The hands that had been firmly supporting his waist suddenly changed their attitude. The fingers nonchalantly lifted his top and burrowed in. Saehyeon, startled by the unexpected sensation, trembled.
“What kind of nonsense is that!”
“The nonsense is what you said.”
The hot body temperature and rough texture stroking his skin were enough to recall the events of last night.
“Will you wash, or shall I wash you? Choose one.”
Caught between the chest pressed close and the door, he couldn’t budge. Saehyeon turned his head as if to avoid it and met the child’s eyes. Seeing those round, innocent eyes that didn’t understand what was happening made his mind spin. He was surrounded on all sides. Saehyeon eventually raised the white flag.
“…I’ll wash myself, so move.”
The man didn’t step back but removed the hand gripping his waist and opened the door. Saehyeon, naturally pushed into the bathroom, steadied himself by touching the wall. Various parts of his body ached and his legs were weak. But perhaps because the sensations from the dream were so vivid, this much felt fortunate. At least he wasn’t crawling on all fours.
When Gil Taeseo stepped back, Saehyeon quickly closed the door. Considering the momentum from just before, it seemed like the door could open at any moment. But unexpectedly, the man turned around plainly.
The presence that had lingered in front of the door gradually moved away. He could tell because of the voices.
“Huh, Dad! You said you’d put me down!”
“I asked if you didn’t want to go down, I didn’t say I’d put you down.”
“Gasp!”
Because those sounds slowly faded away according to the distance between them.
Saehyeon pressed the protruding button next to the doorknob to lock the door, then let out a small sigh. He slid down along the wall and sat, raising his hand to his chest. His heart was pounding like it would burst.
While catching his breath briefly and turning over his useless head, something suddenly flashed through his mind. It was something he’d heard earlier.
‘Wait a minute. He wiped me down?’
Come to think of it, the clothes he was wearing now were ones he’d never seen before. They were all the same clothes anyway, but he’d been using particularly old and shabby clothes as pajamas lately. What he’d worn to bed that day had been similar. But those clothes had somehow transformed into sleek, glossy pajamas.
His hesitating hand pulled down the firm waistband. A moment later. The elastic that returned with strong force fiercely struck his skin. It was because his hand’s strength had completely drained after looking inside the pants.
“Why is it clean?”
As the past memory of semen dried and stuck roughly scattered, only clean and tidy lower parts remained. His bewildered hand once again slipped past the elastic. This time the destination was not the front but the back. Whether front or back, it was not only neat but almost… even fluffy.
There was naturally only one culprit.
“…How am I supposed to look at his face?”
One might say what’s the fuss when he’d already shown everything. But to an already tattered psyche, even a small shock was a fatal blow. Since his head had grown to a certain size, there were no memories of being washed by others, and even those weren’t the type to clean up traces of sexual activity.
In the exact opposite situation from himself in his past memory while having the same worries, Saehyeon crawled into the bathtub. He could only hope that the lukewarm but refreshingly pouring water would erase all the shameful memories. That, of course, didn’t happen.
The living room he came out to after roughly putting on clothes left in front of the door. As soon as he opened the door, two people who looked exactly alike simultaneously turned to look at him.
“Sit.”
Saehyeon hesitantly stepped back while immediately fixing his gaze on the floor. As he was only rolling his eyes like that, one of the set products sitting face to face in front of the large dining table urged him to take a seat. It was the original of the two.
‘I don’t think this was here yesterday either.’
Like the chair he’d seen in the room, the dining table’s existence was also unfamiliar. Maybe he’d passed by without seeing it because it was dark and chaotic.
Saehyeon stood at the door and hesitated for a moment. The embarrassment and shame that had risen to his chin had already passed the limit. But seeing the food filling the table and Gil Taeseo sitting with his legs crossed in front of it, a quick escape seemed difficult.
His pale feet repeatedly touched and left the floor according to his hesitant state of mind.
“Why? Want me to feed you?”
The face that smiled while saying that was needlessly pretty. And simultaneously irritating. Very much so.
“If you want to suffer the airplane spoon next to a kid who eats well on his own, I won’t stop you.”
…That bastard does what he says he’ll do. Saehyeon hurriedly approached the dining table. Any further destruction of dignity would be fatal to his mental health.
