He was so dumbfounded he lost his words. When had he said “forget it”? He couldn’t understand why Seung-kwon, who had kept his mouth shut until now, was suddenly acting this way.
“I said forget it. Makes me want to puke, so back off.”
Jae-young frowned and irritably brushed off his hand. Then he unbuckled his seatbelt. Seung-kwon was still leaning in close, as if waiting for him.
“You were fine rubbing lips with that bastard.”
“What are you saying?”
Jae-young’s face twisted severely. Without bothering to smooth out his crumpled expression, he immediately got out of the car.
The place Seung-kwon had driven to was fake Do Jae-young’s house. Jae-young was about to forcefully close the passenger door but stopped to look at Seung-kwon inside.
“From tomorrow, if you’re caught slacking off, you’re dead. Work your bones to dust like me. With all your heart and soul.”
Leaving just that one remark, he closed the door. As he walked, he rummaged through his pocket to find his keys first.
Normally, he should have been at school by now, so he’d need to quickly change clothes and leave. Seung-kwon had said there wouldn’t be anyone following him anymore, but that didn’t ease his mind.
Climbing the stairs to the front of the house, Jae-young aligned the key with the lock. And just as he was about to insert it, his body was roughly turned around. This caused the key to slip from his grasp.
Clang- clang-
The metal made an unpleasant sound as it rolled down the corridor. Jae-young’s body was pushed against the wall with a loud thud!
Before he could assess the situation, someone’s lips overlapped with his. A tongue pushed between his lips, and as the other person’s mouth opened wider, it firmly enveloped Jae-young’s lips.
Finally coming to his senses, Jae-young struggled in surprise. He pushed the solid body away with all his might and threw a punch.
Smack! It made a harder sound than expected. His fist hurt like hell. Jae-young shook his hand with a distorted face and confirmed the man’s identity. It was Seung-kwon.
Seung-kwon backed away with his head twisted to one side. He spat out red saliva as if he had bitten his tongue when he was hit.
“What are you doing? Are you in your right mind?”
He shouted loudly out of shock. His voice trembled with anger. Not just his voice, but his entire body was shaking. He wanted to go inside immediately and rinse his mouth with mouthwash.
“Jae-young.”
“What!”
“I’ve told you many times. Always be thoroughly prepared when working. Or you’ll get caught quickly.”
“What does that have to do with this!”
“So do it properly again.”
Ha, before he could even understand those words, he let out a sigh. What kind of nonsense is this hyung so earnestly spouting? Jae-young ground his molars.
“I think you’re misunderstanding. My asking for a kiss had nothing to do with work.”
“Then.”
“Just…”
It was laughable how shameless Seung-kwon was, kissing him out of nowhere, and equally laughable that he was sitting there trying to explain himself.
It was a mistake to bring it up in the first place. He hadn’t expected Seung-kwon to take it seriously, nor had he anticipated this situation.
The question of whether he would feel something kissing another man belatedly came to mind. Feel something? It wasn’t even funny. Kissing Seung-kwon, who he had been so close with, was unpleasant.
But why… why did he get an erection with Sa Gong-hyun?
His head hurt. He vaguely knew he wasn’t gay, but he didn’t know whether to settle for that or take it more seriously. There seemed to be a stark difference between matters involving money and those that didn’t.
“Ah, why am I even explaining this?”
Jae-young irritably picked up the key that had fallen to the floor. He inserted it into the lock and turned it. Taking a deep breath, he was about to open the door when he turned back to look at Seung-kwon. Jae-young’s gaze became cold.
“Let me ask you one thing.”
“…What?”
“What you just did to me, there’s no other intention behind it, right?”
“…”
“There better not be. I’d rather you weren’t a filthy homo like Sa Gong-hyun.”
Jae-young warned calmly. Seung-kwon just stared at him without particular response. Jae-young met that gaze without backing down before walking into the house.
The front door closed. Jae-young silently tore at his hair. His heart was beating too fiercely. He felt an indescribably complex emotion.
