Chapter 41
Harriet blinked in the morning sunlight and got up groggily in a half-asleep state.
It seemed like the work start time had long passed, and he was just getting up now—he must have been quite tired. Harriet massaged his shoulders and lay back down.
After closing his eyes for a while and blinking several times, he saw someone sleeping soundly beside him. He remembered that since the house had only one room, there wasn’t a proper place to sleep, so they had shared a blanket.
Harriet blinked his white eyelashes and stared at Ender. Ender, who was sleeping so peacefully, had a face twice as cute and angelic as his usual appearance.
In one hand, he was holding the underwear Harriet had worn and given him yesterday, while his other hand was inside his pants, down below. Whatever he had done until the wee hours while watching Harriet sleep, Ender was now sleeping with a very satisfied expression.
Ender’s face was half-buried in Harriet’s underwear, his hand twitching slightly, and his face relaxed—it was hard to understand what could be so pleasing about it.
Hehe, this guy.
Harriet smiled indulgently and gently pinched Ender’s nose. When awake, he was always handsome, but asleep, he looked extremely cute. No, the original Ender was cute too. Anyway, Harriet gazed at him vacantly.
Checking the clock, it was exactly 7 o’clock. He would be late if he didn’t get up and prepare for work. Despite what had happened yesterday, Harriet was a soldier receiving a salary from the military, and the same went for Ender.
Since it had rained heavily yesterday, there would certainly be villagers seeking help. In the quiet rural village without even a proper police station, the elderly countryside residents had only the military base to rely on.
Yet Harriet couldn’t wake Ender up. He wanted to see Ender’s face, sleeping with his eyes properly closed, one more time. That one time became two, then three, and after many times, Harriet finally came to his senses and raised his head.
Lately, he often found himself staring blankly at Ender, no matter what he was doing. He was handsome, sexy, and also pretty. Perhaps because it was his first time seeing him smoke yesterday, it had looked very impressive.
He needed to wake him, but his sleeping face was too precious to disturb.
Still, he had to wake him, but just five more minutes of looking.
Just five more minutes.
With this thought, Harriet blankly admired Ender’s face, and only after quite a long time passed could he finally bring himself to wake Ender. When he grabbed his broad shoulders and shook them, Ender narrowed his eyes open. His red eyes turned toward Harriet.
“…Ah, Sunbae.”
Ender murmured as if whispering and buried his face in Harriet’s underwear. Then, after inhaling deeply—sniff, ahh—he suddenly raised his head.
His half-open eyes flashed brightly, and his red pupils came to life. As soon as he got up, he neatly folded Harriet’s underwear as if handling a precious treasure, put it away, and rose from his place.
“I’m sorry. I overslept.”
Ender checked the clock and spoke as if troubled. Then he clicked his tongue at himself. The thought of obtaining Harriet’s underwear had excited him so much that he couldn’t fall asleep. So he had probably unintentionally fallen asleep next to Harriet after staring intensely at him as he purred in his sleep late into the night. But it seemed like he had slept too defenseless by Harriet’s side.
However, there was a more embarrassing issue that hadn’t been resolved yet. Having buried his face in the underwear filled with Harriet’s scent, Ender’s honest body had reacted. Ender didn’t bother trying to hide it.
After staring at his lower body standing to attention beneath his small pajamas, Ender raised his head. Harriet blinked and smiled slightly as if a bit troubled.
“So healthy in the morning, Ender.”
“Yes, thanks to you, Sunbae.”
Ender flashed a handsome smile.
* * *
Thanks to Ender, Harriet arrived late at the office, limping. Ryan was sitting on the sofa, nodding off. When Harriet entered, he barely woke up, rubbing his sleepy eyes before the briefing, trying hard to pull himself together.
But even though it was well past the reporting time, Anschel was nowhere to be seen. After yesterday’s incident and with his injuries, was he planning to be very late today? Worried, Harriet secretly checked the clock again.
Anschel was a person who followed rules to the point of annoying others. He didn’t like being late and wouldn’t tolerate it unless there were unavoidable circumstances. Of course, this only applied to himself, and he had never cautioned Harriet, who was habitually late.
“Where’s Angela?”
“She went to get some oriental melons.”
“Ah.”
Angela loved oriental melons immensely. Since most of this week’s harvest was oriental melons, it was natural for Angela to help with the field work, running around like a horse with a loose rein. She truly was a spirited young woman with enormous strength.
Harriet smiled slightly and sat down. Instead of sitting, Ender picked up a file from the desk and approached Harriet.
