Vol 1 Ch 13

…Tutoring in the middle of the night isn’t so bad after all.

 

Kim Jinkyung muttered to himself as he drank the coffee he had brewed earlier.

 

“Hey.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“A man is passing by.”

 

“……”

 

Except for this.

 

Far in the distance, a man in running clothes passed by, huffing and puffing. Kim Jinkyung clutched his forehead.

 

“Not him?”

 

Every time a man passed, Mok Seongha would ask.

 

“…Not him.”

 

“Is he ugly?”

 

“I can’t even see his face…. Never mind.”

 

Kim Jinkyung tapped the notebook with his hand and sternly chided his student, telling him to just solve the problem.

 

“What kind of face is your type?”

 

Mok Seongha lifted his head and asked.

 

“……”

 

I’m not falling for it. If I tell him my type of face, he’ll surely gather a bunch of guys who look like that and fill his mansion with them.

 

“Someone my heart is drawn to.”

 

Kim Jinkyung deliberately pointed to a non-physical aspect.

 

“How is your heart drawn to them?”

 

“…If they’re nice to me?”

 

“If they’re nice to you and your heart is drawn to them, that’s your type?”

 

Mok Seongha asked back, as if finding it absurd.

 

“Yes.”

 

It wasn’t true. He had to be handsome. He had to have a good body, too. And kindness was a secondary issue. If a handsome, well-built man was kind and nice to him, Kim Jinkyung would fall in love without fail.

 

Kim Jinkyung’s crushes were easy. They were harmless crushes that remained within his own mind, causing no harm to anyone. He never confessed his feelings, nor did he force them on anyone.

 

He would just quietly begin a crush and quietly meet its end.

 

“You’re incredibly easy, Teacher.”

 

“…Haha.”

 

…I wish I had been easy.

 

Kim Jinkyung swallowed his sense of injustice and soothed his insides with coffee.

 

“Hurry up and solve it. We have to finish all of this today before we go.”

 

Kim Jinkyung held up another textbook. Mok Seongha started solving the problem again. Surprisingly, during lessons, he was almost obedient, following his instructions well.

 

‘You’re going to have lessons outside? Are you in your right mind?’

 

That was Secretary Kang’s reaction when he explained the lesson plan. It was as expected.

 

‘These days, a lot of people do it at cafes or study cafes.’

 

‘You’re going outside with the young master? Are you in your right mind?’

 

‘…I’ll never go out on rainy days. I’ll be sure to check the weather forecast.’

 

‘You’re taking him outside? You’re not in your right mind right now, are you?’

 

Secretary Kang glared, repeating the same question. Kim Jinkyung answered with his shoulders hunched.

 

‘…I think it’ll be fine….’

 

Secretary Kang covered his forehead with one hand. Then, letting out a deep sigh, he spoke quickly.

 

‘Fine? Who says it’s fine? Have you ever raised the young master? You haven’t, have you? I’m the one who raised him on my back. Don’t go out. A study cafe? I’ll have one built inside the house right now. I’ll have it done in a week, so listen to me and don’t go out.’

 

Kim Jinkyung clenched his sweaty hands. It was the resistance he had expected.

 

‘…He can’t stay in the house forever.’

 

He didn’t specify the subject. Secretary Kang, glaring at Kim Jinkyung with seething eyes, asked.

 

‘Fine. Good. Does the young master say he’ll go out? The man I know would never go out.’

 

It must have been the best card he could play.

 

‘I’m going.’

 

The relief pitcher had appeared. Mok Seongha, who had walked up from behind, picked up an apple from the table. He took a crisp bite of the apple and continued.

 

‘Because the man Secretary Kang knows has to get into university.’

 

Mok Seongha said with a faint smile. Every time he bit into the apple, its scent spread through the air. Feeling a tickle in his throat, Kim Jinkyung lowered his head.

 

In the end, Secretary Kang permitted the outside tutoring sessions, but with all sorts of conditions.

 

‘Be careful.’

 

‘Yes. I’ll be careful. I’ll be careful not to let him touch water, and….’

 

‘No, not that…. …Anyway, be careful. I warned you.’

 

Fortunately, today was the third time, and no particular problems had occurred. The incident after seeing the Chairman felt like a dream, as Mok Seongha just studied quietly.

 

What a relief. If it stays like this, it’ll be more or less….

 

“Here comes one.”

 

“Please, just….”

 

Before he could even say stop, someone quickly approached the table where the two were sitting.

 

“Excuse me.”

