Sure enough, the brow visible between Go Taerim’s bangs creases slightly. Seon Eunhu quietly studied his pitch-black eyes. Go Taerim had a habit of speaking slowly and blurring his consonants a little — and apparently his inner voice was exactly the same.
This pervert is at it again, can’t drop his old tricks, trying to make a move. Wasn’t that obscene evil spirit supposed to have been exorcised already? Disgusting creep.
It was rather entertaining, listening to him shudder in that soft, quiet voice.
But just as expected, the wavering only lasted a moment.
“No. I don’t do things like that.”
The haughty little candle flame that inevitably stood itself back upright — Seon Eunhu clicked his tongue. It seemed there was simply no way to grab this infuriating kid and rattle him around. Well, to be fair, for someone like Go Taerim — who knew the circumcision status of others and had memorized the resting direction of people’s genitals by the silhouette of their pants — a provocation this mild probably wasn’t even worth a laugh.
“Is that right? What a shame. Still, whenever you need a wake-up call, give me a hint. Your hyung will be all ears.”
Seon Eunhu said something he didn’t mean and held out a pair of white cotton work gloves. Taerim took them using only a few fingers. It felt less like picking up something dirty and more like a deliberate effort to avoid their hands touching. As Seon Eunhu looked down at that, his eyes caught Go Taerim’s slender wrist.
“Did you eat before you came?”
“Yes. Lunch earlier.”
Go Taerim answered indifferently while pulling on the other glove, thinking privately of a triangle kimbap and a cup of ramen. It was almost hidden behind his bangs, but Seon Eunhu managed to catch it through the shifting hair.
Eating nothing but that — no wonder he doesn’t put on weight.
Seon Eunhu silently judged Go Taerim’s poor eating habits.
“Let’s finish up quickly and go get dinner. Come over here and hold this for me. Make sure you keep a firm grip so it doesn’t slip.”
“Yes.”
Having instructed Go Taerim to hold the plaster steady, Seon Eunhu inserted a long chisel into the gap. Then, carefully controlling his force so the plaster wouldn’t crack, he worked it gently side to side — and soon, the large plaster mold came free from the clay with a clean thud.
The heavy plaster settled securely in Go Taerim’s arms. Seon Eunhu had doubted whether this scrawny Go Taerim could manage the weight, but whether it was strength beyond his build or sheer stubbornness, Go Taerim set the plaster mold down on the floor without so much as a single grunt. Only the tendons on his wrist between the white cotton glove and his sleeve flexed visibly and then disappeared.
Before long, several large plaster molds were lined up in a row across the studio floor. He’d braced himself for many corrections when he brought Go Taerim on as an assistant, but fortunately there were no major defects.
Having finished his inspection, Seon Eunhu straightened up to check the overall balance. That’s when he noticed Go Taerim, crouched nearby and staring intently at the plaster molds.
“……”
Go Taerim had his neck craned forward so far it looked like he might faceplant — completely still, not a sound, silent as a ghost. The nape of his neck peeking out beneath dark hair, the curve of his rounded back, and the worn heels of his sneakers all came into view at once.
At first, Seon Eunhu had wondered where on earth this oddly striking kid had dug up the bright blue one-piece work suit — but the more he looked, the more it suited Go Taerim’s clear complexion surprisingly well. He looked so fresh and bright you could almost picture him in an energy drink commercial.
Seon Eunhu was watching the clean hollow line of that white nape against the vivid blue when he shifted his gaze to Go Taerim’s face. The expression there was utterly indifferent — a complete contrast to the refreshing image his back projected.
But his clear eyes were moving with delicate attention, and if you looked secretly inside them —
Wow…. The way it came off the clay so cleanly…. The detergent water really does make a difference. How can those details come out without a single air bubble? Was it because the first coat had just the right consistency? The whole thing could honestly just be exhibited as-is without needing a poly cast. Wow.
He was completely absorbed in admiration.
From the outside, he looked like a kid in a spacesuit dragged to an art museum by his parents — but what was happening inside was an entirely different story.
Who could have guessed that behind that indifferent, serene mask, such a clamorous stream of thoughts was running nonstop?
Go Taerim’s secret admiration gave Seon Eunhu — someone who had heard praises for his artistic skill more times than he could count — a strange, inexplicable thrill.
“Here, see these small air bubbles? Something this minor can be smoothed over just by rubbing lightly with clay dampened in water. It’s much easier to fix at this stage than later, so it’s better to take care of it now whenever you can.”
“Yes.”
Seon Eunhu said this while looking into Go Taerim’s eyes. Despite the neutral response, his inner world was gushing with admiration, as if taking rapid notes.
Wow. Even for a senior, how can anyone be this good? Is this one of the traits of an alpha?
There was no logical connection between sculpting skill and being an alpha, but Go Taerim was dead serious about it.
Go Taerim was a genuinely strange person.
Seon Eunhu had encountered all kinds through Mind Reading, and many who had sexualized him — but none were quite as impure as Go Taerim. He clenched his teeth as he recalled the feeling from when he’d witnessed Go Taerim imagining him rubbing penises with another man who had a dick. Back then, he’d been so revolted that all he could think about, regardless of his own reputation, was that he must never get entangled with Go Taerim.
