jae-min obediently nodded.

It was a strange atmosphere. If they were dating, they would definitely hug and kiss at a time like this, but since they weren’t, he didn’t know what to do. There was no justifiable reason for contact after a bout of lust had passed.

Even the kiss that had been driven by bodily desire felt like the wrong choice now. What else should he say? While Seung-pyo was anxiously racking his brain, Jae-min spoke first.

“Then it’s my turn to use my wish.”

“Yeah. What is it? Tell me.”

Happy that a topic had finally emerged, Seung-pyo answered with particular enthusiasm. Jae-min looked him steadily in the eye.

“Let’s go to my room now. This time, you hold it.”

“Hold it? What?”

“I’m going to do yours with my hand.”

At those words, Seung-pyo’s face took on an ambiguous expression, somewhere in the middle of whether he should smile or be perplexed.

When there was no answer, Jae-min didn’t hide his surprise and raised an eyebrow slightly. He thought Seung-pyo would jump for joy, but the reaction was more lukewarm than expected.

“I thought you’d like it, so what’s this?”

“Why should I like it? I never asked you to touch mine.”

“Then what? You only wanted to touch? Where is there a guy who only wants to touch another guy’s thing? It’d be different if we took turns…”

Jae-min scanned Seung-pyo up and down as if he were suddenly suspicious.

“Are you actually a pervert?”

“Do you have a conscience? You’re talking as if you’re some kind of fake pervert.”

“Then are you actually gay?”

“Are you crazy? If I’m gay, then are you the Gay King since you’ve been rolling around with guys all year?”

It seemed too late to argue about it now, but both of them were sincere. Jae-min continued with a still-doubtful expression.

“I only talked on the internet, but you actually did it to me. And I never intentionally tried to talk only to men. It just happened naturally because there are a lot of men among the people who follow those accounts.”

“What do you mean ‘did it’? All I did was some kissing and handjobs. This is nothing. It’s not even real sex.”

Kissing and handjobs aren’t real sex, so they’re nothing…?

He had known that Oh Seung-pyo was a real slut, unlike himself who only fiddled around on SNS, but this was the first time it had hit him so directly.

Oh Seung-pyo’s standards for what constituted a sexual act far exceeded Jae-min’s imagination; they were shockingly high. He had assumed Seung-pyo had kissed plenty of other girls, but sex too…? As Jae-min failed to hide his look of horror, Seung-pyo added,

“Why are you looking at me like that? You said it yourself—we’re not anything to each other.”

“Is that the same thing as what you’re saying?”

Seung-pyo shrugged with an expression that asked what the difference was. Jae-min asked once more.

“Then… have you done it with your hands with other guys too?”

“I told you, I’m not gay.”

Seung-pyo replied in a tone of utter disbelief. He grumbled, “What do you take me for?” as if he were offended.

He likely meant that since he wasn’t gay, he hadn’t done it with a man, but the way he spoke in riddles instead of just saying “I haven’t” was unlike Oh Seung-pyo, making it feel awkward. Jae-min couldn’t be certain of the answer.

Thinking that while he had been whimpering like a dog unable to bark, toyed with by the hands of a whore, he was standing before a guy who had played around as much as one could, the heat that had subsided surged back up, fueled by humiliation. The new heat at his fingertips wasn’t an aftereffect of the recent ejaculation.

“Let’s clean up quickly and go to your room. Unless you’re planning to sleep in the study.”

Seung-pyo changed the subject, perhaps wanting to end a circular conversation where no truthful answer could emerge.

Jae-min grit his teeth and began tidying the study. Whether it was his room or not, he desperately wanted to kick him out of the house. But even if he did, the day would simply end with him being the only one humiliated.

Though there had been a brief clash, the two boys worked in perfect sync when cooperating, like accomplices plotting a perfect crime. They straightened the slightly crooked table and wiped away the splatters of semen here and there. They also neatly rearranged a few ornaments on the bookshelf.

Looking around, everything was exactly as it had been. His father would never know what his son had done here, and he would occasionally and meticulously oil the side table where Jae-min had sat with his bare buttocks, leaking semen.

The thought of that scene made Jae-min let out a small laugh. The argument with Seung-pyo was one thing, but the fact that he had deceived his father was genuinely pleasant. As he stared silently at the darkened room before closing the study door, Seung-pyo waved his hand, urging him on.

“I need to wash my hands too.”

It seemed that simply wiping Ryu Jae-min’s semen off his hands with a tissue left him feeling unclean. The two entered the bathroom side by side. While washing his hands, Seung-pyo asked,

“Hey, can’t I just take a shower? The lady told me to eat earlier, so I could only wash up briefly.”

“Take a shower. It’s my bathroom, so you can do it here.”

“Then I’m washing.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Seung-pyo whipped off his T-shirt and tossed it aside. Muscles that weren’t fully developed yet, but were sufficiently firm, were suddenly revealed. He pulled down his pants and underwear in one go, folded them haphazardly on the shelf, and stepped into the shower booth. The sound of pouring water followed immediately.

Jae-min, who had been waiting to wash his hands once Seung-pyo moved, stepped up to the sink in one stride and fixed his gaze solely on his own hands with a stiff face. Even if he had told him to shower, he hadn’t expected him to strip naked so brazenly with someone right there… He was exactly as expected.

They had kissed, he had received a handjob, and he had seen masturbation videos, but he had never seen Oh Seung-pyo’s complete nudity. Since he didn’t particularly want to see it, Jae-min kept his neck stiff as if he were in a cast, making sure not to look sideways even by mistake.

“Aren’t you going to shower?”

However, Seung-pyo’s voice drifted through the sound of the water, forcing Jae-min to glance over. It was impolite to look elsewhere while someone was talking to you.

“After you’re done.”

“Just wash together. It’ll take longer if we go one by one.”

Seung-pyo’s voice echoed faintly, bouncing off the glass of the shower booth.

Shameless, insensitive bastard. Jae-min condemned him inwardly. It wasn’t as if Oh Seung-pyo and Ryu Jae-min were in a relationship where they had to be particularly conscious of each other, but still, hadn’t he just been half-undressing him and kneading his cock? To act so casually now, as if they were sharing a locker room at a swimming pool, made him seem like a borderline sociopath.

Jae-min, who had been wetting his hands under the tap without answering, soon changed his mind.

‘No, this is an opportunity.’

Once in the Ferris wheel, once in the study. All day today, he had been the only one caught in Oh Seung-pyo’s grip, unable to keep his composure.

At first, he had just felt slightly embarrassed that he was the only one showing weakness, but if this kind of hand-play—or at least something similar—wasn’t a first for Oh Seung-pyo… then Ryu Jae-min was merely a fool who had left a single line of his name on the list of men who had passed through Oh Seung-pyo’s hands.

His reason told him there was nothing to be aggrieved about and to cool his head, but his heart felt resentful and wronged. Even if he had to endure some indignation, he wanted Oh Seung-pyo to taste the same embarrassment.

