Was it a problem that I struggled with arms that couldn’t even put in proper strength, or was the intention to press down on his thigh the problem from the start? With cold sweat even forming on my palm, my right hand ultimately slipped from Lee Hyeonseok’s thigh and began heading toward the ominous place in the center of Lee Hyeonseok’s body.
“Stay still, jus—… Aaah!”
My right hand, with acceleration added, grabbed without restraint that thing which was stubbornly asserting itself. He had been coaxing me uncharacteristically to calm me down in my surprise, but then screamed. It was a type of scream I’d heard very recently. A very painful scream, painful enough that even I who was listening felt the pain.
“Huh?”
Lee Hyeonseok took his hands off me and curled his body up. I looked back and forth between my right hand and Lee Hyeonseok, bewildered. Even though I didn’t know why Lee Hyeonseok was acting like that, I felt like I knew. As I stupidly went “huh, huh,” Lee Hyeonseok, unable to bear the pain and trembling weakly, came into view. No way. It couldn’t be.
“Urk…!”
“L-Lee Hyeonseok?”
“……”
“Are you okay?”
“D-don’t, touch me!”
Lee Hyeonseok said nothing after that single cry. Only the sound of intermittent labored breathing could be heard. The moment I tried to place my hand on his back to check his condition, he refused while cutting off his words, whether trying to endure the pain or because of the pain. No. It can’t be.
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“You…”
“You?”
Anxious, I didn’t even dare touch Lee Hyeonseok’s body and just carefully asked. Lee Hyeonseok’s body was curled up so I couldn’t see his face, but his ears were bright red. He seemed to be in quite a lot of pain. …No way I did that again.
“119…”
“119? 1, 119, why…”
Lee Hyeonseok requested 119 from me for the first time. I didn’t know… didn’t know why someone who so hated going to the hospital was urgently looking for 119…. When I asked Lee Hyeonseok the reason, trying hard to pretend not to know, Lee Hyeonseok looked at me with an appearance like a ghost, filled with pain.
“It’s broken, so call 119!”
Haha.
What should I do? It seemed I had broken something very, fucking important to him as a man. Serves him right. No, as a fellow man, I’m sorry…. No, serves him right after all.
“Urgh…!”
“Huk!”
I, who had been too busy being shocked and unable to believe that I had injured a man’s precious thing not once but twice in my life, came to my senses at Lee Hyeonseok’s pain-filled scream. Serves him right and whatnot, I had to call an ambulance first.
“Ph-phone. Phone.”
I urgently looked for my phone but couldn’t see where it was at all. Was it because I was in a hurry? I couldn’t even remember when I last touched it. Rather than that, Lee Hyeonseok had confiscated it. I quickly tried to speak to borrow Lee Hyeonseok’s phone, but Lee Hyeonseok seemed too busy sharing pain with his precious appendage to pay attention.
I had no choice but to open the front door. From behind I heard Lee Hyeonseok’s nearly dead voice letting out a strained scream of “Where are you goiiing!” but I looked for the guard standing next to the outer entrance door. I wondered what I’d do if there wasn’t one, but fortunately there were two guards.
“Excuse me, hey!”
“Ah. You can’t come out.”
The guards were surprised by my sudden appearance but soon came to their senses and spoke matter-of-factly. Hey. This isn’t the time for that.
“Um, well…”
“Please speak.”
The guards blocked the doorway and prevented me from leaving. These bastards, why the hell are they trying to keep me from going out? No, now’s not the time to think about that. If even Lee Hyeonseok became a eunuch, I clearly wouldn’t be a living corpse. This time it was no less than the successor. Nevertheless, I couldn’t easily bring up the words that Lee Hyeonseok’s appendage was in big trouble. Then from behind, I heard a faint groan along with curses. Perhaps because they were focused on me, the guards seemed not to have heard it.
“There’s big trouble.”
“Yes. What is it?”
I swallowed once then spoke stiffly with a hardened face. I looked like someone in big trouble to anyone watching, so tension also filled the guards. I avoided their eyes and opened my mouth with difficulty.
“Lee Hyeonseok’s, um. I, I think it’s broken.”
“What? What are you saying?”
Even though I knew I needed to speak clearly, I couldn’t properly say that I had damaged someone else’s specific body part again, and spoke haltingly and vaguely. I couldn’t help it because I was so embarrassed. But the guards naturally didn’t understand and demanded I speak properly.
“There.”
“…There?”
“As a man, a very important… there…”
“……”
“With a snap.”
As I completed my words by breaking them up, the guards’ complexions began to darken. I was glad they seemed quick-witted.
“I think it’s broken…”
“Young master!”
At my words ending in a deflated voice, the two guards looked at me once then exchanged glances with each other, then soon pushed me aside and entered the house, urgently calling for Lee Hyeonseok.
Sorry. Just let me live.
