PAHO 52

“Why are you here?”

His two bewildered eyes blinking blankly, Na Taebeom was stark naked, not even bothering to cover himself with a single towel. Suddenly faced with his full nudity, Nam Gyeonhwa recoiled.

“You came out without even wearing underwear?”

“I forgot to bring it in with me. It’s my own house anyway, so what does it matter if I’m naked or not?”

Na Taebeom, who snapped back in a disgruntled tone, glanced at Nam Gyeonhwa’s side profile as he kept his head turned, then looked down at his own groin. Even though it wasn’t erect, the presence of his penis was beyond words. The rumor that floated around him was that people put up with his shitty personality because of his face and his dick. A wave of embarrassment rippled across his indifferent face, seeping into his eyelids and lips. Watching that slow, obtuse agitation, a mischievous laugh burst from Na Taebeom’s lips.

“It’s not like you haven’t seen mine once or twice. What’s there to be shy about between us?”

“…Shy or not, anyone would be flustered if you suddenly came out completely naked.”

“Aha, so you were flustered?”

The moment his guess turned to certainty, Na Taebeom also feigned ignorance and joined in on the agitation.

“Well then, you should see it often and get used to it so there’s nothing to be flustered about.”

The various scents of shampoo and soap wafted from his body as he abruptly approached. Pinning him against the wall, Na Taebeom pressed his penis against his thigh. A thigh, thick as a log with clearly defined muscles, pushed between Nam Gyeonhwa’s knees. The narrowed space quickly became suffocating.

“Cut the bullshit and get out of the way.”

“Why are you being like this? This is the thing my little puppy sucked with his mouth, touched with his hand, and even took with that tiny little hole of his.”

As the hot taunt reached his ear, the fingertips that had been fiddling with his hair brushed against the shell of his ear. At the distinctly unpleasant, erotic sensation, Nam Gyeonhwa’s eyebrows furrowed sharply. He’d long known the guy was a shameless bastard and had experienced this kind of harassment several times before, so he was used to it, but the face he was looking at now felt unfamiliar.

His dark gray eyes, which seemed to hold a compressed version of the cool air in the dim room, sparkled with delight. With his head slightly lowered, the breath that escaped between his teeth carried the characteristic smell of mint, but contrary to the sharp scent, it was damp and hot.

“It’s suffocating, so back off a bit.”

Averting his gaze diagonally, Nam Gyeonhwa firmly pushed against his chest with the back of his arm. If he let this go on any longer, a penis might get shoved into his mouth. No, it was a subtle refusal that hid the uncomfortable premonition that it wasn’t just about that kind of sexual act, but that he might get swept up in the strangely erotic atmosphere.

Fortunately, Na Taebeom didn’t seem to have any intention of pestering him for long and backed away obediently. Finally, the distance returned to normal, and the erotic, creepy feeling subsided. Swallowing a sense of relief he hadn’t even been aware of, Nam Gyeonhwa examined his right hand. A dark bruise had spread across the nail of his ring finger, which was visible beneath the back of his hand, thickly wrapped in a waterproof bandage. It seemed he’d managed to shower by himself with that hand.

“So, what’s the reason you came to see me? You got another favor to ask?”

At Na Taebeom’s voice, his gaze, which had been intently watching the hand, turned to face forward. Nam Gyeonhwa gestured to the side with his eyes and spoke.

“…Ms. Yeo Eunjae sent me. She said you left your clothes and a medicine packet behind.”

“She did?”

His tone, as if he had no idea he’d left them, was rather awkward. It wasn’t something small like a wallet, and he wasn’t dense enough to forget even the fact that he’d left behind a large set of clothes. Nam Gyeonhwa’s lips twitched slightly as he gestured toward the living room with his chin.

“I put them both on the table in front of the sofa. Check them later.”

“No need to do it later, I’ll look now. Wait.”

Na Taebeom, ending his sentence like a command, started walking. Wondering if he was really going to go straight to the living room without any clothes on, Nam Gyeonhwa watched as Na Taebeom, as if to make a point, opened the bedroom door wide and then shut it with a sound. After waiting for a whole 20 minutes, Na Taebeom emerged from the dressing room wearing a white round-neck tank top and charcoal-gray slacks. Looking only at the clothes, it was a fairly simple outfit, but perhaps thanks to his towering height and sturdy shoulders, it looked nothing but glamorous.

Walking into the living room, he easily found the clothes and the medicine packet stacked on the table. Without even picking them up, he gave them a quick glance and then nodded.

“Yep, my clothes.”

It was an absurdly simple confirmation. He made me wait just to check with a glance? It was a little—no, very—dumbfounding, but Nam Gyeonhwa didn’t bother to say it out loud. Now that he had delivered the medicine packet and clothes as requested, his job was done. Suddenly, a small cosmetic item on the table caught his eye. The words left by the mature woman, whose friendly eye-smile seemed to be a habit, came to mind a beat too late.

“Ms. Kwon Seong-ah asked me to tell you that she had a lunch appointment and had to leave first.”

Even though he knew it wouldn’t have mattered if he didn’t pass it on, since they were likely acquaintances, Nam Gyeonhwa relayed the message without adding or subtracting anything. At the name delivered in an impassive voice, Na Taebeom’s eyes shot up.

