NTH 30

Jeha turned on the heater to let warm air out and caressed Nana’s sleeping cheek. His face was pale, white as a sheet with no color, and his lips were dry and chapped from the high fever.

Only then did Jeha realize that he would not have cared whether Nana was sick, broken, or in any other state.

Because just having him alive, within his reach, was enough.

For now, the urgent matter was to take him home, change him into dry clothes, and lay him down in a warm place. Jeha hurriedly drove the car home, piercing through the downpour that was so heavy he couldn’t see an inch ahead.

*

Jeha, carrying Nana who was still wrapped in the blanket, briefly set him down on the living room sofa. He went into the dress room and came out with pajamas made of soft cotton and new underwear.

Thanks to the car’s heater, Nana’s fine hair was almost dry. Nana didn’t wake up even as Jeha took off his damp outer clothes and underwear and changed him into the pajamas.

Jeha picked Nana up and headed to his own bedroom. After laying him down on the wide, soft bed, he attached a fever-reducing patch, which he had bought at a pharmacy on the way, to his forehead and covered him with a blanket. The sleeping Nana’s expression seemed much more peaceful.

Jeha stroked Nana’s hair a few times and then went out to the living room.

Searching the pockets of the jeans Nana had been wearing, he found the cell phone Jeha had bought for him. In the back of the phone’s card case was a debit card, and when he separated the phone from the case, the water that had seeped in dripped out. The phone wouldn’t turn on, as if to prove Nana’s words that it had broken due to being submerged.

Jeha picked up his own cell phone and made a call somewhere. Before the signal tone could ring even twice, a young man’s voice came through the receiver.

“Yes, Young Master. This is Manager Jeong.”

“I told you not to call me Young Master.”

“You’re not Hong Gildong’s father, so why can’t I call the Young Master, Young Master? But for you to call me first, Young Master, makes me feel uneasy. Is something wrong?”

“I have a few things to ask of you. Are you alone right now?”

“No, I am not. Would it be alright if I call you back in five minutes?”

“Yes.”

Getting Nana a proper medical examination and a prescription was a difficult matter for Jeha to solve on his own right now. He didn’t like using the power of his family, but in an unavoidable situation like this, there was no one more suitable for this task than Manager Jeong.

A short while later, Manager Jeong called back. Jeha, pressing the call button, said.

“It’s me.”

“Young Master, please make me a promise first.”

“About what.”

“First, tell the truth. Second, be honest. Third, hide nothing. If you can keep these three things, I will gladly give you my life if you ask for it.”

“They all mean the same thing in the end. And is it something to be expressed so tragically?”

“You told me not to even come near you unless you contacted me first, didn’t you? The fact that you, Young Master, are seeking me out first means that I need to be prepared for that much. So please don’t hide anything from me.”

“You’re really something. Actually, I’m in a bit of a difficult situation right now and need some of your help, Manager Jeong.”

“Please, tell me.”

“First, please buy enough clothes and underwear of various kinds from the department store. Comfortable clothes to wear indoors and pajamas too.”

“I periodically check your wardrobe and keep it well-stocked, Young Master, what more do you need?”

“No, it’s not for me to wear. You can bring clothes suitable for a man in his early twenties with a size 95 top and a 28 inch waist.”

“Understood. Is there anything else you need?”

“Please bring a doctor to my house right now. It has to be someone whose lips are as heavy as lead. It must be a skilled person who can check basic health conditions and also prescribe medicine.”

“Understood. But by any chance, did you happen to pick up an alien on the street? Or perhaps a person who time-slipped from the Joseon Dynasty.”

“You have a good imagination. You should have become a novelist instead of a secretary.”

“By when should I bring the clothes?”

“The sooner the better. It doesn’t matter if it’s the middle of the night or dawn.”

“I do hope it’s not a dangerous creature that shoots beams from its eyes.”

“He has a high fever and is very weak from being in the rain for too long. Find a doctor in the time you’re fantasizing.”

“Roger.”

After finishing the call with Manager Jeong, Jeha walked to the kitchen. He took out the abalone from the freezer to thaw and soaked glutinous rice in water to make porridge. As he cooked, Jeha tried to organize his thoughts.

If CEO Cheon was indeed a parasitic soul, he would try to exploit Nana and absorb his energy by any means necessary. It would probably be through coercive threats, or by bewitching his heart and acting like a lover.