Jae-min quietly began to undress. He took off his T-shirt, pants, and underwear, facing his stark naked body in the mirror.

Though he exercised steadily to maintain his stamina, he was outmatched in both height and build compared to Oh Seung-pyo, who ran around the sports field whenever he had time. Moreover, judging by the photo of Oh Seung-pyo’s father, it seemed he was genetically predisposed to a large and solid physique.

He felt a bit intimidated, but he shook it off. He wasn’t entering the shower booth to get into a physical fight.

‘Once entrance exams are over, I’ll work out harder and build a proper body.’

With a firm resolve, Jae-min opened the foggy glass door.

“Oh, you’re washing?”

Jae-min nodded and stepped boldly into the booth.

The booth wasn’t small, but with two tall high schoolers standing together, there wasn’t much room to spare. Seung-pyo, who seemed to have already finished washing his hair and was washing his body, moved aside under the showerhead.

“Use the water.”

Jae-min didn’t decline and stood under the shower. He placed his phone on the shelf and soaked his lean body from head to toe.

“Do you bring your phone in even when you shower? You’re addicted.”

He ignored the nagging coming from Oh Seung-pyo behind his back. After walking around the amusement park all day and just having ejaculated, he felt sticky in various places. As he washed it away with water, he finally felt refreshed. After quickly washing his short hair, Jae-min turned around and stepped a pace to the side.

“You use the showerhead now.”

Seung-pyo didn’t answer, and Jae-min, who had been relatively kind in moving aside, found himself unable to continue, his mouth slightly agape.

Jae-min had intended to tell Oh Seung-pyo to keep his end of the bet upon entering the booth. Seung-pyo had proposed the bet first, and since Jae-min had won by enduring for seven minutes, he wanted to tell him to shut up and follow through, whether he liked having another man touch his cock or not.

After that, he wanted to grip him with one hand, just as Oh Seung-pyo had done to him, and enjoy the sight of him being restless and struggling. It didn’t suit his temperament to be the only one showing such a pathetic side.

But he hadn’t even brought it up yet. All Jae-min had done since entering the booth was wash his hair under the shower. And yet…

“You really are a pervert…”

Despite entering with his fighting spirit dialed up, Jae-min couldn’t overcome the momentary embarrassment; he averted his eyes and blamed Seung-pyo.

For no apparent reason, Seung-pyo’s penis was already standing erect. Because Jae-min had suddenly turned around, Seung-pyo had no time to cover himself and ended up exposing his stark center. It wasn’t just starting to get hard; it was in a state like a log of firewood, exactly as he had seen in the penalty masturbation video he’d received via SNS messenger.

Why on earth? Perhaps because it was his first time seeing it in person, he found it hideous and disliked it, yet he couldn’t stop looking. Baffled, Jae-min glanced at Oh Seung-pyo’s lower half and asked,

“Why is it standing while you’re showering?”

“How should I know… Doesn’t it just stand on its own sometimes?”

Though his face flushed with embarrassment, Oh Seung-pyo offered an excuse that wouldn’t fly.

That might happen when waking up in the morning or when receiving stimulation of some sort, but in Ryu Jae-min’s entire life, he had never had an erection for no reason while showering. What on earth was so stimulating in this ordinary shower to make his cock stand up?

Oh Seung-pyo, who had initially pretended to be embarrassed, soon wore an expression of indignant displeasure.

“Is it something you have to avoid eye contact for? You’re really conscious of it. Just like a real gay guy.”

“You little…”

At those words, Jae-min whipped his head around to glare at Seung-pyo.

The two stared into each other’s eyes in silence for a moment. The sound of the water continuing to fall from the showerhead sounded quite solemn, like the sound of rain pouring down before a duel.

However, Oh Seung-pyo’s change in posture was faster than the start of a duel. He suddenly smiled faintly. Judging that the current standoff was unfavorable or wasteful, he instead stepped forward and pressed close to the frowning Jae-min.

“What’s the point of fighting over something so useless? Let’s just do something fun.”

“Something fun, like what?”

“Kissing is good, or touching you like in the study.”

Jae-min scoffed.

“Who says? I see now you just do whatever the fuck you want. You wouldn’t let me touch you, so why do you keep trying to put your hands on me?”

“Ah, that’s so unfair.”

“You’re the one who’s unfair, you bastard.”

Seung-pyo looked at Jae-min with a dissatisfied face. It was Oh Seung-pyo’s specialty to spit out unpleasant words and then quickly change his expression to tilt the board in his favor. Jae-min had been swept up in it a few times, but… this wasn’t school or an amusement park; it was Ryu Jae-min’s house, his home ground. Jae-min didn’t want to lose the initiative anymore.

As he had said, he hadn’t brought Oh Seung-pyo home just to kiss. Sexual curiosity about another’s reaction wasn’t Oh Seung-pyo’s exclusive privilege. Even if the guy acted absurdly, he needed to stay calm instead of getting angry with him.

“Don’t even lay a finger on me.”

Jae-min warned him and pushed Seung-pyo away. Pushed unexpectedly, Seung-pyo leaned against the tiled wall but continued to grumble, his mouth still running.

“Do you know how dangerous it is to push someone in a bathroom? You could die if you slip.”

“If you know that, then hold on tight and don’t fall.”

Jae-min stood facing Oh Seung-pyo and leaned one hand against the wall. Although he was a few centimeters shorter than Oh Seung-pyo, his attitude was not to be outdone in terms of intensity. He saw Oh Seung-pyo’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed hard.

“Endure for 10 minutes. Only then do you win.”

“You were 7 minutes, so why am I 10?”

“You said if you can’t endure 10 minutes, you’re premature.”

“Just make it 7 minutes to be fair.”

Getting tired of arguing and wasting time over such a thing, Jae-min gave a rough nod. Seung-pyo asked,

“And if I win?”

“Well… if you don’t have anything you want right now, keep the wish voucher.”

“And if I lose?”

“No more kissing from now on.”

Seung-pyo’s pupils shook as if an earthquake had hit.

“No touching, nothing. I’m not doing anything with you anymore.”

“Hey, are you serious? It’s just a bet for fun. You’re saying we should stop our relationship like this?”

“Don’t say things that give me the creeps. What ‘relationship’ are we in? We’re nothing.”

Jae-min didn’t want to let Seung-pyo babble nonsense any longer. He immediately reached out and firmly gripped the thing that was still standing like a log.

“Ugh.”

Seung-pyo frowned at the touch that had pounced on his opening. Jae-min also felt a momentary wave of dizziness; he would have stumbled if he hadn’t been leaning against the wall.

While the brave act of reaching out was fine, the sensation of touching another person’s genitals with his bare hand was, contrary to his expectations, neither erotic nor exciting. The texture of the skin felt in his palm, the body heat that was hotter than other parts, the pulsing sensation of minute movements…

He wondered if it felt similar to handling raw meat or raw fish. He couldn’t say for sure since he’d never actually touched such things, but that’s what he thought.

