Volume 5

Epilogue

Side Story

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I warped directly to where Shutdown was. He was standing with the others at the harbor.

“I’m back. What are you doing?”

“Oh, hyung. I’m recruiting for a party right now.”

I immediately accepted the party invitation and saw the person who had become a party with Shutdown.

‘Ppuri Hug…….’

Honestly, this guy was a bit scary, so I didn’t want to get close. I thought they got along well, considering they weren’t on good terms.

“Jjooni-ya, can I invite someone I know?”

“Yeah. There’s one spot left.”

Shutdown closed the party recruitment window. Looking at my friend list, I saw Kim Taepung, who was online. I sent him a whisper party invitation, and he said he was grateful since he had nothing else to do, so he came here. Perhaps because of the memory of dying from Shutdown’s lightning strike in the past, he only gave Shutdown a sideways glance and a brief greeting, not approaching him.

“Let’s rent a boat and head over. We don’t need to be wary of the archers, so you can ride anything.”

Normally, there weren’t many people at the harbor, but many were setting sail after hearing the rumors.

Ppuri Hug, still wearing rags like before, sat quietly in the back. Kim Taepung, conscious of Ppuri Hug sitting behind him, tried to move forward, but seeing Shutdown standing at the very front, he came back to the middle and sat next to me.

“I’ll trust only you, Dajeong-ssi.”

“I don’t think I’ll be of much help.”

Before departing, I lowered the PG for the three of them with Relax and checked Shutdown’s PG. It had dropped significantly since he hadn’t logged in for a while.

And, Shutdown’s ranking had also fallen out of the top 10. Earlier, while briefly looking at the official website’s bulletin board at the real estate office, I saw some people posting happily about Shutdown’s ranking dropping. But, well, rankings can drop when you’re living your real life, so I didn’t think much of it.

The boat carrying us soon arrived at Saint Island. The island entrance was bustling, like arriving at a resort. Some set up shops selling potions, while others acted as guides, offering to lead people to the boss’s cave entrance.

People who couldn’t find parties at the harbor were still looking for them here. However, as the four of us passed by, people slowly backed away upon seeing Shutdown and Ppuri Hug.

According to Shutdown, the fact that this place was so open was thanks to him, yet many people still looked at him askance. Ppuri Hug, who had been silent until then, said something about those gazes.

“How much of a jerk must you have been for everyone to look at you with narrowed eyes?”

“They’re looking because I’m superior.”

One might feel offended by such stares, but Shutdown was even more defiant. Seeing him like that, I found his smiling lips attractive, perhaps because it was similar to his real-life persona.

“Your eyes are dripping honey.”

Kim Taepung passed by with an expression of incomprehension. We then followed other users, walking in a line as if hiking.

“There are too many competitors.”

“Even if there are many, you get good drops by catching them.”

Most of them were low-level users seeking to be carried.

As we walked, joining them, Shutdown turned around. He gestured with his chin towards the back of a certain rock, visible only to us. So, instead of rushing, we went there one or two at a time and sat down. Once seated, the large rock shielded us from the public’s gaze.

Then, Ppuri Hug, who had been silent, whispered softly.

“This path is a fake. Follow me.”

We followed him, crouching low. We crossed through dense mountains covered in fallen leaves, not a path. After straying from the main route for a while, it was truly just the four of us left.

It didn’t feel like a path, so I opened my map as I followed, but it was completely black with nothing on it. Strangely, however, a path appeared where we had passed. It was a hidden path.

“How does Ppuri Hug know about a path like this?”

“He’s originally a scout.”

Shutdown explained, looking at Ppuri Hug’s back, that this was a pet he obtained from a hidden quest. He said that inside those rags was something like a black lizard, and it was actually the pet of a certain boss.

“He’s good at finding rare pets.”

“There was a quest like that?”

“Not anymore. It was an event quest from the early days.”

Walking along the path filled only with fallen leaves, we eventually reached a solid stone path. The surrounding area was shrouded in fog, making it impossible to see any detours.

Ppuri Hug’s clothes weren’t brightly colored, so I followed him closely, forgetting my fear. Then, feeling a chill from somewhere, a dark cave appeared in front of us.

“Is this it?”

Shutdown looked at Ppuri Hug again, and he nodded and went in first. A few steps into the cave, Ppuri Hug’s body was swallowed by the darkness as if it were consuming him.

“Let’s go.”

Kim Taepung summoned a luminous frog in front of us. It looked similar to a poisonous toad, and though not very bright, it allowed us to gauge if the floor had collapsed or if there was a path ahead.

“Hey! Come with us!”

However, as Ppuri Hug walked too far ahead, Shutdown shouted. His booming voice echoed. Seeing it echo again from deeper inside, the cave seemed quite deep.

I cast [Light Sunset] from behind and illuminated the surroundings.

“I should have brought a torch.”

“No, we’ll probably come out soon.”

After what felt like a long time following Ppuri Hug, the luminous frogs that had been running ahead turned back towards us.

“What’s this?”

I cast [Light Sunset] ahead of them, revealing a blocked path. Shutdown’s curses could be heard, and looking at the party window, Ppuri Hug had disconnected.

“Is this bastard messing with me? I knew it was suspicious when he came ahead and told us to follow.”

Sensing Shutdown’s sharp anger, Kim Taepung called the frogs around Shutdown to his side, not wanting to provoke him further.

“He probably had a sudden issue. We came all the way into the cave, so maybe we’ll find a way out if we keep going?”

Taking advantage of the darkness, I grabbed Shutdown’s hand. Shutdown’s tone, which had been full of anger, gradually softened. I lit a campfire and we sat around it. We waited for Ppuri Hug there, not knowing if he would log back in. However, even after 10 minutes, he didn’t log in.

“Let’s just go back out for now.”

As I walked back towards the entrance, I grumbled, “Next time, let’s buy torches in town. Why is there no light in a cave?” At that, Shutdown suggested we just bring Moment.

Fortunately, the path back was open on the map, so we just had to follow it. Although the fog was thick, I felt relieved once we were outside.

I had hoped someone who knew the way might come, so I could add them to the party, but it seemed unlikely anyone would come this way. Shutdown opened the map, checked the location, and closed it.

“Let’s go catch a different boss today and come back here next time.”

I agreed and was about to walk when suddenly my body became paralyzed. I couldn’t move for about 5 seconds. During that time, a swish sound indicated something moving rapidly around us. Its form was invisible, and the space it passed through slightly distorted.

“Be careful!”

Shutdown, who had been guarding the surroundings, suddenly threw himself in front of me. He stood before me, his body enveloped in an electric shield, as something tried to swallow him. The distorted space suggested it was snake-like. As I stood frozen next to Shutdown, Kim Taepung rushed over and pulled me away to hide.

Just as Shutdown’s shield was about to disappear, he leaped backward, narrowly escaping its gaping maw. As he drew his Thunder Spear, preparing to attack, his body suddenly froze.

It was the paralysis skill I had just been hit with. I thought it was a random hit from nearby monsters, but then stone-like monsters appeared all around. There were far more than I expected.

“Are those the monsters the archers hunt?”

Kim Taepung speculated, but something felt off. The names floating above the monsters looked exactly like those of regular users.

“Run!!”

Shutdown dropped lightning on the ground near us, causing it to collapse. We rolled down, buried in fallen leaves, and opened our eyes. Kim Taepung’s voice could be heard not far away. When he whispered, I saw him summon a luminous frog and move.

“Shh.”

Kim Taepung frowned, looking at the spot where we had rolled down.

“……It looks like a trap.”

“A trap?”

“The monster names are different.”

Kim Taepung whispered that the stone monsters that paralyzed us, like the ‘Dangnyagwi’ we saw in town, looked exactly like users. As we approached that area cautiously, speculating, we saw Shutdown surrounded by stones, paralyzed and unable to move.

We couldn’t see who was hiding due to the fog. Each hit caused a 5-second paralysis, and with dozens of people firing sequentially, 5 seconds became 50 seconds. Totems were erected around Shutdown, and psychics rained attacks upon him.

“Ah, Dajeong-ah!” I tried to go out, but Kim Taepung stopped me.

“If you go out now, Dajeong, you’ll be mobbed too.”

Kim Taepung’s guess that this was motivated by revenge seemed correct. Several familiar names were visible. Yeoshin, Yeotjangsu, Maeksoba, Naega Mianhae, Mwoga Mianhande…….

“And, it seems Ppuri Hug deliberately led us into a trap.”

That guess also made sense. The possibility that so many people were hiding just to catch passing users was nonexistent. And their objective was clear.

<>

The Elsumban dropped onto the ground. Yeoshin picked it up and equipped it. As angelic wings spread out behind her, the surrounding people cheered.

“Revive him.”

As Shutdown woke up again, he was paralyzed before he could even cast a shield. With countless skills being unleashed, he was dying again. It was heartbreaking to watch.

“Hey! Shutdown, I’ll make you level 1 too! Kyakya.”

Yeotjangsu was gleefully looking at the paralyzed Shutdown. It made me anxious. Wondering if there was any way, I looked at Kim Taepung.

“Can’t we just force quit that?”

“If you force quit during PK, you keep reviving without consciousness. Is he really going to become level 1 like this…?”

Shutdown no longer seemed to have the will to cast skills, just standing there paralyzed and taking hits. A whisper came from him.

[Shutdown: Hyung, just go back to town. Don’t stay here.]

[Dajeonghan Son-gil: How do I do that? ㅠ You’re going to drop all your items.]

[Shutdown: It’s okay. Hyung, hurry and go. I’m just going to force quit.]

[Dajeonghan Son-gil: Wait. Don’t give up yet.]

Restlessly, I sent a text message to Moment. Then, I waited for him to log in.

‘……Huh?’

Then, I checked my friend list and saw a ray of hope. Swallowing hard, I asked for help. Kim Taepung also told me to give up and go back to town, but I couldn’t.

* * *

“Man, this is too easy. Even Shutdown can’t stand up to a mob.”

Shutdown had lost most of his equipment. They were gleefully thinking about selling Shutdown’s gear and splitting it.

“Hey, but our PG is rising.”

Yeoshin, who had been lowering their PG through Relax, also clicked her tongue while looking at her own GG. Even while taking chitosan, it was taking a long time. Shutdown had a large HP pool and was high-level, so it took a considerable amount of skill spamming for the low-level attackers to kill him.

“Shoot in order, shoot in order.”

As they repeated the process, transformed into monsters, their skills started to get mixed up. They had to take turns according to cooldowns, but they were getting tired.

As a result, the killing speed slowed down, and then a cracking sound of wood breaking was heard from somewhere. They dismissed it as someone misfiring a skill and hitting something, not thinking much of it.

CRASH!!!

Suddenly, the ground shook. Before they could wonder what was happening, the ones casting paralysis skills began to lose their patterns one by one.

THUD—!

At that moment, someone landed right next to Shutdown. It was Bidublain, enveloped in a holy shield. White smoke rose around her. Simultaneously, her mace grew larger, and her eyes shone like the sun. Yeoshin, flustered, shouted at the surrounding psychics.

“What, what! Shoot! Shoot!”

Bidublain, already standing with her shield up, was completely unfazed by paralysis. The ‘Mianhae’ guys fired skills at her, but Bidublain was faster.

WHOOSH— WHOOSH—

As she swung her mace, extending it, those standing around and casting skills backed away. This naturally caused the skill order to become jumbled, and the psychics casting paralysis skills became flustered.

As Bidublain’s mace was enveloped in increasingly bright light, she slammed it onto the ground. The entire land shook, causing everyone’s bodies to stiffen. At that moment, a more magnificent spell flowed from her lips.

“[Immediate Judgment]!”

Her voice spread far and wide, echoing between the mountains. As [Immediate Judgment] was cast, the world turned blindingly white. It was like the glare from sunlight reflecting off snow on a winter mountain, filling my vision.

As the bright glare slowly faded from the screen like melting snow, the stone-like monsters surrounding Shutdown had transformed back into their user forms.

At the same time, a dragon’s head emerged from the fog-laden sky and breathed fire towards the ground. Those standing carelessly around were engulfed in flames and scrambled to escape.

Meanwhile, Kim Taepung summoned a spider to block the skills aimed at Shutdown. As the attackers scattered, Yeoshin used a return scroll and fled. The guys spamming skills next to Shutdown also vanished in an instant.

I approached the battered Shutdown. He was bare-handed, having lost a lot of equipment.

“I’m sorry……”

“Why are you sorry, hyung?”

Unlike me, who was upset, Shutdown seemed calm. He got up and approached Bidublain, thanking her.

“I don’t like you, but my dongsaeng specifically asked you to save him. Of course, Dajeong also asked.”

Danggeun, standing beside her, didn’t even look at Shutdown and just picked up the dropped items from the ground. Bidublain added that she came alone, but Danggeun came with her.

“I’ll thank you separately later.”

“That’s fine.”

Danggeun replied curtly, as if not listening.

Just then, Haetsuncheonsa, who seemed to have followed late, arrived at our location. Seeing the battered Shutdown, he chided his sister for not going sooner.

Bidublain took Haetsuncheonsa with her, and after saying goodbye to Kim Taepung, I headed to the guild hideout with Shutdown.

Shutdown opened his inventory and checked it. Seeing the lost equipment, he just nodded. It was obvious that more than half of it was gone. I felt particularly pained when the Elsumban went to Yeoshin.

“Because of me……”

As I sighed, Shutdown came over and hugged me. Even though it was in-game, my heart ached every time he died. It felt like Jooni was dying.

“I’m sorry, for suggesting we go there……”

“They were people who would have trampled me eventually. I knew that too, so don’t worry about it.”

“What about the Elsumban?”

“Tell them to eat it and get lost, I guess.”

“When I ate it, you desperately asked for it back.”

“We gained something more precious than the Elsumban now.”

I had been scolded all night and felt miserable after being scammed out of the Relax skill, but Shutdown didn’t show any signs of distress even after losing his items.

“What should I say to that Yeotjangsu guy tomorrow?”

“I did the same thing, so what. More importantly, hyung.”

Shutdown cupped my cheeks, which were drooping with dejection, and lifted my head.

“Let’s do it.”

“Do what?”

“Sex.”

His erection was already quite noticeable. Since there was no physical strain in the game, I was pulled along as he wished and climbed onto the bed. Shutdown, having removed his few pieces of equipment, pulled me down by the waist. I slowly removed my own gear and surrendered to his lead.

“Ah, ugh……”

Shutdown’s center slowly entered between my parted legs. The feeling was similar to when I used Aneros yesterday, making it feel real.

“Haa……”

Shutdown bit my lower lip while continuing his thrusts. I bit my lip back, and my mouth opened with a moan.

“Ahk!”

Would it feel like this if we did it in reality? If I took off the helmet, I’d probably ejaculate in my underwear. Since it had come to this, I wanted to express everything without restraint.

“……Hyung, you don’t have to push yourself.”

So, boldly, he climbed on top of him. As he lowered his lower body and thrust his hips, Shut Up licked his chest with his tongue, then took my nipples into his mouth.

“Ngh, ssk, ah…!”

Because we were moving so intensely, if this were reality, there would have been sounds of squelching even more from our sweat. To that extent, the parts pressed against each other stuck together tenaciously, unwilling to separate.

“Haa… Good, Hyung.”

Our lips touched, and we shared each other’s breaths.

“I actually, want to, put it… inside you, Hyung.”

“Me too…, ssk.”

I didn’t stop my hip movements and pushed my tongue into his lips. As he sucked and pulled, swallowing my tongue and saliva, he tilted his head to one side and pushed his tongue deeper. For a long time, our tongues mixed intimately, our breathing intensifying.

After a while, a warning sound echoed in my ear. Shut Up said, “Chitosan,” and stood up holding me, naturally wrapping my arms around his neck.

Even as he held me, I moved my hips and pleaded, so Shut Up pressed me against the wall and thrust his hips upwards. Even with that short distance, we didn’t separate, and with our lower halves still joined, I consumed Chitosan. After several more GG’s, everything was finally depleted, and I was on the verge of losing consciousness.

“Hyung…, can I go there? I, can I go now….”

“No…, don’t. Don’t come….”

As my consciousness faded, the screen changed to a waiting window.

<>

“Haa…”

I wearily took off the helmet and went to the bathroom to shower. As I washed my body with warm water, I felt as if we had made love in our bedroom.

When I thought it was just a game situation, it felt like masturbation, but after becoming Jun’s lover and linking, I could engage more emotionally. My desire to cling to him more, not wanting to be apart, like a real lover, came through.

Today, I went to work an hour early. I stopped by a fast food restaurant, ordered a morning set, and sat by the window when I received a message from Jun. He said he had just woken up and was coming to pick me up. Even though it was in the game, perhaps because we shared such passionate sex, even a small message made me flutter.

[I’m at the fast food restaurant near the office now]

[I’ll head over]

As I sent a message saying he would be here soon, I traced the screen with my thumb. This must be why people date. I never knew that simply meeting and being together in an ordinary day could be this happy.

Thinking Jun was coming, I decided to buy another morning set and stood in front of the kiosk. As I touched the screen to order, I heard a familiar voice next to me.

It was General Manager Lee Min-seong of the junk dealer, or Golden Real Estate. He was chuckling happily, perhaps recalling yesterday’s events. I tried to stand with my upper body turned away, thinking I should avoid him as much as possible, but he was the one who spoke to me first.

“Oh? Who is this. It’s Dajeong’s CEO. I was so worried because your store had been closed for a few days, I thought you’d given up.”

Given up what? Is this a game?

“I unintentionally caused you worry.”

It was annoying that he exaggerated so much just because I hadn’t opened for three days.

Besides that, I hated him more, remembering how I giggled yesterday while using the Paralysis Skill on Shut Up. Seeing him look at me with a stern expression, not his usual friendly one, General Manager Lee seemed to think it was because of his joke and patted my shoulder, asking why I was so serious.

I didn’t want this man to run into Jun. I quickly placed my order and moved away. But this oblivious man kept following me and talking.

“Shall we sit together?”

“Someone is coming to meet me.”

General Manager Lee, who was about to sit right next to me, didn’t get up, saying, “You’re still shy, aren’t you.”

“Hyung, were you here?”

Just then, Jun arrived. As I heard his voice from behind me, I was about to turn around when General Manager Lee greeted him first.

Looking at Jun’s expression, he wasn’t frowning, thankfully… but, how should I put it, a slight smile played on his lips. It was a benevolent smile that seemed to say, ‘What makes you think you can mess with me?’

“Did you order mine too?”

“Yeah. You haven’t eaten breakfast yet, right?”

General Manager Lee overheard our conversation and said, “You two are really as close as brothers. Let’s all get together for a drink sometime,” and made a gesture of drinking. I wished he would just eat quietly and leave, but whenever Jun said something, he would chime in with a remark.

Because of that, I had to eat my breakfast, giving short answers to Jun’s questions. Just as I felt his constant interruptions were becoming excessive, Jun stood up. I expected him to say something to General Manager Lee, but surprisingly, he politely asked him for a favor.

“I seem to have left my phone. Could I possibly use your phone for a call?”

‘Oh? I have mine too,’ I thought, about to offer it, but General Manager Lee handed his phone to Jun first. He even unlocked it, telling him to make the call comfortably. Jun thanked him and stood up, moving a little distance away.

“Ah, come on. Dajeong’s CEO, let’s get to know each other a bit better.”

After a little while, Jun returned and gave him back his phone.

Somehow, Jun didn’t seem displeased. He answered concisely but consistently whenever General Manager Lee asked him something. Before General Manager Lee left, he said generously that he would consider the officetel deal. For a moment, I wondered if Jun had let his guard down, thinking of quitting the game.

We soon walked to the office together, carrying our remaining coffee. As soon as Jun left the place, he cursed.

“Fucking bastard.”

Yes, this was the expression. Yesterday, he had tried to stay calm and comfort me, but this was how he actually felt.

“Junie, what can I do for you?”

“No, I’ll handle it.”

“Huh? Handle what?”

When we reached the office, Jun said, “I’ll be back in a bit,” and disappeared in his car.

And I was contemplating whether or not to tell Jun that I was going on a photo outing with Bin tomorrow. Then, I decided there was no need to drag him into it and dropped the idea. Jun must be in a complicated state of mind right now…

Yesterday, I had unnecessarily asked to go to Saint Island, and Jun had suffered because of it. I was worried that if our relationship with Bin soured because of me, it would escalate into talk of suddenly canceling the lease agreement. I didn’t want to bother him further when he was already in such a bad mood.

This is why living together is something to consider. If we interfere too much in each other’s private lives, there will inevitably be conflicts. I would probably be curious about Jun’s late-night wanderings, and if he wasn’t home, I might interfere.

Even as lovers, privacy exists, but living together breaks down those boundaries. We are still in the stage of getting to know each other, so I thought living together would be a hasty decision.

Next time Jun asks, I decided to postpone living together, explaining these specific reasons. And I preferred to be a confident couple, not a freeloader living off him.

As it approached lunchtime, I went to a nearby kal-guksu restaurant with the Hardware Store Owner for the first time in a while. As we were leaving after eating, we talked about various things, and then my mother came up.

“Take good care of her while she’s healthy. You’ll regret it if she gets sick later.”

I had heard this many times at home, from my uncle, and from people around me, so it should have been familiar, but each time I heard it, it felt like a needle pricking my chest. As we were leaving the kal-guksu restaurant, the Hardware Store Owner was stopped by an elderly neighbor. He was then dragged somewhere, saying something needed to be fixed.

After returning to the office, I took a coffee break and visited the game’s official website. I expected there would be a lot of discussion about yesterday’s incident. The bulletin board, which usually had occasional posts criticizing Shut Up, would probably be buzzing with people talking while looking at screenshots they had taken.

Although I didn’t feel like it, I decided to check. The free discussion board had new posts appearing every second.

But…

“What is this?”

Instead of being flooded with posts about Shut Up’s pathetic death, the bulletin boards were all targeting the Goddess. The Goddess was the Guide who had run off with Shut Up’s Elsumban yesterday.

However, every single post was about targeting the Goddess. It claimed she had used her fame to demand items from various people, acting out.

As I stared at the screen, I received a message on my phone from the chairman of the local real estate agent association. It was a message from the apartment residents’ association chairman, and it bore the name of General Manager Lee of Golden Real Estate.

[From now on, we will not list properties for any business that transacts with Golden Real Estate.]

Following that, a similar message arrived from the local commercial district prosperity association. Confused about what was happening, I looked at it when Evergreen Real Estate called.

“Hello. I’m calling to inform you that the person moving out is scheduled for next Friday. Thank you.”

[Yes. Please make sure to fill out the checklist for the facilities… Ah, did you receive a message from the association chairman?]

“Yes, I don’t quite understand why. Why Golden Real Estate all of a sudden…?”

[It seems General Manager Lee of Golden Real Estate was having an affair with the building owner’s wife and was badmouthing the apartment, and it spread through the group chat. Did you know?]

“No, I had no idea.”

[One must always be careful with their words. What an absurd person. Well then, Dajeong’s CEO, I wish you success, and I’ll be in touch.]

“Yes, goodbye.”

As someone in sales, one must always be careful with their words, but how did he end up being so thoroughly ostracized? It was practically a public execution.

‘Wait.’

Now, both on the official website and through the real estate messenger, the Goddess and the junk dealer were simultaneously in trouble.

Seeing this, I truly felt that people should not commit wrongdoings. To witness a lesson that bad people are punished one way or another, right before my eyes. Jun might find this satisfying if he knew.

Looking further into the bulletin board, I saw screenshots of Shut Up’s death, but the comments, which should have been filled with usual complaints, were lackluster.

Instead, posts expressing betrayal by the Goddess were flooding in, and everyone’s attention shifted there. Eventually, a notice was posted stating that posts containing personal information would be deleted without notice.

The posts seemed to be gradually deleted, but many people were still criticizing the Goddess in the comments of other posts. Even when asked about the Elsumban’s market price, they started targeting them with comments like, [Are you the Goddess?]. I decided there was no point in looking further and closed the window.

Then, while I was modifying the real estate listings I had posted online, a customer entered the office. I greeted them with a smile as usual.

Jun drank his beverage, his screen filled with angry posts directed at the Goddess. Just then, Sang-du entered with various snacks.

“Stop it a bit. If their lives are ruined like that, can they even stand up?”

Jun put a dumpling from Sang-du into his mouth and chewed.

“Soy sauce?”

“Just eat it, you punk.”

Earlier, he had opened the email inbox on General Manager Lee’s phone and installed malware. After taking that action, he remotely controlled his phone from here and dug up his personal information.

If they had agreed to share his items among themselves yesterday, there would have been a few contact numbers of the people present. He sent messages with item price data related to yesterday’s incident to his game acquaintances.

Everyone clicked the link he sent without suspicion. Among them, he had to pick out the Goddess. Remembering that she had taken the Elsumban that day, he posted a link to an item trading window for her. Of course, it was a fake site. It was as good as letting her off the hook for defrauding him once before. Because he hadn’t received the full payment for Relax.

‘But, she stabs me in the back like this? As expected, they only understand when you fight back.’

The Goddess took the bait, and with the malware installed, mobile remote control became possible. Using digital forensics tools, he displayed the phone’s stored content on the screen.

The conversation logs of those who had conspired to commit fraud were all visible. It even included messages about sharing the Elsumban’s price, ignoring the people who had ganged up on him yesterday. Jun hacked into the ID of one of those acquaintances and posted the above content as a bulletin.

As that post was released like bait, the people on the bulletin board started to go wild. They swarmed like carp in a pond when food is thrown.

And the junk dealer.

He captured the secret conversations from General Manager Lee’s phone and released them on the group chat. It was convenient how the junk dealer had neatly organized the contacts, including apartment residents, building owner’s associates, and other secret contacts.

I knew it when he was badmouthing Shut Up, but he was a person whose life was always about gossip. He smiled so brightly to people’s faces, but I saw him badmouthing me in conversations with others.

As Jun ate dumplings and stared at the monitor, Sang-du entered with a drink. Sang-du watched him do the same work and commented that it was quite cruel.

“I was going to let it slide, but these bastards don’t know fear. I have to crush them completely.”

“Still, man. This is a bit much.”

“I’m just revealing the facts.”

Jun finished his revenge and tidied up his workspace. He erased his tracks and turned off the PC. Sang-du grabbed Jun’s arm as he stood up and pleaded again.

“Do me a favor one more time, please? People aren’t topping up cash these days.”

“Mandu Hyung, if you do this often, you’ll get caught. What if your PC bang goes bankrupt? You said your father’s last gift was this.”

“Then why are you doing this here?”

“Because if I do it here, people will suspect me. And, am I just coming here for nothing?”

Jun pulled out a few 50,000 won bills from his wallet and casually handed them to Sang-du. Sang-du quickly snatched them, a smile on his face. Then, he turned his body, which had been blocking the way, and personally escorted Jun out, saying he understood his feelings well.

And in Jun’s hand was another USB drive containing more data. Looking at the results from spending three days at Duseon’s house, he had accessed most of the relationship tests, even reaching Namgung Bin’s PC. Since there wasn’t much data, he copied what he could infer.

As I was turning off the PC to leave work, Jun entered the office. There was no car outside just a moment ago, so he must have just arrived.

“You came at the perfect time. That’s a relief.”

“You didn’t have to give me a ride.”

“Hyung, let’s have dinner.”

Thinking that since I couldn’t meet him tomorrow, I could bring it up while having dinner. We debated where to eat, and Jun suggested near my house, telling me to get in the car.

As I sat in the passenger seat and fastened my seatbelt, he suddenly took my left hand. Jun brought my hand to his lips.

Kiss.

In the quiet car, all my senses focused on the sound and sensation. I often experienced this, receiving a kiss on the back of my hand with Jun, something I never received when I was alive.

Jun, his smile slightly faded, reached out his right hand to change gears, and this time, I caught it. And just like he did, I lowered my head and kissed the back of his hand. Looking up at him, Jun’s gaze was as reverent as if he were looking at his knight. As his tightly closed lips parted slightly, an unspoken thirst arose.

It was too bright and too many people were passing by to embrace and kiss. Jun, as if enduring with patience, closed his lips again and curled the corners of his mouth upwards.

“I only ever did it for you, so I didn’t know, but this is how it feels.”

Jun turned the steering wheel and looked straight ahead.

“What?”

As we drove out onto the road and waited at a signal, his gaze met mine.

“My reason just flies away for a moment.”

He was laughing with a look of disbelief. Just like when Jun first told me he was amazed and laughed, saying he got hard.

I felt like our relationship started for that reason… But now that we were lovers, it didn’t seem like Jun was dating me solely as a means to escape Impo. Rather, he seemed not to care about it anymore. I was flustered, wondering if this was good or if he had given up.

As we headed home, I was thinking about how to bring up tomorrow’s plans when Jun asked if the office would be open tomorrow.

“Ah! I, I’m meeting friends tomorrow.”

“Friends? Who are your friends?”

“Friends from the neighborhood.”

Jun tilted his head slightly, saying, “Neighborhood?” then nodded with an “Ah.” At that time, we had talked about Hanwoo and Sang-cheol when I ate pork belly with Yongseok, so Jun roughly knew the names of my friends.

“Call me when you’re leaving. I’ll come pick you up.”

“No, you don’t have to.”

When I refused, Jun glared at me. It meant he was displeased. In a relationship, enduring this much possessiveness was only right.

“Then, I’ll contact you. What are you doing tomorrow?”

“I’m meeting people from my club and going somewhere for a bit.”

“What club?”

As I pressed him, Jun smiled as if amused. He really seemed to like being this possessive.

I had only poked him a little, but Jun readily told me about the people he met through his hobbies. He had a car club, and he met people related to computers. I had suspected he might be interested in that area since he fixed computers when he went back to his hometown.

“That’s a healthy hobby.”

“Why? Don’t I look healthy?”

“Hmm… a little.”

I thought back to the time he threw his cigarette butt at my feet.

“But you… didn’t you go to gay clubs or something?”

“I used to.”

“…Right. Of course.”

He must have been out every night, going only to those places day and night. I knew Jun had lived a free-spirited life in the past… I timidly asked if he still went.

“If I go?”

“Well… if I go, I go. What else?”

Seeing my disappointed expression, Jun gave a sly smile. That made my lips pout even more.

Even though he knew I was displeased by his answer, Jun just kept smiling. He boasted that because he was handsome, people would be sad if he didn’t show up, and that he was too popular, adding embellishments to his stories.

Hiding my disappointment, I just glanced out the car window and gave vague answers. Even until we arrived at the apartment entrance, I half-heartedly replied to Jun’s words with ‘Oh, right, you’re so popular, lucky you, true love has arrived.’

As we arrived at the apartment parking lot and I reached to unbuckle my seatbelt, Jun suddenly grabbed my hand.

“Hyung, give me a kiss.”

“What’s so pretty about me?”

“I haven’t gone since I met you, Hyung. Aren’t I pretty?”

“Go or don’t go.”

As Jun’s lips approached, I turned my head as much as possible to avoid them. He pressed his lips against my cheek and rubbed them. I could hear him chuckling; he was clearly bragging to tease me. But I knew it wasn’t entirely made up. Even I, who wasn’t gay, could be completely smitten, so how much more so for someone who was?

As I turned my head left and right, avoiding Jun’s lips, someone tapped on the car window. Jun lifted his head from my cheek, looked at the window, and rolled it down. There stood Rovan, his blue tracksuit zipper pulled all the way up to his neck.

“Yo—long time no see. Who do we have here? Isn’t that Shut Up, who got completely wrecked yesterday? You look better than expected. Full of vigor.”

“Hey, don’t you have any tact?”

“No, this isn’t a game. Why are you two rubbing lips like lovers?”

“We are lovers.”

I could only flinch as I listened to their conversation, unable to say anything. Rovan then poked my shoulder with his finger, asking if it was true. Seeing my head slowly nod, he exclaimed, “Huh! Seriously!” and spoke as if he had predicted this.

“Hey! I knew you two would start dating! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

His shout from the center of the apartment echoed loudly. The noise made the neighborhood dogs start barking, and someone yelled to make the dogs stop barking.

We had to leave quickly before the security guard came. I hastily opened the passenger door, got out, and walked towards the walking path. Jun followed, saying something to Rovan, who was trailing behind him.

“Go! Now.”

“You guys don’t look like you’ve eaten dinner, so let me join you.”

Jun firmly said no, and Rovan retorted excitedly, his voice clearly audible even to me, standing a bit further away.

“Hey! I gave Dajeong a ride all the way there! And I advised you not to have a contract relationship with him and just date! So, I should be able to join your couple, right? Don’t you think so? Dajeong!! Hey, if you’re in apartment 101, unit 412, answer me!!”

The apartment dogs barked even more wildly. If we kept fighting here, the security guards would surely swarm us.

I quickly turned back and dragged Rovan along. Jun followed wordlessly, saying, “Ah! What the!” As we exited the apartment complex and reached the road, I finally felt relieved.

“Let’s eat, the three of us.”

While soothing Jun, who was still glaring, I pondered where to go and ended up entering a beef tripe restaurant. When Rovan asked if we were going to drink, Jun and I shook our heads.

In the end, only Rovan opened a bottle of soju and drank by himself, then asked Jun,

“Hey, but how did you get wiped out there?”

“I suggested it. To catch the Saint Island boss.”

Jun meticulously set out chopsticks and a spoon for me, but not for Rovan. Rovan grumbled that it was hard to be so selfish and took out his own chopsticks.

“Elsumban, you lost it to the Goddess, right?”

“Yeah…”

The tripe arrived, and Jun silently just flipped it over. He looked unconcerned. Rovan, who had also seen the Goddess being targeted on the bulletin board, looked at me, saying it was terrifying.

“Who would do that unless they had a grudge? How could they get everything?”

“I know. It was a bit satisfying, but it was too much.”

Jun, who had been listening to our conversation, replied very briefly.

“Karma.”

Rovan, hearing that, probed if perhaps it was me. Jun calmly put down his chopsticks and crossed his arms.

“How could I?”

“Well, you’re rich, aren’t you? You hired a hacker to dig into things, right?”

“If you know a hacker, introduce them to me. So they can dig into you too.”

“You… Ah, forget it. You really seem like the type to do that.”

I spoke to Rovan and Jun, telling them to stop fighting and eat since it was cooked. They were in the same guild, yet they bickered so much. But looking closely, it was understandable, as Jun never called Rovan ‘Hyung.’

“Junie. You should call Rovan ‘Hyung’ now too.”

“Why should I?”

“Hey! Why? I’m five years older!”

Jun flipped the tripe and threatened Rovan, telling him to leave if he was unhappy. Rovan then said he didn’t really have any complaints, drank his soju, and ate what Jun had flipped.

“Don’t be like that, just call me Hyung.”

“Alright.”

As Jun readily agreed, Rovan, as if he had been waiting, offered a glass and told him to pour him a drink. Jun reluctantly reached out, poured Rovan a drink, and placed the soju bottle back on the table.

“But, Junie, isn’t it a bit strange?”

“What is?”

“That we went to that cave doesn’t feel like a coincidence. I think…”

When Rovan asked what he meant, I explained that we had followed RootHug across the forest path to a certain cave. Rovan listened quietly and said, “Hmm,” sounding puzzled.

“Could it be that RootHug, hand in hand with the Goddess, put us in trouble?”

“I thought of that too, but there’s no connection between the Goddess and him.”

Rovan, who had only been listening to our story, touched his chin and fell into thought.

“It could be.”

Jun placed a piece of tripe coated in roasted soybean powder onto my small plate and asked Rovan,

“Is he close with the Goddess?”

“No. It’s that RootHug might have targeted Dajung as revenge.”

“Why me? I have absolutely no connection with RootHug.”

Rovan popped the tripe from my plate into his mouth and continued his explanation.

He explained that the reason RootHug targeted me was because Jun had killed RootHug’s pet. In other words, RootHug’s objective might have been to make me, whom Jun cherished, suffer.

“Jun killed RootHug’s pet?”

“To be precise, it was an accident. Jun was dropping thunderbolts everywhere, intending to kill monsters, and one hit an egg RootHug was trying to hatch, breaking it. That was the ‘Dragon’ that was released as a rare item early on. It can’t be obtained now.”

“I didn’t know that when I did it.”

Jun put tripe in his mouth, chewed it vigorously, and scowled. But he also mentioned that the pets he had raised on that map were wiped out by another user’s skill, and that’s when RootHug started carrying a placard, protesting against PK.

The operator had created a separate hatching area due to these issues, and RootHug had demanded a restoration for what happened early on. But since those demands weren’t met, he was protesting and seeking revenge.

“Shut Up, if you had appeased him nicely, would he have gone that far?”

“Still, I didn’t expect him to team up with others.”

“If you lose Dajung even once, you’ll understand his feelings.”

“Anyway, he’s as gloomy as he looks.”

Honestly, I wanted to express my disappointment about RootHug’s betrayal that day, but I deliberately didn’t join the conversation between Rovan and Jun. Since both the pawnshop owner and the Goddess were being subjected to justice, I didn’t want to think about it any further.

As the three of us were talking, Jun’s friend Sangjung called.

“Hyung, can Sangjung join us too?”

“Yes. Tell him to come.”

“Who is Sangjung?”

I whispered to Rovan that he was Human.

