“Really? Won’t the local people swarm to a place like that?”
“They do open it when we don’t come, but… it’s basically private property. They probably blocked it off from a few days ago.”
His friend must be the child of a fairly well-off family. Even if land prices are lower since it’s rural, just looking at this house alone, from the construction materials and other things. Well, since the surroundings are like that, maybe that bastard Kwon Jukyung got high-minded ideas and that’s why he’s so obsessed with luxury goods. Besides, seeing how they readily lend this place even when they’re not accompanying him, they seem quite close friends.
Among my friends at Leroy too, there were kids who were fairly wealthy and had French wineries or German castles that they used like vacation homes. There was even a kid who personally owned a lodge at a ski resort used only by the wealthy. But most of the time they invited us to go play together, never lending the place outright like this.
“Who on earth is it that they just lend you a place like this? Besides, isn’t it the perfect season to come to the East Sea for the end of the year right now?”
“Uh… so…”
Jukyung slightly furrowed his brow. At that moment, a rattling sound of Jukyung’s phone vibrating on the chair next to him was heard. Jukyung seemed to look down to check the phone screen, then picked it up and answered me.
“There’s Jehyun hyung. A hyung I know from my family.”
Then he immediately stood up from his seat and answered the phone.
“Yeah, Jehyun hyung.”
They say even a tiger comes when you talk about it. A call happened to come from the house owner. Maybe a confirmation call asking if we arrived safely since he lent the house?
“I’m doing well. How about you, hyung? I feel a bit sorry like I sent only you to enemy territory.”
Jukyung’s tone speaking into the phone while leaving the dining room was gentle. I was even surprised by his side profile that softened as if his eye corners drooped.
“When it’s a rare vacation but because of Yukyung you went all the way to Switzerland…”
As Jukyung moved away, his voice also grew distant so I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I could hear occasional sounds of pleasant laughter mixed in. His expression and bright voice—it wasn’t a sight I saw often, so it was a bit unfamiliar. My mood became subtle.
As soon as Jukyung returned after quite a long call and sat down, I couldn’t hold back my curiosity and asked.
“The house owner?”
“Huh? Yeah. Right.”
“He’s not in Korea now?”
“Mm. In Switzerland. So that’s why he lent this place to us.”
“Hmm…”
“Why?”
“No, nothing.”
I picked up wine and gulped down a mouthful.
“It’s not nothing. Your expression is strange. Does it bother you?”
Jukyung spoke in a subtly probing tone.
“No, what bother? I was just curious since you said it was the house owner.”
“He’s not someone you need to be curious about. Stop worrying about it.”
That sullen tone again.
“Who’s saying what?”
I also answered sullenly.
“Let’s clean up and sleep. We need to sleep early and wake up early to see the New Year’s sunrise.”
“The sun rises tomorrow and the day after too, what’s the big deal… You want to sleep after coming all the way here?”
“Is this some other world? A different dimension? Does energy generate even without sleeping?”
“Shouldn’t we do what we couldn’t do before? The vacation isn’t even that long. You said you were busy all of December and January will be busier. When you can count on one hand what we did during a month, is that even possible?”
I narrowed my eyes. I knew what Kwon Jukyung was saying.
“Four or five times a month is enough. You said you only jerked off before. Think about the hard times too.”
“That was before I met you. Now that you’re beside me, why should I hold back?”
“……”
It was a somewhat subtle statement to react to. Though it meant he was happy I was here, the intention…
I don’t know. What on earth do I want to examine?
“Anyway, let’s just sleep today. You worked and drove so you must be tired.”
“Do you think I have shitty stamina like you…”
Jukyung grumbled while cleaning up the table together.
Honestly, because I know Kwon Jukyung’s ghost-like stamina, that’s what’s scary. Who would say anything if we just did it once or twice and slept? Since tomorrow is a day off, that bastard won’t go easy on me, and he’ll definitely attack wanting to go all night until the end, and then the sunrise will be out of reach.
After organizing the dining room and going up to the second-floor bedroom, it was already close to 11 o’clock. I washed up roughly and sprawled on the bed to watch the TV placed at the foot. I’d been disappointed that Jukyung’s house didn’t have a TV in the bedroom. Lying down watching TV until drowsiness comes has its own charm.
