Chapter 122
“Well, I haven’t had dinner yet. I’ve been eating poorly lately so my stomach—”
“Ha.”
Seokjae exhaled sharply, as if amazed at the excuse. Then, as if he had expected this response, he immediately reached into his bag on the table and grabbed whatever food he could, throwing it at Sangjin.
Thud! Thwack! Plop.
From a full meal to snacks. The food items that hit various parts of Sangjin—his head, solar plexus, and more—fell to the floor.
A brief silence followed. Though he had been willing to negotiate, Seokjae had never planned to submit. He arrogantly tilted his chin.
“Time is precious, so I’ll just hear why you brought me here.”
“What are you doing—!”
“It’s strange, you know.”
“What?”
Completely unconcerned whether Sangjin’s face was reddening with humiliation, Seokjae sneered as if genuinely curious.
“According to my memory, you shouldn’t be pretending to know me. Not if you don’t want to die.”
His emotionless face asking if Sangjin wanted to die. He looked so sincere that no one would tell him not to joke around.
Contrary to his expectation that Seokjae would back down, Sangjin was flustered by Seokjae’s aggressive attitude but tried to hide it while making threats.
“…W-why are you speaking so harshly? It wasn’t just my decision. I had no choice back then! I couldn’t even sleep from the guilt afterward, couldn’t sleep! Huh?!”
“…”
The more Sangjin’s tongue wagged, the less Seokjae’s eyelids moved. Like a predator with prey in sight, he stared at him with increasingly fewer blinks.
“What I did was wrong, but you’re alive, so it all worked out, right?”
Whether unable to notice the subtle difference or because his survival instinct had triggered a warning, Sangjin hastily concluded with excuses. Though his words remained meaningless drivel until the end.
“A wrongdoing, you say…”
When Seokjae quietly muttered, following Sangjin’s nonsense, Sangjin thought he had succumbed to his intimidation like others and became even more vocal.
“Yeah! And it’s natural to be glad when someone you thought was dead turns out to be alive. Is that a crime? Is it?”
“You’re talking bullshit.”
“W-what?”
With eyes devoid of any humor, Seokjae raised just the corner of his mouth before tapping the desk with his fingertips as if bored.
“Fine, whatever you’re babbling about doesn’t matter. Tell me what you want in exchange for keeping your mouth shut.”
“A-ahem. I really don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“If you don’t tell me now, there won’t be a next time.”
Mistakenly assuming that Seokjae would naturally submit first to hide the past, Sangjin tried to exploit that opportunity until the very end. But Seokjae didn’t give in at all.
“What do you mean there won’t be? What are you saying?”
“What else? If you talk nonsense later, I’ll tear apart that mouth of yours that only knows how to eat.”
“Gasp.”
As soon as those savage words ended, Sangjin unconsciously looked at the machete that Seokjae still kept by his side. The blade emanating an ominous aura. He immediately sucked in a breath and covered his mouth, imagining the machete entering it. Even though Seokjae wasn’t even looking at him anymore.
“Haa…”
Whether Sangjin was scared or not, Seokjae sighed deeply, irritated by the conversation going nowhere. Then, thinking this would be the last time, he gave his longest explanation yet.
“I have many other options. But the people I’m with are too nice, unlike trash like me.”
“…”
“I’ve given you this choice because they would probably worry if someone they spent even a few hours with disappeared without a trace. It’s troublesome, but if you don’t like it, do as you please.”
“Ah, no…! Wait! Why are you so impatient?!”
‘How many times have I asked already, and who’s being impatient?’
When Seokjae raised his eyebrow crookedly with an irritated look, Sangjin, already frightened by just that, swallowed hard and tried to hide his submissiveness by straightening his shoulders before speaking.
“W-well, it’s nothing special…”
Just as some kind of deal was about to start, Muyoung, who had rushed over after hearing the boys’ screams, encountered a scene that was both unexpectedly trivial and serious.
“W-what happened?!”
“Ah, hyung… well.”
“This idiot was supposed to drain the water before adding the soup powder, but he put them in together.”
“R-really? That’s a problem.”
“My dinner…”
In a situation where every bit of food was precious, it was indeed a problem, but Muyoung could only awkwardly laugh at the anticlimactic situation.
‘If I’d known this would happen, I should have stayed to listen…’
Muyoung found himself slightly resentful toward the boys. After the meal, and even during cleanup and preparing for bed, he wanted to know what Sangjin had done to Seokjae, without missing a single moment.
