Daehoon had come right up to his face and was staring at him intently as he asked. Ilkyung was startled and stepped back, but the sofa caught him.
“Eek!”
“So careless.”
Daehoon wrapped his arm around his waist and pulled him in. Thanks to Director Ha, Ilkyung, who hadn’t ended up sprawled backward onto the sofa, just stared with wide eyes.
“What? Should I not have caught you and let you fall onto the sofa instead?”
“Ah, really!”
“Lying on the sofa here and looking at the sky is really spectacular, you know. That’s what I was talking about.”
Every word that came out of Director Ha’s mouth was suggestive. A month ago, he’d thought Director Ha was just a cold-looking handsome man, but now he felt like he looked suggestive.
“Stop talking. I want to eat.”
“Ah, shut up and go make some food?”
Ilkyung huffed and escaped from Daehoon’s grasp.
* * *
“Wow, I can’t eat anymore!”
Ilkyung patted his stomach and sprawled in his chair. Daehoon looked at Ilkyung and chuckled. Woo Ilkyung really was ridiculous. It was like a Maltese puppy had eaten its fill and was lying there with its bloated belly exposed. Even so, Woo Ilkyung’s stomach wasn’t protruding at all, but his behavior was exactly like a young animal, so Daehoon just looked at Woo Ilkyung as if he were looking at a small, insignificant puppy.
“You said you were starving to death, and now are you finally full?”
“Yes. Wow, it feels like it’s been a while since I ate like this.”
“Even though you only ate as much as bird feed.”
“Bird feed? Have you seen a bird that eats this much?”
After feeding him this and that, his cheeks had turned rosy as he chirped away quite well.
“Does Woo Ilkyung-ssi know that you eat very little?”
Ilkyung tilted his head. Then he smiled broadly.
“My noonas were obsessed with feeding me, that’s true. When I was young. Now we don’t really eat together at home so it’s not like that, but when I was young it was like that. Um, and my youngest noona was bigger than me throughout my entire growth period.”
“Woo Minkyung-ssi?”
Ilkyung nodded.
“Even though we’re twins, maybe noona took all the nutrients from inside the womb because there was a difference from birth. While growing up, noona continued to be bigger than me too. When I was young, I thought noona was big because she’s an Esper and I didn’t grow because I was an ordinary person.”
“That’s probably not it. Woo Minkyung-ssi eats well without being picky, but Ilkyung-ssi doesn’t eat well. Same with the amount of exercise.”
“How do you know so well? If I’d known you were so interested in our noona, I wouldn’t have ruined her matchmaking meeting.”
Daehoon lit a cigarette and inhaled the smoke with a whoosh, looking at Ilkyung with an expression that said, there he goes talking nonsense again.
“What?”
“Think about it carefully. Minkyung-ssi is an Esper, so she has more occasions to use her body, and because of that she exercises a ton even now, right? Her meal portions must be large accordingly. On the other hand, Ilkyung-ssi isn’t like that. It was the same when you were young, wasn’t it?”
“Tch!”
Ilkyung pouted his lips.
“Will you make me some coffee? Or do you want to go out and walk a bit?”
“After we rest a little. If we go out now, it’ll be too hot.”
The two were sitting on the terrace with a view of the river, grilling meat and looking at the river. Fortunately, there was a sunshade overhead so it was okay, but a walk right now would definitely be quite hot.
“I’m this big because I was a boy. If I’d been a girl, I probably would have been noticeably smaller than noona.”
Ilkyung said while stretching broadly.
“Even if Ilkyung-ssi had been a girl, you would have been pretty. I’m certain of that.”
“Ah, really?”
His face brightened, wondering what had gotten into him to give such a compliment. Daehoon stubbed out his cigarette and answered languidly.
“You looked pretty that day.”
“When…”
“That day. At the hotel matchmaking meeting.”
At those words, Ilkyung’s face scrunched up.
“Ugh! Are you crazy, really!”
“I’m telling you, at first I thought Woo Ilkyung-ssi had a hobby of cross-dressing.”
“I’m not that kind of pervert!”
