If his hyung hadn’t gone off on that mission when they’d moved out in the past, would this kind of life have continued every weekend?
They would wake up together, wash up, eat meals side by side, watch movies or talk for hours. His brother planned a balanced diet and a consistent sleep schedule to help build his stamina, and he—he accepted his hyung every single day.
When they had sex, his hyung wasn’t always gentle. On the days when they mixed bodies under the pretense of a massage… it was just as intense as their first night here. The bed ended up collapsing, and his hyung had to lift him and take him that way.
Daily sex. A life that revolved around staying in one place. When you looked at just those two things, it wasn’t any different from when he’d been locked up by Jang Hee-gang. But what set this apart—what made it different—was the undeniable fact that he, too, wanted this.
He surrendered himself to his hyung without hesitation. The person who had pulled him out of the muck, who still treated him like a brother even though they were no longer family. His hyung was the only one he could lean on, and so he acted like he had to accept whatever was done to him—no matter what.
Even when his hyung tied him up. Even when he stared at him with a chilling glint in his eye… it made his skin crawl, but he still pretended to understand. He knew full well that his mindset wasn’t normal—but he looked away from that truth.
Those days, peaceful yet far from peaceful, continued on like that.
“Hyung.”
He spoke up as they lay together, entangled on the couch. His hyung looked down at him, cradled in his arms. When his gaze silently urged him to speak, he hesitated for a moment.
“Is it because of me…”
His brother hadn’t contacted the outside world once during their time together. As if he’d been completely cut off from society. Even though he was the one desperate to cling to his brother, it was only natural for him to start feeling uneasy about it.
“Are you not going outside because of me?”
He asked softly, his voice tinged with worry.
“Because I keep clinging to you like this… you can’t even go to work, right?”
It wasn’t because he’d been begging for attention—the truth was, it had simply been his brother’s turn to take time off. But even so, it was technically still because of him. Maybe that was why his brother didn’t deny it. And taking that silence as affirmation, Eun-soo’s brows drooped.
With a face clouded by sinking self-worth, he said,
“I don’t want to be a burden.”
“Eun-soo.”
“I know we can’t go on like this forever.”
He grabbed his brother’s hand.
“I’m still not ready to be apart from you… but even so, I don’t want to be the thing that disrupts your life.”
“Cha Eun-soo.”
As if to say don’t talk nonsense, his brother intertwined their fingers and squeezed tight.
“My daily life is you. What disrupts me… is when you’re not here.”
“All you need to do is stay like this.”
His low voice murmured like a mantra, as if trying to indoctrinate him. With his free hand, he gently caressed Eun-soo’s cheek.
“Don’t worry about anything.”
“But…”
Eun-soo’s lips parted slightly. He looked uneasy, like he was still unsure if this really was okay. From his brother’s perspective, it was a worry so painfully innocent it almost hurt. What must he think, looking at someone who believed they’d just continue living here like this forever? And yet, wasn’t that exactly what his brother wanted more than anyone?
Maybe it hit him again—the fact that sooner or later, he’d have to hand him over to someone else. Whether it was Shim Tae-seong or Joo Cheong-gyeong, the thought made Cha Eun-hyuk’s expression turn ice cold… Seeing that change, Eun-soo was once again stunned that Jang Hee-gang had sent him here of all people. That a madman, consumed by possessiveness and teetering on the edge of insanity, had somehow managed to agree to sharing.
Thank god they’d split him up—each taking him into their own territory. If they’d both come at him at once…
A chill ran down his spine.
His brother lowered his gaze, clearly deep in thought. Maybe he was turning over the words Eun-soo had just said—I’m still not ready to be apart from you—and wondering if it meant that, eventually, once Eun-soo had the courage, he might want to return to the outside world.
Those black eyes stared at him for a long while.
“…I didn’t say anything before because I thought it’d scare you.”
“Huh?”
“The world’s changed a lot since you left.”
Cradling Eun-soo in his arms, his brother slowly sat up. Then, he picked up the remote and turned on the TV across from them.
Eun-soo looked up at his brother’s nearby face with confusion, but soon turned his gaze to the screen as it flickered to life.
—“With the recent increase in monster sightings, public concern is growing. Although the government has announced plans to expand the shelters as a countermeasure…”
***
After watching a few movies that felt too detached from reality, it was the first time they’d turned on the news. Cha Eun-hyuk carefully observed his younger brother’s reaction from up close. Eun-soo looked dazed—like someone who had been completely cut off from the world and suddenly had a lifeline thrown at him.
Footage of monsters destroying buildings. Graphs tracking aerial assault incidents by region. Reports of casualties.
The broadcast carried a heavy, grim atmosphere. As soon as they reached the part where information about the Esper Association started leaking out, Cha Eun-hyuk turned off the TV.
