Untold Story
While Mo Yeon was sleeping to the sound of insects at Seokdam Temple, Tae Young-won was fully conscious.
With his face covered as he stared at the ceiling, he exhaled hot breaths.
Lying on the bed, he had Mo Yeon’s short-sleeved T-shirt—the one he often wore around the house—draped over his face. His breathing, which had been ragged with pleasure, was gradually transforming into deep sighs.
The faint, familiar scent of Mo Yeon’s body lingering on the T-shirt was slowly being infused with the thicker smell of semen. Having held back for so long before exploding, his ejaculation lasted longer than usual.
Yet between his parted lips came a moan closer to agony than pleasure.
“Haah.”
It felt like his condition was worsening by the day.
Trying to recall the last time he’d masturbated, he couldn’t remember—it seemed like the distant past. Then a sudden thought made him slowly open his eyes.
No, it wasn’t that long ago.
Even on the day he caught and taught a lesson to that brazen junior who had been stalking him, he had grabbed his uncontrollably hardened cock and stroked it. His mood had been terrible then.
Somehow, even that memory was now something he longed for.
At this point, he desperately wished he could turn back time to that moment. The further back in time he tried to go, the more he realized he had only repeated foolish actions.
Quite some time had passed since Mo Yeon had left his side.
He had said he wanted to go far away. Saying only that if Young-won wanted to be trusted, he should wait, Mo Yeon had truly gone far away.
He could tell from the reactions of people around him. Lately, even at school, strange looks were starting to emerge.
Recently, his nerves had been so on edge that he couldn’t control himself. He might have unknowingly shown sharp reactions in various situations. But right now, he didn’t have the energy to worry about mere reputation.
He never cared about looking good in others’ eyes anyway. Being constantly in the spotlight, his behaviors were meant to avoid tiresome situations like becoming the subject of gossip. It was a kind of survival instinct.
No one had ever taught him how to hide his true feelings, nor had anyone asked him to. Nevertheless, Tae Young-won crafted his appearance freely, as if exercising an innate ability. He had been doing this since he was very young, so even his parents didn’t truly know his real self.
Compared to his crafted image, his bare face wasn’t so beautiful. People only knew an extremely small, smoothly processed part of him.
But that had been so natural for Tae Young-won that his dissatisfaction was actually quite recent.
It wasn’t that he disliked his true self; the problem was that the gap was too troublesome. If he had been born genuinely kind and affectionate, he wouldn’t have had to worry about the disparity between his thoughts and actions. Creating words and behaviors different from his actual thoughts for so many years inevitably caused stress.
However, having lived with this fabricated self for too long, he couldn’t back out now.
But now things were different. The gazes of insignificant people that he once connected to survival instinct were now utterly meaningless.
The person he should have been seeking approval from had been someone else all along. He realized this far too late.
“It won’t be that difficult anyway.”
A familiar voice echoed in his ear. He frowned again.
“…Ha.”
From the beginning, it was actually Tae Young-won who had been interested in Mo Yeon. Mo Yeon would never know this fact even in his dreams.
There were plenty of people in the world who lived without minding others’ opinions, and countless strange people as well. Mo Yeon’s behavior had particularly caught his attention, and no matter what excuses he made, he couldn’t deny it anymore.
No matter how much he pretended to be someone else and deceived himself, it wouldn’t have been easy to completely fool his own eyes that had been watching from the start. The veil was so thick that even he hadn’t realized where he had begun hiding his true feelings.
Everything began when he became fixated on that covered face. It was a truth hidden even from himself.
“…After a little while, you won’t even think about me.”
He wanted to call now and ask about those parting words.
That’s not true. Even after time passes, I still think about you constantly…
He rubbed the T-shirt against his cheek while exhaling endless sighs.
The house was already filled with traces of Mo Yeon. He couldn’t understand what had made him so confident to allow all these traces to remain here.
If things continued like this, what should he do?
“…Think again. Even if you’re certain, think again. If I were sunbae, could I believe those words?”
Even if he saw ghosts or whatever, Mo Yeon had said he wouldn’t see them near him. That’s what Tae Young-won thought.
