Heichi, with a dazed expression, methodically removed his suit blazer, vest, and shirt one by one and hung them on a hanger. Then he began hanging the clothes he’d removed one by one inside cabinet number 227 assigned to him. It was a very mechanical movement.
Last night, immediately after hearing the words “I want to sleep” from Heewoo, Heichi had felt like he was walking on clouds the entire time. So much so that AJ had pressed him, asking if he wasn’t too spaced out, saying it might be different from what he expected. Of course, Heichi hadn’t listened to those words at all.
Though a Guide’s words of “I want to sleep” could be said while only targeting an Esper’s body, Heichi didn’t care either way. No, rather, if Heewoo was targeting his body, he thought it would be even better. Male individual Heewoo didn’t look at Heichi as a sexual object, so there was a huge barrier to entering a romantic relationship.
In such a situation, the suddenly uttered words “I want to sleep” naturally made Heichi excited. Because it meant Heewoo had actually been looking at him with sexual feelings. Conversely, he should have been at least slightly suspicious of words suddenly blurted out by someone who hadn’t shown such signs until now.
“Heichi? Are you done undressing?”
At the voice from beside him, Heichi’s broad shoulders flinched as he raised his head. Then he saw his Guide revealing snow-white skin. Around his waist, he had wrapped a towel that barely covered his buttocks. The moment he saw that sight, Heichi squeezed his eyes shut tight.
This place was <24-Hour Charcoal Fire Kiln Jjimjilbang>.
It was the cause of Heewoo saying he wanted to sleep. Heichi hadn’t even known what a jjimjilbang was, but just before entering, he’d searched through Link and barely learned the purpose of this place. It was a space where Koreans rested by expelling sweat with high-temperature air.
The problem was that it was a shared facility used by multiple people.
Of course, it would be a lie if Heichi, who had come with different expectations, said he wasn’t disappointed, but it was still fine. Being able to see Heewoo’s naked body was a tremendously precious opportunity for Heichi too. However, having to share this precious opportunity with Earthlings whose faces he didn’t even know—learning that fact, Heichi let out a horrible scream inside.
But even so, he couldn’t refuse the fascinating proposal of being able to naturally make contact with Heewoo and also see his body that had only been bundled up because it was winter. So while he’d followed him in, seeing Heewoo reveal his bare skin nonchalantly in front of others inevitably made his heart feel complicated.
“Yes.”
Heichi, who had stripped off nonchalantly, wrapped the communal towel around his waist just like Heewoo. However, perhaps because the skeleton itself was different, Heichi’s towel was even more precarious. Heewoo glanced at that sight and entered the bathhouse first.
The moment he stepped in, the damp floor and humid air stabbed sharply into his nostrils. To Heichi, who had visited countless planets, this level of humid air or heat had no effect, but Heewoo would be different. Heichi watched him, worried that his Guide might fall due to the slippery floor.
“Heichi, um, the hot bath is too hot, so start with the warm bath…! Eek.”
No sooner had he said that than Heewoo slipped. Heichi, who had already been watching him, nonchalantly grabbed Heewoo’s arm and set him upright. That sight was no different from when he’d first met him.
“Ah, ah… I’m, I’m sorry. I’m so clumsy…”
“No. The floor is slippery.”
“Still…”
The embarrassed Heewoo scratched his head. Heichi unconsciously found his gaze directed downward instead of at his face. Perhaps because he’d almost fallen just now, Heewoo’s towel that had been tied firmly was precariously hanging on his pelvis. It was in a position where it would fall to the floor with just a slight pull.
Heichi conflicted between the desire to cut that towel to see all of Heewoo’s hidden skin and the thought that if he did, all the Earthlings here might see that sight too. Then Heewoo first approached the bath with ‘Warm Bath’ written in large letters.
“It’s not very hot… Heichi, o-over here.”
Heewoo, who had stepped up onto the marble about two steps high, checked the water temperature in a precarious posture with bent knees. The gap between his spread thighs tantalizing showed the inside, then repeatedly hid it. Heichi gathered the saliva flowing in his mouth and swallowed.
Heewoo entered the warm bath first, and Heichi followed him inside. The lukewarm temperature of the warm bath felt slightly cold to Heichi. However, Heewoo seemed to find it just right as he splashed around with a bright smile. His Guide’s flesh looked very delicate even from the outside, so this would indeed be the perfect temperature.
“At this level… it’s bearable, right?”
Since leading Heichi to the jjimjilbang, Heewoo had been constantly watching his reactions. He seemed worried about what to do if he didn’t like this place. Heichi spoke calmly to relieve his worries.
“Yes. It looks goo… No, it’s good to be in.”