Ilkyung yelled loudly. Then Daehoon shrugged his shoulders while picking up the plates they’d eaten from.
“Hurry up and say you understand.”
When there was no answer, Ilkyung spoke again.
“What?”
“That I’m not a pervert!”
“Okay, okay. I got it.”
Daehoon answered indifferently while looking at Ilkyung, whose face had turned bright red as he stomped his feet. Then he went out with the plates, and Ilkyung followed behind him carrying the other dishes. Following closely behind, Ilkyung continued to chatter.
“That day I had no choice but to do that, and I really don’t have that kind of hobby.”
“I understand. I’ll say that’s the case.”
“No, Director-nim’s reaction right now is way too insincere!”
“Sure, sure. Stop chirping and let’s clean up and go swimming.”
“Hey, when did I chirp…”
Ilkyung sat on the sun bed sipping juice and glaring at Director Ha.
“Wow, this is really a scam, that’s a scam.”
When he said he couldn’t swim because he didn’t have a swimsuit, Director Ha pulled out a swimsuit for Ilkyung, having prepared it at some point. Up to that point, it was fine. But! The problem was!
“I should have exercised too.”
The moment he saw Ha Daehoon in a swimsuit, he thought he wished he could dig a hole in the ground and bury himself. How the hell does someone who isn’t even an Esper have such a good body? Usually Guides don’t have bodies that good, but Director Ha was an unusual person.
Usually Espers, even if they weren’t telekinesis-type, consistently exercised among themselves and trained their physical strength. For the telekinesis-type Espers who used their strength, the Center had a separate physical training room, and when they exercised as if competing, this person would do it, that person would do it, it took on that kind of pattern.
But more often than not, Guides weren’t like that. Unless exercising was a hobby, there had to be some kind of catalyst for it to happen.
“When the hell does he exercise?”
They’d even slept at home together, but he’d never once seen Director Ha exercising. Did he wake up at dawn to exercise? Watching Director Ha, who moved in the water as naturally as a mermaid, Ilkyung chewed on his straw.
“Why is he so good at swimming too?”
Ilkyung now muttered while crunching on ice. Acting like that only served to make him feel inferior. He’d learned to swim when he was young too, but not to that degree. And the moment he saw that body, Ilkyung couldn’t bring himself to get up from the sun bed.
Of course, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t shown his body to Director Ha. Somehow or other, he’d ended up showing everything, even his precious parts, to Director Ha. It had been an unavoidable situation. It wasn’t on purpose! Ah, this is really annoying. Should I kill Director Ha here? That wouldn’t work, would it? There’s no alibi. I should at least make an alibi…
“…kyung-ssi? Woo Ilkyung?”
“Yes?”
Ilkyung, who had been lost in other thoughts again, suddenly raised his head at the sound of someone calling him.
“What are you thinking about so intently?”
“Ah, holy shit.”
Woo Ilkyung, who had been staring blankly at Ha Daehoon standing before him, muttered this exclamation without even realizing it. Water was dripping down along his long body, and Ilkyung wanted to poke his own eyes with his fingers and hit his forehead to knock himself out. Ah, am I seriously going crazy? Ha Daehoon’s body was too stimulating!
It wasn’t like he was wearing some triangle speedo or anything, just ordinary rash guard wear, but what was so…… This just made him think it was nothing short of sexy. The black rash guard and white skin went together so well, and the water droplets flowing on his skin were like a painting.
“What’s ‘holy shit’? I wondered what you were thinking about, and you were admiring my body?”
“What are you talking about?”
He responded pretending to be composed, but his heart was pounding in fear of being caught. If he found out that he’d been staring at his body, how much would he tease him? Director Ha was incredibly mischievous unlike his appearance. And his personality was very, very bad.
“Then what were you doing? Why aren’t you coming in? Can’t you swim?”
“I can swim.”
Ilkyung answered primly.
“If you can swim, come in and do it. We should enjoy everything while we’re here. This must be a rare trip for you.”
“Haha, I, I’ll go in a little later. This juice is delicious.”
