By Zephyria 
END
When he quickly lifted his head, he met a gaze brimming with playfulness. With a smiling face, Jeil Heon kissed his forehead again.
“Who else could be my jewel if not our Jiha?”
The sweet voice, which felt as if it would melt just by resting on the tongue, heated the nape of his neck red in a different sense than before. He was right. The jewel he said he did not regret losing everything to protect was indeed him.
Joy, gratitude, and happiness brightly colored his chest. Feeling embarrassed as he recalled the memories of harboring a subtle jealousy toward the unknown ‘jewel’ while with him, Yoo Jiha playfully punched Jeil Heon’s shoulder.
“I’ll overlook the fact that you’re keeping one secret right now, so please, never hide secrets all to yourself again. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
Though he was skilled at lying, Jiha knew this answer was sincere. And he knew that from now on, the man would not lie in front of him.
The man whispered again, pouring in his heart. I thought the greeting I gave you while you were asleep would be my last. Thank you for not giving up on me, even though I deceived you until the end.
“I love you, Jiha.”
A sincerity that was neither hidden as a secret nor blurred by delusion enveloped Yoo Jiha. His heart, drenched in that love, overflowed with fulfillment. Just as the cries of the child isolated alone on that winter night had ceased, he knew the agony of believing he had been discarded for being useless had also been healed.
The gift of my love.
The lover who would no longer deceive him, nor shoulder fate alone to become an anomaly, was holding him. It was a time of happiness, like a fantasy.
* * *
It was only after Kang Suk-young decided not to kill Jeil Heon immediately, but to hear his excuses first, that Jeil Heon was able to meet her. After a barrage of reprimands that were practically verbal abuse, Kang Suk-young glared fiercely at the man, who looked so absurd that she couldn’t tell if he was the Sunbae or some kind of pest. Jeil Heon, who couldn’t possibly be shaken by her verbal abuse, maintained an irritatingly composed face.
“So, you’re saying the ability Yoo Jiha has to read names originates from Nam Hyeon-woo’s bloodline?”
“That’s my guess. This is one thing I didn’t hide on purpose. No one knew what Hyeon-woo could do with that ability. Not even the Mansin.”
“Who is Nam Hyeon-woo’s biological father?”
“The Mansin wouldn’t tell me until the end. I didn’t have a clue until now, but…”
Jeil Heon put his hand in his inner pocket as if looking for a pack of cigarettes, then pulled it out again.
“Even when he wasn’t aware of his ability, Jiha instinctively called my name three times.”
“Calling a name three times, huh…”
Rubbing her forehead, Kang Suk-young groaned. It wasn’t an Aberration. Since a human wouldn’t have a reason to hide it, the answer must be a divine spirit, and isn’t there only one being that comes to mind regarding the act of calling a name three times?
As if they had reached the same conclusion, Jeil Heon simply shrugged.
“Well, what does it matter now who Hyeon-woo’s father was? Jiha is one hundred percent human and only inherited a part of the ability.”
“Tsk. That damn bastard is a headache even after death.”
“That’s why I’m asking—could you keep it a secret from Jiha why Hyeon-woo became the Smiling Man?”
Jeil Heon’s eyes were saying that although he had confessed everything he had hidden to Yoo Jiha, he could not reveal that one fact. Kang Suk-young clicked her tongue.
“Of course. There are secrets in this world that are better left unknown.”
Yoo Jiha had answered that he wanted to face the truth, even if it was painful. That resolve deserved full respect, and she believed it was a straight and admirable perspective on life for someone so young. However, as an adult who had weathered more storms of time than that child, there were areas she wanted to protect.
Above all, Lee Yeo-jin would likely not have wanted his child to know the cruel truth either.
“Let’s just bury it among ourselves, since we’re old and worn enough that we won’t even get hurt.”
“What do you mean ‘old’ at thirty-three? You’re the only one who’s old, Suk-ja Noona.”
“…Sunbae. Do you really want to be thrown out the window?”
“I’m not even a Bearer anymore, so if I fall out the window, I’ll die instantly. Do you really want to kill a fragile Heon like me, Noona?”
“…”
Come to think of it, that was true. Thanks to that, no murder case involving the plummeting death of her Agent occurred in the Director’s office until Yoo Jiha arrived after greeting the team members in the office.
Opening the door to the Director’s office, Yoo Jiha flinched upon seeing Kang Suk-young. When asked why, he shook his head in surprise.
“Ah, sorry. I could see the Director’s name.”
“Didn’t I already tell you that you can see people’s names? Isn’t it like a name tag?”
“Th-that’s, the name before the legal change is also there…”
“…”
The names visible to Yoo Jiha were deeply connected to the person’s identity. Kang Suk-young, who had loathed her name before the change, remained silent, while Jeil Heon burst into laughter.
“See, Suk-ja. I told you it’s tacky, but it suits you perfectly.”
“Dammit. I lived as Kang Suk-ja for nearly forty years; it would be strange to forget it completely!”
Yoo Jiha hurriedly added a further explanation.
“Actually, Teacher Yeo-song was the same. I can see three names at once: the name before baptism, the current name, and the art name.”
Adding the explanation he had heard from Gong Ran-sa—that at the time, Protestant baptismal names still remained partially, and Ran-sa’s name was a Hanja transliteration of the baptismal name Nancy—Yoo Jiha opened the memo app on his phone and scribbled the names he saw.
[Gong Ran-sa · Yeosong · Gong Deok-yong]
“It’s like this. Oh, they’re originally all in Hanja, but since I don’t know Hanja well, the teacher told me.”
“Does Suk-young’s come out like this too?”
“Yes. The Director and other people all appear in Hangul. I think it’s because Teacher Yeo-song is more familiar with Hanja.”
Yoo Jiha also wrote the characters read as her name in the memo app.
[Kang Suk-young · Kang Suk-ja]
“It’s a bit hard to explain in words, but the name Kang Suk-young feels definitely clearer and more distinct…?”
Interest flickered in Kang Suk-young’s gaze as she looked down at the phone. Since she looked as if she were licking her lips, Yoo Jiha reflexively flinched, and Jeil Heon, who had been listening carefully to the explanation, did not miss it.
“You’re not planning to take him to the lab just to verify Jiha’s ability, are you?”
“And if I do, what are you going to do? Try to terrorize the company?”
“Terrorize? What a horrible thing to say. I’ll just quit the company and emigrate to a place with clean air and a good quality of life. Somewhere like Florida or California. Right, Jiha?”
Yoo Jiha’s eyes grew momentarily dreamy as he imagined life in Florida, and Kang Suk-young, a commoner who was newly reminded of the fact that this man was a chaebol with overflowing money, looked displeased.
“Do you think I’d do such a thing to Yeo-jin’s child?”
“Anyway, it means that even if someone has multiple names, there’s a difference based on the identity they perceive themselves as, right? Suk-young, isn’t this useful?”
“What is?”
“Wouldn’t it be possible to some extent to filter out spies who have infiltrated from the outside?”
“…!”
Kang Suk-young’s furrowed gaze suddenly sharpened.
If someone were disguising their identity, their sense of self would lean infinitely toward their real name. Since there had been an incident of Aberrations escaping the Containment Sector, they were already planning a large-scale purge of all employees.
Even if a transparent object like glass existed between the subject and the observer, as long as the face was confirmed with the naked eye, there was no problem reading the name. For several days during the purge, Yoo Jiha checked the employees one by one from behind a magic mirror. It felt like an interrogation room at a police station, which he found interesting.
As a result, three Chinese spies and one Japanese spy were revealed. To think that spy bastards had managed to sneak in despite such thorough verification. Kang Suk-young let out an annoyed sigh but quickly recovered. The Management Bureau had planted more spies in those countries than vice versa.
“Well, if we look into them, we can probably track the ones who were swayed too. Good job. You really worked hard without even getting a break.”
“O-oh, no. I just had to look.”
Hearing the heavy praise, he felt proud that he had fulfilled his role. Complex emotions clouded Kang Suk-young’s face as she watched him try not to grin too much.
Soon, letting out a low sigh, Kang Suk-young wiped her face.
“…If I had a younger sister, I would never have sent her to that Sunbae. His exterior is plausible and his family background is great, so the conditions are perfect, but he is fundamentally a person who cannot embrace others. Only the people he comes to love suffer.”
Yoo Jiha knew well what she was worried about. Had he not heard directly from the man himself about the isolation Jeil Heon had built for himself?
〈I don’t want you, a child with infinite possibilities unfolding, to be tied to someone like me who will die in a closed world and give up those possibilities.〉
Being rejected by him, Yoo Jiha had known that he would not be able to open that closed world. Jeil Heon’s world was still closed. But now, Yoo Jiha knew a new truth.