And so, it unexpectedly turned into a regular meeting. Sangjung wasn’t far away, and he entered the restaurant about 15 minutes later. We ordered more tripe, and Sangjung and Rovan clinked their glasses.

“Ah, I should have seen that yesterday.”

Sangjung chuckled at the news that Jun had been ganged up on and toasted with Rovan.

“But Ipdae went to the military. When are you going?”

“Me too, around next month? Jun must have applied too.”

This was the first I was hearing of it. Military enlistment? While I had vaguely thought Jun would enlist eventually, I hadn’t expected it to be so soon.

“Probably.”

I couldn’t manage my expression, so I stepped out, saying I needed to make a call. I didn’t really have anyone to call, but it was to hide my obvious disappointment.

I thought our relationship had deepened, but I didn’t even know Jun was going to the military soon. Perhaps our relationship was on the same level as that guy who ran off after maxing out a 7 million won credit card. A fleeting relationship.

As I looked at my phone screen, Hanwoo contacted me. I had a brief call with him when suddenly, an arm wrapped around my waist.

Startled, I pulled the phone away from my ear and saw it was Jun. He saw Hanwoo’s name on the screen and said, “Hmm—,” then kissed my ear and went inside, telling me to come in quickly. He must have thought I was calling because I was meeting Hanwoo tomorrow. Hanwoo ended the call by suggesting we have dinner together sometime, the three of us.

Looking inside the tripe restaurant, Rovan and Sangjung were listening intently to Jun. By the way, RootHug’s story earlier was quite unexpected. The fact that he dragged me into it to get revenge on Jun.

‘Am I Jun’s weakness?’

I had never done anything for him as an older brother. If anything, Jun took care of me. Was that why he didn’t consider me someone to discuss things like military service with, someone he could rely on? Was I just someone to share affection with as a lover?

Looking through the glass window, Jun turned back and looked at me. He must have wondered why I wasn’t coming in. I raised my hand to signal I was coming in and walked towards the entrance. As I sat down, Sangjung poured me a drink.

“Dajeong Hyung, are you and Jun going to live together?”

“Huh?”

As I answered, I glanced at Jun, who was sitting next to me, and he grinned. I hadn’t given a definitive answer yet, but Sangjung now thought Jun and I were dating and planning to live together.

“Ah, that won’t do. If Dajung moves there, what about me? What about me?”

Rovan, perhaps a bit drunk, his cheeks flushed, reached for my hand, but Jun slapped it away.

“He’s mine. Don’t touch him.”

“Wow… Jun’s saying things like that.”

Sangjung, my long-time friend, looked at me in surprise. My throat felt dry for no reason.

‘How far will my relationship with Jun go? Until before he goes to the military? Or do I have to wait until he’s discharged? No. He might not even think that far…’

Snap.

At that moment, Jun snapped his fingers in front of me. As if waking from a trance, I blinked and followed his hand with my eyes.

“Are you tired?”

“Huh? …Yeah. A little.”

The drinking party was still in full swing, and Sangjung and Rovan, having become friendly, were deep in conversation.

“Hyung, you said you had plans tomorrow, right? Do you want to leave first?”

“Yeah. Sorry. I’m a bit tired today.”

“I’ll take you home.”

Rovan tried to grab me, asking where I was going, and Jun slapped his hand away again. He got hit again in the same spot as before. Seeing that, Sangjung said, “Wow, look at his personality,” and openly scorned, “That’s why you get ganged up on.” I said goodbye to them, promising to see them next time, and left first.

“Junie, I can go by myself. Don’t follow me.”

“I don’t want to.”

Jun grabbed my hand and slipped it into his pocket. It wasn’t far from the apartment, so we arrived home quickly. Even as I held the elevator on the first floor, I told him to go, but he didn’t. He insisted on following me up to the fourth floor and only gave up on telling me to leave when we reached the front door.

As I entered the door code, I looked beside me; Jun was waiting, seemingly intending to follow me in. As I opened the door, he followed me in, and immediately my waist was grabbed from behind.

Before I could even take off my shoes, I was turned around, and my lower lip was immediately bitten. The coldness from the night air was replaced by heat around my mouth. The longing, which felt like it was constantly slipping away, burrowed into my mouth.

Yes, whether it was the military or anything else, we had plenty of time, so we didn’t need to rush. We just needed to make room for each other, guided by our mutual desires.

Jun’s lips, which had been clinging to mine, parted slightly. With just enough space for our breaths to mingle, Jun asked,

“Hyung. Why are you in such a mood today…?”

I thought he wouldn’t know, but Jun was scrutinizing my every expression.

“Huh? No, it’s nothing.”

“It doesn’t seem like you’re just tired. Did I say something wrong?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Could it be… because of the military?”

He hit the nail on the head. The corners of his lips, which had held a casual smile, turned down slightly. This time, Jun wore a smile.

“I see. The military.”

It felt like my small, sharp feelings had been exposed. As the one who was five years older, I wanted to act with composure, but my true capacity was revealed. As I lowered my head, Jun cupped the back of my neck with both hands and looked at me.

“I haven’t applied yet. I was planning to do it within this year. But I also don’t want to be separated from you right away, so I was thinking about it. That’s why I wanted to live together and spend more time close to you.”

“Yeah. I know that.”

“Are you perhaps thinking that we’ll drift apart once I go to the military?”

I raised my hand to cover my mouth. How could he read my mind so well? It felt like being interrogated while naked.

“Surely, you don’t think I’m only thinking about until then, because we’ll naturally drift apart once I go to the military?”

I hadn’t thought of him as trash, but I had considered the scenario he was describing. As I quietly denied it, Jun asked me with self-deprecation,

“Or is it because I’m an Impo? That’s why I seem pathetic?”

“Hey! Don’t say that.”

Only then did I lift my head and look at Jun. Despite his furrowed brows, his eyes looked sad.

“I admit I’m unreliable, but at least say it to my face. Don’t suffer alone. I’ll discuss the military with you thoroughly before applying.”

“Okay.”

“Do you know? I’m actually more anxious.”

Jun’s lips touched the back of my hand covering my face. Like a knock on a door, another kiss landed.

It was a kiss asking for my permission. As I lowered my hand, Jun’s knees nudged slightly between my legs. My body pressed against him as if etched into a wall. Jun slowly lowered his head and rested his face against my cheek.

“…I don’t want to break up.”

I raised my hand and patted his back. It was because he hated the idea of breaking up that Jun had suggested living together. I thought of reasons why we shouldn’t live together, and Jun thought of reasons why we should.

‘Right, I was overthinking it.’

“Let’s live together.”

Jun, who had been resting his forehead against my neck, suddenly lifted his head.

“Really?”

“Yeah. But not right away. Maybe next month? Jae-ah has to move out too.”

Jun’s expression brightened considerably. Just moments ago, he had looked like a wounded beast, but now, with the corners of his mouth turned up like this, I felt like I was being swept away again…

“See you tomorrow.”

Perhaps worried I might change my mind, Jun smiled slyly and pulled away. The sound of the door lock opening was heard, and I waved him goodbye. Even as the door closed, Jun turned his head and waved.

“I think I’ve been charmed again…”

I had thought Jun was like a fox before, but as expected, I still felt swept up in his pace. However, even if I had known, I would have felt good.

After coming home, changing clothes, and washing up briefly, I was doing chores when a message came from Jun. He said he would take Sangjung home and then go home, asking me to call before bed.

For some reason, I wanted to go to bed early today, so I lay down on the bed. When I first moved into this house, it felt unfamiliar, but I soon got used to it.

But why do I miss the ceiling of my room in my hometown, where I lay with Jun? Giving a part of your heart to someone is no different from giving up a part of your daily life.

Closing my eyes, I called Jun. We had a dream-like conversation, and I was able to fall asleep peacefully with his single ‘good night’ wish.

“I think I slept soundly, so why am I so tired?”

Washing my face and shaving, I looked at the bathroom mirror. My eyes opened at my usual waking time, and the alarm rang late. It wasn’t like I was going to cheat, but the lie I told Jun weighed on my mind.

‘This is just this once.’

After finishing my wash, I got dressed. I had time for a cup of coffee, so I was heating water when my phone rang. I thought it was Jun, but it was Bin.

[Duseon, are you ready? I’m almost there.]

“Yes. I’ll be out on time. Don’t come into the apartment, stay on the road. It’ll be faster for me to come to you.”

[Okay.]

After hanging up, I made coffee and touched the screen. Then I called Jun. He was asleep, and after a long while, his low voice came through. It sounded as if he had just woken up and was whispering in my ear.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

[No. Hyung, are you leaving now? Hmm…….]

“Sleep more. I’ll call you again later.”

[Ah……. I want to.]

“Hey, it’s a sacred morning. I’m hanging up.”

As I flustered, I heard him laugh through the phone. He did that on purpose. For now, I was relieved because he was an Impo, but I was afraid of how I would handle that male desire once the seal was broken someday.

‘Let’s not think too far into the future.’

I had to steel myself when Jun and I became a couple. Most couples break up as a matter of course, so there was no need to start with a handicap just because we were the same gender. I decided to follow my heart.

Since Bin said he was almost there, I decided to leave early and opened the front door. I went to the elevator and pressed the button.

“Hmm. Who are you going to meet?”

“Whoa! You startled me. What the heck, you.”

It was Rovan. I wondered why he was hanging around here in the morning. He looked at me with suspicion and scanned me up and down.

“It’s not your workday today.”

“Um, I’m meeting a friend.”

“Which friend?”

Just then, the elevator arrived, and I quickly got in. Rovan followed as if it were natural.

“Would you know who the friend is if I told you? But why are you here so early in the morning?”

“I was just out for a morning walk and decided to come by. Is your mother doing well?”

“Yes. I’ll definitely repay you later. Thanks to you, I was able to go to the hospital.”

“When are you coming back today?”

Rovan trailed behind me until I left the apartment building. Come to think of it, he knows Bin’s car. There was that time Bin gave us side dishes, and Rovan followed us all the way to my house to help carry them. I felt a sense of caution.

“How far are you going to follow me?”

“Aren’t you going to the subway? I’ll give you a ride.”

“No, I’m taking a taxi. Go on, quickly.”

“Shall I give you a ride?”

He asked, pointing to his red sports car.

Excessive kindness often leads to trouble. Saying no, that I was fine, I deliberately walked in the opposite direction of the road where Bin was waiting. Then, I pretended to hail a taxi, and Rovan asked again where I was going.

“Rovan, are you, by any chance… hired by Jun?”

“……No.”

His delayed answer confirmed it. I pressed him to confess, and Rovan said Jun had ordered a lot of things from his adult toy store. He also said he got a promise that if anything happened to me, Jun would buy more if he told him.

“So, what did he buy recently?”

“He bought several models of aneros. Besides that, vibrating ones, ones that expand inside, ones that can be worn on the waist. Ah, that’s usually called a dildo, and I advised him to use it when he gets used to it—”

“……Stop, stop.”

Jun being an Impo was one thing, but the alternatives were endless. I was worried about my safety. The one I had at home, I threw away after that day… The thought of having to experience all the products Rovan mentioned if I lived with him made me feel lost.

When Rovan tried to say something else, I hailed a passing taxi and gave the driver the name of a large supermarket nearby. It was a 10-minute drive, so after getting off, I called Bin.

Bin, who I thought would be bewildered, came without much fuss, and I got into his car as if I had finished shopping. I felt like a spy. The car was filled with Bin’s cologne.

“Sorry to trouble you. Rovan kept following me.”

“Ah, the blue tracksuit? It’s fine.”

“But you’re driving yourself today. Weren’t you unable to drive?”

“I haven’t had many opportunities. People around me also discourage it.”

The car he was driving today was a regular white sedan. It suited Bin’s comfortable attire. When I asked where we were going, he said we were going to a nearby wetland.

He drove towards Incheon Airport. I knew there was a large wetland park there. In the back seat, I saw a camera bag, which looked quite large. The car drove at a moderate speed.

“But I’m wearing casual clothes… Will it be okay?”

Bin glanced at me while driving. He was looking at my face, not my clothes, when I asked about them, and then he smiled.

“It’s fine.”

Worried my clothes might get wrinkled, I took off my outer jacket and threw it on the back seat.

“If you haven’t eaten breakfast, there’s a sandwich in the back.”

I picked up the bag under my jacket. It was just enough for one person.

“Thank you. What about yours, Bin-ssi?”

“I already ate.”

My stomach was burning from drinking coffee on an empty stomach, so I was glad to see the sandwich.

“Ah, by the way… Could you keep it a secret from Jjuni that I’m going to take pictures today?”

As I was opening the wrapper, I suddenly thought of it and carefully asked Bin. He touched his lower lip with the hand not on the steering wheel. I chewed my sandwich, waiting for his answer, but after a long while, Bin pulled over at a convenience store.

“I didn’t buy drinks. Wait a moment.”

He got out of the car and returned with drinks for himself and milk for me. Even though I hadn’t explained my relationship with Jun in detail, Bin seemed to have figured it out.

“Eat slowly.”

Bin put a straw in the milk and handed it to me. To break the awkward atmosphere, I told him about my conversation with Hanwoo yesterday.

“By any chance, you said you saw him in the neighborhood when you were young. That… the kid with the mini car, was that you?”

“Yes.”

Bin answered briefly, opening a canned coffee and bringing it to his lips. In my excitement, I said, “Ah, right. It was you,” and smiled, taking a sip of milk.

“But why did I have that mini car? You gave it to me, right? I saw it when I went home this time.”

“That… I don’t want to tell you. Think carefully about how you got that mini car.”

“Strangely, I can’t remember that memory.”

“……Think carefully.”

It seemed he really wasn’t going to tell me, as Bin just kept smiling. I waited for an answer, but eventually gave up and looked ahead. Today, Bin wasn’t answering my questions well. It should have been strange, but as I sank into the plush seat, my mind grew hazy.

I thought I had closed my eyes for a moment, but we had already arrived at our destination. It wasn’t a busy road. It was a wetland park, with reeds stretching out.

“Are we taking pictures here?”

“No. We have to go a bit further.”

After parking the car, Bin and I walked for a long time. The scenery, rustling in the wind, blended well with the distant sea horizon. I thought I’d like to come here with Jun later. As my gaze followed the horizon, Bin stood at its end. He happened to turn around and point somewhere.

“Let’s take pictures over there.”

Where Bin pointed looked like a pink cloud spread on the ground. I didn’t know what it was from afar, calling it ‘pink muhly,’ but up close, it was a small plant.

“Stand in the middle there.”

“Here?”

“Go a little further in.”

I carefully stood at the spot Bin wanted. It felt like entering a dreamlike space. Even though I was in an awkward pose, Bin kept pressing the shutter.

I turned my head, wondering if this was okay, and saw a bird flying in the distance. It was flying in a ‘V’ formation, which I had seen in textbooks, and I was fascinated. Then I heard Bin say, “Good, stay like that for a moment.”

The bird had already flown far away, so I just looked at the sky. After a long while, Bin said it was good and approached me. We stood facing each other in the pink, misty space. He showed me the pictures he had taken.

“……Wow, is this me?”

“Yes. Isn’t it beautiful?”

I silently looked at the screens Bin slowly flipped through. In them, I stood on a pink cloud, looking up at the sky. My world was completely dyed pink. Only I existed, and I was happily looking up at the sky.

“Is this my expression…?”

To think that this was my expression as seen by others. When did I start living with such a bright smile? I could make a face like this too.

“Your expression was always like this.”

Bin was looking down at me, not at the photos he had taken. Even though he was right in front of me, perhaps because we were standing among the pink muhly, his body seemed blurry.

It felt like being in a dream. After looking through all the camera screens, I thought about leaving, and started to move, but Bin stopped me.

“Just a little longer… stay here. Just the two of us.”

The wind blew, making our surroundings sway. Before I knew it, Bin intertwined his fingers with mine, the hand not holding the camera. My right hand was held so tightly that I couldn’t pull it away.

“I don’t know why I came back like this.”

“Came back?”

“I should have just held your hand tightly like this. Why did I only watch?”

He wasn’t asking me. Bin was asking himself, filled with regret for his past self.

‘Could this be… a confession?’

As he tightened his grip, my phone rang. I pulled my hand away and picked up my phone. It was Jun. I pressed the call button and left the spot.

“Yes, Jjuni. ……Me? I’m outdoors. Uh, I met him well.”

Looking back, Bin was still standing there. Jun was complaining, asking me to decide on the menu for lunch.

Just then, Bin came out to the path and was brushing off his clothes. Since we were going to take pictures together, it was polite to put the call on hold for a moment.

“Let’s eat lunch and talk later. Yes, okay.”

Even though the call was a bit long, Bin waited patiently. After hanging up, I approached him. His voice, which had been lost in thought moments ago, sounded much more refreshed.

“Shall we go to the next location?”

He returned to his usual relaxed demeanor. Looking at the photos he took earlier, it didn’t seem like he was just doing photography as a hobby. He took them quite well, and I liked them.

“Bin-ssi. Can you give me those photos from earlier?”

“Yes. I’ll definitely give them to you.”

“But, about what you said earlier… what was that?”

“Aren’t you and Jun a couple? Then there’s nothing good for you to hear.”

So Bin knew that Jun and I were a couple. But knowing that, why did he say something like a confession? It made me even more confused. Seeing my bewildered expression, Bin leaned closer.

“Or, does that mean I have a chance too?”

“……I’m sorry.”

“You’re apologizing when I haven’t even confessed. This is why I didn’t want to say anything.”

Bin smiled faintly and turned away. Then he urged me on, saying there was another place to take pictures a little further ahead. He acted as if he had just been testing the waters, which suited someone who had just been rejected. So I thought his feelings for me were just a light liking, as fleeting as reeds swaying in the wind.

What Bin held onto was a bitter unrequited love. The leaves were green, but the roots were rotten, a precarious love that could break at any moment. Or, guilt about love.

The mini car was such an entity. When I took it out in the neighborhood as a child, it drew Duseon’s intense interest. And I didn’t know it would become a poison.

My fast-moving mini car veered off the track and rolled far away. Duseon followed it, but it was almost impossible for a child to catch up. Still, Duseon didn’t give up and was more anxious than I was about the mini car falling into a drain.

When we reached the end of the neighborhood, Duseon was hit by a suddenly speeding car and fell to the side. He wasn’t seriously injured, but he had to be hospitalized for a full day and undergo various tests. Bin couldn’t bring himself to enter the hospital room. Later, while Duseon was sleeping, he left only the mini car on his hospital bed. He must have liked it so much to follow it.

Perhaps due to the shock of the traffic accident, Duseon never even looked at children playing with mini cars. And, like that mini car, he felt forgotten.

The guilt he felt as a child grew in proportion to his age. Later, when he heard that Duseon had injured his leg at school because of a soccer ball he had given him as a gift, he could only think:

‘Am I a poisonous presence to him?’

“You shouldn’t have been born! You ruined my life! You’re a curse!”

He grew up hearing such words from his mother. Bin grew up silently in the darkness, like a poisonous weed. When Duseon got hurt because of him, those words were deeply ingrained in his heart. After that, he never appeared in front of Duseon or sent him gifts.

Years passed, and to fill that empty feeling, he stole Duseon’s belongings. Once he got his hands on them, his feelings grew uncontrollably. The thought of wanting to bloom. Even though Duseon was with someone else now, he wanted to say, “I grew up watching your sunlight.”

Yes, let’s be satisfied with that…

Why…

“Bin-ssi, shall I take off my outer jacket?”

“Yes. If you would.”

It was an ordinary-looking bench. When I sat down, my clothes didn’t look good because of my jacket. Bin, who had been taking pictures, said, “Just a moment,” and draped his jacket over my shoulders.

“It suits you. Stay like this for a bit.”

His shoulders were wider than mine, so it was clearly an oversized fit and shouldn’t have looked good, but Bin smiled with satisfaction. Wondering if it really looked okay, I touched my shoulder and smiled awkwardly. I crossed my legs and placed my hands on my knees.

Bin took pictures from various angles. Then he came closer, took back his jacket, and took more pictures. He came and showed me the photos, and this time they were portraits. It felt like he had taken my solo photos. Before, the background was moderately visible, making it look like a fashion shoot.

“The model isn’t great.”

“Don’t say that. Do you know how expensive this model is? I had a lot of trouble securing him.”

Bin was satisfied even with the out-of-focus photos. We took pictures in various places like that.

Then, Bin calmly aimed his camera at the distant horizon. He took pictures for a long time, looking at the tidal flats, the sea, and the horizon somewhere in between. After taking pictures like that, he lowered the camera slightly and asked me.

“Will the sea water reach there too?”

“Yes. That’s why it’s a tidal flat.”

“Won’t it dry up like that?”

“It’s just temporarily gone, the water will come back soon.”

“……That’s a relief.”

I chuckled at his sudden question. Bin, who had asked with apparent seriousness, laughed along. Then he asked me for a favor. To not let it dry up. As I was about to ask, “How can I?” Bin said let’s go back to the car.

On the way back, we looked at the photos we had taken while walking. Bin was very satisfied and said he wanted to take more pictures if there was another opportunity later. I didn’t give a definite answer, just smiled.

“You worked hard today, so I’ll treat you to something delicious.”

“You’ve bought me a lot before. It’s okay.”

“No. Since we came all this way. Let’s eat something good.”

Before we left, Bin handed me tea in a thermos. The slight chill from the sea breeze melted away with a sip of tea.

“I’ll wake you when we arrive. Get some sleep.”

My body relaxed, and I felt good. It felt like a weight had been lifted from my mind. I thought I should tell Jun about this place when we get back, and leaned back into the plush seat.

Jun was eating an early dinner with his friends when Duseon called, and he got up from his seat. If it were for ordinary matters, he wouldn’t mind taking it there and then, but he didn’t want to be disturbed by others during a call with Duseon.

“Hyung, where are you?”

He asked kindly, but there was no answer. Thinking the signal might not be reaching, he looked at the screen, and another person’s voice came through.

[Seomun Jun.]

It was a familiar voice. Annoyance surged within him, wondering why he had Duseon’s phone.

“Where are you.”

[Why don’t you ask kindly like you just did, why change your voice?]

“Stop playing around. Where is Hyung?”

[I don’t know which Hyung you’re talking about.]

Bin chuckled softly. He had no desire to play word games with him right now. Jun’s nerves became so frayed he felt he was reaching the limit of his patience.

“Hey…”

[Choose. Which Hyung you want to find. Is it Yuduseon, or… Lee Hyun-soo.]

“Why did that name come up, fuck.”

[Heh heh. Hey, Seomun Jun. You get even more angry when I mention Lee Hyun-soo. What the hell, that’s ridiculous.]

“Stop the nonsense and tell me where Yuduseon is.”

He could hear a tone of deliberation through the receiver. Bin’s breathing deepened, and he made a much darker offer to Jun.

[Listen carefully. Depending on your choice, someone will get seriously hurt.]

Bin spoke in a languid voice, exhaling a long breath. It was a sigh filled with the smoke of a cigarette.

[Choose.]

His grip tightened on the phone. For now, he had no choice but to pick the card the other person laid out. Even if it was just to buy time.

“Obviously, Yuduseon.”

[You don’t regret it? It doesn’t matter what happens to Lee Hyun-soo?]

“Stop the chatter and tell me where he is. I answered you.”

[…I can’t understand.]

“Stop messing around.”

Bin seemed to ponder for a moment, then tak, tak, he lit another cigarette. After another deep sigh, he muttered to himself, [Yeah, that’s possible.]

A long while later, Bin ended the call with a final, irritated remark.

[Hey, find him yourself. I’ll give you three hours.]

Click.

Jun suppressed his rage as he stared at the darkened screen. He knew he was being provoked, yet he had no choice but to be toyed with by Bin’s hand. Jun went back into the restaurant, grabbed his car keys and jacket, and left. To his friends’ questions about where he was going, he said he’d contact them later and hastily started the engine.

“Ah!! You son of a bitch!”

Jun, hitting the steering wheel in anger, recalled Duseon’s words about not driving recklessly. But this wasn’t the time to listen to him. He was engulfed by a sudden sense of anxiety. Jun parked haphazardly in front of the building and rushed up to his house. Then, he turned on the laptop in his study.

If Duseon had been taken in a short amount of time, there was a high probability he was taken to a place Jun knew. He scanned the properties Namgung Bin owned through personal documents on his PC. He owned quite a few mansions across the country, and the house opposite Duseon’s was also his property. He wouldn’t be using all of them, so there was a high chance they served another purpose.

It wasn’t difficult to check if people had been coming and going. He remembered the CCTV attached to the gate of the house opposite Duseon’s when he visited Duseon’s hometown. It was an uncommon model, so remembering the manufacturer’s details had been helpful.

He attempted to log in as an administrator on the CCTV company’s website. The management was lax enough for external access, and the password was simple, so it was cracked quickly.

He found a specific ID managing the addresses of those houses and reconnected with that ID. The entrances to numerous houses appeared. He intuitively knew they were mansions owned by Namgung Bin. This was because personal managers usually controlled everything collectively for convenience.

There was only CCTV at the main gate and the garage. He looked at various locations, checking for vehicles. Among them, he compiled the places where vehicles had entered today and mansions that people didn’t frequent.

Then, only two locations appeared. Both had white sedans parked, and no people were seen coming or going. If it were Namgung Bin, he certainly wouldn’t have taken Duseon far away after locking him up.

Looking at the locations, the two were in opposite directions. From his current position, one was an hour away, and the other was two hours away. Visiting both would cause delays.

Jun lowered his gaze and thought.

He had to make a decision. Where to go.

He had to catch them now. Namgung Bin could take Duseon elsewhere at any moment. He thought of someone who could arrive at the nearest possible location. Jun made up his mind, packed his laptop, and stood up. Then, he made a hasty call.

“Is this it?”

Rovan zipped up his tracksuit to his neck as he got out of the car. He walked with a swagger to the front gate and called Jun. After a while, Jun answered. He could hear the sound of a car horn, indicating he was driving.

“Can I just go in?”

[No. Press the doorbell.]

Ding dong.

Jun pressed it lightly as instructed. The living room lights were off, and it looked like no one was home. Since the area was full of high-end villas, there were few people around.

“What if there’s a murderer inside?”

[Stop the nonsense and press it like hell.]

Rovan pressed the doorbell again and again, to the point of annoyance. The call didn’t drop during this time. He peered into the mansion over the wall and even climbed a nearby tree briefly. Then he went back and pressed the doorbell.

“I guess no one’s home.”

[No, they’re there. That’s the car that entered this afternoon. Keep pressing.]

“Ah, damn it. Then they would have seen the person who entered, right?”

[That’s the tricky part.]

He kept pressing at three-second intervals. He kicked the gate and shouted, “Hey!” with a loud voice, and also mashed the doorbell. Even after doing this for a long time, it remained quiet.

“I really don’t think… Huh?”

Just then, the living room lights turned on, and someone peeked out from behind the curtains. As Rovan reached to press the doorbell again, a voice from the intercom told him to stop.

“I’m looking for someone.”

[Why are you looking for someone here! I’m calling the police!]

“Go ahead. Should I call them?”

[You crazy bastard! Get lost!]

“I’ll just find the person and leave!”

The intercom cut off abruptly. Rovan pressed the doorbell again and shouted, “Dajeong-ah!”

Finally, two men burst out of the front door. It was too dark to see clearly, but there was no sign of Duseon. One of them, in particular, looked like a foreigner, with only brown hair.

The two men spoke to Rovan across the locked gate. Rovan held his phone camera towards them and asked Jun.

“Hey, doesn’t look like it, right?”

[Yeah. Thanks.]

Click.

Jun hung up the phone as soon as he got the answer he wanted, leaving Rovan standing there like a madman. He had always been called a troublemaker, so the look in the eyes of the two men standing at the gate was not unfamiliar.

“Sorry, I think I came to the wrong house.”

Rovan smiled casually and apologized. Then, one of the men, the foreigner, opened the gate and started cursing.

“You crazy bastard!”

The other man standing next to him held him back. Rovan quickly raised his hands, smiling, as if to calm them down.

“I’m sorry. I had my reasons. Instead, I’ll give you a gift. Present, okay?”

Rovan went to his car and brought out some adult toys. He then handed them to the bewildered foreigner. The foreigner, who had been glaring at Rovan as if he wanted to kill him, raised his eyebrows and looked at the adult toys intently.

“If you need anything else, come to the website on this business card. If you mention today’s incident when ordering, I’ll add more service. Well then, have a good time.”

He never imagined he’d be doing business even here. Rovan got into his sports car and drove off cheerfully.

Of course, the reason he did all this was that Jun promised to completely service his car. Doing business and getting his car serviced for free. Rovan wouldn’t miss such a sweet deal.

Jun arrived at the mansion two hours away. He had asked Rovan to handle the one-hour distant location, so he could head straight here.

The place he arrived at was a mansion by the coast. He had only confirmed that a vehicle entered the garage, so he couldn’t tell if two men had gotten out.

There were scattered villas around the mansion, but it was a location no one would visit unless they made a deliberate effort to walk there. Jun looked at the exterior of the mansion from his car. The lights were on on the second floor, but the inside was not visible.

For now, Jun parked in a corner and got out of the car.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the bed canopy. It was a bed surrounded by red fabric, with white sheets.

I couldn’t understand where I was or if I was dreaming. Then, seeing a sprig of pink muhly attached to my clothes, I could roughly grasp the situation.

“…Bin-ssi?”

I got off the bed, looked around, and approached the door. I grabbed the handle and turned it, but it was stuck and wouldn’t budge. I thought this might not be the entrance, so I looked to the other side and saw another door.

“Ah, is it that one?”

I approached and opened the door, revealing a bathroom. It was as spacious as my living room, with a large bathtub in one corner.

I closed the bathroom door again and came back to the bed. Outside the window, the sun was setting beyond the horizon. It looked similar to the place where I had taken photos, but the surroundings were different. I wanted to find my phone and check the time.

“…Huh?”

But my phone, which I had put in my jacket, was gone. I searched the room thoroughly, but my belongings were nowhere to be found. It took me a long while of patting myself down before I grasped the situation. And I realized that this situation was similar to a crisis.

‘…Kidnapping.’

Surely… Bin-ssi wouldn’t do that. Amidst the confusion, I went to the door again and turned the handle. Feeling impatient, I pounded on the door with my fist and shouted.

“Namgung Bin-ssi!! Hello! Here, the door is locked!”

Only after hitting it until my palm stung did fear wash over me. I went to the window and looked outside.

On the quiet coast, no one was walking around. I thought I saw what looked like a couple passing by and tapped on the window, but the glass, which seemed thick, didn’t resonate at all, no matter how hard I hit it.

Even hitting it with something solid was useless. The couple passed by peacefully, contrary to my impatient heart. Then, the woman seemed to look towards me, but she didn’t seem to see me at all.

“…Can’t they see from outside?”

The couple then walked away affectionately. My chest heaved from knocking on the window until I was out of breath.

“What is this… What’s going on…”

I denied reality, telling myself Bin-ssi couldn’t possibly do this, and wondered why I was in this situation. The more I did, the more I felt like I was going crazy.

In such a crisis, the first person I should think of is family, but strangely, I thought of Jun. He had come to find me in the mountain village back then too… Could Jun find me here? But without a phone, how could he?

I went back to the door and pounded on it again, calling for Bin. As expected, there was no sound. In despair, I crawled onto the bed. I pulled my knees up and buried my head. Where is this, why am I here? Can I escape? Why is Bin…

“Junie…”

It had only been about an hour since I faced reality, but it felt like the world had ended, and I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t have claustrophobia, but the thought of being trapped and unable to escape, even in such a spacious place, made me feel suffocated.

My resolve began to waver. I didn’t want to shed tears like a fool… My heart was being consumed by darkness, just like the darkening scenery outside the car window. Suddenly, I remembered Jun’s warning not to get too close to Bin.

“I should have listened to Junnie… Why are you doing this to me…”

I wanted to be a hyung Jun could rely on, but I just kept causing trouble. In this situation, I blamed myself. I wanted to escape with my own strength, no matter what. I didn’t want to be a burden to Jun, and I didn’t want to let him know about this situation.

Thinking this, I regained my composure. Then, the thought occurred to me that Bin might be watching me. I looked up at the ceiling.

“I know you’re watching me.”

Thinking there might be a camera somewhere, I spoke without looking at any particular spot.

“If you show yourself now, I’ll forgive you.”

Whether I could truly forgive him, I didn’t know myself, but I wanted to persuade Bin. Escaping this place was the priority. I hoped he would realize himself how frightening a crime it was to imprison someone like this. I wanted it to end as a mere incident before imagining worse things. This kind of situation benefited neither of us.

I continued to try and communicate with Bin. Why was he doing this, did he have any lingering resentment from when we were young, didn’t we get along well today, I like the photos you took, let’s cherish today’s events as a good memory, let’s stop. But there was no answer.

‘This guy has no intention of letting me out.’

Reaching that conclusion, tears welled up. Why me, of all people? Why is he doing this to me, living an ordinary life…

Wiping away my tears with one hand, I crouched down again. In this vast space, there wasn’t a single square foot where I could feel comfortable.

My first meeting with Bin. The scent that always emanated from him. His kind manners. There was nothing to suspect him by. Moreover, when I saw him in my neighborhood, I let down all my guard and treated him openly.

‘…I need to know him. I need to figure him out.’

I slowly recalled my childhood. In anxious situations, people can unearth buried memories. At the time of my car accident, I couldn’t remember the event. I had experienced unbearable sadness when I was young. My mother cried endlessly looking at me.

At that time, I thought I wasn’t myself. I thought I was in a dream. That’s why I was alive even after the car accident. Hearing my mother say never to do that again, I erased that day from my memory.

After various tests, I lay weakly in bed. I wasn’t sleepy, but I just closed my eyes. If I opened them, I would see my mother’s sad eyes, and I couldn’t bear it. Wanting to leave the hospital quickly, I pretended to be asleep.

After a while, I felt a presence and thought a nurse had come to give me an injection. However, my arm didn’t lift, and something cold touched my side.

“You were hurt because of me. Please don’t be in pain.”

I knew who that voice belonged to. I slightly opened my eyes and saw the back of a boy leaving the hospital room. And the mini car I had desperately tried to grab was placed next to me. I put it under the bed, afraid my mother would cry again if she saw it. A fragment of that memory floated to the surface of my mind.

“Ah… that mini car.”

The neighbor grandmother who packed my hospital belongings put that mini car in my bag, and I stored it meaninglessly in a tin case.

“Why didn’t I realize? That child was Bin.”

Even recently, when I was feeling unwell at the office, he had rushed into the office. The child who told me not to be in pain was still worried about me getting sick even as an adult.

“Ha… what is this.”

It felt like finding the last piece of a puzzle. I understood why Bin had been so overprotective of me.

For a while, I tried to understand Namgung Bin’s feelings. Why did he lock me up here? Why did he do this, knowing I would resent him? Perhaps Bin couldn’t bear it. Perhaps he couldn’t stand seeing my feelings for Jun…

A little sympathy arose for Bin. Yes, I kept understanding, telling myself it was possible. That was the only way I could figure him out.

So, what would be the most frightening thing for Bin, who had locked me here? Jun? Jun wasn’t here now. I, too, was a prisoner and powerless. The way to make Bin afraid and escape…

“Please don’t be in pain.”

That one sentence suddenly flashed in my mind.

I looked at a wooden chair placed in a corner of the room, then stood up and walked towards it. Without hesitation, I picked up the wooden chair and threw it. Then, with a tearing sound, one of the chair legs bent strangely.

‘…This is the only way to lure Bin out.’

I swallowed dryly and picked up the broken chair leg with my right hand. The end was quite sharp. Holding it, I looked up at the ceiling. After scanning it thoroughly, I pressed the sharp wood against my left forearm with force and drew it.

“Ouch…”

Blood dripped onto the floor. I hadn’t injured my leg, thinking about a possible escape, but my arm hurt so much I wondered if I could even run.

I knelt and clutched my bleeding arm. As I groaned from the overwhelming pain, the door was suddenly flung open, and Bin rushed in. He looked down at me with eyes full of tears and quickly helped me up. He was wearing a light-colored shirt today, which was becoming speckled with my blood.

“What the hell! I was going to take you in an hour, and you couldn’t wait!”

“……Call Jjuni.”

Supported by Bin, I descended the stairs, gripping the banister. I didn’t want to be dragged somewhere by him again. The blood was coming from my left arm, but whether it was the pain, my right arm also lost strength.

Bin urgently insisted that I couldn’t, that I needed treatment immediately, and that he would take me, but even in my pain, I didn’t want to compromise. When I opened my eyes again……, who knew. If my limbs would be tied. I held on with my last bit of willpower.

“Yuduseon! Don’t be stubborn! It hurts. Please, don’t do this…….”

Bin pleaded. Then, perhaps realizing he couldn’t break my stubbornness, he hastily picked up his phone. And, he made a call to someone.

Just then, the doorbell rang. Bin’s expression, which had lost its composure, turned cold the moment he saw the intercom screen on the adjacent wall. His face, speckled with blood, transformed from that of a rescuer to a murderer. Bin stared at the intercom without a word.

Bin smirked, raising one corner of his mouth, and pressed the button. Then, a familiar voice came from the intercom.

[I arrived within three hours, so open up.]

Hearing Jun’s voice, all the strength drained from my body. My right hand, which had barely supported me, lost its grip, and I slumped down somewhere on the stairs.

