By Zephyria “What did you do?”
“…What do you mean?”
“What did you do!”
Even though Sa-young’s collar was grabbed, he only blinked with a blank face without much resistance. He didn’t seem to be in his right mind yet.
However, Eui-jae was no different. He hadn’t even calmed down from Lee Sa-young’s crazy bombshell, and now he was faced with an unbelievable reality. The dating rumors, which were just jokes or noise, seemed to have exploded to the point where they were being talked about in the Ranker Chat!
‘What the hell did those Mackerel bastards do?’
They said it would be cleared up with one call, but it must have all been lies. Eui-jae gritted his teeth.
‘I’d rather have rumors of being enemies or rivals.’
Eui-jae shook the collar he was holding to bring him to his senses. Lee Sa-young’s head shook weakly. Soon, Sa-young frowned and grabbed his head.
“Hyung….”
“Speak properly.”
“I’m in pain….”
Eui-jae released his grip on the collar. Or rather, his strength gave out. A groan escaped from Sa-young’s mouth.
Was it because it had been so long since he hit someone that he couldn’t control his strength? Does it hurt even if he’s an S-class? It probably hurts, right? While Eui-jae was frozen, Lee Sa-young wriggled and sat up, then quickly buried his face in his shoulder.
Soft hair woke Eui-jae up. Eui-jae quickly grabbed the arms that were already wrapped around his waist like a snake.
“You’re not trying to get away with aegyo again, are you?”
“…Huh?”
Sa-young raised his head from where he had buried it. Sa-young, who had been staring up at Eui-jae with his cheek against his shoulder, made a sullen expression.
“It really hurts….”
“……”
Is he still acting? No, does it really hurt? Is he still uncomfortable? Black fingers groped at his neck. Eui-jae could see red bruise marks rising on Lee Sa-young’s white, straight neck in the shape of a hand. Eui-jae scratched his head. He didn’t know sharing a body would be this uncomfortable.
“Does your… neck hurt?”
“Yes. My head too.”
A small cough burst out. Eui-jae muttered, looking at the empty air.
“…I choked you a little.”
“Ah….”
Sa-young, who let out a small exclamation, narrowed his eyes. Black fingers groped at the red bruise marks. Whether his mind, which had been gone, had returned, an interesting look flickered in his lightless eyes. His lips twisted.
“So, that’s your preference?”
“That’s not it!”
Eui-jae shouted. Sa-young muttered, touching his neck.
“Isn’t choking people a bit… morbid?”
“I opened my eyes and there was another guy standing there, what else could I do?”
“Ah…. So you choked me without even talking to me because of that? You’re violent….”
“That bastard was saying weird things.”
“What kind of things?”
“……”
Eui-jae closed his mouth. He couldn’t dare to put those vile words into his mouth. Sa-young rubbed his waist as if urging him. Lee Sa-young’s face, which he looked down at, was surprisingly calm. Even though he had been possessed and beaten up.
Yeah, it’s better to tell him everything than to hide it and make things worse. Eui-jae started to speak, muttering.
“He kept telling me to sleep with him….”
“Huh?”
Sa-young frowned. Eui-jae hurriedly added.
“I’m telling you this in case you misunderstand, it wasn’t a weird meaning, he really meant to close our eyes and sleep.”
“I wasn’t even thinking of misunderstanding. Aren’t you the one who had weird thoughts, Hyung?”
“Be quiet.”
When Eui-jae clenched his fist and shook it, Sa-young smiled and drew an X with his finger in front of his mouth. He raised his eyebrows.
“Okay, keep talking. What happened next?”
“He also told me to choke him more… No, is that bastard crazy? Why would he want me to choke him more?”
“Ah…. So you choked him again? Is that why your neck is like this?”
“Are you crazy? I let go right away.”
“Haa….”
Sa-young, who sighed deeply, blinked his eyes as if he was tired.
“And, what else?”
“And….”
Eui-jae recalled the face that smiled as he choked him.
According to Hong Ye-seong, the two had the same roots. The ‘roots’ of the Soul would mean the underlying temperament of that person. Even if they had walked completely different paths in life, if those roots hadn’t changed, they would be the same being.
But….
“……”
“Hyung?”
“That’s….”
But Lee Sa-young, whom he had just faced, felt strangely out of place. It wasn’t just because of the ungrateful words of wanting to sleep together or the perverted remarks of wanting to be choked. If he were asked at what point it was…
From everything that made him up.
In fact, there had been an uncomfortable feeling of incongruity from the first moment he saw him. Eyes like glass beads that contained nothing. Eyes that only contained Cha Eui-jae.
They say the eyes are the windows to the Soul. ‘That’ Lee Sa-young’s eyes had no Soul or ego. They only reflected the existence they saw, like a mirror.
Moreover, there was a sense of alienation in the energy he felt. Rather than human, more like….
“Closer to the Dungeon side….”
“……”
“Strangely… it was unsettling.”
Eui-jae finished speaking with a sullen expression. Lee Sa-young lowered his eyes as if lost in thought, then licked his lips with his tongue. Eui-jae, who had been quietly watching the black tongue licking his red lips, glared sharply at Lee Sa-young.
