FETCH 5

“Where else would you find an Esper as well-behaved as me?”

“Ah, is that so.”

I gave a listless retort to Han Kang’s words. Even though I knew better, Han Kang nodded triumphantly as if it were a given.

He probably forced his way into getting permission to stay out tonight by throwing all sorts of fits. When Jaechan looked at him with half-closed eyes, Han Kang gave a dashing smile.

They say you can’t spit on a smiling face, but why did a sigh escape me? Just as I was swallowing a heavy breath, thinking myself a sinner for liking that face, the food started to arrive.

Starting with vegetable tripe—a national late-night snack—there was pig’s feet, boiled pork wrap, grilled pork belly, and grilled neck meat. The food, arriving in steady piles, was accompanied by various types of alcohol. Jaechan, staring blankly at the spread, spoke up.

“If you were going to do this, you should have just slaughtered a whole pig.”

Somehow, the cuts delivered seemed to be made of every single piece of flesh from the animal. When he let out a scoffing laugh at the absurdity, Han Kang laughed back, saying, “I should have done that.”

Should have, my foot.

Jaechan, letting out a shallow laugh as well, poured the soju into the glass in front of him with a trickle, trickle, trickle. As soon as the transparent liquor reached a certain level, they clinked glasses with a sharp clink.

He couldn’t drink much anyway. Han Kang had to return to the Center tomorrow and train, so there was no point in making things difficult for him.

So, I decided to give him exactly one glass. Telling him the rest was all mine, Jaechan gulped down the alcohol. He was trying his best to act fine while facing Han Kang, but the faint, lingering afterimages of what he saw earlier flickered in his mind, making his emotions fluctuate.

Jaechan pressed his eyes shut. He intended to settle his restless feelings.

Clatter.

The sound of the bottom of the glass bottle hitting the glass table echoed.

“Put the alcohol down.”

“…Whoa, honey, you can see in front of you even with your eyes closed now. Are you some kind of X-ray Esper or something?”

Han Kang, who supposedly had to return to the Center tomorrow, was already reaching for the alcohol again. I looked at Han Kang with narrowed eyes as he talked nonsense. He then carefully set the bottle back down.

“So, when is your departure?”

“What departure?”

“The Olympics.”

“Ah, it hasn’t been decided yet.”

Han Kang shrugged as if he really didn’t know. Well, it made sense. People are interested in the Olympic match schedule, but unless you’re a h**dcore fan or a reporter, you don’t care much about the departure date.

Still, since the national team had been formed, I thought they’d leave right away, but apparently not. This Olympics was being held in Beijing. Since it was close, I thought about going to watch the match, but it seemed difficult because of my part-time job hours.

Maybe I’ll go see him off at the airport instead.

Ah, there will be so many reporters that it might be hard to see his face.

It was just as he was twitching his lips against the rim of his glass. Han Kang chuckled playfully.

“You’re coming to see me off on the day I leave, right?”

“I don’t know, depends on how you behave.”

Before I knew it, Han Kang’s toes were wriggling their way up my shin. The sensation of his toes pushing into my pants was quite bold. I had a rough idea of what it meant, but since my body had already cooled down once, I wasn’t particularly moved this time.

There’s a limit to how much one should like someone. To Han Kang, this was probably just a passing joke. I knew all too well that assigning meaning to every little thing and getting nervous alone would only result in a sense of emptiness.

Jaechan crossed his legs to avoid him. Han Kang’s toes, which had barely been touching him, fell away. Then, Han Kang leaned his face in close with a sly smile.

“But if I win a gold medal at this Olympics, the prize money is huge, I’ll get incentives, and my salary will go up even more.”

“Are you bragging about your money to me?”

“No, it’s not that. Once I get that, I’ll put a bed over there for you.”

Han Kang pointed his finger straight toward the bedroom area he had been eyeing subtly. It wasn’t a space separated by a door or a wall. It was a semi-loft style with just a slight difference in floor level.

He had placed the bed up there to look at the sky view—a perk only available on the top floor of the studio apartment—while lying down, so it was absurd that Han Kang was suddenly saying he’d put another bed in that spot.

“There’s a bed there already, can’t you see it?”

It was just as Jaechan tilted his head as if to say “What are you talking about?”

“The recliner.”

Suddenly, Han Kang stroked the armrest of the recliner he was sitting on.

“The four-seater sofa. The one-seater sofa. If you look closely, this house has two of everything that usually only needs one if you live alone.”

“…”

“But there’s only one bed, how lonely. So, I’m going to put one there for you.”

