# Chapter 27
“Why are you making such a fuss about whether I come back late or not? You’re not my boyfriend.”
— Would it be okay if I were your boyfriend?
Yeomin was taken aback and asked in return.
“What the hell?”
— So it would be okay then. I waited for nothing, didn’t I?
The sarcastic tone was irritating. Yeomin’s brow furrowed.
“Stop talking nonsense and hang up.”
— If you can’t come because you can’t leave Lee Taeyang behind, then bring him along. If you don’t come, I’ll search all over Seoul to find you.
“…”
— You know, hyung. I really can do that.
This isn’t Seol Jiho. It doesn’t seem like him.
No, actually, it’s too much like Seol Jiho.
“…”
Yeomin’s mind was filled with confusion.
Even knowing that he shouldn’t be played by Seol Jiho again… that voice made it seem like he really would search all over Seoul, no, all over the country to find him.
He didn’t want things to go that far. It felt like he wouldn’t be able to escape if that happened.
Yeomin tried hard to maintain his composure.
“Seol Jiho. Let me ask you one thing.”
— I don’t care about anything else, just come and talk. Come. Right in front of me.
“Do you like me?”
— …
Jiho was silent for a moment. That silence made Yeomin strangely tense.
Soon Jiho spoke in a calmer voice.
— Shouldn’t such words be said face to face? That’s more romantic, isn’t it?
“…”
— Are you trying to hear it over the phone because you’re shy?
“Answer me properly, you bastard.”
Yeomin’s words had an edge to them. Jiho was unfazed by Yeomin’s harsh words.
— I want to have you, hyung.
It was an answer Yeomin hadn’t expected. Don’t people usually answer with ‘yes/no’?
‘Want to have me’? Saying ‘want to have’ to a person? Am I an object?
“…You crazy bastard. Are you drunk?”
— If anyone’s drunk, it would be you. Seeing you ask such a question, you really must be drunk.
“…”
— So come quickly. I’m waiting like this, are you really not coming?
‘Yeah. I’m not coming. No, I can’t come because I’m scared.’
If someone tells you to come while saying things like this, who would happily rush over? Wouldn’t that be like jumping into a fire pit on your own?
* * *
“I’m not in my right mind either… I’m crazy, absolutely crazy…”
Yeomin muttered self-deprecatingly.
Taeyang, who he carried on his shoulder, was as heavy as a soaked cotton ball.
‘I could have just found a nearby motel and collapsed there. Why did I come all the way to this house with Taeyang in tow?’
— If you can’t come because you can’t leave Lee Taeyang behind, then bring him along. If you don’t come, I’ll search all over Seoul to find you.
‘…’
— You know, hyung. I really can do that.
Somehow it felt like he really would do it. A feeling that there would be no dealing with the aftermath.
Yeomin struggled out of the elevator. Immediately, he saw Jiho standing there like the Grim Reaper, his face pale.
Whoa. That startled me.
“Hyung.”
Jiho’s expression, which looked like a puppy for about one second when he called him that, turned cold again in just a second.
Yeomin, feeling awkward, deliberately raised his voice.
“What now? I came all the way here.”
“I didn’t ask you to bring him so closely attached. I told you to bring him, and you really did bring him.”
In truth, it wouldn’t have mattered if he had left Taeyang behind. He could have laid him down at a motel and left, or taken him to his own house which Yeomin already knew.
But Yeomin was afraid to enter this house alone. What if he gets completely devoured by Seol Jiho?
He thought that at least with Taeyang there, nothing too serious would happen. It was his little trick.
Just then, Taeyang stirred and nuzzled the back of Yeomin’s neck.
“Wa, water…”
Supporting the drunk Taeyang wasn’t new to Yeomin, so he was used to it.
However, what he couldn’t get used to right now was Jiho’s expression.
‘How many faces does this guy have?’
Jiho, with a serious face, pulled Taeyang off Yeomin’s back.
“Hey! He might fall on the floor if you do that!”
“So what? He seems drunk enough not to feel any pain. I’ll support him.”
Jiho grabbed Taeyang’s arm and roughly draped it over one shoulder.
“I’d like to kick him out, but considering your effort in bringing him here, I’ll hold off.”
“…Thanks, it brings tears to my eyes.”
“Did you carry him all the way here? Thinking about it, I really want to kick him out now…”
By ‘kick out,’ he must mean Taeyang, right? Not me, right?
If he’s going to kick someone out… just kick out Taeyang for now. Even if I leave on my own feet later, I don’t want to be kicked out.
* * *
“Shouldn’t he be waking up by now?”
Yeomin scolded the completely wasted Taeyang.
Though he might also get annoyed if Taeyang suddenly woke up now, after all the trouble he went through to carry him here.
“Is he dead?”
Jiho abruptly said from behind.
“How could that be possible?”
“He looks dead to me.”
It sounds more like you’re hoping he’s dead, right now.
Yeomin looked at the passed-out Taeyang with a troubled face. Thanks to Taeyang occupying the entire sofa, Yeomin had suddenly lost his sleeping spot.
“Do you have more blankets? I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“Why would you do that? Sleep in the room.”
“No.”
“I still have things I want to say to you, hyung.”
“That’s why I said no.”
If I go into that room… I feel like I won’t be able to leave of my own will. I have a feeling I won’t be able to handle it.
Yeomin curled up on the remaining two-person sofa like a stubborn child. Jiho laughed at Yeomin’s crumpled body, as if he found it ridiculous.
“You’re punishing me, right?”
“What?”
