“I was not informed that you would be dining together.”
Muyeong answered immediately, but it took Yeonwoo a moment to fully understand what he’d said.
“Oh…….”
Understanding arriving a beat too late, Yeonwoo deflated. Then he startled himself and bit his tongue. To think he was already getting presumptuous just because they’d treated him well — he’d nearly behaved like an ungrateful beast.
“Th, then…… this f — food.”
“It is food prepared as Yeonwoo’s meal.”
“Oh! Th, thank you.”
And yet they were giving him such an extraordinary meal on top of everything else — receiving treatment he had no right to only made him feel more sorry. Inwardly chastising himself as he recalled the warmth from earlier, Yeonwoo began to fidget and squirm in his seat again. Anyone watching could tell he had something to say. He stole glances at Muyeong, who stood motionless as a carved ornament, lips wavering — then, as if having made up his mind, he opened his mouth.
“Th, then, um, would it be alright if I…… t — took this food with me?”
“…….”
Muyeong, whose chest had barely moved enough to confirm he was even breathing, stared at Yeonwoo steadily.
“I’m n — not joking. I, I ate earlier so I’m really n — not hungry.”
Recalling Kang Sihyeon’s words — are you joking — Yeonwoo added hurriedly. A moment later, Muyeong’s lips, which had seemed like they might never open, moved.
“……Your last meal was at yesterday’s lunch.”
“What?”
Yeonwoo asked back, then understood the words a beat later.
“Th, then from yesterday until now…….”
Muyeong didn’t bother to answer. Reading the affirmative in his silence, Yeonwoo went pale.
[Watch carefully. If you’re lazy and don’t do the work given to you, you don’t get treated like a beast — you get treated like livestock. Understand?]
A memory surfaced — a beastman displayed as though on exhibition, placed where he could be seen best by everyone. Unable even to sit, tied tightly to a tall post driven into the ground, like a horse fixed to its stall. Even with a high fever, eyes barely able to open, his head locked so he couldn’t move it. His name had been A-9.
[You’re my little brother, so I let a lot slide. I saved you when you were half dead, took you in, even raised you in comfort like this. You’ll have to pay me back one day, won’t you, Yeonwoo.]
Yeonwoo, always tense and on guard, had failed to focus on his brother in that moment. He’d been too preoccupied with A-9, whose condition looked dangerous. He had wanted to give him even a moment’s rest, somehow.
[H — hyung…… can’t you l — let A-9 go? He l — looks like he’s in so much pain. I, I’ll work in A-9’s p — place.]
The moment he’d said that.
Crack!
A blunt, searing pain drove into the back of his head, and his body tilted forward with it. His vision went black, then bled white, and Yeonwoo couldn’t register that he had been struck, nor that he had fallen face-first to the floor.
[Honestly, you talk nicely to these little beasts and they still won’t listen. Hey — I told you to stop stuttering. When are you going to stop acting like an idiot, hm?]
[H — hyung, I’m s — sorry. I was wrong.]
Crack!
The moment he dropped to his knees, he was struck on the back of his head again. This time a sharp, piercing ring drove itself into his ear. His brother, fury still not spent, hit the back of his head several more times. It was the back of his head that was being struck, yet his ears felt stopped up, as though filled with water.
[Shit, I’m already taking a massive loss because of that cow, and now this stuttering little bastard is making me lose my mind too. Hyung? Who’s your hyung. I don’t need a brother who won’t listen, so get out of the cluster.]
[M — master! You’re my master. I was wrong. M — master. I’ll n — never do it again.]
Even through all of it, the words get out rang out clearly. Yeonwoo, who had fallen again, shot his upper body upright like a thunderbolt and dropped to his knees. He had to beg and plead at the feet of his furious brother for a long while, until his hands were raw.
[Do you even know what that one does? Hm?]
[N — no…….]
[Ha, so you were running your mouth without even knowing? Really found your calling, haven’t you.]
Yeonwoo still didn’t know what that bitter smile his brother had worn had meant.
[Filthy little thing. You’ll be doing it soon enough too, so just do what you’re told. What you’re told.]
[Y — yes.]