 

It was a youthful voice. Surprised, Kim Jinkyung lifted his head and said, “Yes?” A woman in running clothes looked back with a troubled face and continued in a low voice.

 

“Um, someone keeps following me from behind and talking to me….”

 

Kim Jinkyung stood up from his seat and checked the direction she was pointing. Just as the woman said, two large men, not in workout clothes, were walking toward them.

 

“First, if you go straight ahead, there’s a convenience store. Go there and ask them to lock the door. If anything happens, call the police right away. Don’t worry about here, just hurry and go.”

 

At Kim Jinkyung’s words, the woman bowed her head with an anxious face and quickly ran off in that direction.

 

“Hey, what the hell. Why’s she suddenly like that?”

 

One of the men walking toward them said in an annoyed voice, watching the woman run away.

 

“Hey, missy over there. Let’s just talk for a bit. Shit, am I gonna eat you? I said let’s have a fun little chat.”

 

As the men got closer, the reek of alcohol was overwhelming. Kim Jinkyung cautiously called out, “Excuse me.”

 

“She’s uncomfortable, so I think it would be best if you just went back.”

 

“Hey, who the fuck are you to tell me what to do? Shit, how do you know if she’s uncomfortable or not? You a mind reader or something?”

 

Kim Jinkyung sighed inwardly.

 

“Hey, hey, you! Don’t go there. I said wait a minute!”

 

One of the men turned to chase after the woman who had run off. Kim Jinkyung hastily stood up and blocked the man’s path.

 

“You’re old enough to know better. She looks like she’s still a student….”

 

“Old? Ahaha. I’m fucking young, you bastard.”

 

The man, who looked to be at least in his mid-thirties, spouted ridiculous nonsense.

 

“If I’m younger than you, then it’s okay for me to have a reverent conversation with that woman, right? Huh? You’re giving me permission?”

 

“If you really do this….”

 

He was about to say he couldn’t. If only Mok Seongha, who had been solving a problem, hadn’t stood up. No, more accurately, if he hadn’t stood up from his seat and smashed the man’s head with the lamp that had been on the table.

 

“Uaaargh!”

 

At the unprovoked violence, the man clutched his head and screamed. Blood spurted from his split-open head like a small fountain.

 

“What, what the. You son of a bi—. Uaaargh!”

 

Mok Seongha then brought the lamp down on the other man’s head as well. Thwack, thwack, thwack. Blood splattered everywhere along with pieces of the wireless lamp.

 

“Shit…. Shit, what the hell!”

 

The man who had only been hit once clutched his head, from which blood was streaming, and spewed curses. Mok Seongha threw the piece of the lamp, now just a base, onto the ground. The man flinched, his shoulders trembling reflexively.

 

“You said you were young.”

 

“What?”

 

“I was just wondering why a bastard who said he was so fucking young was speaking so informally.”

 

“……”

 

You’re speaking informally to me, too.

 

There was a lot he wanted to say, but Kim Jinkyung first tried to stop Mok Seongha.

 

“Stop it. You can’t do this.”

 

“Why?”

 

Mok Seongha asked. He sounded genuinely clueless. Kim Jinkyung felt goosebumps rise. Then, it suddenly occurred to him that he ‘might not’ know. He hadn’t had the chance to go out and mingle with people.

 

“Hurting other people…”

 

“Is not allowed?”

 

Mok Seongha finished the sentence. He picked up the chair he had been sitting on just moments ago. The bleeding man seemed to realize the gravity of the situation and hesitantly backed away.

 

“I know. Teacher. I know that much.”

 

Mok Seongha dragged the chair over. The bodyguards, who had been parked in a car nearby, belatedly realized what was happening and rushed over.

 

“But, Teacher.”

 

Mok Seongha’s golden-tinged eyes shone particularly bright, like a predator eyeing its prey in the dark.

 

“In a country of manners and etiquette, shouldn’t a little bastard use respectful language to his elders?”

 

He brought the chair down with full force.

 

***

 

“Teacher. Do you know what a boiling point is? You must. You’re a smart, excellent person who went to a good university, after all.”

 

Every word was dripping with sarcasm. Two bodyguards ended up in the hospital that day, having been beaten while trying to stop Mok Seongha. Only after Mok Seongha had vented his anger by swinging the chair around did he stop.

 

“…Yes. I know.”

 

“Everyone has a boiling point, right? Usually, people who get angry easily have a low one. They suddenly burst into anger. They get angry often. There are many people like that around.”

 

The two thugs who had started the trouble that day were also taken to the hospital. Of course, it was a hospital owned by this family’s foundation.