He almost misspoke due to a slight error in his head, but fortunately the answer came out safely. At those words, Heewoo also relaxed with a much more relieved face. Heichi glanced at such a Heewoo.
Once Heewoo entered the bath, he completely untied the towel that had been precariously hanging and pulled it out. As he carefully pulled out the wet towel and hung it on the edge of the bath, Heichi had to struggle to control his eyeballs rolling around on their own. The feeling of stealing glances at the white skin showing through the rippling water with its undulating surface…
“Um, Heichi.”
“…Yes?”
Heichi, who had momentarily lost track of the conversation and been busy rolling his eyes around, was startled by the voice purely calling him and raised his head. Then Heewoo, who was right next to him, smiled brightly and said,
“Later, I, I’ll… scrub your back for you…?”
Having already studied jjimjilbangs once, Heichi knew what the act of scrubbing backs meant. Using a towel with a rough surface to scrub off secretions and dirt from the skin’s surface. Something generally done in intimate relationships. Heewoo was requesting that from him.
“Ah, ah! If you’re uncomfortable, you don’t have to…”
“No. I’ll do it.”
Afraid that if he refused like this, he might ask a ‘body scrubber’ at the bathhouse, Heichi hurriedly accepted the proposal. While he couldn’t help showing his body since it was a public space, he wanted to prevent contact at all costs.
After that, the two who had stayed in the lukewarm warm bath for about twenty more minutes headed to an empty space inside. Heewoo, who had brought a plastic chair to sit on, positioned himself behind Heichi and peeked his head over his shoulder.
“Please tell me if it hurts…”
With those words, the rough, distinctive stimulation of a scrubbing towel came to Heichi’s back. For Heichi, who had endured even greater pain when injured during interplanetary wars or when tortured according to military law, this was honestly less than tickling. Rather, Heichi endured that tickling nonchalantly, but Heewoo couldn’t.
“Huff, huk…”
“Is it difficult?”
“What? …What? Oh, no. But, huk, your back is really wide…”
Heewoo, who had at most only scrubbed his own narrow thighs or shoulders no matter how much scrubbing he’d done, was flustered seeing Heichi’s wide back. He was already out of breath even though the area he hadn’t reached was still wider than where he’d touched.
On the other hand, Heichi was surprisingly satisfied with this act of ‘scrubbing.’ Because a single thin scrubbing towel couldn’t completely block guiding, and furthermore, the tired Heewoo kept subtly making contact with his bare hands from Heichi’s shoulders to his lats and lower back, changing positions or asking to lean.
“Should we, we stop now? Heichi, you don’t even have any dead skin coming off, so there’s no real need to…”
“If it’s difficult, I’ll do it for you instead.”
“Huh? What?”
Heichi, who had secretly been pleased with the scrubbing, didn’t want to end this act yet. So he received the scrubbing towel from Heewoo and this time turned him around to sit. At the pale, thin back revealed before his eyes, Heichi had to desperately suppress the urge to greedily press his cheek against it and lick it all over.
Knowledge obtained in advance was already floating around in his head. In crude terms, it was scrubbing roughly to remove secretions from the skin’s surface. His Guide had delicate skin, so he’d have to use very light pressure, but…
“Ah! Eek!”
“…”
He’d definitely tried to be gentle, but this was strange.
The moment Heichi’s scrubbing towel touched him, Heewoo screamed and hunched his shoulders. Then with a face with slight tears, he whipped around to look back and said to Heichi with a reproachful expression.
“You’re, you’re too much… It hurts.”
At those words, Heichi’s heart sank as if pierced by an arrow, and he immediately blurted out an apology. Then he lifted the scrubbing towel about 0.01mm from his skin surface and began scrubbing the air. Because he couldn’t even gauge how light the pressure should be.
“Ahh, that’s refreshing.”
But Heewoo let out an exclamation as if that was just right. On his profile slightly visible from behind, a pleased smile hung on his lips. At that, Heichi pulled the plastic chair close and stuck right behind Heewoo. Then, due to Heichi’s high line of sight, the space between the legs of him sitting there naked was clearly visible.
Heichi kept his eyes on the space between Heewoo’s legs, half-heartedly scrubbing with the towel. That light pink, cute thing slightly revealed between his swaying thighs…
At that moment, Heichi swallowed his saliva. The sound was so loud he worried it might echo through this narrow space. But he couldn’t help it.
“Um, Heichi.”
“Yes? Ahem, yes?”
Heichi couldn’t concentrate at all on what Heewoo was saying. After all, Heichi had a clear reason for that.
His Guide’s lower body had ceased follicle activity, with not a single hair to be found… No, to put it simply in Earth terms.
“Actually, this is my first time scrubbing with someone like this…”
It was a snow-white bald mountain.
