“Whoa……”
It was seriously a hair-trigger situation. If I mentioned getting scammed over the Relax, he might find out I’d been playing Blood Planet. I’d even lied to Jun, saying I didn’t know a game like that—so if he heard I’d been trading a high-priced skill for cash and got scammed, it would definitely cause a massive misunderstanding. And he was the one who’d given me that high-priced skill in the first place…
On top of that, Roban would probably start bragging about being a ranker again and introduce himself as Moment, and then it’d only be a matter of time before my identity as GentleTouch got exposed too. Thankfully, whatever he was doing in the bathroom, the sound of running water could be heard.
“What situation?”
Jun’s low voice came from behind me as I let out a small sigh of relief. When I turned my head and met his eyes, he looked seriously displeased.
“Ah, that… It’s nothing.”
“Why do you tell that guy but not me?”
“I’ve got a private life too, you know. Do I really have to tell you everything? I’m the one playing the owner, remember.”
When I pushed back, invoking my so-called “owner” role, Jun hesitated for a moment. He looked like he realized that prying any further would be overstepping. He let out a breath, trying to cool his temper.
“Why are you still standing? Let’s sit and talk.”
“S-sure?”
Just then, Roban came out of the bathroom and spoke cheerfully to us, still standing around. I nodded and gestured for Jun to sit on the sofa.
Our sofa was technically a three-seater, but with two grown men on it, it felt just right. I sat down first, and Jun took the spot beside me. Roban, who I’d assumed would sit on the floor, suddenly got stubborn and tried to wedge himself between us.
Jun shoved Roban with his shoulder, clearly unwilling to give up space, but Roban’s solid build refused to budge either. Somehow, I was the one taking all the impact from the edge. In the end, I just slid down and sat on the floor.
The two of them ended up sitting at opposite ends, looking down at me. It felt like I was being interrogated. Jun tapped his fingers against the armrest, pointed at Roban, and asked me,
“Hyung. I don’t know what your ‘personal business’ is, but… am I less reliable than him?”
“Why drag me into this? Maybe he just doesn’t trust you.”
“Third parties stay out of it.”
“I’m not a third party. I’m a helper. Right?”
It was like a ticking time bomb. Putting those two together kept sparking friction nonstop. It wouldn’t have been strange if things exploded at any second. Jun shot Roban an irritated look, then turned to me with a proposal.
“Hyung, choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Me, or him?”
What kind of situation even was this? What was I supposed to choose?
Roban looked at Jun like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Jun pressed further, telling me to pick one of them to leave the house right now. At that, Roban started snickering, saying he didn’t want to stay with this guy either.
“Yeah. Pick which one of us leaves.”
Honestly, I wished they’d both leave…
But both of them were necessary in my real life. One was someone who could catch the guy who scammed me, and the other literally held my livelihood in his hands.
Maybe Jun would leave if I ordered him to? When I glanced at him, he stared back like he was about to kill me. Cold sweat broke out across my skin, and it definitely wasn’t from a hangover fading. Wiping my forehead, I tried to think, but my head felt heavier and heavier. When answering felt impossible, the best tactic was to escape the situation.
“Ah… my head.”
I flopped onto the floor dramatically. Throwing an arm over my face, I groaned like I was dying. With my eyes closed, I couldn’t see their reactions, but neither of them said a word—they just left me there. So I pushed the act further, groaning louder.
“Ugh… my head feels like it’s splitting. You guys just go… I need to rest.”
I was a genius.
As I clutched my head and pretended to be sick, I heard someone stand up. Ah, they must be leaving, I thought happily—but Roban reached toward me.
“Then go lie down on the bed and rest. Don’t just stay like this.”
The moment Roban grabbed my arm, Jun stepped forward, seized his wrist, and yanked it away.
“Don’t touch him.”
Then Jun tried to help me up instead, just like Roban had—but this time Roban grabbed Jun’s wrist.
“Let go.”
“Nope.”
Even as Jun swung his arm to shake him off, Roban stubbornly held on.
“Are you insane?”
“Yeah, I am. What about you? Aren’t you supposed to be a man? Can’t even shake off a hand?”
Jun cursed under his breath and swung his arm more violently. As soon as Roban’s hand came free, he grabbed Jun’s other wrist and clung to him again.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Why? Try shaking me off again. Bet you can’t.”
Hearing Jun swearing and Roban teasing nonstop, I couldn’t just lie there and watch anymore. Now they were provoking each other physically. Jun jerked his arm again, finally shaking Roban off.
It should’ve ended there—but instead, Jun grabbed Roban by the collar and yanked him closer. I shot upright; there was no way I could stay down any longer.
“Hey, hey, hey! Stop! Stop!”
I’d been dying on the floor just seconds ago, and now I was breaking up a fight.
“Juni, let go!”
Thankfully, even with his collar grabbed, Roban didn’t lose his composure. But both their expressions looked like they could start throwing punches any second.
“I said let go!”
When I ordered him again, Jun finally released his grip with a sharp motion.
The blue tracksuit stretched where Jun had grabbed it, the fabric bunched up. I patted it back into shape with my hands and told them both to calm down. Still, they stared at each other like opposing soldiers locked in a standoff.
I needed drastic measures. Looking back and forth between them, I spoke firmly.
“Fine. Then only the one who cleans my house gets to stay. Whoever won’t clean, leave.”
Honestly, I just wanted them both gone, but I added that condition anyway. There was still sugar scattered all over the floor, and the house was a mess. I wanted to air out the heavy mood between them just like I wanted to air out the house.
At the word “clean,” Roban frowned instantly.
“I hate cleaning though…”
He must’ve really meant it, because he said he’d just leave and walked toward the entrance without hesitation. When I called out that I’d enjoyed the bean sprout soup, he said he’d bring kimchi next time, slipped on his shoes, and left.