It was a house he’d driven into for quite a while anyway. Roughly kidnapper and abductor and cure and… whatever. Playing along with the homeowner who had such modifiers attached might be the fastest way to escape.
“I’ll eat. I’m eating.”
There were two seating choices in front of the dining table. Next to Gil Taeseo or next to the child. Saehyeon, who naturally chose next to the child, swallowed quietly. Not being next to him meant he had to face him directly.
On the table he looked down at to avoid his gaze, a modest meal was set. The food, centered on plain side dishes and soup without anything red or spicy, all looked neat.
In front of the child was a small tray arranged with similar side dishes, but with a slight difference in rice. Saehyeon’s rice spot was replaced with pale white porridge. With soy sauce and salted shrimp on the side placed alongside bean sprout soup, it felt like he’d stolen some patient’s meal.
“Dad! Eat this too.”
The child, who had been rolling his eyes beside him, picked up a side dish with his small hands and gave it to him.
“Yeah.”
The moment he took his first spoonful, encouraged by Gil Taeseo’s silent urging and the child’s support. Saehyeon realized he’d been quite hungry. At the feeling of it sticking nicely even to his rough, unappetizing mouth, Saehyeon, whose eyes widened roundly, slowly chewed what was in his mouth. If it were the old days, he would have eaten like drinking, but now if he did that…
‘I can’t end up looking like a heron again.’
Seeing the man’s fingertips tapping the table, his resolve hardened further.
The spoon that had been moving diligently gradually slowed and finally stopped. More than half the porridge remained in the bowl. He must have seen it, yet Gil Taeseo didn’t say anything. He too had learned a lesson from the commotion that had occurred in that high-end restaurant bathroom last time.
Instead, the man held out a medicine packet and water as if he’d been waiting.
There was no need to ask what it was. Saehyeon silently swallowed several white pills. They’d only stayed on his tongue briefly, but the aftertaste was bitter, as if they’d already dissolved.
Along with setting down the empty water glass, Saehyeon raised his head. Their eyes met as if waiting. Gil Taeseo, whom he was properly facing for the first time, had already returned to his usual gangster-like attire.
“…Done?”
“For today, at least.”
The man who answered with shining eyes suddenly stood up from his seat. Then he casually grabbed the coat draped beside him and walked toward the door. It was a solo act different from earlier when he’d clung and supported him even though he’d said no.
Gil Taeseo, who had reached the doorway in an instant, only then looked back. The things newly brought into the empty house caught his eye at a glance. Lee Saehyeon standing awkwardly next to the new dining table, and the child peeking his head out beside him.
Wearing large clothes that didn’t fit his body while settling into this house, that face full of question marks was quite pleasing.
That’s why it was. In addition to rational judgment, he indulged in a bit of mischief.
“Then take good care of the house.”
“What?”
He couldn’t understand the meaning of the words for a moment. By the time he understood those words and ran, the front door was already firmly closed. Saehyeon hurriedly ran and flung the door open.
“Hey!”
“Oh, you can’t come out.”
A black figure blocked Saehyeon’s path as he tried to shoot out like a bullet through the open door. It wasn’t a familiar face, but seeing the black suit and considerable build, he got the gist. Not much different from the person who’d been by his side every time, he must be someone working under Gil Taeseo. Like a gangster wouldn’t, leaving someone stationed in front of the door, he was infuriated by that meticulousness.
Because the size difference was so great, no matter how much he body-slammed, he couldn’t break free. In the end, blocked by arms like iron, Saehyeon could only shout furiously.
“The house I’m going to isn’t this house, you bastard! Send me back to my house!”
Gil Taeseo, who had opened and held the door of the black car and looked back at him, moved his lips saying something. Saehyeon, who focused on reading his lips, stopped his violently shaking limbs and narrowed his eyes. His vision became a bit clearer with the force in his eyes. Through that gap, his words were slowly read.
The man who finished speaking got in the car without even giving enough time to interpret. By the time he realized the meaning of those lip movements, the car had already left.
“Kidnapping, abduction… next… what… will it be?”
Saehyeon, left alone—no, left with the man blocking him—muttered in a daze.