* * *
The guards checked Lee Hyeonseok’s condition and tried to call the security team leader and an ambulance, but Lee Hyeonseok stopped them and ordered them to take him to the hospital themselves. I tried to follow along but Lee Hyeonseok threatened me with a face like a murderer to stay home, so I obediently stayed. Then the doctor requested a detailed explanation of the accident from me, so I ended up going to the hospital.
The doctor adjusted his glasses and spoke solemnly about something that would be somewhat laughable to a third party.
“It’s called penile fracture.”
“Penile fracture.”
The secretary and I listened to the doctor’s words seriously without a hint of laughter. We were far from laughing—we weren’t even flustered. That was understandable because if there was a problem with Lee Hyeonseok’s reproductive ability, not only I who was the direct cause, but even the innocent secretary and guards would definitely be screwed over. We were anxious if anything, definitely not in a situation where laughter would come out.
“It mainly occurs during masturbation. Next is during intercourse, or when forcibly pushing an erect penis into pants, or when tossing and turning during sleep…”
The doctor trailed off and asked with his eyes how it had gotten to that state. The secretary also hadn’t heard a detailed explanation from me in the confusion, so he waited for my answer.
“You know, when he goes crazy with sexual desire even just seeing falling leaves in his dreams.”
I shook my head and answered with a smile as if I couldn’t handle a mischievous younger sibling. As if it had absolutely nothing to do with me.
The secretary, the doctor, and I—and probably Lee Hyeonseok’s attending physician—each looked up at the red sign that read “Surgery in Progress” with our own expressions. Anyway, if Lee Hyeonseok became a eunuch, we were all dead.
* * *
Lee Hyeonseok, who had safely finished surgery, was looking out the window with dead eyes. Fortunately, they said it was just fractured and there was no problem with his reproductive ability. Fucking fortunate.
Still, I wanted to obediently shrink down and stay at home, scared of how Lee Hyeonseok would come at me. Contrary to my wishes, right now I’m shrunk down on the sofa in his hospital room, reading his mood.
That was because even though Lee Hyeonseok had kept everyone quiet, the rumor that I had broken Lee Hyeonseok’s appendage had spread from somewhere. It was only natural that Lee Hyeonseok’s parents were looking for me as if to kill me.
Fortunately, the secretary evacuated me to Lee Hyeonseok’s hospital room. The person here might want to chew me to death even more than Lee Hyeonseok’s parents… It was no different from trying to avoid a bear only to run into a tiger.
Lee Hyeonseok fortunately didn’t kick me out. He was just looking out the window with dead eyes in the VVIP hospital room without any words or actions.
After spending time thinking on the sofa while reading the room for a while, I decided to apologize to Lee Hyeonseok. Honestly I didn’t want to, but I was a much kinder person than I thought. And above all, in this state it was certain I’d live being tormented from now on.
“…Um.”
“Shut up.”
As if he didn’t even want to hear me speak, Lee Hyeonseok coldly cut me off. Lee Hyeonseok still didn’t even look at me, yet I could feel his murderous intent.
“……”
At Lee Hyeonseok’s murderous intent, I closed my mouth as he said and stared holes into the hospital room floor. Even after scratching my head and pondering for a while about what words to start with so Lee Hyeonseok would listen, no suitable opening came to mind. The air was heavy.
“So, I…”
“I said shut up.”
In the end, anxious, I opened my mouth again, but Lee Hyeonseok silenced me even more firmly and coldly than before.
“……”
I closed my mouth again and looked at the hospital room floor. Even though Lee Hyeonseok wasn’t looking at me, strangely his presence came crashing down on me. This wouldn’t do. If I didn’t soothe his mood even a little before Lee Hyeonseok was discharged, I would definitely die.
“Really, really, I…”
“You know, when he goes crazy with sexual desire even just seeing falling leaves in his dreams?”
I steeled myself anew and tried to apologize sincerely with all my might, but Lee Hyeonseok cut off my words again this time and said something unrelated to now. That was just a lie I told because I was embarrassed about injuring someone’s precious body part again.
Even before arriving at the hospital room, the nurses were whispering while looking at me that “Lee Hyeonseok cursed me out in every way as soon as he woke up,” so I knew no one would believe my lie. I truly regretted not writing a will before leaving the house.
“Wow, you really are sending me to the hospital.”
I had no intention of recovering the foreshadowing between me and Lee Hyeonseok like this. Lee Hyeonseok still didn’t look at me and spoke as if giving up on something. It seemed close to resignation, but I had no idea what he’d resigned himself to.
“…They said there’s no problem… though.”
That statement apparently made Lee Hyeonseok finally throw a pillow at me. I got hit in the face by the flying pillow. Despite having had surgery, I don’t know where he got such strength from—even though it was a pillow, it hurt like hell. I really should have just kept my mouth shut.
“Just… just shut that mouth for now.”
I should go home first and write a will.