I saw Jun rushing in through the open front door. He saw me slumped against the banister and immediately came up.

“H, Hyung. Are you okay? Why is there blood!!!”

“……I’m fine. I’m fine.”

Even as I repeatedly told Jun I was fine, he became increasingly enraged. When Bin came over to help me up, Jun swore and roughly pushed him away. Eventually, Jun threw a punch.

Thwack—!

Bin hit a statue, and Jun grabbed him by the collar and repeatedly punched him. Still not appeased, he got up and kicked Bin in the abdomen.

“Kuhk! H, haa…….”

Bin writhed on the floor, struggling to breathe. Jun, still not satisfied even with Bin in that state, picked up the fallen statue. Jun’s gaze was fixed on Bin’s head.

“Ah, no Jjuni…… No, don’t do that!!!”

I desperately crawled and grabbed Jun’s waist, clinging to him. Despite my pleas, he raised the statue as if he would really strike me down.

“J, Jjuni! I did this to my arm. I did it to pressure Bin! So calm down!!”

Bin was covered in blood, likely from the concentrated blows to his face, and was unconscious. I doubted if he was even breathing. It looked dangerous to inflict any more violence. As I held Jun back, blood continued to stream from my unbandaged arm.

“S, stop!! Jjuni. Stop, please……!!”

Jun, seeing my arms wrapped around his waist, slowly lowered the statue to the floor. Only then did the tension release, and I loosened my arms from his waist.

Jun approached Bin, found my phone in his clothes, and put it in his back pocket before coming over. Then, without a word, Jun carried me, my consciousness fading, down the stairs.

I heard voices talking. I was afraid that if I opened my eyes now, I would be met with my crying mother, just like when I was little. So, I kept my eyes tightly shut, but a cool hand touched my forehead.

“Hyung.”

At that voice, I slowly opened my eyes. Looking down at me was a gaze full of worry, like my mother’s from long ago. I tried to sit up, but couldn’t due to the pain in my left arm. Jun gently told me to stay put.

I felt ashamed. I had lied to Jun and gone with Bin, only to suffer that. Of course, the situation had twisted in ways I didn’t intend, but the fact remained that I hadn’t heeded Jun’s warning. As a result, I had burdened Jun again. Such thoughts weighed heavily on my mind.

Feeling apologetic, I couldn’t meet his eyes, but Jun took my right hand in both of his. He pressed my hand to his forehead and sighed quietly. My right hand, held firmly, was met with a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry…….”

I apologized softly, but Jun didn’t look up, just listened.

He must be tired of me. Someone like me, who’s just a burden. I was nothing but a burden to him. Whether in games or in reality, I only dragged him into bad situations.

I felt I wasn’t worthy of being his lover. Jun deserved someone more mature, someone who could support him, someone he could rely on like parents. Not a burden like me, but someone who could truly be the ‘Hyung’ he desired.

Thinking this, my right hand, held by Jun, felt heavy. As I tried to pull it away slightly, a doctor approached. He explained that he had provided emergency treatment and that I needed outpatient care, and he would write a referral letter.

Listening to the doctor, I looked down at my left arm wrapped in bandages. My head naturally bowed. Jun, who had been holding my right hand, stood up silently and followed the nurse out.

Soon after, he returned, holding a prescription, presumably after paying the hospital bill. Before leaving the hospital, Jun had me sit in the waiting room.

“Hyung, can you be alone for a moment?”

“Yes.”

“Sit here.”

Jun went to the hospital pharmacy, which was open late, to pick up the medication and returned to the waiting room. Then, he silently helped me up and we went outside.

“I’ll go get the car.”

Jun ran off somewhere. A short while later, his car pulled up. Jun got out again, opened the passenger door, and helped me in, closing the door. He didn’t need to be so overprotective, but Jun was taking meticulous care of me.

Jun remained silent even while driving. He looked clearly angry and exhausted. I would have been angry too. Making me come all this way, and meeting Bin alone after ignoring his warning. He should have questioned me and gotten angry about it, but Jun said nothing. That attitude made me more uncomfortable.

After driving in silence for a long time, Jun pulled over to the shoulder and retrieved a knee blanket from the trunk. He then opened the passenger door, covered me with it, and closed the car door again.

Jun, who I thought would get back in immediately, walked to the back of the car and lit a cigarette. I could see him roughly running his hand through his hair in the rearview mirror. He was alone, suppressing his anger. He returned and started driving again, still without a word.

It would have been better if he had asked why I met Namgung Bin, why I ignored his words, why I was so troublesome. Even when asking if I was uncomfortable, Jun forced a smile. Then, as he resumed driving, he returned to his usual dry expression.

It wasn’t until we passed the Seoul toll gate that I gathered the courage to speak to Jun. When I asked how he found me, he briefly replied that Bin had called him. Having come all that way, I didn’t want to tire him further. His home and mine were in opposite directions.

“Jjuni. Pull over at that taxi stand.”

“…….”

“Huh? Ah, we passed it. There’s another taxi stand at the terminal up ahead. There—.”

“You know I’m holding back a lot right now, right?”

“……That’s why I’ll go on my own.”

“Stay put.”

“I don’t want to burden you anymore. If you pull over there…….”

“Please!!!”

Jun slammed on the brakes, screeching the tires, pulling over to the shoulder. He couldn’t contain his anger and hit the steering wheel. Yes, the only reason Jun hadn’t gotten angry with me until now was because he was holding back, knowing I was injured.

“I’m sorry. Because of me, because I foolishly followed, because I—.”

“Stop.”

Jun seemed not to want to hear any excuses.

How pathetic must I be? Being confined, dragged into a pyramid scheme. How truly pathetic I was……. Crying here would just make me seem melodramatic, but why was I doing it so cluelessly? I hated myself. I hated how pathetic I was.

Jun took tissues from the dashboard and quietly offered them to me. I tried to take them with my left hand but yelped “Ouch!” and reached for them with my right. Jun took out a tissue and wiped my eyes himself.

“Why are you crying like an idiot?”

“Maybe because I’m an idiot…….”

“You admit it, then.”

That short joke made me laugh. Was this how much I liked Jun? I should be ashamed that my worst self was exposed, but strangely, I felt at ease.

“Stay at my place for a while. It’ll be hard for you to commute. I want to tell you to rest, but…… I don’t think you will. Shall we stop by your place briefly if you need to bring anything?”

“Then, some underwear and clothes.”

“You mean the leopard print ones, right?”

“Ugh……, yes.”

“There’s one more. The blue panties. Why did you buy those?”

“……Um, it’s a secret.”

Jun’s lips curved silently. After a few more exchanges like this, my heart felt a little lighter, unlike before. Although I still felt apologetic, Jun was embracing even my shortcomings.

We stopped by my place to get clothes and underwear, then went to Jun’s house. On the way back, Jun expressed his anger towards Namgung Bin. He pressed the button for the 7th floor of the building’s elevator, firmly stating he would move out of the 6th floor.

After entering Jun’s house, he followed me to the bathroom and washed me. Perhaps to avoid getting water on my left arm, Jun’s movements were careful.

Being washed by another man as a grown adult was incredibly embarrassing. Jun, wearing only briefs, lathered my body with a washcloth. I tried hard not to get aroused at that moment. Jun wasn’t joking at all; he was solely focused on washing me.

“Lift your arm. That’s it.”

He must not have had much experience caring for others, yet Jun was skillful. When he washed my hair, he covered my forehead with one hand to prevent soap from getting into my eyes.

Only after I changed clothes did Jun go to wash himself. Lying on the soft bed felt heavenly. The sheets carried Jun’s usual scent. A cool, forest-like scent of skin lotion was subtly present.

A while later, Jun entered the room, drying his wet hair with a towel.

“Jjuni, you seem like you’ve done a lot of caregiving.”

“It’s my first time.”

“Really?”

Jun nodded as he applied lotion to his face. His long fingers traced his entire face before falling away. As I watched him blankly, Jun opened the lotion cap again and poured some into his hand. Then, he came over and applied it to my face as well.

‘Ah! This is the scent.’

It was the scent that always came from Jun. Closing my eyes, I calmly felt his long fingers patting my face. When I thought he was done, I tried to open my eyes, but my lips met his with a soft kiss.

“You’re so clean.”

Jun smiled with satisfaction and went down to the bed, rubbing the remaining lotion on his hands. If it weren’t for the pain in my left arm, it felt as if the earlier events hadn’t happened. This space was peaceful and warm, as if that nightmare never existed.

“I’ll turn off the lights. Hyung, go to the inside. That way, I won’t touch your left arm.”

As Jun said, I slowly moved to the side. When I got too close to the wall, Jun told me to move a little further away, and after confirming my movement, he turned off the lights.

The quiet bed swayed, and Jun’s breath reached my right side. Hearing his voice whisper “Good night” in my ear, I closed my eyes. As our legs tangled, I felt another sense of security. I didn’t think I would have nightmares tonight.

Jae-ah clicked his tongue when he saw the bandage wrapped around my left arm. Jun, who was placing side dishes on the table, told him to hurry up and eat.

I felt a bit awkward. Even as an extra guest, if there was a hierarchy, Jae-ah was first, and I was second. Jae-ah’s atopic dermatitis seemed to have improved, as he was no longer walking around in just briefs but wearing a thin t-shirt and shorts.

When Jun took vegetables out of the refrigerator, Jae-ah scowled. I looked at Jun with the same expression, and Jae-ah spoke to me.

“If you live here, you have to drink this every day. Can you handle it?”

“Honestly, I don’t really…….”

“I’m going to escape as soon as possible.”

Despite hearing our conversation, Jun cheerfully washed the vegetables and put them in the blender. He then brought them to us, divided equally into three portions.

“Hyung, just a moment.”

As I was about to drink it with my eyes squeezed shut, Jun said that and went to the sofa table to get the candy case. He then raised his hand, signaling me to drink.

His action seemed like a signal to begin, and as intended, I raised the glass and swallowed the contents. Jae-ah, who was still hesitating, scowled deeper as he watched me drink.

Holding my breath and drinking again, my swallowing slowed, but Jun watched me patiently. And when I finished drinking and put down the glass, a red candy was offered to my mouth.

“It’s strawberry flavored.”

I opened my mouth and pecked at it like a baby bird.

“Wow……, I was wondering where the strawberry flavor went. Was it there? Give me some too. Me too.”

“This one is not for you.”

“Jun Hyung! Why have you become so cold? Didn’t you care about me?”

“Me, care about you?”

Jun shook his head in disbelief. The hierarchy of guests had suddenly shifted.

As I smiled leisurely, Jae-ah grumbled that a mother-in-law who mediates is more annoying than a sister-in-law who scolds. Listening quietly, I corrected him, tapping Jae-ah’s shoulder.

“It’s the opposite. A scolding mother-in-law, a mediating sister-in-law.”

As I said this, I pointed to Jun for the mother-in-law part and to myself for the sister-in-law part, making Jae-ah laugh in disbelief with a “Ha!” and get up from his seat.

“Hey! Drink your green juice before you go!”

“I’m going to eat the strawberry candy you bought!”

Jae-ah irritably went into the room. After a while, he truly came out dressed in going-out clothes and glared at me before leaving the house. I thought it wouldn’t hurt for Jun to just give him a candy, but he refused to the end.

“I sorted this out to give only to Hyung. Why do you disregard my labor time?”

“Alright. I’ll just eat it all myself, then?”

Jun nodded and answered briefly, then put the candy case back on the sofa table. He tucked it away inside so Jae-ah couldn’t find it. Seeing that, Jun was undeniably childlike. My heart felt heavy for causing him to experience something unpleasant.

I was afraid he might show the same tears my mother shed after her traffic accident when I was young, but he accepted the situation steadfastly.

Jun didn’t ask why I had cut my arm. Perhaps, seeing Bin’s flushed face, he had guessed. That I did it to escape.

I took a bite of the toast that came out of the toaster. After mulling over what I wanted to say, I asked Jun.

“Jjuni. I’m sorry to ask this, but…… about Bin, do you know what happened to him? I only remember being carried out by you…….”

My concern for Bin stemmed from the fact that he was unconscious from Jun’s beating. So, I was afraid that if something happened to him, it would cause trouble for Jun. That’s why I asked, but Jun’s expression turned uncomfortable.

“He wasn’t there.”

“Huh?”

“After I took Hyung to the ER, I called 119……, but they said no one was inside that house.”

“Then……?”

“That’s all I know.”

“I see.”

“Surely, you’re not worried about that bastard, are you?”

“No, it’s not that.”

As the perpetrator, I should hate him, but something felt unsettled. Whether it was because of that small mini car or past memories, that small crack in my heart bothered me.

“Hyung, you should report it if you’ve been through something like that.”

Of course, if I had escaped alone, I would have reported it. Even to ask for help. But thinking of Bin’s blood-covered face, I hesitated.

I had seen a news report before about someone who caught a thief being prosecuted for excessive self-defense and causing injury. I couldn’t forgive him for confining me, but I worried that Jun might get into trouble because of me, so I hoped Bin was alright. So, I decided that if he later used the assault as leverage against Jun, I would step in then.

“For now, I want to let it go quietly. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it.”

“But—.”

“Jjuni. Later, depending on the situation……, okay?”

As I said it like a plea, Jun didn’t ask further and poured milk into a cup. It felt like I was receiving back the actions I used to do for him at home. As I picked up the milk and brought it to my lips, Jun looked at my mouth and said.

“Never again.”

“Huh?”

“Never again, don’t hurt yourself. No matter the reason. I will definitely come.”

“……Okay.”

When the grand word “self-harm” was attached, I finally recognized what I had done. I had foolishly only thought about escaping from there, not about my body. Not even common sense like bleeding too much is dangerous.

“And, there’s one more thing I wanted to ask.”

“Yeah……. What?”

What could it be? I felt nervous. I wondered if he would ask about the time I spent kindly with Bin, or about the past.

Jun asked, tilting his head slightly with a rather serious expression.

“When is your birthday?”

“……Huh?”

……Birthday? A birthday out of the blue? Then I remembered that we talked about birthdays while eating samgyeopsal last week.

“You don’t even tell your lover your birthday? Mine is January 15th.”

“……Ah. Mine is October 2nd. That’s this Wednesday.”

“You’re telling me so quickly. I would have been disappointed if it had just passed by.”

“No, what’s a birthday at this age.”

“What do you want?”

My heart pounded like the questions my mom used to ask when I was young. I had never received a birthday gift from a lover before. The most I got was a meal from friends for my birthday. When actually asked, I felt lost, wondering what would be a good answer.

“If you don’t have anything, can I just give you something?”

“Yes. Anything is fine.”

Seeing him smile slyly made me suspicious. I hoped it wasn’t an Aneros. That wouldn’t be my birthday present, but Jun’s, would it?

After we finished eating and got up to clear the table, Jun stopped me. As he cleared, he cupped my face and kissed me. While I was shyly just smiling, Jae-ah, who had arrived home, saw the scene and made a look of horror.

“I should leave as soon as possible.”

“Then I’d be grateful.”

Jun responded nonchalantly to that remark.

After spending such a leisurely afternoon, by evening my body felt stiff. Jun took care of my medication with every meal, so I had a comfortable day.

Then, as I was pulling back the blinds and looking at the neon signs outside, Jun suggested we get some fresh air. As I turned towards the entrance at his words, he pulled me, saying, “This way.”

Since I mostly used the left side of Jun’s house, the right side felt unfamiliar. There was a room with an old doorknob, and passing by the adjacent hallway led to another entrance. As we opened the metal door and stepped out, Jun first surveyed the outside before turning back to me.

“It won’t be cold, right?”

I nodded, not to the cold air, but to his question.

The rooftop was being used as a rooftop garden. The reason the entire 7th floor seemed to have relatively less space was this. It seemed they had paid attention to landscaping, as artificial turf was laid on the floor.

“We used to have barbecues here sometimes. I just use it as a smoking area.”

“It’s a waste to use it only as a smoking area.”

“It was originally a garden my mother cherished, but I’m not good at growing plants. They all died, you know.”

Pots overgrown with weeds and a few large trees were visible.

As I approached the rooftop railing, the night view spread out before me. What must Jun have thought, looking at this scenery alone? What feelings did he have, cherishing the traces of those who had left? Being together in such a lonely space made me curious about his past.

“Junie, the room with the old doorknob. Could it be……”

“Yeah. It was where my parents used to stay.”

“I see.”

“I go in and clean it sometimes. I don’t use it since it’s the belongings of those who have already passed, but I just want to keep it there.”

It was the same at my house. It was old enough to need re-wallpapering, but my dad had done it himself, so my mom wanted to leave it as is. And in the master bedroom, the dresser my dad usually used remained in place.

“Right. I wouldn’t want to change it either.”

Jun gently took my right hand and pulled me along. He led me to where the sunbeds were. During the day, there would have been an awning to block the sun, but now it fluttered in the wind, creating a desolate atmosphere.

“Hyung, sit down for a moment.”

After making me sit comfortably, Jun brought a projector from somewhere. He projected it onto the opposite ceiling, and a video started playing. It was an old movie, and there were no subtitles.

“……I don’t really understand what’s being said.”

“I don’t either.”

Watching the movie, this place felt like a back alley in Europe.

Jun explained that it was a movie his parents used to play often. At the time, Jun sat in this very spot, only looking at his phone, but his parents beside him were delighted until the movie ended. Jun said that when he watches it, the memory of that day is projected onto the screen, just like this movie, so he often comes here to play it.

“Every time I watch this, I feel like they’re right beside me, so I used to watch it when I felt lonely. But now, there’s one more viewer. It was getting boring, so it’s good.”

“So, every time you watch this, you’ll think of me too?”

“No. I won’t just think of you; I’ll always watch it with you.”

“……”

“From now on, always.”

I still couldn’t understand what the movie was saying or what it was about. Perhaps because of that, the current moment felt like a faded memory. It was reality, yet it felt like looking back on a memory.

“Junie, maybe.”

“What?”

“Did we meet in the past?”

“Are you hitting on me? I’m not an easy guy.”

Like Jun’s joke, the couple in the movie were laughing brightly and kissing. Jun looked at me with a proud expression.

“Well, if you buy me a beer, I might be persuaded.”

“That would be an honor.”

Even as I said that, it was Jun who went to get the beer.

I gazed at the movie, trying to infer their conversation. But was there a need to understand it? The couple in the movie looked happier than anyone. It felt like their smiles and feelings were contagious. I understood why his parents had shown this movie to Jun.

And why he was watching it now…

“Ah… Why are you so lovely.”

Heat rushed to my face at the thought, and I wiped it with my hand. My heart pounded like in the movie. I felt like the protagonist in my own life.

When I heard the sound of the metal door opening, I couldn’t wait and got up to approach. Jun came towards me, holding beer and drinks in one hand and a plate of finger food in the other.

I walked up to him and reached out. I wrapped my right arm around the back of Jun’s neck and kissed him. Although it must have been sudden, Jun calmly lowered his head. He accepted the kiss while holding the beer and plate. After a long while, when we broke apart, Jun closed his lips, which had parted because of me, and smiled.

“You seem to be quite impatient.”

“You took so long, I was going to go pick up someone else.”

Jun raised his eyebrows and retorted that it was a close call. He looked so playfully charming, we seemed like travelers who met in a foreign land.

The foreign language audio in the movie further enhanced the atmosphere. By the time we finished our drinks and beer, we went into the bedroom. Jun’s gentle embrace felt dreamlike and wonderful. It was a day that ended like a happy ending, just like in a movie.

* * *

In the morning, I went to the hospital to get the wound disinfected and the bandage changed. Then, as I was about to head to the office, Jun stopped me again.

“Do you really have to go?”

“I won’t overdo it. I’ll just do consultations or stay nearby.”

“Then, I’ll see you at lunch. Contact me if anything happens.”

“Okay.”

Even while washing me in the morning, Jun seemed displeased. I heard him say, “Just rest for a day,” more than ten times that morning. Of course, I fully understood Jun’s concerns. Even if I stayed at the office, there was no guarantee customers would come.

I wore a loose sweatshirt because of the bandage. Even trying to dress neatly was difficult with my injured arm. I opened the office door and was about to clean the floor when I decided to heed Jun’s words about not overdoing it.

When I placed my left arm on the desk to type, it was uncomfortable, and I couldn’t get into position. I tried to work with only my right hand, but soon gave up.

My injury was significantly hindering my work. I shouldn’t have cut my arm so recklessly back then. But at the time, my arm was all I could think about.

Somehow, I managed to input data roughly with my right hand when the Hardware Store Owner came in.

“I came to get a cup of coffee.”

“Ah, please do.”

I got up and went to the water dispenser. Normally, I would hold a cup in one hand and pour instant coffee, but since I could only use one hand, the Hardware Store Owner looked at me strangely.

“Did you hurt your arm?”

“Yes. I got scratched by something.”

“Did you get a tetanus shot?”

“It wasn’t metal, so it’s fine.”

After stirring his coffee, he still advised me to get one preemptively. He said people are easily exposed to metal anytime. Perhaps because he owned a hardware store, his words seemed to have some merit.

As I sat opposite him, leisurely drinking coffee, the Hardware Store Owner, who was watching the street, commented on how they were going in again, pointing across the way.

“What is it?”

Following his gaze, I looked back. Men in black suits were surrounding someone and entering a building.

“Sometimes when I went for early morning prayer and opened early, I’d see them bringing people in like that, even in the early morning.”

The Hardware Store Owner looked towards where they had disappeared with suspicious eyes. I had also seen men in black suits when I went to that building. And I had seen similar people in front of Bin’s house.

Was it just a coincidence? Then, I suddenly remembered the time Bin had confined me. A dangerous premonition arose.

“Well, black suits are common, aren’t they?”

“That’s true, but I went to the 6th floor once. They needed some electrical parts, so I went to take a look. But it was strange. For a normal studio…”

“In what way?”

“I thought it was just camera cables or something. But it was an electric chair. The cord had shorted, and they called me. So I went, and it was strangely too elaborate for a decoration…”

“……Like a torture device?”

“Ah! That’s right, a torture device!”

The Hardware Store Owner clapped his hands in agreement. He said he had seen all sorts of machines in his life, but it was his first time seeing an electric chair, and he shook his head in disbelief.

“Nah, I doubt it. It must be a prop.”

“Not only that, but the place they took me was a bit strange. There were several doors layered on top of each other, like soundproofing walls. It felt like a confinement space.”

‘……Confinement.’

I found a commonality between the studio and the space where I was trapped last Saturday. Both places were related to Bin.

I forced a smile, trying to stay calm, and replied that it was a studio and that I had been inside before.

The Hardware Store Owner, though smiling, warned me not to go in alone. He added that Bin’s eyes, when he visited often, were like a snake’s, and that I should be careful of such impressions. Was it an old man’s intuition, or life wisdom? As if seeing the concern in my heart, the Hardware Store Owner warned me repeatedly.

“I’m not just saying this. Understand?”

“Yes. I will.”

Just then, the phone on the Hardware Store Owner’s hip rang. The owner, who had been explaining, said, “Ah, heck,” and got up. It seemed like a situation that was faster to go and see.

“If you’re not here, people will be in trouble. What if I want to see you again later?”

As I said that to the Hardware Store Owner who was hanging up and leaving, he replied slyly.

“Why are you so worried? Those you are meant to meet, you will meet again somehow.”

I saw the owner off, pondering the meaning of his words. I returned to my desk and worked with my right hand. Someone to meet again, the only person I could assign meaning to was Jun.

After what happened with Duseon, Bin came to recuperate at another villa. Although he had briefly fainted from Jun’s focused blows to his face that day, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Duseon being carried away on his back from the villa at the end. He had seemed to bleed a lot, and I had worried he was seriously injured.

Bin looked relatively well, considering the bruises all over his face. His eardrums were fine too. However, a long gash next to his eyebrow was bothersome.

At that moment, the secretary standing next to Bin approached.

“President-nim. How are you feeling today?”

“Not bad. Ah… Mother?”

“She is currently being cared for.”

Bin nodded, smoothing the sleeve of his shirt. Yesterday, he had finally executed something he had wished for since childhood. That is, to burden his mother with a long-standing fate.

Namgung Bin’s father, Namgung Jong-cheol, started with a pawn shop and expanded into a loan shark business. After accumulating wealth, he also desired prestige. He became a politician, using money as his stepping stone. Furthermore, as he dealt with things money couldn’t buy, his influence grew day by day.

Because he was a loan shark, subjugating ordinary people with money was easy. Especially the younger they were, the harder it was to escape, and their debt became a trap.

Those debtors caught in the trap, if they were presentable, became good commodities for Namgung Jong-cheol’s clients. They were sold off, even if the condition was debt forgiveness. Like slaves.

And Bin was solely responsible for creating the commodities and acting as a broker. Namgung Jong-cheol, considering such things improper, did not meet clients directly. He heard everything through Bin, so he visited Bin regularly. And Bin exploited that. The fact that Namgung Jong-cheol came alone.

“Please take my mother in.”

When Bin said that, Namgung Jong-cheol threw something, injuring the area next to Bin’s eyebrow. He did so casually, even seeing his son’s face full of bruises.

Bin believed that his own twisted nature and his obsession with Duseon were due to the bloodline inherited from his mother. In a way, all the causes stemmed from a curse originating from his father. So, he wanted to eliminate that curse. Bin ordered his subordinates to bring an electric chair and made him sit on it. Then, he delivered his final ultimatum.

“I will dismantle the slave kingdom you built. I will give freedom to everyone. However, I have no intention of giving you freedom.”

Namgung Jong-cheol could not answer because someone had covered his mouth. To him, Bin gave advice filled with his last familial affection. He advised him not to move his body, even if he could. He threatened to expose all his corruption. He suggested that living comfortably under care would be better than going to prison.

As Bin recalled yesterday’s events, he unconsciously furrowed his brow. Because of that, the wound at the end of his eyebrow stung. As he looked at his face in the mirror, his secretary approached and disinfected the wound.

“You can go now too.”

“I will stay until you finish.”

Even though he had accomplished what he had wished for since childhood, his heart felt empty. If his father had been decent from the start, wouldn’t his life have been different? Wouldn’t his relationship with Duseon have been different? A sense of sorrow washed over him.

‘……Why wasn’t I normal?’

Now, he couldn’t even approach Duseon. Perhaps this kind of pruning was necessary. He had to cut off his spreading desires like this to maintain a proper distance from Duseon. However, as Duseon’s light turned towards someone else, Bin’s darkness grew uncontrollably.

“If you can’t have it, humans all develop such feelings.”

The warning he gave to Seomun Jun was becoming a foregone conclusion.

Typing with only one hand put a strain on my shoulder. I felt like I might end up hurting my right hand too if I continued like this, so I left work early. Fortunately, there weren’t many customers looking for houses.

At lunchtime, Jun came down an hour early and waited beside me. Because of that, a customer who was about to enter the office turned back and left. Afterward, Jun went out again for his own business, and I spent a quiet afternoon.

“What? Why are you closing so early?”

As I was closing the door at 5 PM, I heard a voice from behind me. Turning around, I saw Hanwoo. Seung-ju-ssi was next to him.

“What are you two doing here at this hour?”

“We came out for an external job and felt like having a drink. Hey, let’s go for a drink.”

“My arm is injured.”

I rolled up my left sleeve and showed them the bandage slightly. Seung-ju-ssi then looked surprised and came closer, asking how I got injured and expressing concern. I vaguely lied, saying I fell off the monkey bars at the playground and scraped it. Of course, he didn’t look convinced, but he let it slide.

“Then, you can’t drink?”

Hanwoo seemed more disappointed about me not being able to drink than about my injury, and Seung-ju-ssi expressed his regret that he couldn’t have a drink with me after so long.

“It’s okay if we just have dinner. You guys drink, and I’ll just eat.”

“Really? Then let’s go.”

“Are you in a lot of pain?”

After replying to her that it was nothing serious, I excused myself briefly to call Jun. However, he didn’t answer, possibly because he was driving. I left a message saying my friends were here and I’d be back after dinner, then put my phone in my pocket.

“Should we go near your place?”

“No. Let’s eat around here.”

Hanwoo tried to hail a taxi, being considerate of me. When he asked if it would be inconvenient to go home from here, I told him I’d be staying at Jun’s place for a while.

“He has a lot of rooms there.”

“Really?”

“You mean the owner of our officetel?”

Seung-ju and Hanwoo nodded without a word and pulled me to go to the pork rib restaurant we had wanted to go to before.

Seung-ju-ssi seemed to like the officetel I had brokered, as he praised it throughout dinner. He then said he wanted to introduce me to some of his colleagues, so I gave him my business card, saying I would be grateful for the favor.

“Ah, right. I heard Shut Up got robbed.”

Seung-ju looked at Hanwoo, who was bringing up the topic of games, with distrust. It was a topic that would bore anyone who wasn’t interested.

“Seung-ju-ssi, Shut Up is the owner of that place.”

“Ah, really?”

Once she saw a slight connection, she finally listened with interest. Usually, when talking with Seung-ju-ssi, our eyes would meet often, but today, she lowered her gaze every time our eyes met.

‘What’s bothering her?’

I was inwardly worried that perhaps she had some discomfort after moving in but couldn’t voice it. Just then, Hanwoo stepped out briefly to take a call, and in the meantime, I poured Seung-ju-ssi a drink and started the conversation.

“I don’t know if this is meddling, but are you experiencing any discomfort living there?”

“No. Nothing like that. But, why?”

“Um, it’s nothing.”

I was relieved to hear that. Then, was it awkwardness? But it didn’t seem like awkwardness, considering she had boldly offered me ‘Beolppeokju’ before. She seemed far from shy, yet I realized anew that people have many sides. I had felt that recently with Jun, and I had experienced it with Bin.

As I was about to pour a drink, Seung-ju-ssi quickly reached for the drink bottle, and our hands brushed slightly. “Ouch!” she exclaimed, pulling her hand away and biting her lip, her gaze lowered again.

‘Why is she acting like this?’

“Would you like a drink?”

“No, it’s just…”

She downed a shot of soju and still avoided my eyes. Then she got up, saying she was going to the restroom.

“Seung-ju-ssi?”

“She went to the restroom.”

Just then, Hanwoo returned and filled his empty glass with soju, asking if something was wrong with Seung-ju-ssi.

“Am I bothering her?”

“Of course, she’s bothered.”

“Me? Why?”

“Hey, you dense idiot. Seung-ju-ssi is interested in you.”

At that, I scoffed, finding it absurd. If that level of kindness was interest, no one in the world would be single.

“What if Seung-ju-ssi confesses to you then?”

“What would I do…”

Not only did I not have feelings for Seung-ju-ssi, but I was also dating Jun, so it was impossible for anyone else to catch my eye. So, I just smiled without a word and drank my beverage.

“Why? Should I push you?”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Hey, man. I’m telling you I can get you a partner.”

“I’m good. You’re the one who shouldn’t make the atmosphere awkward, just eat.”

Just then, Seung-ju entered, so I put my finger to my lips, telling Hanwoo to be quiet. Perhaps it was because I had heard this conversation, but I kept feeling conscious of it. Seung-ju-ssi had her usual expression when bickering with Hanwoo, but when our eyes met, her gaze faltered again.

‘Hmm… This is making me uncomfortable for no reason.’

I got up, saying I needed to take a call. I called Jun, and he said he was right in front of the office.

[You met Hanwoo Hyung? Where are you?]

“Yeah. Here at the Sajeong Rib Restaurant. It’s delicious, let’s come eat together sometime.”

[Did you bring the medicine?]

“Ah. Right, the medicine.”

I said I’d take it when I got home and told him to leave it. Since I didn’t want to be away from the table for too long, I told Jun I’d see him at home and hung up.

When I returned to my seat, Seung-ju-ssi was in the middle of a conversation with Hanwoo, but when she saw me, she shyly lost her composure again. If we were just eating, we would have finished quickly and left, but with alcohol involved, the gathering stretched on. Since I couldn’t drink and only talked, it became a bit boring. I just smiled and responded as if I were barely there.

Then, I checked my phone to see the time, and someone plopped down next to me.

“Hello. You’re Hanwoo Hyung, right?”

“Ah, hello.”

It was Jun. Since he was acquainted with Seung-ju-ssi sitting next to me, he just bowed his head in greeting.

“Why are you here?”

“To give you the medicine. It says you have to take it within 30 minutes after a meal, or your stomach will hurt.”

Indeed, the meal had ended a long time ago. It was in the process of digestion when Jun brought the medicine.

“Thanks, Junie.”

As I smiled at Jun, Seung-ju-ssi, sitting opposite us, widened her eyes as she looked at the two of us. Then, she said, “Excuse me, I need to go to the restroom…” and left again.

“Then, take your time. I’m leaving now.”

“Oh, let’s eat together.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Jun really just came to give the medicine, and then he left quickly. We had spent all day together yesterday, and we would be together again this evening, but I felt a pang of regret watching his retreating back.

“He’s so polite. Does he treat you well?”

“Extremely well.”

“Anyone would think you two are lovers.”

‘We are, you idiot.’

But I couldn’t answer that way, so I said, “Well, sort of,” and downed the medicine with water.

Hanwoo asked about Yongseok, so I gave him a general update and told him the samgyeopsal restaurant there was still the same. Hanwoo then worried about the owner of that place, saying he shouldn’t drink so much every day and that he was covering for him.

“Ah, right. Duseon-ah, you asked if I remembered that kid who used to live across the street, right?”

“Yeah. Why? Don’t you remember?”

“I remember vaguely. Back then, you were chasing after that kid’s mini car and got hit by a car, and your mother cried so much, and the whole neighborhood was in an uproar. At the time, he was crying face down next to you, so I thought he had been hit too.”

“I only remembered recently. But haven’t you not seen him since then?”

“…Sigh. You’re right, I really haven’t seen him at all since then. That’s why you didn’t recognize him, isn’t it? Even if you retain some of your childhood features, your face changes completely when you grow up, so how could you recognize him?”

“But he recognized me.”

“No way. To recognize someone at a glance in Seoul, not even in the neighborhood. It must have been possible because you knew his recent face.”

His recent face? I hadn’t run into Bin before starting the real estate business. Hearing Hanwoo’s words, it made sense. Even people you know well, you often don’t recognize them if you pass them on the street.

We talked for a long time like that, and Seung-ju-ssi still hadn’t returned.

“Is something wrong? Why isn’t she back?”

“Should I go check?”

Hanwoo was about to get up when we saw Seung-ju-ssi entering the restaurant. However, her expression was much more somber than before, as if she had an upset stomach.

“Seung-ju-ssi, if you’re not feeling well, stop drinking.”

“No. I have to drink on a day like today.”

She then said she wanted to mix soju and beer and ordered more beer. Hanwoo asked what was wrong, but Seung-ju glanced at me, said it was nothing, and mixed the drinks. Hanwoo tried to stop her as she gulped them down.

Watching her, I worried about her body. After drinking several glasses like that, she became completely insensible. There was no choice but to tidy up and leave.

Hanwoo carried Seung-ju-ssi on his back, and I guided him. Fortunately, the officetel was not far from the pork rib restaurant, so we arrived quickly. We reached the front door and tried to wake Seung-ju-ssi.

“Seung-ju-ssi. What’s the password? Huh?”

I asked several times, but Seung-ju-ssi was not coherent. We couldn’t just leave her at the door. Just in case, I tried the password she had given me when brokering the deal, and the door opened with a cheerful chime.

“Haa… You should change that password. It’s dangerous to keep using it like this. Make sure you tell Seung-ju-ssi at the office tomorrow.”

Hanwoo laid Seung-ju-ssi on the bed and looked at me as he came out.

“This is why Seung-ju-ssi misunderstands you, you idiot.”

“Misunderstands what?”

“She misunderstands because you treat her so kindly, with such concern.”

“Our office name is Affectionate Real Estate, what do you want me to do? I have to be affectionate!”

As we rode the elevator down from the officetel, Hanwoo and I bickered pointlessly. At the entrance, I told Hanwoo to go home safely and walked towards the office.

I was walking while looking down at my phone when someone approached from the opposite direction. I saw their feet and sidestepped, but they changed direction in the same way. So, to avoid bumping into each other, I twisted my body to get out of the way, and suddenly, an arm slipped around my waist.

I looked to see who this pervert was, grabbing someone’s waist out of nowhere, and it was Jun. He looked down at me, his hood pulled up.

“You should watch where you’re going.”

“I was watching where I was going, that’s why I dodged. By the way, your hand…”

Fortunately, there were no passersby, but it was an alley wide enough for people to pass. As I heard voices from the end of the alley, I tried to remove Jun’s hand from my waist with my right hand, but he pushed me into a space filled with shadows. Our shadows merged into the darkness.

Kiss.

Jun leaned down and kissed my lips. I whispered for him to stop and tried my best to dissuade him, but he showed no intention of removing his leg, which had wedged itself between my thighs.

“I can see why that woman would fall for you.”

“What? Who? Did you say something to Seung-ju-ssi?”

“I had to. She’s mine.”

“Hah!”

A laugh of disbelief escaped me, and a passerby turned their head towards the darkness where we stood. Fortunately, Jun’s back hid me from view. I urged him in a very quiet voice,

“What if Hanwoo finds out!”

“Don’t worry. I told him to pay half the rent, and he promised to keep it a secret.”

