- You’re Really Something
“Mmph mmph. It’s hot.”
He felt stuffy. Ilkyung smacked his lips and flailed as he stripped off his clothes. Then he lay back down on the bed. Sinking into the soft bed, he thought this must be heaven on earth.
“Mmm, mm. Smells good.”
Ilkyung buried his face in the pillow and sniffed its scent.
“Mm. I wanna drink water. Noona. Noona. Get me some water.”
As soon as he thought about being thirsty, his thirst intensified. Ilkyung called out for his noona at the top of his lungs. Then the door burst open.
“Noona, get me some water, hm?”
He knew a barrage of nagging was about to pour down on him. When he came home drunk and called for his noona in the early morning asking for water, Minkyung would curse at him but still mix honey water and shove it into her younger brother’s mouth. Ilkyung acted cutely like a puppy that couldn’t even open its eyes, trying to avoid even a little bit of the nagging. But strangely, there was no reply, so he cracked open one eye…
“Huh! Why are you here? Is this a dream?”
Why on earth does Director Ha Daehoon keep appearing in his dreams at all hours?
Daehoon stood crookedly by the door, watching Woo Ilkyung making a scene. He really wanted to smack him on the forehead just once to knock him out. Daehoon, who had insomnia due to his sensitive disposition, had just fallen asleep. He’d deliberately put Woo Ilkyung in the guest room where you could barely hear anything even if you shouted, but apparently Ilkyung’s voice was louder than expected.
Well, Ilkyung probably didn’t know this, but every time Daehoon saw Ilkyung, he thought he was like a fearless Maltese. His voice was so loud that even at the Center, watching him run around everywhere cackling, he seemed like a Maltese yapping away.
“Why are you in my dream again?”
Woo Ilkyung raised his index finger and pointed accusingly. He couldn’t just snap that damn finger off. He woke someone up at dawn, yelled at them to come pick him up, and now he was making a fuss demanding water.
“You’re really something.”
Daehoon muttered. He thought the best strategy was to feed him quickly and put him back to sleep.
“Should I have just dumped him in front of his house? Then would he not be able to come to work on Monday?”
Ilkyung’s mother was a famous person. As an S-rank Esper, not only her abilities but also her fiery temper were well-known. Daehoon thought that when Ilkyung was young, he must have been hit for doing wrong in various ways. The more he knew, the more Woo Ilkyung seemed to invite beatings.
“Is this not a dream?”
Ilkyung made a fist and rubbed his eyes. Daehoon sighed, reached out, and grabbed Ilkyung’s wrist to pull it down.
“Yes, it’s not a dream.”
“What?”
“I said it’s not a dream. I’ll bring you water, so just be quiet for a bit.”
The moment Daehoon turned his back to go get water, Woo Ilkyung grabbed his clothes.
“Ack!”
Then he suddenly screamed. Daehoon turned back around and shook his head. He thought this was too good a sight to keep to himself.
“Re-really not a dream? But why are you here, Director?”
Daehoon was beyond dumbfounded and just found this situation funny. In all his life, he’d never seen a creature like this. Where on earth did he drop from? In his life, this kind of human was someone he would never associate with. No matter how he thought about it, aside from being heterosexual, Woo Ilkyung had nothing that would benefit this contract relationship. But strangely, even when Ilkyung acted like this hooligan, he couldn’t cut him off coldly. And Daehoon hadn’t yet found the reason why.
“Why would I be here? I’m here because I’m the owner of this house.”
“What? The owner of this house?”
Only then did Ilkyung look around and open his mouth wide. Then, realizing he was completely naked, he screamed “Ack!” again. Ilkyung hurriedly pulled up the blanket that had fallen under the bed and covered his body.
Daehoon chuckled.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of touching a hetero even if you run at me naked.”
“Wha-what?”
“I’ll bring you water, so either wash up or put your clothes back on, whatever, figure it out yourself.”
Daehoon cleanly turned around and left the room. Behind him, Ilkyung yelled.
