NTH 91

“If you mean Mr. Gukbok, I saw him passing by the front of the main temple hall a while ago. But what kind of debt does he owe you? What is it that you even have?”

Having confirmed that Sonyeong was not injured or dead, Meoru grinned and said.

“There’s something.”

Jeombaek muttered that he had seen all kinds of crazy people and went outside.

Only then did Meoru pull the dining table closer. He scraped up all the food without leaving any behind and even diligently drank the sweet cinnamon punch. Perhaps because he had used up a lot of stamina fighting off ghosts all night, he did not feel particularly full even though he had eaten twice as much as usual.

Meoru threw off the whitish, ghost-like sleepwear. He changed into the servant’s clothes that were neatly folded next to the bedding and looked at his own reflection in the colored mirror placed on the mother-of-pearl chest. The characters Sonyeong had written on his forehead with the red liquid were already cleanly erased.

Meoru went outside and breathed in the fresh air. Without a moment’s delay, he headed straight for the main temple hall. But Sonyeong was nowhere to be seen, not in the main hall, nor anywhere else.

Meoru scanned every nook and cranny of the temple, asking any servant he saw if they had seen Sonyeong. Frustratingly, not a single person had seen him. Meoru grew more and more determined.

“So this is how you’re going to be? Where on earth can I find this liar. Hmm…, oh, right!”

He remembered the conversation he had with Sonyeong in the cave where they had taken shelter from the rain after going to dig for bellflower roots.

「I had just stopped by the shrine.」

「Where is the shrine?」

「It is in the deepest part of this cave. Although I’ve put up a barrier, sometimes wild animals get in and damage it. So I make sure to come and check it once every two or three days…」

He did not know what god was enshrined there, but seeing as Sonyeong was nowhere to be found even after searching every corner, there was a high possibility he was there. Meoru ran like the wind and arrived at that same cave from before.

Worried that Sonyeong might have cast a barrier like when he was bathing and that he too might become paralyzed, Meoru entered the cave’s mouth. Fortunately, he was able to go inside without anything happening.

“Sonyeong! Are you here?”

He walked deeper than before, calling for Sonyeong. As he followed a path that bent to the right, he saw a hollowed-out area. Several candles were lit in a small space that looked like a shrine.

Right there, Sonyeong was sitting, leaning weakly against the wall.

“Sonyeong!”

Meoru quickly approached Sonyeong and wrapped him in his arms. Sonyeong, seemingly drained of energy, had his eyes closed and was breathing hard, gasping for air.

“Sonyeong! It’s me, Meoru! Are you all right? Why are you here like this!”

At Meoru’s voice, Sonyeong opened his eyes and spoke in a barely audible voice.

“How did you… get here.”

“I woke up and you were nowhere to be found no matter how much I looked, so I came here on the off chance. What happened? Are you sick somewhere? Did you get hurt last night?”

Meoru pressed him, leaving out the part about how he had been searching for him to demand he keep his promise. Sonyeong’s head dropped onto Meoru’s chest with a thud.

“Yesterday, several times more malicious beings than before flocked here. I suppose it was because there is not much time left. Fortunately, I succeeded in tricking them into thinking you were His Highness the Crown Prince. The real Crown Prince, who was protected by a barrier, was spared from harm.”

“I don’t care about the likes of the Crown Prince. I’m asking why you’re like this.”

“It’s because I used too much of my body’s yang energy while fighting the crystallized forms of yin energy. I will recover after resting for a few days, so do not worry and go back.”

“Then you should be lying in a warm room getting some sleep, why are you all alone in a cold place like this.”

“Geographically, this is the place where the most yang energy gathers in this area.”

Meoru was angry. He did not know why, but the more he heard, the more irritated he became and the more his insides twisted.

What in the world was the Crown Prince that the innocent Sonyeong had to suffer like this. To save one Crown Prince, did it really not matter how many other lives were sacrificed?

“Meoru. I’m fine. More importantly, you held out very well yesterday.”

To Sonyeong’s words, spoken with a faint smile on his pale face, Meoru pouted and answered bluntly.

“I just slept like a log, that’s all.”

“If His Highness the Crown Prince had been there yesterday, it would have been difficult to guarantee he would have been unharmed, no matter how hard I tried. It’s because the inherent energy you possess is so bright and strong that the malicious spirits could not easily possess you.”

“Really? I guess I am pretty bright and strong. As long as I can eat three square meals a day.”

Sonyeong reached out and patted the head of Meoru, who spoke awkwardly.

“Yes. You did very well.”

Meoru snatched Sonyeong’s wrist with a jerk.

“Stop treating me like a child and keep the promise you made yesterday.”

“A promise?”

“Don’t you try to play dumb. You promised you’d let me kiss you if I was all right when I woke up this morning.”

“Oh, right. I did. All right. Go ahead.”

When Sonyeong, who had smiled freshly, answered so casually, it was Meoru who was flustered instead.

This wasn’t it… If Sonyeong denied it and stubbornly refused, wasn’t he supposed to forcefully steal a kiss from the precious lips of a blushing Sonyeong?

“What are you doing, I said go ahead. Now that you’re about to do it, do you feel repulsed because I’m a man after all?”

When Sonyeong teased him with a look of complete ease, the words made Meoru’s head heat up. He took off the cotton jacket he was wearing as an outer garment and spread it long on the floor. Meoru pulled the hand of Sonyeong, who was looking at him with a puzzled expression, and laid him down on his clothes.

“I can do it until I want to stop, right? We never set a time limit.”

“No, I naturally thought it would be just once…!”

“Cut the crap and close your eyes.”

“Heup…!”

Before he could even argue, Meoru’s tongue enveloped Sonyeong’s lips. Meoru, who had been tasting the soft and plump lips as if to devour them, pushed his tongue between Sonyeong’s teeth.