“You’re protesting. Because I deceived you. You want to make me as angry as you are, right?”
Come to think of it, I was deceived by Seol Jiho… I had completely forgotten that fact.
Yeomin sneered.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve deceived me so many times. Oh, is there anything else left? If so, could you tell me in advance? Just so I don’t feel as disgusted.”
The tutoring job that his senior had arranged turned out to be bait thrown by Jiho.
Now that he thought about it, he still hadn’t interrogated Jiho about how he knew that he and Yeojin were siblings.
But Yeomin didn’t want to talk to Jiho anymore today. The more he spoke, the more entangled he became.
Jiho tried to persuade Yeomin again as he lay uncomfortably, stubbornly.
“You’ll hurt your body sleeping curled up like that.”
“Being with you hurts my heart. This is better than that.”
It’s not like he hadn’t slept more uncomfortably on the floor in his cramped studio apartment. It was a pointless argument.
But Jiho kept pulling at his arm, insisting it was uncomfortable, so Yeomin was forced to get off the sofa.
“Sleep in the bed. I’ll sleep here. What if Lee Taeyang sunbae does something to you while we’re both sleeping in the living room?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“It’s not happening, anyway.”
“Seol Jiho.”
“Haven’t I been really nice today? If you’re angry, take it out on me. Hit me, curse at me.”
“…”
Would that be possible? Could I possibly hurt even a strand of your hair? Yeomin realized the cause of his powerlessness. No matter how angry he was, the truth was that there was nothing he couldn’t do to Seol Jiho.
‘Whenever I see you, I feel like that. Like I’m being dragged along helplessly, unable to do anything.’
“Hyung. Look at me.”
Jiho ran his hand through his hair, seemingly frustrated by Yeomin’s silence.
When Yeomin still wouldn’t even glance at him, Jiho provoked him.
“Yeomin-ah.”
“What?”
“Listen to me now.”
“Informal speech? You really…”
This time Jiho’s trick worked. The moment Yeomin’s elder instinct was triggered. Taeyang stirred, making a groaning sound.
Yeomin closed his mouth. If Taeyang were to hear this strange conversation… it would obviously be a headache.
Anyone would think this is a seriously weird conversation, right?
“Shh-“
Yeomin hurriedly pulled Jiho along. Jiho followed without any resistance.
As soon as they entered the bedroom, Yeomin closed the door. Then he pushed Jiho against the wall forcefully.
“…Hyuung.”
It was almost funny to see someone taller than him by a head looking down at him with a flushed face.
Yeomin put more strength into the hand holding Jiho.
“Just because you let me sleep at your place, feed me, and help me make money, you think I’m someone you can do whatever you want with?”
Normally, the response to such a stern statement should be “That’s not it!” But Jiho doesn’t answer.
No… he’s actually nodding his head.
“That’s kind of true.”
Why are you admitting it right away?
“Hey! I let you sleep at my place too!”
“Then should I stop doing things to you, and you do things to me instead, hyung?”
“It’s all the same shit. Absolutely not.”
What’s the point of setting the mood? He just won’t get into it.
Yeomin lost his will.
“…Fine. I’ll pretend I didn’t hear the nonsense you said today, so don’t spout that kind of crap again.”
“Why not? I feed you, let you sleep here, and even arranged tutoring for you.”
“Hey.”
“Is that all I can do for you?”
This bastard. He’s saying this knowingly. He’s perfectly aware of what can manipulate Joo Yeomin.
“You son of a…”
“If I stick money to my forehead, will you look at me lovingly, hyung?”
Yeomin couldn’t refute it. He had just been hit with a brutal fact.
Yeomin glared at Jiho until his eyes stung.
“Seol Jiho. I think there’s something wrong with your personality.”
“Does it show?”
“Yes. A lot.”
If all the material things Seol Jiho provides were to disappear right now… I could still survive. When has Joo Yeomin ever lived a life of luxury?
But Yeomin also knew well that without all those things, daily life would become a bit inconvenient, pathetic, and shabby.
“I bet it’s fun watching a shabby, poor bastard get excited over trivial things. It feels like keeping a hedgehog or a hamster, right?”
“…”
“Mock, ridicule, pity. Do whatever you want. But, just up to that point.”
“…Hyung.”
“I’ll go along with you to that extent, so just keep it at that level. If you start crossing the line talking about being lovers or dating, I’ll run away even if I have to jump from here.”
Of course, jumping from here would mean leaving this world, but that’s still an escape.
Just then, a cold hand suddenly touched Yeomin’s cheek.
“What, why…”
Like tapping a hedgehog that has raised its sharp quills. Like a touch that approaches knowing it will get pricked.
Perhaps Seol Jiho is someone who enjoys pain? Yeomin suddenly had such a thought.
“Hyung speaks so harshly. Are your words thorns?”
I must look ridiculous, being all defensive when I have nothing.
I know. I’m not even a threat to him.
But contrary to Yeomin’s expectations, Jiho obediently agreed.
“Okay. I’ll do as you say, hyung. I listen to you well, don’t I?”
Fortunately, Jiho backed down. Finally hearing the answer he wanted, Yeomin almost went weak with relief.
Yeomin swatted away Jiho’s hand caressing his cheek and walked to the bed. Then, without looking back at Jiho behind him, he said:
“I’ll sleep here as you said, so get out.”
“Just a little longer…”
“Should I go back to the living room if you won’t leave?”
“I was just about to leave.”
His slick words make me want to hit him just once, they’re so infuriating.
Don’t think I’m holding back because I don’t have the guts, Seol Jiho!
