PAO 1

Seowon was keenly aware of Yoo Junghoo’s affection for him. From the very beginning, he had never felt any uncertainty, like, ‘Could this kid like me?’ This kid just liked him. Really, very, a whole lot, a fucking lot.

When he was five, the kindergarten he attended had an event where friends would give you a kiss on the cheek for your birthday. As the line of friends came in to give him cheek kisses, Seowon just stood still like a doll. And when it was Junghoo’s turn, Seowon braced his legs, just in case he was pulled into a hug so forcefully he might fall over while being kissed. But for some reason, Junghoo refused to kiss him.

“This kid… he usually follows Seowon around so well, what’s wrong with him today?”

The flustered kindergarten teacher said, “Junghoo isn’t usually like this…” but Junghoo himself just stood there sullenly. Seowon didn’t think anything of it. He just wanted to hurry to the bathroom and wash up because of the sticky smell of spit from the kids who had touched his cheek.

In the end, the birthday party concluded with Junghoo not giving a kiss, and Seowon was able to go to the bathroom he’d wanted. He needed to pee anyway, so he was about to relieve himself when Junghoo followed him in.

“…want to. I don’t like being treated the same as the other kids.”

Seowon, who hadn’t properly heard Junghoo’s mumbling, asked back, “What?”

“…I said I want to give you a smooch!”

“…What?”

Junghoo had suddenly shouted, so he missed the front again, but Seowon’s face turned white as he followed Junghoo’s gaze. Junghoo’s eyes were fixed squarely on his chubby and cute thing, which he had taken out to pee.

A shiver ran down Seowon’s spine for a moment, and he grabbed the waistband of his pants.

Where did he just say he wanted to do it?

A smooch?
A smooch?
A chu?

Seowon sniffled, feeling his pants getting wet.

“Teacher!”

On Han Seowon’s fifth birthday, a dark history of peeing his pants was created.

When they were seven, they would go back and forth between each other’s houses to play. Of course, Seowon did not welcome Junghoo at all. But it wasn’t as if he could avoid seeing Junghoo just because he didn’t like him. Since their parents often got together, Seowon had to keep running into Junghoo.

As usual, Junghoo trailed after Seowon.

“I want to drink your milk.”

“Drink your own.”

Seowon glared at Junghoo, clutching his glass of milk tightly. He looked at Junghoo, who was eyeing the savory milk he loved more than water, like an animal. He had the exact same glass of milk in front of him, so why did he always have to try and take his? It was clearly a greedy impulse to drink both his own and Seowon’s. Even though he refused, saying no, Junghoo still couldn’t take his eyes off Seowon’s milk glass.

“I’m going to drink yours.”

“Mine isn’t any more special. Let’s just drink our own. Huh?”

“Yours is special. I want to drink it because your lips touched it, you know? That’s an indirect kiss. I’ll eat your lips later.”

“…Dad.”

After having a dream where his lips were stolen by Junghoo, Seowon stopped drinking milk.

Was he nine? It was a time when he was living a gloomy life, similarly unable to escape from the Seowon-adoring Junghoo. The two families had come on a trip, saying they’d even rent a whole pool villa and stay the night. As usual, Junghoo was hitting on Seowon.

“Do you want to sleep with me?”

“Why would I sleep with you?”

“You don’t want to sleep with me? What if you get scared at night since this isn’t home? I’ll hug you tight.”

Seowon looked at Junghoo with annoyed eyes. Then again, how sour could a nine-year-old’s expression be? Junghoo’s mom, who had been playing with them, clapped her hands and fell back, cackling with laughter. The lady, who couldn’t handle how cute the two kids were, got up from her seat.

“Oh my, how cute. I’ll go get you some snacks.”

As soon as she left, Junghoo’s cute smile turned sly.

“We’re going to sleep together every day anyway, so it’d be good to try lying down together beforehand.”

“Why would I lie down with you?”

“We’ll have to sleep together when we get married. Of course, we’ll have to start sleeping together even before we get married. You’ll end up sleeping stark naked every night.”

“…Mister’s wife!”

Seowon, who had said he was all grown up and his mom didn’t need to come in to put him to sleep, slept in his mother’s arms for a while after that day.

From a young age, Junghoo never hid the fact that he liked him. His family knew this well too, but they regarded it as a typical crush between children. Or they saw it as the pure heart of a young child.

But the Junghoo when others were around and the Junghoo when they were not were completely different. He was so perverted and sly. Thanks to him, Seowon learned bone-deep what disillusionment was at a young age.

That young pervert grew up to become an adult pervert.

At Seowon’s gaze, Junghoo winked one eye and leisurely crossed his legs. Even though he had turned his body to the side in his chair, he didn’t look uncomfortable. Rather, sitting up straight would probably be more uncomfortable. The cafe chair was too small and low for Junghoo’s long body to be curled up in. With his long limbs and small face, his proportions were quite good.

Seowon, who had been reminiscing about his childhood and sizing up Yoo Junghoo’s proportions, stopped avoiding reality.

“Say that again.”

Seowon asked again with a face that said he hadn’t heard. But his trembling pupils clearly revealed that he had heard perfectly.

“I said, your family is ruined.”

Junghoo said with a languid expression, tilting his head to the side. His tone was as calm as if he were remarking that the weather was nice today. That made it even harder to accept Junghoo’s words.

“Why are you the one saying that?”

Anyone who heard would think it was your family that was ruined. At Seowon’s question, Junghoo gave his usual gentle smile.