That the world of the child wandering in the white, strange space had also been Jeil Heon.
“I know what the Director is saying… but I think that if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”
If he hadn’t been there, he would have already been killed by the Smiling Man or become the new Sealed One of the Ten Thousand Waves Flute. The man who said his closed world would not open for him had, instead, sacrificed himself to save him.
Perhaps recalling this relationship anew, a bitter smile appeared on Kang Suk-young’s face. Soon relaxing her expression, she stepped closer. Kang Suk-young, who was taller than Yoo Jiha, gripped his shoulder firmly with her strong hand.
“If you ever suffer or cry because of that Sunbae, make sure to tell me. I’ll kill him both socially and physically. That man is just an ordinary person now, so he’ll die if his neck is cut or his head is popped.”
“Ye-yes…!”
Yoo Jiha resolved that he must never mention his past—such as being dumped by Jeil Heon, crying because of it, or being upset over a loss of contact.
As he stepped out of the Director’s office, he took a deep breath. He decided that next time, they would meet privately for a meal and share stories about the days Yoo Jiha had lived and about Lee Yeo-jin. Anticipation swelled within him.
Walking slowly down the hallway, he looked around. Having unintentionally become quite famous for returning the Jeil Heon who had become an Aberration back to being human, many people recognized him here and there. He bowed his head awkwardly and embarrassedly.
This was the scenery of the Otherworld and the Management Bureau, things he would never have encountered if he had lived as an ordinary person. It had become a part of his daily life, as familiar as attending school. If Jeil Heon had remained enshrined as an Aberration and they had parted forever, he would never have seen this scenery again.
The fact that he could stand here proudly once more was his own newly acquired Value, even after the true eye he received from him had fulfilled its role. A Value of his own, gained because of Jeil Heon.
Yoo Jiha would continue to save people as a member of the Water Abnormality Worship Management Bureau’s Investigation and Exploration Division, steadily building his Value, which held a brilliance. Together with his lover.
“Mister!”
In the distance, his world smiled brightly and opened his arms wide.
〈End〉
RR – Side Story 1
The fourteen-year-old boy succeeded in killing the Aberration that had murdered his mother and worn her skin to impersonate her, but in exchange, he too was dying.
〈Young master! I’ll hold the wound, so go to the bathroom and bring all the towels! Hurry!〉
〈Brother. Brother… You can’t die…〉
As the sounds of his family weeping gradually faded into the distance of his consciousness, it appeared. The family members clinging to the boy to save him were crushed by an ominous beauty that overwhelmed the surroundings.
Its head tilted toward the dead fox, revealing its true form.
「So, it has gone to him… Sister, perhaps for your sake, I should have let you go sooner.」
At the end of its farewell, it gazed at the boy.
「Young human. Human who swallowed my sister’s agony. Do you wish to live? Will you shoulder the karma of my sister, whose life was a sea of suffering?」
In his fading consciousness, he could not clearly understand the words, but one thing was certain: if he answered that call, he could live. The boy did not want to die. He wanted to live and hunt down every single monster like the one that had killed his mother.
Reading the answer in the boy’s eyes, it flicked its sleeve and leaned over the carcass of the Aberration.
That was how Jeil Heon became a Bearer.
Jeil Heon gasped and opened his eyes. The dim ceiling entered his field of vision, and the scenery of that day distorted.
‘…It’s all over.’
He suppressed a groan and pressed his forehead. The fox demon that had dwelled within him had wailed frantically and gradually faded away as he began to mutate into an Aberration and devour his surroundings.
Even though he knew no trace of it remained inside him, it occasionally chased him in his dreams as if mocking him. …No. Jeil Heon bit his lip. How could an Aberration that had already vanished chase him?
This was his own problem. His own problem of being unable to completely shake off the Aberration that had once been one with him.
Jeil Heon got up carefully so as not to wake Yoo Jiha, who was sleeping beside him, and stepped out into the front yard.
It was a bitter insomnia.
* * *
The end-of-semester party for the second term began and ended with alcohol. The only difference from half a year ago was that instead of getting caught in an Aberrant Realm while taking a bus to his Noona’s studio apartment, he returned to Pilgyeongdang while drunkenly rambling to Jeil Heon, who had come to pick him up.
He had barely managed to take his final exams, but since he had missed so many classes, he didn’t dare look at his transcript twice. Upon hearing his grades, his Noona shook her head and said, “Don’t even dream of looking for a job elsewhere after graduation; just bury your bones at the National Heritage Agency.”
“Do university transcripts not use the Su-Woo-Mi-Yang-Ga scale?”
In the midst of that, he heard such a thing from a middle-school dropout born in the 70s. What on earth is Su-Woo-Mi-Yang-Ga?
Still, isn’t this a decent grade considering he’s working at a company at the same time? Having completed his mental victory, Yoo Jiha diligently took seasonal courses and worked hard at his job.
“If I suffer now, won’t it be a bit easier in the fourth year? You’re going to do your alternative service after graduation, right?”
“I think it’s better to just get through graduation in one go rather than going back and forth.”
“I’m jealous… I joined the company after going to the military, so I couldn’t do alternative service.”
“Huh. Sunbae, I heard you awakened your true eye when you were young?”
Kim Min-seop’s eyes grew moist.
“My grandfather and father said a man only becomes a human after going to the military…”
“Ah…”
Yoo Jiha’s eyes also grew moist. Is rolling through intense classes right now really better than enlisting…? The two of them looked with envious eyes at the military-exempt Team leader, who was preparing to enter an Aberrant Realm.
[Banhwido Survival Procedure Manual]
At the time of writing this manual, the survival rate of Banhwido is approximately 80%. This is a significantly meaningful and high survival rate, so do not panic and calmly follow the manual.
Banhwido consists of a mountain that rises unnaturally in the center of the island and a fishing village on the beach.
2-1. There may be several empty boats docked at the pier, but discard the illusion that those boats will operate identically to ordinary boats in reality. It has been confirmed that 50% of boats departed by outsiders head to the City of the Deep Sea, 30% head to the Distorted Land, and 20% return.
2-2. You must first find the Village Chief Entity of the fishing village. In most cases, it stays at the village hall, and even if it is not visible, you can be kindly guided if you ask the surrounding Resident Entities. If you politely request accommodation by informing the chief that you are a traveler, it will willingly provide a room in exchange for your blood or labor. Unless you have extreme anemia, blood donation is recommended.
While walking through the village, you will hear the laughter of several people and feel an impulse to climb the mountain in the center of the village. Overpower the external sounds by talking loudly with your companions. If you are alone, you must erase the laughter with other noise, such as listening to music or talking to yourself.
Not a single person who climbed the mountain ever returned, and parts of corpses have been found in the village butcher shop.
The appearance of the Resident Entities mimics ordinary humans, but they actually consist of three races. The headquarters classifies these races as Humans, Mermaids, and Deep Ones. They engage in slaughter on nights when the full moon rises, and the victorious race dominates the village until the next full moon. The headquarters refers to this day as the Slaughter Feast.
Since three moons rise irregularly in Banhwido, it is difficult to predict when the Slaughter Feast will occur. The period during which one can escape Banhwido is the night after the Slaughter Feast. The method of escape differs depending on which race has seized control of the village.
When the full moon rises, you will be overwhelmed by an extremely intense impulse and excitement to run outside and participate in the Slaughter Feast, just like the other entities in the village.
Lock the doors and windows before nightfall and never go outside. Seal all gaps in the doors and windows with adhesive tape and cover the windows with blankets. Furthermore, tie your hands and feet so that you cannot move. If you are not confident in your ability to overcome the impulse that says ‘I can go outside if I slam my head until the wall breaks or cut off my feet with an axe,’ find a way to lose consciousness before the moon rises or take the medication provided by the headquarters.
If you have successfully endured the fifteen days, the Village Chief Entity will provide feast food the next morning. By tasting the dish presumed to be meat, you can determine which race won the Slaughter Feast. Taste it, but try not to swallow it if possible.
If it tastes like ordinary meat steeped in the scent of blood, it is Human; if it has a strong fishy smell and scales are chewed, it is a Mermaid; if it has a rotten taste mixed with tidal flats and fish guts, it is a Deep One. If there is a meat among these that you cannot taste, that is the victorious race.
Because the method of survival and escape on the day after the feast differs depending on the winning race, the manual for Banhwido was long and complex. There were occasional victims who suffered harm because they were reading it in front of an Aberration and found it difficult to memorize all at once. As such, it was an Aberrant Realm considered high-difficulty even by the Exploration Division, but…
[Dagon’s Thirty-Fifth Follower]
[Dagon’s One Hundred and Fifty-Second Follower]
[Dagon’s Sixty-Fourth Follower]
Kim Min-seop, who lamented that his wrist was almost cut off during a previous Banhwido exploration during the Slaughter Feast, sighed.
