Glancing up, he caught sight of Hwichan — just his head poking out from behind the bathroom door. That large, pale white body stayed hidden behind the mold-speckled wooden door. Regrettably.
Hwichan looked down at Haeshin’s slippered feet and furrowed his brow with displeasure.
“Where are you going again. The beach?”
The beach? Haeshin tilted his head and answered.
“Why would I go to the beach at this hour? It’s the middle of the night.”
“Then why are you looking for shoes.”
“I figured you wouldn’t have anything that fits you here, so I thought I’d go borrow some clothes from the Village Chief’s place. Good timing, actually. What size do you wear?”
Hwichan’s eyes sharpened at that answer, as if on even higher guard than before. No — it was less like wariness and more like he was trying to keep something in check.
“Forget it. I don’t need clothes or anything, so don’t go anywhere today and just stay nearby. If I see you leaving this house, I’ll drag you back and lock you in the basement.”
“What?”
“I’ll snap your ankles.”
Haeshin’s mouth fell open in disbelief.
To think he’d actually hear, out loud, the kind of line you’d only expect from a chaebol protagonist in a weekend drama. These days even morning dramas would get a warning for dialogue like that. Broadcasting review regulation, article such-and-such, clause so-and-so. This broadcast has been issued a warning for containing unethical content suggesting excessive violence.
Haeshin nodded slowly, his expression one of mild horror.
“Okay, sure. I won’t go out…… I’ll just stay with you, alright?”
It was less agreement than resignation. The psychology of a strange person isn’t something you try to understand — you simply accept it.
Hwichan had seemed unsettled ever since falling in the water earlier. He was probably scared of being left alone in the house. Was this what they called a trauma response?
Haeshin had something like a trauma of his own when he was little. Back when he was a baby merman, his mother had started him on walking on land with her signature boot-camp approach — and for quite a while after that, the mere sight of a sandy beach would send him into hysterical tears. He couldn’t set so much as a toe in the sand without a guardian present.
Was it the same for Hwichan? Had swallowing all that seawater earlier shaken him that deeply? Haeshin nodded to himself, as if he understood perfectly.
Thinking of it as Hwichan taking out his shock from nearly drowning on him — this prickly, foul-mouthed stray cat seemed, just for a moment, a little pitiful. Even a little endearing.
“You were all smiles earlier. Why’s your face like that now?”
“No, no. I’ll stay here. You don’t like my expression? Should I smile? How’s this.”
He stretched his mouth into an exaggerated grin — and Hwichan squinted at him like he was looking at something deeply wrong. The weird one here isn’t me, it’s you. Flustered, Haeshin cleared his throat and evened out his voice.
“My clothes will probably be a bit small on you, is that okay? I don’t think any of my tops will fit.”
“Give me anything. Give me that bath towel from before if you have to.”
With that, Hwichan seemed reassured and retreated back into the bathroom. He had, after much pestering from Haeshin, relented and soaked in a warm bath. He still seemed uneasy — the bathroom door was left half open rather than fully shut.
Haeshin made deliberately noisy sounds as he moved around, as if to let Hwichan know he was still right there.
A short while later, Hwichan emerged from the bathroom looking somehow even paler than he had when he was waterlogged and swollen from the sea. Like gizzard shad coated in flour before frying, Haeshin thought.
His lines were as clean as a plaster figure from a Western art history textbook. And yet he’d clearly worked out diligently — muscles were packed in solidly here and there, giving him a healthy look overall. The veins running along his forearms and lower abdomen in particular were almost embarrassingly defined. His pale skin only made them stand out more.
A person with a body like that and he can’t even swim.
Wasn’t it called “wasted talent” when someone had a gift they never put to use? This was exactly that. If it were me, I would’ve debuted as an amateur athlete ages ago.
Lee Haeshin, forgetting entirely that the other person was still in a fragile state from nearly drowning, let his gaze drift openly over that body. The longer he looked, the more it stirred something that was closer to envious admiration than anything else.
The other, clearly not appreciating the blatant staring, crossed his arms with only a bath towel wrapped around his waist. With that motion, the towel, which had barely been clinging to his hips, slipped and dropped to the floor.
