NTH 109

Jin’s lips twitched at the weak words whispered while rubbing the tip of his nose affectionately against Jeha’s. It was clear that while he found it hard to believe completely, he was pleased.

“Come on, no way. Anyone can see that you’re the one getting the short end of the stick in this relationship.”

“Everything I have, even this life, I owe to you. And you have no idea what a sparkling person you are. Until now, everyone just passed you by because of the parasitic spirit, but now, any human with eyes will recognize your worth.”

“…”

“That’s why, even when I’m holding you like this, I’m so anxious it’s hard for me.”

Blinking his eyes, Jin pulled Jeha’s neck closer and kissed him softly. Just before Jeha’s breath could turn ragged with excitement, Jin pulled his lips away and smiled beautifully, the corners of his mouth lifting.

“For me, there’s only Jeha. I’ll only allow gaslighting, grooming, and stalking from Jeha. Because I love you so much it’s unbelievable.”

Fuck, who is he to say that. He himself had already been that way since a thousand years ago.

This was the limit. Jeha’s hot tongue pushed into Jin’s mouth as if to invade. It wasn’t enough to kiss all night, to have sex all night, to thrust himself deep inside Jin and be joined as one body.

How could a thousand years’ worth of love be fulfilled in just one lifetime? He deserved to be reborn at least ten times to love Jin. There should be no room for even the smallest speck of foreign matter to come between them. Whether it was a parasitic spirit, a monster, or a person.

And so, without a chance for another question to follow, the day ended in a heated passion.

On another day, it was like this.

“Jeha, how much money do you have?”

What was this now?

Jin had never asked about Jeha’s wealth in detail before. Through the apartment they lived in, the cars he owned, and his spending patterns, he seemed to think something along the lines of, ‘he must have a ton of money.’

If Jin wanted, Jeha could offer him everything from the house and land deeds down to the spoons and chopsticks in the house, but Jin, who had lived in poverty his entire past and present lives, was not materialistic. He was a simple person, greatly satisfied with the fact that he could sleep warmly in a house with a roof over his head, sheltered from the rain and snow, without skipping meals.

“Is there something you want?”

Jeha swiftly lifted Jin, who was sitting on the sofa, and placed him on his lap, putting a bright red strawberry in his mouth. The large, sweet strawberry couldn’t fit all the way into Jin’s mouth and popped out. Jeha bit off the part sticking out and gave him a light kiss, and Jin chewed and swallowed the remaining strawberry in his mouth.

“It’s not that, it’s just that the news keeps saying how high the cost of living is these days. Talking about how much apples cost, how much green onions cost.”

“Yes.”

“I just keep spending lavishly while you’re the only one earning money, and I was wondering if it’s okay for us to keep living like this.”

Jeha’s eyes narrowed as he wrapped his arms around Jin’s body.

Jin was not the type of person to come up with this kind of thought on his own. And it was highly unlikely that Chief Jeong, who knew Jeha’s financial situation better than anyone, would have worried Jin about the cost of living.

In other words, there was a third person who had discussed such a topic with Jin.

“Thanks to you saving my life, I was always born into a good family and lived a long life.”

“Yes.”

“This time too, I was born with a silver spoon, so I had a considerable amount of assets in my name since I was a baby. Even without that, I’m earning enough with the work I do now. Even if you wanted to live a much more luxurious life than this, there would be no problem, so you don’t have to worry about the cost of living at all.”

Reassured by his gentle words, Jin’s tense body relaxed and slumped against Jeha.

“Back when Cheonsagang took me, he said that Jeha was the youngest son of a large company called Haesung Corporation. He said that although it was described as a quasi-chaebol, it had never fallen out of the top 10 in the international trade industry, and was much more solid than some flimsy chaebols.”

“That’s true, but don’t think about Cheonsagang.”

Jeha stroked Jin’s head as if to erase his memories. Jin, who had been nibbling on Jeha’s shoulder like a teething cat, spoke as if he had suddenly remembered something.

“Do you remember when you said before that your lifelong wish was for me to never leave the house?”

“I remember.”

“That was a joke, right?”

“No.”

“You were serious?”

“Yes.”

“So, you still feel that way now?”

“Yes.”

The days when he had kept Jin tied down under the pretext of being a ‘live-in housekeeper,’ not even allowing him to go outside the front door because he was worried about Cheonsagang, was Jeha’s most ideal life with Jin.

As he was fondly reminiscing about that time, he stopped his actions at Jin’s following words.

“You know. The fact that I live well by leeching off of Jeha, is that because I’m a person with no pride?”

A chilling light flashed in Jeha’s eyes. It was fortunate that Jin, being held in his arms, could not see those frightening eyes. He forced his voice, which was about to be tinged with anger, to be smooth.

“How can you say that after all the hardship you went through because of me? Taking care of you and making you happy is my life’s goal and joy. You have to give me a chance to make up for my mistakes, too.”

His voice, which came out smoothly while suppressing his ferocious emotions, was gentle. However, Jin still tilted his head gloomily as if something was bothering him.