Click.
Now it was really just the two of us. I couldn’t tell if Jun stayed because he genuinely planned to clean or just out of stubbornness—his expression didn’t change.
But one thing was clear: it wasn’t the face of someone who’d won. After Roban left, I told Jun honestly,
“I only mentioned cleaning because I thought you two might fight. You don’t actually have to do it. I’ll handle it.”
“It’s fine. You look tired, Hyung. Go rest.”
“I can do it later.”
“The floor’s dirty. Since I’m here, I’ll do it.”
I tried to stop him, saying it was okay, but Jun tossed his coat onto the sofa, rolled up his sleeves, and shot me a sharp look.
“So… you said you see that guy day and night. Looks cozy.”
His blunt tone made me uncomfortable. He was the one who showed up out of nowhere—why was I the one fumbling for words?
“He’s just… a neighbor. We’re friendly, that’s all.”
“…Ha, just a neighbor? Am I worse than ‘just a neighbor’ to you?”
“Why are you even comparing…?”
Jun suddenly turned and walked to the entrance. He grabbed a plastic bag by the door and handed it to me.
I’d been too startled by his sudden appearance earlier to notice what he brought, but the moment I took it, I understood. Inside were hangover drinks, medicine, and even a honey drink.
“Thanks. I’ll save these for later.”
“Don’t drink like that again. I was worried.”
“…You were worried about me?”
My surprised expression made Jun’s brow crease slightly. Why was he looking at me like that? Who asked him to worry? Why was he suddenly acting so different?
Then it hit me—he probably meant it as my “slave,” worrying about me because I was the owner. Right, we were still doing that role-play thing.
“So… you came just to give me this?”
“Yeah. And, Hyung.”
“Hm?”
Jun stepped closer and pressed his lips right beside my ear.
“I don’t like it when you rely on other guys. Got that?”
His lips brushed lightly against my earlobe. Maybe because there was a sigh mixed in, his hot breath slid into my ear, making it sound even more suggestive.
“Honestly, I don’t really—”
“Simply put, if something like this happens, call me first. That’s what our contract’s for, isn’t it?”
“So I can call you anytime?”
“As long as you can handle it, anytime.”
I more or less understood what Jun meant. Just like he’d called me when he needed errands done, he wanted me to call him and give him tasks too. He seemed annoyed that I hadn’t used him that way.
It was honestly difficult. Maybe because I’d never really ordered anyone around before, the idea of using someone like that felt burdensome. It was like someone who’d never raised a dog suddenly picking one up—how do you train it, what do you feed it, how often do you walk it?
What if it bites or growls?
I glanced around. Would it really be okay to make Jun do something? Roban had cleaned up some of the sugar earlier, but he’d done a rough job, and I could still feel grains crunching under my feet.
“Jun, then… start by vacuuming.”
Jun let out a faint, almost hollow laugh at my instruction. Yeah, it must sound ridiculous. He could’ve just refused.
But the moment he heard the order, he moved without hesitation. I sat on the sofa, watching like I was observing how a robot named Jun carried out commands. As he went to grab the cordless vacuum from the balcony, he noticed the washing machine piled with laundry and tossed in detergent, starting it up.
Huh? He’s more useful than I expected.
Still, things had been dangerously close earlier. If Jun ever found out my in-game identity, I’d end up completely in his hands—both in real life and in the game. And considering we’d even had sex in the game, it felt even more uncomfortable.
I’d expected him to complain while cleaning, but surprisingly, he just moved calmly. He looked so natural doing it that he seemed like a live-in partner who actually lived here. Watching him work made me feel awkward just sitting there, so I grabbed a scrub brush and went into the bathroom. Scrubbing the floor hard, I let out a laugh at how I’d somehow ended up doing a full-scale cleaning session I never planned.
“Hyung, why is there so much sugar on the floor?”
Sitting on the bathroom stool, I looked out to see Jun passing by the area where sugar had spilled earlier that dawn. When I shouted back that I’d spilled it while trying to make sugar water, my voice echoed loudly in the bathroom. I could see him slowly shaking his head—without even hearing him, I could practically imagine him clicking his tongue and muttering something like, What a pathetic mess.
Jun cleaned that area more carefully, taking the kitchen mat to the balcony to shake it out. I finished scrubbing the floor, wiping down the showerhead and faucet, when he called from the doorway,
“Hyung!”
“Yeah?”
“Wet this for me.”
Did we even have something like that?
It was a mop someone—either Sang-cheol or Han-woo—had brought as a housewarming gift a while back. Bought at the small mart near the apartment entrance as a buy-one-get-one deal; I kept one, and someone else took the other. I’d only ever wiped the floor roughly with old towels—I’d never even considered mopping the whole place like this.
I really was a filthy, lazy bastard. And now some kind of house fairy had appeared. I rinsed the microfiber cloth, wrung it out tight, and tossed it to Jun. He caught it one-handed and attached it to the mop with practiced ease.
“You look like you’ve done this more than once.”
“If you live in a place that big, this is basic stuff, isn’t it?”
“Why not just call a cleaning service when you move in?”
“It’s a hassle having housekeepers come. And I don’t like people touching my things.”
He’d been wearing socks earlier, but at some point Jun had gone barefoot. I finished the bathroom cleaning and straightened up, my lower back aching from crouching so long.
Definitely from lack of exercise. At least I walked around showing houses to clients—if not for that, my joints probably would’ve started cracking apart.
I dried my wet feet with a towel and stepped out, looking around the living room and kitchen. The windows were wide open, letting in a refreshing breeze. The kitchen floor, which had turned into a desert of sugar last night, was now spotless—not a speck of dust in sight.
