I was back in my hometown neighborhood. I’d been kicking a ball around when I took a shot, and instead of heading into a goal, it slipped neatly under the gate of the house across the street.
It was a mansion that always stayed shut tight, like some kind of fortress. I’d lived here my whole life and had never once seen that black gate open.
I lay flat on the ground with my chest pressed against the dirt and peered beneath the gate. My ball sat right in the middle of the grassy yard. If it had been a proper soccer ball, it never would’ve squeezed through that gap, but since it was a small volleyball with most of the air gone, this mess happened. Normally, balls just bounced off that gate and came back, so I’d kicked it the way I always did—that was the problem.
Why did it have to slip under like that?
I stood up, annoyed, brushing the dirt off my T-shirt. If I went home looking this filthy, Mom would definitely scold me. I’d lost my ball, dirtied my clothes, and felt miserable all around.
My friends said a grim reaper lived in that house. Only people dressed entirely in black ever came and went—especially at dawn or late at night. That’s why I was too scared to press the bell. It felt like a black hand might burst out from inside the gate and drag me in. After hesitating for a long while, I finally turned away, trying to act tough and telling myself to just give up.
That evening, Mom scolded me and said she wouldn’t buy me another ball if I lost one again. I hated her for that and cried at the dinner table, asking if she’d be happy if I disappeared because of a stupid ball. Maybe her scolding voice even reached outside the gate.
The next day. When I got home from school and tried to open our gate, there was a box sitting in front of it. My name was written on the side. I wondered if Santa had forgotten a gift last year and was only delivering it now, so I carried it inside with excitement. When I opened it, there was a soccer ball inside.
Not just any ball—the World Cup soccer ball I’d seen on TV. But I immediately knew this wasn’t from Santa. Because the gift I’d wished for last year had been a game console.
He could’ve just given me the console… It’s hard to even play soccer around here….
Ding-dong—. Ding-dong—.
Just then, a familiar sound rang out. Was Santa here to take the soccer ball back? Muttering, “No take-backs…,” I lifted my upper body.
“Huh…? Was that a dream?”
It had felt so vivid I’d thought I’d really gone back to my childhood, but I guess it was just a dream. Wondering what kind of weird dream that was, I lay back down.
Then I heard my phone vibrating in the living room. I wondered who would be calling at this hour, but I didn’t have the energy to go get it. Just as I was about to fall back asleep, the doorbell rang again.
Ding-dong—. Ding-dong—.
I frowned and glanced at the clock beside my bed. It was 2 a.m.
“What the… crazy.”
A lot of people lived in this apartment complex, and sometimes drunk strangers showed up at the wrong unit. Irritated, I stomped toward the door to open it and give them a piece of my mind. The bell rang again while I was on my way.
“Seriously…”
I hit the door lock release and yanked the door open.
“Who is it! Which lunatic is ringing someone’s bell at this ho— huh?”
“It’s me, Hyung.”
The lunatic ringing my bell at dawn turned out to be Jun. Dumbfounded, I just held onto the door and stared at him.
Jun ignored my look completely and slowly scanned me up and down. “Do you normally live wearing only your underwear?” he asked. That snapped me fully awake.
“Wh-what? Why are you here at this hour?”
He pushed past me without hesitation, forcing me to step backward. Did he come because I hadn’t logged back in to link? No… he still shouldn’t know I’m Gentle. Then… did he find out?
“I do like seeing you dressed like that, Hyung… but are you sure it’s okay?”
Jun grinned while openly staring at my underwear. I hurried into the small room to put on clothes, throwing on a T-shirt and pants before coming back out.
Jun sat on the sofa like he owned the place. He’d picked up my phone from where it was lying nearby. I rushed over, snatched it from him, and hid it behind my back.
“Why’d you come here in the middle of the night?”
“I wanted ramen.”
“You’ve done so many weird things that I don’t even get mad anymore.”
Seriously… If you wanted ramen, you could’ve gone to some 24-hour place. Why come here and make a scene?
“Hyung, why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“If I don’t answer, you could just talk to me tomorrow.”
“Ah… I wanted to, but I couldn’t sleep at all.”
“So you come to someone else’s house at 2 a.m.?”
“Are we strangers? You’re my master, Hyung.”
“Let’s keep the role-play reasonable. If you drop by like this, how am I supposed to go to work tomorrow?”
Jun rose from the sofa and approached me. It was like he alone lived in broad daylight—he looked wide awake even in the middle of the night. I had no idea when he ever slept; there wasn’t a trace of fatigue on his face. That, more than anything, felt like the problem.
A dangerous aura radiated from him, something that told me I shouldn’t stand too close. Every step he took forward, I instinctively took one back.
“I wanted to try something today. I might not be able to sleep.”
“If you’re talking about… taking care of yourself, handle that on your own. Coming here and doing that is kind of—.”