I didn’t know whether to praise this or warn him. How did he know so unerringly that Seung-ju-ssi was interested in me? In that brief moment he sat down, Jun had figured it all out. It made me think that perhaps, even when I hid my identity in the game, he already knew.

“I’ll wash you, so just wait a moment.”

When I returned home and entered the bathroom, Jun followed me in as before. So I held up my arms like yesterday, but Jun’s touch was different from before.

It wasn’t just a feeling. He caressed the inside of my thighs long and slowly, and stroked beneath my buttocks. When he lathered my chest, he gently pressed my nipples with his thumb.

“…I’ll do it.”

Unable to hide my growing erection, I turned halfway and picked up the shower towel. Then, Jun knelt on one knee, grabbed my hips, and turned me around. My penis was almost touching his face.

Looking down at it, I pushed his shoulder, and Jun glanced up and opened his mouth, sucking me in. My back naturally bent, so I braced myself with one hand on his shoulder.

“Hng, don’t—.”

A wet friction sound echoed from inside Jun’s mouth. The sound of saliva and water mixing, moist and sticky, filled the bathroom.

My buttocks were held full in his hands, as if they were about to burst. He squeezed them hard enough to leave handprints, as if intending to pop them. My penis was pressed and squeezed as if submerged in a giant suction cup. He was sucking me so deep that it felt like it reached the back of his throat.

“Aah, hng…”

Just as I felt the urge to ejaculate, Jun pulled his erect penis out of his mouth.

“Let’s do the rest on the bed.”

Jun washed the rest of my body, still covered in soap. I leaned against him, letting the water from the showerhead wash over us.

Regaining some composure, I tried to dry myself with a towel, but he immediately embraced me and carried me to the bedroom. Even though the bathroom and the room were close, Jae-ah might see. So I urgently told him not to, but Jun paid no mind.

I was laid on the bed with my wet body, and Jun, bringing a bath towel belatedly, dried me off. I tried to get up, worried about soaking the sheets, but he told me to stay put and meticulously dried me. Then, just like before, he took my penis into his mouth.

“…Me, I’ll do it for you too, Junie, hng…”

Already thoroughly aroused from the bathroom, I came after only a few sucks. Jun held the semen in his mouth and swallowed it whole.

“Come here. I’ll do it for you too.”

I reached out my right hand and pulled Jun’s arm. As he climbed on top of me, I kept worrying about my left arm.

“I’m a patient, so it’s a bit…”

“It’s okay. Just a little.”

I brought his penis, which had come up to my lips, into my mouth. His long fingers brushed past my wet hair and stroked it. After a few moments, his hand slowly moved down, caressing my earlobe. Then, his fingers moved down my cheek and fumbled near my lips, which were holding his.

Recalling the memory, I parted the tip of Jun’s glans with my tongue. As I rubbed the tip as if to dig inside, Jun writhed his hips.

“Haa… Hyung…”

Jun exhaled warm breath and scanned my face with a low gaze. Through his damp bangs, I could see his lust-filled eyes.

I felt his penis gain a little strength. This gave me confidence, and I more boldly licked his scrotum and perineum. The more my tongue touched him, the firmer his penis became. I focused more, thinking it might become fully erect.

I tried to do a deep blowjob like Jun had done, moving my head deeply, but I choked. Jun grabbed my face with both hands and frowned.

“Don’t do it this much.”

“No, it’s just that I’m not skilled, I’m fine—.”

“Just half is fine. It still feels good.”

I felt embarrassed that my greed for ‘a little more, just a little more’ was revealed. It wasn’t a coincidence that my base had felt tense when I did it at my parents’ house before. Jun’s penis was becoming straighter and straighter.

However, it was still not enough for penetration. I had mixed feelings, unsure if it was fortunate or regrettable. What was certain was that Jun’s moans were pleasant to hear, and every time he furrowed his brow intermittently, it stimulated me. He closed his eyes, responding to the sensations from below with low breaths.

As I took him into my mouth a few more times, Jun pulled his hips back. His slightly erect penis moved away from my sight.

“…Hyung, stop.”

I was the one who should have been disappointed, but when I made a sad face, he called me cute and pinched my cheek.

“Here. Hold my hand.”

I had already ejaculated, and after finishing washing up again in the bathroom, we came out. Jun placed the wet sheets on the floor, put on new ones, and then pulled me close. Perhaps it was because of the soft, cloud-like duvet, but I felt like I was in heaven.

Hyunsu opened his eyes on the bed in a room filled with bright sunlight.

I’m sure I was crawling around on the living room floor yesterday and got hit… As expected, when I got up and looked in the mirror, my face was a mess.

At first, he only gave me scratches, but now he was starting to touch my face too. At most, I would just get a nosebleed, but yesterday I was slapped with a glass. Because of that, a long scar formed from my jaw to the middle of my cheek.

“Tsk.”

I kicked off the sheets and got up to go to the bathroom. As I stretched, my body ached in various places.

Still, after being beaten like this, he would be quiet for about a week, and I would receive a reward. This meant I could enjoy a few days of freedom and buy whatever I wanted.

What was the reason he hit me yesterday? He said I was buying shoes obsessively when I wasn’t even going out. He scoffed like that, but he didn’t stop Hyunsu from spending.

When I opened the closet to get dressed after washing, the floor was covered with shoe boxes. Whenever I felt like running away, I bought shoes, and now I had about 70 pairs. I had stacked them in the back storage room too, but I never took them out.

Knock knock—.*

“Would you like your meal prepared as porridge?”

“No. Give it to me as usual. Ah! I want crab dish.”

“Your mouth is torn, are you sure that’s okay?”

“Give it to me.”

The servants of the mansion had always seen Hyunsu being beaten and had provided basic treatment, so they knew his physical condition well. Furthermore, they had been trained not to bring in anything sharp or capable of causing serious injury.

Hyunsu put on his clothes and took out a shoe box. Then, he took the phone that Namgung Bin had given him into his hand. He hadn’t turned it on, so the battery should be sufficient.

He took a deep breath in and out, put the phone back in the shoe box, and stacked it in a place only he knew. There were so many shoe boxes that the servants would just move them to the storage room if they seemed a bit numerous, without looking inside.

Hyunsu dressed simply and went to the dining room. A table full of food was laid out. As soon as he sat in the head seat, the servants brought warm soup and placed the chopsticks and spoons.

Looking at this situation alone, it felt like being a king. This was merely food given to a pet. As Hyunsu scooped some soup into his mouth and frowned because it was too salty, a servant immediately approached.

“I will replace the menu.”

“Leave it. And don’t come near me until I call you.”

In the past, Hyunsu had slapped a servant who had displeased him. This happened not long after he arrived here.

He was human, so he wanted to vent to someone, but for some reason, the servants here only followed orders like robots and didn’t listen to anything else.

So I raised my hand to slap him, but that person disappeared the next day. The servants moved precariously at Hyunsu’s slightest gesture.

My master’s actions towards me were utterly contemptible, yet I was doing the same thing. At that thought, Hyunsu choked back a laugh mid-meal, and a servant glanced briefly before quickly averting their gaze.

Hyunsu began eating the spicy crab dish, regardless of the bitterness in his mouth. What was interesting was that the crab meat was all picked out. Was the hard shell considered a weapon? The chopsticks and spoon were also made of silicone. In the end, he chewed, spat it out, and rinsed his mouth with water.

“Bring dessert.”

Along with the dessert, medicine was placed. It was meant for a speedy recovery.

Hyunsu obediently swallowed the medicine and ate the fruit for dessert. Then he came out to the living room, turned on the TV, and idly read the newspaper and magazines. While flipping through the newspaper and looking at magazines, his attention was entirely on his phone.

‘…Seomun Jun.’

Every time he recalled that name, an inexplicable anxiety arose. He thought he had completely forgotten him, but that wasn’t true. Especially when he was this sick, he thought of Jun even more. He missed his embrace.

However, since Namgung Bin was not the real power, he couldn’t trust his words alone and act on them. So he buried hope upon hope. He suppressed his feelings like that, not facing his true emotions.

‘A life of being beaten to death. That must be my destined fate.’

Hyunsu aimlessly flipped through the newspaper, and upon seeing an article, the phrase ‘a twist of fate’ came to mind.

“…Huh? What is this.”

At Hyunsu’s exclamation, a nearby servant approached. Hyunsu raised his hand to warn him not to come closer and began to read the newspaper slowly.

[YY Dang Chief Vice President Namgung Jong-cheol is in a coma due to an electric shock accident. A vegetative state is unavoidable. …The accident is presumed to be caused by aged wiring at his home in YY-dong. His son (Namgung Bin) rushed him to the hospital…]

‘Ha…’

The corners of his lips turned up. Namgung Bin must have finally caused trouble. I was sold here because of Namgung Jong-cheol, and now he’s in a vegetative state? The real power was shifting.

Perhaps.

‘Could Namgung Bin be my last lifeline?’

He quickly folded the newspaper. Hope arose that he might be able to escape from here if he called Namgung Bin. Confident that Jun hadn’t forgotten him, Hyunsu walked towards his room.

“I’m going to sleep for a bit, so don’t come in.”

He entered the room and took his phone from the shoe box. As he turned it on, a signal appeared. He secretly took it into the bathroom and pressed the call button.

The ringing tone felt long. The sound of his pounding pulse echoed in his head. Soon, with a click, the call was answered, and a familiar voice was heard.

[You’re calling now.]

“Get me out of here.”

[You saw the article? But it’s already too late.]

“Seomun Jun will want me. So get me out quickly. You can do it.”

[Do you think what I said about it being too late… is a lie? You’ve already been cast out by Seomun Jun. He doesn’t care what happens to you.]

“That can’t be. Jun will miss me—”

[Hang up.]

“Wait! Wait… I can’t end it like this!”

Hyunsu couldn’t accept the word ‘late.’ He couldn’t believe that he, who was once Jun’s everything, had been so easily forgotten.

[There’s no place for you anymore. He won’t care if you live or die. How about it? Are you getting angry yet?]

Hyunsu, who wanted to protect Jun’s life, thought of the words Jun had whispered to him in the past. He felt a sense of emptiness thinking that those earnest pleas for him to stay by his side had vanished like bubbles. It was he himself who had taken care of Jun as he sank.

“No…, why on earth.”

He suddenly remembered the time he left Jun’s side. At that time, the note he left when he left the house, asking to be forgotten, weighed heavily on his mind. He knew it was useless to regret it now, but he thought Jun would eventually understand his true feelings. That he left to avoid burdening him.

“He wouldn’t forget me that easily… I was always with him…”

[Think about who is in your place now.]

Hyunsu recalled the man he saw at the shoe store. Just being next to Jun made him so envious he could die. That’s why he provoked him, saying things he didn’t have to.

But that was all; at the time, it was an unattainable wish, so he didn’t even fan the slightest spark of jealousy. But, if I were free… If only that were the case…

“I have to get him back.”

[You’ve finally come to your senses.]

“…Please get me out.”

[Alright. I’ll get you out of there today.]

“H-how?”

[It’ll be a bit rough, but wait.]

Before hanging up, Bin reminded him not to forget to submerge the phone in water.

‘…Leaving today? How? Me?’

A smile spread across Hyunsu’s lips. Since there was no suitable place to discard the phone, he opened the lid of the toilet tank and put it inside. By the time they looked for him, they would have forgotten about this phone’s existence.

With a calm mind, Hyunsu came out of the bathroom and sat on the bed, gently stroking his face, which was sore from smiling. Then, wondering if there was anything he could take, he looked around the room but found nothing suitable. He slipped the jewelry the owner of this house had given him into the handbag he usually took when shopping. Then, having nothing else to do, he lay down on the bed.

‘It’s a lie. Jun hasn’t forgotten me. It was him who asked me to always be by his side…’

After sleeping for a while, Hyunsu woke up and stared at the ceiling above the bed he was sick of. Then, feeling the need for a change of mood, he decided to go shopping one last time.

Hyunsu opened the door and commanded a bodyguard.

“Prepare the car. I’m going to buy shoes.”

The bodyguard bowed and walked across the garden. However, as he was leaving, he received a phone call and stopped dead in his tracks. Then he called other guards over.

‘What’s going on? Is a guest coming?’

Hyunsu sat on the living room sofa, crossing his legs, and waited. Just then, the guards rushed in through the front door. They passed by the sofa, but instead, they grabbed Hyunsu by both arms.

“Find it.”

“Wait, what are you doing?”

His heart suddenly sank. Could it be that what they were looking for was…

With at least five bodyguards, all the furniture was tossed around. Hyunsu’s belongings were thrown out of the room. During this chaos, the handbag Hyunsu was holding was also snatched away. When it was turned upside down, the jewelry he had packed fell out.

“It’s not here.”

Hyunsu was held like a prisoner, listlessly. After a short while, they held an old-fashioned mobile phone in their hands.

“We found it.”

As he struggled to break free from them, the front door opened, and a familiar figure entered. The bodyguards bowed their heads towards him. Even the servants who had been hiding somewhere appeared and treated him with great respect.

It was the owner of the house. A man in his early forties, who seemed to live with the energy of a twenty-year-old, with a straight back and upright shoulders. He stood before Hyunsu, who was being restrained, dressed in a perfectly pressed suit.

The man he thought he wouldn’t see for a while was standing there as if it were natural. Only the man’s gaze touched his face, but Hyunsu winced as if he had been hit.

“Lee Hyun-soo.”

Hyunsu closed his eyes, disliking the way he called his name so tenderly. As the hands restraining him loosened, his body was thrown forward and collapsed onto the floor. Naturally, Hyunsu’s body curled up like a dog crawling at the man’s feet.

“Hyun-soo, you have to answer.”

“…Yes.”

Even though he tried to clench his fists, his body wouldn’t obey under the man’s oppressive aura. The man sighed deeply through his nose and took off his jacket. Then, he began to roll up his shirt sleeves.

“Hasn’t it been about a year since we’ve been living together?”

“…”

“And yet, you’re still like this?”

The man slowly lowered himself. His cold voice reached Hyunsu’s head chillingly.

“You contacted Namgung Bin because you wanted to escape, didn’t you?”

“…!”

The man grabbed Hyunsu’s shoulders as he trembled like a leaf on the floor. When Hyunsu flinched in surprise, he soothed him, asking why he was so scared. His voice was gentle, but the hands holding his shoulders gradually tightened.

“Hyun-soo. I’m getting tired too.”

“…”

“Hmm… Why are you doing this to me?”

As he remained with his head bowed without answering, the man roughly grabbed Hyunsu’s hair from behind. This forced his head up, making him meet the man’s gaze.

“Are you still not going to answer?”

As Hyunsu could only shed tears without answering, the man stood up with a laugh, saying, “Then, I guess I have no choice.” Hyunsu was weakly pulled up, still holding his hair.

In that state, he was repeatedly slapped, fell, and hit something, causing blood to gush from his mouth. In the silent, vast space, no one helped Hyunsu.

Looking at the blood he had shed, Hyunsu thought there couldn’t be greater pain, but more pain and punishment continued. Thinking that something in his body must be broken, he tried to let go of consciousness, but a fist flew at him again. His vision flashed, and he came to again.

‘Ah… it’s futile. Well, dying is one way to escape. Namgung Bin wasn’t lying.’

Hyunsu coughed and exhaled. As blood pooled on the floor, his will drained away. The will to live.

As he barely gasped for breath, the man’s kicking stopped. As everyone looked towards the front door, a familiar voice was heard.

At first, he didn’t realize it was Namgung Bin. His usually neat face was gone, replaced by wounds and bruises all over. Even so, he was smiling, which made him look even more grotesque. Despite Namgung Bin’s arrival, the man raised his hand to Hyunsu again.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Hah, I’m a bit busy right now.”

“It’s about the product I provided having a defect, so I’ve come to exchange it. Bring him in.”

Hyunsu, who could barely open one eye, saw the person Namgung Bin brought. And that person was naked.

“Anyone will do, they’re all the same. I don’t need it.”

“Let’s take a look first. Go ahead.”

The naked man, seemingly unbothered by the situation, stepped forward, treading on the scattered blood with his bare feet. Standing before the man who would be his owner, he licked the owner’s blood-stained fist.

Hyunsu could only open one eye, so he couldn’t see clearly, but he was astonished by the blatant seduction even in this situation.

‘Ha…, my god…’

Even while being beaten to death, Hyunsu suppressed a laugh at the absurd scene. Fortunately, the man’s attention, which had been focused on Hyunsu, shifted to the new product. The man seemed pleased with the new product and turned his gaze to Namgung Bin.

“What’s his name?”

“He has the name Ju Chae-i, but you can call him whatever you wish.”

“Characteristics?”

“He’s a masochist and likes to see blood.”

“Seems top-tier. Are there any exchange conditions?”

“None.”

The man, who had been furious moments ago, pulled Chae-i down and sat him on the floor. As expected, Chae-i reached for the man’s pants and took out what he needed to take, doing so very naturally. He was a man of profound allure and intense fragrance.

“Good.”

“Thank you for the transaction.”

Namgung Bin gestured to his subordinate standing behind him, pointing at Hyunsu, who was collapsed on the floor. They dragged Hyunsu out of there.

As he was being dragged out, he saw Namgung Bin’s broad back. The thought of freedom arose. And so, Hyunsu lost consciousness.

When he opened his eyes again, even breathing felt heavy and difficult. Bright lights flickered before his eyes, but he couldn’t discern their form. Voices came and went, like being underwater. He felt as if he had been born a fish, unable to move his entire body.

“Can you hear me?”

He blinked again, forcing his gaze to shift. His blurry vision began to clear.

“Congratulations. You’re free.”

He was free, yet he couldn’t even wiggle a finger. Angered, he averted his gaze, and Namgung Bin said it couldn’t be helped.

“He liked you a lot. I offered to exchange you several times, but he wouldn’t budge. He must have really loved you.”

“Ha…”

Love. How ridiculous. He wanted to laugh, but his chest felt heavy, as if a rock had settled there.

“I should have told you that you had a major defect. Still, it’s fortunate. If it had been a little later, you might have ended up in the morgue instead of a hospital room.”

Hyunsu didn’t want to hear any more, so he closed his eyes, but Namgung Bin continued to chatter beside him. He wished his eardrums would burst so he wouldn’t have to hear the words coming from that open mouth. Bin ate an apple with the peel beside Hyunsu and talked about business.

“Now that I’ve gotten you out, you have to do your part.”

“With this body… I can’t do anything.”

“No, you’re needed precisely in this state.”

The firm apple was crushed mercilessly in Bin’s mouth. His words carried as much weight.

“Beg for pity. That’s all you have as a card right now.”

“…Ha, pity.”

“Didn’t you start with pity too? Regardless of how you started, occupying the spot next to him is what’s important. Isn’t that right?”

Since it was a private room, the uninhibited conversation continued. Lying there, Hyunsu had no choice. He just had to do his best in the given situation.

“So… how?”

“I’ll send Jun to this room soon. When you meet him, cling to him desperately, pitifully, madly. Make him feel guilty. So that he can never turn away from you again.”

Easier said than done. If Jun was already in love with someone else, he seemed to have no chance. Jun was a steadfast and sincere man. If he decided to exist solely for the other person, he would truly live that way.

He yearned for Jun to become free, but he lacked confidence. It was impossible for him to be accepted by Jun after wandering around like trash for two years.

Moreover, Jun was bound to hate him for leaving so coldly. What face did he have to try and hold Jun back? He was no different from his father. When faced with a crisis, he had used his child as collateral, that damned father.

Soon, a nurse came in and gave him an injection, making him feel drowsy. Bin threw the half-eaten apple into the trash can and left the room, saying he would come again.

“Jun… don’t come.”

Hyunsu let out his last shred of conscience and steeled his heart.

As expected, when I woke up and sat at the dining table, I heard the cheerful sound of the blender. Unlike us, who had slept early, Jae-ah had been out drinking with friends all night and came back at dawn. So, only Jun and I made breakfast.

Today is my birthday, so I’ll work only in the morning and go for a drive with Jun in the afternoon. He said he’d give me a birthday present, but he hasn’t hinted at it yet.

“I slept early yesterday, but I’m still tired.”

“Is it because of me? I kept unconsciously touching Hyung, so you must have tossed and turned. But how can I sleep without touching you when you’re right next to me? It’s not my fault.”

“Yes, it’s my fault.”

I yawned widely, and green juice was placed in front of me. I’d been drinking it for days, but I still couldn’t get used to its appearance. Today, they said they added some apple, but it looked the same color as usual.

Jun was waiting with a strawberry candy in hand, as always. I took a sip, and it really tasted like apple, and it was more palatable than usual. When I finished drinking and nodded, he asked, “Is today’s batch a bit more edible?” and put a candy in my mouth.

Jun sat opposite me and drank his green juice, his expression serene. He rolled the strawberry candy around in his mouth, and suddenly I wanted to eat a fried egg, so I looked for something to spit the candy into.

Just then, Jun, who had finished his green juice, leaned closer and tilted his face.

“Give it to me.”

“This?”

Jun deftly took the candy off my tongue. My tongue tingled where he had touched it. Jun also brought his own salad and sat opposite me.

“Are you closing early for lunch?”

“If there are customers, we can stay a bit longer. Call me if you want me to come.”

“Okay. I’m going out for a bit.”

“Where are you going?”

“Just… for some business.”

As I finished the fried egg and was about to clear it, Jun said he would do it and told me to get ready for work. I dressed and told him I’d see him later, then left the house.

As I pressed the elevator button and waited, I suddenly thought of Bin. The last I saw him was when he fainted. I wondered if he was alright. On one hand, I couldn’t forgive him, but strangely, I didn’t think he had maliciously imprisoned me.

I decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator and went down to the 6th floor. The place, usually bustling with people coming and going, was completely dark. As expected, the entrance was locked too. Seeing that, I felt like Jun would break the contract even without saying anything about terminating it.

After shaking the firmly locked door a few times, I got back into the elevator. As I came out on the 1st floor and greeted the Tteokbokki CEO, he looked at me strangely. His gaze seemed to ask why I was leaving this building, but I ignored it, walked across, and opened my office door.

The pain in my injured arm was decreasing day by day. The stiffly wrapped bandage was a bit bothersome, but it was okay. I could report on the morning’s work and even do some simple brokering.

Just as I was returning from showing a client a house, I saw Jun standing in front of my car. Since I had a client, I couldn’t act too familiar, so I raised my hand to greet him. Jun stood there and returned my greeting with a smile.

After the client went back into the office, Jun finally got into his car and drove away. After contacting the homeowner and finalizing the contract, I sat in my quiet office and worked on other tasks.

If I had come back empty-handed, my going to work would have been pointless, but I felt better having accomplished one deal. Around lunchtime, the quiet alley became crowded with people. Since I planned to close around noon, I slowly tidied up my things.

“……Huh?”

As I was closing and locking the office door, something brushed against my feet.

“Is it a delivery?”

I bent down to pick it up, but my arm stopped abruptly. It was the same kind of box the stalker had sent. I brought it into the office. After tearing off the tape, I found a small card and a box inside.

The card read, I folded the card, whose sender I didn’t know, and put it back in the envelope. Then I picked up the palm-sized box.

“Haa… what kind of underwear is it this time.”

I sighed, listing the types of underwear I had lost. Then, I slowly opened the box.

“Huh?”

But it wasn’t underwear. It was a wallet. A leopard-print wallet. And it looked very familiar.

“Ah… no way. Namgung Bin, that… pervert?”

The reason I thought he was the stalker was the familiar semen stain on the surface of the wallet. I carefully put it back in the box, afraid of getting it on my hands.

The past flashed by quickly. The underwear I had lost, the boxes left in front of my house. And the strange coincidence of meeting Namgung Bin. The semen stain on the wallet he had bought back then…

So the long-time stalker was Bin… I was so surprised I was speechless. At that moment, a client came into the office to inquire, but I couldn’t answer.

“I-I’m sorry. I have a personal matter.”

I don’t know how I made that excuse. I didn’t even have the presence of mind to notice the client leaving, looking bewildered. As I was about to close the wallet box, I saw something like a note tucked into the money compartment. I carefully picked up the wallet again and pulled out the note. It contained a location and a message.

It was the same words Bin had provoked me with during a meal. The real owner he mentioned referred to the man I saw at the shoe store.

I tried to ignore it, wondering why he was doing this. I told myself I didn’t need to fall into Bin’s trap again…

But why is it that I can never resolve my desires without checking things that are forbidden? Even Jun’s words about where he was going today started to bother me, and my suspicion grew uncontrollably.

I covered the box, but an inexplicable sense of unease lingered. I called Jun. The phone rang for a long time, but he didn’t answer. He was supposed to come at lunchtime, but he wasn’t here.

I didn’t want to spend my birthday smiling with Jun in this mood. I grabbed my coat and left the office, then took a taxi.

“To Shinseong Hospital, please.”

In the end, I couldn’t resist the temptation.

Early in the morning, I sat in the living room after seeing Duseon asleep. Suddenly, I received a call from the hospital.

[This is Shinseong Hospital. Are you Lee Hyun-soo’s guardian?]

“……What? What do you mean?”

[Aren’t you Seomun Jun? Don’t you know patient Lee Hyun-soo?]

The hospital staff member who called, assuming I was positive since I didn’t answer, listed the day’s events. They said patient Lee Hyun-soo had finished emergency treatment and had been moved to a private room as requested, and that I should come back to the hospital now.

Listening to the explanation, I learned he had been severely beaten, resulting in a broken arm and bleeding in various places, requiring detailed examinations. They also suspected a concussion and asked for a guardian to come and receive the explanation.

‘Haa…’

A headache began to throb in my head. Was this the result of Namgung Bin asking me to choose between Yuduseon and Lee Hyun-soo? Did he get badly hurt because I didn’t choose Lee Hyun-soo? It was hard to ignore, thinking he, a person with no connection to me, was hurt because of my choice.

I called Namgung Bin, but he didn’t answer either. Duseon had been worried about him, but there was no need. He was alive and well, and even orchestrating something like this.

Even knowing it was Namgung Bin’s trap, I couldn’t turn away from Lee Hyun-soo. Because Lee Hyun-soo had no other family. If I didn’t go, he might not even receive treatment.

And the reason I didn’t tell Duseon was because today was his birthday. I didn’t want to ruin his happy day. I planned to go to the hospital, handle the urgent matters, and tell him later.

As I was organizing my thoughts, the hospital called again. They said I needed to make an interim payment by the end of the day. Otherwise, they would have to suspend the tests or proceed with discharge procedures.

“……Ah, fuck.”

So, I told Duseon I had something to do and headed to the hospital. I didn’t want to go to his room. I figured I could just handle the payments later when the hospital contacted me again.

As I was about to leave after paying, a hospital staff member handed me a paper listing necessary items for hospitalization.

“There’s a convenience store on the 1st floor, so you can buy them there.”

“Where do I apply for a caregiver?”

“There are notices in each room.”

Thinking he wouldn’t have a caregiver, I decided to provide the bare minimum and headed to the convenience store.

As I bought the items and rode the elevator up, many thoughts ran through my mind. But I wanted to make sure Namgung Bin knew. I wanted to prove that nothing could be an obstacle between Duseon and me. I checked the room number and entered.

A man, completely bandaged and with no uninjured parts, lay on the bed. If there hadn’t been a nameplate outside the room, I wouldn’t have recognized Lee Hyun-soo in his pathetic state.

To be reunited like this after two years… If he had left and lived well, why was he like this? A bitter smile escaped my lips. As I put away the items I bought, I looked down at him, his eyes closed. I sighed and turned away, but a low voice called me from behind.

“Junie……”

“……”

“I… missed you.”

Annoyance surged through me for a moment. I tried to leave the room with my back turned, but behind me, there was a sound of “Ah!” followed by the shattering of a glass bottle.

Crash—!

Lee Hyun-soo had tried to get up and grab me, but he accidentally knocked over the IV drip. A nurse outside rushed in, cleaned up the mess, and treated his hand, from which blood was flowing as the needle had come out.

“Patient! Why are you moving like this!”

I watched the situation silently. Lee Hyun-soo’s body, revealed as the blanket was pulled up, was worse than I had imagined. His entire body was bandaged, and the visible skin was covered in bruises. Half of his face was bruised, making his expression indistinguishable. It was a miracle he could speak.

After the nurse left, silence fell. Lee Hyun-soo, who had been lying down comfortably, groaned in pain as he reached out again when I tried to leave.

“Beaten like an idiot. Is this the state you wanted to show me?”

“Junie… have you been well? You look good.”

“Fuck. What do you know to spout that garbage.”

Seeing Lee Hyun-soo’s uninjured body, I turned away in anger. Then, sitting on the side chair, I brought up the hospital bill. I told him to get treatment comfortably and that I never wanted to hear about him again.

“Junie, show me your face…”

No matter what Lee Hyun-soo said, I just lowered my head and sighed. The room felt suffocating. I wanted to escape quickly. So, I asked him directly what he wanted.

“Lee Hyun-soo, you’re doing this… with Namgung Bin, aren’t you?”

“……I’m serious, Junie.”

“Do you still think I’m a child wandering after losing my parents? So, you’re lying there beaten up to evoke sympathy?”

“Junie, you’re not that kind of person—”

“Listen carefully, Lee Hyun-soo. If you want to get treatment by receiving the hospital bill, beg for money. Don’t mix in any unnecessary emotions. The reason I’m holding back and listening to you now is because you took care of me back then.”

“Let’s go back to how we were. Junie, please? I can do better now… I want to be by your side—”

“Fuck off.”

Lee Hyun-soo’s tearful pleas, his begging, his attempts to evoke pity – none of it meant anything to me. As I stood up to leave the room, Hyun-soo shouted.

“Pay my debt! Seomun Jun.”

“……Debt?”

“I took care of you for a year. So, you should sacrifice a year for me, fairly. Like I did for you—, cough, cough!”

As he shouted, he coughed, and blood gathered in Lee Hyun-soo’s mouth, spilling out. Then, he sobbed, clutching the sheet.

“I saved you. So, sob… sob. You have to save me too. I fed you… washed you… I…”

I just watched Lee Hyun-soo quietly.

“Don’t… don’t go! Just a little longer, please? I’m scared. My whole body hurts. Junie, please. I… sob… sob… I want you by my side… You wanted me too.”

Lee Hyun-soo had never cried in front of me. Even though he looked smaller and more fragile than me, he had never shed tears, but now he was sobbing.

My heart, which had felt as light as cotton regarding Lee Hyun-soo, grew heavier with his tears. I returned to the chair and covered my face with both hands. I wasn’t Seomun Jun from two years ago. So, this situation should have meant nothing.

As I covered my face, Lee Hyun-soo’s hand touched the back of my head. The touch, as he slowly stroked it, felt eerily alien. It was distinctly different from Duseon’s touch.

I wanted to push it away, but seeing his hand with the IV drip in my line of sight, I couldn’t. So, I subtly grabbed Lee Hyun-soo’s wrist and stopped him from stroking.

“……Junie.”

That was when it happened.

A familiar voice, one that shouldn’t have been heard from here, echoed. I slowly turned my head towards the source of the sound.

The nurse hadn’t closed the door completely when she left earlier, so the hospital room door was slightly ajar. Through the gap, Duseon was standing there.

The current position was perfect for causing misunderstanding. Me sitting on the side chair next to the bed, burying my face, and holding the man’s hand. I saw Duseon quickly turn and leave.

“Damn it! Hyung!”

“Don’t go! Junie!”

He grabbed me so fiercely that Lee Hyun-soo’s hand, held by him, looked like it would swell up.

“Let go.”

“Don’t go. You came because you can’t forget me. If I’m here, you don’t need anyone else!”

“What…?”

“I, I’m the real one. I… came first.”

I looked down at the desperate eyes of Lee Hyun-soo coldly. Then, without regard for his hand gripping my clothes, I shook him off.

“Hey, Lee Hyun-soo. You know you’ve crossed the line, right? You’re the real one? ……No, you’re nothing now.”

The needle in Hyun-soo’s hand looked like it was about to fall out again, but I couldn’t see it. Duseon’s gaze, which had just peered through the door, was drying up my blood. I quickly left the room and headed for the elevator.

‘Ah… that Namgung Bin bastard, he really did it till the end!’

Duseon could only have come here because of Namgung Bin. I immediately got into the arriving elevator. Then, I got off on the 1st floor and rushed out to the hospital lobby. I ran towards where he would have gone for a taxi, and thankfully, I saw a familiar back.

“Hyung!”

Hearing my voice, Duseon walked a bit faster, then started running. I saw Duseon push through people and exit the hospital entrance through the revolving door.

I quickly ran and grabbed the revolving door. Trapped inside, Duseon looked at me. Even though Duseon was pushing the door, I blocked him with my body so he couldn’t leave.

“Hyung, where are you going? If you came this far, you have to take me with you.”

“I can’t. Seeing you there… I can’t.”

Duseon looked dejected. I went out through the side door and stood in front of the revolving door. Duseon remained still inside, then slowly pushed the revolving door and came out. Without a word, I took Duseon’s hand and led him to a deserted parking lot. Fortunately, he followed me obediently.

The scene I saw through the hospital room door was as dramatic as reuniting with an ex-lover. A man crying in front of Jun, Jun receiving his touch, and Jun’s tender hand holding the man’s.

I should have just turned back quietly, but I unconsciously let out Jun’s name. By the time he turned around, I knew it was too late. I thought he wouldn’t chase after me. While thinking that, I was heading towards the hospital entrance when I heard Jun calling from behind.

“Hyung, where are you going? If you came this far, you have to take me with you.”

“I can’t. Seeing you there… I can’t.”

As I was being held by Jun and moved from my spot, his back came into view. Seeing the hair that the man had so tenderly stroked, the events in the hospital room flashed through my mind.

Thump—!

Suddenly, I hated Jun and shook off his hand.

“Say it here.”

“Let’s go to the car.”

“No, just say it here.”

“Hyung… let’s talk at home—”

“Junie. Say it here.”

Saying that, I went to the outdoor bench behind and sat down. Jun sighed and sat next to me. He bent over and clasped his hands. It seemed this situation was difficult for him, not just me.

“Hyung. How did you get here?”

“There was a note in the box.”

He furrowed his brow slightly and asked, “A box?” I told him it was a box sent by Bin. Jun cursed under his breath.

I wanted to tell him that if Bin intended to hurt me on my birthday, he succeeded. The fact that he created this situation proved once again how malicious Bin was. He was an evil person who incited others’ misfortune and reveled in it.

“I heard what happened earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s all over now.”

“He took care of you.”

Jun seemed reluctant to answer, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand, his brow furrowed. But knowing he couldn’t stop answering here, he replied as dryly as possible, “Yes.”

How many people have no past? After learning that Jun’s parents had died in a sudden accident, I had guessed his life wouldn’t have been ordinary. Therefore, I didn’t know what to ask after that answer, but Jun spoke about his relationship with the man first.

“Lee Hyun-soo is the son of the person who killed my parents…”

At his first words, I looked at Jun in surprise. Could there be such a strange connection, even for a third party? I looked at him with questioning eyes, wondering how he could have a relationship with the son of the person who killed his parents.

“……At that time, I had lost the will to live.”

Jun continued speaking in a weak tone. The difficult moments after his parents’ death, the reason he first met Lee Hyun-soo, the year they lived together. The long past was recounted dryly.

‘…There’s no room for me here.’

The more I listened to his story, the more I thought only this. And as if reading my mind, Jun added,

“Lee Hyun-soo and I lived like brothers. It’s completely different from the cohabitation you suggested, Hyung. You know what I mean, right?”

Jun covered the back of my hand as if seeking agreement. I clenched my fist within his and asked back,

“Junie. Then, what you said earlier is true, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“For a year… he took care of you.”

“……That was when I was having a hard time, and he did it out of guilt. It was nothing—”

“To be blunt, he didn’t harm your parents. And yet, he took care of you. How can you say it was nothing?”

Jun’s expression changed subtly. His face was expressionless, but it was clear he was suppressing his anger. Jun had always suppressed his emotions when he was angry. Even if his insides were engulfed in flames and turned to ashes, he would never reveal it for my sake. Because of that, I felt pity and couldn’t say anything more.

“Let’s go back. We’ll talk at home.”

Jun said that and pulled me to the parking lot. Unlike how he had gently led my hand earlier, he pulled me roughly. Soon, I was seated in the passenger seat, and Jun took the steering wheel.

“Hyung, don’t say anything anymore. I don’t know what kind of accident I might cause. Please……”

Jun’s profile, leaning on the steering wheel as if collapsing, was visible. He exhaled roughly and then, as if resolved, started the engine.

Leaving the hospital parking lot, we returned home. Even after turning off the engine, Jun remained seated in the driver’s seat. As I tried to get out of the car, he grabbed my arm, just like that.

As I lowered my gaze to my arm, Jun’s face drew near. The kiss, which had met cautiously, soon intensified. Our breaths grew ragged as we invaded each other’s mouths, and our panting filled the car. As if continuing the conversation that had been cut off earlier, as if revealing the emotions that had been lacking. We clung to each other’s lips desperately, filling the void of our anxious hearts.

We pulled our lips apart and looked into each other’s eyes, trying to bury the conversation from earlier. But the more we tried, the more real it became. As I managed a slight smile at the corner of my lips, Jun changed the subject.

“I prepared a birthday present.”

We walked into the house still holding hands, our fingers intertwined. As our palms touched like this, I felt a sense of relief knowing Jun was by my side.

