“I’ll teach Jay how to wrap bandages, so after you shower in the morning, come out and ask him to wrap them right away. Or should I come to your house every morning to wrap them for you?”
“Jay knows how to do this.”
“Of course he would know. I’m not saying this because I don’t know that Jay would have offered to wrap the bandages and you would have refused. You stubborn little brat.”
Hajun’s hands, which had unbuttoned all the shirt buttons, moved away for a moment, and then he was holding bandages.
“What?”
“Surprised I called you a little brat after so long? But what else do you call a little brat but a little brat? As you said, why is your mother so anxious to marry off this young child already? It seems like it would be fine to let you grow a bit more.”
“Just leave it. I’ll ask Jay to wrap it. Tell Mom I’m fine and doing well at work.”
Raon grabbed the open shirt to cover his upper body and took a step back. Caught up in complicated thoughts, he seemed to have failed to make proper judgments for a moment. Honestly, he couldn’t properly distinguish what was truth and what was a joke in Hajun’s words, spoken calmly and nonchalantly.
His older brothers and their friends used to call him “little brat.” So that word wasn’t unfamiliar, but being called that was only until middle and high school. No one had called him that after he became an adult.
“Okay. I won’t joke or tease. How did you become more wary than when you were younger?”
Watching Hajun smile faintly while unwrapping the bandage appropriately, Raon squeezed his eyes shut and opened them. As he said, it was true that he was more sensitive than usual.
“So stop playing weird jokes. It confuses people.”
As Raon turned his body, he flinched and stiffened at the touch on his shoulder.
“Now, let’s save the pointless squabbling for later. Right now is bandage-wrapping time. I won’t ask you to take off your shirt, so just spread your arms a little.”
Hajun’s hand, who came directly in front of him rather than turning him around, gently stroking him, slowly caressed the forearms firmly wrapped around his upper body.
“Hyung. I’m really tired and exhausted right now. Just leave it and go. I’ll go home and rest without doing any more work or anything as I’m told. That’s what you and Mom want, right? I’ll rest well for about another week, ugh.”
Raon, who was trying to get away from Hajun who had gotten close again, let out a small groan because Hajun still held his arm and wouldn’t let go. It was because his arm was released by another’s force rather than his own, and all of that was converted into pain.
“This is the first time I’ve seen such a disobedient patient. I’m capable.”
While he couldn’t do this or that due to pain, Hajun’s hand holding the bandage dug between Raon’s sides. Raon, who ended up almost being held in Hajun’s arms, frowned even more at the strong perfume smell brushing his nose.
“Ppiyoo!”
At the same time as the soft bandage and large hand brushed his back and sides, a loud cry dug into Raon’s ears.
“Ppyoo? Ppyak! Ppyo. O… Ppipi.”
“…Later again, no. I’ll leave Bbobbo.”
Though it usually flew around silently, the voice of the person he wanted to hear was seeping through the sounds of Bbobbo, who was flapping its wings larger than usual, causing wind and making a fuss as if something big had happened.
“Hwi?”
Raon, who hurriedly tried to turn his body to look toward the door, bit down hard on his molars. Just moving his arm a bit vigorously brought pain that made his breath stop for a moment, and since he tried to whirl his whole body around, this time the pain was so severe he couldn’t even make a groan.
“If you move around like this it hurts, and you won’t get better quickly either.”
Raon wanted to escape from the embrace of the person who supported and soothed his shrinking self, but that was only in his mind.
“I’m wrapping bandages right now, so if it’s not urgent, please wait a bit.”
“Bbobbo just came to find Team Leader and bring him. Then.”
He didn’t even get to see Jaehwi’s face, couldn’t say anything. What remained for Raon was the sound of the door opening and closing. Bbobbo, who had been flying around the office noisily squeaking, chose to sit on the desk instead of sitting on Raon’s shoulder or flying around.
Raon, who had his bandage wrapped while half in Hajun’s embrace, couldn’t refuse his action of seating him in the chair. Hajun seemed to say a few more words, but none of that was properly heard, and his words didn’t remain in his head either.
Did he say he was leaving after checking his condition? It seems like a large hand is stroking his head too.
He didn’t want to think anymore. Seeing how quiet it was, Hajun seemed to have left too.