Jae-min remained still, gripping Seung-pyo’s member. Then, Seung-pyo spoke first. The playful mischief had returned to his tone, which had been anxious before the masturbation began.

“You pounced so aggressively, so why are you just standing there? Time’s going to run out at this rate.”

“Shut up.”

“You said if I lose, I can’t kiss or touch you, so are you planning to let me win? Does this mean you want me to kiss and touch you now?”

“Ah, just… stay still.”

Since he couldn’t follow up his preemptive strike with a combo, Seung-pyo slowly reached out to attempt a counterattack. The hand that landed on his waist slid up Jae-min’s wet back. Ah, Jae-min almost let out a moan unconsciously, but he snapped back to his senses and began to move his hand.

It was as he suspected. The reason Oh Seung-pyo had refused Ryu Jae-min’s touch was certainly because he, too, feared showing a pathetic, disheveled side in front of another.

Seeing Seung-pyo quickly feel relieved and start acting up again because Jae-min wasn’t as skillful as expected, Jae-min became certain. It seemed Seung-pyo judged that Ryu Jae-min’s clumsy touch was nothing special.

The circumference of the straight, large penis filled his not-small hand tightly. The hand that gripped it and moved urgently had no particular intention to excite him, nor any flashy technique. If he were masturbating, he would have been more sincere than this; Jae-min’s hand simply rubbed the large piece of flesh quickly, making a slapping sound.

“Hng, ugh…”

Fortunately, even with the clumsy movements, Seung-pyo seemed aroused and swallowed a low moan. It wasn’t something to laugh at, as Jae-min also felt electric currents surging through his entire body from the moment Seung-pyo’s hand touched him.

However, Jae-min soon noticed his disadvantage. In the study, he had sat on a relatively high table and Seung-pyo had leaned over him, essentially playing with Jae-min’s cock. He had struck quickly, rubbed slowly, stroked the glans, and shaken it while varying the angles.

But now, Jae-min was standing too close to Seung-pyo. He had maintained some distance at first, but Oh Seung-pyo had taken advantage of the brief moment Jae-min froze due to the unfamiliar sensation to grope him and stealthily close the gap.

Because of that, it was uncomfortable to move. There wasn’t much he could do other than stroke the penis trapped in his hand upward.

“Haa, huugh.”

Of course, even so, Oh Seung-pyo was enduring Jae-min’s touch with a grimace…

Jae-min continued the movement while staring intently at Seung-pyo. This wasn’t enough. Oh Seung-pyo needed to be more disheveled, without any room to maintain his dignity in front of him.

“Fuck, Ryu Jae-min…”

But Jae-min had overlooked one thing.

People perceive external stimuli differently, and not everyone reacts the same way to sexual pleasure.

As someone with little experience, Jae-min naturally predicted Seung-pyo’s reaction based on himself. But Oh Seung-pyo didn’t fall apart like Jae-min did. Instead, his eyes flashed more than usual, he grit his teeth, and he practically threatened him.

“Just… let me win… once…”

“…”

“You’re dead, seriously…”

Even while panting, Oh Seung-pyo was muttering like someone who was resentful. He was a lunatic. He couldn’t understand why he was saying such menacing things when they were simply taking turns giving each other handjobs.

“Kill me then, so what.”

Though he was inwardly worried by the baseless threat, Jae-min shot back boldly and stroked upward even faster.

“Haa-ugh, let go…”

He twisted his body to shake off Oh Seung-pyo’s hand that was groping his back. Seung-pyo complained while facing Jae-min.

“Why. There’s, hng, no rule that says you can’t, touch me.”

“Of course you can’t. Stop… distracting me…”

Only 2 minutes were left. Growing anxious, Jae-min suddenly leaned down. He knelt completely in front of Seung-pyo, bringing his eyes level with the penis.

Changing the angle, he stroked the penis upward, making the sound of water faster—chap-chap-chap-chap. Seung-pyo’s abs tightened visibly. He raised his voice as if screaming.

“Ah, fuck! Ah!”

As his body tensed, the penis in Jae-min’s hand twitched violently. It felt like he would ejaculate if he touched him just a bit more.

In his haste, he unconsciously kept bringing his face closer. Back when he ran the account, there were often guys who posted photos of their genitals asking him to suck them; wouldn’t he cum faster if he sucked it? He was startled by his own thought and quickly pulled his head away.

“5 seconds left.”

Before he knew it, Seung-pyo had his phone in his hand. Jae-min frowned and focused more on what he was doing, but…

“Done!”

Seung-pyo shouted loudly and put down the phone as the alarm rang. It was a disaster.

Jae-min didn’t even have time to complain about the bet ending without any winnings. Seung-pyo let out a ragged breath and finally released the tension he had been holding back. His shaft twitched uncontrollably, spilling out cloudy fluid.

“Haa, ah, huff.”

Since Jae-min hadn’t pushed himself up yet, the whitish semen was splattered right across his face.

Catching his breath, Seung-pyo looked down at Jae-min’s face, which was smeared with thick semen here and there. Jae-min didn’t react at first, but after slowly wiping his face and seeing the fluid on his palm, he finally furrowed his brow. A low voice full of anger leaked from his closed lips.

“You perverted piece of shit…”

“I’m making my wish now. I won, so shut up.”

Seung-pyo cut him off and hauled Jae-min up. Just as Jae-min had pinned Seung-pyo against the wall earlier, Seung-pyo now shoved Jae-min against the opposite wall.

“Mmph.”

The moment his back hit the wall, their lips overlapped urgently. Water continued to pour from the showerhead, soaking their bodies and splashing up to wet their faces.

It was a ravenous kiss, his tongue pushing deep inside without warning to ravage the interior. Being pushed so suddenly left him breathless. Hmph, mmph. Even as he gasped, Jae-min had to surrender his face to Seung-pyo.

It couldn’t be helped. Jae-min had lost, and Seung-pyo was currently exercising his right.

“You’re hard too. Huh?”

Seung-pyo roughly grabbed and shook Jae-min’s member.

“Hngh. You too, fuck…”

Jae-min gasped, returning the curse. Despite having just ejaculated, Seung-pyo’s member was already standing tall again, acting as if nothing had happened.

“Let’s get out.”

Turning off the shower, Seung-pyo pulled Jae-min by the arm. Jae-min pulled back as Seung-pyo tried to open the bathroom door without properly drying off or putting on clothes.

“Hey, clothes!”

“Who cares, there’s no one else home. Put them on later.”

Jae-min had never stepped into the living room naked, not even when he was home alone. Before he knew it, Seung-pyo flung the door open and dragged him out. Because they weren’t dry, wet footprints followed every step they took.

Passing straight through Jae-min’s bedroom door, Seung-pyo pushed him onto the bed this time. Then, he climbed on top and began sucking on Jae-min’s nipples.

“Ah, ah, ahhh.”

Even though his body was damp and he was completely naked, he felt an unprecedented heat and flush. Jae-min trembled, tilting his head to the side.