After irritably rubbing his lips, he rushed into the bathroom. After brushing his teeth two, three times, he noticed his reflection in the mirror.
He was a mess. Like he had a skin disease, bruises marked his jawline and various spots on his neck. Did he come all the way here looking like this? Even giving his number to that arrogant thug?
Anger welled up again. His gums hurt, but his irritation didn’t subside, so he eventually threw the toothbrush.
He roughly rinsed his mouth with water. An unnecessary feeling of anxiety arose. Seung-kwon surely couldn’t have other intentions. He became more irritated not knowing why his thoughts kept going in that direction.
Jae-young slowly stepped backwards. His back touched the wall. Disliking his reflection in the mirror, he slid down the wall and huddled in place.
He took out the phone from his pocket and checked the screen. Of course, there were no messages. He just tapped the innocent screen meaninglessly.
Is it really time to cut ties? Unfortunately, his conversation with Ju-seong came to mind at this moment. Though he wondered if it was truly time, he lacked the confidence. He also somewhat felt like he was being overly sensitive.
When he stopped touching the screen, he blinked helplessly at the quickly darkening display.
Suddenly, he remembered that day. The day he first met Seung-kwon.
Counting the years Jae-young had known Seung-kwon, it had been 9 years. When they first met, Jae-young, who had lost his parents in an accident 5 years earlier, was living with his aunt’s family, taken in like an unwanted burden.
He rarely went home and spent his time with sketchy friends, causing all sorts of trouble. Having no money, he tried to steal a stranger’s wallet and got caught—that stranger was Seung-kwon.
He thought someone who could immediately notice a con was no ordinary person. Of course, Jae-young and his friends were just teenagers, and what they considered “skills” at the time were quite clumsy.
Looking at Seung-kwon’s wallet, which he had briefly held, he immediately realized: This person earns a lot of money.
Seung-kwon forgave Jae-young and his group more easily than expected. Afterwards, Jae-young secretly followed Seung-kwon. He became stubborn. He planned to break into Seung-kwon’s house when he was away.
Through that process, Jae-young discovered that Seung-kwon had a questionable occupation. It was very suspicious. So he brazenly approached and asked for help. Could he scam the aunt and her husband who had embezzled his parents’ insurance money? He pestered Seung-kwon for days after being refused.
Some days begging, some days getting angry, some days crying.
When Seung-kwon told him to write down a hundred reasons why this had to be done, he filled sheets of paper with dense writing.
The result was successful. His uncle-in-law lost his entire fortune in a startup investment scam. Jae-young felt a great catharsis from that.
Seung-kwon, pitying Jae-young, also put some money in his hands. Though the amount Jae-young got back wasn’t even a small portion of the insurance money, he didn’t mind at all.
Rather, he felt relieved seeing his aunt and her husband—who had never properly set a rice bowl for him—wailing in despair.
That’s when it started. Jae-young quit the high school he had been barely attending and clung to Seung-kwon. While learning the trade from Seung-kwon, he also prepared for the high school equivalency exam. It wasn’t his own wish, but due to Seung-kwon’s threat that he wouldn’t keep him around if he remained a middle school graduate. Having no choice, he gave up his stubbornness and started studying. Being naturally intelligent, it only required a little effort.
He had no particular interest in college. As time passed, Seung-kwon hoped Jae-young would go to college, but Jae-young thought it was a waste of time. It couldn’t be helped. He found it more interesting to learn about real estate, economics, accounting, stocks, and more informally from Seung-kwon than to devote himself to a single major.
That’s how they spent 9 full years together. Though there were many difficult times while staying with him, there were more enjoyable ones.
Now, he was starting to worry. He still disliked and got goosebumps from gay people, but he was afraid he might be torn apart from Seung-kwon because of this.
What would he do then? It felt exactly like losing his mother.
“Now I’m losing a mother who isn’t even there anymore.”
Jae-young heaved a sigh and got up from his seat.
People always think about what benefits them. It was he who first brought up the topic, and perhaps his worries were premature.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