“Wow, since Jiha-ssi can read names, this is a piece of cake… If they’re Dagon’s followers, they must be Deep Ones, right?”
“Team leader. If that’s the case, don’t we not need to endure here until the full moon?”
The periods when one could escape Banhwido were the day after the Slaughter Feast and the night of the new moon. However, the latter was usually excluded because there was no way to know which race controlled the village before the Slaughter Feast.
Jeil Heon also nodded.
“Depending on the situation, if the new moon is closer, we will escape on that day.”
The earlier they escaped, the lower the probability that the victims would be put in danger. Lightly patting the back of a slightly proud Yoo Jiha, Jeil Heon headed toward the Village Chief’s house with the team members.
「Oh. I see you here.」
“Eh, Hyung?”
And what they witnessed at the Village Chief’s house were the victims gathered together and Mae-gu standing beside them.
“…Hyung?”
Unable to see the expression on Jeil Heon’s face as he muttered softly, Yoo Jiha gave a bewildered bow to Mae-gu.
Even with Song Hilda and Kim Min-seop’s security levels, they could not access information about Mae-gu in the Hidden World Record, but they had heard many stories from here and there. After all, he was one of the few True Slaughter Grade entities in the country. He was also famous among humans under the account name Dokheukri.
Because of that, unlike them, who were stiff with tension, Mae-gu had been leisurely standing with his hands behind his back, but suddenly brightened. His gaze was directed not at Jeil Heon, who was known to be quite close to him, but at Song Hilda.
RR – Side Story 2
「My, it has been a long time since I’ve seen this face. How many years has it been?」
“What? Have we met before?”
「I wasn’t in this form back then, so you likely don’t remember. Let’s see… was it Gyeongju? Didn’t you cry your eyes out while completely wasted at a street stall?」
“…!”
Song Hilda was horrified.
In the Catholic Church, exorcisms can only be performed by bishops or priests appointed by the diocesan bishop. Thus, it was impossible for a nun to lead an exorcism rite, regardless of whether she possessed the true eye.
Though she had been baptized as an infant due to her lifelong faith, the reason Song Hilda chose the path of faith was an incident where she nearly lost her family to an anomaly. She wanted to live a life not only consecrated to the Lord but also one that saved people from anomalies.
As a devout Catholic, she could not receive shamanic initiation, so she limited herself to assisting in exorcism rites, eventually awakening her true eye—but that was the extent of it. As a woman and a nun, Song Hilda’s limitations were clear. She sometimes wondered if leaving the order and joining the Management Bureau would be a better way to help more people, but stepping away from the monastic path she had never doubted her entire life was not an easy feat.
While she was deep in contemplation, a new exorcist was appointed. His faith was not very deep, and he was unskilled in exorcisms. The rite performed in Gyeongju would have failed if not for Song Hilda.
That night, Song Hilda got drunk with an intensity that suggested she intended to drain every drop of alcohol from the street stall. She went as far as pouring her heart out to a stray cat passing by.
〈I really don’t know what to do, kitty.〉
「From where I stand, it seems you’ve already made your decision.」
She had been so drunk that she heard auditory hallucinations of a cat speaking human language. Like a true drunkard, Song Hilda responded to the hallucination.
〈What decision do you think I’ve made?〉
「Do you not know? If you cannot look objectively into your own heart, then leave your fate to the heavens—no, to the God you believe in. Heads for the nunhood, tails for returning to secular life.」
Since she had no coin, Song Hilda pulled out her credit card and flicked it instead. The card landed on the ground, showing its back. When she looked up, the cat had already vanished.
Song Hilda’s face flushed red as the events of several years ago flashed before her eyes like a kaleidoscope. She had thought she simply mistook a dream for reality because she was drunk…!
Mae-gu smiled, fluttering his folding fan.
「So, do you regret returning to secular life?」
“Wha-wha-what are you talking about?!”
Of course, she didn’t regret it, but she couldn’t admit to the dark history of babbling to an Aberration because she was too drunk to tell the difference. Song Hilda stammered, trying to deny it.
Mae-gu, smiling leisurely at the blatantly desperate lie, turned his gaze toward Yoo Jiha. Jeil Heon instinctively stepped in front of him as Jiha flinched, but fortunately, Mae-gu did not expose any dark histories like he had with Song Hilda.
「I heard that you have become able to read names clearly?」
“Ye-yes.”
「How is my name read? Many names have referred to me over the long ages, so I am quite curious as to what I consider my own root.」
In fact, Jiha had been seeing the name since the moment Mae-gu appeared. The essence of Mae-gu, which could not be pierced by the true eye, was now clearly visible.
Yoo Jiha scribbled characters on the dirt ground with his finger. To be precise, he traced the Hanja.
and is
How do you read this? While he pondered for a moment, he heard Jeil Heon’s low mutter.
“Yeosi? The meaning of the characters doesn’t seem to connect well; what does it mean?”
However, it seemed different for the person in question. Mae-gu slapped his palm with the folded fan and let out a hearty laugh.
「It is Idu.」
Since Idu was a writing system used before the creation of Hangul, it was natural that Mae-gu, who was at least 1,800 years old, primarily perceived it. If it was written in Idu, it would be a word transliterated from Hanja, and the pronunciation ‘Yeosi’ was an archaic word for fox, which meant…
“Does that mean you consider yourself the species itself?”
「Ahem.」
For example, it carried the meaning of ‘Heaven and Earth, I alone am honored,’ as if Yoo Jiha himself were the only human and it was only natural for him to represent all of humanity.
“Wow, it’s impressive, but honestly, he’s kind of a jerk…”
Kim Min-seop’s quiet mutter spoke for everyone’s feelings, and Jeil Heon stepped forward, narrowing his brow slightly.
“Anyway, what business do you have at Banhwido?”
「If you think about it, the Woo-hyung is also a fragile Aberration. Sometimes they fall victim to unexpected disasters.」
“You expect me to believe that bullshit? Even if you entered by some unexpected accident, you could just rip through the Aberrant Realm and leave.」
Mae-gu laughed softly and pointed to the victims behind them.
「Little brother, please carry out your duties as a Management Bureau Agent first. I’ve given you a rough idea of the Procedure Manual, but surely the explanations from our Agent would be better.」
Jeil Heon glared at Mae-gu with a suspicious look before approaching the victims.
The victims said they were members of a travel club heading to a small island on the south coast for a ‘rural vacation.’ They claimed that Mae-gu—or rather, Dokheukri—was simply a guest who happened to be on the same boat. No Agent believed in that ‘coincidence,’ however.
‘It seems they were people swept up when Mae-gu entered.’
Yoo Jiha, who was still a rookie but had accumulated considerable experience, secretly broke into a cold sweat while speculating. As expected, Jeil Heon’s words that one should never fully trust an Aberration were true…
As he stabilized the victims, Jiha caught a glimpse of Jeil Heon dragging Mae-gu away. Whatever the case, he hoped they could escape safely without anyone getting hurt.
Meanwhile, in a deserted backyard, Jeil Heon was openly scowling at Mae-gu. Mae-gu held out a lighter.
「You look like you’re craving a cigarette; do you lack a flame?」
“I quit.”
「Oho. And here I thought you intended to die of lung cancer with how much you used to smoke.」
“I want to live a long, healthy life.”
Jeil Heon ran a hand roughly through his hair and finally couldn’t hold back, blurting out an urgent question.
“Did you meet Jiha often in the meantime?”
Damn it. It was a failure as an Agent, but right now, this issue was more important than the anomaly of an Aberration entering an Aberrant Realm through a normal route. He had even called him ‘Hyung.’ Hyung.
Unlike him, who asked the question drenched in self-loathing, Mae-gu remained perfectly nonchalant.
「I’ve been busy since I sent that boy away. I even had a fan meeting recently.」
He even smiled mischievously, his eyes curving.
「Today is the first time I’ve met your security blanket since that day.」
“….”
Jeil Heon pretended not to see his expression and asked again.
“So why are you here?”
「It is a matter concerning a sister. I hid it among the rules of the Aberrant Realm, so I had to enter according to the rules.」
“Is there another fox you picked up on the road?”
「Could there be another?」
Mae-gu lightly tapped his shoulder with the fan.
「I didn’t expect to meet you at Banhwido, but this works out well. Since you and I share a connection of sorts, could you watch over her until the end?」
* * *
Aberrations try to fill their missing parts through humans. However, with a probability like a single drop of water in the vast ocean, there were individuals who chose other means to fill their incompleteness.