“…That… just now…”
Cha Eun-soo turned to look at his brother, stunned. The information was so overwhelming, so unreal, he couldn’t process it. His thin frame trembled in his brother’s arms, so frail and heartbreaking it hurt just to witness.
He looked not just confused and horrified by what he’d seen—he looked completely out of it, like his soul had left his body.
Exactly the reaction Cha Eun-hyuk had wanted.
“No one knows where or why they appear,” Eun-hyuk said flatly.
“And there’s no way to predict when or where they’ll strike next.”
His light brown eyes quaked in the midst of chaos.
The footage they had just watched couldn’t have been faked—it was a regular broadcast. And Eun-soo knew his brother would never bring up something so outrageous unless it were real. Unreal as it all seemed, he was convinced it wasn’t a lie.
Eun-hyuk cupped his younger brother’s face, which was steadily being overtaken by fear.
“It’s dangerous out there. So…”
“You need to stay somewhere safe.”
It’s not like he could escape, even if he wanted to. Just because the chains had been unfastened didn’t mean he could run. And Eun-soo wasn’t under any illusion about that.
Even so, there was a clear reason Cha Eun-hyuk had brought up the monsters. Simple, really. He wanted his brother to become even more emotionally dependent on him, even if it meant scaring him into it.
So that, like today, he wouldn’t even have the composure to rationally think about what came next.
…It was cruel—unbearably cruel to do that to Cha Eun-soo, who was already shaking with fear from the threat of Jang Hee-gang alone. And Cha Eun-hyuk knew that all too well.
“…Hyung.”
But as he sometimes did, Cha Eun-soo responded in a way completely outside expectations.
“Then don’t tell me… you’re one of the people going out there to catch those monsters?”
He was clearly frightened, but the thing that scared him wasn’t what Eun-hyuk had expected. With a pale face, Eun-soo clutched his brother’s shoulders.
“Isn’t it already dangerous enough hunting down criminals? What if something happens to you?”
If he ever found out that his brother was actually collaborating with those criminals… just imagining the horror and despair in that moment was enough to make one’s blood run cold.
Yet even in that situation, Cha Eun-hyuk pictured a version of Eun-soo still looking for him—still reaching out. And it sent a strangely pleasant ache through his chest.
At the same time, he couldn’t help thinking—Eun-soo hadn’t changed. Still the same person who worried about others before himself. Gently stroking his brother’s cold cheek, he murmured:
“There’s no way I’d let anything happen to me if it meant leaving you behind.”
Unless the only way to save Cha Eun-soo was to die in his place, there was no chance he’d ever die first. Not when the thought of his precious younger brother spending a lifetime as someone else’s guide made him physically ill.
No doubt those damn collaborators were thinking the same thing. They’d joined forces out of necessity, but when the day came—when one of them died—it would be nothing short of a celebration.
The mere thought left a bitter taste in his mouth, and his expression hardened slightly. Maybe Eun-soo misunderstood that change, because he suddenly gripped the hand his brother had on his cheek. His neat eyebrows trembled with fear—
His brows were furrowed in worry, his whole expression twisted with concern.
“Still… if it’s dangerous, I want you to tell me so.”
His voice trembled slightly as it slipped through his lips.
“You didn’t get hurt anywhere, did you?”
He gently pushed Cha Eun-hyuk’s hand away to check for himself, turning his brother’s face and shoulders this way and that as he examined him thoroughly. Even though he’d seen him naked countless times, part of him still feared he might’ve missed some unseen wound.
Since Cha Eun-hyuk wasn’t wearing a shirt, he didn’t stop Eun-soo when he started checking his back as well. Complying without resistance, he turned around to reveal his bare back.
“…!”
Maybe it was because it wasn’t a place he normally saw. On that broad, muscular back, Cha Eun-soo found an odd, ashen-colored mark. It spread faintly like veins branching out beneath the skin. Not large, but not exactly small either. He sucked in a sharp breath, then reached out with his fingers.
“Hyung, this spot…”
“…Does it hurt?”
Cha Eun-hyuk paused to search his memory.
It was during the time Cha Eun-soo had been confined in Jang Hee-gang’s private estate. Not far from there, he’d gotten into a tense fight—on edge and reckless—and some of the monster’s toxic blood had splattered onto him. He’d practically thrown himself into its jaws, so saying it “splashed” was putting it lightly—it had probably drenched him. But by some stroke of luck, only a little had touched him outside of his back, and he’d recovered quickly. His clothes, which had been partially eaten away in spots, had all been disposed of afterward.
At the time, he’d been in a state of utter frenzy, driven half-mad by the knowledge that Cha Eun-soo was trapped within Jang Hee-gang’s territory.
