By Zephyria 
#Side Story 12
Kim Ha-yoon, who woke up earlier than usual, quietly looked down at Ire, who was sleeping soundly. Seeing the red bite marks on his upper body, he recalled last night’s lovemaking. If he tried to do it again now, he’d probably get punched.
A torn dress lay crumpled on the floor, and just in time, he heard murmuring voices from outside. Soon after, Ire, who had been tossing and turning, opened his eyes groggily, looking tired.
“You woke up early?”
His voice, hoarse, cracked at the end.
“I think the little one’s awake.”
Kim Ha-yoon hugged Ire from behind as he tried to move, and kissed his shoulder.
“Sleep more. I’ll go.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I ate something good last night, so I’m full of energy.”
Ire grimaced at Kim Ha-yoon, who was licking his lips. He was about to scold him for talking like an old man, but closed his eyes again. He must have been tired. Kim Ha-yoon carefully covered him with the blanket, put on his gown, and went outside. Sure enough, the child was walking back and forth in the living room with the dog.
Behind him, Yoo Min-joon was watching the child with a pleased smile.
“Anyone would think he’s Yoo Min-joon’s son.”
“Children are always cute, aren’t they?”
Ru immediately ran over, put his hand on his belly, and greeted him, asking if he had slept well. Kim Ha-yoon could feel that he was keeping his distance, unlike when he was with Ire. Feeling slightly dizzy, he sat on the sofa, and the child circled around him.
He gestured for him to come closer, and the child quietly took a seat next to him.
“Are you hungry?”
“No….”
“How do you like it here?”
The child looked up at Kim Ha-yoon with his dark eyes. He had a look on his face that said he didn’t understand what he was saying at all. Kim Ha-yoon completely turned his body to the side and looked straight at the child.
“If you live here, you can go to the amusement park often. You saw the train, right? You can ride that too. And if you want, I’ll take you on an aircraft.”
The child’s mouth gradually widened. When he asked, “Really?” Kim Ha-yoon brought his face a little closer. As the distance narrowed, the child looked visibly nervous. Seeing that, Kim Ha-yoon slyly raised the corners of his lips.
“It’s not hard.”
“……?”
“Tell Ire that you want to live here. That’s all you have to do.”
At Kim Ha-yoon’s words, wrinkles like walnuts appeared on the child’s chin. His eyes darted back and forth, wondering what he was thinking with his small head.
“Ire is the boss of Zone D….”
“Yes. But the boss can change at any time. You can come here and be the boss.”
The child blinked, and Kim Ha-yoon whispered in his ear.
“Wouldn’t it be better for Ire to be the boss of district a than Zone D?”
The child turned his head and looked out the window. A city much larger and more splendid than Zone D and its developed civilizations caught his eye. No matter how young he was, he could tell which was better. Kim Ha-yoon patted the child’s shoulder as he pondered, giving him strength.
“You can do it. If you keep talking about it, Ire will waver.”
The child nodded almost imperceptibly, and Kim Ha-yoon smiled until his eyes met Yoo Min-joon’s nearby. He appeared with herbal medicine and sighed as he looked at Kim Ha-yoon, and he knew what that meant without being told.
“It’s time for your medicine.”
As he received the herbal medicine, the child’s eyes sparkled next to him. “Want to try it?” When he put the bowl to his mouth, he immediately frowned and covered his nose, saying, “Ew.” Kim Ha-yoon laughed at that and handed him the candy that Yoo Min-joon had brought instead.
“Here. Just one before the meal.” The child put the candy in his mouth and grinned. Seeing how cute he looked, Yoo Min-joon’s words didn’t seem to be entirely wrong.
\*
Watching the river that ran through the heart of the city, the child exclaimed in admiration. Then, at the entrance to the zoo, he stared blankly at the helium balloons. When he bought the biggest balloon and put it in his hand, his mouth opened as wide as a gourd again.
Having acquired cotton candy, the child looked as happy as could be. Ire recalled the day he first came here with his younger siblings years ago. He almost died that day, following them around from sunrise to closing time.
He belatedly regretted coming, but when he saw the child running around excitedly, he changed his mind, thinking that he was glad he came after all.
“Ru, go slowly. You’ll get hurt if you run.”