While Jun went to get the present, I washed my hands and came out to the living room. He approached me slowly. After checking my complexion to see if I was okay, he told me to sit on the sofa.

“I’ll be back in a bit.”

Unconsciously, instinctively, I grabbed Jun’s hand. The anxiety that he might be going to see Lee Hyun-soo again made me do it. Seeing my desperate grip and my anxious gaze, Jun seemed surprised. He slowly covered the back of my hand with his.

“Hyung……”

“Where?”

“Ah, the cake. It felt wrong to just give you the birthday present.”

Only then did I let out a sigh of relief. I had been so anxious that I grabbed him even at the simple words of him going out and coming back. After hearing his answer, I slowly let go of his hand. Then, this time, Jun grabbed me and pulled me in. I buried myself in his embrace, powerless.

His face touched my neck, and then a long sigh settled around my neck. Jun gently patted my back. Just as I had done for him.

“I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Jun asked me kindly, as if seeking my agreement. I nodded and released my arms from around his back. Jun released me more slowly than I did, looking down at my face.

“Anything else besides the cake?”

“That’s enough.”

He kissed my forehead, saying he’d be back quickly, and walked towards the entrance.

After he left, I sat alone in the empty living room. It hadn’t been long since Jun left the house, but I kept looking at the clock. I didn’t know why I was so anxious. Jun had reassured me enough. Yet, as soon as he was out of my sight, other things caught my attention.

The spacious living room and kitchen. The hallway leading to his bedroom.

And this space, where he must have been with Lee Hyun-soo.

I knew that a year was by no means a short time. And although he said they only got along like brothers, Jun was with him in a different sense. Because of that, the existence of the ‘Hyung’ Jun had called out to in the game suddenly came to mind.

“……Why did you leave me.”

Jun had resented ‘Hyung’ when he said that. He said it was different from living with me, but that was how Jun felt at the time.

‘……What if.’

If I hadn’t been there, Jun might have accepted Lee Hyun-soo. If that had happened, Jun’s illness might have been cured. And, like in the past, they would have spent happy days together.

As my twisted thoughts created a new current in a different direction, my thoughts flowed uncontrollably in that direction. The thin stream of water grew stronger and wider. I couldn’t stop it.

And the moment I heard their conversation in the hospital room earlier, I felt like just a supporting character. A supporting character who proved the protagonists’ love and then passed by.

Even though I went looking knowing the meaning of Bin’s memo, it wasn’t like that. I had believed Jun loved me and ignored those words, but Bin’s memo had seemed like the truth.

Even if I ignored Lee Hyun-soo and continued to be Jun’s lover, this incident would clearly be talked about for the rest of my life. I didn’t want to leave such thoughts behind. I wanted to be accepted by him, fully as myself.

If I could, I wanted to start with Jun from a blank slate. I wondered if Jun would choose me if Lee Hyun-soo and I were on the same starting line. That Jun had chosen me entirely, not because I filled Lee Hyun-soo’s void. I wanted to be proven that he only held me in his heart.

To reach that starting line, there was a process I had to go through. That was returning to the beginning. In other words, it meant returning our relationship to its starting point.

“People you are meant to meet will meet again, no matter what.”

That sentence suddenly came to mind. It tested me. But, it also brought fear.

‘I might never see Jjuni again.’

But before my heart weakened, before my selfishness grew, I had to make a decision. Isn’t this the right thing to do? For me to step back, to let him find his original place.

Jun must have wavered for a moment at Lee Hyun-soo’s touch. He looked distressed. Jun might be enduring it for me. Like he endures his anger. So, I wanted to make it easier for Jun to choose. So that he wouldn’t feel guilty about repaying a debt for the past year.

So I…… decided to let Jun go.

Jun was slightly out of breath, as if he had run.

“The nearby bakery was closed. Did you wait long?”

As he placed the cake on the coffee table and got up to get something else, I grabbed his wrist.

“Light the cake now.”

“Here? Should we do it where we watched the movie?”

I didn’t want to ruin Jun’s happy space. So I insisted on doing it in the living room. He took out the cake and put candles in it.

“I prepared a birthday present—”

“Junie. Instead of a birthday present, grant my wish.”

“Wish?”

“Yes.”

Jun said he would grant my wish and give me a present, then lit the cake. With the lighter he usually used for smoking.

Normally, I would have wished for him to quit smoking, but now was the time to make a wish for him. Jun sang a simple birthday song and looked at me.

“Blow it out. Hyung.”

“After you tell me your wish first.”

“What is it?”

Even after making that decision earlier, my mouth wouldn’t open. Like the candle melting and getting smaller, my resolve was crumbling. If I delayed any longer, I felt I wouldn’t be able to speak, so I squeezed my eyes shut.

“I want to go back to the beginning.”

“……”

“Before I met you.”

“……What?”

When I opened my eyes and looked at him, Jun’s smiling face had turned ashen.

But I wanted to set things right from the start. The reason Jun was fixated on the Master-Servant Relationship, the reason he tried to tie me down because he was an Impo. The first step of it all reminded me of Lee Hyun-soo. Jun didn’t know what he was lacking.

I, the supporting character, took on the role of the villain myself. The ending was already foreseen from the moment Jun visited Lee Hyun-soo in the hospital. Since Jun couldn’t say anything, I pushed harder.

“I have my pride, and the fact that you’re an Impo bothers me. Every time, I feel pathetic.”

“That’s my problem.”

“Even if I became your lover, your condition would still be the same. That’s overwhelming for me. I hate being compared to someone I don’t even know.”

Jun must have felt more frustration than I did. There were days he was compared to Lee Hyun-soo, but I thought I could just do better. Because I didn’t want to leave Jun alone.

And Jun’s act of stroking my hair was very similar to Lee Hyun-soo. Everything reminded me of Lee Hyun-soo. So, I was able to suppress my desire to retract my decision.

“Junie. Just like he said, you should repay your debt too.”

“Hyung, what are you saying right now—!”

“I want you to let go of the burden on your heart. That way, you can escape the past too—”

“Yuduseon. Stop talking nonsense!”

Jun finally unleashed his pent-up anger. He stood up, moved away from me, and cursed under his breath. Turning his back, he was trying to control his anger, trying and trying. He put his hands on his waist, breathing heavily, then turned and approached me.

“Hyung, do you only like me this much? You want me to be with someone else? What on earth were you thinking, saying something like that?”

I also stood up from the sofa and faced him. I clenched my fists, thinking that if I cried now, it would all be in vain.

“He’s in pain! Earlier, you saw it…… He’s begging you to hold him.”

“Snap out of it! What are you doing if you act like this? You should have hit me and told me not to go near that guy, why!”

“It’s because of that person that you became like this, and I…… I can’t do it no matter how hard I try. The cause of psychogenic erectile dysfunction is related to the past—”

“Stop.”

Jun told me to stop and turned his head. We stood facing each other for a long time without saying anything. Without even looking at each other, we mulled over what we wanted to say. Thus, the chasm of our emotions deepened.

After the silence, Jun came close to me again. He held both my arms together, maintaining his composure. Jun tilted his head down, trying to meet my eyes. Despite what I had said, Jun asked again, as if in denial.

“One last question.”

“……”

Jun hesitated a lot before asking the question. I could feel the anxiety in the arms he held. He readjusted his grip on my arms several times, pausing. Then, reluctantly, he asked again.

“That… you mean it?”

“……”

“To go back before I met you……”

“Yes. I mean it.”

I forced the final answer out of my mouth. My throat was so choked that I couldn’t say anything more. I bit my lip, trying not to cry.

The moment our eyes met as I raised my gaze, Jun shed tears. Seeing the tears flowing powerlessly from his empty eyes, my heart crumbled to my toes. Jun released my arms and stepped back.

“……Okay.”

If Jun had turned around just 10 seconds later, he would have seen my tears too. Fortunately, Jun turned his back and left the house. Tears welled up, and my throat felt choked.

As Jun disappeared from my sight, I finally realized what I had done. Regret washed over me, making my decision feel meaningless. I sank to the floor and cried out loud, then quickly packed my things and left his house, worried Jun might see me like this.

One thing I was sure of. If I were in the same situation again, I would never let Jun go.

“President Yoo! Take this!”

As more people moved to the countryside, I often had to show them orchard land. Unlike when I worked in real estate in the city, customers didn’t come every day, and even when they did, it was usually to see land for farming.

Even now, I was escorting a customer from Seoul and heading to my car. The first thing I did when I opened a real estate office in my hometown was buy a used car.

10 months ago, when I announced I was selling my real estate business in Seoul, the building owner was bewildered. In fact, I could have ignored Jun and continued operating there, but my heart was too troubled to do so.

About a month after we broke up, I tried to contact Jun to return the lease agreement he had entrusted to me, but he didn’t answer my calls. I also didn’t see his car parked in front of the real estate office. So, I had no choice but to explain the situation to the owner of Evergreen Real Estate, whom I had managed for a long time, and hand it over. Since he was an acquaintance of Jun’s mother, I trusted he would handle it well.

It wasn’t difficult to sort things out. Since it was a first-floor location, I transferred it to a new owner in the same profession, and he gave me a generous premium. With that, I filled my empty bank account and easily set up my rural real estate business. Thinking about it, I felt a heavy heart, realizing it was all thanks to Jun.

Breaking up wasn’t easy. But, I reassured myself, thinking Jun wouldn’t be alone anymore. I hoped that as an Impo, he would have a free relationship, not one similar to Lee Hyun-soo.

And so, 10 months have passed since I came here. Here, I don’t open the real estate office every day; I help with local tasks. Occasionally, I get paid for helping out at orchards and fields that are short on labor during harvest season, and I’ve gradually earned the goodwill of the community. So, whenever I take a customer to a neighborhood, the elders there recognize me and always give me something.

“Elder, why are you giving me so much?”

“It’s not just for you to eat. Go and give some to the neighbors too.”

“Thank you.”

Carrying the vegetables I received, filling both my arms, I opened the trunk of my car. In the trunk were the radish greens I had received a few days ago.

“Ah! Right, I had this too.”

They were wilting, so I had to take them in today. My mother would surely scold me if she saw them. For now, I started the engine to return to the office.

Unlike Seoul, the countryside moved at a leisurely pace. I had more time to look at the sky and to get lost in my thoughts.

“Elder! Please get in.”

As I was leaving the village, I saw a Grandmother standing at the bus stop. She looked like she was going to the market. I stopped the car, loaded her luggage into the back seat, and she sat down. At first, she looked surprised, but then she saw my face and said, “Ah! It’s the real estate young man from the market entrance!” and recognized me immediately.

I dropped the Grandmother off at her destination and came back to the real estate office. A bright red sports car was parked in front of the office.

‘Why does this guy always park in front?’

I parked my car a little further away and approached. The real estate office, unlike in Seoul, was always left unlocked. Although I had put up an ‘Out of Office’ sign, it was a courtesy for visitors from afar who might need a place to rest.

I didn’t keep valuables in the office, so there was nothing for a thief to take, and sometimes elders would come in groups to drink coffee. Sometimes I would give a ride to elders who missed the bus.

Yong0seok would nag me, asking why I was acting like the elders’ son, but as people age, they tend to drift apart from their children. I was like that too when people around my mother took care of her.

I sighed and went inside. Rovan was sitting next to some elders, making coffee.

“Oh? Duseon, you’re back? Where were you?”

“Where else, I was working. Rovan, why are you here again?”

“Me? Just bored.”

Since coming here, Rovan had always called me by my name. He even politely made coffee for the elders. One of the elders, who had seen Rovan like this a few times, asked him teasingly.

“Young man, young man, is this the only outfit you have? You always wear blue tracksuits. Should I give you some of my husband’s old clothes?”

“No, it’s fine. Blue is good for my fortune, so I deliberately only wear this. It’s part of my identity, so all my clothes at home are this style.”

“You put your child in it?”

Sometimes, Rovan’s way of speaking didn’t connect with the elders. Unlike me, who used simple words, Rovan always spoke in his own style.

And he never forgot to explain. Although Rovan explained later, many elders were too lazy to listen even after asking. Still, Rovan persevered with his explanations. Just like how I didn’t give up when I half-listened to explanations about adult products.

After the elders left, Rovan and I were alone.

On the day I moved 10 months ago, Rovan, who seemed to sense it like a ghost, followed me here. He said he would live here too and moved into the boarding house run by the grandmother next door. When I asked why he followed me, he gave a strange answer, saying, ‘You can do online sales even from a remote mountain area.’

‘I can’t figure him out.’

I stared at Rovan, who was playing a game on his phone. It wasn’t that he liked me that made him come all this way. One guess I had was that Rovan really liked my mother’s side dishes. Sometimes, when my mother made kimchi, he would be more involved than I, her son. My mother even praised Rovan, saying his hands were skillful. Of course, my mother didn’t know what he sold.

“Rovan, you’ll eat dinner at our place tonight, right?”

“Mmm……”

“If you’re sleepy, go home and sleep. Don’t stay here.”

“Mmm……”

I looked at Rovan, who was almost lying on the sofa, and then got up, saying I was going to the market. I think my mother texted me to buy something……

Rovan looked up from his phone, glanced at me as I left, and then resumed his game. As I was looking around the market for things, someone hit me hard on the back.

“Hey! Kkokji. Where are you going?”

It was Hae-jin, who was branded as my first love. Since childhood, she had called out to neighborhood friends by hitting their backs, resulting in some people scraping their knees and Yong0seok crashing into a utility pole.

“Please, let’s just talk.”

“Going grocery shopping?”

“Can’t you tell by looking?”

I was wandering around with a flower-patterned market basket when Hae-jin, who was closely sticking to me, started chatting about various things. There was nothing good about showing such a friendly side to me. The owner of the dried fish store I just passed by was smiling slyly…

I was deliberately walking with my shoulders turned, when suddenly I heard Roban’s voice from behind.

“Hey!” Walk away.”What is that unemployed brat saying?””I’m not unemployed.” It’s the CEO.”Yeah, right.” Hey, tip. Why did that person come to Seoul to stick that on?”From my perspective, both were bothersome, so I focused solely on shopping quickly.” Once before, the two fought in the middle of the market, causing people to gather around to watch. At that time, I witnessed the peak of the argument between the foul-mouthed person and the fool.

Neither of them had bent at all as a complete form. Later, people got tired of watching and went their own way. Then one of them said they were hungry, and the conversation stopped, thus the fight was halted. Anyway, what was between these two was exhausting.

‘Ah…. I’m tired.Please don’t do this, even with comfort, this kind of thing has always been a part of everyday life. At that moment, Hae-jin, who was following behind, lightly grabbed my shoulder and asked.

“Kokji.” Hey, do you want to go on a blind date with my friend?”They said they won’t do it.””Why are you answering?””Because we are friends.””I’m a friend too?””You’re a girl and Duseon is a boy.” Men and women cannot be just friends.Another endless and childish argument continued. It’s just a part of everyday life, so I ignored it and bought what my mom asked me to and put it in the shopping cart. The market merchants saw the two following closely behind me and said, “Are they fighting again?””and clicked his tongue.”

First, I left the market to head home in order to put the groceries in the refrigerator. However, in the meantime, Ha-jin was nowhere to be seen, and Roban followed me closely until I entered the house.

“Rovana.”I called him while putting the groceries in the refrigerator. Rovan opened the pot on the gas stove and said, “Wow, that looks delicious,” and then belatedly exclaimed, “Huh?”” and answered.

“Are you following me around because you like me?””…Don’t frame me too.” I’m just doing a side job.”Side job?””There is such a thing.”Rovan also did Blood Planet at the fortress. He was still maintaining his status as a ranker, and Shut Up had not been seen since the Saint Island incident. Many people said that he folded it that day, but according to Roban, he said he did not fold it.

I also returned the connector to Sang-cheol when I came to the countryside, so of course I didn’t connect. Sometimes, based on what I saw on the official website, the goddess who was controversial at that time was also in a folded state.

“BidBlind is still in first place?””While thinking in a stream of consciousness, I suddenly asked about games, and Roban answered naturally.”

“Uh.” Of course. Ah, and the church brother asked me to send his regards to you. I heard they are debuting this time. I went to your office to brag, but I was surprised to find someone else there.”Ah, please tell them I saw it on TV too.””I had asked about everyone’s well-being around me, but I had not asked about just one person’s well-being.” I was curious if Jun is doing well. Seeing that Roban sometimes mentions the name Shut Up, it seems like the two are still in contact with each other… I couldn’t ask in detail.

I unwrapped a strawberry candy that my mom had placed on the dining table and put it in my mouth. I tried to roll my words around while rolling it in my mouth. Then, out of the blue, I asked Roban.

“I wonder if they are doing well?””Yes.” I’m doing well.”Rovan answered immediately without even asking who it was.” I was about to ask whether they answered knowingly or just vaguely, but I simply approached the front door.

Rohan put on his shoes as he came out of the kitchen late. As I was about to open the front door and go out, Roban responded to that again.

“Don’t worry too much.””It wasn’t worrying.” It was something I missed. In the past, I opened the new gate that was changed thanks to Jun. Rovan went to the next door, and I walked back to the office.

And, the house where Bin lived has become even more desolate than before. In the past, there were still people in suits walking along the walls, but now even that is gone. I heard from the elderly in the neighborhood that the police had raided his house in large numbers several times. When I organized the real estate in Seoul, it was just as calm as it is now.

And since then, I have not encountered Bin by chance. Should I curse at you when we meet, or should I acknowledge that you are right? I had so many thoughts that it felt pointless.

One day, while spending such ordinary days, a small box was placed in front of the gate. At that moment, I felt a deep frustration along with a strangely welcoming feeling.

I took it and went into my room. When I peeled off the tape, there was something inside that was not the usual semen-stained panties. It was my photo. At that time, the photo that I asked Bin to show me.

The reason that what happened that day did not leave a trauma was because of Jun. And the reason I was able to smile so brightly like in the photo was because of Jun.

I was buried in pink muhly grass, and my face was more loved than ever. It was the moment when the whole world looked pink.

“Adieu!””At that moment, I heard my mom calling from the entrance, so I put down the photo and went out.” Mom’s hands were full of souvenirs. It seems you went somewhere for a meeting today and brought something back from there.

“What did you bring?””Uh, I bought this for our son, thinking of him.””Surprisingly…, the souvenir my mom brought out was a rice cake.”

“I was wondering if our son has some issues that prevent him from making a girlfriend.””…Don’t bring things like this.””It even reached 5 bottles.” I thought I should give one bottle to each of my friends and put it in the cupboard. Then suddenly, I remembered what I had given to Jun. Did he/she actually drink that? And I couldn’t help but smile.

“Tell Roban to come.” Let’s eat.”No.” Did he/she eat?”Mother!” I’m here!”I didn’t call, but it came on its own.” It’s not even a civilian surveillance, but Roban would come like a ghost when it was mealtime. He went ahead of his mother to turn on the gas stove and said he would bring the pickled vegetables, then he took the serving dish and went to the back where the earthenware jars were.

“It would be great to have one more son like that.”Seeing Roban’s back, my mother was pleased. The routine of the three of us having dinner like this was very common. It’s as if it has been this way for a long time.

As the hot days of life seemed to fade away like an illusion, autumn quickly arrived. My birthday was approaching soon. Every year around this time, sculptures were floated on the river in Geumgang. It looked different from what I had seen with Jun before, but the atmosphere was similar.

At that time, I sat on the bench where Jun confessed. At the moment of parting, I was only hurt because of the memories with him, but as time passed, these beautiful moments became more memorable. The moment when Jun confessed to me at sunset felt just like yesterday.

I wished for Jun’s well-being, carrying the hope in Roban’s words that he is doing well.

Today, I was free from the morning and wandered around here and there like a carefree person. I went for a drive pretending to look at properties and even lay down quietly on a pavilion to take a nap. Then, we shared the steamed sweet potatoes given by the village grandmother, and I also gave pocket money to the neighborhood kids to buy snacks.

And now I am looking at the calm Geum River. As the sun set, the sunset gently broke over the waves. Next year, I will be thirty. I wondered if such a daily life, which felt like a turning point in my life, would come again.

I wanted to live like that sculpture, floating calmly right now. I wanted to tell myself that it’s okay to be in the same place.

Just when I was trying to wake up before the sun completely set, someone plopped down next to me.

It’s obvious. It must be Roban, I thought, as I looked to the side and saw a man wearing a black hood. Rovan does not wear clothes like this. Well, since there are many people jogging around, I thought one of them must be tired and taking a break.

Without any particular thoughts, I was looking at the Geumgang again when the man sitting next to me stood up. Then, he slowly walked somewhere. I was thinking about leaving too, and as I was about to get up, I noticed a small box placed where the man was sitting.

“…Huh?” This?”There was clearly nothing when I sat down.” Then it was correct that the man left it behind. I followed the man who was slowly walking while holding that. Fortunately, it was within easy reach, so I hurried over and gently touched his back.

“Ha, ha…” Hey, you left this behind.I bent down and took a breath as I handed over the box. I thought to myself that I was really out of shape, as I was out of breath just from running a little, and I took a deep breath.

‘Huh?However, even though the box was offered, the man did not accept it. I wondered if this person was the one, so I looked up, but in that moment, I couldn’t say a word. The man wearing the black hood was someone I could never forget.

‘Oh, how could you………Jun slowly took off his hood and looked at me. The hair was shorter than before, and the face looked a bit gaunt. Still, as always, he looked just as handsome.

“Brother.””I had to respond to what he was saying, but my lips just parted and I could only show a surprised expression.”

“Why are you here…””Jun simply stepped a little closer instead of explaining the reason.” And then I gently lifted the box in my hand and opened it. Inside it was a small ring.

“I want to go back to before I met you.” Thinking about it, the first time we met was in two situations: reality and in the game. In reality, this is the first time I’ve thrown a cigarette at my brother’s feet… It’s a bit awkward to meet again with that, so I went with this.”Joon lifted my hand, which had fallen weakly.” And then I took the ring out of the box and put it on the fourth finger of my left hand. It was a perfect fit. As if… like a gift prepared in advance.

As I couldn’t say anything, Jun playfully continued speaking.

“Back then, Elsumban ran away with it… this time, he returns it.””Jjuniya…” Is this ring the gift you were going to give me last year?Jun simply smiled. After we broke up, he continued to keep this ring.

I thought my supporting role ended when I left Jun’s house, but it wasn’t. I was the leading role in his life. Surprised, I was alternating my gaze between the ring and Jun, who seemed calm in his words but had a cautious expression.

I couldn’t even bring myself to touch my body and just looked down from a distance. It was as if she had a look that was asking for permission. Jun’s gaze was just as it had been back then, making the time we spent apart seem insignificant.

This could be understood. I was not a substitute for anyone, and Jun did not like me with such feelings either.

The space between us, standing face to face, seemed just like the time I had been apart from him. I wanted to close the gap in an instant. And, I knew that method.

Slowly, I spread my arms and made eye contact with Jun. Then he hugged me as if he had been waiting for it. I tried to hold on tighter, burying my face deep into my neck. Patting Jun’s back, I expressed my racing heart. His heart was beating in time with the tapping.

A thick darkness settled around the Geumgang, and the sculptures floating above the river began to shine in various colors.

Like the colorful light reflected on the calm river.

In that way, the two of us were also colored by each other.

Epilogue

My mother had a really good memory. Remembering Jun, whom I briefly saw last year, I happily called out as he entered through the front gate, “Juni!”He/She called it.

In fact, when I returned to my hometown, my mom asked about Jun-i, and as time went by, she kept asking why Jun-i wasn’t coming to visit and urged me to contact him. I always made excuses saying I was busy, but I didn’t expect you to be this happy to see me…

“Oh, you came well.” Come in, quickly. What about rice?”Not yet.””Really?” Rovana!!Rovan often came in and out of our house even when I wasn’t home. Just then, Roban came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on his apron.

“Oh, now?”Rovan showed no signs of surprise upon seeing Jun. Even though Jun came unexpectedly, he just asked, “Wasn’t there any traffic in the car?”I treated him like a friend I see often.

Jun treated Roban like the brother he met yesterday. In the past, he used to call me ‘Hey, tracksuit’ in a casual tone, but the way he addressed me had changed.

“What were you making, Roban?””Uh, potato soup.” A lot of potatoes have come in. Wash your hands and sit down.I don’t know whose son this is. Mom asked Roban if the liver was okay, and Roban said he would go get some more gochujang from the jar, taking a bowl with him to the back where the jars were. As I entered the kitchen saying I would help, my mom chased me out, telling me to go watch TV in the living room. I also opened the refrigerator and approached him with something to drink.

After we reunited earlier, I held on for a while and then stood facing each other, and from that moment, embarrassment surged up like a tide. So I couldn’t see their face properly and awkwardly asked, “Do you want to come over to my house for a meal?””That was all I asked.”

It had been almost a year. I haven’t seen your face since my birthday last year. The only thing that was a little different was that my face was a bit tanned.

‘No way.Suddenly, I had a thought and was about to ask a question when my mom came in holding a handmade rice cake set and sat down.

“Jjuni, your hair has gotten shorter?” Are you unable to hang out because you went to the military?”Yes.” How have you been?”Yes.” Come often during the holidays. Come even without a line. Got it?”Thank you.””I was going to ask first, but my mom asked first.” However, I usually disliked the adults’ relentless questioning, but now it has been incredibly helpful. Soon after, Mom bombarded Jun with questions.

“Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend now?””No.” I won’t become a soldier.”Then should I at least go visit?” There must be a lot of things you want to eat.”It’s a bit difficult to have visits because it’s the front line.” Thank you just for your words.”However, listening from the side, I felt disappointed.” In the past, when I asked my mom to come visit, she complained about the guy who went without a girlfriend bothering her, but now she readily said she would go to Joon.

“If you ever experience bullying or have a hard time during your military service, please talk about it.” Got it?”Mom!” How does this person look like they would be bullied? It’s a relief if no one is being troubled.”In the end, I did not hide the protruding disappointment and revealed it.” At my grumbling words, Jun smiled as if he had relaxed.

“Mom, please check the taste.”At that moment, Roban peeked his face out and then quickly went back into the kitchen.

Mom went to the kitchen, and I was awkwardly sitting across from Jun. I chewed on the snacks while being cautious. Since Jun said he went back to before he met me, what kind of relationship do we have now? Are we close like brothers?

“Brother.””Huh?””When I looked up a beat late, I saw Jun raising his hand.” Then I brushed the cookie crumbs off my lips with my thumb and brought them into my mouth. Right now, he was acting as if I were his girlfriend.

‘…Is it okay to make assumptions about this?I brushed my hands around my mouth because I wasn’t sure. Soon, the meal preparation was finished, and we sat side by side at the table. Just in time, the rice was done, “Beep—.”There was a sound, and Jun got up first and served rice into each bowl.” I only eat two-thirds of my meal, and I remembered that too.

I will eat well.Rovan’s cooking was always delicious. At first, my mom felt awkward about Roban standing in our kitchen, but she made room for him next to her because of his cooking skills.

I pushed aside Jun’s dishwashing and did the dishes myself. Rovan said he was sleepy and went to the next house, and my mom spread the blanket nicely in my room for Jun.

After finishing the kitchen work, I went to the living room and saw Jun sitting on the porch outside. He was looking up at the night sky while smoking a cigarette in the yard. I slowly approached and sat next to him. Joon quickly extinguished his cigarette when he noticed the presence.

“Why do you keep smoking? Why do you put it out?””I smoked it all.”Somewhere in the yard, the sound of a cricket could be heard. I was looking at the flower bed that my mom tends to, and I ended up looking at the night sky with Jun.

I have a lot of questions in my head, but I didn’t know what to ask first. So alone, I thought, “Hmm…”As I hesitated for no reason, Jun first broke the ice.”

“Brother.” If you have any questions, just ask.”Is that okay?””Yes.””Joon, who answered softly, turned his body towards me and looked at me.”

“Have you met Lee Hyun-soo well since then?””What do you mean by well? I thought I would take care of it and pay off the debt in a year after going to the hospital.” It wasn’t nursing… just what I could do as a guardian. Hire a caregiver and pay for hospital expenses.”Why didn’t we meet again?””Hmm…. I didn’t feel that way. I did wonder if my feelings were due to that, but when we actually met again, I realized I didn’t feel anything at all.”

“……?”You know how there are things like that.” There was a place I had dreamed of a lot, but when I actually went there, it was ordinary and nothing special.”Ah…” So, when did you go to the military?”

“Two months after Hyung’s birthday. My friends said you go to the military when you get dumped. So I went.”

Jun’s expression seemed much lighter. And then he shared truly surprising news.

“And, Hyung. I’m not an Impo anymore.”

“……W-what? H-how? How did you fix it?”

“I got better while living in the military. Maybe because my distracting thoughts disappeared? One day, Hyung appeared in a dream, and when I woke up, I was hard. Want me to tell you what the dream was about?”

“……No. It’s fine.”

“Well, since we can do it from now on, there’s no need to say it.”

The night breeze was cool, but my face felt hot. Jun asked cheekily, “Did you think about me a lot, Hyung?” He had changed back to his mischievous self, just like before.

Anyway, it was truly strange. Jun said he liked receiving orders… Perhaps he was naturally cured by obeying according to his rank. I guessed it might have been when he was a private.

“What would you have done if I had gotten a girlfriend? Showing up like this without warning.”

“Did you think I went to the military without any plan?”

“Huh?”

“I know everything about how you’ve been for the past year.”

“What? How?”

Jun laughed and pointed to our next-door neighbor. Did he live next door? “What about next door?” I asked, and he replied triumphantly.

“I planted a spy.”

“……Could it be, Rovan?”

“I asked him when I left my car. Oh. Hyung, do you know I had my car repainted red?”

“……So, the one parked in front of our real estate office.”

“Yeah. It’s my car.”

It had seemed a bit strange even then. I had definitely seen Rovan heading towards the terminal while I was going to look at land. But when I arrived at the real estate office, his car was parked there. Did he come back and park it in that short amount of time? Was it because it was a sports car and incredibly fast? I had wondered.

Then again, Rovan once put a quince given by an old neighbor on the dashboard, and sometimes it disappeared. So I often thought it had fallen to the floor of the car.

“Hah……. My goodness.”

“My car went back to its original state, too. The spot in front of your real estate office.”

I liked Jun’s simple laugh. As I laughed along with him, his face drew closer. For a moment, I inhaled sharply and held my breath.

I closed my eyes, but nothing touched me. When I slowly opened them, Jun was looking at me with warm eyes.

“There’s something I want to know before we kiss.”

“What?”

“What are we?”

Our lips were so close that we could feel each other’s breath. Jun was completely leaving the definition of our relationship up to me. So I glared at him mischievously and pressed my lips together. Jun smiled at the corners of my mouth.

“What do you think we are?”

“I asked you first.”

“You’re still so cold……”

Jun blinked slowly, as if waiting for my answer. But when no answer came easily, he gave up and lay down on the wooden bench.

“You’ll catch a cold if you sleep here.”

“What does it matter if we’re not anything?”

I tried to get up and pull Jun up, grabbing his arm. He must have worked out so hard in the military; his arms had more muscle than before. His gaunt face wasn’t from losing weight.

If we kept bickering like this, we’d be up all night. So, pretending to give in, I whispered the answer I had held in my heart, very softly.

“……Lovers.”

“That’s right.”

Jun sat up the moment I answered. He reached out and pulled my arm, and I scrambled onto the bench on my knees.

Our faces grew rapidly closer, and Jun took my lower lip into his mouth. I never thought a night like this would come back to me. We kissed briefly and came into the room. Ignoring the futon laid out on the floor, we lay on the bed and shared a deeper kiss.

Jun slowly licked inside my mouth with his tongue. It was as if he were searching for gaps, and all the lining of my mouth became wet with his saliva.

Jun’s tongue coiled around mine so persistently that I couldn’t help but let out a groan. I wanted to engage in more intimate contact, but Jun said he would refrain because his mother was home, and he pulled away.

I confirmed one thing. When I put my hand inside Jun’s pants, I felt his hard penis. Jun raised his eyebrows, looking triumphant, and I broke out in a cold sweat, like someone facing another insurmountable obstacle. We hadn’t even started the main event yet.

The next day. Jun, I, and Rovan were sitting on a wooden bench in front of the supermarket, eating ice cream.

“Junie. Is your leave only until tomorrow?”

“Uh… I don’t want to go back.”

“Then desert.”

At Rovan’s words, Jun threw his empty ice cream stick. It flew like an arrow, and I thought it would embed itself in Rovan’s forehead. Rovan quickly dodged to the side and glared at Jun.

“Is this how you treat Cupid? Is it okay for someone who’s about to leave to treat me like this?”

“……Another ice cream?”

“Yeah. A cone this time.”

Their bickering ended easily. Then, it suddenly occurred to me, so I asked Jun about his house. He said it was empty, but Jae-ah sometimes came to manage it. And the sixth floor had been vacated and rented out long ago.

And yesterday, as Jun lay on my bed, he asked me if I had met Bin. I said I hadn’t, but I had received a box instead. When he asked what it was, I said it was a photo. Jun asked to see it.

“Can I take this photo with me?”

It was, as expected, a photo of me standing among pink muhly. I wanted to keep it too, so I scanned it at a photo studio and had another one developed. As I gave the photo to Jun, I suggested we go together next time.

The next day, I saw Jun off at the terminal. I wanted to hug and kiss him passionately, like other couples. If he left today, I wouldn’t see him for months. I had taken many photos of Jun on my phone as a substitute, though. We arrived at the terminal parking lot and kissed in the car for a long time.

“Hah, ah……”

While kissing, we put our hands inside each other’s pants. Jun’s touch as he stroked me brought on a rapid sense of climax. I quickly grabbed wet wipes to clean myself, but Jun lowered his head and bit my penis. Looking down at his face as he swallowed my ejaculate without hesitation, I stroked his bristly hair.

The sensation of climax traveling up my spine made my back arch involuntarily. I saw my penis being pulled out of Jun’s red mouth. I lowered my head, just as Jun had done for me. His penis, which was usually soft, was hard, with veins protruding.

“……Ah, Hyung.”

Jun called out to me desperately. I lowered my head further, trying to reach the base of his tongue. As I sucked with steady movements, Jun grabbed my shoulders and writhed. I followed the upward thrust of his hips with my mouth. At the sound of his sucking, Jun was aroused. At that moment, something hot touched my palate.

“Hng……”

I calmly swallowed it. It was my first time eating semen. Although the unfamiliar taste and smell were a bit off-putting, I didn’t take it out of my mouth. After he ejaculated and his penis began to lose its hardness, I spat it out and cleaned him with wet wipes.

Jun grabbed my chin as I bent down to wipe him. Then he rubbed his tongue against my mouth, which might still have had traces of his semen. All the saliva in my mouth went into Jun’s mouth.

“Ah……. I should have taken Hyung to a motel yesterday. How can I go back like this?”

On one hand, I was glad I hadn’t had such a day. Perhaps yesterday I had experienced a great event that threatened my life. The thought of this enormous thing entering me from behind made me dizzy.

Suddenly, I checked the time; there were only 15 minutes left until the bus. I told the whining Jun that I would visit him, and he replied with a pout, “You can’t visit……”

“Junie. You really have to go now.”

Jun reluctantly got out of the car with heavy steps. Jun in his military uniform looked truly handsome. Even as a man, I thought so.

We exchanged final goodbyes at the bus boarding gate. Seeing me wave before getting on, Jun approached. Then, regardless of who was watching, he hugged me tightly. He held me so tightly that I couldn’t breathe, and he whispered in my ear.

“Don’t turn your G.I. shoes upside down.”

“Okay. Travel safely.”

And so, at 29, I became a G.I. wife.

Epilogue

“Mom, stop packing. It won’t all fit in the refrigerator.”

“It’ll all fit.”

“Jun lives alone, he can’t eat all this.”

“He’ll eat it all.”

Today is the day Jun is discharged. When he said he was going to his house in Seoul to pick him up, Mom woke up before dawn and packed all sorts of things.

The car trunk was filled with various side dishes, frozen beef bone soup, and various vegetables from the field, and she only stopped packing when the kimchi of different kinds was taken out of the earthenware pots buried in the backyard.

“I can bring more later if it’s not enough.”

“Since you’re going home after a long time, you won’t have anything. If you leave the refrigerator empty, luck will run away. Go and fill it up. And, make sure to store this at room temperature for three days.”

The last thing she packed was the pickled onions she had made herself. She remembered Jun eating them heartily during his last leave.

Yesterday, she bought a lot of new onions at the mart and pickled them all. There were so many that Rovan took a bottle, and I passed them to the grandmother next door and Sang-cheol, who fixed the front door. I was the one who cried while peeling the onions… Everyone told me to just tell Mom thank you. When I give them to Jun, I will definitely say that I peeled the onions.

Saying I understood, I picked up the shopping bag containing the pickled onions and was about to leave the house when Mom told me to wait a moment and finally wrote on a note, ‘Junie! Don’t put this in the refrigerator. Leave it on the sink for 3 days before eating it.’

“I told you.”

“I’m writing this because I’m sure you’ll forget and put it in the refrigerator.”

Even though I said I could carry it, Mom followed me out and helped organize the luggage in the trunk. Until then, she kept saying, “Make sure Jun eats this this way, go straight home and put it in the refrigerator without going anywhere, eat this first instead of eating out,” pointing to the container of galbi.

