Chapter 40
“Make sure you visit Ann before it gets infected, even if it’s raining.”
Harriet told Anschel while following behind Ender.
“…Yes.”
Anschel scratched his head. Then, seeing Angela flinching and glancing at the bodyguard’s corpse, he spoke up.
“She’s scared, so I’ll clear away that corpse first.”
“I can do it for you, you should get treatment…”
“No, I’ll do it.”
Anschel shook his head and spoke firmly. Harriet didn’t ask twice, just nodded and walked over to Ender. Ender was already prepared to attend to him, holding an umbrella.
Anschel resisted the urge to smoke and dragged the corpse outside. When Angela hovered around trying to help, he told her it was fine and sent her back to the office. Then, with the large bodyguard’s corpse in one hand and a shovel in the other, he headed into the mountains.
The man had attacked first, so Anschel could justify killing him, but he preferred to avoid the hassle. Anschel started digging, and before long the gauze covering his ear was stained red with blood.
Though his task was done, Anschel hesitated for a long time, reluctant to proceed. Finally, he made his way to the lake.
Whoosh—
Despite the pouring rain, Anschel climbed the mountain without an umbrella, gasping for breath. When he reached the lakeshore, he hesitated slightly. He instinctively stopped when he spotted a blue-haired figure by the lake.
Whether it was typical of merpeople or this particular individual was especially strange, Ann had gathered a bunch of frogs and was singing to them. The frogs were adding their own “ribbit ribbit” chorus to Ann’s beautiful harmony.
Watching this scene, Anschel thought there couldn’t be a crazier lunatic.
“Ahem.”
Anschel cleared his throat and stepped forward. At the sound, Ann turned his head. Perhaps because of the heavy rain, he maintained his merman form even outside the lake.
If merpeople can appear on land in that form when it’s raining… the merman research community would be shocked to learn this.
“What are you doing?”
Anschel asked. Ann stared at him with round eyes before waving his hand. A transparent water membrane formed above Anschel’s head, shielding him from the rain.
Anschel was a soldier after all, who had trained outside for 12 hours even in the rain, so he was fine. That particular day had been rather chilly at 18 degrees.
“I was teaching the frogs a song.”
Ann said with a grin. When the singing stopped and Anschel appeared, the green frogs had already scattered in all directions. Wondering if he had interrupted that deranged opera, Anschel hesitated.
“Sorry for interrupting. I…”
“Mr. Toolie.”
Damn it, who’s Toolie? That Toolie fellow supposedly had a rabbit-like killer whale child and swam off to the southern sea!
“You’re hurt.”
“…Yes, I can’t go to the hospital, so I came to ask for your help.”
“Oh my, come here, poor Mr. Toolie. How did you get injured?”
Can’t he stop with the Mr. Toolie business?
Anschel approached him with an uncomfortable expression. Ann’s eyes seemed covered with a blue mist. Unlike Harriet’s, Ann’s fins were a beautiful blue color.
His back was smooth, unlike Harriet’s, and his fins shimmered with rainbow colors. The blue scales gleamed like jewels, truly befitting royalty of the merpeople.
Ann stuck out his red tongue and said:
“I’ll lick it very deeply, so don’t worry.”
“…”
When Anschel muttered that such talk was sexual harassment, Ann spread his arms wide. Anschel had no choice but to sigh and approach him.
* * *
Whoosh—
Rain was falling.
The open space in front of the military base was quiet, as if the recent commotion had never happened, with only the sound of raindrops splashing into puddles. The rural village in the mountains looked very peaceful.
Ender approached his personal vehicle, which was sitting in the open space getting rained on. He opened the car door with familiarity.
The door opened easily, apparently left unlocked. He retrieved a luxury box carelessly thrown on top of the dashboard. Meanwhile, Harriet held the umbrella for him. Ender quickly took out a cigarette and took the umbrella from Harriet.
“There’s nowhere to shelter from the rain. I came outside because I don’t want the smoke to reach you, Sunbae.”
“It’s alright. Anschel seemed very confused. He needs time alone.”
Ender turned on his sophisticated-looking black electronic cigarette. Harriet had tried smoking once when he came of age, but had vomited all day. His body rejected tobacco completely. After becoming deathly ill from just one cigarette, Harriet avoided smoking thereafter.
“I didn’t know you smoked.”
“Yes, not often, but I do.”
Harriet stared at Ender’s profile as he put the cigarette in his mouth and exhaled smoke. Even the act of smoking the luxury electronic cigarette and exhaling smoke looked beautiful. His red eyes seemed deeply sunken, as if lost in thought.
“Is what you’re worrying about related to what just happened?”
Harriet smiled slightly. When he smiled, his eyebrows drooped into a ㅠ shape. Ender stared at Harriet’s gentle-looking face as he exhaled smoke. He used his ability to direct the smoke far away so it wouldn’t reach Harriet.