It was humiliating that it had come to this. He didn’t have the confidence to look straight up at Oh Seung-pyo.

“Ryu Jae-min, give me your mouth.”

But Seung-pyo, who possessed not a shred of delicacy, grabbed Jae-min’s face, turned it toward him, and swallowed his lips. Simultaneously, he pressed his hot, hard erection against Jae-min’s and began to grind his hips up and down. Their erect members rubbed against each other at the same time.

“Mmm, hngh, ah!”

“Haa, ah, ah!”

Moans burst out before they could be suppressed. Seung-pyo put more of his weight onto his prone body. He wanted to rub more intensely, but their swaying shafts wouldn’t stick together as perfectly as he wanted. Eventually, Seung-pyo grabbed them both with one hand and told Jae-min:

“You hold them too.”

Jae-min did as he was told. The question of why should I didn’t even occur to him anymore. As he hurriedly supported both Seung-pyo’s and his own with his hand, Seung-pyo began to move his hips vigorously again, interlocking and frictioning their red members.

Both of their breaths were erratic. The sound of their heavy panting was loud. If a stranger heard them, they might think two beasts were hissing at each other.

Oh Seung-pyo was sprawled over him, stark naked, shaking his hips. With his face flushed bright red, Jae-min opened his mouth, unable to wrap his head around what was happening, regardless of the pleasure he felt.

“Hey, hngh, this… this is, haa, just, sex.”

“I didn’t put it in, hngh. Why is it sex?”

“Fuck, ah, you think it’s not sex just because you didn’t put it in…?”

Even Jae-min, who had never received proper sex education, knew that logic was flawed. The situation was a complete mess, but neither of them could stop what they were doing.

“Ah, ah… ahh, ngh…!”

“Haa, ah, ah!”

Eventually, without knowing who went first, they both ejaculated a second time and collapsed on the spot, exhausted like athletes finishing a race.

Perhaps due to the heat radiating from their bodies, their damp skin had dried in the meantime, but the semen they had just released left their thighs and stomachs sticky. Jae-min warned him with a sigh.

“Don’t get dirty stuff on the sheets…”

“Aren’t they going to be washed anyway?”

“I can’t do it right now.”

It was a disaster. He had a feeling they would cross some line when they came home together, but it was far more chaotic than he had imagined.

It was messy, petty, and clumsy. Amidst all that, only the pleasure heating up his lower abdomen boiled over tactlessly, begging for more.

Lying blankly on the bed, the two of them gradually became anxious. Their heads, lying side by side, harbored the same question simultaneously.

Could we actually be gay?

It just feels good to do erotic things together; it’s not like I like this guy, so that can’t be it, right?

Sometimes he seems cute, sometimes I think of him even when he’s not in front of me, and sometimes I want to see sides of him I’ve never seen… but that can happen between friends too. That doesn’t necessarily mean I like him, right?

“I guess we have to wash again.”

As if trying to chase away the anxiety, Seung-pyo sat up first and looked back at Jae-min.

“What a pain…”

Jae-min also stood up clumsily to follow him, but then seemed to realize something and waved his hand.

“You go wash first. I’m not washing with you anymore.”

Seung-pyo pouted dissatisfiedly, but he didn’t argue further and turned around. Since things had ended up like this while showering together, he probably felt it too.

Left alone, Jae-min flopped back onto the bed. His body showed no sign of cooling down. Thump, thump, thump—the heartbeat that had been pushed aside by their frantic breathing now rose to the surface of his chest.

It was as thrilling as it was anxious, and as anxious as it was thrilling. Where was the line that made someone gay, and where was the line that didn’t? Where was the line that made it sex, and where was it not? All the boundaries of things he had never been taught in his life were blurred.

The studies at school could be difficult, but they always led to an answer eventually; however, there was nowhere to ask how to solve a problem like this. While he was lying there blankly, Seung-pyo returned to the room.

He was dressed properly, having washed up and put on clothes. Somehow, Jae-min ended up being the one sprawled out naked and panting. As Jae-min tried to hurry out of the room, Seung-pyo caught him.

“Where should I sleep?”

“There’s a guest room…”

“What do you mean, guest room? The room is wide; can’t I just spread a blanket and sleep here?”

“Do whatever you want. The housekeeper already brought extra blankets anyway.”

Seung-pyo became busy spreading the blanket, and Jae-min, leaving him behind, stood under the showerhead and washed his body quietly and alone this time.

Normally, showering is a peaceful act of washing away the dirt and stress accumulated during the day at the end of the day, but tonight’s shower time had been nothing but fierce. He was so confused that he couldn’t even remember if the stream of water falling from the ceiling had actually hit his body or if he had washed properly, despite it being only a few minutes ago.

Just as Oh Seung-pyo had acted tough, saying he hadn’t followed him home just to kiss, Jae-min hadn’t brought Oh Seung-pyo home just to kiss either. He, too, was curious about the next step after the unfinished kiss on the Ferris wheel.

‘Still, it was way too much.’

Recalling the moment on the bed when he and Oh Seung-pyo were stark naked, panting and rubbing their bodies together, his face, which had barely cooled, flushed hot again.

He had only thought as far as touching each other’s members with their hands, which was what Oh Seung-pyo had wanted from the start… Strictly speaking, what they did on the bed didn’t exceed the scope of hand-play, but it felt entirely different from just sitting still with his cock being held.

Just as spilled water cannot be gathered back, the things they had done could not be erased. After finishing his shower, Jae-min entered his room, unable to shake off the awkwardness.

His own space, the only place he could breathe in his suffocating home, had been occupied by a classmate nearly 190 centimeters tall. With Oh Seung-pyo lying on the floor, there seemed to be hardly any room to step. Lying on his stomach and fiddling with his phone, he looked up at Jae-min.

“All washed up?”

“Yeah.”

“Your house uses really soft blankets. This is my first time using a blanket like this.”

“Both my father and mother are sensitive. They won’t wear clothes if they’re even slightly rough.”

“Really? So…”

Seung-pyo started to say something but stopped. Jae-min asked as he sat on the edge of the bed.

“What were you going to say?”

“Nothing.”

“Ah, what is it?”

“No, I just thought your skin seems good too. I didn’t think it was the right thing to say while talking about your parents, so I wasn’t going to, but you kept telling me to say it, so I am.”

Jae-min was speechless. Seung-pyo wouldn’t have said his skin was good just by looking at his face.

As he said, it meant he had recalled a certain situation while talking about his parents and formed that impression. The only response Jae-min could give was criticism.

“Is that the only thing in your head?”

“Ah, that’s why I wasn’t going to say it.”

Seung-pyo grumbled, put down his phone, and lay on his back. Jae-min pulled the blanket up to his chin and threatened him.

“I don’t know if sleeping in the same room as a guy who has nothing but those thoughts in his head is a good idea.”

“Hey, original pervert. Did you invite me home because you had other thoughts in your head?”

“Shut up and just sleep. I’m turning off the light.”