That fox demon sought to fill its void by becoming human. Even if it meant being trapped in a human body—absurdly shabby and weak compared to an Aberration’s physical form, and limited by a finite lifespan—it wanted to achieve completeness by becoming human.
There was once a landowner who had three sons and longed for a daughter as his youngest. After fervent prayers, the youngest was indeed a daughter, but she breathed her last as soon as she was born. The fox hid its energy and swapped the body, disguising itself as the newborn baby.
The landowner cherished the cute youngest daughter, who had barely survived, with utmost devotion. The three older brothers also deeply adored their sister, despite the large age gap. Within the love of the family, the fox felt its identity as an Aberration gradually fade. It learned what human love was.
If time passed like this, if it formed a bond as a human, took a husband, and gave birth to human children, it might become a complete human. When the hunger became unbearable, it endured by secretly eating the livers of the cows or dogs kept at home. To become human, it sought to protect humans rather than kill them. It guarded not only the family but the entire village so that no anomaly could approach.
By loving humans, it wanted to become a complete human. It harbored such a dream.
But dreams are called dreams because one always wakes up from them.
The landowner was a Buwonbae (a powerful figure in the late Goryeo period who rose to power by relying on the Yuan Dynasty) who had sent his daughters as concubines to the Yuan princes to gain wealth and power. Around the time the grown sons were heading to the Yuan Dynasty with a merchant group supported by the family to look for a marriage match for the fox, the King drew the blade of purge. It was the start of a coup.
The Buwon forces, represented by Gi Cheol, the brother of Empress Gi, were brutally murdered, and their entire families were slaughtered. The landowner was no exception.
RR – Side Story 3
「Father! Father!」
While the fox had briefly left home to watch a hunt in the nearby hills, government officials stormed in and dragged the landlord away. At this rate, the household would be torn apart, and the landlord would meet a wretched end just like Gi-cheol. The fox had no interest in the power struggles of humans, such as who was a collaborator or a traitor. The only thing that mattered to it was the family it had hidden itself among.
The human who loved me.
The family who would make me human.
The fox did not know which of these had shaken its heart more. It only knew that the demonic energy of the Aberration, which it had concealed for over a decade, surged violently.
The landlord was rescued, but it was too late. Having suffered brutal torture, his breath was on the verge of flickering out. Even in its rage, the fox tried desperately not to harm the human, but in doing so, its Contamination was starkly exposed. Already battered and broken, the landlord mutated at a rapid pace.
〈…Child. You have come to punish me, for I sold out my family to enjoy wealth and honor.〉
Tears of blood streaming down his face, the landlord begged to be allowed to die as a human. For the first time since harboring the desire to become human, the fox killed a person.
Upon discovering that a powerful Aberration had been hiding there, officials from the Seowungwan descended to subjugate it, but the fox’s lair remained intact. Repeated failures followed, yet no lives were lost. Not a single person in the village died or was injured because of it.
If it does not harm human life, we shall not interfere.
The Seowungwan tacitly accepted this. It was an Aberration of a new Catastrophe Grade.
But the older brothers were not so forgiving.
Returning home late and learning of the situation, the brothers were blinded by irrational fear and a desire for revenge. The horror that a mere Aberration had disguised itself as family and stayed by their side. The vengefulness stemming from the family’s downfall and their father’s death.
The fundamental cause of the landlord’s death was the tyranny of collaborators that had lasted over a hundred years and the King’s purge. However, directing this revenge toward the austere King would have been nothing short of suicide, so they shifted the direction of their vengeance. Toward the loathsome monster who continued to call them ‘older brothers’ and let its guard down.
They sought the help of a high-ranking monk and obtained three pouches. Each pouch could summon a sea of water, a thicket of thorns, or a sea of fire. The fox, which had not fallen even to the subjugation efforts of the Seowungwan—the agency that manages anomalies—was finally burned to ashes by the hands of ordinary humans with no special powers; the family it had been loved by, had wanted to love, and had come to love.
Burning away its love in the flames that consumed its body.
The sound of laughter echoing from house to house can be heard. Amidst the joyful laughter of men, women, young and old, Jeil Heon realized where this hallucination originated. It must have been a fragment of the happy scenery the fox demon, which had once dwelt in his body, enjoyed in a human village while disguising itself as part of a family.
As they climbed a mountain path that rose unnaturally, Mae-gu explained.
「Forty-one years ago, when your sister’s Essence dwelt within you, little brother, I let at least one final shred of her lingering obsession remain here.」
“…In what state?”
「The root was mad, so it was the same.」
Muttering with a bitter irony, Mae-gu suddenly chuckled.
「However, it seems she regained some sanity shortly after you mutated. She no longer craves human livers. It is likely because the Essence that served as the root has completely vanished.」
He was able to confirm this shortly after. As they climbed deep into the mountains, a vast mansion suddenly appeared, and a girl could be seen standing still in the courtyard.
「….」
Dressed in archaic clothing, the girl stood with an expressionless, clouded face, saying nothing. She was the spitting image of the girl who had played tuho with Mae-gu in Mae-gu’s Aberrant Realm. Jeil Heon instinctively tried to find similarities between her and the fox demon he had killed in reality, but then gave up. At that time, she had been so mad she was completely broken.
Scattered throughout the courtyard were parts of corpses, presumed to be human. Humans lured by the sound of laughter likely had their raw livers eaten by the girl here, and the remaining corpses were probably scattered throughout the village.
Though she likely never managed to satisfy her hunger.
「Sister. The Palace Lord who saved you has also completely departed.」
「….」
「Now, the only ones in the secular world who know you are this older brother and this little brother here. What do you wish to do from now on?」
「….」
No matter how many words Mae-gu spoke, the girl did not respond. Though she possessed a physical body, it felt as if she were hollow inside.
Just as she had been unable to fill her own void with human love, nor with hatred and rage toward humans.
Even if Jeil Heon were to tear that body apart here, she would not react. That, too, could be a form of revenge.
Jeil Heon chewed on his thoughts and rubbed his face.
This was the Aberration that killed his mother. To not hate her would be a lie. If it weren’t for this Aberration, his life would not have been twisted; he would have faithfully followed in his father’s footsteps, and he, not Je Seong-jae, would have become the Chairman of the JL Group. A life completely opposite to his current one existed there.
He did not know which life would have made him more satisfied and prosperous. However, he could be certain of one thing: if he had not encountered this Aberration, he would never have met Yoo Jiha, the child whose fate was decided even before birth.
He recalled the twenty-two years he had lost. He recalled the seventeen years he spent isolated, captured by a Blind Eater. Malice and hostility had clung together like coal tar, opening a mouth like a bottomless abyss, and his consciousness had sunk. He was engulfed in sulfurous flames that would only be satisfied by his total annihilation. That was the pain he felt.
He was glad that all that suffering allowed him to save the child. Jeil Heon knew that his own twisted fate had also been directed toward the child.
Jeil Heon also knew what he had to do for this Aberration, which had become the turning point of his life.
Exhaling a low breath, he took a step forward.
“Do you know that your story was passed down and became a legend? In that story, the brothers who killed the fox disguised as a sister lived happily. But the truth is different.”
「….」
Looking at the girl, who still did not react, Jeil Heon slowly moved his lips as if reminiscing.
At some point in the past, he had wondered. No matter how mad she had become from pain, the fox’s brothers were ordinary humans. If she had wanted to rip open their bellies and chew their livers, she could have done so at any time, yet she didn’t. Even while craving the raw livers of her brothers, she could not bring herself to kill them with her own hands.
Then, what happened to those brothers? Did they truly live happily, as the legends say?
Since Jeil Heon had no qualms about using his background as the child of a conglomerate family, it didn’t take long for him to find the recorded truth.
“It seems your reputation in the village wasn’t bad, even after it was discovered you were an Aberration.”
It was revealed by the Seowungwan, which had intended to subjugate the fox, that she had actually been secretly protecting the village from other anomalies. Furthermore, unlike her father, who was a greedy landlord, the fox had mimicked the Four Beginnings of Confucianism—the four hearts stemming from human’s good nature—in order to live like a human. Even if it was merely a pretentious virtue born of imitation, it was a clear fact that she had helped starving people survive.
And then, that girl suffered cruel treatment and vanished. In the eyes of the villagers, she appeared to have died.
The sons were no different from the collaborator landlord. After reclaiming the fallen household, the sons could not abandon their past habits even though they knew the world had changed. The third son, who laid hands on a maiden in the village, was caught by the enraged people and beaten to death.
“After that happened, it seems the first and second sons were murdered by bandits while fleeing to the Yuan Dynasty.”
For the first time, an image formed in the eyes of the unresponsive girl.
“If you had killed them, their breath would have stopped instantly. But those who were born into a collaborator’s family and lived in luxury lost everything and died miserably while being hunted.”