That day — the day he had turned away from A-9 out of fear of being cast out. Lost in the memory of the self who had been no help at all, Yeonwoo only returned to the present when his eyes landed on the food set before him.
“I, I made a m — mistake just now. B — but I really, truly am not hungry. C — can I take it with me…… please……?”
Yeonwoo couldn’t meet Muyeong’s eyes and let his gaze drift unsteadily around the room. Muyeong looked briefly at Yeonwoo’s fidgeting fingertips, trembling with his voice, then spoke after a moment.
“……I will escort you back to your room.”
“Y — yes…….”
He hadn’t actually received an answer, but Yeonwoo rose from his seat without question. Even as he followed behind Muyeong, Yeonwoo’s mind was entirely consumed by one thought — he had to fulfill his duties as a surrogate.
Why won’t he give me his seed?
Could it be that he came by and was so put off by how lazy I looked that he left again?
“Ugh!”
A sharp pain made Yeonwoo cry out before he could stop himself. He had been chewing at his lip and it had finally split under the pressure. Before he could even wipe the blood spreading across his lip, he looked up and met Muyeong’s eyes — who had turned around — and dipped his head in a quick bow.
“I — I’m sorry.”
“…….”
He was visibly unsteady. It was the kind of moment that might warrant asking what was wrong, but Muyeong said nothing. There was no reason to, and he didn’t particularly feel any sympathy. Watching those shoulders tremble and shudder was, if anything, grating on his nerves — so Muyeong turned his back again.
Muyeong spoke only after they arrived at the room. Once Yeonwoo had stepped inside, Muyeong said:
“Then, I will stand by in front.”
“W — wait, Muyeong!”
Yeonwoo called out urgently as Muyeong moved to turn away, as though his duties were done. The hand that had been about to close the door paused, and Yeonwoo fumbled on hastily.
“Um, d — do you happen to know when…… the m — master will come, no, I mean…… when the ex — examination is?”
“…….”
“The m — master said there would be an ex — examination soon…….”
“I have not been informed of anything separately.”
“Oh…….”
Yeonwoo blinked blankly. I see…… he murmured, almost to himself, then raised his voice again.
“Th, then, um, would you happen to know…….”
Did the master come by yesterday?
The question had risen all the way to the tip of his tongue. But in the end Yeonwoo couldn’t bring himself to ask it and pressed his lips shut. When a purchased beastman would be used was entirely at the master’s discretion. It could easily be heard as an impertinent question.
Instead, Yeonwoo brought up something else.
“I, I really eat v — very little. I can go f — four days…… n — no, five, five days without eating and be f — fine. It won’t c — cost much.”
“…….”
“My b — body is small, so I don’t t — take up much space either. I can sleep in a n — narrow place just fine.”
“Is that so?”
The voice that replied was cool.
Under normal circumstances, Yeonwoo would have been quick to sense when someone’s mood had soured — but not this time. Instead he took Muyeong’s rare question as a positive sign.
“Y — yes!”
Yeonwoo nodded brightly.
“Even if I only s — stay in this room when the master comes, I’m already so, so grateful. So…… I can stay j — just anywhere, really.”
Then, thinking his words were getting through, he raised his voice a little more.
“I d — don’t sleep much either. I’m ready at any t — time. Yesterday…… I must have fallen asleep because I was f — full. Sleeping this long is truly a f — first for me. Please b — believe me.”
He threw in one of the virtues his brother used to praise him for, slipping in a small defense on top. He might get struck for daring to defend himself, but being branded a lazy piece of livestock was a hundred, a thousand times worse than getting hit.
“…….”
“…….”
Even after he finished speaking, no reply came. Yeonwoo had been watching only Muyeong’s lips, and just as he cautiously raised his gaze —
“If you are done speaking, I will take my leave.”
“What? Y — yes. Yes, I’m d — done. I’m s — sorry.”
Click —
The door closed.
Yeonwoo stood there for a while, then slowly sank to his knees right where he was. He intended to absolutely not fall asleep this time — until the master arrived. He had been told there would be an examination soon, so he had no idea when the man might come. He could not be caught sleeping again in the middle of the day, the way he had been yesterday.
