But he had put too much faith in his legs, which felt as though all the muscle had wasted away. His leg buckled and gave out, and he went straight down. Thud — a sharp pain flared where his knee hit the floor.
“Ah!”
Dohui winced briefly, pressed his palm to the ground, and picked himself back up like a roly-poly toy.
He opened the refrigerator and grabbed the first bottle of water he saw, gulping it down in large swallows. The sudden rush of cold made his head go dull. Ugh…… Dohui whimpered softly and pressed his palm against his temple.
Through his half-open eyes, he spotted the Shine Muscat grapes. He pulled them out and tore at the plastic wrap in a frenzy. At the sight of those grapes, plump and ready to burst with sweet juice, his mouth flooded with saliva.
Dohui planted himself on the floor and swallowed hard. He plucked off a large grape and popped it into his mouth. Ah…… The moment it hit his tongue, the hunger he had thought was already at its peak surged even further. Reason had burned away, and all that remained was appetite.
Dohui ate in a frenzy. Juice ran in rivulets along the cracks of his chapped lips. He didn’t register the taste, didn’t register the sweetness — he just chewed and chewed. As long as it was soft enough to swallow, he barely chewed at all before pushing it down.
By the time he’d eaten through about half, his stomach felt somewhat full. It was more than Dohui normally ate. But I don’t know when I’ll get to eat again. That thought sparked a greedy hunger. He needed to pack in as much as his stomach could hold.
Dohui shoved three more large grapes into his mouth at once.
“Looks like there’s a little thief cat in the house.”
At the cold voice, Dohui turned around — both cheeks stuffed full of Shine Muscat. When did he get here? He’d been so focused on eating that he hadn’t sensed a single presence.
It was Gong Haejin. He must have just woken up — his large feet were in house slippers, loose pants hung from his hips, and his top half was bare, skin out in the open.
He rested one hand on his hip and tilted his head to the side. His gaze was that of someone observing a strange new creature.
Dohui chewed furiously at what was in his mouth and forced it down. Bits of fruit caught on the back of his throat and set off a few sporadic coughs.
“In quite the rush.”
Gong Haejin said with a mild reproach, and closed the wide-open refrigerator door. The beeping alarm that had been going off cut out instantly.
“Not very careful for a thief, are you.”
Gong Haejin bent one knee and crouched down in front of Dohui. Dohui hugged the Shine Muscat — only a few grapes left — and turned his upper body slightly away.
“Worried I’ll take it?”
“…….”
Gong Haejin’s perfect almond-shaped eyes narrowed. He took his time looking Dohui over — disheveled and grimy as he was.
He’d just woken up, so his hair was a mess. His face was a sight, thoroughly wrecked, and juice was dribbling from the corner of his mouth. Dohui felt his gaze and dragged the back of his hand across his lips. The skin between his crouched legs was red. It was the mark left from the night before — Gong Haejin had ground against that tender flesh so relentlessly that the damage was plain to see.
Just looking at him, he was no different from someone who’d been passed around and used. Gong Haejin exhaled a quiet sigh, too low to hear.
“Eat, then go wash up.”
“…….”
His mouth was full of the scent of fruit. If he opened it, he felt like even that would be taken from him by Gong Haejin — so Dohui pressed his lips firmly shut.
Gong Haejin reached out and stole one grape from the bunch Dohui was clutching. A perfectly ripe green grape slipped between his lips and disappeared.
Dohui watched it, transfixed. What a waste. I should have eaten that one faster. That was the thought that came first.
“Mm, it’s sweet.”
“…….”
Gong Haejin tapped his bony shoulder lightly.
“By the way, Im Dohui.”
“…….”
“You have to answer when spoken to.”
Certain he was about to be hit, Dohui curled his body in as tightly as he could.
Gong Haejin gave a low laugh at that instinctive reaction. Backlit by the darkness, his body was a display of perfect proportions — but to Dohui’s eyes, he was nothing more than a cruel human being.
He yawned, low and unhurried. Then he pressed Dohui’s head down like a headrest as he stood. He was already large in build, and tall on top of that — it felt like being swallowed by his shadow. Dohui was still holding onto the Shine Muscat like it was some priceless treasure. Unbelievable. It felt exactly like having stolen a snack from a small child.
Gong Haejin twisted his brow and let out a faint laugh. To come out at this hour and be caught sneaking fruit — that was all he’d managed.
“Um, excuse me……”
Dohui stared at his firm ankle bone and spoke in a voice that was barely audible.
“Do you…… have any ramen?”
A burst of laughter — ha — escaped from between Gong Haejin’s lips before he could stop it. There Dohui sat, wiggling his fingers as if counting how many grapes were left, and asking for ramen of all things.
“We don’t have that. Nothing like that here.”