「….」
“I believe they’ve paid the price to some extent. What about you?”
The shoulders of the girl, who had been motionless, trembled violently. Had it been when she was mad with pain and hatred, she wouldn’t have heard a word of Jeil Heon’s. But what remained here was merely a fragment of a lingering obsession. As the fox vanished within Jeil Heon, the harsh madness that had dominated the fragment also disappeared.
A shred of obsession that was not even a complete soul and spirit. Paradoxically, that was why the longing could remain pooled in the deepest place even after the madness vanished.
The ones the villagers regarded as joyful and human were the girl, and the ones they regarded as worse than goblins, despite wearing a human mask, were the brothers.
The one who harbored love for her family until the very end was also the girl.
Indeed, who was the being that could be called human?
“If one can love something and carve that affection into their heart so as not to forget it, I believe that is the beginning of being human.”
Just as Jeil Heon himself had been able to return to being human in that way.
RR – Side Story 4
The girl’s chest rose and fell slowly. It was as if a human were continuing to breathe. After placing her hand on her chest and mimicking her own breathing for a long while, the girl slowly moved her body. As her waist lowered, her long, trailing hair flowed softly.
The girl gave a graceful deep bow toward Jeil Heon and Mae-gu, and starting from her face, which was bowed deep toward the dirt floor, she began to crumble away. As if following her, the grand mansion behind her and the affectionate sounds of laughter also scattered like dust.
When he closed and opened his eyes once, everything had vanished without a trace, as if the scene from a moment ago had been a lie.
“…I have received many favors from my younger brother in various ways. Not only did you help the Palace Master, but you even tied the knot between her and her sister.”
Mae-gu was generally a goblin whose true intentions were hard to read, but this time, it felt as though he was sincerely grateful. Had it been his past self, he would not have gone out of his way to tell the girl the truth of the past. He probably would have just killed her.
Jeil Heon merely shrugged, thinking of the child who would be unable to hide his pity if he knew the girl’s story.
“It was nothing.”
They say people fall for those who aren’t like them, but it seems it’s also true that people grow to resemble those they love.
[Hidden World Record]
Name: Banhwido
Classification: Aberrant Realm-B-L.Is-029
First Sighting Date: May 21, 199X
Survival Rate: 39%
Exploration Rate: 43%
Unexplored Area: All areas except for some regions such as the village chief’s house and the escape route.
Remarks: Banhwido is a place where victims failed to return intact regardless of their preparations, but in the 75th exploration, not a single casualty occurred. This is entirely thanks to Agent Yoo Jiha’s abilities. It is proposed that Team 7 continue to lead the primary exploration of Banhwido. It would be beneficial if even the slightest differences in how the three races mimic humans could be discovered.
Additionally, it has been confirmed that the laughter heard from the center of the mountain on the second day of the 75th exploration has stopped. If the laughter is not heard during the next five explorations, the corresponding item in the Procedure Manual will be deleted.
* * *
After the exploration of Banhwido, Yoo Jiha cooperated more actively in the research of his abilities. Jeil Heon worried that the research might become excessive, but Jiha was simply happy that he had found a way to help others and prove himself solely through his own abilities.
The one thing that weighed on his mind was Jeil Heon’s somewhat unusual complexion upon returning from Banhwido. When he cautiously asked about it, Jeil Heon gave a smirk and ruffled his hair.
“I actually wanted to tell Jiha anyway.”
Jeil Heon kept his promise not to keep any more secrets. After hearing the long story, including the girl’s past, Yoo Jiha wore a complex expression.
“…Since she’s an Aberration who did such a thing to Ajusshi, I should only hate her, but knowing the reason why she went crazy makes me feel uneasy again.”
“It’s all over now.”
Jeil Heon comforted Yoo Jiha as if there was nothing to worry about, then, after glancing at him slightly, asked nonchalantly.
“By the way, since when did you get close enough to Mae-gu to call him Hyung?”
“I don’t think we’ve gotten that close? He told me to call him Hyung, so I just, well….”
Yoo Jiha replied haphazardly without much thought, then tilted his head. Several days had already passed since they left Banhwido, and he hadn’t met Mae-gu since then. Why was he suddenly curious about that now?
But before he could delve deeper into the question, Jeil Heon successfully shifted the subject.
“You’ll have some free time during the break after the seasonal semester ends, right? Should we change the interior of the house then?”
“How?”
“Like I mentioned briefly before, I want to combine our bedrooms into one.”
“…!”
If it was this kind of interior change, he welcomed it no matter how busy he was. Quickly forgetting the topic of Mae-gu ‘Hyung,’ Yoo Jiha excitedly discussed it with Jeil Heon.
“I’m thinking of buying a new bed and making the large room in the back the bedroom. It’s unnecessarily wide so we haven’t been using it, but the view from that window is quite nice.”
“That sounds great! Then what do we do with the room we’re using now?”
“Hmm, should we keep them as individual private studies? Just without the beds.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to keep the beds in case we have to use separate rooms?”
“Why separate rooms?”
Yoo Jiha deliberately squared his shoulders.
“If I fight with Ajusshi, we’ll have to use separate rooms.”
“Ahaha. You want to fight?”
“I’ll fight you if you don’t let me kiss your cock.”
“…Oh, then let’s just keep the bed in my room. Ajusshi will be the one kicked out of the bedroom.”
He wouldn’t even give a fake ‘okay,’ insisting he’d let him kiss it until the end. What a cheeky man. Yoo Jiha tried to pinch his side, but failed because of the muscles, so he pulled on his cheeks instead.
“…Ah.”
That night, while hugging Yoo Jiha and sleeping in the still-narrow bed, Jeil Heon woke up with a low groan after being kicked hard.
Jiha must have kicked him in his sleep; he was fast asleep, nestled in his arms. Wondering what dream he was having, Jeil Heon lightly pressed the furrowed brow of the boy, who mumbled and slowly relaxed his expression. So cute. Jeil Heon carefully kissed the space between the boy’s eyebrows so as not to wake him.
He gazed silently at the child in the darkness where not even moonlight seeped in. Whether through the gaze of only the left eye, which no longer shone even when holding the darkness, or through the gaze of both eyes, the world was complete. It was a human dwelling, where humans breathe and continue their lives. The complete world of humans culminated in this child. Unchangingly.
A profound sense of peace, incomparable to anything else, washed over him from the warmth and presence of the child in his arms. Listening to the regular, low sound of breathing, Jeil Heon closed his eyes again.
And like a child, he fell fast asleep.
While renovating the bedroom, they also touched up the annex. Originally, it was a place to enjoy the scenery while looking at the pond and the front yard, but Jeil Heon had reportedly filled in the pond when he purchased Pilgyeongdang. The reason was mosquitoes.
“It’s better to look at a pond on a phone than to be eaten alive by mosquitoes.”
Yoo Jiha agreed a hundred percent.
Anyway, though the pond was gone, the wide, open view from the annex was a scenery too good to give up. He turned the annex, which he used to just visit occasionally to sit on the porch and look around, into a hobby room and sneakily placed the gaming console he couldn’t buy before because he had to worry about his parents. One could say he had become a bit more brazen than during his days as a lodger.
“Since Jiha’s share of my assets is 100 percent, it’s fine.”
But since he had the consent of his boyfriend, the homeowner, there shouldn’t be any problem, right? Since a couple is one body and soul, in a sense, isn’t he also the homeowner?
After lounging around the annex, he found it too bothersome to go back to the main house, so he prepared for sleep. Specifically, traditional bedding. Since it was nominally a hanok, he felt that at least one of the rooms should have a boyo and traditional bedding.
And so, the monumental first night in the annex.
‘Ugh. My back hurts.’
Yoo Jiha woke up in the early dawn, groaning, unable to bear the stiffness in his back. He thought he might need to put a mattress underneath. No, if that’s the case, a bed would be…
“Mmm.”
As he pondered in a half-asleep state, there was the sound of low breathing surrounding him. Unlike him, Jeil Heon was fast asleep without a single toss and turn, as if he didn’t feel the stiffness at all. Was it because of the muscles?
Just as Yoo Jiha was about to pinch his cheek out of spite, the current situation suddenly flashed through his mind. Jeil Heon, sleeping soundly all by himself.
“…!”
He woke up instantly.
Since Jeil Heon always went to bed later and woke up earlier than him, he had never seen him asleep, except for the day he collapsed at the hospital. But right now, Jeil Heon was in a deep sleep. So deep that he wouldn’t know if someone carried him away.
Deep enough that he wouldn’t know if he kissed his cock.
Still, just in case, he cleared his throat and called out softly.
“Um, Ajusshi…?”
“….”
“Are you sleeping?”
“….”
“Ilheon Hyung?”
