“Hyung, your wish will definitely come true.”
“Mm… I think this one might be a bit difficult….”
“You didn’t wish for something like winning first place in the lottery, did you? That won’t work even if we gather all the power from your ancestors’ cousins to your in-laws’ eighth cousins.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s what I wish for every year. But my biggest lottery win in life has been ten thousand won. Does that make any sense?”
It wasn’t that he dreamed of getting rich quick, but still, he didn’t buy lottery tickets just to win a single ten-thousand-won bill either. At least if it were fifty thousand won, he could feel a bit proud thinking he’d won something worthwhile from the lottery… Unfortunately, the goddess of luck hadn’t even grazed past Yoonjo.
“Should I buy all the lottery tickets in the country so you can scratch them until you win?”
“That’s a really romantic thing to say, but if you have money to buy lottery tickets, hyung should eat something delicious instead. Or maybe just one lottery ticket…?”
“Don’t people usually ask for that money for themselves in cases like this?”
He hadn’t thought of that. Yoonjo turned his head with an audible whoosh while keeping his hand near the heater. Even in the darkness, Seonwoo’s straight nose bridge and red lips seemed clearly visible.
“Will you give it to me?”
“What else do you want?”
“Uh… an air conditioner?”
“What else.”
“A new cultivator?”
“What else.”
“Next semester’s textbooks…?”
“What else.”
“Macarons or something… You know, those really sweet cookies. Cake would be good too. There are so many really delicious sweets in Seoul. Do you know a shop called Plaisir? It’s near Seongsu Station… I tried to buy cake there but failed every time. It’s always sold out….”
After that, Yoonjo rattled off the foods he wanted to eat as if he’d been waiting for this. The first few times it was sweet desserts, but it eventually ended with cockle bibimbap. With Yoonjo beside him giving a whole speech about how delicious it was, Seonwoo occasionally nodded and responded.
‘Air conditioner, cultivator, textbooks….’
Only at the very end did a single food item finally pop out. Seonwoo gently pressed the accelerator and looked at the road shrouded in darkness. From beside him, Yoonjo’s chattering continued without pause.
For Seonwoo, Yoonjo was an unexpected person. It was like watching a round ball that could bounce anywhere. Just when he thought Yoonjo would act in a visible, predictable way, Ji Yoonjo would already be on the opposite side grinning sheepishly.
“…Did you know you can even make kimchi from watermelon? When you slice the rind thin, you know that hard green part? If you mix it with gochujang and drizzle sesame oil on it, it’s really delicious. Grandma taught me this—it’s kind of a summer delicacy. Wow… I’m getting hungry for it.”
While he’d been thinking about something else for a moment, the conversation had already moved to watermelon kimchi. As expected, it was about food. Seonwoo leaned one arm against the door, steering with one hand while listening attentively to Yoonjo’s story. Before he knew it, the corners of his mouth were forming a soft arc.
***
No matter how much he thought about it, it was strange. Getting flushed in the face while looking at the same man, or getting all flustered just because his back was touched. To be frank, Ji Yoonjo’s life up until now had been far too ordinary to suddenly start feeling something for a man at this point.
More than anything, every summer he’d seen grandfathers and uncles alike casually going shirtless and scratching their backs without thinking anything of it, so what was so different about Ki Seonwoo? He was just a man with the same equipment, wasn’t he?
Of course, he was pale, pretty, handsome, and an actor who had it all, but still…
After parting with Seonwoo, Yoonjo crept into his dark house like a thief and lay down on the cold floor without even washing up. Although the house was hot due to the tropical night phenomenon, he didn’t want to take off Seonwoo’s cardigan.
“Maybe it’s because it smells nice….”
Lifting his arm and sniffing, Yoonjo smelled the scent permeating the sleeve. Come to think of it, this scent was what he’d smelled when he went to Seonwoo’s house—that is, Grandma Sunja’s house. Originally, when Grandma was there, it had that distinctive countryside house smell, but since Seonwoo started living there, a pleasant scent had permeated everywhere.
Yoonjo kept his nose buried in the sleeve, taking in the scent for a while, then grabbed his phone. He felt he should ask after all.
「Hyung, what perfume do you use?」 12:09am
He must have been washing up, because the reply came back much later.
「I don’t use any. Perfume and stuff like that is too bothersome.」 12:52am
Then was it fabric softener? Finding it a pleasant scent, Yoonjo sniffed a few more times, then moved his fingers again.
「What fabric softener do you use?」 12:52am
The reply didn’t come back even after a long time. Getting up from where he sat, Yoonjo reluctantly wriggled out of the cardigan, folded it neatly, and changed into his pajamas. Even by then, no answer had come from Seonwoo. Thinking he must have fallen asleep, Yoonjo laid out his bedding.
After spreading the rough hemp mat over the blanket, Yoonjo tapped his stiff lower back and tiptoed into the bathroom to wash up.
The entire time he was brushing his teeth, Yoonjo pondered about Seonwoo’s scent, then hastily put down his toothbrush and rinsed his mouth. He was so curious he didn’t think he’d be able to sleep.