I was starting to feel resentful. Mom hadn’t come to pick me up on my discharge day, and the first thing she said when I came home and out of the kitchen was, “What is it? Are you on leave again?”

I just let it go, thinking everyone was just living their lives without noticing the passage of time. I didn’t want to seem petty. But seeing Mom like this now, I couldn’t help but look at her with narrowed eyes. If Jun were my biological brother, I would have surely gone astray during my school days.

“What are you doing? Hurry up and leave. Jun must be waiting.”

“Mom.”

“Why?”

“If you keep acting like this, it’ll seem like Jun is your biological child and I’m adopted.”

“You’re all grown up, why are you being so clingy? Hurry up and go!”

Mom smacked me on the back and slammed the gate shut.

I felt a little resentful towards Jun for no reason. There was a reason why he monopolized Mom’s love. While in the military, Jun only called me, but he even wrote letters to Mom. Mom shed a few tears while reading the letters Jun sent.

‘Sly one.’

I grumbled to myself as I started the car. Still, the feeling of resentment melted away like snow at the thought that I could see Jun more often from today.

Considering that the demobilization time is usually in the afternoon, I went slowly, matching the time.

After parting with Jun, I met him once more during his leave. Even then, he came to my house, so we didn’t build the Great Wall. In fact, he didn’t force anything, perhaps sensing my fear.

Seeing Jun’s erection then, I couldn’t help but be scared. This was… Had God poured everything into him? If Hanwoo knew about this, he probably wouldn’t go to church. He’d say there was no God.

I stopped briefly at a rest stop to check the car’s condition. It was a used car, so it sometimes caused trouble. Hoping nothing would happen today, I got back in the car.

I parked the car across from Jun’s unit and got out. There were quite a few cars parked, as many people were being discharged today. It was unavoidable that my car looked the most shabby among them. I bought two cold canned coffees from a nearby convenience store and put one in the car.

“Oh? Honey, Kyuhyun, Kyuhyun is coming out!”

A middle-aged couple next to me, who had been looking towards the base, waved their hands. I saw one of the soldiers coming out in a crowd waving towards us. I thought I should welcome Jun like that when he came out, and I craned my neck, waiting.

After a large group of soldiers came out, they came out sporadically. The cars around us disappeared one by one, and eventually, only I and another man were left waiting in the parking lot.

“Hmm……”

Then, the man standing next to me answered a phone call and said, “Huh? Not today?” and I saw him leave grumbling. It felt cold. I thought maybe it wasn’t today…

I took out my phone and checked my schedule. Jun had clearly contacted me saying it was today, and today was circled on the large calendar in the living room. Nevertheless, I nervously checked, wondering if I had made a mistake, when suddenly someone grabbed my waist from behind.

“Aargh!”

“……Aargh?”

I turned my head and saw Jun looking down at me, wearing a hat pulled low.

“What’s your impression of seeing your boyfriend for the first time after his discharge, aargh?”

“Ah, no, I was just surprised because you hugged me suddenly. By the way, when did you get out?”

“Just now.”

“I didn’t see you.”

“Hyung was looking at the man you were talking to on the phone, so you weren’t looking at me. Why, was that guy more handsome than me?”

“No… It’s not that.”

I explained that I had checked to see if I had mistaken the date. The man next to me, who had been waiting like me, had mistaken the date and left.

Jun, shedding his initial disappointment, embraced me. Fortunately, no one was around. If there had been families together, we couldn’t have had this kind of reunion.

“Why are your hands so cold?”

Summer was passing, but the weather was still hot. Jun brought my hand to his cheek and asked.

“It’s because I bought and drank a canned coffee while waiting.”

“Are you hungry? Shall we go eat somewhere? I’ll buy it for you.”

“What money does a soldier have?”

“I saved it diligently to buy it for Hyung.”

As he said that, Jun took out a wad of cash and gave it to me. I was touched thinking that he, who used to treat hundreds of thousands of won lightly, had saved 10,000 or 20,000 won at a time in the military. He was giving it all to me, who had saved it with such difficulty.

“It’s okay. Keep it to use later.”

“No. I’m going to spend it all on Hyung. I saved it thinking of you.”

I took off the hat Jun was wearing and stroked his head, calling him a good boy. His hair wasn’t as short as before. I had grown fond of his prickly chestnut hair, so it was a shame. Well, he’d still be handsome even if he were bald.

“Get in, let’s go to the Seoul house first. Mom packed a lot of side dishes. There’s also pickled onion, which you like.”

“Wow, really? I should call Mom to thank her.”

“Junie.”

“Huh?”

“I peeled all the onions.”

My sorrow welled up again. Everyone thanked Mom, so I wanted to express my resentment to Jun, at least. But Jun, despite my tearful plea, said ‘Is that so?’ and got into the passenger seat, opening the door.

I thought, what else could I expect, and opened the driver’s door, got in, and started the engine. As I was about to shift gears to leave, Jun pulled my right arm towards him.

Instantly, my lower lip was taken. It was a longed-for intimacy, so I closed my eyes and bit his lips together. Jun, in his military uniform, had a strange scent, but feeling the warmth of his lips, even that scent felt like his usual body odor. Jun held my cheeks with his hands and slowly pushed his tongue in.

“Haa……”

I opened my mouth slightly and received him. Jun tried to lean closer, perhaps wanting to go deeper, but finding it difficult in the car, he inserted his tongue a few times and pulled his face away.

As soon as I separated my lips from Jun’s, I instinctively looked at his front. His fly was visibly taut. Seeing that, I swallowed, for a different reason. It felt like facing the reality that would soon confront me.

“I want to do more, but we’re in front of the military base. Let’s go home first. I don’t need to set the navigation, right?”

“Huh? No, you do.”

With my current state of mind, I would obviously miss the road signs. I set Jun’s home address on the navigation. After confirming Jun had fastened his seatbelt, I started the car.

It wasn’t often that I gave Jun a ride in my car, except when going to the terminal from my hometown or briefly to the city. This was the first time I had driven him such a long distance. I had always been the one to ride in Jun’s car, so I felt strangely nervous.

“Didn’t your juniors beat you when you left? They cover you with a blanket and hit you.”

“One of them took out a blanket, but he put it back when I looked at him.”

“……I think I know your military life without you telling me.”

Jun’s phone was at my place. When I told him I’d charged it and put it in the dashboard, he took out his phone and turned it on. And he quietly looked at the screen, checking for messages or something.

Yesterday, when I charged it, several message alerts popped up on his phone. I couldn’t see them because it was locked, but Jun was smiling as he checked those messages now.

‘Is there someone more welcome than me?’

I tried to ignore it, telling myself to focus on driving. On the way, Jun and I chatted about this and that, and Jun joked that military life suited him quite well, saying he might have reenlisted if not for Hyung.

“Why not just reenlist?”

“Then I wouldn’t be able to nail Hyung.”

Startled by the sudden R-rated conversation, I lightly tapped the brakes. Luckily, there were no cars around. Even as he lurched forward, Jun lowered his head and laughed.

‘He planned this, didn’t he?’

Then again, Jun likes men, so I wondered how much his eyes must have feasted during his military service. If our relationship hadn’t been like this, he might have lived a life surrounded by flowers.

The sunlight was strong, so I turned on the air conditioning as we drove. Jun said that since he usually drove himself, he never really got to see the scenery, and he was happy he could ride with Hyung sometimes.

The road was mountainous, with green leaves and wildflowers visible here and there. Then, an uphill slope appeared, so I turned off the air conditioning.

“Huh? Why did you turn it off? Are you cold?”

“No. The car won’t go if the air conditioning is on.”

“What do you mean? The car won’t go if the air conditioning is on?”

“The engine is a bit weak. Just bear with it for a bit.”

Once, when I was going up a mountain slope, the car couldn’t make it, and I was in a bind. The village chief, who was passing by with a tiller, gave me a tip to turn off the air conditioning. When I turned it off, the car slowly crawled up, and I managed to escape the crisis.

Since I bought it so cheaply, this was something I could overlook. Jun still looked like he couldn’t understand, and he was pressing the button as if to open the window.

“Why isn’t it going down?”

“Ah, right. The passenger window doesn’t go down. I’ll open the back window for you. And, there’s a cold can of coffee in the dashboard. Drink that.”

“Hyung, did you buy a junk car?”

“No, it’s a used car.”

“How much did you pay for it?”

“I gave two of them.”

“Twenty thousand?”

“No… Two hundred.”

Jun opened his mouth to say something at the mention of two hundred, then closed it. He looked like he couldn’t comprehend buying a car for two million won. When we passed the uphill and started going downhill, the car sped along smoothly.

“See? It’s going well, isn’t it?”

“Does it make sense for a vehicle with wheels not to go downhill?”

As if my boasting was in vain, another uphill slope appeared. So, I decided to stop defending the car. Jun, who had initially looked confused, now accepted reality enough to turn off the air conditioning himself when an uphill came.

After driving on the mountain road for a long time, we were able to merge onto the highway. It was a relief that we didn’t have any more uphill climbs, so we could keep the air conditioning on. I told him to sleep if he was tired, but Jun stayed awake and talked to me. Though it was more like one-sided nagging than a conversation.

“Hyung. Why were you working in the fields on the weekend instead of resting? Is the office not doing well?”

“No. When it’s harvest time, people ask for help everywhere.”

“You hurt your back carrying watermelons a while ago. Why didn’t you tell me?”

A month ago, Rovan had found a high-paying part-time job and dragged me out on a weekend when I was supposed to be resting. It was Mr. Yang’s watermelon field. Honestly, I wanted to run away, but I was quickly dressed in work clothes and even given a floral hat. What’s more, Mr. Yang was close with my mother, so I couldn’t possibly run away and ended up helping… That day, I truly thought my back’s life was over.

Meanwhile, Rovan, with his excellent stamina, worked twice as hard as me and then went to help out at another field the next day. I hadn’t told Jun because I didn’t want him to worry, but that spy must have reported everything. It was absurd. I was dragged there because of him.

“Well, they asked for help, so I couldn’t refuse. It was someone my mother knows. And, I’m all better now. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t overexert yourself in the future. If it’s something that absolutely needs to be done, contact me. I’ll do it for you.”

We passed through the toll gate while talking and arrived in Seoul. After passing through the large forest of buildings, we soon entered the familiar neighborhood. It felt awkward driving in my car, as we always came in Jun’s. I parked in his building’s underground garage and got out.

After getting out of the driver’s seat, I walked towards the trunk, but Jun didn’t get out. Puzzled, I looked at the passenger seat, and Jun, with the rear window open, said.

“Hyung. The passenger seat isn’t opening, did you set the door lock?”

“Door lock? I don’t know that feature… The door won’t open?”

The passenger seat had been creaky and hard to open since I bought it. So, when I had guests, I’d ask for their understanding and have them sit in the back, so it wasn’t inconvenient, but I forgot to mention it because Jun got in first.

Wondering what to do, I approached and tried to open it from the outside. Usually, this works… but?

“It’s not opening.”

“Huh?”

It seemed to be stuck on something, the passenger door was slightly ajar and wouldn’t budge. The gap was so small that only a paper doll could escape.

“Junie. Push hard.”

Jun nudged it slightly with his shoulder, but the door didn’t move.

“You’ll hurt your shoulder, just kick it.”

“Hyung, move aside.”

Jun twisted his upper body and lifted his leg at my command to kick it.

Thwack!

Screeeech, Clang! Bang bang—.

A door doesn’t usually open with sounds like that. He kicked it so hard that the passenger door fell off. Come to think of it, I had forgotten that Jun had kicked down my house’s front gate. That guy kicks with all his might…

‘He knows no moderation.’

I stared blankly at my car, which had become an open-top car in a way. As Jun got out of the car, he took out the wad of cash I hadn’t accepted earlier.

“Sorry. Fix it with this.”

“Haa… It’s fine, man. We can just file an insurance claim.”

For now, I lifted the passenger door and roughly fitted it back. Then, feeling like we were wasting too much time, I started taking food out of the trunk one by one. I didn’t want to be bothered by this kind of thing when meeting Jun after so long.

We got into the elevator with our hands full of bags. Then I got off on the 7th floor and looked around.

It had been almost two years since I’d been here. Jun expertly entered the passcode and opened the door wide. Even though he hadn’t been here in a while, the house was as clean as if it had been cleaned yesterday. Almost no dust.

“It’s clean.”

“Jae-ah said she’d clean it. Hyung, just bring that. I’ll carry it.”

Jun seemed pleased as he carried the side dishes my mother had prepared. He opened the refrigerator and started putting in the side dishes he was bringing one by one.

The refrigerator was truly empty, with nothing but drinks and bottled water, as if it had been a vacant house. I felt a sense of fulfillment filling it up. Then, as I was about to put in the next item, Jun looked inside the shopping bag and picked up a note.

“Ah, right. Junie, Mom said to leave that at room temperature.”

“…Okay. It’s written here.”

But I was puzzled as to why he was standing there staring at the note. I finished putting the items I was holding into the refrigerator and approached him. He was still looking at the note my mother had given him.

“Why? Are there words you don’t know?”

“No. Because I like it.”

“Like what?”

The note Jun handed me had the same content I had seen that morning. I wondered what was so good about just leaving it at room temperature for three days, but then I saw a small note at the bottom.

‘- From Princess Mom ☺ -’

‘Princess’ wasn’t the princess from fairy tales, but our region, Gongju.

Seeing that, I felt a little choked up. Jun carefully took the note from my hand and attached it to a refrigerator magnet. I wanted to joke about why he’d stick something like that up, but I decided not to overstep for now.

I picked up the pickled onions from the shopping bag and placed them on the sink. Jun took his eyes off the note and went into the dressing room, saying he was going to change.

I also put the beef bone soup in the freezer and took out the ribs to cook for dinner tonight. As I was organizing things, I didn’t realize Jun was watching me.

“Huh? Junie, why are you standing there?”

“Just because. I like seeing someone in our kitchen.”

I could guess how lonely the past year apart must have been for him. Jun started rummaging through the vegetables my mother had packed. That’s exactly what he was doing.

‘…Green juice.’

I grabbed his hand to stop him.

“Junie. Let’s skip the green juice today. I think I’ll get motion sickness if I drink it now.”

“Shall we?”

Cruel bastard. He really intended to make green juice.

As Jun changed into comfortable clothes, I felt like I had gone back a year. I always felt he had a lot of black clothes whenever I saw his outfits. He’d look good in pink or yellow, too…

As I thought this and looked at Jun, he glanced down at his clothes and suddenly lifted his t-shirt. There were his firm abs, and the… iliac bones that Rovan had admired were still there.

Then I realized this wasn’t the time to be admiring that, and I quickly turned my head away, scolding him for suddenly taking his shirt off.

“Weren’t you looking because you wanted to see my body?”

“No. I was just looking at your clothes, wondering why they’re all black, gray, and such. You should wear bright colors too.”

“Wear white.”

“Not monochrome. Like yellow or red?”

“Wear colorful underwear.”

As he said that, Jun slightly lowered his pants to show me the color of his underwear. Even though we’d seen each other’s bodies, I wondered why he’d just lift his clothes like that without any warning… It was hard to adjust after so long.

After finishing organizing the side dishes, I sat on the sofa. As I was about to call the insurance company about the car, Jun snatched my phone from behind me. I turned around asking why, and he stood there, still not handing it back.

“Stop playing around and give it back. We need to file the repair claim quickly. It’ll take a few days to fix.”

“Don’t fix it.”

“Then, are you going to drive around like that? If the door falls off while driving, there’ll be an accident.”

“We can just drive with the door off.”

“Junie. I’m not in the mood to play.”

Jun, still holding my phone, sat next to me. He then playfully dangled his arm, daring me to take it. “Ah, damn—” I said, reaching out quickly, but he was tall with long arms. As my fingertips narrowly missed it, I felt a surge of determination.

I leaned forward and grabbed Jun’s wrist. In the meantime, Jun transferred the phone to his other hand. I told him to stop playing and leaned in further, and eventually, I ended up on top of him.

Jun’s sofa was long enough for two adult men to lie down comfortably. Jun, who had stretched his arms back, ended up lying beneath me. Even with my body on top of him, he was still smiling.

“Hey. Aren’t you going to listen to me?”

I sat up and looked down at Jun, warning him, but he just raised both arms like he was surrendering, still not returning my phone.

“If you listen well. Will you do whatever I ask?”

“No.”

At that moment, I reached out to snatch it but collapsed, falling onto Jun’s chest. He then threw the phone he was holding over the sofa and wrapped both hands tightly around my hips and lower back. I struggled, unable to move.

But the more I struggled… the more I felt a sense of crisis. Jun’s center was swelling like a honeycomb. My vigorous struggles only seemed to stimulate him, so I tried to escape with minimal movement.

At this point, I had already intuited it.

I could no longer deny reality.

It’s only natural for lovers to want to go all the way. Jun had had relationships like that, and I knew better than anyone that he wanted that from me too.

While the owner was anxiously dying, my oblivious alter ego was slowly growing. As I remained still, Jun slightly lowered his head and looked at me.

“Hyung, are you asleep?”

Suddenly, I had a clever idea to pretend to be asleep and stayed silent, not answering. Then I felt Jun fumbling around my waist. He lightly squeezed and released one of my buttocks and let out a breath.

His breath seeped into my hair. Jun’s hands, which had merely been restraining me, began to move with purpose. The hand on my lower back slipped under my t-shirt and stroked my bare back, and the hand on my buttocks slowly crept inside my pants. As his fingers persistently probed between my buttocks, I could no longer stand by and watch.

“Wait, just a moment!”

Trying to put out the immediate fire, I grabbed Jun’s wrist that had entered my pants and stopped him. Then I looked at Jun’s face beneath me, and his expression was already filled with deep arousal. It seemed he had been like this since his hot breath started coming out.

I thought he wouldn’t touch me if I pretended to be asleep… but Jun had thrown manners to the dogs.

“That part… can you not touch it?”

“Why?”

“Why… I’m not yet…”

At my hesitant tone, Jun cleanly withdrew his hand. His intention not to proceed if I wasn’t willing was evident. His aroused gaze and sticky touch were instantly removed.

Looking down at Jun, I felt a little apologetic, but he looked up at me and demanded in a cold tone.

“Get off. You’re heavy.”

“Huh? …Uh, yeah.”

I tidied my pulled-up t-shirt and moved off him. Jun got up lightly and went back to the kitchen. Even in his training wear, his firm back was visible, just like when he was wearing his military uniform earlier.

‘It wasn’t that I didn’t desire that bare body of his, but…’

I was scared. His penis.

Once, when I asked Rovan about adult toys, I also asked about relationships between men. Rovan, perhaps thinking I wanted to enlarge myself alone, recommended a few things, but I didn’t dare to use them.

Back then, Rovan had winked slyly and offered to help if I found it difficult to do it alone… but I declined, feeling like he was trying to stop me. And then, Rovan, sensing my unease, said coldly.

“You’re not dating without this much resolve, are you? That’s selfish. You’re not thinking about Jun at all.”

To that, I retorted, “Then what about me? If something this big came into me, wouldn’t you be nervous? You don’t know because you’re not in my position!” Rovan fell silent in thought… and then said, “Well, it did feel like my body was splitting in half at first,” providing a realistic account.

Hearing that made me even more scared. Rovan still said it would be fine if he loosened me up well, that Jun would handle it, that he’d do foreplay and things like that, and he spoke excitedly about how he’d insert his fingers like this and do it like that.

When I didn’t respond to his words, Rovan delivered his final judgment.

“You’ll get dumped if you keep rejecting him like that. Jun is the type that many girls try to seduce into sleeping with them.”

That made me feel a sense of crisis. I fully understood Jun’s feelings and resolved to try, but… when the situation actually arose, I wanted to avoid it.

Sitting on the sofa, I clutched my head, replaying Rovan’s words, when Jun approached, putting on a hooded sweatshirt.

“Hyung, I’m going out for a bit. You can be alone for about an hour, right?”

“Huh? Where are you going?”

“I need to deliver something to a friend. Don’t wait for dinner. If you’re bored, you can walk around the neighborhood.”

Looking at the front of Jun’s shirt, it seemed to have subsided, no longer erect. He looked so handsome just in his comfortable clothes and hooded sweatshirt… I raised my hand slightly to wave goodbye, and Jun said, “I’ll be back soon,” and closed the door.

“Haa…”

I returned and collapsed onto the sofa. If I hadn’t refused earlier, we would probably be doing… that… with Jun on the sofa right now. Thinking about it, an inexplicable sadness washed over me.

‘If only I could get past this one mountain…’

I remembered doing the vaulting horse in elementary school. I could do up to the fourth level with my eyes closed, but when it came to the fifth, I was immediately scared. Before I could even take off, I stopped, afraid.

That’s exactly how I felt now. I just needed to get over the fourth level to the fifth… but that one step stopped me. The problem was that not only was I feeling frustrated, but Jun must also be disappointed. I should have been prepared for this when we became a couple.

“Okay. Let’s do it. His penis can’t be that big.”

Even though I said that, Jun’s was as big as if it were from a different race.

I decided to prepare during the hour Jun was gone. I picked up my phone from the adjacent sofa and searched. Then, I wrote down the necessary items and left the house. As I was leaving the building, I ran into the owner of the tteokbokki shop at the entrance.

“Oh? Hello!”

“Boss, it’s been a while. How have you been?”

“Yes. Thanks to you, I got a good spot and was doing well.”

I stepped slightly into the store to greet them, and the walls were even more colorful than before. One poster caught my eye, and the person posing in it was a familiar face.

“Oh? It’s Muyul?”

As I pointed at it and exclaimed, the tteokbokki CEO told me he was a regular at their place, often coming by to secretly buy and eat.

“Muyul was really sad when your real estate office closed down.”

“Is that so? But he seems to have become quite famous. There’s even an autograph.”

“Thanks to him, sales have gone up a lot. Fans come and buy a lot.”

While I was chatting with the tteokbokki CEO about this and that, even during that time, kids who were Muyul’s fans came in, took seats, and took proof shots in front of the poster. There was even a separate menu item that Muyul often ordered.

“Well then, CEO. May you prosper even more.”

To my well wishes, the tteokbokki CEO said they’d be tired if they prospered any more than this and saw me off, telling me to visit often.

Leaving the building, I looked at the office I used to work in across the street, and a refrigerated truck was parked squarely in front of it. Jun’s words came to mind, so I approached it cautiously. The office I used to work in was still a real estate agency, only the name had changed. However, it wasn’t the CEO I had signed a contract with, so it seemed the owner had changed once again.

Then, I naturally looked at the shop next door. The spot where the hardware store used to be was now occupied by a shop selling imported candles. It was a suitable shop for this alley’s commercial district, but I was sad that the hardware store’s spot was gone.

After finishing my short neighborhood stroll like that, I bought the necessary items and returned to Jun’s house. I had searched for ways to widen myself, and it seemed like I needed something like an Aneros. But I couldn’t just go buy it right away…

“Ah, wait. Jun said Rovan was a VIP. Then he must have bought something…”

I excluded the rooms on the right where Jun’s parents had stayed. I looked at his bedroom and the doors on the left. That was the walk-in closet, that was the bedroom, and this seemed to be the study… I opened the remaining rooms one by one. Then, I opened the room right next to the bedroom, and it was dark inside.

“Where’s the light switch?”

I fumbled along the wall and turned on the light, and I froze at the sight that unfolded before my eyes.

What on earth had Jun been doing here for a year? First, I saw a metal bed in front of me. And on the shelves and cabinets next to it, various adult toys were densely arranged.

I slowly approached. The bed seemed unused, as the plastic wrap was still on the sheets, and the adult toys in the cabinets were all still in their packaging. It felt like I had come to Rovan’s house. Everything was brand new, just like the items for sale.

“Still, why collect so much?”

I glanced around, and something familiar caught my eye.

‘Aneros.’

Yes, with that, it seemed like I would have enough for preparation. I thought I could use the memory of what Jun had done back then as experience. At that time, I remembered excitedly loosening myself.

Since it’s originally for masturbation, I thought I could do it without Jun’s help. I carefully opened the glass door and took out the smallest one. Its shape was also the most ordinary. It was similar to the product Rovan first sold me.

“I have lube… this should be enough, right?”

Holding it, I turned off the light and closed the door. Checking the time, only 30 minutes had passed since Jun left. Thinking I had 30 minutes of leeway, I entered the bedroom with a determined expression. Then, I took off my pants and got onto the bed. I applied lube to the Aneros and slowly followed the usage instructions I had searched for.

“It’s not going in as easily as I thought… The position of lying on my side with my knees to my stomach… is this it?”

I got into position, looked at my phone, and then looked at my phone again after doing something else, and the flow was constantly interrupted. Naturally, it was far from a romantic atmosphere that would arouse me. I started to feel self-loathing, like I had become a lab animal. Shame washed over me, like when my mom used to give me suppositories for fever when I was young.

“Ah… why isn’t this working.”

I applied lube to the Aneros and the entrance, and focused, trying to relax as much as possible. As it began to go in little by little, a joyful feeling bloomed.

“Just a little more, just a little more. Ah, it’s all in—”

Just as it was fully inserted and I was about to start moving it, the door burst open.

“Hyung, are you already sleep—, no… what are you doing?”

“……”

As soon as our eyes met, I quickly pulled the sheet up to cover my face. If I could turn back time, it would be 10 minutes. No, 1 minute. No, just 10 seconds.

Covering myself with the sheet up to my head, I held my breath, tense, wondering what Jun would say, but the door quietly closed. Peeking down slightly from the sheet, I saw that he had actually left. Without a word!

Knowing Jun’s personality, I expected him to tease me a lot, but… I stared blankly at the door he had closed without a word, then quickly got up and headed to the bathroom attached to the room. I washed up, then put on my underwear and pants.

I tried to process the situation, but the incident from earlier hadn’t disappeared. I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t even leave the room and just paced around, then flopped back onto the bed, which was filled with Jun’s scent. Burying my face in the sheet, I breathed in the strong scent of the cologne he usually wore.

‘Sigh… What should I do? My car is broken too, so I can’t even run away like this…’

Perhaps I would have felt better if Jun had teased me and said something… I couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or if his fantasy was broken by seeing me like that. I was just terrified of his silence.

However, I couldn’t keep pretending I didn’t know. It’s better to get it over with quickly… I decided to humbly accept any disappointment he might have felt.

With that thought, I very subtly grasped the doorknob and turned it. Afraid of making a click sound, I turned it very slowly and took another deep breath before opening the door. Just as I was about to step out, Jun was standing right in front of me, and my heart stopped.

“H-huk! Hey, hey… why are you here?”

“You weren’t coming out, Hyung, so I was waiting.”

As Jun said that and slightly averted his gaze, it seemed the scene from earlier had been quite awkward and embarrassing for him.

“……Sorry.”

I apologized first. Then, I apologized again, asking him to forget it if I had caused him any discomfort, but Jun suddenly kissed me. It was just a light peck, but he was blushing, as if he was embarrassed too.

He’s not the type to blush and get embarrassed like this… Jun’s attitude felt very unfamiliar today. He held me close, burying his face in my neck.

“Rather, I felt a bit…”

“A bit, turned off?”

“No… I felt like I wanted to do it more.”

Jun slowly began to speak about what he had felt when he saw me earlier. His face was still touching my neck and earlobes, so I couldn’t see his expression, but I could feel him blushing just like me. His exhaled breath was very warm.

However, I couldn’t help but blush soon after Jun. He confessed that when he saw me earlier, he had almost pounced on me, but it was incredibly difficult to hold back at that moment, thinking you might get hurt, Hyung.

And, on one hand, he was happy. He thought I wasn’t interested in that kind of thing or didn’t want to do it, so seeing me try made him very happy, and he hugged me tighter.

Our beating hearts touched, and my whole body throbbed. I wasn’t the only one who was nervous. Jun had been thinking about many things and was nervous too. He added that he was hesitant because he was worried I might get hurt, and he would wait until I was ready.

That’s right. We were lovers. We could have reached a full agreement on matters like this through conversation, and Jun knew well that I, an ordinary person, was afraid. I had only pushed him away defensively, without considering what Jun thought of me.

“I’m sorry for giving you such a difficult homework assignment, Hyung.”

I hadn’t considered the sense of responsibility he must have felt seeing me struggling alone. Even though I was the older one, my thoughts were very short-sighted. I gently rested my forehead on Jun’s chest and carefully proposed.

“Then, will you teach me? I… want to do it too.”

Jun slightly pulled away and looked down at me quietly. I wanted to convey my sincerity. That it wasn’t that I didn’t want to do it with you.

“I’ll teach you slowly.”

My fear melted away as if it had never been there. Seeing my relaxed expression, Jun returned to his usual playful expression, asking if I thought he would have just forced himself in.

When I chided him, saying he didn’t do that in games before, he sighed with relief, saying that was a game and who would be foolish enough to do that in real life. He admitted he thought I hated it. Well, he said he would do it someday, but he didn’t want to force me for now.

“You’ve escaped Impo, but what if you go back to being quiet again?”

“If that happens, you can save me again.”

“Then… are we doing it right now?”

To my question, Jun looked at me and said I was the type to be easily aroused, then pulled me towards the kitchen. The delicious smell was already coming from that direction. He must have been heating the galbi he took out to warm up. Jun was setting the table while dividing the side dishes his mother had given him.

We had dinner like that, had a light drink on the rooftop, and then… headed to the bedroom late at night.

Even though I said I would do it, this position was too embarrassing.

I had offered to give Jun fellatio, but he suggested we do it together and recommended this position. It was the so-called 69 position, with me on top, looking down at Jun’s penis. It was fully erect and hot, with precum glistening at the tip.

As I cautiously licked the precum clinging to the tip of his glans, he let out a shallow moan and hastily began to take my penis into his mouth.

“Augh…”

Because he took it in so quickly, the area near the corona of my glans lightly brushed against his teeth, and I was instantly sucked in.

I had intended to be bold, fueled by the alcohol, but as Jun put my penis in his mouth, that resolve vanished in an instant. My body felt like it was about to collapse, and I tried to pull my hips back, but as if sensing my intention, Jun raised a hand and gripped my waist. Because of that, I could only shake my hips slightly.

“Ugh, hht. Ju…n. S-slowly…!”

Jun, hearing my plea, slightly lessened the intensity of his sucking, but he still held my lower body firmly.

Is it gravity? Because of the force of him sucking from below, I couldn’t do anything like this, so I turned my head and looked at the situation below me. I saw Jun’s firm jaw swallowing my penis, and his Adam’s apple bobbed a few times as if swallowing my precum.

Then, with a slurp*, he spat it out, and Jun’s soft tongue wrapped around my shaft. As he was doing it with intent, my best option was to hold his penis and endure with half moans and half caresses.

“……Ju…n… Ju…”

Only when I called his name several times did Jun take it out of his mouth and lower his head slightly to meet my gaze. My penis, having been tormented in his mouth, twitched intermittently even after coming out.

“Why?”

“S-slowly. Slowly…”

Jun gently held my penis between his thumb and forefinger and licked it with his tongue.

“This much?”

“Hhh… yes.”

“This?”

Still holding my penis, Jun traced the glans with just the tip of his tongue. As his tongue dug into the tip of my glans, my toes curled, and my entire lower body tingled.

“Haaak…!”

Every time Jun playfully touched me with the tip of his tongue, I instinctively pulled my hips back. As if he didn’t like that, Jun lightly bit the tip of my glans and wrapped his long fingers around the shaft. Holding it firmly like that, he moved it up and down, and the tip of my penis was compressed inside his mouth, bringing on a sensation of ejaculation in an instant.

“Ugh… Haa.”

If Jun’s initial actions were like play, this was now closer to sex with a purpose. He was controlling my pleasure at will. Jun would occasionally open his pursed lips to the side and laugh as if my reactions were amusing.

“Ah, ah…! Hey!”

I could no longer even ask Jun to go easy. He used a skill that knew how a male organ reached climax, so this was irresistible. Jun had deliberately put me on an express train.

“I’m gonna… cum…!”

Before I could even finish saying I was going to cum, Jun stopped all activity. My chest heaved with breathlessness, and my throat burned every time I swallowed my saliva from all the moans.

“You can’t cum already.”

Thanks to the brief pause, I was able to regain my senses. I straightened my collapsed hips and, wanting to return the pleasure I had just felt to Jun, I grabbed his shaft and bit the tip, just like he had done. Seeing that, Jun let out a short laugh.

“Now, shall we taste somewhere else?”

“……Else?”

My straightened hips were useless as his arms wrapped around my waist. Because of that, my lower body was pulled further down, and Jun didn’t miss the moment, licking from my shaft to my perineum with his tongue, sticking to me. And he boldly shattered my assumption that it would be a one-time thing.

“Ahhk… Eut, eu…”

Jun parted the space between my testicles with the tip of his tongue and bit one side. His tightly closed mouth gently rolled my testicle like a candy. While I was tense, worried he might suck too hard, I secretly hoped he would do the same to the other side. As if my wish was conveyed, Jun gently bit the other side with his lips.

I lowered my head like Jun and licked his lower part with my tongue, and he similarly moistened my entire lower part with saliva using his whole tongue. Because of that, my nether regions were wet everywhere his tongue had touched, and my skin felt like it was cooking from his hot breath.

Jun’s tongue moved point by point, past my perineum, and deeper. My body shivered at the lively movement of his tongue, but my hips moved in sync with his movements. When Jun’s tongue traced the folds near the entrance, a sound of pain escaped my throat as if another sensory switch had been turned on inside me.

“Huu… Eung…”

As if he liked that moan, Jun released his arms around my waist, adjusted his posture, and began to conquer that area in earnest.

He spread my buttocks with both hands and pressed down on the surrounding area with his thumbs, causing my legs to spread further. Jun slightly raised his upper body to see better and propped up another pillow. The thought of my private parts being completely visible to him made me feel embarrassed from my toes up, but Jun’s licking of my penis made my reason numb with lust.

“I’ll put a little in.”

Jun’s tongue tip seemed to dig in as he traced the entrance and surrounding area, and his hand moved along the parts he traced. His thumb, which had been hovering around the saliva-moistened area, suddenly dug inside.

“Hut…!”

Amidst the tingling and blurred sensation, I clearly felt the foreignness and spat out Jun’s penis, turning to look back. At my gaze, Jun paused his actions for a moment and checked my complexion.

“Does it hurt?”

“Ah, no. You… put it in?”

“Yes. Just one thumb.”

Just one thumb… In my aroused state, I thought it would slide in without me realizing it, but that wasn’t the case.

Seeing my flustered expression, Jun bent his inserted thumb and stroked the inner wall. Then, he licked around the thumb he was holding and the entrance with his tongue, continuing the act. My complex feelings faded again, and my hips moved slightly from the tantalizing caress.

“I’ll put in one more.”

Perhaps because of my flustered look, Jun asked for permission and inserted his other thumb, then slowly widened the opening with both thumbs. He caressed so slowly and meticulously that the process of my thumb becoming an index finger, then three fingers, was something I could naturally accept.

“Haa…”

Even though I was getting tired from being caressed, Jun was clearly more so. His penis was dripping with precum, and it looked like he had ejaculated, with drops forming at the tip. Yet, Jun wasn’t rushing. As I was about to take his penis into my mouth again, he pulled out from under me.

“Huh…?”

“Lie on your stomach.”

As Jun said, I slowly rolled over and lay on my stomach. He then put his arms under my belly, propped himself up, and lifted my hips.

After removing his arms, he placed his hand at my entrance and opened the lube cap, pouring it out in a stream around the entrance. Seeing that sight, a sense of anxiety that insertion was not far off, and the fact that we were really going all the way today, made me feel lost. I just buried my face in the pillow, lying on my stomach.

“If it’s hard while we’re doing it, I’ll stop. Don’t be scared.”

“Eung…”

Jun’s fingers fumbled around the entrance, and with one hand, he gently and slowly stroked my back. As I relaxed and loosened my lower body, his fingers entered deeply again, and my body tensed up. Each time, Jun would caress me by stroking my back or my penis, and his lips would land without a gap on every reachable spot.

But Jun’s relaxed demeanor didn’t last long. As if sensing fingers entering and biting into it, causing the inner walls to clench, his hot groan reached my back. Jun’s was already fully erect, bulging as if his veins would burst. Seeing his touch become more urgent than before, his desire to enter quickly was evident.

As he thrust in and out impatiently, scraping against my inner walls, the pleasure grew sharper, and my body opened up more and more. As if I were wishing for him to enter.

“Hnnngh……. Hhht…….”

Burying my face in the pillow, I let out a sob as my hips moved with his touch. Then, Jun curled his fingers slightly, and I felt a wet tremor in a place I never usually felt.

“Ah! Hhuk…….”

“Here, you like this?”

Jun stroked my chest and stomach with one hand, gauging my reaction. As I moved my hips with his touch, moaning, his fingers, which had been slowly probing inside, stopped. Jun then covered me from above, his voice laced with impatience whispering in my ear.

“Haa, I want to put it in now.”

Jun pressed his forehead against my neck, breathing out a heavy sigh, asking if he could enter now. I thought we were both ready, but it was our first time, and Jun seemed to be hesitating a lot.