He didn’t even wake up when called Hyung. His heart began to thumping rapidly. The sinister ambition that he had been forced to bury because Jeil Heon had maintained such a firm wall all this time began to boil over.
For a final check, he waved his hand in front of his eyes. He flinched when Jeil Heon seemed to frown slightly, but fortunately, he didn’t open his eyes.
Gulping down dry saliva, he slowly sat up. Then, carefully lifting the blanket, he sat near Jeil Heon’s waist. The hand moving toward the waist of the training pants he was wearing trembled. He was very worried about whether it was okay to do such a thing, but since he had drawn the sword, he had to cut at least a radish.
Yoo Jiha shut his eyes tight, grabbed the waistband of the training pants and underwear together, and pulled them down. With a pounding heart, he opened his eyes just a sliver, and Forbes’ #1 Most Beautiful Cock was revealed vividly.
“Uwah….”
He almost let out an exclamation, so he quickly covered his mouth. Come to think of it, he had almost never seen his member when it wasn’t erect. When they showered together, he had been too embarrassed and looked down first, and whenever the man undressed in front of him, he was always stand-stand-standing…!
To kiss a cock that isn’t even hard and make it stand—this is the best. His heart felt like it would burst from excitement. Taking a ragged breath, he leaned down. Chu. Whoa! He actually kissed it…! Fearing he might wake up, he didn’t even touch him with his hands and waited with a pounding heart, having only lightly pressed his lips. Even after a considerable amount of time spent holding his breath, Jeil Heon did not wake.
If he had intended to stop there, he wouldn’t have done such a perverted thing. Gaining courage from the sign that his lover was deeply asleep, Yoo Jiha decided to progress a bit further.
RR – Side Story 5
He poked his tongue out between his lips and licked the glans. Licking it as if rolling a piece of candy in his mouth quickly made the smooth, thick head moist. Summoning his courage, he opened his lips. The engorged piece of flesh slid in, filling his mouth. He wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but it felt larger than when he first touched it.
‘It feels less erect, so why is it so big…?’
If it got any larger, he wasn’t sure if he’d even be able to swallow it. He was just beginning to wonder if he should stop when—
“Mm….”
Jeil Heon tossed and turned, perhaps sensing a strange sensation between his legs. Jiha’s heart sank. He wavered, his mind spinning over whether he should quickly dress him and pretend nothing happened before being caught, or if he should brazenly cling to him.
Jeil Heon’s reaction was faster than Yoo Jiha’s decision.
“Ngh, what…?”
Jeil Heon woke up.
Having woken from sleep to find his underwear pulled down and Yoo Jiha clinging to the space between his legs, he wore a blank expression, uncharacteristically dazed as he struggled to process the reality.
Glancing up at him as he blinked slowly, Yoo Jiha realized it was too late to pull up the underwear and pretend nothing had happened. In that case, there was no choice but to go all the way!
‘It’s because you woke up in the middle, Mister. I was really going to stop…!’
Having conveniently finished his self-justification, Yoo Jiha opened his mouth wider and began to suck on his member with gusto. The vein-throbbing shaft was sucked deep into his small mouth.
“Wa—wait. Jiha? You, ngh!”
Only then did Jeil Heon seem to grasp the situation, and he tried to pull back hurriedly, but since this might be his first and last chance, Yoo Jiha did not yield. He clung tightly to the thighs, cupping the hanging testicles in his palm as he moved his tongue.
Recalling the blowjobs the man had given him, he swept his tongue along the shaft and sucked with loud, wet sounds. Jeil Heon’s thigh muscles twitched, and the thing held in his mouth swelled rapidly.
Now that he had a definite reaction, he grew even more excited. Compared to what the man did, his own technique was likely clumsy beyond belief, yet seeing the man get aroused several times faster than himself made Jiha’s own lower body grow hot.
“Hngh….”
Unable to forcibly push Yoo Jiha away, his hands wandered in the air before gripping the mattress tightly. His hips gave a great jerk, and a low groan was swallowed.
Yoo Jiha moved his mouth diligently, smelling the man’s scent, which had grown distinctly thicker. He licked the shaft, rubbing the saliva pooled on his tongue against it, then poked the concave urethral opening with the tip of his tongue to stimulate it. His own breathing grew ragged as he touched the now fully erect member.
The erection, with veins bulging, became so thick that it was difficult to fit in his mouth. Yet, it wasn’t enough. He craved it to the point of thirst. He wanted to swallow every bit of the evidence that the man was aroused because of him.
“Ngh, that’s enough now, stop….”
Between suppressed groans, Jeil Heon gently stroked his hair as if telling him to stop, but Yoo Jiha ignored him and opened his mouth wide. Then, before the man could block him, he swallowed the shaft in one go.
“Kh…!”
The fingertips stroking his hair tightened. Yoo Jiha gasped for air. Even with his mouth open as wide as possible, it wasn’t enough. Because the piece of flesh filled his mouth to the point where breathing became difficult, the corners of his lips stung and his jaw grew stiff. He loved it.
The problem was that he had no idea what to do after this. Just having the man’s member in his mouth made him so aroused that his mind spun and his backside tingled, making him even more dizzy. However, instinct performed its role perfectly.
Yoo Jiha strained, opening his throat to swallow as much of him as possible, moving his lips with effort. It was around the time he felt the glans, which was pressing heavily against the roof of his mouth as it slid slowly inward, become somehow slicker.
Jeil Heon’s voice, groaning while biting his lower lip, was tinged with urgency.
“Seriously, stop, ngh!”
Jeil Heon, who had been desperately enduring to avoid touching Yoo Jiha, suddenly became rough. As a firm hand grabbed his face to push him away, Yoo Jiha stubbornly refused to let go, even though he was choking to the point where he couldn’t breathe properly.
As a result….
“Haa, haa…. Huh?”
Before Yoo Jiha, who had been forced to let go of the member, could catch his breath, white semen splattered across his face. Because Jeil Heon couldn’t ejaculate inside Yoo Jiha’s mouth, he had desperately tried to pull his body away, but the timing was off, and he ended up cumming on his face. The glans, releasing the semen, gave one final quiver and flicked against his cheek.
Semen splashed not only around his lips and the bridge of his nose but even onto his eyelashes, making his eyes sting. Because he was blinking, Yoo Jiha couldn’t see Jeil Heon’s face.
Coughing repeatedly due to the member that had been pushed in as if to pierce his throat, Yoo Jiha wiped the semen from his reddened lips with the back of his hand and turned his head.
“You liked it too, right, Mister? I’m pretty good at this, aren’t I?”
“…Yeah.”
The answer came slowly, and the triumphant Yoo Jiha finally looked at Jeil Heon. He saw a gaze staring at him—specifically at his face covered in semen—as if he wanted to devour him, his neck flushed bright red.
Instinctively, his shoulders flinched.
Ah.
I think something went wrong.
When an elder twelve years his senior told him not to do it, he should have listened obediently. But regret always comes too late.
“Hngh, ngh!”
Yoo Jiha’s body trembled at the rough touch of a hand sweeping down his spine. The man, who had whispered and caressed him so tenderly that Jiha sometimes wished he would just strip him quickly and have sex, didn’t say a word.
Far from whispering, he stripped off the pajamas with such urgency that Jiha wondered if he was tearing them, leaving him naked in an instant. Then, he abruptly squeezed out some gel and spread the cheeks of his buttocks. He didn’t even play the joke of wanting to lick the hole.
In the blink of an eye, three fingers surged in to stir the inside. Even the fingers that were diligently softening the inside so he could adjust were tinged with impatience. As the long fingers scraped the inner walls, a tingling sensation rose all the way to his stomach.
“Hngh….”
Yoo Jiha groaned and twisted his hips. The man’s reaction—focusing only on widening the hole while swallowing rough breaths without a word—was chilling. Glancing sideways, the man’s member was standing erect, almost touching his stomach, as if the fact that he had just ejaculated was a lie.
Honestly, he was a little scared. Since he was that aroused, it felt like he might just spread his legs and ram himself in violently, regardless of whether his bottom was relaxed or if he tore. Was this the price for doing something filthy to someone who was fast asleep…?
Yet, imagining that scene made him instinctively tighten his buttocks. Only then did the man let out a long breath and ask.
“Is it still difficult?”
But the man was still tender.
Whispers flowed in, softly licking his ear, and a large hand caressed his skin as if telling him not to be afraid, and kisses fell upon his neck. The tongue that bit firmly into the white neck where fine fuzz grew and then licked it away was sweet.
As the man bent his waist, the thick member, which had been throbbing on its own, tapped against Yoo Jiha’s buttocks and thighs. He felt a liquid—whether it was his own saliva from the sucking, the semen from the ejaculation, or new pre-cum—tracing over his pale skin. For some reason, the skin where that liquid flowed felt hot.