As Seung-pyo prepared to snap back, Jae-min cut him off and turned off the room lights. It became pitch black instantly, and he couldn’t see an inch in front of him. As the darkness blocked their vision, it was as if their mouths were blocked too, and they both fell silent in an instant.

However, neither of them closed their eyes. They simply blinked in the silence, gauging by the sound of each other’s breathing that neither had fallen asleep yet.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve stayed out overnight.”

Seung-pyo suddenly spoke. Jae-min, who had been staring up at the black ceiling, answered without turning his head.

“Do you usually sleep over at other kids’ houses often?”

“I did a lot in middle school, but I hardly go to friends’ houses these days. Once I got into high school, parents got sensitive about studying, so they don’t like it when we play late. I think the school trip last year was the last time I stayed out.”

“Ah, the school trip.”

The first-year students of Ilyang Boys’ High School had gone to Jeju Island for a school trip last spring. Of course, Jae-min hadn’t missed it. He had some fun traveling here and there with the other kids, but he hadn’t made any memories that would leave a lasting impression.

It couldn’t be helped. From the start, Ryu Jae-min simply couldn’t bring himself to feel attached to a place like school. Therefore, there was a clear limit to how close he could get to the people he met and spent time with there.

In a way, it was painful not to be able to give one’s heart to a place one had to belong to until adulthood, whether they liked it or not, but he couldn’t force himself to like something he hated just to be comfortable for a moment. Jae-min had realized early on that he was not that kind of person.

“It would have been more fun if we were in the same class in first year.”

As he was mentally piecing together a few scenes from the school trip that had already become blurred because they left no impression, Seung-pyo’s voice suddenly drifted in. Jae-min remained silent for a moment, then snorted.

“What do you mean ‘fun’? You did nothing but pick fights with me in first year.”

“When did I? By the time the school trip happened, I didn’t even talk to you. We didn’t exchange numbers until winter break.”

“Then what, second year? If we were in the same class, you would’ve just picked fights with me sooner. You’ve hated me since first year. You were glaring at me like crazy since the first semester midterms.”

Seung-pyo clicked his tongue, as if it were hard to deny. Yet, he added a few pathetic words at the end.

“Instead of picking fights sooner, we could have been kissing since first year. Then I wouldn’t have hated you.”

It was a ridiculous thing to say. If Oh Seung-pyo had hated Ryu Jae-min, it would have been because he felt cheated by losing the top rank in the whole school to him time and time again; yet, even now in second year, Seung-pyo had never beaten Jae-min in test scores. Whether it was last year when they were in different classes or this year in the same class, it meant that not a single crack had formed in the wall between them.

The only thing that had changed was that the two of them had become a pair who kissed away from people’s eyes. And today, they had gone beyond just kissing to touch each other’s genitals with their hands and rub their bodies together while lying naked on a bed.

But that didn’t mean the reason Oh Seung-pyo hated Ryu Jae-min had disappeared.

“Then, do you not hate me now?”

“Why are you asking something like that? It’s cringey.”

Seung-pyo asked back in a surprised tone, as if embarrassed. After blurting it out without thinking, Jae-min regretted asking such a cheesy question. Why did it matter what Oh Seung-pyo thought of him?

“How could I kiss you if I hated you? I mean… even if I don’t like you, I still couldn’t do it if I hated you.”

Despite asking why he would ask such a thing, Seung-pyo gave him an answer. It was a blunt, awkward tone, as if he were shy…

Because of that, Jae-min felt even more embarrassed. While they were talking, Jae-min quickly pulled up the blanket that had slipped down and turned his back.

“Just sleep.”

“Ah, you’re the one who asked.”

Jae-min also answered bluntly, but his expression was not like that at all. If it hadn’t been pitch black, his flushed face would have been caught. He was glad he turned off the light quickly.

Perhaps because there had been too many stimulating events throughout the day, he wasn’t sleepy at all, his mind wide awake even as he lay in the dark bed. Staring at the black wall, vain thoughts kept popping up.

The prank that started with kissing felt as if it had leaped over the hurdle today and reached far. Oh Seung-pyo claimed it wasn’t sex because he didn’t put it in, but honestly, by Jae-min’s standards, this was barely any different from sex.

Then what would happen from now on? Having come this far, could they go back to just being a pair that kisses? Just like with studying, once you’ve progressed, you can review, but you can’t retreat. You can’t go back to the days when you didn’t know.

“Ryu Jae-min, you asleep?”

Seung-pyo, who had been quiet, spoke again. Jae-min remained silent for a moment before answering.

“…No.”

“Out of everything we did today, what did you like best?”

Jae-min, who was trying his best to think about it, fell silent, slightly stunned.

There was no trace of hesitation in Oh Seung-pyo’s tone. It was a light atmosphere, as if he were asking, ‘Which of the foods we ate today was the tastiest?’, as if he had been quite satisfied with today’s schedule.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I need to know so I can do it again next time. Wouldn’t it be better to do the things you liked? Which was better, me sucking your nipples or touching your cock? You liked the cock touching better, right?”

“I never said we’d do it again, so don’t get ahead of yourself.”

He quickly burst his bubble out of sheer absurdity, and the sense of fluster was immediately conveyed. Sure enough, his voice got slightly louder.

“What, then you’re saying we won’t do it anymore?”

“Why do I have to talk about that already? I don’t know how things will be in the future.”

“Why are there so many things you don’t know? For a guy who’s ranked first in the school.”

“We’ll probably have to do it at school from now on anyway, so how are we supposed to do all this at school? Isn’t that obvious?”

Answering with a blunt sense of absurdity, Jae-min turned back toward Seung-pyo and brought up a topic he had been inwardly worried about.

“At this rate, you’re really going to ask to have actual sex.”

“That’s not it. It’s not like we’re actually gay…”

Seung-pyo denied it vehemently, then trailed off, becoming firm as if making a new resolution.

“You’re the same. We’re doing this now because we can’t date and we’re in an all-boys high school, but later when we go to college, you’ll want to get a girlfriend and date properly, right?”

“Of course.”

“That’s why we have to save actual sex for then. What happens later if the two of us do all that now?”

Jae-min just blinked, quietly processing those words. He wouldn’t have sex to prepare for when he gets a girlfriend? If so…

“Have you never had sex?”

“What? The way you ask that makes it seem like you actually have.”

“Stop talking nonsense. I heard you were popular with girls since middle school. Kids said you probably dated a ton of girls in secret.”

“Those are all false rumors. It’s true I was popular, but I’ve never had a girlfriend, not yet.”

After working so hard to clear up the misunderstanding and reveal the truth, Seung-pyo’s voice grew smaller, as if he were suddenly feeling intimidated.

“Hey, this is a secret. Just let the other kids think I’ve dated a lot of girls.”

“Your bluffing is insane.”

“Ah, just leave it.”

The sound of Seung-pyo rustling the blankets followed. It was surprising enough that the whore Oh Seung-pyo, who had just been naked and grinding his hips on top of him, had actually never gone all the way, but once Jae-min knew that fact, he found it utterly absurd.