Until very recently, Nana had only recognized CEO Cheon as a ‘scary loan shark he had the misfortune of meeting’, which was why it was a mistake for Jeha not to have been thoroughly prepared and vigilant.

Jeha didn’t know whether to view Nana’s current state as him being born weak and having low energy, as Gu Minho had said, or to consider it a severe cold from being in the rain, or to think that he had become so gaunt because his energy had been stolen by CEO Cheon.

However, the words Nana had said in the public phone booth were stuck in Jeha’s mind like a fishbone in his throat.

「The only phone numbers I could remember were yours and CEO Cheon’s, but I really didn’t want to go back to CEO Cheon.」

Nana had clearly said that he really didn’t want to ‘go back’ to CEO Cheon. That was no different from saying that he had been with Cheon Sagang until recently.

Scraping the bottom of the pot with a silicone spatula to prevent the abalone porridge from sticking, Jeha unknowingly furrowed his brow deeply.

Had Cheon Sagang stroked Nana’s white, smooth skin? Had he licked his red lips and dug into his tender flesh, thrusting his own dirty and shameless thing into Nana?

“This is crazy…”

Jeha swore without realizing it. On the back of his hand, which had tensed up without his knowledge, thick veins bulged. As he stirred the porridge nervously, other words Nana had said came to his mind one by one.

「Don’t be too nice to me.」

「So that when you get tired of me and kick me out someday, I won’t miss you too much…」

At first, it was just curiosity. He was curious about the thief who had dared to steal his things, and he was also regretful about the data he had collected on his external hard drive. But as their meetings repeated and he even had dreams of past lives, he could no longer leave Nana alone, and eventually, he grew accustomed to him.

Moreover, after visiting Gu Minho together, the existence of the ‘parasitic soul’ bothered him to an unbearable degree, and the existence of Cheon Sagang, who was presumed to be the incarnation of that parasitic soul, was extremely irritating.

Finally, during the past week when he had lost Nana, he had waited for Nana’s contact to the point where he couldn’t concentrate on his lectures and school work.

Jeha was still not sure what his exact feelings for Nana were. But there was one thing he could say for sure.

He never wanted to send Nana to a place where his hands couldn’t reach again. He wanted to always be able to see and touch him, to keep him only within his own territory.

He would make him get a health check-up and take medicine, and if necessary, he would mobilize nutritional supplements or whatever it took to make him regain his strength. He would dress him in proper clothes made of soft and precious materials, not cheap supermarket clothes bought in bundles, and make sure he ate three nutritious meals a day, and let him stay comfortably in a pleasant house that didn’t leak and didn’t grow mold.

Unless Nana wanted it, Jeha would never, on his own whim, send him away first. After his safety from Cheon Sagang was secured, if Nana wanted to be independent, he would not spare any financial support so that he could live his life doing what he wanted.

It was perhaps a belated atonement for the pitiful Nanas of his past lives, whom he had sadly passed by and could not save.

Jeha poured the finished porridge into a bowl and let it cool for a moment, then took a spoon and a glass of water and placed them on a wooden tray. He brought it to the master bedroom, set it down on the nightstand next to the bed, and checked Nana’s condition. Nana had curled up, hugging the blanket, as if he had the chills.

“Nana, wake up for a moment.”

Jeha gently shook Nana.

“Mmm…”

“It’s not good to starve too much. Have some porridge and then rest again.”

“It’s cold…”

“Is it very cold? I bought some fever reducer from the pharmacy, but it might upset your stomach if you take it on an empty stomach, so let’s have some porridge first.”

Nana laboriously lifted his heavy eyelids and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. Looking around, he seemed to have finally come to his senses and said.

“Oh, here, is this your house?”

“Yes.”

“Your room? Your bed?”

“Yes.”

“The mattress is really nice. It must be expensive.”

“If you have the energy to say that, eat the porridge first.”

“I have no energy. You feed me.”

Even when he was sick, Nana was still very much Nana.

Jeha helped Nana sit up against the headboard of the bed and pulled up a chair to sit next to him. When he brought a spoonful of porridge to his lips, Nana opened his mouth like a baby bird and took it.

“This is really delicious. Where is it from? Bonjuk?”

“I made it. I’m glad you like it.”

“You really made this? You cooked it yourself?”

“Yes.”