Then one day, Go Taerim had been deep in genuinely dark thoughts — the extreme kind — and Seon Eunhu hadn’t been able to look away, so he’d followed him, only to end up being accused of being a pervert instead… and somehow, things had led to Go Taerim being brought on as an assistant and working alongside him.
What the past few days of repeated run-ins had taught him was that, setting everything aside, Go Taerim wasn’t the sort of person who needed to be forcibly removed from society — someone who spent every single hour of the day steeped in filthy thoughts.
This was a kid whose mind always seemed to be going somewhere dirty whenever they met — and yet during work, he didn’t think about anything else, not even a word, completely absorbed in the practice. He wasn’t as precarious as Seon Eunhu had feared either. Go Taerim wanted to die and yet lived each moment with effort, and that contradictory sight was enough to put Seon Eunhu at ease.
Go Taerim won’t make the wrong choice.
With that conviction, Seon Eunhu watched Go Taerim, who was still completely lost in the plaster molds.
Wearing that blue jumpsuit and crouching like that — he looked like an archaeologist who’d just landed on unfamiliar terrain. Or, given his clear-cut face, maybe more like an idol in a stage costume….
And then, in the space where his focus had been fixed on Go Taerim, he noticed a single mote of dust drifting by.
Seon Eunhu gave a brief shake of his head to brush it away — even though it hadn’t attached to him at all. The faint shift of air swept the dust aside with surprising ease, and along with it, seemed to clear out his thoughts before they could grow complicated.
Go Taerim was a strange one, remarkable enough to draw attention from someone like Seon Eunhu — a person who had grown so fed up with people that he’d gone numb to them — but that was all it was. Once he’d determined that Go Taerim wasn’t in that much danger, his interest cooled quickly.
And so, Seon Eunhu decided to stop paying attention to this underclassman who didn’t have a single endearing quality.
“What are you staring at like that. Keep this up and you’ll drill a hole right through the cement floor. You’re about two seconds away from shooting lasers out of your eyes.”
He tossed a pointless joke at Go Taerim, who was so absorbed he hadn’t even noticed Seon Eunhu watching close by. It was as he crouched down and draped an arm around Go Taerim’s smaller, hunched frame. His hand found Go Taerim’s thin shoulder blade, and warm body heat seeped in along the inside of his arm.
The moment Seon Eunhu caught a faint, certain scent. Before he could even register that the scent was something very sweet — Go Taerim suddenly lurched violently, like a convulsion.
“Wha — AUGH!”
Go Taerim, flailing loudly to throw off Seon Eunhu’s arm, couldn’t overcome his own momentum and toppled straight over.
Thud. Crack.
The impact of him crashing down and splitting the plaster mold was tremendous.
“……”
“……”
Go Taerim, face-down on the floor, slowly lifted his head. The dark eyes staring at the shard of plaster in his hand refused to accept reality.
Seon Eunhu was just as startled. His eyes went wide, eyelids curving into an arc, and his red lips parted into a small opening.
No matter how much Seon Eunhu had poked and prodded him from the side, Go Taerim had never shown any difficulty — and yet a single arm around his shoulders had produced this enormous reaction. Seon Eunhu was so stunned by that fact that the plaster mold didn’t even register in his mind, and he just stared directly at Go Taerim.
The candle flame that had seemed like it would remain still for all eternity.
That candle — flickering violently — the rare sight of it made Seon Eunhu’s eyes glint in a peculiar way.
…Go Taerim is rattled?
Unaware that Seon Eunhu was watching him with meaningful eyes, Go Taerim floundered and then hurriedly apologized.
“S-sorry. Oh no… what do I do. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.”
At the stream of apologies, Seon Eunhu finally looked at the ruined plaster mold. At the sight of the plaster chunks in less than whole condition, irritation came flooding in belatedly.
“Hey…”
Seon Eunhu swallowed down the curse word that tried to follow the end of his sentence.
The saving grace, at least, was that the broken section wasn’t a complicated part and looked like it could be salvaged with adhesive — but it was still a step that wouldn’t have been necessary at all if the accident hadn’t happened. With his planned work schedule now disrupted, stress came surging up.
Seon Eunhu ran a hand slowly through his hair and looked down at Go Taerim. Fully aware of his own fault, Go Taerim stood with his hands gathered quietly in front of him, head bowed low.
Then why did I even bring someone like this on as an assistant….
He couldn’t blame Go Taerim entirely for the state the work was in. When you thought about it, the bigger fault lay with himself — for needlessly sticking his nose in and bringing along an underclassman who had only just shed his freshman skin.
Go Taerim was apparently so mortified that he couldn’t even look Seon Eunhu in the face. The small whorl at the top of his head stayed turned toward Seon Eunhu the whole time, his eyelashes falling to hide his eyes beneath them.
What is he thinking right now?
Even in the middle of being irritated, Seon Eunhu wanted to look into his eyes.