“I have no intention of running at you either! What are you even saying, seriously.”
Whether he did or not, Daehoon didn’t care and headed to the kitchen.
When he returned with honey water, Ilkyung was nowhere to be seen—he must have been washing up. The sound of water dripping could be heard from the bathroom. Daehoon placed the honey water on the bedside table, gathered some clothes and left them in front of the bathroom, then came back out to the living room. Now that he was completely awake, he wondered what to do. Daehoon took his cigarettes and went out to the balcony. The early morning air was a bit chilly.
“Dawn will break soon.”
Daehoon muttered as he lit his cigarette.
“At times like this, a round of sex would help me fall back asleep.”
Come to think of it, he realized it had been too long since he’d had sex with anyone. Daehoon thought that once he deceived his grandfather to some degree, he should quickly terminate the contract with Woo Ilkyung.
“Why are you out here?”
When he finished his cigarette and came back into the living room, Woo Ilkyung was sitting forlornly in the middle of the living room. Not on the sofa, but really sitting alone on the floor right in the middle of the living room, and seeing that sight, Daehoon wondered what kind of trick this was now. He had to be able to figure out why he was acting like that.
“I’m completely awake now.”
“So you’re not saying you’re going home now, right?”
Ilkyung shook his head vigorously. Water droplets dripped from his freshly washed hair, splashing everywhere in all directions each time he shook his head. For Daehoon, who had some organizational obsession and germophobia, he couldn’t help but frown.
When Daehoon passed by Ilkyung, Ilkyung turned around like a child with separation anxiety.
“Wh-where are you going?”
“Wait a moment.”
Daehoon left Ilkyung as he was and went back into the bathroom to get a hair dryer and towel.
“Come here.”
“Huh? No, I’ll do it myself.”
“Come here quickly.”
Daehoon plugged in the cord and ordered Ilkyung to come in front of him. Ilkyung didn’t refuse twice and walked over obediently like a well-behaved child, plopping down in front of Daehoon. Daehoon began to first dry his damp hair with the new towel he’d brought out.
“This is something I felt last time and I’m feeling it today too.”
“Yes?”
Ilkyung, who had a towel draped over him, raised his head slightly and made eye contact. Perhaps because he’d just washed up, his cheeks were peach-colored.
“Woo Ilkyung-ssi, your face is tiny.”
“What?”
“Never mind. That’s not what I was trying to say—Woo Ilkyung-ssi, do you normally not care about your body like this?”
“What do you mean?”
Ilkyung looked at Daehoon with an expression that said ‘why are you knocking on the skylight in the middle of sleep?’
“Even though the weather has gotten warmer, the wind is still cold at dawn. What are you doing passing out drunk sleeping on a convenience store table like that?”
Ilkyung had committed a crime, so he couldn’t immediately argue back and just stuck out his lips like a child being scolded by his mom. He hung his head low trying not to make eye contact, but ghost-like Daehoon grabbed Ilkyung’s cheek, lifted his face, and made him meet his eyes.
“Answer me.”
“Wha-what?”
“I asked you. What were you thinking sleeping there?”
“How would a drunk person know that?”
Ilkyung had already been caught by his mom several times for this kind of problem and had his back beaten, so for a moment he saw his mother in Ha Daehoon. His spine tingled.
“If you’re asleep to the point where you don’t even know you’re being carried, would that be dangerous or not dangerous?”
Daehoon asked as if scolding a seven-year-old. Ilkyung thought he shouldn’t have come out to the living room. He should have just washed up and collapsed back into bed. He came out to say thank you since the honey water was nicely prepared, not to get scolded at the crack of dawn like this. He couldn’t figure out what to do. Should he pretend to be sleepy and fall asleep right now?
“But actually, since I’m a guy, it doesn’t mat—”
“Shh! You’re really asking to be scolded.”
When Daehoon narrowed his brow, Ilkyung shrank his neck.
“I’m sorry. I really don’t know why I did that, but I wasn’t trying to call you, Director.”