“I know, right? Why am I the one saying it?”

At Junghoo’s meaningful smile, the faint sound of a few people murmuring could be heard.

Wow, he’s handsome.
Are those proportions for real?
His face is insane.

‘No, he’s the one who’s insane in the head.’

Hearing that, Seowon fought back the urge to correct them and glared at Junghoo. On his small face, his long eyes, with a double eyelid on only one side, looked starkly different when he smiled versus when he didn’t. From his ridiculously high nose bridge that gave his face dimension to his plump lips, the fact that this handsome kid was smiling somehow made him even more annoying.

“I’m busy, so spit it out.”

Seowon pointed to the textbook on the table. It was a signal for him to figure out for himself whether it meant he had to go soon because class was about to start, or that he was going to crack his head open with the brick-thick book.

“I bought you.”

It was the next most absurd thing after the statement that his family was ruined. Seowon felt a sense of doubt about whether he should even react to such a ridiculous story and looked toward the door. Should I just leave?

“Even if you want to leave, let’s look at this first.”

Junghoo gently placed a contract stamped with a seal on top of the textbook. Seowon showed a faint irritation at that self-assured attitude, which seemed to say, “Do you think you can leave even after seeing this?” He had suddenly contacted him to meet up, had been spouting nothing but bullshit all this time, and now this confident attitude telling him to check if it was real was getting on his nerves.

So he wanted to ignore the piece of paper he held out even more, but Seowon’s eyes were already scanning the top of the page.

It was just one sheet. It was a flimsy piece of paper that looked like it would fly away helplessly at the slightest brush of a hand, but the contents it held were not so light. The tiny, densely packed print was stamped heavily, making it hard to take in the contents at a glance. Skimming over the fine print, only the sentence about transferring 3 billion won in cash came into clear view.

So this is the money he bought me with. He has a lot of money. An insane amount. It’s an amount of money that ordinary people would have a hard time even touching in their entire lives. Considering Junghoo’s family, it wasn’t an entirely incomprehensible sum, but at the same time, it wasn’t an amount that could be easily procured either.

“Your father said it was urgent, so I lent it to him. This is a contract disguised as an IOU.”

Ignoring the bullshit about ‘your father’ for now, he gripped the paper so tightly it seemed like it would crumple.

“Where did you get this kind of money? Did you maybe borrow it from your parents?”

“Seowon, this is money I earned diligently while lying in bed.”

“How do you earn money lying in bed?”

“Want to find out? Should we go to a hotel right now?”

The joke Junghoo made with a smirk was unpleasant, but it didn’t seem like a lie, which made Seowon’s insides boil even more.

“Let’s say it’s your money. What did you do after signing this contract?”

“I transferred the money as soon as he stamped his seal.”

“…”

“I’m saying, I bought you for 3 billion won.”

Get it? Junghoo smiled sensuously, grating on Seowon’s nerves. The murmuring grew louder at the sound of his laughter, but none of it reached Seowon’s ears.

“You said my family was ruined, and you lent them money?”

“Yep.”

“If you know they’re ruined, why would you lend them money? Why would you buy me? If my dad’s ruined, then I’m a broke beggar too, right?”

“That’s right.”

At Junghoo’s roundabout way of speaking, Seowon finally exploded.

“So what. You’re saying you bought me for 3 billion won. Are you gearing up to devour me with this opportunity?”

“Why would you say something like that?”

“Then what is it? When were you not making a fuss because you wanted to eat someone alive, and now you’re acting all innocent as if that wasn’t the case. Do you think I’ll fall for it meekly?”

No matter how much he likes me, to buy and sell a person with money, he’s not even human.

“Seowon, that’s a defiant look in your eyes.”

“Before you point out the look in my eyes, your ideology…”

“Wait.”

Junghoo reached out his hand, cutting Seowon off. As Seowon, whose words were forcibly stopped, scrunched up his face, Junghoo tilted his head.

“Read it carefully before you get excited.”

Junghoo benevolently pushed the contract closer. He had gotten all worked up because he was saying things like he bought him and what not, but what was actually written on the contract was a little different.

It wasn’t ‘I will buy Seowon for 3 billion won.’ It was just a statement that he would protect Seowon, along with a very considerate clause spread throughout the contract saying they could take him back once they paid back the money and their situation improved.

As Seowon read the words over and over, Junghoo tapped his toes and hummed a tune.

“Seowon, I’m not that much of a bastard.”

“Are you messing with me? What do you mean you bought me…”

“See, you should have read the contract carefully. Our Seowon is in big trouble. You’re the perfect type to get scammed out there.”

“You…”

Seowon was about to say something, flaring up, but Junghoo smiled with his eyes.

“To keep our Seowon from getting scammed, I’ll have to stick by his side. Right?”

“Wow…”

He had a mouth, but he couldn’t find the words to say. Just looking at him was so absurd and maddening that Seowon was just messing up his hair when someone hesitantly approached them.

“Excuse me, do you happen to have a boyfriend?”

With those words, a dimple appeared on one side of the smiling man’s cheek. Seeing that the man’s gaze was fixed on Junghoo, Seowon quickly lost interest and looked back at the contract. This meant it wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. He had seen people approach Junghoo, taken by his face, his superior height, or perhaps his aura, several times.

Each time, Seowon would draw a line like this, as if it had nothing to do with him. It really wasn’t his business. What was he going to do, butt in when someone came because they were interested in Junghoo? In the meantime, the man was holding out his phone toward Junghoo, sending subtle come-ons with his pheromones.