 

Secretary Kang, having heard the news, calmly resolved the issue as if such incidents were nothing out of the ordinary.

 

“Everyone has an innate boiling point.”

 

Kim Jinkyung placed his hands on his knees and quietly listened to Secretary Kang’s angry scolding.

 

“What do you think our Young Master’s boiling point is? You’re an excellent teacher who went to a good university, so you should be able to guess it, right?”

 

Every time he heard the phrase ‘excellent teacher who went to a good university,’ Kim Jinkyung felt cold sweat trickling down his spine. After pondering for a while, Kim Jinkyung smiled awkwardly and continued.

 

“About 10 degrees…?”

 

It was a very generous estimate. In Kim Jinkyung’s opinion, Mok Seongha’s boiling point was below 0 degrees. It was at a level where he couldn’t exist as a liquid at room temperature.

 

“Wrong.”

 

“……”

 

“Young Master has no boiling point. He boils whenever he pleases. No one knows when or at what point he’ll boil. Maybe not even he knows.”

 

So, he was locked in a room with such a human with no boiling point, no, a beast… a being that was a mix of both?

 

“Do you know why you were hired, Teacher?”

 

Secretary Kang stared at Kim Jinkyung and asked.

 

“…Studying?”

 

“Teacher. There are many people in this country with better academic backgrounds and teaching skills than you. Above all, this family has enough money to gather all those good teachers and hire them as tutors.”

 

“I see.”

 

Kim Jinkyung muttered as if he had realized something. That’s right. Why did they choose me? There must have been people who were better at teaching and had more experience than me.

 

“Why did you pick me?”

 

“Because you’re timid and you don’t have a smell.”

 

“Pardon? What did you say?”

 

Kim Jinkyung doubted his ears at the two mismatched qualities. He was chosen because he was timid and didn’t have a smell? This wasn’t some kind of ‘World’s Best Rabbit’ competition…

 

“As I mentioned before, Young Master is sensitive to smells. Of course, he’s also sensitive to hearing, touch, and sight.”

 

Kim Jinkyung recalled the day he first came to this mansion. Mok Seongha had pressed his face close to his, his face pale and frozen, and inhaled deeply. At the time, he had just thought it was the crazy behavior of a madman.

 

“When Young Master first meets someone, if he doesn’t like their smell, he won’t hire them, regardless of the reason. He also hates noisy people. He must have had over a hundred tutor interviews.”

 

Kim Jinkyung recalled the hiring conditions that had been jokingly attached. A non-smoker, quiet, and clean person.

 

“But, being timid… why?”

 

He could understand being clean and odorless, but he couldn’t understand why a timid personality was an essential requirement.

 

“That was a condition I set.”

 

Secretary Kang rested his chin on his clasped hands and continued.

 

“Because those fearless bastards keep poking at Young Master’s boiling point. Like that bastard you saw on your first day.”

 

The man being dragged out covered in blood came to mind. The blood in his body ran cold.

 

“In that respect, you were perfect. Oh, except for the fact that you like men. Anyway, you were a tutor we had a hard time finding, so Young Master even wore gloves on his front paws to accommodate you.”

 

He remembered the image of the black panther waiting for him with large gloves on its front paws. …That was kind of cute.

 

“But why is a teacher who is so timid constantly poking at Young Master’s boiling point?”

 

“I, I didn’t poke at it.”

 

His voice trembled with injustice. It was the men who harassed the woman that day who had poked at the boiling point.

 

“It wouldn’t have happened in the first place if he hadn’t gone outside.”

 

“That’s true, but…”

 

Kim Jinkyung took a sip of the water on the table. His heart was pounding. He wanted to run away immediately because he was scared, but he calmly continued what he wanted to say.

 

“…But just keeping him locked up at home…”

 

“Who is?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Who dares to lock up Young Master? Do you think that’s even possible?”

 

Kim Jinkyung swallowed hard.

 

“I heard he didn’t even… go to elementary school.”

 

“Yes. That was the only option at the time.”

 

“Even so, wouldn’t a child need at least some minimal experience?”

 

“It would be necessary.”

 

Secretary Kang drank a full glass of water. He slammed the cup down loudly.

 

“If that child is ready to go outside.”

 

“When will he be ready?”

 

At that rate, he would never be ready. He wouldn’t learn anything by reading books, watching television, and watching movies alone in a large mansion. At least, Kim Jinkyung believed so.

 

“Teacher.”