Returning to his room, Yoonjo rolled the thin blanket around his body, then unrolled it again because it was too hot. He was holding his phone in one hand.
After fidgeting around, Yoonjo opened an internet browser and stared at the blinking cursor for a long while. Then he tapped out a search term with his finger.
Got excited after touching back
Having written that far, Yoonjo hurriedly deleted it all. Then, after some thought, he wrote a different search term.
Back is ticklish and
“This is even worse….”
Staring at the phone screen where no auto-search terms appeared, Yoonjo searched for “back is ticklish and excited.” He’d chosen this thinking it was an ordinary search term that wouldn’t be embarrassing for others to see. But the actual results that came up were utterly disappointing.
It was all nutritionally valueless content like cholinergic urticaria, or how your back gets itchy as you age. Pointlessly scrolling down the screen with his fingertip, Yoonjo stopped when he saw a certain post.
Title: Are ticklish spots erogenous zones?
He clicked on the post. It was an article explaining that spots where you feel particularly ticklish are erogenous zones. The range was diverse. There were fingers, toes, and apparently some people even found their ears ticklish. Reading on, there was even the surprising story that parrots have erogenous zones all over their bodies, so the more you touch them, the more clingy they become.
Reading the text slowly like studying a specialized textbook, Yoonjo casually wiped his sweat-sticky palm on the blanket and lightly clenched and unclenched his fist. Whew. He let out a short breath and felt his earlobe with his finger. He didn’t feel anything in particular.
“Is it not…?”
Muttering to himself, he felt his side. He’d never been ticklish in the first place, so when playing games, he was always the one who went forward and led the team to victory. Soon he felt his chest and abs, but still didn’t feel anything special. He even stroked his side where he could feel muscles here and there, but it was still the same.
Reaching behind with his hand to touch his back with his brow deeply furrowed, Yoonjo clicked his tongue because he couldn’t feel anything. At that moment, he heard the sound of water droplets falling from somewhere. It was coming from the bathroom. Occasionally water dripped from a faucet that wasn’t fully closed, and now seemed to be one of those times.
The water droplets created deep ripples as if shattering finely, reaching Yoonjo’s ears. At the same time, he recalled Seonwoo’s fingertips touching his wet back. The phantom crept slowly up his spine like a snake. Before he knew it, those smooth hands pressed their palms against Yoonjo’s back and slowly caressed it.
Yoonjo unconsciously pulled his hand away from his back and sat up in alarm, pushing himself across the floor. Only when his back touched the wall did the strange sensation disappear. Instead, the coolness of the cement wall seeped through his thin pajamas.
There was no time to be startled by such a trivial thing. Yoonjo reached around to stroke his back, then shook his head vigorously.
“That can’t be… It’s not… right…?”
Muttering that it couldn’t be, Yoonjo swallowed hard. No matter how much he thought about it, this wasn’t right.
Only then did Yoonjo remember how his heart had pounded as if he’d been running every time Seonwoo came close. All those moments when his face would strangely flush and his throat would feel hot flashed quickly through his mind.
“Of course… that hyung is really cool… and has a great body… and is pretty… and handsome… anyway…. But still, this is….”
Isn’t this a bit much? Unable to easily accept this reality, Yoonjo closed his eyes and carefully retraced his thoughts. Something must have gone wrong. It didn’t make sense biologically.
He recalled the faces of girls he’d met fleetingly in middle school, high school, and college. They were all shorter and smaller than Yoonjo. There had been several moments when his heart would flutter for no reason whenever they’d call out “Yoonjo-ya” in their soft voices. Just as peace of mind was gradually returning, Yoonjo’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Seonwoo calling him.
‘Yoonjo-ya.’
‘Ji Yoonjo.’
A pale, smooth face, an even smoother body, that low voice calling Yoonjo. Seonwoo’s face smiling with beautifully curved eyes was so vivid he could extract the memory and print it as a photo right now. On top of that, Seonwoo’s voice lingered in his ears.
“Ah, stop…! Please stop!”
Curling up his body and clutching at the blanket was the best Yoonjo could do.
***
Before the morning sun had even risen, as soon as he heard the rooster crow, Yoonjo stood in front of the barn next to the entrance. Because the surroundings were dim, he couldn’t see properly what was what, but Yoonjo skillfully grabbed cattle feed and plopped it into the feed trough.
He hadn’t been able to sleep a wink all night. Normally, as soon as his head touched the pillow he should have headed to deep dreamland, but strangely, last night he couldn’t even close his eyes. It was because of Ki Seonwoo’s image that appeared like a photograph on the inside of his eyelids.
Looking at the mother cow and calf inside the small barn, Yoonjo squatted down in front of them. Seeing the cow’s round and clear eyes, he unconsciously thought of Seonwoo.
A fist-sized face that seemed delicately crafted and carved by a master doll maker, the harmonious eyes, nose, and mouth within it. The lips that curved prettily when he smiled softly, and those brown eyes looking at him…
His face turned red on its own. Yoonjo unconsciously let out a shriek.
