#146
Besides, a baby? No matter how handsome a grown man might be, he would never be called a baby. What an absurd comparison to make about him. Especially comparing him to Choi Tae-hyuk, the main character who was superior to him in every way except for his terrible personality… Lee Han-sol was convinced there must be some hidden insult in Choi Tae-hyun’s nonsense. He racked his brain trying to decipher the meaning. Eventually he arrived at the conclusion: baby = someone’s child = but difficult to raise = child of Satan. His face contorted in anger.
“Are you calling me the child of Satan?”
“What? Satan? Why are you suddenly bringing up Satan?”
“Is being a landlord everything? Is owning a house everything? Do you enjoy making me miserable? Have you been waiting for this day? Now I understand why Choi Tae-hyuk is your brother. Satan can go back to hell, so just untie me right now!”
Lee Han-sol shouted, twisting his body. He was angry. It was Choi Tae-hyun who had dragged him to his house when Han-sol had wanted to be alone.
‘You shouldn’t be alone when you’re sad, Han-sol. They say it creates a hole in your heart. What if you fall into it while you’re alone? Who would pull you out if you’re by yourself?’
That’s what Choi Tae-hyun had said, stopping Han-sol every time he tried to go home, insisting he just wanted to lock himself away alone. Choi Tae-hyun had been kind to Han-sol all this time. Whether he had ulterior motives or was just a serious pushover, he hadn’t tried to put Han-sol down or shown disgust toward him. Or at least he had pretended not to.
‘We might not be friends, but we’re friendly neighbors, so I think we’re close enough that you can lean on me when you’re sad. Difficult tasks get done faster when people work together, right? Maybe difficult emotions work the same way. Let’s tackle them together with me and Ppomi.’
So Han-sol had pretended to give in, letting go of his stubbornness. Now he felt disgusted with himself. This was exactly why he hated it. When Ham Yun-ah and Kim Jin-oh had casually said they were on his side. When Ki Baek-woo, in his terrible state… looking desperately like Han-sol from the past, had begged just to stay by his side. Han-sol had felt awful because he knew it would eventually come to this.
Because he had sensed that their casually spoken words would corrode the narrow, safe prison he had built tirelessly to avoid getting hurt. Because he knew the walls and iron bars would rust and weaken, leaving him exposed and vulnerable to danger.
Lee Han-sol felt self-loathing. His heart had already grown soft. Like an idiot, he had allowed himself the stupid delusion after hearing just once or twice that they were on his side. That Choi Tae-hyun’s kindness might actually be sincere. This was all because of Kim Jin-oh and Ham Yun-ah. Those bastards had made him this stupid. Not wanting to acknowledge his own weakness, Han-sol randomly assigned blame. Then he yelled at Choi Tae-hyun.
“Let me go home! Untie this right now, you kidnapper!”
Lee Han-sol’s body thrashed violently on the bed. Wrapped in a white blanket like a swaddled infant with only his face exposed, his flailing appearance made Choi Tae-hyun let out a startled sound.
“Han-sol, stop, stop! You’ll fall off…!”
“Untie me! Untie this! I said untie me right now!”
“You have to stop moving if you want me to untie you, please stay still!”
Choi Tae-hyun patted Han-sol’s heaving chest to calm him down for a moment. Then he carefully unwrapped the blanket that had been binding Han-sol. Finally feeling the liberation from being wrapped up like a sandwich wrap, Han-sol quickly rolled off the bed. He pointed his finger at Choi Tae-hyun, who was neatly folding the white, fluffy blanket.
“You pervert, you enjoy tying people up, you psycho! I’m going home right now.”
“Han-sol, you need to eat breakfast. And you shouldn’t talk like that. Tying up… When have I ever enjoyed such things?”
“That’s ridiculous! Then what do you call what you did to me? Wrapping someone in a blanket every day is tying them up! What’s your reason for doing such a thing to me?”
It had been several days since Han-sol, who had been holed up alone at home, had been dragged to this house. During that time, Choi Tae-hyun had been doing nothing but bizarre things. Of course, Choi Tae-hyun had always treated Han-sol like a pet that needed to be taken care of. Preparing meals when it was time, providing entertainment so he wouldn’t get bored, taking him out for walks when the sun was shining. To him, Han-sol was essentially no different from Ppomi. But now he had become much more obsessive. To such an extent that it could be compared to a parent caring for a sick child—and that would not be an exaggeration.
Choi Tae-hyun looked after Han-sol’s meals just as before. However, while previously it had felt like he was simply providing food, now there was a sense of determination to put something—anything—into Han-sol’s mouth. When Han-sol, with his complicated emotional state and lost appetite, would just pretend to eat and put down his utensils, Choi Tae-hyun would immediately stick to his side and start making a fuss.