‘If I’d heard what they were talking about then, I might have learned something…’
Even now, lying on the floor using his bag as a pillow, he wanted to jump up and go to Seokjae. Go and ask why he was deliberately indebted to someone he disliked for a day. But since Seokjae didn’t seem to want that, he bit his lip and endured.
However, a few hours later, Muyoung experienced firsthand that being considerate isn’t always good.
“Muyoung.”
“Hyung?”
While pretending to sleep with his eyes closed, listening to the steady breathing of the boys, Seokjae shook him awake. Muyoung had heard some rustling and thought Seokjae might be going to the bathroom. Wondering why he was being woken up, he opened his eyes to see Seokjae with a bag slung over one shoulder.
“Hyung. Where are you going?”
“I have somewhere I need to go briefly.”
“Now? Where on earth…”
Muyoung urgently rose from his spot and grabbed Seokjae’s wrist. Since there’s no sun at night, the chance of zombies wandering the streets was high, and Seokjae surely knew this as well. Why would he go out at such a time?
Squeeze. Out of worry, he unknowingly applied strong pressure to the wrist he was holding.
Seokjae didn’t even flinch at the quite strong force compressing his wrist. No, rather, he smiled, thinking it would be nice if it left a mark.
“It’s something easier to do at night. Also, I think the kids might complain.”
“Is it something only you can do, hyung?”
“…Yes.”
Unlike Muyoung’s confused mind, Seokjae just thought about wanting to kiss those tearful eyes holding onto him.
Hiding his lecherous thoughts, he calmly nodded as if nothing was wrong. Then, instead of a kiss, he gently stroked Muyoung’s cheek and stood up, at which point Muyoung, too frantic to think about getting up, tightly hugged one of Seokjae’s legs.
“Th-then I want to go with you!”
“…”
Looking at his suddenly heavier leg, Seokjae felt like an owner finding it difficult to leave for work because of their pet dog. He wanted to pick Muyoung up right away and take him along, but reality demanded he leave him behind.
‘…Being unnecessarily perceptive.’
It was a condition set by Sangjin, who had noticed that Seokjae cared most about Muyoung. Of course, this was decided after Seokjae had threatened to make Sangjin beg for death if he tried anything foolish while Seokjae was away.
‘Tsk, he should have lived more honorably.’
Well, even if he could go back to that time, Seokjae would probably do the same thing all over again.
Among other actions he couldn’t even remember, since he couldn’t guarantee he hadn’t done anything that would turn these affectionate eyes into ones filled with contempt, he regretted his carelessly lived past for the first time in his life.
‘From now on, I’ll have to wrap things up more cleanly, without future complications.’
In the end, Seokjae had no intention of becoming good. He stroked the round head, hoping that Muyoung would never know the Seokjae who would do things he hated until his dying day.
“I want to as well, but I don’t want to leave the kids alone. I’d like you to stay with them. I’ll be back before they wake up, so could you wait here for me?”
And then he brought up a reason Muyoung couldn’t refuse.
Though there was a precedent of choosing Seokjae over the kids, that time didn’t have a premise of definite danger. Now there was a dangerous person right in front of them. And with Seokjae’s request on top of that.
“Okay…”
Muyoung had no choice but to give up on following him.
* * *
“…When will he come back?”
Muyoung sat in front of the entrance, blankly staring through the glass door. Since Seokjae hadn’t told him why he was leaving or where he was going, Muyoung had to wait where he could see outside, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to sit still due to anxiety.
For this reason, while Muyoung was peering outside like a pet dog with separation anxiety waiting for its owner to return—
“What are you doing there?”
A voice half-drunk with sleep came from behind. When he quickly turned his head, Lim Sangjin, whose expression seemed even worse after waking up, was approaching while vigorously scratching his head.
“Ah… well.”
If Muyoung had known that Sangjin had put Seokjae in danger and then slept soundly as soon as Seokjae left, he would have felt more than dislike—he would have been disgusted. But not knowing this, he just smiled awkwardly.
“Just feeling a bit, s-stifled…”
Somehow it seemed that Seokjae’s departure was related to Sangjin, but since he wasn’t sure, Muyoung avoided eye contact while making excuses to hide Seokjae’s whereabouts.
Watching Muyoung, Sangjin made a strange expression as if he understood something, then asked:
“Are you waiting for Tae Seokjae right now?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