“You saw Kwon Seong-ah?”

It wasn’t like she was someone he shouldn’t have seen, making it a strange question. In response to his silent gaze, Na Taebeom plopped down on the sofa and crossed one leg over his other knee.

“And did she introduce herself as?”

“She didn’t.”

He hadn’t been particularly interested, nor had they spent enough time together to ask such a thing. Kwon Seong-ah had gathered her belongings, including her handbag and phone, and left as if they were changing shifts, and Nam Gyeonhwa had only wanted to give him a heads-up so he wouldn’t have to leave like an intruder.

“She’s the head director of an esthetics shop called Healing Gift, which has several branches in Seoul alone. I used to call her whenever I needed an aroma massage, and I asked her to take a look because I think my back muscles got a little knotted up from overdoing it recently.”

To the tone that was almost like an excuse, Nam Gyeonhwa gave a listless nod. Na Taebeom had provided her resume on behalf of Kwon Seong-ah, who had already left, so he had only shown an appropriate reaction. Na Taebeom, scrunching his brow into a triangle, looked vaguely dissatisfied.

“A woman you don’t know was in my room, and you’re not even curious?”

“You must have let her in because you knew her. And it’s not my place to care who the director lets in.”

“Why is it not your place? If you’re here as a bodyguard, for what it’s worth, you should be paying more—much more—attention to me.”

It was absurd, yet there was no room for rebuttal. However, it was unclear just how far that “for what it’s worth” was supposed to extend. Besides, recalling the way he’d thrown punches at those burly, hulking guys a few days ago, he didn’t seem to need a bodyguard at all.

Leaning his body deep into the backrest, he placed his two clasped hands on his stomach. As Nam Gyeonhwa gazed at his placid eyes, which mirrored his body that had become languid from the steam of the shower, he heard the sound of a cuckoo. The innocent cry of the bird, announcing 2 PM, chirped faintly just twice before fading away.

“I’ll be going now. You should rest.”

At the motion to leave his territory, Na Taebeom let out words as if rumbling in his throat.

“Lunch?”

Several things could have followed, but the intent of the question was likely close to a well-being check. He hadn’t yet shaken his head, but coincidentally, he was slightly hungry. He’d been busy doing laundry since morning and cleaning the ventilation fan, and then he’d taken care of Nam Haejin as soon as he woke up, so he had only staved off his hunger with a slice of bread and plain water before coming out.

“If you don’t have plans for lunch, come with me somewhere.”

“I can’t. I left my brother alone at the medical center and just came for a bit.”

“Then, bring the kid, too.”

No, he immediately added a denial and stood up from his seat.

“What the hell, I’ll go myself to see how he’s doing.”

Nam Haejin was more mature than other seven-year-olds. Perhaps he had developed the habit from being mindful of Nam Gyeonhwa, who was busy cleaning up after him since he was very young, but he hadn’t cried much since he was a child, and even if something happened that made him cry, he would stop quickly.

The elderly people of Mangmae County, who didn’t know the two brothers’ complicated circumstances, would either praise the unusually easygoing Haejin, saying he was a remarkable child, or click their tongues and spew insults worse than pity, calling him an idiot. They’d also click their tongues, saying he must be slow because he wasn’t properly raised by his parents, seeing how he wouldn’t cry out even if he fell down on the street, and how on days Nam Gyeonhwa came back late, he would sit in front of the town market and just blink.

Nam Haejin, who was usually that placid and quiet, was now hiding behind Nam Gyeonhwa, thoroughly terrified for some reason. The cause of his fear was none other than the appearance of Na Taebeom, who had stubbornly followed Nam Gyeonhwa.

“Hey.”

“…”

“Geez, what did I do to make you hide?”

At the blunt words, Nam Haejin shrank even more, like a clam. Why else would he be hiding? It was only a few days ago that he had mobilized special forces agents to catch the child as if on a rabbit hunt. Even if they hadn’t pressed him during the process of bringing him in, how could a clueless child possibly have good memories of being suddenly brought to an unfamiliar place?

The hand tugging on his pant leg was trembling. Deciding he couldn’t leave things like this, Nam Gyeonhwa turned around and patted Nam Haejin on the back.

“Haejin, hyung is okay, so go stay with the teacher.”

At the gentle suggestion, Haejin shook his head from side to side. It would be one thing if he cried and ran away, saying he was scared. But even though the fear was plain on his face, Nam Haejin instead peeked out with reddened eyes to look up at Na Taebeom. At that resolute gaze, Na Taebeom let out a chuckle and bent his knees.

“Hey, kid.”

Nam Haejin, who flinched and shuddered, squeezed his eyes shut. With a deep breath, he said, as if spitting out the words.

“I-I’m not a kid.”

“What do you mean, not a kid? You’re so tiny, how are you not a kid?”

“…”

He didn’t reply to the rebuttal, but he didn’t squeeze his eyes shut again. In any case, both brothers were equally taciturn. Na Taebeom, smacking his lips with awkwardness, snapped his fingers.

“Whatever, I’m going to eat. What do you like?”