“Hold on, let me go put some clothes on.”
“……”
Holy sht. What did I just see?*
Hee-young stood there with his mouth hanging open, staring blankly at the direction Shin-yul had disappeared.
Hee-young had always enjoyed going to the bathhouse with his organization members, and he’d never once felt outclassed by their inevitable size-comparison bragging. Wow, boss, you’re incredible down there too. A real man, a real man! The greatest of all men. Jun-shik, who had always followed him faithfully, would shower him with ear-reddening praise every time he saw him bare.
Of course, he had seen sizes more impressive than his own before — but what he had just witnessed… a size like that…. Hee-young thought blankly. A python? A club? Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable? Can you even put pants on? Then, quietly, he glanced down at his own body. His slight frame was swallowed up, wrapped in a soft yellow pajama set.
Too busy being annoyed at his weak body to ever really look at it properly, Hee-young had only ever found meaning in the fact that at least it had a pretty face to show for it. It’s not even my real body, so whatever…. But having just witnessed something tremendous, Hee-young found himself unconsciously stretching out the elastic waistband of his pajama pants and peeking inside. It’s not like this one’s particularly small either… it’s just that what he just saw was so outrageously—
“Princess, what are you doing.”
“Oh sh*t! You scared me!”
Shin-yul casually caught Hee-young as he startled and leapt, and looked pointedly at his hands gripping his waistband — then grinned with a knowing smirk.
“Ah……”
“What, what! Don’t look down at an adult like that!”
Flustered, Hee-young immediately picked a fight to cover his embarrassment. At that, Shin-yul promptly dropped down to sit on the floor, looked up at Hee-young, nuzzled his face against the soft yellow pajamas, and patted Hee-young’s thigh.
“Hee-young is still a baby, so it’s fine to be small.”
“What the — I’m not small! You’re just a—”
“A?”
“A big… ugh, forget it.”
He had no desire to go out of his way to defend the privates of some guy he barely knew, nor any desire to keep arguing with Shin-yul and his perpetual smirk — so Hee-young turned his head sharply away. It really wasn’t that he was at a loss for words over the size. Damn, my eyes are just ruined now. Hee-young scowled and looked down at that irritatingly grinning face.
Not a single flaw to be found anywhere… well, the fact that he was completely insane was a pretty significant flaw — but objectively, appearance-wise, this guy was flawless. So flawless and overwhelming that he didn’t even feel jealous. He was almost pitying himself for not being able to wield something that impressive. Or was he? Was it better not to? Would it put the other party out of commission? Or not? Did he do it separately? Well, he was a young man in his prime, after all.
As Hee-young kept tilting his head back and forth in thought, Shin-yul let out an audible laugh at the sight of him. At that low laugh, Hee-young snapped irritably and shoved Shin-yul’s face away. As if that was something to be pleased about, Shin-yul caught Hee-young’s hand where it sat on his face and laced their fingers together, tickling his palm. Hee-young recoiled with a shudder and struggled to pull his hand free — but as always, he was no match for Shin-yul’s strength. Hee-young glared at Shin-yul’s still-grinning face with distaste. This guy with the great face and the great everything else — what on earth is actually wrong with him?
His thoughts kept wandering somewhere they shouldn’t. What was it called? Sexual Guiding? He almost felt sorry for whoever was fated to take that magnificent thing. Not that he had any intention of being that person, obviously. Hee-young snorted to himself and shook his head. Who cares whether this guy has sex, or whether he’s getting it from both ends — what’s it to me.
Hee-young met the eyes looking straight up at him, resting a chin on his thigh. Right — that attitude. That endlessly self-lowering, hanging-on-his-every-word, fawning, playing-innocent attitude was what had made him let his guard down. He couldn’t afford to keep being played by this kid’s tricks — hiding some crafty undercurrent while wagging his tail and keeping him dizzy with strange words and behavior.
Hee-young let out a slow, deep breath, then grabbed Shin-yul’s chin firmly with his free hand.
“Hey, Shin-yul.”
“Yeah?”
Even in that humbling position, Shin-yul’s expression was perfectly bright. Simply pleased by the physical contact with Hee-young, his eyes curved into crescents — practically disappearing — and with his remaining free hand he clasped the hand of Hee-young’s that held him, rubbing his fingers against it in a warm, lingering way.
“Does ajeossi seem like an easygoing person to you?”
“Not particularly.”
“……”
The immediate response caught Hee-young slightly off guard. The hell — usually it’s all ‘princess’ this and ‘baby’ that, slobbering all over me, but he’s actually pretty sharp. So you’re not completely gone in the head after all.
Hee-young gripped Shin-yul’s chin and shook it lightly as he asked.
“Right. So then why does our little brat keep picking at ajeossi’s nerves? Hm? Our Shin-yul can’t function without ajeossi’s Guiding. So you should be flat on your belly like a dog, begging nicely — please give me Guiding. Who gave you permission to keep climbing up? Does Shin-yul want to die?”
“……”
Using Guiding as leverage to threaten an Esper was taboo for a Guide. It was because doing so provoked Espers — already hypersensitive about Guiding — in the most extreme way possible. Espers who were threatened in this way could, driven by their deep-seated anxiety, fixation on Guiding, and fear of death, display violent behavior toward their Guide and bring about tragic outcomes — which was why it was forbidden for both sides.
Moreover, ordinary people generally did not go around holding someone’s life hostage as a threat — and since Espers devoted themselves so completely to their Guides, the likelihood of such a thing happening was extremely low to begin with. It wasn’t even necessary to frame it as a threat; a single offhand mention was enough to make an Esper fall over themselves to offer up everything they had.