“Jeha, you already saved my life. And you got rid of the parasitic spirit. I want to have a job and earn a lot of money too, so I can seem attractive to Jeha. But I’m worried because I hate math so much.”

What son of a bitch put this kind of thought into his head? With a cold face, Jeha held Jin with an infinitely warm and affectionate touch and whispered.

“You’re so attractive that you drive me crazy just by lying down and breathing, so don’t worry about that. If you hate math, you don’t have to do it for the rest of your life. But, how did you come to think of that?”

“Uh, I just… saw a relationship talk show on TV. They were saying something about how a jobless bum is incompetent and unattractive and would get dumped soon…”

The way he mumbled the end of his sentence, it was definitely a lie. Standing up with Jin in his arms and walking towards the bedroom, Jeha realized he had no choice now.

After a session of lovemaking that was even hotter and more intense than usual, Jeha cleaned the body of Jin, who had fallen asleep as if he had fainted, and dressed him in his favorite soft pajamas. After covering Jin with a warm blanket and kissing his forehead, Jeha quietly left the room and sat on the living room sofa.

With Jin’s phone in his hand, he first skimmed through the recent call list. Jeha♥, Jeha♥, Jeha♥, Mister Yoonsoo, Jeha♥, Jeha♥, Hansol Qualification Exam Academy, Mister Yoonsoo, Jeha♥, Jeha♥, Jeha♥, Mister Yoonsoo… The title ‘Mister’ might have been unfair to Chief Jeong, who was not yet forty and had a tall, handsome appearance, but Jin still used it like a term of endearment.

There was nothing suspicious in the recent call list. Jeha opened the default messaging app. Most of them were verification code messages from signing up for something or registering for an app, with occasional delivery notification messages.

Now it was time to open the SNS messenger. The red circle with the number of unread notifications showed over 50. Jeha scanned the names of the chat rooms from the top. Jeha♥, Mister Yoonsoo, Post Office, Hansol Qualif. 2X Year High School Class, GJ Korea Express, Sihun, Daehan Card…

Wait. ‘Sihun’?

This was the first time he had seen a private chat history with someone other than Jeha and Chief Jeong on Jin’s phone. Hoping it was spam or an advertisement email from somewhere, Jeha turned on airplane mode and clicked on the chat room. The first thing that caught his eye were the seven messages Jin had not yet read.

Sihun
Jin, did you get home okay? You looked a bit tired today, are you alright?

Sihun
You’re preparing well for the monthly evaluation, right?

Sihun
The range is the 5-year math past-problem book, pages 62-95

Sihun
If there’s anything you don’t know, I’ll teach you separately

Sihun
You can message me while studying at home

Sihun
Teacher is a night owl, so I don’t go to sleep until after 2 AM

Sihun
Na Jin~ did you fall asleep again without studying?

What is this bastard…

Furrowing his brow, Jeha put his hand to his forehead. He had never imagined that this kind of thing had attached itself to him without his knowledge.

He placed his finger on the screen and scrolled up nervously, reading the conversation between ‘Sihun’ and Jin from the beginning. Sure enough, all of Jin’s statements that he had found a bit strange lately had been instigated by this guy.

Jeha went into Jin’s contact list. The guy’s name was right there, even above ‘Mister Yoonsoo, Jeha♥, Hansol Qualification Exam Academy.’ Jeha took a picture of the screen where his number was saved with his own phone and immediately sent it to Chief Jeong.

(Photo)
Who is this guy?

Mr. Chief Jeong
He seems to be someone who has gotten quite close to Mr. Jin recently

Mr. Chief Jeong
I was about to report it to you anyway.

Mr. Chief Jeong
I have already conducted an investigation.

And just like that, Jeha obtained information about Tak Sihun in one go. The thorough Chief Jeong even sent a few screenshots of photos from Tak Sihun’s Instagram. His appearance was decent, above average.

Returning to the room and lying down with Jin in his arms, Jeha couldn’t get to sleep.

Is it common for an academy teacher, not a private tutor, to contact students individually like this and check on their studies and homework? For Jeha, who consistently maintained a strict barrier against personal contact from students, it was completely incomprehensible.

But in this day and age where students are precious and SNS contact is common, it seemed like it might be possible. A young teacher in his twenties would be even more casual with students, and for students who need a lot of attention, this kind of sincerity from a teacher could be a great help in improving their grades.

Tak Sihun’s reaction when the topic of boyfriends came up was not particularly abnormal either. He didn’t make obscene jokes or sexually harassing remarks. Moreover, it was always Jin who initiated the mention of his ‘boyfriend.’ From Tak Sihun’s perspective, his conversations with Jin probably felt like ‘beginning-middle-end-boyfriend.’ No matter what he said, Jin always ended the conversation by talking about his boyfriend.

Sihun
Jin, can you come to the special lecture on polynomials this Saturday?

Sihun
We’re going to do problem-solving on factorization and the remainder theorem

I can’t

Sihun
Do you have other plans?

Yes

Sihun
What is it? Is it important?

A trip with my boyfriend

Sihun
Jin… isn’t it time you should be studying hard?

I’ll do it when I get back