 

When Secretary Kang was in a bad mood and called Kim Jinkyung ‘Teacher,’ there was a unique intonation. Kim Jinkyung put his hands together and answered dutifully, “Yes.”

 

“Why are you so concerned about when he’ll be ready?”

 

“……”

 

“Why is someone who was hired to prepare him for the university entrance exam concerned about that?”

 

It was a way of telling him to know his place. Kim Jinkyung trailed off, “Well…”

 

“Teacher. Don’t tell me you like our Young Master?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

Kim Jinkyung was horrified and asked back.

 

“I heard you like men. A lot.”

 

He never thought that the reason he had desperately squeezed out to get fired on his first day would come back to haunt him like this.

 

“No. I mean, I like men, but I don’t like Young Master.”

 

“Why? How can you not like him?”

 

Secretary Kang asked, pressing him. The scar that ran from his eyebrow to below his eye twitched.

 

The urban legend of the Red Mask flashed through Kim Jinkyung’s mind. A woman with a torn mouth approaches and asks if she is pretty, and if you say she is pretty, she tears your mouth to make you look the same, and if you say she is not pretty, she gets angry and just kills you.

 

So the answer is already decided, so you just die, is that it?

 

“I, I’m scared!”

 

Kim Jinkyung shouted. He couldn’t side with the Red Mask.

 

“What’s scary about him? He’s just cute.”

 

This was coming from the same person who had just said he had no boiling point.

 

“I, I’m scared. I don’t think he’s cute at all, and… his teeth are too sharp, and his claws… and his mouth is too red and big.”

 

“That’s prejudice. He’s very cute if you look closely.”

 

Secretary Kang retorted, flustered, but regardless, Kim Jinkyung deliberately exaggerated his fear to vent his frustration.

 

“I was scratched once, and I was really scared then. I went home and cried that day. See, you can see the scar here, right? And his eyes, his eyes…”

 

Kim Jinkyung liked looking at Mok Seongha’s eyes. The golden threads surrounding the iris looked like flames, and he would often steal glances despite his fear. Especially at night, when he met those eyes, it felt like two moons had risen in the sky, and his heart would flutter. It felt like he was standing on an unknown planet, not Earth.

 

“Teacher? Um…”

 

Secretary Kang suddenly coughed and gestured to Kim Jinkyung. Thinking he was urging him to give a reason quickly, Kim Jinkyung immediately continued.

 

“His eyes… are too yellow. They’re scary at night, and even scarier during the day. How could I possibly like Young Master…”

 

“That’s right. Teacher doesn’t like me.”

 

A cold voice was heard. He felt like his blood had frozen and his heart had turned to ice. Kim Jinkyung couldn’t even turn his head to see who was speaking.

 

“I’ve never been nice to you, and my eyes are yellow.”

 

Mok Seongha tapped his eyes with his hand and brought his face close to Kim Jinkyung. Kim Jinkyung gasped softly. He felt like he was going to cry.

 

Why are you glaring at me so scarily? No, you told me not to like you. You said you’d end my short life if I liked you. I just want to live a long, boring, and persistent life…

 

Terrified, Kim Jinkyung lowered his eyes and trembled. Seeing Kim Jinkyung like that, Mok Seongha chuckled and picked up an apple from the table.

 

“The hospital called. They want you to call them back.”

 

“Yes. I understand.”

 

Secretary Kang, his expression hardening at the mention of the hospital, replied briefly.

 

Mok Seongha took a bite of the apple. His particularly sharp and white teeth were visible. Kim Jinkyung shivered, feeling a chill on the back of his neck for no reason.

 

Mok Seongha, who was crunching on the apple, brought his face close to Kim Jinkyung’s neck. Knowing that he was doing it to smell him, Kim Jinkyung couldn’t breathe, terrified that he would bite his neck.

 

“Do you know you smell, Teacher?”

 

“Pardon? No, I don’t. I don’t smell.”

 

Kim Jinkyung covered his neck with his hand.

 

“Really. I didn’t put on any perfume.”

 

He felt wronged. He had showered as soon as he woke up this morning, and he had showered before going to bed last night.

 

“Apple scent.”

 

Mok Seongha threw the apple core into the trash can and continued.

 

“If it had been pear scent, I would have cut you off that day.”

 

…Father, Mother. Why did you grow apples?

 

“Hey.”

 

His title was immediately demoted from Teacher to Hey. Kim Jinkyung straightened his back and answered, “Yes.”

 

“Wait outside for a bit.”

 

Kim Jinkyung nodded diligently. First of all, it was best not to get bitten by a cat with no boiling point.