Before Haeshin could catch himself, his gaze had already landed right between Hwichan’s legs.
“……”
A brief silence fell. It lasted only a moment, but it was breathtaking.
Hwichan, seeming to sense that split-second look, scowled and immediately snatched the towel back up. But Haeshin had already seen it. His face flushed — not subtly, but with a hot, burning red.
Are all guys from the mainland that pale and firm and — substantial? Or is it that the well-ripened ones come to this island because it’s the right season for them.
Shin Hwichan did seem to be particularly — that way. At least the one Haeshin saw on himself every day wasn’t that large. He unconsciously began to glance down between his own legs, then caught Hwichan’s eyes on him and barely managed to redirect his gaze.
Right on cue, a thunderclap crashed outside, as if scolding him. As expected — the old man was never going to sit quietly and watch his own descendant get flustered. Hwichan startled at the brilliant flash of lightning that swallowed the living room whole, his body flinching.
“Is the weather broken? Does this neighborhood even have a lightning rod?”
If it didn’t, Samsam Island would have burned to the ground long ago. On account of none other than Lee Haeshin.
“Of course it does. Let me get you some pants first. Underwear…… should I lend you some?”
“No thanks. Not in the habit of sharing underwear.”
“Fair enough……”
Sorry, but neither am I.
After some deliberation, Haeshin dug out a few pairs of pants that had been stuffed at the back of the wardrobe and handed them to Hwichan. Most were too small, and embarrassingly, they made a certain region stand out in particular.
In the end, Haeshin handed over the largest available option — a pair of cat-print pajama pants. The childish design earned a brief crinkle of Hwichan’s brow, but he seemed to decide it was better than nothing, and begrudgingly threaded his legs through the soft, fluffy fabric.
The size was roughly right, but the length was short — leaving a fair stretch of bare skin exposed well above the ankle. Short hem, nothing but a towel on top, and yet the body wearing it all was genuinely something. The dissonance that ensemble created was ridiculous — and somehow also not bad at all.
Haeshin stared at him with an unreadable expression, then quietly slipped into the bathroom to wash up and locked the door behind him. Just a moment ago he’d been shivering from the cold, but now, inexplicably, his chest was fluttering.
***
— You’re from Seoul?
— ……
— So you’re……
— Be quiet.
— Alright. …… Good night.
That was the entirety of what remained of their conversation.
Haeshin switched off all the lights before his hair had even finished drying. He was too embarrassed to let anyone catch the way his cheeks kept going red.
Thunder and lightning rolled on through the night. The weather was foul and the hour was late — and so the two of them ended up spending the night at Haeshin’s house.
Lee Haeshin couldn’t fall into a clean sleep because the strange person lying beside him, smelling of damp water and body wash, kept occupying his thoughts. Shin Hwichan kept waking through the night because of the thunder and lightning that hammered on without rest.
Thanks to that, both of them were up early in the morning. They lay there in stilted silence, blinking at the ceiling, confirming through each other’s breathing that the other was awake.
Without a word or a warm greeting between them, they dragged themselves up and brushed their teeth and washed their faces. The two of them mixed about as well as the smell of salt sea air and an out-of-place cologne.
It happened that today was the day after kimchi-making day. Once a year, every resident of the island gathered at the village hall for a shared meal. Haeshin thought it was perfect timing — and promptly intercepted Hwichan, who had been on his way back to his own place, and shoved him bodily into the village hall. The idea was to take this chance to get him properly introduced to the village elders.
“After all that thunder and lightning last night, it’s nice and quiet today, isn’t it?”
“Hwichan slept over at Haeshin’s place all night, they said? Made a friend on your first day here?”
Haeshin laughed awkwardly, while Hwichan — forcibly dragged here by Haeshin — didn’t even bother responding and simply stayed quiet.
“Let’s eat quickly.”
Shortly after, Grandma Sooni and the Village Chief’s wife brought out a table full of boiled pork, kimchi, and makgeolli.
Haeshin felt it would be a bit much to let his awkwardness show in front of the elders, so he put on a thick skin and turned to Hwichan with a friendly air.
“Eat with us. You don’t get to have meat often on Samsam Island — you’re actually really lucky. Miss this and who knows when you’ll get another chance.”