What do I do. Yoo Jiha closed his eyes tight. He figured that dating a pervert Mister was turning him into a real pervert too. Even though it was obvious it would hurt if he inserted it now because his inside wasn’t melted enough, on the other hand, it felt like it would be so thrilling to accept a man who couldn’t hide his arousal as much as he could.
Just the imagination made blood rush to his lower body and his breath shorten. Yes, let’s do it. Yoo Jiha decided. No matter how much it hurt, it wouldn’t be as painful as the first time. And if he ended up bedridden tomorrow from the aftereffects, the man would nurse him diligently, so that was actually a plus.
Following the movement of the fingers widening his inner walls, he gently swayed his hips, attempting a bold seduction in his own way.
“Mister…. Please put it in quickly.”
“You’re not relaxed enough yet.”
No, if you’re so aroused that you’re barely restraining yourself, you should just ram it in!
When his seduction, which he thought was a decisive blow, didn’t work, Yoo Jiha gritted his teeth and unleashed a large, proven move. Although his face turned red from the embarrassment of saying it while sane.
“Mister, I… I like semen…. I-I want to eat it….”
“…….”
The fingers that had been wriggling through the inner walls stopped dead. Did he get ma—mad because he said something weird again? It was just as a worried Yoo Jiha tentatively shifted his gaze.
RR – Side Story 6
“You, really….”
A low, grinding growl seemed to emanate from behind him, and then, without warning, the fingers slid out. Before he could even register the void, the glans pressed against the opening. After rubbing against the perineum and beneath the scrotum, Jeil Heon gave him no time to adjust, spreading his buttocks and sliding the menacing head inside.
“Ngh…!”
As expected, the entrance, not yet fully relaxed, brought pain. A volume several times larger than the fingers that had been stirring inside until a moment ago pushed in. Every time the man forced his member in and the entrance stretched and twisted, a chilling spike of pain surged through him.
And yet, it felt good. While his reason pleaded for him to push the man away, his instincts ecstatically embraced even the pain of being forced open.
“Ah, hng… hnggh.”
As he let out a desperate, aching sound while clutching the mattress, the man stopped his advance. The whisper, accompanied by a wet lick and a bite to the earlobe, was searingly hot.
“Jiha. Is it too hard?”
If he said it was hard, this man—despite being so aroused he seemed on the verge of losing it—would stop without hesitation. He couldn’t let that happen.
Instead of answering, Yoo Jiha fidgeted his fingers against the back of the man’s hand that was gripping his waist. Jeil Heon, looking puzzled, let his hand be guided. The hand slid down below the waist, touching the member that was already swollen as if it might ejaculate the moment it was inserted, despite the pain.
“Because of you, ah, I… I’ve become a pervert… Ngh, you’re mean….”
A small chuckle sounded from behind.
“I’m sorry, honey.”
Ho-honey…! In the brief moment Jiha’s body relaxed from the sheer eroticism of the word, his buttocks were spread wide and a member as thick as a forearm slammed in all at once.
“Ah! Hagh!”
The pain of being stretched to the limit pierced sharply through his spine, forcing a loud moan. As he gasped for air and reflexively struggled, the man who had pounced on him from behind used his weight to press him down firmly. A powerful sense of pressure rushed in, as if a massive boulder had been placed on his back, crushing his entire body.
And it was wonderful. The completeness of being trapped, unable to move, under a heaviness that made even breathing a struggle.
The immense pressure soon turned into soft kisses. He brushed away the sweat-soaked hair clinging to the skin and cradled the flesh blooming with red heat, carving petal-like bite marks all over the body. A thrilling excitement blossomed wherever the man’s lips brushed and his breath flowed. The pain slowly melted away.
“Hng… hah, eu….”
The moans, which had been riddled with pain, now mixed with a suggestive wetness. With those sounds as a signal, the member that had paused briefly resumed its movement.
The thrusts were urgent and rough. Every time the man’s hips surged, his scrotum slapped heavily against Jiha’s thighs, and the sound of flesh colliding wetly hammered against his eardrums. Then there were the uncontrollable, ragged breaths and gasps that sounded as if he were choking.
If a firm hand hadn’t been holding his waist, he would have collapsed under the force of the pounding from behind. Jiha barely managed to lift his hips, which were gripped by the man, scratching the mattress as he let out high-pitched moans. The thick member dug in urgently, yet precisely rubbed against the sensitive spots inside that he felt.
“Haaa! Ah, aaah!”
Splat. A cloudy liquid dripped from the member that was shaking wildly. The moment his entire body was drenched in the pleasure of climax, a new wave of ecstasy surged again. His mind, overflowing with pleasure, became a tangled mess, and the overwhelming bliss turned into child-like sobbing.
Bouncing mindlessly as he was hammered from behind, Jiha thought hazily. I wonder if my buttocks, which keep colliding with the man’s pubic bone, have turned red. I hope they’re bruised deep red. So that I can recall this time even when we aren’t entwined.
As if reading his secret wish, the man sank his teeth into the nape of his neck. The dizzying pain of the skin being sucked stained the sensitized, flushed skin. He loved the marks that would be left in red.
His marks were also being carved into the rapidly frictioning inner walls. He wished every single vein bulging on the member would remain inside him. And he wished he could be carved into the man’s physical body so that he could always be felt.
Unable to even find the strength to grip the mattress, his fluttering hand was overlapped by a large hand, their fingers interlocking. A broad, sweat-drenched chest pressed against Yoo Jiha’s back, completely enveloping the smaller body.
“…Jiha.”
The rough, hoarse voice leaking through shallow breaths was always directed at him. A careful kiss descended upon his eyelids, softly licking away the tears that dampened the corners of his eyes.
Between the whimpers stained with pleasure, Jiha mumbled.
“Hng, if I were cotton candy….”
“Mm.”
“You’d lick me all up….”
A small laugh flowed through the lips pressed against his cheek.
“Then I could only eat you once. I want to lick and eat Jiha every single day. No matter how much I lick, suck, or bite, I never get tired of it.”
“You’re a real pervert….”
“That’s why you like me.”
It was a given.
Yoo Jiha pouted his lips, then quickly licked the mouth that had slid down along his cheek. His lips were also delicious—so much so that he wouldn’t tire of licking them for a lifetime.
* * *
While decorating, he set up a small room with Lee Yeo-jin’s belongings received from Kang Suk-young. Not only the books and records Lee Yeo-jin had loved, but even photo albums filled the room. Opening the door revealed a space full of memories of his biological mother.
“Yeo-jin was a fan of New Kids on the Block. I’ll give you the turntable that can play the records as a bonus.”
“Director. New Kids… who is that?”
“Don’t 21st-century kids know them? Well, um, in today’s terms, an idol group?”
“Aha.”
It was his first time seeing a vinyl record in person, but the story of his mother being an idol fan was even more surprising. The image of the mother he held in his heart became more vivid.
Of course, there were also photos of Yoo Jiha as a child. Photos of him with his hair tied and wearing a pretty skirt—embarrassing, yet somehow poignant.
“Ah, this one must have been taken when they went to an amusement park. I heard from Yeo-jin that when she first gave Jiha cotton candy, his eyes went wide and he threw a fit, crying that he only wanted to eat cotton candy from then on.”
“I-I never did that.”
Jeil Heon also searched his memories, sharing recollections one by one. There were moments he felt so embarrassed he wanted to deny it, but more than that, he loved it.
Because it was from such a young age, he couldn’t remember it clearly, but the heartwarming memories piled up and eventually reached Lee Yeo-jin’s family. Photos of an aunt playing beside his maternal grandfather and mother, who remained only as a few black-and-white photographs.
After searching for photos of Prince Ui on the internet and comparing them with his maternal grandfather, they did seem to resemble each other a bit.
“I don’t look much like them, do I?”
“I sometimes wonder if you were picked up from somewhere, because you don’t look like anyone.”
When he elbowed Jeil Heon for the mischievous comment, the man laughed and kissed the corner of his eye.
“You’re the prettiest and most lovely person in the world; who could possibly look like you?”
“That’s true.”
Yoo Jiha let out a silly giggle and leaned against him.
The memories traveling back in time thus extended to Nam Soon-ho. While it was difficult to look directly at the living image of Nam Hyeon-woo—the Smiling Man who had killed many people, including Lee Yeo-jin—Nam Soon-ho was different.
The paternal grandmother, who had tried to stop her son until the very end, had a very upright and stern impression.
「She was the greatest shaman of her time, whom no one dared compare themselves to.」
Gong Ran-sa held more of Nam Soon-ho’s memories.