He almost got away with it again. As if he knew what his face looked like, he would make people dizzy with his face and skinship, and then move on to another topic like a snake.
Eui-jae grabbed Lee Sa-young’s cheeks with both hands. Sa-young opened his eyes wide and raised his head.
“Anyway, what did you do?”
“Didn’t you already know?”
“Tell me quickly from the mouth of the one who did it. Before I storm the fish market.”
“Well… I didn’t do much.”
There’s no way the Ranker Chat would be like that if he hadn’t done much. When Eui-jae glared at him, Sa-young raised his lips and smiled.
“I just did what you did, Hyung.”
“What I did?”
“When Hyung fell asleep, I picked him up and brought him home.”
Sa-young tilted his head slightly and blinked his eyes. His eyelashes fluttered.
“Is this also a sin? I just did what Hyung did.”
Picked him up. There was an image associated with the word. A blurry, low-quality photo popped up in his head. A photo of J carrying Lee Sa-young. J was holding Lee Sa-young like a princess at that time….
‘Crazy.’
His spine tingled. Eui-jae jumped up from his seat and started rummaging through the room. Sa-young, who was sitting alone on the floor, raised one knee and rested his chin on it.
“What are you looking for?”
“Where did I put my phone?”
“I have it.”
Sa-young took out his phone from his pants pocket and held it out. Eui-jae snatched the phone and turned it on, then connected to the internet. The article title that appeared on the main page of the portal site he always accessed was unusual.
「What is the relationship between Lee Sa-young and J? Wave Guild remains silent…」
Eui-jae clicked on the article title with a trembling hand. The loading mark that spun around for a few seconds made Eui-jae even more miserable.
Tak, tak, tak, he tapped the floor with his foot, and as soon as the loading was finished, he met Lee Sa-young’s eyes. Not the Lee Sa-young in front of him, but the Lee Sa-young in the photo.
The Lee Sa-young in the photo was smiling as if he had been seen….
“……”
The black masked man was quietly held in his arms.
While Eui-jae was frozen, Sa-young lightly got up from his seat and stood behind Eui-jae. Then, he kissed the nape of his neck, which was revealed between the bright gray hair. The body in his arms flinched.
At the same time, a late text notification popped up on the photo displayed on the screen.
The sender was,
Ha-eun: Uncle, Grandmother is asking if it’s real
The body being held trembled. Sa-young buried his lips once more in the ends of his hair.
“They say you can’t even drink water carelessly in front of children.”
Cha Eui-jae surprisingly didn’t get angry. No, it would be more accurate to say that he didn’t have the energy to get angry. He trembled for a long time holding the phone, then pushed away Sa-young, who was kissing his neck. And he staggered to the bathroom,
Bang!
Closed the door,
Click,
Locked the door.
All of those actions were as natural as flowing water. Sa-young didn’t tell him to open the door or knock. Instead, he dragged a chair to a place where he could see the bathroom door and sat down, waiting quietly.
He’s cute, but…. If he’s going to isolate himself, he should isolate himself in a place like the bedroom, even being cooped up in a corner like the bathroom was like Cha Eui-jae.
Cha Eui-jae didn’t come out from inside for a full hour, and apart from the occasional loud sighs and barely swallowed screams, no other sounds were heard.
Sa-young, who was sitting backwards on the chair with his arms on the backrest and his chin resting on them, rolled his eyes. As soon as he was separated from Cha Eui-jae, the uninvited guest was moving again. The consciousness that had been focused on Eui-jae was gradually turning to the uninvited guest. The voice that Eui-jae had been muttering came to mind.
‘He also told me to choke him more… No, is that bastard crazy? Why would he want me to choke him more?’
Sa-young sighed briefly.
‘Why else….’
He knows why the uninvited guest did that. Sa-young rested his cheek on his arm and relaxed his body.
Could a person who had wandered alone in a world where Doomsday had come for a very long time be normal?
‘There’s no way….’
Just as a large rock is carved away by water and wind, both body and mind would have been gradually carved away. And when it’s all worn away, the emotions that swallowed him would gradually wear away as well.
After sadness, anger, regret, and all those things disappeared…. He would have spent his days repeating only his purpose.
Only obsession would have remained.
‘I’m right, aren’t I?’
The uninvited guest didn’t answer. But Sa-young knows he was right. Because he could feel another Lee Sa-young wriggling unpleasantly.
What would happen if someone who had lost even his own body because everything had been worn away gained a living body? Wouldn’t he be excited by the stimuli that were once familiar but now foreign? Especially if the one giving the stimulus was Cha Eui-jae….
Sa-young touched his still throbbing neck. He hadn’t looked at it, but it was obvious that there would be a bruise. Sa-young closed his eyes. In the darkness, he heard the sound of water pouring out, as if Eui-jae had turned on the water.
What else could make him feel more alive than the stimulation Cha Eui-jae gave him?
‘I would have asked him to do more if I were him….’
Lee Sa-young understood the heart of another Lee Sa-young. And he was unhappy about it.