Just one bite, just up to here, if you’re annoyed just take one more bite, I’ll leave you alone after you eat this, let’s eat up Han-sol nom nom, don’t be difficult okay? If you don’t like this, just one more bite and you’re done, blabbering on and on.
Choi Tae-hyun looked like those mothers from dramas, struggling to get one more spoonful of food into their child’s mouth before school. It was laughable that Han-sol, who had no mother in reality, was feeling this way about Choi Tae-hyun. In any case, it was so annoying that Han-sol chewed something forcefully and tried to somehow understand Choi Tae-hyun’s behavior. He kept thinking that this couldn’t just be simple kindness.
‘Is he planning to charge me later? Like billions for food, service fees, and lodging? Whatever it is, there must be some reason. I really don’t know, but there must be something…’
Also, Choi Tae-hyun never left Han-sol alone. Whenever Han-sol was about to zone out in thought, he would jump in and chatter away. He kept talking even without getting much of a response. And when his mouth finally got tired, he would put on a movie or documentary and insist they had to watch it together, making a huge fuss.
Choi Tae-hyun was incredibly persistent, as if he had decided not to give Han-sol any time to think. Fortunately or unfortunately, thanks to him, Han-sol’s suicidal thoughts had decreased from about thirty times a day to around twelve, but regardless, Choi Tae-hyun was driving him crazy.
And if Han-sol had to pick the strangest of Choi Tae-hyun’s bizarre behaviors, it would be this: taking advantage of Han-sol’s drowsy state to tightly wrap him in blankets. Moreover, the sneaky part was that he always did this when Han-sol was too tired to resist. As a result, for several days, Han-sol had been waking up inside a blanket bundle without being able to properly fight back.
What was even more frustrating was that the blanket was wrapped in such a way that he couldn’t escape on his own. Because of this, Han-sol would wake up in the morning unable to move freely and immediately become irritated. And it would continue until Choi Tae-hyun, hearing the noise, would appear and unwrap the blanket. Han-sol couldn’t even guess why he kept repeating this troublesome act. Bad thoughts kept flooding his mind. Wrapping someone up at night, unwrapping them in the morning… Why go through all that trouble just to torment me? Does he find my irritation amusing? Is it that entertaining? Not understanding the situation, Han-sol felt victimized. His self-contempt began.
It’s all because I’m an idiot. Because I can’t get rid of my pushover tendencies. It seemed weird from the start, but I fell for it. There’s no way Choi Tae-hyun would care about me enough to break into someone else’s home. What kind of relationship do we even have?
‘I just want Han-sol to be happy. When someone you like is happy, you become happy too, right?’
Han-sol had unconsciously thought that Choi Tae-hyun’s words might be true, that there might be one more person in this world who didn’t hate him. Yes, Han-sol had been hopeful. No matter how much he denied it, he couldn’t fool himself. The reason Han-sol, who had wanted to be alone, had ended up following him here and doing as he was told… was because deep down he had been hopeful.
Han-sol had wanted to believe that Choi Tae-hyun was someone who truly wished for his happiness.
If Choi Tae-hyun, who seemed like the epitome of a happy person, could push someone like him, who couldn’t do anything, toward the path to happiness. That’s what he had hoped for.
It was all because of Ham Yun-ah and Kim Jin-oh. If those guys hadn’t said they would take his side in any situation. If they hadn’t confused Han-sol with such plausible words. Then Han-sol would never have had the presumptuous thought that there might be at least one person who wished for his happiness. He had become arrogant just from hearing once that they were on his side.
Even a real idiot wouldn’t be this clumsy and pathetic.
‘This is all, completely Ki Baek-woo’s fault…’
Feeling like he might suffocate from shame, Han-sol desperately wanted to blame someone else. So once again, he thought of Ki Baek-woo sitting alone that day, looking abandoned and lonely under the streetlight.
‘It’s all that bastard’s fault.’
Han-sol constantly blamed Ki Baek-woo for how weak his heart had become, for making the mistake of allowing himself to hope despite knowing that expectations inevitably lead to unhappiness—all because of Ki Baek-woo who had come looking for him, kneeling and saying he would do anything if he could just stay by his side.
Such thoughts in mind, Han-sol directed at Choi Tae-hyun the words he wanted to say to himself.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you doing such things? Why this idiotic nonsense…!”
Having neatly arranged the blanket, Choi Tae-hyun turned around with a calm expression. His pale eyes showed neither malice nor guilt. He shrugged his shoulders slightly.
“Obviously because Han-sol needs to be happy.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