「As a successor of the Mangudae-taek-gut (a ritual passed down in Hwanghae Province), she even had the chance to be designated as an intangible cultural asset, but she declined.」
“Why?”
「Because she hoped to serve those who could not emerge from the shadows rather than gain worldly fame. That is the kind of person the Mansin was.」
Gong Ran-sa unraveled the threads of old memories, explaining that because of that character, she had never lived a wealthy life despite possessing such spiritual power.
He received a great deal of time from those who held the memories of Lee Yeo-jin and Nam Soon-ho. Only after embracing those times in his heart did Yoo Jiha finally feel confident enough to tell his current parents about his biological mother.
RR – Side Story 7
The Management Bureau received a long winter break, similar to a summer vacation, in exchange for not resting during the Lunar New Year and Chuseok holidays. Whether the Lunar New Year holiday fell within this break was entirely up to luck, and fortunately, Exploration Division Team 7 was in luck this year.
Even after spending the Lunar New Year holiday talking with his parents in Suwon and traveling down to the countryside to meet his grandmother, he still had vacation days left.
‘Then obviously, I have to spend them lovey-dovey with my boyfriend!’
As it happened, there was a modest bucket list item he had promised Jeil Heon a few months ago: visiting a villa in winter to see the snowy landscape.
“Wow.”
Yoo Jiha, who hadn’t been able to take his eyes off the scenery while driving along the mountain road toward the villa, let out a small gasp at the view from the house. Everything in his sight was dyed white. Amidst that white silence, the forest holding its breath and the villa nestled deep in the mountains felt like a small island severed from the rest of the world.
Since there hadn’t been much snow in Seoul this winter, he hadn’t been able to enjoy the scenery; it seemed he had been waiting for today.
“Mister! Let’s make a snowman!”
“Let’s pitch the tent in the garden first.”
There was another reason he had been looking forward to the villa: winter camping in the garden. Perhaps because they had driven far to an unfamiliar place, the garden that stretched all the way to the forest felt secluded and pleasant, and since they could just go back inside the villa if it got too cold, he didn’t have to worry about the aftermath.
Jeil Heon, who said it was his first time camping, watched a few YouTube videos Jiha played for him and quickly leveled the ground and snapped the tent into place. To be able to enjoy camping in a garden—the power and wealth of a chaebol’s eldest son were truly sweet.
“I feel like I’m becoming a spoiled brat because of this.”
“Does that mean you’re not going to the ski resort where I have a membership the day after tomorrow?”
“……Fine, I’ll just be a spoiled brat then!”
They shared pleasant chatter, giggling as they worked hard to roll snowballs. It was more tiring than expected, so the snowman ended up a bit small, but after breaking some twigs to decorate the eyes, nose, and mouth, it looked quite decent. He snapped a photo to brag to Gong Ran-sa and posted it on Instagram.
The heater warming the inside of the tent thawed his frozen hands. Now, it was time for the long-awaited dinner. The menu: beef steak and cheese fondue.
Whenever they ate when the housekeeper wasn’t there, Jeil Heon always prepared the meal, but since today was camping, Jiha helped out. While Jeil Heon grilled the steaks, Jiha sliced the cheese and mixed in a bit of white wine. Of course, Jeil Heon was the one who adjusted the amount appropriately. Jiha struggled for a bit, not knowing if he was melting it thick enough to call it cooking, but the result was quite successful. At least it didn’t burn.
“Thank you for the meal!”
He cut a large piece of steak and dipped it generously in the cheese. The combination of two familiar flavors was truly fantastic. The well-melted cheese wrapped around the grain of the juicy steak, creating a dense and rich flavor. Even after swallowing, a lingering savory richness remained, causing him to unconsciously lick the inside of his mouth.
“This is seriously delicious. As expected, it’s because I made the fondue so well.”
“Honestly, I brought extra cheese because I thought you’d burn it about twice.”
“Mister, you’re not allowed to eat the fondue.”
He thought the amount of cheese was unusually high for a reason. When he tried to snatch the fondue pot, Jeil Heon quickly grabbed it first and held it high above his head. At a height where no matter how much he jumped, he couldn’t reach it. How frustrating……!
Whether it was Jeil Heon as a Bearer or the Jeil Heon who had completely returned to being human, there was no difference in appearance, but in reality, there was. Jeil Heon now shaved every morning and trimmed his nails. Occasionally, he visited a salon to trim his hair.
And his appetite had increased. A man who used to pick at a tiny amount of food now ate two or three times as much as Jiha. Honestly, seeing him eat well was what made Jiha the proudest. Just watching him eat made him feel full. He felt like he didn’t even need to eat.
“If you’re finished, shall I clear the table?”
“I’m going to eat more!”
Jiha quickly took another piece of steak Jeil Heon had grilled and dipped it into the cheese fondue along with a mushroom. Mmm, yummy.
For dessert and a late-night snack, they roasted sweet potatoes and potatoes. Drinking hot chocolate while watching the sweet potatoes and potatoes ripen warmly in the heater felt like paradise.
With a relaxed heart, he recalled the events of the past few days. Telling his parents that he had found his family and meeting his grandmother in the countryside.
Jeil Heon didn’t pry into what they had talked about. He simply welcomed him with unchanging kindness. As if it were okay no matter what he had gone through. As if he would accept anything.
Because of that, Jiha didn’t feel rushed and could slowly reflect and organize the feelings he wanted to convey to him.
“My Noona, her original name was Yoo Eun-su.”
The Girl, who had been quite fond of the name Eun-su, learned one day that her new younger brother’s name was ‘Jiha.’ After carefully observing the small child who was hesitating and constantly reading her cues, the Girl raised her hand high.
〈Mom, I want to change my name! To a name where other kids can tell right away that he’s my brother!〉
Thus, the Girl changed her name by taking one character from the child’s name, like a generational name. Yoo Jisu. That was the name the Girl took as the child’s Noona.
These were the people. The child’s new family.
His parents, who had been heartbroken that they could never find Jiha’s biological parents, were greatly surprised when he told them he had found them. Mixing in a small lie, he told them, ‘Someone I met at work turned out to be a friend of my biological parents and recognized me,’ and they rejoiced as if it were their own news.
And upon hearing that he had lost his family all at once in an accident and that only he had gone missing, his father, who was prone to tears, stepped away for a moment, and his mother hugged him tightly. His Noona looked at the old album he had brought and teased him in an exaggerated voice, asking why he was cross-dressing so creepily.
The news also spread among the relatives gathered for the Lunar New Year. After hearing about what happened between him and his grandmother from his eldest aunt, the relatives welcomed him, albeit awkwardly, as if they had each felt something.
〈……You found your biological parents?〉
His grandmother, who had recovered significantly in the meantime and was now able to walk long distances, quietly closed her eyes with a heavy sigh. As she kept her eyes closed for a long time, her hand gently pressed the middle finger of her left hand. As if touching the jade ring she had worn for decades on that finger.
〈It is a great relief that they were not people who abandoned you out of malicious intent.〉
The foster child, who had been abandoned at the front gate without even receiving a single character for a name, muttered a single word of deep emotion and then gestured for him to leave. However, the emotion dwelling in the grandmother’s voice was not merely pain.
〈……Come again next time.〉
Jiha felt as though he would never forget the low whisper, barely audible to his ears, just before leaving the countryside house.
The events of the past few days, long if you will, short if you won’t, lingered inside the tent, mixed with his intermittent voice.
“My mom and dad said they want to visit the graves or the columbarium of my biological parents.”
To express gratitude to the biological parents who gave birth to him. To tell them, so that they wouldn’t be sad watching from heaven, that he would continue to love them.
The reason he told Jeil Heon these slightly embarrassing words was because he knew of Jeil Heon’s guilt. The guilt of not being able to reveal the truth that he hadn’t been abandoned and having to lie about his biological parents until the very end.
He wanted to tell him proudly that there was no need to blame himself, and that he had grown up surrounded by such great familial love.
Even all those moments of deceiving him—was that not also his love?
A faint smile finally appeared on the lips of Jeil Heon, who had been listening in silence.
“Bearers don’t have coffins in their graves; instead, they keep the belongings they entrusted during their lifetime. What Yeojin left behind was a family photo. I’ll put that photo in the columbarium.”
At the mention of a Bearer’s grave, Jiha’s eyes grew wide. Even though his curiosity was plain to see, Jeil Heon pulled the kind child—who didn’t dare ask for fear of being inconsiderate—into his arms. The small, fidgeting movements in his embrace were his peace.
Jeil Heon now knows that his own grave will not be empty. The pride of having protected this child and a love as brilliant as an unaltering light will prove his Value until the very end.
He is human.
He is Jeil Heon, a human who loves Yoo Jiha.
RR Side Story 〈End〉