PAHO 39

“You’re right on time.”

The two men who entered, receiving the agent’s fawning welcome, both had familiar faces.

“I was just passing by. So, who’s the person who wants to sign the contract?”

“Ah, it’s that gentleman over there.”

The agent turned around and gestured toward Nam Gyeonhwa with his eyes. Naturally, his eyes met his.

“Ah, I wondered who it was.”

Na Taebeom burst out laughing.

“It’s a familiar face.”

“……”

Nam Gyeonhwa furrowed his brow at the shameless gaze that feigned ignorance. The agent clapped his hands together.

“My goodness, you two know each other?”

“I think so, but it seems he doesn’t. He’s not even returning my greeting.”

At his still blunt expression, Na Taebeom shrugged his shoulders. The agent, who had been letting out an awkward laugh in the uncomfortable atmosphere, picked up the bag he had set down in the corner. Even as he was leaving in a hurry, he made sure to press his business card into his hand and even bowed politely. His attitude was as if he was trying to make a good impression.

Even after the agent left, a silence continued in the room for a while. Nam Gyeonhwa, holding the business card, weighed his words inwardly. He had thought it was a coincidence that was too perfectly arranged. Even if he had lived in the countryside for a long time, he hadn’t lived without knowing how the world worked.

“I thought you’d get angry as soon as you saw me, but you’re surprisingly quiet.”

After a long silence, Na Taebeom opened his mouth in an insipid tone. Nam Gyeonhwa, who had been quietly looking at him, let out his words like a sigh.

“I told Chief Gwon I’d take care of it myself, but I didn’t expect you to meddle in where I live.”

“You said you didn’t want to come to Wiryeonggwan. After thinking about it, I figured it would be a hassle in many ways, so I changed my mind a bit.”

“Your mind?”

“I figured it would be better to have a doghouse outside rather than inside.”

At the word doghouse, Nam Gyeonhwa’s eyes shot up fiercely and he clenched his fists. The face with a slick smile spreading across it was etched in his eyes. Getting angry here would relieve his frustration, but it would be the reaction Na Taebeom wanted.

“So, the house? Do you like it?”

Na Taebeom walked to the veranda and threw the curtains wide open. The cement floor, where it was rare to see a single blade of grass, and the fence, with an unfitting bright blue vine haphazardly clinging to it, came into view at a glance.

“The construction company said they installed an additional air purifier in the ventilation shaft that leads to the surface. The house is a bit small, but it’s based on an air-raid shelter, so there’s no helping it. You’ll have to take that into account.”

Nam Gyeonhwa let out a sigh and swept his hair up. His slightly lowered eyes were drenched in fatigue.

“The house, I’ll cancel the contract.”

“Why? You don’t like it?”

“…I don’t want to be so pathetic as to accept a house while being treated like a dog.”

“You’re already pitifully pathetic. You.”

“I know. That’s why I’m saying I don’t need it.”

He didn’t forget his circumstances, but he needed to draw at least a thin line. It was a sliver of pride. Even if he was a cheap person who had spent more than half his life in low places, he didn’t want to become so pathetic as to prostrate himself and crawl.

“Even without your interference, I can handle this much on my own.”

The biting silence did not last long. Na Taebeom, who had been staring at Nam Gyeonhwa wordlessly, strode over.

“How’s your body.”

The question came from a completely unexpected direction. A hand suddenly came down and touched his side.

“Has your ass healed much? It must have gotten pretty raw from taking my dick.”

Unlike the vulgar words, the voice that uttered them was deep and lazy, without a hint of insolence. The moments he was endlessly pierced and shaken by him, even as his consciousness flickered in and out, came to mind one by one. Nam Gyeonhwa, biting his lip, said.

“…It’s still, not fully healed.”

“Does it hurt a lot?”

“Yes.”

Na Taebeom, who heard the simple answer without any embellishment, smiled. His gaze landed right in front of his nose.

“You say it hurts a lot, but you don’t even think of whimpering when you see me?”

Before he could even comprehend what he meant, his Adam’s apple was pressed, and the breath that had been floating in his mouth was forcibly expelled. In the raw violence that occurred without warning, everything from his breathing to a piece of his thoughts was mercilessly crushed. A shower of light like shards of pottery dizzied his eyes, and a thin sound of breathing, like a dry tree twisting in his throat, followed.

“I knew you wouldn’t just take it. I also find it pretty boring when people act cheap, taking whatever I give them.”

Na Taebeom, grabbing the back of his head, looked down into the eyes of Nam Gyeonhwa, whose head was tilted back, as if piercing them.

“But now that I’ve heard you say you don’t need it, I feel fucking, shitty.”

“Huk.”

His body buckled at the force pressing on his shin. Na Taebeom ruthlessly shoved his crotch into the face of Nam Gyeonhwa, who was on his knees.