“I was going to link with my partner in the game and sleep comfortably, but that guy ran away today.”
“…Then take it up with him. Why are you saying this to me?”
“He’s not answering. So I had to think of another method.”
I didn’t even realize we’d reached the bedroom. With a light push to one of my shoulders, Jun tilted me backward.
Unable to retreat any further, I dropped onto the bed. Jun climbed onto it with one knee and moved closer. My instinct to escape made me crawl farther back, but the more I did, the lower he leaned, closing in on me.
“…Hey. You said you’d listen to my commands, right? Don’t move! And go back the way you came.”
I pointed at him like I was wielding a magic wand and gave the order, but his body kept lowering over mine. Even when I tried pushing at his shoulder, he didn’t budge.
Just like that, I was trapped beneath his arms, and Jun obediently kept his body still as commanded. I curled up and tried to slip away, but his limbs had already boxed me in. There was no angle to escape.
“Juni. Move a little. Let me out.”
“I’ll go back like you said. But help me out first.”
Folding my hands over my chest, I stared up at him, wondering what he’d ask for. Jun spoke in a calm, steady tone.
“Watch me masturbate.”
“Huh…? Mastur… what?”
“I can’t get hard if I just do it alone.”
Most men would be mortified if someone caught them in the middle of pleasuring themselves. Even being discovered by family could leave a lifelong scar. And yet, he was asking me to watch him.
“Juni, are you in your right mind? You didn’t drink and drive here, did you?”
Of course, I knew he hadn’t. There was no smell of alcohol on him, and his tone was as firm and cool as ever. When he drank, his speech always got a little looser. Sitting up on his knees, Jun unfastened his belt buckle as if he truly meant it.
“W-wait a second. Hey, isn’t this position kind of… weird? I’m too far underneath. From this angle it’s… kinda…”
I waved my hands, trying to negotiate, even smacking his thigh lightly, but he showed no sign of stopping.
“I’m not going to ask you to use your mouth. Just stay there.”
Even when I covered my face and shook my hand in refusal, it was useless. Jun ignored me and pulled out his cock.
Sitting with the faint light from the living room behind him, his entire body was swallowed by shadow, making his outline hazy. Meanwhile, I lay facing the living room, so the light fell fully across me. Every flicker of my increasingly flustered expression must’ve been visible to him.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could finally make out his cock in his hand. I’d seen plenty of naked men in the army and in bathhouses, but watching him grip it like that felt indecent even to me as another man, and my face flushed. It almost looked like he was holding and stroking mine, and the low moans spilling from him made my ears burn.
I turned my head away, covering my eyes with my arm, trying not to look. But the bed shook with his movements as his hips began rocking, making it impossible to ignore.
The faster his hips moved, the more violently the mattress trembled. My own heart began pounding in sync, blood rushing downward. It was enough to drive me insane. When I grabbed his thigh to make him stop, the muscle twitched, tense and rigid. Then suddenly, the arm covering my eyes was caught and forced down.
“Haah… Look. Watch. I won’t get hard unless you watch, Hyung.”
Startled, I opened my eyes to find his face so close his cheek nearly brushed mine. Bent forward, he let out short breaths through parted red lips. For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me.
Sitting upright again, Jun looked straight down at me and grasped himself once more.
“Don’t close your eyes… You promised you’d watch.”
Meeting his gaze felt like being swallowed whole by the intensity in his eyes, yet looking at him below felt too embarrassing. I lowered my eyes somewhere around his thigh. From above, it probably looked like I was watching everything anyway.
“Haah… Hyung….”
Maybe it really did look that way, because Jun grew even more aroused. He spread the tip with his index finger, tracing the curve with his thumb. Watching it made me swallow without meaning to, as if my own body were being touched.
I tried not to look, focusing on his thigh, but my gaze kept drifting back. Wasn’t a person’s field of vision about 120 degrees? No matter how far I turned my eyes aside, he stayed within view. One of his hands held himself, while the other reached out to cradle my jaw and force me to face forward.
“Feels like I’d get hard if I put it in your mouth… but I’ll hold back.”
Staring at my lips, Jun began moving his hand more roughly. When I unconsciously licked my dry lips with my tongue, his heated breathing rained down over me. He must’ve imagined it—my red tongue wrapping around him, sucking him in.
After trying for a long while, he finally let go, unable to get fully hard.
“Hoo…”
A low breath fell over my head. As if releasing pent-up heat, Jun slowly steadied his breathing.
When our eyes met, I saw a faint smile on his face. His unsatisfied cock hung abandoned at the open front of his pants. The sight of him exposing only that intimate part while breathing languidly looked sexier than ever before.
Compared to the time I’d seen him wearing only briefs in front of his house, the way only part of him was visible now felt far more obscene. I forced my gaze away and shut down my thoughts—because if I didn’t, I wasn’t confident I could stop where my imagination might go.