“…Yes. I wanted to kill him.”
“But?”
“…If I did that, I couldn’t find your video, so I held back. But don’t worry, Sunbae.”
“…”
Ender couldn’t bear to look at Harriet. He had made a deal involving his Sunbae, who was more precious to him than the heavens. It was a fucking disgusting thing to do. None other than Ender McGuire had contemplated whether to save Delta Maxim’s life in a situation where Harriet was at stake.
“…I will definitely kill that bastard. And all those pig-dogs who keep that video like pornography.”
The kitten-like growling only looked cute to Harriet. Moreover, Ender was now dressed sharply in his military uniform. Seeing Ender’s figure completely encased in the uniform, Harriet unconsciously tilted his head.
Strangely, he felt a slight tightness in his lower abdomen. Harriet instinctively traced Ender’s jawline with his finger.
At that, his adorable junior finally looked at him. While earlier his red eyes had been filled with hatred, contempt, and self-loathing, now they were full of heat, focused solely on Harriet.
“Tell Anschel that too. It’s fun to tease him, but he looks too pitiful.”
Harriet said, not knowing that by now Anschel had gone to the merman Ann of his own accord and was being toyed with. Ender promptly answered Harriet’s words.
“Yes.”
“Cute Ender, I’ll tell you something interesting, so stop being angry and let’s go home.”
When Harriet whispered this, Ender’s red eyes softened a little. He nodded and was ready to laugh heartily at Harriet’s humor.
Unlike others’ humor, Sunbae’s humor was profoundly deep. Ender couldn’t hope to match it with his own intellect. So Ender always laughed loudly and was moved by Harriet.
Ender perked up his ears at Harriet’s voice, which was softly laughing as if troubled.
Click—
The door opened with a light sound. Despite the construction next door being finished, Ender was still living in the tent on the open ground in front of Harriet’s house. Since the rain had surely made the ground muddy, Harriet suggested to Ender:
“Let’s sleep inside together tonight.”
Though the sun had set, it was still too early to sleep, but many things had happened today. Ender nodded firmly, and just to be sure, nodded twice more.
After the two entered the house, the rain began to ease. But it was still pouring, making a pattering sound.
Even with the large military umbrella, since two grown men were sharing it in a downpour, they both couldn’t help but get soaked. Harriet placed his cane on top of the shoe cabinet and limped inside. Then he came out of the room with towels and pajamas.
“These were a bit big for me. They should fit you. Want to wear them, Ender?”
“Of course.”
Ender quickly answered and took the clothes. Then, despite Harriet’s presence, he took a deep breath and buried his face in Harriet’s pajamas.
Hmm… they were washed, but maybe I should have left them unwashed. I wanted to reward my junior’s childish affection. Harriet smiled awkwardly and lowered his eyebrows into a ㅠ shape.
Ender slowly removed his military uniform. Every movement as he brushed back his rain-soaked hair looked incredibly handsome. Harriet gave a bitter smile.
“They’re a bit small…”
“They’re wearable.”
Though Harriet wasn’t small by any means, Ender had grown even taller. Seeing Ender looking so stylish in the clothes, Harriet sighed softly.
They were Harriet’s regular pajamas, but strangely, when Ender wore them, he looked like a model from a magazine. Harriet put on a white T-shirt and light sweatpants, then put a kettle of water on.
“You like adlay tea, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
After answering Harriet, Ender was now very seriously contemplating in front of the laundry basket. This was because he had seen Harriet remove even his rain-soaked underwear and put it in the basket.
Ender stared at the laundry basket with an expression more serious than when he was strategizing for the naval battle against the southern merpeople—a battle everyone said couldn’t be won.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to… take Sunbae’s underwear.”
Ender’s face was extremely serious.
“??”
Harriet lowered his already ㅠ-shaped eyebrows further and rummaged through a drawer.
“If you want new ones, they’re here…”
“No, no, I mean, I need those too, but…”
Ender hesitantly turned to Harriet. His red eyes sparkled pitifully without filter. And Harriet was too weak against such an Ender. In Harriet’s eyes, Ender looked like an abandoned kitten with drooping tail and ears.
“They’re unwashed, so they’ll smell.”
“That’s why.”
“???”
I thought we were communicating better these days…
Harriet smiled slightly, looking troubled.
“Take them.”
A bright light radiated around Ender. He very carefully, like someone receiving a treasure, picked up Harriet’s underwear and gingerly came outside. Harriet smiled contentedly as he watched Ender move stealthily like a cat.
Then Ender placed Harriet’s underwear inside the pocket of his own military uniform that he had taken off. He looked like a cat hiding a treasure, which made Harriet smile again.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