Gong Haejin opened the refrigerator again, pulled out another full bunch of Shine Muscat, and tossed it over.
The heavy fruit dropped straight down onto the top of Dohui’s foot. The sudden cold contact made Dohui’s body spring up like a coil.
“Jumpy.”
Then he turned his back. Before disappearing into the darkness that seemed made for him, he added one last thing.
“If you get bored, come to my room.”
He dropped those words without a second thought and vanished completely — only then did Dohui let out the breath he’d been holding. Then he ate until he was full, mindlessly and desperately. The cold water breathed life back into him.
I should have asked for fever medicine instead of ramen. Idiot — so obsessed with hunger that I asked for that instead. Then again — there was no way he could trust any medicine Gong Haejin gave him.
Dohui opened drawer after drawer in the kitchen. It wasn’t proper to go through someone else’s things without permission, but there was no time to worry about that. He checked whether anything useful was there. Something that could be used as a weapon, for instance.
But Gong Haejin’s home had a strange absence of warmth. The kind that comes from a person having lived there. The things a home should always have — even chopsticks and spoons — were missing.
When he opened the refrigerator one last time, there was nothing but rows of bottled water, spaced out at even intervals. The Shine Muscat had been a strangely out-of-place find.
Does he just live on fruit? With a build like that, you’d think he could chew through ox bones — but he’s more refined than he looks. Dohui rubbed his barely-full stomach. His head was starting to work again.
Ah, I think I might live.
That thought made him laugh at the absurdity of it. I think I might live. Since the day he’d met Gong Haejin, he had thought of death several times a day. Not his own death — but that man’s.
So I have to survive.
Survive, and somehow find my way home.
Dohui knocked at his numb legs — cramped from crouching — and stood. With his stomach somewhat full, his thoughts grew a little clearer.
Is it just the two of us in this house? No one else? And why did he bring me here of all places…… Questions like those filled the space.
Belatedly, Dohui went back to the room and found his clothes to put on. Where Gong Haejin had carelessly stripped him, things were scattered here and there. Even pulling his pants on, semen kept leaking. He came inside me like a madman — even though this body can’t reproduce.
Dohui pushed the discomfort aside, got his shirt on as well, and stepped back out of the room. There was no time to deal with that. He surveyed his surroundings carefully. It was dark, but that was fine. As long as he could find the front door.
He decided against turning on the lights — too reckless. He couldn’t make noise either. He had no idea where Gong Haejin was, whether he was asleep or awake.
If I get caught, I’ve already thought of an excuse. Like looking for the bathroom, or saying the fruit wasn’t enough. Something like that.
Dohui counted numbers in his head. One, two, three…… He waited until he reached 1,800.
That was his rough calculation for how long it would take the man to fall back asleep. Thirty minutes — and since he’d gone back into the room and stayed quiet with the lights off, he hoped Gong Haejin might assume he’d gone back to sleep.
Once he hit the number he was waiting for, he breathed in and out and worked to kill the tension. Dohui shuffled forward, dragging his soles along the floor. His legs, unused properly for so long, weren’t fully obeying his commands. And with the discomfort below — it was all the more difficult.
He crossed the living room and walked down a long corridor — when he realized it wasn’t a corridor at all, but the entryway. On one side was a room with glass doors, and just then, a sensor light snapped on.
Inside were dozens of nearly identical pairs of dress shoes, lined up in rows. Dohui startled and spun around. Nothing was there but his own shadow.
Dohui kept glancing back over his shoulder. He still couldn’t sense Gong Haejin anywhere.
And then — the front door came into view. Heavy, firmly shut. Dohui swallowed a dry mouthful of air. Time passed, and the sensor light clicked off. He stood there frozen like a still frame, jaw clenched tight.
Open that, and I’m outside. He didn’t stop to think about where he was, or what the temperature might be out there. He put one foot forward. The world outside is just ahead.
Just as Dohui swallowed his excitement and carefully lifted his foot to take the step——
The lights blazed on without warning.
“Im Dohui.”
Dohui squeezed both eyes shut. He prayed the hammering of his heart wasn’t loud enough to reach him. Forcing himself into composure, Dohui turned his creaking body around.
It’s okay. It’s all okay. At least now I know where the front door is. He could use Gong Haejin’s absence to slip out. One chance will come. Don’t miss it when it does.
His eyes hovered around the door like a butterfly circling honey it couldn’t quite reach. Dohui looked back with a face that dripped with barely concealed longing.
“You really do move like a stray cat.”
Gong Haejin was leaning sideways against the wall, arms crossed.
One beautifully shaped eyebrow — the kind that looked like a god had taken particular care with it — rose slightly, then lowered. With the lights fully on, seeing his expression clearly was its own kind of torment. His heart was shriveling by the second.
“……No, I mean…… you said to wash up, so…… the bath, the bath-room——”