I mean, why do you think there’s only one bed?

Jaechan’s expression hardened in frustration. Han Kang’s kindness, rooted in a completely different thought process than his own, wasn’t particularly welcome.

.✦ ݁˖

It was only much later that Han Kang went into the bathroom, saying he was going to wash up. While he was washing, Jaechan cleaned the table where the leftover food and their recent, lively chatter had sat.

Still, he’s the guy who has to train tomorrow, is it a bit much to make him sleep on a beanbag? After finishing the cleanup, Jaechan let out an hmmm and twitched his eyebrows. He thought about laying out a duvet on the floor, but eventually arrived at the thought of letting him sleep in the bed.

Before long, the sound of Han Kang coming out after finishing his shower was heard. Standing on the floor mat with a towel on his head, shaking his hair out, he called out as if looking for something.

“Honey.”

“What.”

“Bring me a T-shirt.”

It’s not like he doesn’t know where the T-shirts are, so why is he bossing me around? Jaechan, who had been glaring at him in annoyance, suddenly went wide-eyed. At the same time, a burning heat settled over his face.

Han Kang, wearing absolutely nothing, was standing there unashamedly with his solid body in plain view. From his carved upper body to his sturdy thighs where the tightly bound muscles were visible in vivid detail. It was all captured in a single glance.

Han Kang was born with beautiful lines. Because of that, he often heard people say his body was beautiful, but seeing it bare like this, the ruggedness looked quite intimidating.

Jaechan hurriedly looked away. He felt like he shouldn’t keep looking. It felt somewhat like he was committing a crime. Since his intentions weren’t pure, he couldn’t help but feel that way. Moreover, his gaze had unintentionally drifted toward his center.

The skinship that had happened from the Center all the way to the front door of the house flashed through his mind. As if the fact that he hadn’t been moved was a lie, his face instantly flushed hot. It felt as though a tight heat was congregating in his lower abdomen, so Jaechan let out a loud, forced cough, ahem.

If Han Kang was quick-witted, there was no way he wouldn’t notice his gaze. Jaechan fumbled with the edge of the duvet and spoke haltingly.

“Hey, get—get some clothes on.”

Jaechan, with another forced cough, walked toward the wardrobe where he kept Han Kang’s clothes.

Han Kang, who had a streak of cleanliness in strange ways, never stepped off the floor mat until his hair was dry to some extent. Knowing that, I resented myself a little for not telling him to take his clothes in with him beforehand. Should I consider it lucky that he at least grabbed his underwear?

Phew, letting out a sigh, Jaechan brought him not only a T-shirt but also some pants. Han Kang looked at Jaechan with a large twitch of his eyebrows.

“Why? Is my c**k not good?”

“What the h**l are you talking about?”

“Joke, it’s a joke.”

I felt irritated for no reason and wanted to add, ‘What, is a guy’s c**k supposed to be pretty then?’ but I stopped. The large body was quickly hidden by the clothes. Nevertheless, that exquisite body, which anyone regardless of gender would admire, kept floating before my eyes. Whether I closed or opened my eyes, the afterimage lingering in my vision remained the same.

In an instant, heat gathered in my lower abdomen. Jaechan instinctively realized that if he faced Han Kang in this state, he wouldn’t even be able to break even.

He hurriedly grabbed his underwear and clothes. The thought of telling him where he was sleeping had already vanished. Jaechan moved his feet quickly and hid himself in the bathroom.

While being hit by the stream of hot water pouring from his head, Jaechan tried desperately to forget the solid body that filled his mind. It wasn’t the first time he’d seen his body, so he was used to disciplining himself, telling himself there was no need to react anew.

In the first place, Han Kang was someone who filmed an underwear commercial as soon as he became a celebrity. After conquering various championships, out of the commercials pouring in like a tide, that was the one he chose because he said it was interesting.

Because of that, photos of a stark-n**ed Han Kang were still easy to find. From the solid upper body made of well-defined muscles to the center that boasted prominent curves or the thigh muscles branching out to either side—even though it was just a commercial photo, it shook the world beyond South Korea.

Since then, he had heated up the internet with various commercial photos, but the aftermath of the underwear ad still remained, and the variety shows he appeared on still pulled that photo in as a reference screen.

So, Jaechan soothed and coaxed himself, telling himself there was no need to react anew like this.

Is there any need to act all fresh as if seeing it for the first time now? Absolutely not.

…Or so he thought in his head.

“Ha, f**k…”

Muttering a low curse, Jaechan glanced down at himself.