With his elbow on the desk, pressing firmly on his throbbing temple and waiting for the headache to subside, Raon’s eyes caught Bbobbo tapping the desk with its tail.
I’m dissatisfied. I don’t like you. Seeing those almond-shaped eyes full of such meaning made him want to cry.
It was a situation where even a monster that didn’t know properly could misunderstand and be sulky enough. Then Jaehwi, our Jaehwi… There’s no chance of getting closer, only chances of growing distant due to strange misunderstandings.
“Why. What. Why are you angry?”
“Ppyak!”
When he spoke weakly, a cold single word came back. Until just now it had been sitting looking at him, but then it whirled its body to the side and only showed its profile. Still, curious about his face, Bbobbo would glance at him, but when their eyes met, it would quickly turn its head elsewhere.
“Were you well with Hwi?”
After letting out a long sigh, he raised the hand that had been hanging and touched Bbobbo’s soft body. Was it sulking but still liked being touched? Bbobbo, which had been purring, flinched and stopped purring, making Raon chuckle.
“Should I give you some energy?”
Thinking to appease at least Bbobbo, he gathered energy into a round shape in his palm and held it out to Bbobbo. Bbobbo’s large eyes, which had been glancing sideways at his palm, soon rolled away to look elsewhere.
“Too small? Should I make it bigger?”
As a small red tongue popped out and licked its mouth, Raon let more energy flow. Then this time its hind legs came out and gently pushed away his hand.
“Why? I don’t have any ore right now so I can’t give you any. Hwi probably has more ore than me? What did Hwi do while I was gone? Did Hwi do well? Did he say if there were any painful places? You were together the whole time so you know. Is he receiving guiding properly?”
What kind of complaint is this to a monster that can’t speak? Still, the only place where he could say such things without any repercussions was Bbobbo.
“Ppiing. Ppoo. Ppia. Ppipi.”
As Bbobbo made various sounds as if answering his questions and stared at him, Raon also fully appreciated that cute face. Even while doing so, he didn’t scatter the energy in his hand but rolled it round and round.
What the… You know how to sigh too? The small body seemed to puff up a bit larger, then paaah… it let out a long breath, which was so cute that Raon bit his lips. I can’t laugh. I can’t laugh. If I laugh it hurts too much.
At Bbobbo’s behavior of alternately looking at his hand and the door, Raon’s gaze naturally turned to the door.
“Do you want to go out? Is it more fun being with Hwi than with me? Well, if you follow Hwi’s training and follow him to dungeons, it’ll help raise your ability stats more than when you’re with me. Since he goes to higher-level dungeons a lot, you can eat all the ore you want to eat. You can go if you want to.”
He’s a child alone in the world. He has family and friends, but Jaehwi was thoroughly alone. At least wouldn’t Bbobbo become his companion or friend? Just as he smiles at Bbobbo’s cute actions, Bbobbo would create opportunities for Jaehwi to smile too.
“You know where Hwi is, right? Should we go together? If I go alone, I don’t think he’ll meet me, but I can at least see his face using you as an excuse.”
Raon’s eyes caught sight of the painkillers on the desk. They said it was okay to take them every 4 hours. Checking the current time, Raon took one painkiller.
Just as he was about to scatter the energy he had been playing with, Bbobbo approached and hastily gobbled up the energy.
“Why are you eating so hastily? If you ask me to make more, I’ll make more for you. What’s the problem with giving you the excess energy when he won’t even accept my guiding?”
This time, when he gently covered his entire palm with energy and stroked Bbobbo, “Pyuuu,” Bbobbo closed its eyes tightly. With even the corners of its mouth slightly raised, it really looked like it was enjoying the guiding.
“How nice it would be if our Hwi could enjoy my guiding like this. Right? Still, they said we’re doing a compatibility test the day after tomorrow. I should look forward to at least that, shouldn’t I? Either way, it’s good if it helps, right?”
Raon, who had been stroking Bbobbo as it purred for a moment and rolled around on the desk with its belly exposed as if asking to be touched all over, quickly withdrew his hand at Bbobbo’s action of suddenly bolting upright.
“Ppiyong. Ppyo.Ppyo!”
Following Bbobbo as it flew to the door and circled in front of it, Raon also moved. As everyone said, just because he wasn’t working didn’t mean there would be immediate problems at the Center.