Because of this, the staff and Haram — with their perfectly reasonable way of thinking — had simply overlooked Hee-young’s appalling temperament and never thought to mention it. Hee-young had no way of knowing.
But even in the face of a casually-delivered threat on his life from the one who held his lifeline, Shin-yul only blinked those golden eyes at him, calm and unruffled. Hee-young patted Shin-yul’s smooth cheek a couple of times and asked again.
“Shin-yul — you’d better do what ajeossi says, hadn’t you?”
“Why did my princess suddenly get angry?”
“Are you deaf? I said stop getting on my nerves.”
Hee-young said sharply, and without hesitation grabbed Shin-yul’s still-damp hair. Shin-yul sat quietly and let himself be held, answering softly, Yes, ajeossi, with a smile. At that smile, Hee-young let out a hollow laugh and shook Shin-yul’s head.
“You — are you smart, or just slow?”
“I understand. So what you’re saying is, if I make ajeossi angry, he won’t give me a kiss.”
“What…?”
This little — well, technically that’s not wrong, but that’s not — that’s not the nuance I—
The meaning had been transformed into something couples say when they’re sulking at each other — and Hee-young blinked, flustered. Shin-yul gazed fondly at that expression, then took the hand gripping his hair with his free hand and intertwined their fingers.
“I don’t know what you’re angry about, but I’ll do better. Don’t get angry. You’ll overheat again.”
“No, that’s not—”
“And since we’re going to the Dungeon too — if ajeossi doesn’t give me a kiss, I might actually just drop dead. I’d better do even better, then. Right?”
That’s not what I’m talking about!!
At Shin-yul gently coaxing him, Hee-young screamed Aaaargh! with rising exasperation. He flailed his arms and legs with full force but his pinned arms wouldn’t budge, which made him even more furious — and he kicked out hard at Shin-yul with his legs.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. But ajeossi is always angry — doesn’t he enjoy being angry?”
“You — you—!”
“Okay, okay. Hey, hey, breathe. Breathe.”
Shin-yul pulled Hee-young’s fuming, gasping, hyperventilating body into his arms and patted him gently, soothing him like a fussing child. Even that hold felt suffocating and Hee-young thrashed against it — but of course, getting free was out of the question.
They say you should never try to reason with a lunatic — and this guy was exactly that. Against a lunatic, neither threats nor violence worked. Hee-young seethed and gradually felt the strength draining out of his body.
This whole hierarchy thing is completely screwed.
***
The next day, without fail, Hee-young was once again carried to The Center dangling in Shin-yul’s arms. He brushed off the staff trying to follow him around and wandered the wide grounds of The Center, then sat down on a bench that caught his eye and sat blankly, chewing over the emptiness of life. The weather had taken on a distinctly winter-like chill, and after unwrapping and crumpling the beige muffler Shin-yul had fussed over him to wear, he stretched out flat on the bench and closed his eyes, entirely limp.
Everything was a bother. Come to think of it, since he had woken up in this world, not a single thing had gone the way he wanted. Every time he was stumbling around in shock at the latest bizarre development, the waves would carry him along — huh, huh, what — and by the time he caught up, everything was already over. Back when he had a big, imposing build and a face to match, he’d solved everything with force — and now that none of that worked, this mob ajeossi with no other tools had absolutely no idea where to begin or how to navigate any of this.
Before he even had a chance to try, everything caved in on him — and the young punk he’d tried to get a grip on just laughed at him, treating him like a fool and not even flinching at threats. His pride took hits left and right and there was nothing he could do about it. Should I just cut off the Guiding entirely? A rush of spite rose up in him — but he shook his head. Nah, forget it. What had they called it? Rampage? If it came to that, he was genuinely afraid he’d end up having to do something with a man.
Why is life so exhausting. He was living in a warm house, with food on the table, fresh clothes every day even if not to his taste — and whenever the walking got to be too much, Shin-yul would carry him around like a servant, a life that was, as someone had put it, truly fit for a princess — and yet his mind was worn ragged. It was the first time he had ever found himself nostalgic for his days scraping at the bottom of the organization.
“Ugh…. At this rate, might as well die young rather than suffer like this….”
The saving grace was that there was still hope — a hope that he might yet be able to go home. Earlier that day, Deputy Seong had rushed to cheer up a deflated Hee-young with a piece of news. Apparently, an exchange event with overseas Espers took place once every few years — and the next one was coming up next year. Now that winter had set in, it didn’t feel like all that long a wait — and so Hee-young told himself to just hold on a little longer, even through the frustration and stress. And yet the anger bubbling up from somewhere deep inside refused to be contained, and he exhaled loudly.
He rolled over and opened his eyes — and caught sight of a large figure heading his way. Seeing the tall, broad frame, he thought it was that bastard Han Shin-yul coming to find him already, unable to last even this long — and let out a heavy sigh. But then Hee-young realized it wasn’t Shin-yul. At least the hard-won peace wouldn’t be shattered, he thought, and was just about to close his eyes again when a voice he’d heard somewhere before cut sharply toward him.
“Where’s Han Shin-yul — and why are you lying around on your own again?”
At that voice, Hee-young slowly opened his eyes.
“Well. Learned any manners yet?”
Tae-seong was looking down at Hee-young with a contemptuous smirk.
Ah, this bastard….
Already pissed off, and now you walk right into it.