“That’s hilarious. So you’re saying you’re going to pretend to be a virgin to your girlfriend? Don’t pretend; just be honest and say you’ve done it. You’re a total scam.”

“I am a virgin. If you’re going to be that technical, then just jerking off by myself counts as having done it. I’ve never actually put it inside anywhere, so how is that ‘having done it’?”

No, it’s not. This is a total scam… It felt unsettling, but there was nothing more Jae-min could do. He could only feel pity for the future girlfriend of Oh Seung-pyo, who would be fooled by this con artist into dating a whore of a boyfriend.

He didn’t know what kind of woman he’d meet, but the thought of this whore acting coy and pretending to be a virgin made him feel so nauseous he felt like he couldn’t digest anything. He sincerely hoped no one would fall for it.

“Hey, but.”

Perhaps wanting to change the subject, Seung-pyo’s tone became softer than before. Deciding to play along despite knowing the truth, Jae-min asked back indifferently.

“What.”

“Did you actually do it with those people on the internet?”

“Are you crazy? Why would I meet people like that and get my identity leaked?”

Jae-min’s voice, which had been curt and low, suddenly flared up. Seung-pyo asked again, as if he couldn’t quite believe it.

“You really only talked on the internet?”

“Did you think I’ve been doing offline meetups this whole time? I wrote in my account notice that I don’t do offlines.”

“Who believes an account notice like that?”

“Ah, whatever. Stop talking to me and just go to sleep.”

“I just want to ask one more thing.”

Jae-min didn’t answer, but Seung-pyo didn’t give up and pushed another question onto him.

“Then why did you have that account?”

This was the second time today Oh Seung-pyo had asked this question. At first, Jae-min had ignored it, thinking he was being teased, but this time he stared blankly into the dark void before answering.

“…Because it was cost-effective.”

“Cost-effective?”

“I only had to run an internet account, but it made me feel like I was doing something bad.”

“Ah, so you wanted to do something bad? Putting it that way makes you sound like a real model student.”

“I told you to stop talking and just sleep. I’m tired.”

Seung-pyo seemed to settle into a sleeping position without further words. Jae-min thought back to his secret account—which he had deleted long ago and rarely thought about now—and the people he had met there for the first time in a while.

When he first opened the secret account, Jae-min naturally assumed that more women would visit since he, the account owner, was a man. But he was completely mistaken. Whether the operator was a man or a woman, the people who followed accounts with similar concepts were mostly men.

Not all visitors explicitly revealed their gender, but whenever he spied on the SNS accounts of those who clung to him obsessively, they were all carbon copies of each other. They would post photos of their penises without a single mosaic or photos boasting their mediocre naked bodies, and they would cling to several accounts that posted lewd pictures, spitting out the same copy-pasted harassment.

The perverts of the internet scrapyard had a goal. Every single one of the men who desired and harassed the body of a faceless boy wanted to coax Jae-min into an offline meeting and eventually have sex.

To achieve this goal, they stopped at nothing. Some would throw out violently disgusting dirty talk that made him nauseous, while others would offer candy-sweet words of comfort or praise. There were people who empathized with Jae-min’s twisted lust and embraced him, saying it was understandable, and others who gave ridiculous lectures, telling him he shouldn’t be doing such things at such a young age.

Jae-min was too cautious and had too much to lose to fall for their lures. And yet, on days when he was deeply upset, he sometimes wanted to lean on those lip-serviced words. Even knowing they were obvious lies, he would sometimes patch up his day by exchanging pretend kindness and comfort.

But he couldn’t say that. If he admitted that he had leaned his heart on the nonsense of those internet perverts even for a moment, it would be too “loser-ish,” as Oh Seung-pyo often teased him.

That he liked the feeling of doing something bad, that it was cost-effective. Those reasons weren’t lies either. Oh Seung-pyo’s claim that it was better to save sex for later sounded like sophistry, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t agree with. Jae-min also felt that he wouldn’t be able to tell a future lover that he had run a lewd picture account in high school or that he had rubbed dicks with a classmate.

“You asleep?”

Unwearied, Seung-pyo asked. Jae-min didn’t answer.

Then, Seung-pyo suddenly sat up and shuffled closer toward the bed. Jae-min just blinked, watching him approach. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, their faces were faintly visible. Seung-pyo also seemed to notice that Jae-min’s eyes were open.

“Let’s just have one last kiss before we sleep.”

“Again?”

“A goodnight kiss.”

Seung-pyo leaned down and kissed him. Jae-min remained still on the bed, receiving the kiss.

True to the name ‘goodnight kiss,’ instead of inserting his tongue and stirring the inside wetly, Seung-pyo lightly shook his head, rubbing his lips against Jae-min’s before lifting his head.

“Sleep well.”

Jae-min didn’t move until Seung-pyo quickly lay back down after the kiss. His lips and cheeks felt warm.

The thoughts of the old account that had filled his head until a moment ago vanished completely from his mind. Only now did drowsiness truly arrive, leaving him feeling languid.

* * *

When Jae-min opened his eyes to the sign of morning, Seung-pyo was already up. Seung-pyo, who had just finished tidying the bedding, looked back as if noticing Jae-min had woken up.

“You awake?”

“Yeah.”

It was five minutes before the wake-up alarm. Since it was time to get up anyway, Jae-min didn’t linger and sat up on the edge of the bed.

Perhaps because of the commotion with Oh Seung-pyo yesterday, his thighs felt a bit stiff. Feeling embarrassed as he recalled the events of the night, he intentionally stretched his arms high and muttered.

“If we leave it, the housekeeper will clean it up.”

“I’ll just clean it up quickly. Where should I put the blankets?”

Instead of answering immediately, Jae-min stared up at the questioning Seung-pyo.

It was an awkward morning scene. Jae-min might have shared a room with his parents when he was very young, but that period had long since vanished into the depths of his memory, and due to the age difference, he had never shared a room with his Noona.

As he said, he had only woken up next to someone else in special situations, like during a school trip. Perhaps because it was unfamiliar, this moment of having Oh Seung-pyo in his room felt somehow unlike his daily routine.

“Follow me.”

Seung-pyo followed Jae-min, carrying the pile of blankets. The housekeeper, who was preparing breakfast in the kitchen, looked back with a surprised face.

“You’re up already? If you just leave the blankets, I’ll clean them.”

“It’s fine. I have nothing else to do.”

“Breakfast is almost ready. You two can eat, wash up, and go to school together. Don’t put the blankets in the closet; just leave them in the guest room. I’ll wash them before putting them away later.”

“Yes!”

Even though only one person, Seung-pyo, had been added, Jae-min’s morning had become very lively. Usually, there were many times when he didn’t say anything other than the two fixed phrases—”Did you sleep well?” and “I’m leaving”—before heading out. He would answer if his parents asked a question first, but the number of times he actually wanted to initiate conversation with his family from the moment he woke up with heavy eyelids could be counted on one hand.