As he moved his fingers again, I felt a chilling sense of climax. Ever since he touched a certain spot on my inner walls, my stomach had been tingling, and with every gentle stroke, the urge to climax doubled. Feeling like I was about to come, I reached out to grab tissues, but Jun pulled his hand away and turned me onto my back, holding my shoulder.

“Haaak…….”

Jun looked down at me, breathing heavily as if he had just run a sprint. He knelt above me, holding his erection and stroking it lengthily as he gazed down at me.

The moment our eyes met, the knot of lust that had been tight in my lower body spread through every inch of my body. I wanted him too, more than I could bear. As if sensing my gaze, Jun handed me a condom.

“Hyung, put it on me.”

As if asking for permission before the act, Jun leaned his upper body forward. Following his request, I tore open the condom wrapper and slowly slid it over his head, but he couldn’t wait and kept kissing me, forcing me to reposition my hand several times.

“Is, is it on?”

Jun pulled his tongue from my mouth and looked down at himself, then gripped the base and pulled it up.

“Yeah. You put it on well.”

He knelt again, opened the lid of the lubricant, and began to smear it thickly onto his penis. He applied so much that the gel dripped between his fingers.

Jun slowly spread my thighs apart and nestled between them. He pressed only the tip of his glans against my slightly clenched entrance, hesitating to enter, and leaned forward again.

Jun licked along my collarbone and then lowered his head, teasing my nipple with his tongue. As it rolled gently on his tongue, I suddenly felt it being sucked, and my hips lifted. Because of that, Jun’s glans, which had only touched the entrance, slid slightly inside.

“Haa, Eut.”

“Haa…….”

Jun, who had been sucking my breast, felt his erection slide in slightly and his back arched. His penis, which seemed ready to split me open, merely twitched and remained still. Unable to openly sigh in relief, I just blinked and caught my breath. Then, Jun, who had been nibbling on my left nipple, lifted his head slightly.

“Haa… I almost put it in.”

“Eut, I couldn’t help it.”

My inner walls kept clenching, so Jun didn’t immediately bite my nipple again. He furrowed his brow, enduring, but when he saw I was genuinely aroused again, he gently circled and took my right nipple into his mouth with his tongue.

“Haaat.”

Despite my resolve not to move my hips, my body thrashed like a freshly caught fish. As I thrust my hips up again, Jun could no longer hold back and slowly began to push his penis inside.

Clutching the sheets, unable to bear the vivid sensation, I grabbed Jun’s back, and he paused for a moment, licking my entire chest with his tongue. Although he stopped entering, the shaft had gone past the glans, and my lower body felt quite full. Jun kissed me, checking my expression.

“How is it?”

“I-it’s okay. D-don’t move, though.”

“……Mm.”

Jun slowly stroked the roof of my mouth with his tongue as if caressing my inner walls, then pushed back the hair covering my forehead. That ticklish sensation made my inner walls involuntarily tighten, lightly gripping and releasing his penis.

I felt Jun’s patience was truly remarkable, but he was also reaching his limit. As time went on, his gaze softened, and the urgency in his kisses showed he was losing his reason. Finally, his hot, humid breath reached my ear, and Jun came inside me.

“……I can’t hold on any longer.”

I felt just as regretful at Jun’s broken, hot breaths. I picked up the lubricant scattered on the bed and handed it back to him.

“Now, really……, put it all in.”

As if my provocation had shattered his remaining reason, Jun immediately straightened up and poured lubricant onto the insertion site. Because my body was heated, the lubricant felt cold. As my entrance clenched several times due to the cold, Jun moved his pelvis languidly even as he poured the lubricant.

Perhaps because it had been so long, my body began to yield to his hip movements, and he began to penetrate more smoothly than at first. My inner walls felt like they were being pulled along with the direction of Jun’s glans, and I bit my lip, my breath catching.

“Hyung, if you bite like that, you’ll bleed.”

Jun watched his penis enter while checking my expression. Jun’s fingers slipped between my teeth, giving me some air, and only then could we meet each other’s eyes. As I stretched out my arms, Jun leaned his upper body over and wrapped his arms around the back of my neck. In that position, he very slowly, persistently pushed inside, moving his hips.

“Hhuk……. Ah…….”

At that moment, Jun’s penis brushed against a certain part of my inner walls, and a pleasure so intense it made my vision flash and my breath catch surged through me. Because of that, the desire to hold his penis deeper inside me grew proportionally.

I relaxed my body several times to match his thrusts, and finally, his testicles touched my perineum as he pushed in completely. Only then did Jun collapse slightly onto my body, letting out a cool sigh.

“Haa……. It’s all in.”

He had inserted it so slowly that, apart from the initial difficulty of aligning the entrance and the glans entering, it wasn’t particularly painful. Of course, there was a discomfort in my lower abdomen.

As if seeking praise, Jun lifted his head and looked down at me, so I reached into his hair and gently stroked it. Jun was also breathing heavily, looking like he had struggled quite a bit to insert it. As I slowly stroked his chest and abs, I felt his skin ripple like his ragged breaths.

“Now, you can move.”

“Not yet……”

I grabbed Jun’s buttocks and urged him to thrust in and out. Stimulated by my touch, his penis twitched inside me a few times. Already fully erect, his penis was lodged heavily inside me, more than I could bear, then it pulled back slightly and began to grind shallowly.

“Haa, Hyung……”

“Hhhu……. Aat……!”

Perhaps because my hole was tightly clenched, Jun only moved his pelvis, grinding shallowly without fully withdrawing. Even with those small movements, my insides were in chaos. My head arched back, and I grabbed his arms as he sat up, moaning, while Jun shoved his tongue into my mouth, devouring my moans.

“Ah, Eup. Eut……!”

Then, as there was some room inside, I felt a longer, deeper thrust, and the wet sound of flesh hitting flesh could be heard rhythmically. As we both sweated, our skin made sticky, squelching sounds as we connected and separated.

Jun’s penis, which had been moving slowly back and forth, began to speed up, thrusting in and out rapidly, and I moaned, clutching his bare chest with my hands. Jun, hearing my plea to go slowly and gently, only pushed his tongue more urgently into my mouth each time, but he didn’t slow down the grinding.

Jun’s rough breaths filled my mouth, muffling my pleading voice. Even after hearing my words, he ignored my request with primal desires.

For example, he expressed conflicting desires, like wanting to go deeper or wanting to do this all night. Because of that, I stopped pleading and replaced it with moans. Jun seemed to have lost all reason to converse with me at this point.

Fortunately, because I was so wet and relaxed from arousal, his speed didn’t cause me much trouble as he pounded deep inside me. With each deep thrust, I could vividly feel his glans scraping against my inner walls as it entered and exited. Each time, I forgot to breathe, then gasped for air as it withdrew, trying to match his pace.

Jun moved his body relentlessly like a sprinter, and all I could do was weakly embrace him. As I held him, I felt his back muscles ripple intensely under my trembling fingertips.

“Hyung, Hyung……”

“Jjuni-ah……. Mm, Eut!”

Jun lowered his upper body, occasionally licking my lips, but he was also losing control of his arousal, his movements becoming more forceful. Eventually, I had to grab his pelvis with my trembling arms and ask him to go slowly.

“Haa……. Are you tired?”

I nodded slightly, and Jun, looking down at me, slowly pulled his hips back, beginning to withdraw his penis. However, he didn’t pull it out completely, stopping at a certain point inside and grinding shallowly.

“Just like this……, how is it?”

I nodded at Jun’s question, and he sat up, grabbed my knees, and spread them apart. In that position, he watched the part that was entering and thrust shallowly. My accustomed insides gurgled and accepted him as he entered.

Feeling ashamed of Jun’s gaze fixed on that spot, I covered my eyes with one arm and moaned. He then grabbed my wrist and pulled my arm down.

“Show me your face. That way I know if it feels good.”

Jun alternated his gaze between the point of penetration and my eyes, his eyes wet, and then licked his lips, seemingly satisfied.

My mouth, dry from all the moaning, felt thirsty at the sight of his tongue. Then, suddenly, a strong pleasure shot up from my lower abdomen, spreading through my entire body, and I involuntarily writhed.

Wondering what it was, I looked at Jun, and he glanced down at my lower body and smiled suggestively. I felt that the pleasure I had just experienced was definitely not a coincidence, and then the same spot was poked again, and I convulsed again with shallow tremors.

“Haaak. Mu……, Euk……!”

“……It’s here.”

Jun poked that spot several more times, observing my reaction, and smiled with satisfaction.

“You like it?”

Even though his thrusts were shallow, they precisely targeted that spot, and the escalating sensation made me unable to hold back, so I grabbed Jun’s head and pulled it down, sucking his neck. Even as I sucked him strongly, Jun continued to stimulate only that area.

As I became accustomed to the in-and-out motion, Jun sat up again. Looking at his neck, which was now red in several places, I felt a moment of guilt, but it vanished as the next act began.

Gone was his gentle questioning demeanor; he deliberately pounded that inner wall area and sucked my breasts. Just as I had sucked his neck in my arousal, Jun didn’t let go until my breasts were bright red. Inside me, each time Jun thrust, a tingling sensation traveled up my spine, and the tips of my breasts stood erect, sending shivers down my spine. The feeling of climax rose, and I could no longer control my body.

Jun, who had once seemed like a younger brother, had now transformed into a man who dominated my entire body. All my mind and body were consumed by him. And I was dedicating everything to him.

I reached up and cupped Jun’s face, which was buried in my chest. At that small gesture, he obediently lifted his head. As the act continued below, our kiss also continued. I accepted Jun’s body, invading me from above and below, as if it were my own.

“Hyung, I like it……. Haa…….”

Jun whispered that he liked it very much while kissing me, and as if penetration alone wasn’t enough, he pushed his tongue deep into my throat. I told Jun that everything was his and that he didn’t need to rush, accepting all the saliva and his tongue deep inside my mouth.

“……Haa, Ah.”

I let out a high moan with his deep thrusts and lost Jun’s tongue. His tongue continuously entered my open mouth like a mother bird feeding her young.

“Eung, Eup……. Haa-eut, Ah!”

Feeling a spot on my inner wall being poked, I could no longer hold back and pleaded that I was about to come, but Jun instead grabbed my penis and moved it up and down. The heat rising from my core as it was pierced and the constant friction of my penis against his brought me to my limit.

“I, I’m going to come…!”

“It’s okay, Hyung.”

Jun whispered softly in my ear, “It’s okay,” and didn’t let go of my penis. It was truly the limit. As the sensation of bursting overwhelmed me, my body began to lose strength. Jun continued to grip my penis, unconcerned by the semen that wet his hand.

Suddenly, his thrusts between my widely spread legs quickened and intensified, and each time his glans scraped my inner walls, my mouth involuntarily fell open. He continued the act without stopping, even licking the hand that was wet with fluid.

“Hhhu, Eut! Ah, Jju, Junie-ah……”

I wondered how long he intended to continue. My penis, which had nothing left to give, was squeezed again in his hand, and Jun’s penis, which had been grinding shallowly, withdrew.

Seizing the moment, I tried to push him away and crawl to the edge of the bed, but Jun’s firm, hook-like arms wrapped around my waist again. Pulled from behind, I had no choice but to stop crawling. My prone lower body was lifted by his strength, and for a moment, a fiery piece of flesh pushed inside through the gap.

“……Stop, please.”

“Hyung, just a little… more.”

Jun licked my earlobe as he clasped my hands, which were scratching the sheets. My collapsing lower body was held by Jun’s hands and pounded into me, and the feeling of that spot being poked again made me feel even more insane.

“Eung, Eut! Ah-eut, Heuk……!”

Jun, in a position that seemed to have subdued me, sat up and moved in and out. It was like the mating of beasts. The words I had spoken about coming and asking him to stop were not lies.

“……Just come like that.”

Yet, Jun whispered as he licked the back of my neck, and as if that word was a trigger, I was already dripping semen onto the sheets.

Seeing my semen dripping out with every thrust and pound, I wondered if Jun truly wanted to wring me dry without leaving anything.

Jun’s penis, which had entered without consideration, gradually became more agitated. His relaxed groans intensified and became urgent. For a moment, his pelvis stiffened as if he were holding his breath, his penis swelled, and he ejaculated for a long time. If he hadn’t worn a condom, I wondered if my insides wouldn’t have been filled with Jun’s semen, as it gurgled inside me for such a long time.

Only then did the sensation of climax begin to envelop me like a mist. In my fading consciousness, I could hear the sounds of Jun kissing my body and his words.

It felt incredibly good. I want more. If you’re sleepy, sleep.

The last sound felt like a hypnosis. I felt the touch of a warm towel on my back, and I sank into an even deeper sleep.

Perhaps because I had overexerted myself from the start, my back ached not only the next day but also the day after. Jun, perhaps feeling guilty seeing me like that, took care of all the housework himself, like cooking and cleaning.

While I was resting at Jun’s house, Jae-ah stopped by. Seeing me wince as I stood up, clutching my back, he clicked his tongue.

“Your stamina is weak.”

As he chided me, Jun, who happened to be passing by, added unnecessary explanation to Jae-ah, saying it wasn’t my stamina but that he had tormented me for two hours.

At that answer, Jae-ah and I glared at Jun, but he, having risen effortlessly, silenced us both by asking, “Who wants green juice?” Jun knew very well how to win people over.

I wanted to stay with Jun for a few more days, but I couldn’t keep my real estate office closed indefinitely. Jun and I, who lived in Seoul, inevitably became a long-distance couple.

On the third day, I decided to return home, and Jun said he wanted to go too, so we headed to the underground parking lot together. I had considered having my car repaired there, but it would be difficult to pick it up, so I decided to quickly get the door panel replaced at a nearby repair shop. Since I couldn’t open it for a while, I told Jun to sit in the back seat.

“Hyung, just a moment.”

As I reached for the car door, Jun pulled me back.

“Why? Don’t you want to sit in the back seat?”

“No. I think I brought the wrong car key.”

“Huh? This is it.”

I looked down at the car key in my hand. It was the same key I received when I bought the used car. Under the inscription commemorating the opening of Geumgang Fishing Spot, there was a fish attached.

Asking what I was saying, I looked at Jun. He smoothly took my key, put it in his back pocket, and handed me another. It wasn’t the original metal key, but a smart key.

“This isn’t mine.”

“It’s yours now, Hyung.”

“What?”

Jun grinned and led me to an imported SUV. Confused, I looked at him. He opened the driver’s side door and gestured for me to get in.

“Is it your car?”

“No. I told you, it’s yours, Hyung.”

“Where did you get it?”

“I bought it. Paid two stacks.”

“……It wasn’t two hundred, was it?”

“Who knows.”

Even a regular domestic SUV costs well over twenty million won. I sat in the driver’s seat, rolling my eyes as I scanned the various buttons. Looking at the unfamiliar dashboard and buttons, I was sure “two stacks” didn’t mean two hundred.

Jun opened the passenger door and got in. He started explaining things to me, who was just sitting there blankly. He adjusted the seat for me and told me about everything from the memory seat to the turn signals, high beams, and wipers. Even as he explained, I was bewildered. Could I really drive this? I only managed to respond with “Uh,” “Ah,” and “Uh.” Jun let out a small sigh.

“What, you don’t like the car?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, but how can you just give me something like this?”

“If it’s too much, just think of it as a lease.”

“If I break it, you’ll make me pay for it.”

I remembered Jun saying something similar when we went to eat baeksuk a long time ago, about how if I crashed his car while driving it for him, I’d have to pay for it. Jun pondered for a moment, asking, “Did I say that?” then reassured me to just drive it comfortably. It cost two stacks, could you really drive it comfortably if it were you?

“Ah, no. I… I feel burdened by this.”

The burden hit me belatedly, and I tried to unbuckle the seatbelt Jun had fastened. He grabbed my arm as I tried to get out and pulled me back into the seat.

“Let’s just drive it for a bit.”

“Hey. If you’re going to give me something like this, you should have discussed it with me. Suddenly doing this… And, the maintenance costs for a car like this aren’t cheap, what am I supposed to do? They don’t even sell premium gasoline in the countryside. Well, even if they did, I probably couldn’t afford it. Taxes, insurance… Ugh. My head hurts. You really know my situation and still give me this?”

Jun raised his eyebrows wordlessly, as if asking if that was all I had to say. Seeing my flushed face, he quietly took out a card from his wallet and handed it to me.

“It’s a check card. The PIN is 4923. Use it however you want.”

Feeling awkward, I fidgeted with my hands, not taking it. Jun slid the card between my fingers. Fearing it would fall, I reluctantly picked it up with both hands.

“W-what is this… Thank you.”

I offered my thanks in a voice so quiet it could barely be heard and closed my mouth. At times like this, I wonder if I’m truly materialistic. Actually, my old used car had been causing constant trouble, and the mechanic had told me it would be better to buy a new car than keep repairing it. So, I had been looking into a small car with a 60-month installment plan… Oh dear.

Still holding the check card with both hands, I looked at it. Jun tapped the edge of the card and warned me.

“If you don’t put it in your wallet within 10 seconds, I’ll take it back.”

I fumbled to open my wallet and put his card inside.

“Even so, I feel a bit weird about just using it freely…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll put a little money in it for you.”

“Wise.”

After the brief struggle, Jun urged me to start driving. “Okay, let’s go. I need to go home,” I said, looking under the steering wheel. But I couldn’t find the start button. While I was searching under both sides of the steering wheel, Jun just leaned his head against the passenger seat and watched.

“Where is it?”

“What?”

“You know what I’m asking.”

“Thinking about it, it feels a bit unfair.”

“What does?”

Jun looked down at me and let out a disappointed sigh, saying he was upset that after buying me a car, he received only complaints instead of thanks.

“Thank you. But, where is the start button?”

“For free?”

Jun tapped his lips with his finger and playfully said the car only started if you kissed it.

‘Sigh…’

Fine. He gave me a car, so what’s a kiss? I leaned forward and planted a peck on his lips. I intended to just lightly touch my lips and pull away, but I felt him grab the back of my head.

He held my head, leisurely inserted his tongue, and removed his hand from my hair. Then, I saw his fingers open and press the button located below the center of the dashboard.

“See? It started when you kissed it.”

“I saw you press that button.”

He never taught me anything the easy way. Glaring at him as he pointed to the start button, Jun then took my hand and placed it on the right side of the steering wheel.

“And you can switch to drive mode with these paddle shifters. To park, you just press this button again.”

My gaze darted back and forth, following Jun’s hands. It was unfamiliar, but once I understood, it seemed very convenient. Finally, I tapped the drive mode button next to the start button with my fingertip.

“Don’t turn off the air conditioning when going uphill, and use NEVE mode on snowy days.”

As I mentally reviewed what Jun had told me, a small laugh escaped him. He was leaning his head against the seat again, his lips curved into a smile.

“I’m going to start driving.”

“Okay.”

I shifted gears and slowly turned the steering wheel. It moved so smoothly, it felt like playing a car racing game. The ride quality was amazing—

“Ah, right!”

As I was about to head towards the exit, I slammed on the brakes with a screech! Jun, who had lurched forward, glared at me with a “What is it?” look.

“I need to move my stuff from my car!”

I reversed and parked in front of my old car. Jun got out with me and helped move my belongings into the trunk. I rummaged through the backseat cover, looking for any papers.

Various regional pamphlets, a crumpled map, and even some walnut cookies I didn’t remember putting there came out. Fearing Jun would scold me for them, I put them into a plastic bag I found on the ground. As I held the bag and closed the rear door, Jun approached, took the bag from me, and threw it into the trash can by the parking lot.

“Are you sure you’ve got everything now?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

I started the car again. As we left the neighborhood and merged onto the road, I glanced at Jun during a red light.

“When did you buy this car? It wasn’t in the parking lot then.”

“The day I smashed my door, I secretly went out and signed the contract.”

“Ah…”

I remembered that day, Jun had said he was going to deliver something to a friend. He had told me that, but then went to look for a car.

“It’s a bit too much for me. My car is just a used one…”

“I’ve wanted to give it to you for a while. Ever since you started commuting from far away, Hyung. I didn’t buy it for you back then on purpose, though.”

Jun covered his mouth with a smile. That was it. He hadn’t bought it for me because he wanted to drive me around himself. I was clearly in the palm of his hand all along. He might have even known from the beginning that I was ‘Kind Touch’.

Suddenly, I looked down at my hands on the steering wheel. On my left ring finger, Jun’s ring was already on. My right hand, not on the wheel, was taken by Jun, and he kissed the back of my hand.

“Junie. I’m driving.”

“Drive. You have one hand.”

After lacing his fingers with mine, Jun seemed delighted. Seeing his expression, I wanted to stop somewhere before we went home. I wanted to slowly give him everything now, too.

“Get out.”

We parked somewhere in the city, not at my house. Jun, who had been dozing off, stretched and asked where we were.

“Yeah. I have somewhere to go for a moment.”

After getting out and walking a bit, I saw a familiar sign.

A jewelry store.

Jun followed me in, looking around. Inside the store, there was an elderly grandfather. I bowed and greeted him. The grandfather, who had been reading a newspaper through his magnifying glass, stood up.

“Hello. Is what I asked for last time ready?”

“Ah. The one you asked to make from the stone ring? Wait a moment.”

Jun looked at me curiously, asking, “Stone ring?” I proudly boasted that I had one. After a while, the grandfather came out with a small box and handed it to me.

“I made it to match your weight. Look.”

The grandfather brought out a scale from somewhere and placed the ring on it, then took it off. The pure gold ring, shining with a brilliant yellow hue, felt like a treasure ring in my hand.

“Junie. Look at this radiant glow.”

“……Don’t tell me, is this mine?”

“Yeah. I melted down the stone ring Mom gave me to use when I got married. Here, try it on.”

The jewelry store grandfather went to find the warranty, telling me to say if it was too small or too big. So, I tried to put the ring on Jun’s fourth finger… it was small.

“Uh… I had this made for my index finger, but it’s small.”

“You don’t even know your boyfriend’s finger size?”

“Did it get a bit thicker after I went to the army? Haha.”

Just as the grandfather returned, I told him it was a bit small. He took the ring, asking me to wait a moment, and went somewhere with it.

“Hyung. But you said you collected stone rings. It looks like it’s barely two don (approx. 7.5g) at most.”

“……It’s because I sold them one by one whenever life got hard.”

Under Jun’s glare, I elaborated on the meaning, saying that I was giving him the oldest and most meaningful thing I owned.

Actually, for a couple’s ring, we should have gotten matching ones, but the ring Jun gave me was quite expensive. It was silver, so I thought it was just silver, but it was platinum, and I was shocked when I searched the price of a certain brand.

“I’ll add more gold later if I have the means.”

“Okay.”

The jewelry store grandfather returned and placed the ring on the glass table. I carefully picked it up and put it on Jun’s finger. Thankfully, this time it fit perfectly. Jun raised his hand and turned it around, and seemed to like it, smiling faintly.

Leaving the jewelry store, we decided to do some grocery shopping at the market and headed there. Jun followed me, occasionally looking at the ring on his finger. Seeing that made me feel inwardly proud. That I had given him all my remaining gold.

“What do you want for dinner? I’ll make it for you.”

“Then, make dakbokkeumtang. I like that.”

“Okay.”

Coincidentally, there was a fresh chicken shop right in front of us, so we walked towards it slowly. The owner of the fresh chicken shop was busy cutting up a chicken for another customer. The owner’s wife came over and asked me what I needed.

“For dakbokkeumtang.”

“Two for ten thousand won? Or, three for ten thousand won. Which would you like?”

For Jun, who loved chicken legs, I asked for three and paid. Today, I planned to give him all the chicken legs. Although I felt like I was giving him a lot today, it was nothing compared to the car I received.

The wife took out three fresh chickens and brought them to the owner, who was cutting them up. Jun was glancing at the items in the next store. Suddenly, a crowd of customers rushed in, and the wife went to attend to them. The owner, who was cutting the chicken, took off his plastic gloves and approached me with the packaged chicken.

But then…

‘Huh? That ring…’

The owner’s hand, holding the packaged bag, had a gold ring on it… It was the same design as Jun’s ring, as if he had bought it from the jewelry store. Suddenly, it looked like Jun and the owner were wearing couple rings.

Flustered, I tried to quickly take it and leave, but Jun, who had been looking at the next store, strode over and took the bag from me. For a moment, the owner of the chicken shop and Jun’s eyes met in mid-air. And I knew exactly why their eyes met. The chicken shop owner seemed embarrassed, put on new plastic gloves right after handing it over, and returned to his work.

Even after receiving it, Jun said nothing, so I thought he hadn’t seen it, and we quickly left the market. I walked along, happy with the thought of making spicy dakbokkeumtang, when Jun, walking beside me, looked down at me.

“The chicken shop owner and I became a couple. Thanks.”

“……Can’t we just let this go? It’s 24K pure gold.”

Although Jun said that, a smile never left his face, as if he liked the ring.

We drove back and parked in front of my house. Jun’s red car was also parked by our house wall. As I opened the door to get out, I saw a blue tracksuit.

“What’s with the car?”

Rovan approached us, holding a food bowl.

There weren’t many cats in our neighborhood; they were mostly at a fishing spot a bit further away. Outsiders would feed the cats fish, so they didn’t eat the food Rovan gave them. Still, he gave them cat food, thinking some might want to eat it, and now he was even collecting grain to feed the birds.

Jun answered Rovan’s question.

“What is it? It’s Hyung’s.”

“Duseon, where would he get money to buy a car like this?”

“I gave it to him as a gift. Me.”

At that, Rovan linked arms with Jun and began to earnestly plead, saying he wanted to change his car too and asking how he could get Jun to do it.

“First… let go.”

At that, Rovan immediately let go and personally picked up the groceries we had bought, opening the gate to welcome us. He knew our house’s front door password, so he opened it himself and urged us to come in.

“Is it okay to give Rovan Hyung the password?”

“Mom told him, so I couldn’t help it.”

Jun asked with slight concern, but Rovan was practically family now. Once, I asked Rovan if he didn’t need to visit his parents’ home, and he said he didn’t want to go to that hell, as he had five older sisters. Still, sometimes after visiting during holidays, he would bring back various dishes and put them in our refrigerator.

“Where’s Mom?”

“Yeah. She went to help out with some work for a bit. I made this for you to eat. Eat up.”

Jun sat at the dining table and opened the food cover to check the contents. It was kimchi-jeon. We hadn’t stopped at a rest area, so I was very hungry. I grabbed chopsticks and a small plate and sat at the table. In the meantime, Rovan brought soy sauce, and Jun took out water to drink from the refrigerator.

“I put squid in the kimchi-jeon too.”

At Rovan’s words, Jun quietly looked at the kimchi-jeon and cut a piece with a lot of squid, placing it on my plate.

“I made this, so why are you giving the squid only to Duseon?”

Rovan, grabbing Jun’s chopsticks, expressed his displeasure. Not wanting them to bicker again, I placed a piece of kimchi-jeon from my plate onto Rovan’s.

“Why are you giving what I gave you to someone else, Hyung?”

“We should share.”

“Right. Jun, you’re too stingy.”

Seeing Jun look displeased, I personally picked up a piece of kimchi-jeon and brought it to his lips. Jun, as if he had been waiting, opened his mouth and ate it.

Seeing us like that, Rovan broke off a piece of kimchi-jeon for himself and went into the living room. He wanted to show he couldn’t stand watching. We fed each other kimchi-jeon, deliberately acting more affectionate.

“I’m never making kimchi-jeon again.”

Rovan, who came to drink some water, said this and passed by, seeing our behavior.

When I woke up from my nap, the wall clock showed 8 o’clock. I was surprised that dinner time had long passed, as I had planned to make dakbokkeumtang for Jun, and sat up, looking around. I saw Jun working on his laptop at a desk a little distance from the bed.

“……Turn on the light. Your eyes will get bad.”

“Ah, you’re awake?”

“Aren’t you hungry? Why didn’t you wake me?”

“You were sleeping so soundly. I ate the dumplings Rovan brought earlier, so I’m not very hungry.”

“Still, you should eat dinner.”

Jun grabbed my hand as I was heading to the kitchen.

“It’s late, so let’s eat out today and have it tomorrow.”

“Shall we?”

I thought he was just browsing the internet, but the laptop screen I glimpsed was completely black. As I stared at it, Jun closed the laptop and said he was fiddling with something because the internet was slow. Since he had fixed computers for people in the neighborhood before, I just accepted it.

I went out of the living room, intending to see if Mom had eaten dinner too, but the light in the master bedroom was off, so she must not be back yet. Seeing my actions, Jun told me he had received a call saying she would be late.

As I stepped out the front door, I took a deep breath. The air was cooler than during the day, clearing my head. The refreshing sensation that filled my lungs completely dispelled the lingering sleepiness.

“Ah… it feels good.”

“Me?”

Jun, who had just put on his shoes, asked in response to my muttering. Wanting to tease him, I said, “No,” and started walking towards the gate, but Jun, moving faster, blocked the gate.

“Then, don’t you like me?”

“Why are you acting like this, like a child?”

“Of course, I’m younger than Hyung.”

I pondered how to respond, then grabbed Jun’s cheeks and pulled his face down.

Peck.

He seemed to like that single kiss more than any answer, and Jun obediently turned around and opened the gate.

Afterward, we walked to the end of the neighborhood, deciding what to eat. There weren’t many restaurants near the market, so we didn’t have many choices.

I wanted to go to the barbecue restaurant we had visited before, but Jun didn’t like me going in and out of the kitchen. So, I was going to go to a place that served dongtae-jjigae (pollack stew), but Jun suggested we go to the barbecue restaurant first.

“Wasn’t it inconvenient there?”

“I ate comfortably, but Hyung had a hard time. I’ll do it this time.”

As we walked to the barbecue restaurant, we talked about everything from our army days to our time spent here, having many stories to share after being apart for so long. I also mentioned how I worked various part-time jobs on farms after the real estate market didn’t do well the year I parted ways with Jun.

“Which of those jobs was the hardest?”

“Hmm…….”

The jobs I’d done flashed through my mind. During kimchi season, I’d wander around various cabbage fields, and picking peppers or perilla leaves was manageable as long as I didn’t have to go inside the greenhouse. During rice planting, blood would rush to my head, making me dizzy, but still, the hardest thing was carrying watermelons.

“Carrying watermelons was the toughest. I really thought my back was going to break.”

“Was it harder than when you did it with me?”

“Similar……. Hey, on the street, a little.”

Even though no one was there, I looked around unnecessarily. In this neighborhood, there are no people on the streets, but PC bangs and bars are always packed.

The barbecue restaurant we had just arrived at also had a fair number of villagers. As expected, there were no cleared tables, so as I was about to clear a table and sit down, Jun brought over a silver tray and started placing empty plates on it.

“Junie, I’ll do it. Sit down.”

“No. Hyung is here. I’ll do it.”

Since Jun had been here once before, he knew where the utensils and food were and arranged them well. As we took turns clearing and setting the table, we were able to sit down quickly. We ordered three servings of samgyeopsal, and the CEO, who brought a portion that clearly looked like more than one geun, took a bottle of soju from the refrigerator, called it a service, and went to another table.

“Still the same.”

Jun, perhaps finding this scene familiar now, smiled faintly and opened the soju bottle.

“Ah, I forgot to put in the charcoal.”

As I started to get up, Jun stopped me. He said he would get it and asked me to wait, but just as he was about to get up, Rovan, wearing blue tracksuits, brought over charcoal and put it on our table.

“When did you get here? Did you order meat?”

“Why are you here?”

“Me? I work part-time in the evenings.”

Jun looked Rovan up and down, who was wearing blue tracksuits and an apron, and praised him sarcastically for being so diligent.

“Call me if you need anything.”

Rovan placed the charcoal on our table and headed to another. I thought he was going to work, but instead, Rovan sat down among the customers at another table and started drinking. It seemed to be a gathering of the local soccer club, as everyone was wearing blue uniforms. Sitting among them, Rovan was almost invisible, like camouflage.

‘No wonder I couldn’t see him.’

Sang-cheol, whom I had briefly encountered on the street before, had casually mentioned that Rovan seemed like he was born and raised here and would probably become the village head later.

When I first followed him here to live, I thought he would go back to Seoul soon, but Rovan seemed to like this place. He chatted with many of the adults and played soccer with the kids at the playground at dusk. Honestly, he seemed more like a local than I did.

As we were grilling meat and making wraps, we saw a newly arrived customer clearing a table just like us. Jun glared at Rovan’s back when he saw this. However, Rovan suddenly stood up, struck a soccer-shooting pose, and engaged in a heated discussion with those customers.

“Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of hiring an employee?”

“……Right. It seems like Rovan works here just to drink.”

Feeling something was missing, I said, “Should I get some doenjang jjigae?” and started to get up, but Jun got up first and skillfully placed the stew on the burner. He had only been here twice, yet he remembered everything he saw, acting with such proficiency. It was as if we had grown up together since school.

“Do you want more of this?”

When the lettuce and perilla leaves ran out, Jun again tried to get up to fetch them, but I stopped him and brought them myself.

As I was returning to my seat with the lettuce and perilla leaves, he was once again fiddling with the gold ring on his hand and smiling. Actually, I had thought about getting him a different design because the ring’s design was too common, but Jun insisted he liked it this way and clutched the ring tightly.

When I returned to my seat, ate a wrap with meat, and poured Jun a drink, someone plopped down at our table.

“Hey, Kkokji. Pour me a drink too.”

Hae-jin, whose face was flushed as if he had been drinking elsewhere, arrived. Jun glanced at him briefly, and I poured him a drink too. Hae-jin, looking resentful, pointed at Jun and me alternately.

“You two―, you two, are you just going to hog everything?”

“Hog what?”

“No, in a place this cramped, is it okay for you two to be happy alone?”

Jun had always looked at Hae-jin with the eyes of a rival. Just the title of my first love seemed to give him a million reasons to be wary of her. I had told him countless times that it wasn’t necessary, but he remained the same.

“Yeah. It is.”

It was drunken rambling, so I could have just let it slide, but Jun eventually started to retort to Hae-jin’s words. Hae-jin then said, “What good is being divorced if you’re not like you used to be?” and pointed at me, saying I had never refused a confession in my prime.

“Kkokji, you too offered your pure heart to me.”

“Hey……. Just forget it already.”

“Kkokji……. No, Duseon. Do you, does love change?”

He was still bringing up confessions from ages ago. It had been boiled down so long ago that it had become pure water. However, people always recall their prime during vulnerable times. So, I just accepted it, thinking he must have had a bad day. As I raised my hand to pat Hae-jin’s back, who was slumped over, Jun grabbed my hand and pulled it down.

“Ugh……!”

After finishing his lament, Hae-jin sat up and lay down on the long seating area in the back. Seeing him huddled up in a thin short-sleeved shirt looked pathetic, so I brought over a few aprons and covered him.

Not long after, we finished our meal and were about to pay when Jun pointed at the sleeping Hae-jin.

“Can I leave him here?”

“Yeah……. You can. The CEO is Hae-jin’s father.”

A short distance from where Hae-jin was sleeping, the CEO was sleeping in a chair. Seeing the CEO asleep, the customers paid for their food via their phones and left. We also paid with our cards and quietly left.

“Leaving already?”

Just then, we ran into Rovan, who had just come back with makgeolli from the neighboring store.

“Yeah. I’m full. The CEO is sleeping.”

“Hyung Rovan, don’t you feel guilty getting paid for working like that?”

“Not at all?”

As Jun pressed him, Rovan shook the makgeolli and went inside the store. Through the slightly open door, I saw Rovan bringing an extra chair and placing it next to the sleeping CEO to prevent him from falling.

“Hyung, let’s go now.”

“Okay.”

Walking home with Jun felt so good. Sharing this kind of daily life meant sharing life itself. Even though Jun lived in Seoul and we couldn’t always be together, I felt like I wouldn’t be lonely if we accumulated these memories one by one.

The next day. I closed the real estate office early and had an early dinner with Jun. On our way home, we talked about what to do in the evening, and when we reached our house’s gate, Jun said he hadn’t taken something out of the car and asked me to open the trunk.

When I opened the trunk and approached, I saw a familiar box. Jun lifted two boxes and closed the trunk. Taking one of them, I looked closely and realized it was a box I knew.

“Is this……, a Blood Planet access device?”

“That’s right. One was mine, and I bought a new one for you.”

“When? They said they weren’t producing these for a while. Don’t tell me, did you buy this in advance too?”

“When you said you were selling access devices before, I bought one in advance. Let’s play after a long time.”

Jun, sounding very excited, pushed open the gate before me and went inside. I hadn’t logged in since we parted ways. I worried my character might have been deleted, but thankfully, it had only been converted to a dormant account.

Jun sat on the chair at my desk in my room and attempted to log in, while I brought an armchair from my mother’s room. This was the first time we were logging in from the same room.

I hadn’t played games for nearly two years, but I put on the gloves and helmet as if I had played just a few days ago. Soon, a familiar message appeared before my eyes.

<>

<>

Naturally, the last point was the Guild Hideout. The place where I had linked with Shut Up. Just like when I logged out, a cuckoo clock hung on the wall, the sofa where we had lounged, and the door leading to the small bedroom were all still there.

It felt like returning to another home, a welcome feeling. Shut Up opened the door wide and walked in.

“You were here.”

“Yeah. I guess it feels familiar since it’s been a while. By the way, did you get all your gear? It looks more flashy than before?”

“I logged in and played occasionally.”