Since I didn’t follow Korean dramas and didn’t know many singers, the year-end awards ceremony wasn’t very interesting. Nevertheless, with a sense of duty that I should at least hear the New Year’s bell, I forced my drooping eyes open and watched TV.
I lay side by side with Jukyung and heard the New Year’s bell in silence. In recent years, I’d spent the year and greeted the new year with all-night parties with friends abroad, so being like this felt somehow strange. I felt both nostalgic and like Jukyung was my family. Though I didn’t think I’d ever felt this way with actual blood relatives. No, did I feel it when I was young?
Listening to the lingering echo of the quietly fading bell, I closed my eyes.
When I closed my eyes, my body spread out languidly. Jukyung turned off the TV and lights with the remote. The blanket rustled as Jukyung settled in and I felt signs of him checking the blanket on my side. As our bodies drew close, that characteristic scent rose again. As expected, even coming here, he doesn’t forget to spray cologne before sleeping.
With my eyes closed, I rolled my body and pressed my nose to Jukyung’s body. I’d intended to just briefly put my nose to his shoulder, but Jukyung grabbed the back of my head and buried my face in his chest.
“Hey, that hurts!”
When I struggled trying to pull away, Jukyung held down the back of my head and made a laughing sound.
“You said we’re not doing it today, but isn’t this seduction right now?”
“It’s not seduction!”
I yelled loudly and barely escaped from Jukyung’s large grip.
“I’m just smelling!”
“Smelling?”
“I told you I like the scent of your cologne.”
I grumbled while fixing my disheveled hair. My face flushed red from being pressed against his firm chest as if rubbed.
“Hmm.”
Jukyung laughed slightly as if amused.
“Like a puppy. To openly sniff a person’s smell like that. Or are you a pervert? Do you have a smell fetish?”
I grimaced. Look who’s talking. Who was it that sniffed at my neck when we first met, saying it was an inspection? But if I brought up that story, it would also drag out my dark history of being filthy as a homeless person, so I decided to just endure it and let it pass.
“Fetish or whatever, I’m just saying I like that cologne. The perfume manufacturer is excellent. I’m thinking of ordering and buying one of your colognes too.”
Jukyung seemed to think about something, then firmly shook his head.
“It doesn’t suit you.”
So annoying. I know too. I just want to have it because I like the scent and occasionally smell it. From briefly smelling just the cologne before, it was somehow bland so it didn’t quite appeal to me. It was much better mixed with Jukyung’s body scent, but that was a part I couldn’t do anything about… Whenever I leave Jukyung, I feel like I’ll miss at least this scent.
“…suits you better.”
While I was lost in other thoughts for a moment, Jukyung whispered something but I couldn’t hear it well.
“Huh? What did you say?”
“…Nothing, nothing at all.”
Jukyung suddenly reached out and pulled my body that had been a bit apart.
“Stop talking and hurry up and sleep. We have to see the sunrise tomorrow.”
That’s what I said earlier in the dining room. I thought about saying something, but because Jukyung, unlike a moment ago, embraced my head with a gentle touch, I quietly closed my mouth. When I closed my eyes, a seemingly deeper scent flooded in. With a scent like this, the cologne advertisement copy about sleeping wearing fragrance instead of clothes didn’t seem like such an absurd lie. I liked the touch that patted my back like a child, so I wrapped my arms around and hugged Jukyung’s back tightly. Being like this, it was as if we really were in a loving relationship.
***
The next day, perhaps because my unconscious was tense, I woke up before the alarm I’d set went off. Inside the room with thick curtains drawn, it was still dark. I groped around searching for my phone that should be on the side table.
“Sleep more.”
Along with a sleep-laden voice, a long arm reached over and snatched the phone I’d found. He opened the screen, adjusted something, then placed it on his side table.
“What sleep more? Isn’t it morning? If we miss the sunrise…”
“We won’t miss it. The sun rises at seven forty, and it’s not even six yet. You can sleep for another hour, that’s plenty.”