Seung-pyo muttered as he placed the blankets on the floor as instructed.

“They wash them right after one use. Having a housekeeper really makes a difference.”

“Isn’t that how it’s normally done?”

“My Hyung and I don’t do that.”

“That’s dirty.”

“You wouldn’t do it right away either if you had to do your own laundry.”

For the past few years, there had never been a single time when he bickered over trivial matters as soon as he opened his eyes. Although he was acting composed, the awkward feeling wouldn’t leave the depths of Jae-min’s heart.

They emptied the breakfast prepared by the housekeeper just as they had the previous evening, and the two hurried to get ready for school. They took turns washing up quickly and put on the uniforms the housekeeper had washed and ironed early the previous evening. Seung-pyo asked while combing his hair in front of the mirror.

“You don’t put anything in your hair, right?”

“I don’t.”

“I need to flatten this part a bit… well, nothing I can do.”

Seung-pyo grumbled, smoothing down his side hair with his hand. Jae-min just gazed blankly at his profile. He couldn’t see anything particularly different from usual, but there seemed to be a minute difference visible only to Oh Seung-pyo himself.

“I’m going to make a quick call to my Hyung. I’ll go out and wait for you.”

“Okay.”

After acting fussily, Seung-pyo, who finished preparing faster than Jae-min, left the room. “I’m going now, ma’am. Goodbye.” The sound of him greeting the housekeeper could be heard outside the door.

Jae-min did a final check of the contents of his bag to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything.

Ring, ring. After a few signals, Seung-pyo’s call connected.

—Yeah.

His Hyung’s voice was raspy, as if he hadn’t fully woken up yet. Seung-pyo always wondered why, even though they wouldn’t always have to move early once they went to college, they had to go to school at the crack of dawn every single day until they became adults.

—Going to school?

“Yeah, I’m going in today.”

—So you were planning to stay out for two days? Got it. See you later.

The call to confirm each other’s whereabouts ended in a few seconds. While waiting for Jae-min, Seung-pyo approached the window and looked out.

The scenery of the well-maintained, spacious apartment complex was visible at a glance. His own home was decent enough, but living in such a wide and luxurious place would likely make the quality of life different. What would it feel like to live this rich? He was curious rather than envious.

Ding. A short bell sound scattered his miscellaneous thoughts. A woman in elegant attire stepped out from the sliding elevator doors, but instead of moving immediately, she looked at Seung-pyo with questioning eyes. Under the gaze that stared at him intensely enough to be unpleasant, Seung-pyo glanced back at her awkwardly.

“Oh Seung-pyo, let’s go!”

While Seung-pyo was in a standoff—or something like it—with a stranger in silence, Jae-min came rushing out of the house, raising his voice.

He had run out quickly, conscious of the person waiting, but he suddenly came to a dead stop. A look of surprise was evident on his face.

“Mother.”

Mother? Seung-pyo, who had been glancing sideways at the woman, quickly turned his body to face her properly. She looked back and forth between the two and asked.

“Are you Jae-min’s friend?”

“Hello! Yes, I’m Ryu Jae-min’s friend.”

“I see.”

Seung-pyo hurriedly bowed his waist. Even as she accepted the greeting, the look of discomfort remained on her face as she looked at the uninvited guest.

“But why, even before going to school…”

“We’re preparing for a performance assessment in groups lately. I have to go to school with him today, so I came to pick him up. I intended to wait outside, but I arrived too early and had time to spare, so I only came in this far.”

“Ah, to go to school together?”

“Yes, I’m Oh Seung-pyo. I’m the class president in the same class as Jae-min.”

Once he finished his introduction, Jae-min’s mother nodded slowly as if she finally understood the situation. Then, as if remembering something, her eyes widened slightly.

“You’re the friend who lost his phone in the winter?”

“Huh?”

“Jae-min once brought Oh Seung-pyo’s phone home, right?”

“Yes! That’s right. You sent the phone by courier back then. You remember.”

Seung-pyo’s expression suddenly brightened as if he had met someone he was glad to see. A gentle smile spread across the face of Jae-min’s mother after confirming Oh Seung-pyo’s identity.

“I heard from Jae-min that you’re a very studious friend. Please continue to get along well with our Jae-min.”

“Yes, of course! We’re very close. Thank you.”

She then turned her head toward Jae-min. Seung-pyo watched that movement with eyes full of fascination, as if possessed. She was a person whose every small movement was as elegant as a painting.

“Your father will be home in the evening, and I came up early this morning because something came up. Have a good day at school.”

“…Yes.”

Jae-min swallowed hard and continued the greeting.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Alright. Both of you be careful on your way.”

“Yes!”

The one who gave the final answer energetically was Seung-pyo. After the greetings, Jae-min’s mother went back inside the house, and the two stood in front of the elevator that had already descended. Seung-pyo whispered, sounding a bit excited.

“Hey, your mother is a real beauty. And I heard she’s a college professor. You’re so lucky. To have such a pretty and elegant mom.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you talk about me at home? Your mother even remembers my name.”

“Just for a bit.”

Unlike the excited Seung-pyo, Jae-min’s answer was soulless. He had been unusually energetic when he shouted “Oh Seung-pyo, let’s go!” and came out of the house, but now he stood staring blankly at the elevator doors, as if all his energy had suddenly drained out, leaving only a shell of a person.

He was like a white stone statue standing at the school gate. Seung-pyo peeked at Jae-min and lowered his voice.

“What’s wrong all of a sudden? Are you sick?”

“No.”

“Are you worried we’ll get caught that I slept over? We won’t. I saw when we left that the housekeeper already tidied the table. And the blankets were put away in the guest room.”

“I said no.”

Since he said it wasn’t that, there was nothing more to say. They stepped into the elevator that arrived just in time. As expected of an expensive apartment, the high-speed descending elevator was very quiet.

No words were exchanged between them until they left the apartment complex. Only when they headed toward the bus stop did Seung-pyo open his tightly closed mouth.

“If you’re not feeling well, do you want to take a taxi?”

Jae-min also stopped walking and answered a beat late.

“Should we?”

“You really aren’t feeling well. Wait a second. I’ll call a taxi now.”

Seung-pyo opened the hailing app on his phone and began searching for a taxi. During the morning commute, there were many people looking for taxis, so it wasn’t easy to catch one, but one finally rushed over for them. As Seung-pyo greeted the driver first, the driver asked if there was a desired route. When he asked to just go comfortably, the driver started the car without further questions.

In the quiet taxi, only the morning radio turned on by the driver calmly delivered today’s news. Today’s weather, various requested songs, listener stories and interviews…

The host’s flat tone and calm voice, announcing the start of the day, made the listener’s heart feel at ease. Boys who might watch internet videos but had no reason to listen to the radio itself listened with unexpected interest to the mundane stories of unknown people.