Looking at Shut Up’s outfit, it wasn’t a set. He used to wear all black from head to toe, but his red gloves occasionally flashed, and his belt was a gaudy rainbow color. Bubbles came out of the belt, forming a protective shield around him.

“Hmm……”

As I scanned his gear from head to toe, Shut Up feigned ignorance and asked if I wasn’t going hunting. So, I said, “Okay, let’s go,” but as he turned away, angel wings spread wide behind him and then disappeared.

“Huh? Elsumban?”

“Ah, I found it.”

“How?”

“Well……. Similar to how Hyung did?”

The story was that the goddess was trying to quit the game and wanted to sell her sub-character, Elsumban. Jun knew this, laid the groundwork, and met her at the trading spot. Then, he asked a friend to handle the trade on his behalf and swallowed the goddess.

“Swallowed?”

“RootHug helped me out then, saying sorry.”

At the time of the trade, the goddess had Elsumban in her inventory, so RootHug eating her wouldn’t have worked. So, Shut Up’s friend asked if the item was genuine, and the goddess put on a ring briefly. In that moment, RootHug, who was behind her, quickly swallowed her.

RootHug also thought that when they conspired to kill Shut Up back then, it was just for revenge. But their goal wasn’t just to kill him once; they did it to steal his items. That’s why RootHug later felt sorry and helped Shut Up when he learned the truth.

“Is RootHug playing these days too?”

“Yeah. He is. But, if you see him now, you probably wouldn’t recognize him. He used to dress like a Prince.”

While I hadn’t been playing the game, many events had occurred, and much had changed. However, one thing remained the same: the village banner. Sunshine Angel and Bidblind were still continuing their reputation as the server’s number one Partner.

As I looked at it, Shut Up shared new information.

“Server 1 is no longer Bidblind.”

“Then?”

“What was his name? PC? Desktop? There’s this annoying bastard.”

As Shut Up was trying to recall the name, someone answered him from behind us and approached.

“Compyuta.”

Hearing the voice, I turned around and saw Moment.

“Huh? Rovan, you logged in too?”

Moment had changed his armor, as he looked even more flamboyant. And the guild mark next to his name wasn’t [Silence].

“Ah, right. That Compyuta bastard.”

Shut Up nodded, confirming it was that bastard. Then, seeing Rovan’s name, I tilted my head, and he explained about him too.

“Ah, the guild Ipdae rejoined after his discharge, so Rovan left again.”

“Ah, I see.”

“I told you before, didn’t I? I founded a guild.”

Moment must have just let it slide because he used to come to the real estate office and ramble on about what happened in the game.

“Who’s in your guild?”

“RootHug, SweetPotato, and me.”

Moment tried to entice me by asking if I wanted to join, but seeing Shut Up’s expression, he said it was a joke and told him to relax, then offered something else.

“How about I boost you?”

When Moment said that, I expected Shut Up to refuse outright, but surprisingly, he replied, “Yeah, boost me.” Shut Up receiving a boost… I couldn’t imagine it.

Listening to their subsequent conversation, Moment was level 130, and Shut Up was 89. In the past, Shut Up had been ranked higher than Moment, but it was natural to have a gap when he went to the military.

“So, where are we going with our low-level characters?”

Moment, looking triumphant, spread out the map and pondered. However, there was no place for us, with our different levels, to go together harmoniously. If we matched Shut Up’s level, I would need resistances, but with my current armor, I’d be cut off at the entrance. On the other hand, catching 6-70 level bosses to match my situation would be inefficient.

As we put our heads together and thought, I suddenly remembered a dungeon that generated based on average level.

“What about going to that Phantom Forest? As long as we don’t open the strange doors, isn’t that okay?”

Moment shot Shut Up a dubious glance. However, Shut Up showed no sign of remorse for his past actions. He just looked at us with a “What about it?” expression. Moment still seemed upset about what happened back then.

“If it’s decided, let’s go quickly.”

I hurried to mediate between them and Warped to [Phantom Forest].

Moment, the party leader, created the dungeon and pressed the enter button.

<>

When did it change like this? I expected something to chase us and that the stage would end as we ran away, but as soon as we entered, we were standing on a training ground-like space. It was surrounded by barriers, similar to the royal palace training ground where Bidblind and Carrot had fought.

What were we supposed to do? I looked around, but there was nothing. Then, Shut Up clapped his hands, remembering.

“Ah, I remember this. This is how I entered.”

“Huh? So, we’re the stage bosses?”

“Sounds fun. We just wait and kill the people who open the door and come in? That’s awesome.”

Moment sat down with a sigh, glad he didn’t have to run around. But how long would we have to wait? We sat around chatting.

Just as we were about to suggest that we should just gather in the yard and play Monopoly with late-night snacks instead of playing games, since it wasn’t much different from reality…

<>

<>

A notification appeared in the center of the screen indicating that combat would begin soon. I didn’t know if three people were entering like us, but I could predict that the opponent would struggle.

As expected, Moment’s and Shut Up’s PG dropped to 0 percent and stayed there. And I, as the Guide, gained entirely new skills, and the skills I already had gained buffs as they leveled up.

Casting [Haste] not only made my movements faster but also gave me a Stealth skill for 3 seconds. [Shield] also had its duration tripled, and it could also increase the attack power of an allied unit under [Shield] by 50 percent.

They said that when you’re with a high-level Guide, the Psychic becomes a cheat character, and that was no lie. All skills were enhanced with buffs, maximizing combat effectiveness. There was even [Goddess’s Blessing], which activated upon reaching level 100. However, I ignored it because it only activated if I died.

And [Relax], which lowered PG, was deactivated, and [Healing] was newly added. This was because Moment and Shut Up didn’t need to lower their PG anymore. But, on the other hand, I started to feel uneasy. How strong was the opponent for high-level skills to be activated?

However, the person who entered opposite us looked ordinary, unlike the flashy Shut Up and Moment. Moment and Shut Up seemed to know him, as they chuckled in disbelief the moment they saw him.

“Well, look who it is, Compyuta.”

“Ah, fuck. Seeing that bastard here.”

Compyuta slowly approached us. He was alone. But, as the server’s number one Psychic, he looked arrogant even facing the three of us. Moment and Shut Up glared at him with extreme annoyance. I understood why through their conversation.

“Hey, what’s this? Are you two hooking up again?”

“What are you talking about? You’re the one who backstabs.”

“Did you do a lot of backstabbing? To reach rank 1?”

Before they could fight, they were already dissing each other. Listening to their conversation, I realized Compyuta was the Psychic who had backstabbed them when Moment and Shut Up were targeting me for PK.

At the time, he was somewhat of a helpful presence to me, but seeing him in person, he looked very ordinary. Unlike Shut Up or Moment, he wasn’t holding anything flashy, and his outfit was the [Ordinary Daily Wear] cash item. It was the kind of outfit you’d commonly see someone wearing to the supermarket in real life. So, I couldn’t tell what equipment he was actually wearing or what skills he used.

However, I was the only one who didn’t know Compyuta’s identity, as Shut Up and Moment immediately switched to combat readiness. I heard Shut Up whisper.

“Don’t worry about us and stay as far away as possible. That guy is a Chronomancer, he Warps.”

The computer approached with an incredibly leisurely stride. It was the complete opposite of Moment, who held the Fire Ring, and Shut Up, who wielded the Thunderclap Spear, giving me a good feeling that the duel might end quickly.

“What are you doing? Come at me.”

Moment maximized his Fire Ring and sent it flying towards where the computer stood. However, the figure that seemed to be walking right in front of us slightly distorted and vanished. Then, he was approaching from behind us with the same leisurely pace.

I wasn’t the only one surprised by this. Shut Up, perhaps predicting the computer’s movement, turned around and threw his spear, then tossed a chain towards a spot a little further away. It was truly a fleeting moment as I saw the computer leap. He looked a bit surprised that his movements were predicted.

“You said you quit, but you’re pretty good?”

“Quit what? That you, of all people, are rank 1? Has BP become a dead game?”

The computer said, “You probably don’t know my reputation since you haven’t logged in for a while,” and began to boast at length. Shut Up, perhaps finding his words annoying, started to activate voice mute, but then lowered his hand again, possibly worried it would interfere with the fight.

While the computer was rambling on alone, Moment cast Meteor above his head, dropping a fiery inferno. To keep up with the computer, who was warping around and disappearing just within reach, I cast [Haste] on the two of them. In an instant, I saw the two, who had activated Stealth, appear right next to the computer, weapons drawn.

As Moment’s Fire Ring attempted to ensnare the computer, it vanished, and Shut Up turned around, unleashing a waterfall of lightning towards me.

“Careful!”

An immense roar and flash enveloped me. I closed my eyes and covered my ears, but the roar persisted. As the ground crackled and quieted, I opened my eyes to find Shut Up standing in front of me. A little distance away, the computer was looking down at us.

“I intended to eliminate the petty Guide first, but aren’t you being overly protective?”

“Eliminate us first.”

Meanwhile, Moment leaped, turning the surroundings into a sea of flames. It seemed he intended to inflict continuous damage on anyone approaching me on the ground, but the computer paid it no mind.

Next, the computer’s counterattack began. As he reached out his hand, a formation circle materialized in space, and a beam shot out from it. Shut Up, who was only looking straight ahead and couldn’t predict it, tried to dodge quickly but was hit in the shoulder. I swiftly cast [Healing] and [Shield] to minimize his damage.

Moment also sent Meteor and Fire Ring towards the computer, but he kept warping away, making it difficult to land a hit. Shut Up and Moment were struggling to corner the computer with area-of-effect attacks. I, too, dodged frantically whenever the computer warped.

The computer also seemed to have trouble hitting Shut Up and Moment, who were constantly leaping and flying in the air. If this continued, the computer’s PG would eventually fill up. That would mean he would lose. Suddenly, as if making a decision, the computer moved to a spot a little further away and cast a spell on the entire space.

“[Gravity Field]!”

The pulling force intensified so much that the entire training ground seemed to sink down. Even I, who was standing, couldn’t withstand it and fell face-down on the ground. Amidst this, I felt an even stronger gravity, as if my internal organs were being absorbed into the earth.

“Ugh!”

It wasn’t just me; Moment and Shut Up also fell to the ground like fallen leaves. They bent one knee, desperately trying to resist the force pulling them from the ground. Shut Up struggled to lift his head and looked at me. My HP continued to decrease.

‘…I think I’m going to die like this. What should I do.’

I felt regret that I couldn’t even cast [Shield] on them. Shut Up and Moment were still standing, but my HP was dwindling because I was low level. If I died, perhaps they could still defeat the computer. After thinking this, I simply watched my HP decrease at ease.

However, just as I was about to die, the computer was creating something above Shut Up and Moment. A small, dark blue sphere began to form, spinning and consuming the surrounding space. And it slowly began to descend above our heads.

“Ah, I’m going to get sucked into a black hole, how unlucky.”

Moment struggled to lift his head and look up, then sighed. Shut Up then warned me that all three of us would be annihilated. He told me that whether you had a lot of HP or not, getting sucked into a black hole meant instant death.

The black hole moved slowly, so few users were actually caught by it, but he mentioned that during a PK where he was targeted, he had fallen into a black hole trap while Moment and Shut Up were distracted by a fight.

‘I have to save those two.’

I need to attack the computer from behind… As a Guide, I couldn’t think of anything that could deliver a decisive blow. Then, I suddenly remembered the rock monster that had paralyzed Shut Up. Such a transformation item… Ah!

The dark blue sphere was like a noose from which one could never escape. And as it slowly descended, my HP had already hit rock bottom.

<>

However, instead of the screen turning black and white, a goddess with spread wings appeared in the center of the screen.

<<'Goddess's Blessing' is activated.>>

<>

Being invincible for 10 seconds was a directive to quickly warp to town. But I didn’t want to escape alone. As soon as I became invincible, I ran towards the computer, who was controlling the black hole.

“What is that now?”

The computer, thinking it was just a reckless act, sneered at me. He had a look of pity, as if to say, “What can you possibly do?”

“Hyung, just run away!”

Shut Up yelled from behind, telling me to go to town. But I couldn’t. I took out a ball filled with a rainbow-colored liquid from my inventory. And I threw it directly at the computer.

Pong—!

Kukukuk!! Kwagwang! Amidst the loud noises, a cute sound effect was heard.

A puff of smoke rose, and a cute pink slime appeared. As soon as the computer transformed into a slime, the slowly descending black hole disappeared, and the gravity field was released.

“Nice!”

“Hyung, not bad?”

Moment got up, stretching his neck left and right, and Shut Up also stretched one arm, approaching the computer.

“Ah, what is this! You can’t make these anymore. The last one I saw on the auction house was a year ago?!”

“You’re absolutely right. But what can you do? Our Dajeong, who returned after 2 years, must have had one.”

At that moment, Shut Up, who had been looking down at the slime, suddenly turned his head and looked at me. His gaze was unusual.

“But why do you have something like this, Hyung? Did you… buy it to use on me?”

To his accurate guess, I just played dumb. Seeing Shut Up turned into a slime in the past was strangely satisfying, and his grumbling as he crawled away was also cute, so it was true that I had bought it to use again.

The computer, now a slime, was slowly trying to escape while we were talking. But it was still much slower than our walking speed. Shut Up approached and stomped on him.

“Hey! You bastards! This is cheating!”

“What’s cheating?”

“The one who backstabbed is talking too much.”

Moment and Shut Up crouched in front of the slime and began to torment him in earnest. Moment began to jab downwards with his Fire Ring held vertically, and Shut Up covered his palm with electricity and slapped him repeatedly.

I was certain it was a personal grudge, as they could have just used their skills but were doing this instead. The computer, who had been complaining at first, eventually gave up and resigned himself to being hit, thinking, ‘Fine, hit me.’ But even that wasn’t enough for Moment, who kept provoking him.

“Hey, Computer. Aren’t you an old geezer? What’s with ‘Computer’? You should say ‘Computer’ or ‘PC’. What era are you from? Is it like the ‘Computer Laundry’ in front of my Grandmother’s house? You played games on DOS, didn’t you?”

“Seeing as he’s not talking, he looks over fifty. Should an old person backstab kids? Is it fun to be rank 1 on the server by backstabbing?”

As Shut Up said, perhaps he was indeed an elderly person, as the computer suddenly lost his temper and yelled.

“Shut your damn mouths!!! You sewer rats! Stop picking fights and live your lives! Before I bury you in the mountains!!”

“Does your false teeth not fall out when you yell like that?”

“You get fined if you bury someone in the mountains these days, you punk. Ah, but I’m starting to feel a little sorry for him.”

Shut Up’s words and actions differed. Although he said he felt sorry, he slapped the computer every time he complained. Watching their bullying, I started to think it was going too far and approached them.

“Stop it and kill him. That’s how it ends. Besides, he’ll be more dangerous when the transformation wears off in an hour.”

At my persuasion, Shut Up agreed and delivered a final, powerful slap. The slime jiggled like jelly from the strong impact.

“Then, shall we grind him up?”

Moment adjusted his grip on the Fire Ring and prepared to cast a spell. But Shut Up stopped him, holding the computer down to the floor with an electric chain.

“This way, he’ll be properly ground, right?”

The computer squirmed, trying to break free, but it was futile. If it had been Bidblind, a strength-based character, he might have broken the chain, but this guy was a psychic, an intelligence-based character, so unlike others who fought physically, he lacked basic stamina.

“You brats! Do you know who I am?”

“Who are you? You’re Computer.”

As the computer tried to say something else, Moment inserted the ring vertically into his mouth, forcing it open wide.

“Let’s stretch it to its limit. I’m curious how much it’ll tear.”

Shut Up, urging him to stop and kill him quickly, grabbed Moment’s shoulder. Then, from a distance, he raised one hand into the air and began to grow an electric sphere.

Moment roughly pulled the ring from the slime’s mouth and tossed it upwards, chanting the spell [Desperado]. The ring grew large enough to swallow the slime and began to spin in all directions. Knowing what was about to happen, I hid behind a pillar, peeking out.

As it began to shred the top of the slime’s head, the computer spewed all sorts of curses.

“I will surely catch all of you and make you suffer!! You damn bastards!!”

“Why are you thrashing around like that when you could just die cleanly? Ah, right. I need to capture this.”

As the computer began to be ground, Moment moved around, taking pictures. With a whirr like a blade, slime fragments began to scatter everywhere! Pink, sticky liquid splattered onto the pillar where I was hiding.

At some point, the computer’s curses could no longer be heard. About halfway through being ground, Moment extended his hand. The spinning ring stopped and was caught in his hand.

It could have ended there, but Shut Up was still growing a massive electric sphere. I could hear a loud crackling sound from above; he had been growing it all this time.

It was an excessively large electric sphere. Shut Up pulled his arm back and threw it towards the ground. The shockwave was so strong that I could be blown away, so I held onto the pillar tightly.

Kugung—!!

The spot where Shut Up threw it was so deeply cratered, as if a meteor had fallen, and no remnants of the slime were visible.

<<'Computer' has died.>>

<>

I brushed the fragments off my clothes and looked down at the crater. Something was sparkling in the center. Shut Up went down and picked it up.

“Ha, this bastard had it.”

“Junie, what is it?”

“Elsumban.”

Moment, who was polishing the ring, exclaimed, “What?” and rushed over. When I asked how that was possible since I didn’t see angel wings, they both thought for a moment and speculated that the buff might have been hidden by an appearance item.

They reasoned that if paid appearance items could hide armor effects, then ring effects might also be set to be invisible. They suggested that the computer might have deliberately hidden the Elsumban, wearing ordinary attire, fearing he would become a target for many people if he possessed such an item.

“Computer is high level, would he need to do that? Shut Up, you wore it too.”

“Computer backstabbed high-level players, so he doesn’t have many close friends. I just thought he was an annoying guy, but if he had such a good item… that changes things.”

I hadn’t known there were people worse than Shut Up. Remembering the numerous posts criticizing Shut Up on the bulletin boards, I concluded that most of them were likely posted by people related to the Goddess. Hearing this, Moment explained that Shut Up was a bit different from the computer.

“Even though Shut Up bullied low-level players, he fought high-level players fairly. There was a general consensus that he was respected.”

“Hyung, I told you. I’m likable.”

“Junie. I don’t think it’s quite that far.”

Perhaps it was because I only saw posts about Shut Up? Many others were posting content slandering each other, but I didn’t notice.

<>

I used a return scroll to move to town. Then, the three of us met under the same banner as before.

“Elsumban, what should we do?”

Shut Up had it for now, but since it wasn’t entirely his, he looked back and forth between the two of us. I then made a wiser suggestion.

“Give it to Moment. If I hold it, I’ll drop it.”

“…You want me to give it to Rovan Hyung?”

“Yes, give it to me.”

Despite my concession, Shut Up didn’t readily hand it over. Moment whined, asking if he could just give it to him, so Shut Up activated voice mute in front of him.

Once the surroundings became quiet, Shut Up, facing me, asked if I truly had no regrets, questioning why I would willingly give it up when I had previously tried to take it from him, and urged me to focus on what I had to say.

“In a way, you caught the computer. If it weren’t for the Transformation Ball, the two of us couldn’t have caught him.”

“But it’s a bit burdensome for me to hold onto it. My level is low, so I’ll just drop it again.”

“Then, let’s do that.”

Moment, realizing he had been muted, just glared at Shut Up. After talking with me, Shut Up, as if making a decision, finally unmuted Moment.

“Rovan Hyung.”

“Are you going to give it to me?”

“I’ll give it to you. But there’s a condition.”

“What is it?”

“While I’m in Seoul, help out the elders in my stead. For example, if there’s physical labor to be done, do it for me.”

I found that condition very agreeable. Moment chimed in with a shrug, saying, “That’s not difficult.”

“That’s not difficult at all.”

Shut Up repeatedly emphasized his request to the beaming Moment before handing over the ring. As Moment put on the ring, angel wings unfurled behind him.

“Wow— So this is what it feels like.”

Moment exclaimed that he felt refreshed with the surge of energy, saying it was worth the high price. He seemed even happier that he had taken the item from the computer.

Looking at their PG, Moment’s had increased somewhat, while Shut Up’s had barely increased. Since there was no need to Link separately, and he wanted to quit the game and rest, Shut Up suggested going to the Guild Hideout for a bit.

Upon entering the Guild Hideout, I saw Shut Up heading to the second floor. Thinking he might have business at the item storage, I followed him.

“Hyung. This way.”

As I was about to go towards the guild storage, Shut Up pointed towards the Guild Master’s office. He opened the door and waited, so I slipped inside.

“Why? Did you want to say something—”

Before I could finish my sentence, my lips were met, and his damp breath seeped between my teeth. I hadn’t realized it in front of Moment, who only acted demurely, but his lower body pressed tightly against me seemed to convey his desire to do this.

Kissing like this now wasn’t an act to lower PG, but simply an act of affection. Shut Up, slowly exploring my mouth, gently pushed me back and sat me on the sofa. Naturally, he removed all his armor.

“My mother is at home, so let’s do it like this.”

At Shut Up’s suggestion, I also removed my armor and wrapped my arms around his neck. Tilting my head, I accepted his tongue deep into my mouth, and he let out ragged breaths as he laid me down.

“Haa… Hhht.”

Shut Up, straddling me with his knees bent, pushed his penis towards my face. Fully understanding his intention, I slowly took his penis in my hand and began to lick it. As my soft tongue traced the veins of his shaft, Shut Up’s long fingers dug into my hair.

“Good…”

I had caressed his cock like this in reality before. Back then, his cock had been slick with precum, which I licked off, but in the game, neither the feeling of his throbbing cock nor his honey-like precum appeared. As I looked up with eyes full of disappointment, Shut Up lowered his head and approached.

“Ahhh……”

Shut Up’s tongue lingered on the line of my lips before tracing a long path along my jawline, making me tingle. As I let out a short laugh, he seemed to like my reaction, as he then gently sucked on my earlobe and inserted his tongue into my ear canal.

“Ah! Hhng, Jjuni……. It tickles.”

I felt ticklishness, exhilaration, and a strange arousal all at once. I had never felt my body was sensual before, but everywhere Shut Up touched, it burned as if breaking out in a rash.

“Haa……”

Shut Up moved from my neck, lightly pressing down on my shoulder as he burrowed between my legs. He grabbed my thighs and spread them wide, then began to push his cock into the gap. My abs clenched once, and unlike in reality, he pushed all the way in without any hesitation.

“Ahhh……”

“Hyung, hyung……. Haa……”

Even though our lower bodies were pressed together without any space, he continued to thrust deeper into me. Only when he was deep inside did he begin to move his hips languidly, and the act quickly became rough.

“Ngh……, Ugh!”

I grabbed Shut Up’s face, which was relentlessly pounding into me, and pulled him down. With my heightened breaths, hot steam filled my mouth, and I tried to wrap my tongue around his slippery one, but it wouldn’t catch. With a groan, I sucked him in, and only then did he gently offer me his tongue.

“Aah, J-just a little, sl-slow……, Hhng!”

Unlike his kind mouth, his lower half was very unkind. He clung to me desperately, as if I would die if he detached. Due to the relentless sex, my head had slid to the edge of the sofa, and when I relaxed, my head tilted back.

As my head tilted back, Shut Up bit my exposed Adam’s apple and traced it with his tongue in a circle. I barely managed to lift my head and look at him, and only then did he wrap his arm around the back of my neck and pull me up with force.

“This position feels new.”

“J-Junie……. This is a bit……”

This time, Shut Up lay below and I was seated on top of him. My lower body trembled from his cock, which had entered deeper than usual.

I managed to prop myself up on my knees and placed my hands on his heaving chest, barely holding on with my trembling body to prevent him from thrusting deeper. But as soon as a small gap formed below, he seemed to dislike it and thrust his hips upward.

“Haa, Ugh.”

My upper body naturally bent forward with the sensation of him thrusting up, just as I was barely holding on. I grabbed his shoulders to try and stop myself from collapsing further, but he ignored my efforts and rocked his pelvis even harder.

Shut Up, who had been thrusting his pelvis powerfully enough to make slapping sounds, then grabbed my weakly swaying waist and fixed it, like driving in a stake.

“Ah, Ah! Hhng! J-just a moment, Hhng……!”

“Deeper……. Haa, I want to go deeper.”

It felt like my insides, which had had a little room, were now completely filled with him. The overwhelming pleasure caused endless moans to erupt from my throat.

I didn’t even realize saliva was dripping down the side of my mouth from panting and moaning so much. Shut Up looked up at me from below, then lifted his upper body and licked around my lips. Ignoring my collapsing body, he continued to thrust like he was sprinting.

“Hhng……”

Finally, I collapsed, falling onto Shut Up’s chest, and felt my semen flow out between our joined upper bodies. It was certain my pants would have been soaked in reality too.

“Hyung, Haa……”

Shut Up continued to move, not caring that our bodies were slick. At some point, he entered me so deeply it felt like I was being pierced, and his pelvis stiffened. Just like in real sex, he ejaculated inside me, and his cock, which filled me completely, blocked the semen from leaking out.

The GG meter must have been full, as a beeping warning sound was heard, but Shut Up didn’t feed me Chitosan as before. Instead, he pulled my face towards him and kissed me.

Connected above and below, we kissed for a long time, and I had no choice but to pass out and end the game.

<>

I took off the helmet and opened my eyes. As expected, my underwear was wet. With a troubled expression, I looked across and saw Jun taking off his helmet a moment after me.

Then, Jun looked down at his pants and let out a simple laugh. He then walked over to where I was sitting, bent down, and kissed me deeply, just like in the game.

One thing was for sure. A kiss in reality was much better. I sucked and twirled his smooth tongue in my mouth. Feeling a little aroused, I reached to put my hand inside Jun’s pants, but he grabbed my wrist.

“We need to change our underwear.”

“Junie, should we shower together?”

Jun smiled brightly at my suggestion, saying, “Really?” At the same time, my mother’s voice was heard from outside the door.

“Son!”

Jun answered first, “Yes!” We both couldn’t help but laugh awkwardly. I yielded the bathroom to Jun first.

The next day, I saw Jun off as he headed to Seoul. This must be the biggest worry for long-distance couples. When you meet and the mood is just right, you have to part.

“Junie, eat the side dishes in the fridge well. And always drive slowly.”

“Okay. I’ll call you when I arrive.”

“I’ll handle the car disposal application. Please take care of the tow truck driver when they come.”

“Uh-huh.”

Even though it was time for him to leave, Jun kept delaying. Earlier, he suddenly asked about the rent for my real estate office, and then kept talking, asking me to make dakbokkeumtang again when he visits next time.

We spent over 30 minutes saying goodbye like this when someone approached us.

“Anyone seeing this would think we’re a family separated by war. Junie, you’ll be back soon anyway.”

It was Hae-jin. She seemed quite displeased lately.

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to give some kimchi to the grandmother next door, but no one was home, so I was leaving it by the door. And her blue tracksuit is missing. Where did Grandmother go?”

“She’s probably in the fields. Rovan has been wandering around a lot lately too.”

“Yeah, it suits a neighborhood fool to be roaming around everywhere. Anyway.”

Hae-jin looked Jun up and down, who was standing by the car.

“City boy. Why do you keep coming to our neighborhood?”

“Can’t I come?”

“If you’re coming, bring a handsome guy next time. Don’t come alone.”

I pushed her away, telling her to stop making such unreasonable demands on a child. But Hae-jin, unbothered by my pushing, spun around and emphasized to Jun once more.

“You promised me!”

Jun stood with his arms crossed, looking expressionless, then nodded. Seemingly satisfied with his answer, Hae-jin walked away triumphantly.

“Are you really going to bring someone? Who?”

“I’ll bring Sangjung and Mandu Hyung, I guess.”

“Mandu Hyung?”

“Yeah, he’s someone who wants to date.”

Somehow, the conversation got long again. Standing there like this, Jun wouldn’t be able to leave today.

“Junie, you have to go now. You’ll be late.”

I opened the driver’s side door and urged him to get in. Jun stood reluctantly at the car door, looking down at me. Even though I was the one pushing him to go, and he had to go back to Seoul for work, he looked at me with a resentful gaze.

I let out a small sigh and opened my arms. Jun, as if drawn by a magnet, pulled me into a hug. Our bodies pressed together so tightly I could barely breathe, and he buried his face in my neck, whispering softly that he didn’t want to go.

“You can come again on the weekend, or I can come.”

I said that, patting his back. Since it was the neighborhood, it felt awkward for two men to be hugging, so I didn’t hold on for long and pulled away.

Jun, who had slightly distanced himself, then wearily got into the driver’s seat. As he started the engine, I waved at him, but the car window rolled down.

“Hyung.”

“Why, did you forget something?”

As I tilted my head at his call, a long arm reached out, cupped the back of my head, and pulled me down, our lips meeting. After kissing for a long time, his tongue thoroughly exploring my mouth, he withdrew his hand.

I wiped my mouth, smeared with his saliva, with my thumb and watched the window roll up. Glancing at me, Jun finally drove away.

I also felt a sense of loss about this long-distance relationship. When I went to my real estate office, the absence of his car, which I used to see every day, made me feel empty. I had shown some patience because I was the older one. Honestly, I wanted to show my disappointment more.

“……Right, I’ll endure.”

Jun’s car, receding into the distance, disappeared around the corner.

After Jun left, I kept his car, which he had bought me, parked in front of the house. My mother became curious, asking why his car was always outside instead of mine.

So, when I honestly told her that Jun had bought it for me……, my mother scolded me severely. She told me to return it. She said it was wrong for me, as the older sibling, to accept such a car instead of giving something to my younger brother.

But that was because my mother didn’t know about Jun’s financial status. She still didn’t know that Jun owned buildings in Seoul. However, she would soon find out. Jun began to splurge in our neighborhood.

About a month after we started our long-distance relationship, Jun appeared at my real estate office as usual. On days he visited, I would close the office early and we would go out to eat something delicious.

But that day, Jun stopped me from closing the office door. Then, he said, like a customer.

“I want to buy this building.”

“This one?”

As he said that, Jun pointed somewhere towards the ceiling. The building where my office was located wasn’t particularly valuable for investment. It was a dilapidated building, typical of those in the countryside, and the third floor was vacant. Therefore, there was little possibility of rental income even if he bought it.

So, I advised Jun not to do something foolish. While it was true that as a real estate agent, I should try to close any deal, I couldn’t stand by and watch my lover make such a mistake.

But Jun, unconcerned by my words, insisted on buying it with his spare money. Even though it was a rural area, it was a considerable sum, and he wanted to buy it outright……, I opposed it, but honestly, I was grateful. If Jun bought this building, I thought I could at least save on rent.

Although I tried not to think such selfish thoughts, Jun pointed to the vacant third floor and revealed his plan to open a PC bang. Hearing that made it sound like he intended to settle down here.

“You’re not planning to live here, are you?”

“I am planning to live here.”

“What about your place in Seoul?”

“Jae-ah is going to move in. She’s been having continuous problems in her new place. She says her atopic dermatitis keeps flaring up. So, I told her to just live at my place. Therefore, I’ll be staying at your place for a while. I’ll only bring my clothes for now.”

We did have a room in our house that we used as storage. Cleaning that room and giving it to Jun wouldn’t be difficult……, but I was truly surprised, wondering if he had really decided to move here.

“You have many friends in Seoul.”

“I have them here too. Rovan Hyung, and that rude Noona.”

“Are you sure it’s okay? It’s the countryside, it might be lonely……”

“It won’t be lonely if Hyung is here.”

I began a tour of the building, doting on Jun. On the second floor of the building were a dental clinic and a pediatrics clinic, and the third floor, though vacant, was quite large.

The owner of this building was a fruit farmer, and Jun hurried the contract by offering more than the market price. Since there were no particular issues with the building itself, the sale went through smoothly. He even paid the balance in full with cash, without any mortgage. I felt the dignity of a building owner once again.

And Jun’s splurge didn’t stop there. Immediately after purchasing the building, he began interior renovations on the third floor and opened a state-of-the-art PC bang. I visited on its opening day, and it was truly like another world.

The interior was so luxurious it looked like a studio from a gaming channel. Gleaming Waterforce PCs were in place, and the chairs and other facilities were all set up for gamers.

Initially, the customer traffic was only about ⅓ of capacity, but perhaps the word spread, as students from the neighboring town flocked in. The prices were cheaper than PC bangs in the city, and they even offered free cup noodles. It was no wonder students went wild for it. I told him he wouldn’t make any profit running it like this, but Jun casually replied that he was just doing it as a hobby.

Even without separate advertising, word-of-mouth brought many customers to our building. Rovan quit his job at the barbecue restaurant and became the manager of Jun’s PC bang. Of course, he continued his adult novelty business as well. As a result, Jun spent very little time at the PC bang. He was always with me at my real estate office.

About a month after Jun started staying at our house, he suddenly announced he was moving.

“Why are you moving? We were living together.”

“Well, I figured I should have a space for friends or relatives to stay when they visit, so I found a place nearby.”

“Where?”

When I asked, Jun pointed towards my window. Beyond it was Namgung Bin’s house, where all the lights were off. At my questioning gaze, Jun nodded. According to him, that house had been put up for public auction due to tax issues. Jun had commissioned his asset management consultants, and fortunately, they were able to win the bid.

“You’re going to live alone in that big house?”

“No, with Rovan Hyung.”

“What about me?”

“Hyung should live with Mom.”

I pouted, and Jun grinned mischievously, saying I could come over and sleep sometimes. While he claimed it was for friends and relatives, it was clear he bought that house for our nighttime encounters.

When Jun and I lived together, and I would knock on his door in the early morning, feeling restless, he would turn me away, saying Mom was in the next room. I didn’t know he was so Confucian.

So, we often relieved ourselves in the game or used motels, but we couldn’t continue our intimacy naturally. That’s why, although I was initially disappointed by Jun’s move, I was now happy, struggling to suppress a smile.

“Hyung, you’ll visit often, right?”

“No. I’ll be there all the time.”

A week later, Jun began his move in earnest. Seeing the belongings from his house being carried through the wide-open gate made it feel real.

My mother stood in front of the open gate, marveling at how Jun had bought this house. She would be even more surprised if she knew he had also bought the building where my real estate office was, so I kept quiet for now.

I vaguely explained that Jun had inherited a substantial fortune from his parents. While that was true, I had overheard something from the previous Evergreen Real Estate Owner when I gave him a lease agreement. He had mentioned that Jun was surprisingly good at real estate investments.

Of course, that required money, but he said the building Jun bought was a case where the value had significantly increased, citing a 13-story building as a prime example. So, after parting with Jun and returning to the countryside, I felt reassured that he was worldly-wise enough that I didn’t need to worry about him.

The first thing Jun changed after moving in was the gate. He tore down the wall, built a low one, and replaced the gate with a waist-high wooden one. When the neighborhood elders warned him about potential thieves, Jun quipped that the only thing worth stealing was the gold ring he wore. Indeed, with the large yard now visible, the neighborhood atmosphere changed.

Jun placed tables throughout the yard’s lawn and opened it to the neighborhood residents. Unlike the covered community center, it was a green space, and we often shared meals there with the locals.

And in one corner of the garden, he set up a tent and occasionally screened movies with a projector. The same movies he had shown me from the rooftop.

Looking down from the second floor of his house at such a scene, I felt proud. My mother understood me spending half the month at Jun’s house.

As night fell, the yard, from which the neighborhood residents had departed en masse, was filled only with the occasional chirping of insects. Moonlight streamed dimly through the second-floor window and onto the terrace, where I stepped out to breathe in the night air. A quiet, cozy darkness had settled over the world.

“Hyung, were you here?”

As I leaned against the railing, looking outside, Jun, who had woken up, approached me. He seemed unwilling to be apart from me for even a moment, burying his face in my back and wrapping his arms around my waist while still sleepy. I found his considerable sleepiness endearing.

“You told me to wake you up when you woke up……”

“You were sleeping so soundly.”

In the morning, sunlight poured through this window. At night, moonlight streamed in. We had placed our bedroom in a location that received everything, allowing us to bathe in light day and night.

Rovan was seen opening the front gate and entering. He waved at us. After raising his hand to greet us, he turned his body. I couldn’t move because of Jun’s arm, which was still wrapped around my waist.

“Junie.”

“Mm.”

“Why are you holding on so tight?”

“It makes me feel at ease.”

I gently brushed aside his hair, which was reaching out to one side. I saw his face, eyes closed, feeling my touch.

“I’ll always be by your side. So, you can relax.”

Jun’s closed eyes slowly opened. His eyes held a flicker of anxiety because I had made such a promise in the past and then left him. Even though everything was in place, he would often look at me like a mirage that would disappear someday.

I wanted to soothe that anxiety. I felt sorry for him, wondering how many partings he had endured to still carry such anxiety.

I held Jun’s hand and asked seriously.

“Junie, will you marry me?”

To my proposal, which felt like a joke, Jun answered without a second’s hesitation and hugged me tight again. I felt like I couldn’t breathe, so I patted his back and told him to calm down, but perhaps he liked my proposal, as Jun kept saying yes, vowing that he would.

From this terrace, I can see the end of the neighborhood. The supermarket I used to go to often as a child, the market alley I always passed through, our living room with its warm lights on, and my room with its small window covered by curtains.

Jun has entered all my spaces.

We were so deeply intertwined that I could no longer see my life and Jun as separate. I thought your existence was a warning, that I should never approach you, but it wasn’t.

All of this was you.

End