“Being treated like a dog, is it pathetic? No, puppy. Fuck, you should be grateful I’m treating you like a dog at all.”

“Ugh, mph.”

He held his head in place and moved his hips roughly, the fabric of his pants rubbing against his swollen cheek, making it throb. Na Taebeom laughed.

“What do I have to lose, to do this to someone like you. Right?”

Every time he savagely rubbed his crotch all over his face, the zipper hit his tightly sealed lips. After thrusting his body as if he were fucking his throat with his dick, he finally let go of his hair with a long sigh. His lips were a mess with the marks of being pressed by the thin piece of metal.

“From today, the puppy’s house is here, and I’ve already sent a car to the hospital to load up your things and the kid.”

“By whose authority.”

At the words that seemed to treat Haejin as equivalent to luggage, Nam Gyeonhwa snapped back with a growl. Na Taebeom, who had smirked, pressed his torn lip with his finger.

“By my authority, of course.”

He shoved his hand between his helplessly parted tongue and jabbed as if to poke his throat. A slobbering sound followed between his teeth as drool began to run down.

“If you want to smile with your lips intact in front of the kid, do as I say. I held back from pulling out my dick and shoving it in your mouth.”

Nam Gyeonhwa, who had barely managed to push Na Taebeom away, turned his body and immediately retched. His shoulder blades trembled as he was bent over, enduring the gush of clear stomach acid and the dry coughs that erupted at the same time.

Fuck. His eyes, glaring with the curse that swirled in his mouth, were bloodshot. At the raw murderous intent and indignation, Na Taebeom burst out laughing. It was a cruel amusement, as if he couldn’t help but find it funny.

Less than an hour later, a truck arrived.

“Hyung!”

Haejin, who got out of the truck with the driver’s help, ran over to Nam Gyeonhwa like a squirrel as soon as he saw him.

“Jongdae hyung said we got a house, so I came in a truck. It was my first time in a truck, and it was so cool. I want to ride it again later.”

While Haejin chattered on, excited about his first ever truck ride, two burly men moved busily from the back of the truck. Nam Gyeonhwa dazedly watched the luggage they were moving. It was furniture that reeked of newness.

“Hyung! Is this really our house?”

Haejin, who had popped into the entrance, said in a loud voice with his eyes wide. In the meantime, a four-person dining table had been firmly placed in front of the kitchen sink.

The furniture placement, which could hardly be called moving in, was finished in less than a few dozen minutes. Haejin, who had climbed on top of the sofa still wrapped in its plastic cover, hopped up and down.

“Hyung, it’s a sofa, a sofa! There’s a television too!”

Unlike Haejin, who was thoroughly excited about the new house and new furniture, Nam Gyeonhwa’s face was dark as he looked at the perfectly furnished house. His throat, throbbing with a hot, foreign sensation, stung every time he swallowed.

He should have been wary when he so readily accepted his roundabout refusal to enter Wiryeonggwan. No, even if he had been wary, he probably wouldn’t have been able to avoid a situation like this. Should he be glad that he wasn’t dragged off and thrown into some warehouse-like place? Swallowing a sigh, Nam Gyeonhwa leaned over the dining table. His head throbbed at the thought of having to deal with his tedious amusement, which was unrelated to his original purpose.

“Hyung, are you hurt?”

“I’m not hurt. Just tired.”

Despite his excuse of not being hurt, Haejin got down from the sofa and came over to the dining table where Nam Gyeonhwa was. A small palm touched his neck.

“Hyung, it’s red here.”

At those words, Nam Gyeonhwa hastily composed himself and stood up, rubbing his neck.

“I was rubbing my shoulders because I was tired, I guess it left a mark.”

“Should I give you a massage?”

Haejin held up his two hands and wiggled his fingers. Nam Gyeonhwa, smiling faintly, patted his back.

“Did the doctor give you your medicine?”

“Yeah. She said she’ll come to the house sometimes too. She said she needs to see what my condition is like when I’m at home instead of the hospital.”

“Is it, okay for you to, stay at home instead of the hospital?”

“Yeah. She said it’s probably okay.”

Probably, was an answer that Yeo Eunjae must have been forced to choose. Knowing his meticulous personality, it was impossible that he would have sent Haejin away without a single word of consultation with him, the guardian. So far, Haejin hadn’t shown any noticeable symptoms, but now that they were in a new environment, they needed to be more careful.

Cuckoo, cuckoo, he turned his head at the sound of a bird, and a bird hanging from a clock was swinging back and forth, announcing the hour. While he was momentarily spacing out, it had become 7 p.m. He needed to get Haejin’s dinner ready before it got too late. There’s probably nothing in the fridge, how do I get groceries around here.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah?”

“Um, the door keeps making a weird sound.”

Haejin, who was swinging his legs on the dining chair, pointed to the front door. A green light was blinking on the panel next to the door. Someone was standing outside the front door.