I went to a wedding over the weekend. All my friends are meeting their partners, dating, or getting married, but I feel lonely because I’m the only one who hasn’t met a special person yet, and it feels like only my close friends are leaving. I haven’t met anyone since I broke up with someone I was dating two years ago. I feel like it would be comforting if my favorite radio program played my favorite song in the morning. After reading the story softly, the host continued in a warm voice.

[Love is a strange thing. When you’re stamping your feet wanting to meet someone, it never comes to you. But when you’re giving up, thinking ‘I guess it’s not for me,’ ‘I guess I can’t find love in this lifetime,’ it suddenly approaches you. There are quite a few people around me who met their destiny late after half-giving up. But to share a space with someone, don’t we need some room within ourselves first? I believe that if you enjoy life with a bit more leisure, love will surely find the empty seat you’ve left. Now, I’ll play the requested song. James Smith’s 「Tell me that you love me」.]

A sweet and calm pop song he had never heard before began to play. While listening to the sorrowful song longing for a past love, Seung-pyo suddenly lowered his voice and asked.

“What kind of girl do you like?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, what kind of person do you want to date later. First of all, she’ll have to be pretty.”

Jae-min didn’t deny it. He blinked as if he hadn’t thought about it deeply, but he seemed to be pondering his preferences in response to Seung-pyo’s question.

“I don’t know… I’m not sure specifically, but I like someone I feel comfortable with when we’re together.”

“A comfortable person? Isn’t that just a friend?”

“If you date, you have to be together for a long time, so it’s tiring if you’re uncomfortable with each other.”

After finishing his sentence, Jae-min was quiet for a moment before adding,

“It’d be even better if she were pretty, smart, and had a bright personality.”

“So basically, you’re saying she has to be top-tier in everything. That was your main point, so why didn’t you just start with that?”

Seung-pyo sneered, curling his lip.

“God, you’re so horny. You were practically dying a moment ago because you weren’t feeling well, but the second we talk about dating girls, you’re back to life?”

“I wasn’t dying. I just felt a bit dizzy.”

“Your mother was right. You need to eat properly.”

“I told you, I’m fine… Ugh, forget it.”

Jae-min turned his head toward the window as if he found it tedious to deal with him, but then, feeling aggrieved that he was the only one giving detailed answers, he looked back at Seung-pyo.

“Then what’s your type?”

“Me? I don’t have a type.”

“You don’t?”

Seung-pyo nodded confidently.

“Yeah. My dad told me that when he first met my mom, it felt like fireworks were exploding in his head. He said falling for someone isn’t decided by a ‘type,’ but that the moment you see that person, flowers suddenly bloom before your eyes. I’m going to meet someone like that.”

At Seung-pyo’s conviction, the taxi driver reacted before Jae-min did, his voice sounding amused.

“Your father sounds like quite the romantic. Are they still that lovey-dovey?”

“Yes, they still are.”

“You’re a lucky kid. It’s useless spending a fortune on tutors. If the parents live in harmony, that’s the real home education. I realized that too late; my kids are all grown up now, so it’s too late to make a difference.”

“Eh, I don’t know about that. Spending a fortune is still more helpful for getting ahead in life.”

“Ah, is that so?”

While they exchanged a few jokes, they arrived at school. “Study hard!” the driver called out energetically before driving away.

Because the taxi driver had jumped in, Jae-min lost his chance to respond. He had already been making a bewildered face at Seung-pyo’s words, so he didn’t have much to say specifically, but he wanted to complain a little about what the driver had just said.

“What’s the point of parents getting along? If two weird people marry and get along, does that count as ‘home education’ too?”

“He probably meant in general. Why are you being so cynical? I guess you’re still not feeling well. You’ve been twisted since this morning.”

Jae-min shut his mouth. Complaining for no apparent reason to someone who didn’t know the circumstances would only make him look like a cynical person, just as Oh Seung-pyo said.

Despite the unexpected situation this morning causing more delays than planned, they arrived earlier than usual, perhaps because they had taken a taxi. As they passed the quiet playground and reached the hallway, only a few quiet students who arrived early were wandering around like zombies; the familiar chaos had not yet begun. The entire school felt languid, as if it hadn’t fully woken up yet.

Walking in silence, Seung-pyo suddenly reached out and turned the doorknob of the archives room. His eyes widened.

“Oh, it’s open.”

So what if it’s open? Leaving a lukewarm Jae-min behind, Seung-pyo quickly slipped inside and beckoned him. It was an obvious ploy, but Jae-min fell for it without a word.

As soon as the door closed, their lips met—mwah, mwah, mwah—repeated kisses that seemed like something only children would do. As the softest parts of their bodies pressed firmly against each other a few times, heat bloomed in their lips even though they weren’t doing anything explicit. Jae-min’s lips, which had been closed the entire walk, parted slightly without him realizing it.

“You really are horny.”

Seung-pyo, who licked the parted lips without hesitation, whispered with a laugh. Jae-min tried to retort, but Seung-pyo’s speed in swallowing his lips was faster.

In an instant, their locked lips overlapped deeply. As the soft, moist flesh swam and stirred slowly inside his mouth, a pleasant languor—different from the exhaustion of hard work—wrapped around Jae-min’s body.

As the unnecessary tension drained away, he felt his body go limp like a cat on a spring day. His will to respond to the comment about being horny melted away along with the tension.

For some reason, Oh Seung-pyo seemed to be getting better at kissing. Had his own skills improved?

The kiss, which began quietly in the sleeping school, soon turned competitive. The sound of ragged breathing, the friction of wet lips, and the erotic sounds of greedily trying to swallow one another gradually pulsed urgently between them.

Haa, nng. The voices leaking through their overlapped lips grew heated together. They both felt, without words, that he wasn’t the only one struggling because the memories of last night kept resurfacing.

However, regardless of their circumstances, a morning kiss could not last long. While they continued to kiss, the school was gradually waking up to greet a new day.

The sound of footsteps running up the stairs increased one by one, and the presence of people wandering the hallway just beyond the thin door became loud and clear. Voices calling out friends’ names or exchanging greetings could be heard loudly.

The two held each other’s shoulders and pulled their heads apart. They smoothed their ragged breathing as quickly as possible. Their hesitant eyes met. Oh Seung-pyo smiled brightly, even though his eyes were dripping with regret.

“Well? Do you feel your energy coming back now that we’ve kissed?”

“Don’t use me as an excuse when you’re the one who wanted to do it. My energy was back before we started.”

“We did it before we went to sleep, so we have to do it when we wake up in the morning.”

“Shh.”

Jae-min cut off Seung-pyo’s nonsense and listened to the movement outside first. Taking advantage of a brief moment of silence, the two quickly left the archives room and walked with distance between them, like distant classmates who had just entered the school, as if nothing had happened.

As soon as they arrived at the classroom, the two headed to their respective seats without so much as a greeting or a single exchange of glances. Jae-min sat in his seat and took a deep breath.

His energy had returned even before the kiss, but he felt that breathing had become easier after kissing. Though the start of the day had been a bit messy, a not-so-bad day had begun.