‘So, just stay by my side.’
I like you so much that none of that matters, but if you say that’s a lie too, what am I supposed to do?
No matter how much he searched his memories during his time alone, he had never heard definitive words of forgiveness. The thought that he might not even deserve forgiveness was unbearably desperate.
“…After a little while, you won’t even think about me.”
For all his pretense of knowing everything. Now it seemed Mo Yeon’s parting words showed he didn’t know anything about Tae Young-won. Perhaps that was natural. Since he didn’t know himself, Mo Yeon couldn’t have known either.
But one thing was clear—things would likely remain the same even as time passed.
Wasting time only gave Mo Yeon more time to forget him. If that happened, he felt like his blood was draining with each passing day, to the point where he thought it would be better to die.
Barely rising from the bed, Tae Young-won put on a robe that was strewn somewhere on the floor. Time had passed again without him noticing, and dawn was breaking.
Tae Young-won checked the clock. It was past 5 AM.
Soon it would be time for Mo Yeon to wake up.
Despite volunteering all kinds of donations to the temple where Mo Yeon was staying to eavesdrop on news, his heart didn’t ease. He didn’t call often. Even when he heard updates, a corner of his heart would ache.
The head monk of the temple, where Mo Yeon had briefly stayed as a child, was someone Tae Young-won could subtly communicate with. Though the temple didn’t seem to be doing well financially now, it appeared to have been quite sizable in the past. Managing a temple with such history couldn’t have been easy.
Understanding these difficulties, he had generously resolved them, and in return, the monk had been equally generous to Tae Young-won.
And when Tae Young-won called after a long time to ask about Mo Yeon’s breakfast menu and the name of a puppy he had been particularly fond of ten days ago, the monk casually suggested:
“Why don’t you come and look around sometime?”
“…”
This wasn’t the first time he had received an invitation. He had declined last time, thinking it was too soon, but somehow, he didn’t want to refuse this time.
Even while thinking how pathetic he was, he accepted the offer as if he couldn’t resist.
***
Going somewhere voluntarily and going on invitation are completely different. That’s right.
While Mo Yeon was busy with his daily routine at the temple, Tae Young-won was spending his own busy morning in Seoul.
“What sudden wind blew your way?”
As he carefully sipped the tea, the subtle scent of lemongrass and rosemary tickled his nose.
This was a famous aesthetic shop in Cheongdam-dong, where his cousin sister, now happily married with a daughter, worked as the director.
He had been coming here without issues, but unfortunately, he ran into her on his way out today, which was the problem.
“I’m really curious. Did you get a girlfriend you want to impress? Or are you preparing for something?”
So there he was, in the middle of a weekday, drinking tea with his cousin sister, wearing the face of a proper and affectionate cousin brother. And that face was particularly transparent and radiant today. All thanks to the power of money.
At home, Tae Young-won was never a rebel.
In his family, which was intense in disposition and devout in faith, not attending church weekly was already considered rebellious.
However, thanks to the excellent image he had built from childhood, Tae Young-won enjoyed the privilege of not being labeled a rebel.
His proper conduct whenever relatives gathered, his effortless admission to Korea University, and his consistently good academic performance—all these had earned him solid trust from his family.
“It’s been so long since I visited that you’re welcoming me too warmly, noona. You must have a lot to attend to.”
Honestly, he was quite annoyed and put a bit of sting at the end of his words. But thanks to the image he had built up, she didn’t seem to notice anything strange.
“You think so too? I am very happy to see you. Maybe I’m more suited for fieldwork than being a head? Lately, I have fewer opportunities to interact with people directly, so I’ve been a bit bored.”
“…”
“So what’s going on? I’ll keep it between us. You know I can keep a secret, right?”
“Well…”
Tae Young-won looked down at his teacup and thought for a moment.
Perhaps due to his unusual fixation on aesthetics, he was also interested in grooming his appearance. Visiting places like this aesthetic shop wasn’t particularly special or surprising for him.
But there was another reason for all these questions. This time, even he was taking extra special care.
“Actually, there is something where I need to look pretty.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