“Hyung, over there! There’s a really big cat over there!”
Beyond the fence that the child pointed to, a large tiger could be seen. It was resting on a rock, not even glancing at the tourists who had gathered.
“That’s a tiger. It’s a feline, but it’s different from a cat. Hundreds of years ago, tigers lived on this land. They ate people. That one is a restored version of one that was almost extinct. Tigers are mainly nocturnal and move alone. They have large territories and sever their prey’s windpipe in an instant. They especially like little kids. They bite here!”
Kim Ha-yoon, who had been explaining in detail, grabbed Ru’s neck with a chilling smile. Ru was terrified and clung to Ire, and Ire looked at Kim Ha-yoon with a pathetic expression. He tried to reassure him, saying that they now eat meat given to them by zookeepers instead of people. Then, the child approached him with a slightly relieved expression.
“Tigers are cool.”
Ire smiled with a pleased expression. He, too, could not forget the overwhelming feeling he had when he first saw a tiger. On the other hand, imagining the fear of the humans who encountered these creatures in the mountains and fields hundreds of years ago made his stomach churn. Kim Ha-yoon had once told him that weapons were not as developed as they are now.
He said that the animals here were almost all endangered species and were born through genetic cloning. But no matter how wide the enclosures were made and how much care was taken, it was bound to be different from running around freely in nature. Perhaps that was why they felt so lethargic, unlike the animals in Zone D.
Of course, the animals here would not be hunted and eaten. It was not something that humans could easily judge which was the better life.
“Oh! Over there! Can we go ride that?”
Ru, who had been watching the animals for a while, pointed to somewhere. It was spinning around and around, and it made him dizzy just looking at it. He went to check if there was a height restriction, and it turned out that even young children could ride if they had a guardian. Ire looked at Kim Ha-yoon. Before he could even ask if he would ride instead, Kim Ha-yoon readily agreed.
“I’m better than you, who gets motion sickness from riding rides.”
He was bringing up something that happened a long time ago again. When he glared at him, Kim Ha-yoon took Ru and headed toward the entrance of the ride. Gazes flew in from all directions. People who recognized Kim Ha-yoon seemed curious as to what brought him here.
Rumor had it that he had given up on marriage and even had a male lover. One media outlet poured out criticism of the leader for making such an irresponsible choice, but for some reason, the critic who had made the criticism had recently disappeared. Ire could only guess that Kim Ha-yoon was behind it.
He was about to hide near a parasol to avoid people’s attention, but as soon as Ru got on the ride, he shouted, “Ire!” He couldn’t completely ignore him, so he took a few pictures and waved his hand along with him, and then the ride stopped in place.
Ru jumped down and ran to Ire and hugged him tightly.
“That was so much fun!”
“Do you want to ride something else?”
Kim Ha-yoon readily agreed this time as well. Why was this guy being so cooperative? He looked at him with a suspicious expression, when suddenly Ru grabbed Ire’s hand tightly. Looking down at the child, he saw his dark eyes sparkling as he looked at him.
“I wish I could live here!”
“Huh? At the amusement park?”
“No! I want to live in district a! With Ha, Ha-yoon hyu, hyuuung… the three of us!”
Ire frowned. He turned his head sharply to look at Kim Ha-yoon, who had his hands in his pockets and was looking at what the next ride should be. Ire looked at Ru with a troubled expression.
He had to tell him that he couldn’t, but he couldn’t just cut him off because of how expectant the child’s eyes were. He sighed quietly and changed the subject, saying that they had come to ride rides today, so they would talk about it later.
Ru ran off excitedly, and Ire went to Kim Ha-yoon’s side and poked him in the ribs.
“I knew it. You were suspicious from the start.”
“Why? What did the kid say?”
“Wow, feigning ignorance.”
Ire knew what he wanted. He kept telling him to come to district a, that he was lonely sleeping alone, and that Zone D could be left to Jang-cheon or Baek Seol at this point.
In the meantime, Kim Ha-yoon was stroking Ru’s head as he walked ahead. As he saw the two of them exchanging strange glances, his suspicion turned into certainty. The two of them were excited and headed for the next ride, and Ire, left alone, could only watch them with a dumbfounded expression.