“Relax and open your mouth.”

The tightly closed lips parted from the persistent sucking. The red, hot flesh pushed roughly into Sonyeong’s mouth. Meoru’s slick tongue rubbed back and forth against Sonyeong’s, which had been frozen as if paralyzed. Sonyeong let out the breath he had been holding and swallowed hard.

“Hah, you, you taste as amazing as I thought.”

With his lewd words, Meoru caressed Sonyeong’s cheek and earlobe. A shiver ran down Sonyeong’s body. It was a mystery how the large, rough hands, calloused from hard work, could caress him so softly and tenderly.

“Eung, stop…”

At this rate, his lower body was going to react embarrassingly. Sonyeong forcefully pushed Meoru away. But Meoru, with his strong arms, pulled him in even tighter and whispered in his ear.

“Don’t play around. We’re just getting started.”

Meoru did not let a single drop of Sonyeong’s saliva spill, taking it all into his own mouth and swallowing it. He licked, rubbed, and scrubbed every corner of Sonyeong’s mouth with his tongue. He gently bit the soft lips with his teeth, and with his hands, he stealthily stroked the fine cheek, earlobe, and nape.

Meoru’s fully erect cock now felt like it would explode with just a slight touch. If he could, he wanted to mercilessly knead and violate Sonyeong’s chest and his lower parts as well. He was barely holding back with his last shred of reason.

Meanwhile, Sonyeong, who had expected it to end with a brief touch of the lips, was extremely flustered by the feeling of his mouth being thoroughly violated.

It was the first time he had been held by a man and offered his lips. Moreover, it had been so long since he’d had any physical contact with another person that his head was spinning. This act, which only permitted the lips, was far more slick and lewd than any sexual intercourse he had experienced in his life.

But he felt no desire to push Meoru away or use his arts to subdue him. Rather, being held tightly in his arms and receiving his saliva, he even felt a strange sense of fulfillment as his depleted yang energy began to fill up little by little from his lower abdomen. Because of that, Sonyeong deliberately pretended not to notice the hot, hard something that kept brushing against his thigh area.

It was an overwhelming, yet heart-filling kiss.

“Hah, Meoru, stop now…”

“No. A little longer.”

Sonyeong, short of breath, turned his head to the side. Meoru’s lips followed persistently and covered his lips again. He decided he could not let it go on any longer. Sonyeong gently gripped Meoru’s fully hardened member with his palm and said playfully.

“If we do this any longer, won’t it be too hard for this part…, huh?”

“Ah, ah-eut…!”

Meoru’s whole body stiffened, and he flinched several times. Flustered, Sonyeong quickly let go and asked, embarrassed.

“Hey, are you all right?”

Meoru let out the breath he had been holding and faced Sonyeong.

“Phew, older men are different after all. I didn’t know you’d be so bold as to grab me there. I was so scared of getting slapped that I only stole a kiss.”

“No, that’s not it, I was just playing around…!”

“Thanks to you, my inner shorts are all soaked, so how are you going to take responsibility? I’m in my prime, so I cum a lot at once.”

“If you rinse them in the stream up ahead, I will light a fire and dry them for you.”

“I don’t want to. Just take yours off and give them to me instead.”

“What did you say?”

“Ah, but then, the moment they touch my body, I might not be able to hold it in and cum again.”

Sonyeong glared at Meoru with a face that had turned bright red. Meoru smiled sweetly, hugged him, and peppered his forehead with kisses.

“You, you’re lying about being thirty, aren’t you?”

“Ha, do I look like someone who would lie?”

“What kind of Mister is this cute? You’re driving me crazy.”

“Stop talking nonsense and let me go.”

“Mister, I’m not done yet. Don’t underestimate a young man’s strength. Aaack! I’m sorry! Surrender, surrender!”

Only after seeing flames as big as his own head flare up from Sonyeong’s fingertips did Meoru finally raise the white flag.

As Sonyeong got up from his spot, gathering himself, he staggered. Meoru quickly supported him to his feet, then turned his back to Sonyeong and crouched down.

“Get on. You don’t look like you have the strength to walk.”

“I am fine. I’m not so weak that I need a piggyback ride from a child who wet his underwear after being touched just once.”

“Are you mad? I’m the one who was forced to cum because of you, so why are you the one getting angry. Besides, I didn’t even get to do as I pleased today. So be good and listen to me.”

Sonyeong gazed quietly at Meoru’s broad and sturdy back.

How could he always be so bright and confident. A person who had nothing and had barely managed to stay alive alone on the streets.

In contrast, the Crown Prince was born in the highest position, yet lived his entire life weak, depressed, and listless. Does one’s innate fate really have such a great influence on a person?

Come to think of it, he felt much better than before the kiss. Sonyeong, as if he could not win, quietly rested his body on Meoru’s back. Meoru, who stood up effortlessly with him on his back, asked.

“By the way, what god is enshrined here?”

“I call it a shrine for convenience, but it is not a place that enshrines a god. It is an important place geographically, so a barrier has been set up for the well-being of the country.”

“Then a god won’t punish us for sharing irreverent love in a sacred place.”

“Sharing love, what kind of outrageous remark is that! Someone might misunderstand if they heard you!”

“You fight ghosts, yet you’re so scared of everything. Don’t worry. Who would come all the way to this remote mountain village to eavesdrop on us.”

Meoru grinned as he exited the cave. Sonyeong, now feeling like he was giving up on everything, wrapped his arms around Meoru’s neck. Leaning his head on Meoru’s shoulder, he said quietly.

“It’s not flat ground, so it must be hard. You can just put me down.”

“No.”

“I’m a large adult man, so I’ll be heavy.”