—Knock knock
There was a knocking sound, and someone opened the door and entered. It was the village chief. He came in with a friendly smile on his old, wrinkled face. He was wearing a black hat that said ‘Village Chief,’ and whoever had gotten it for him had chosen well—it suited him perfectly.
The village chief spotted Ryan and approached him. He had clearly come for today’s patrol. Ryan gave up his seat for the visiting chief and nodded while examining the map together.
Yesterday, Ryan had been ordered to stand by at home due to his low rank. As a result, he seemed unaware of what had happened here yesterday. If he had known, he wouldn’t have been able to exchange words so calmly while nodding to the village chief.
The chief took off his hat with his old, wrinkled hand and greeted Harriet. Harriet, wondering who on earth had given him that hat, smiled slightly and lowered his head to acknowledge the greeting.
“It rained heavily yesterday; are the fields alright?”
“Yes.”
Before patrolling with Ryan in the morning, the chief sometimes came to the office to get coffee or fruit. Of course, such coffee or fruits were gifts from the villagers.
“These days there are beasts appearing in the mountains, it’s a big problem. They’re ruining the fields too… aish.”
The chief seemed upset as he led Ryan outside. Ryan greeted Harriet and Ender before following the chief.
“Does he always patrol?”
“Yes, Ryan can communicate with animals, so he mostly patrols until evening.”
Of course, during that time, he might get lunch at the chief’s house, help prepare snacks, or keep the elderly company in the cool village hall. Harriet smiled slightly, envying his ability.
“His ability is very gentle.”
“I see.”
Ryan’s ability was something Harriet, who had dreamed of becoming a zoologist since childhood, envied. Although it had made things difficult for Ryan on the battlefield, in a peaceful place like this, it was a useful ability.
Since Ryan and the chief began patrolling, crime and wild animal attacks in this rugged rural village had decreased significantly. Sometimes people would come to bury things in the hills, but Ryan would somehow sense it and capture them.
Ender narrowed his eyes and stared in the direction Ryan had gone. The clock was approaching 10 o’clock. Ender approached Harriet, waving the document he was holding. He hesitated, speaking with a reluctant expression.
“Sunbae, I need to step out for a while.”
“Will it take long?”
“I plan to return by evening, but…”
That meant it would take a long time. Harriet, feeling strangely melancholic, couldn’t grasp his own feelings and gave a troubled smile. He nodded and stroked Ender’s head, who looked even lonelier than himself.
“What are you going for?”
* * *
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
Anschel opened the office door, gasping for breath. There was mail in his hand. His ear, without the gauze, looked fine. Harriet examined Anschel and asked.
“Did you go to Ann?”
“……”
Anschel was silent for a moment, uncomfortably mumbling his lips. Somehow, he had managed to rearrange his disheveled hair from yesterday into a very neat, angular 2:8 ratio hairstyle again.
And it made one wonder just how many pairs of glasses he owned. Anschel, wearing glasses that sparkled like new ones, looked around.
“Where is the Colonel?”
“He said he had some business and stepped out for a while.”
Business?
Anschel took off his outer garment, wondering. Harriet noticed a red flower blooming on Anschel’s nape. Whether it was a mosquito bite or an insect bite, it was quite distinct.
Anschel seemed stiff as he grabbed his shoulder, shook it a few times, and sighed. Then he handed the mail he was holding to Harriet.
“What’s this?”
“It’s the health checkup results.”
Harriet nodded and opened the mail. Inside were results for everyone, starting with Angela, then Ryan, Ender, and Anschel. But Harriet’s own results were missing.
Harriet nodded as he checked the four people’s results. There was nothing particularly bad, and everyone was in good health. Especially Ender’s results were so perfect that just looking at them made him smile. Harriet grinned, inwardly feeling proud.
“Only Harriet-nim’s is missing.”
“Yes, my examination report is confidential.”
Come to think of it, only Harriet had been examined separately. It was probably because of the experiments. Anschel had asked before, but he wanted to ask again.
“…Harriet-nim, are you really not angry?”
Although he didn’t know what kind of experiment it was, judging from Delta Maxim’s and Ender’s reactions, it certainly wasn’t a pleasant one.
It could be terrible, as Delta Maxim had said. But Harriet’s reaction was so gentle that it was hard to believe he had undergone such experiments.
He said that he was forced to participate in the military experiments because he had been sold, and that the researchers had bought him at a fair price and were just doing their job.
Harriet smiled slightly and lowered his eyebrows. It was truly a benevolent smile, as if nothing bothered him at all.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
