Your first time? At a rest stop?
No matter how much this was the Republic of Korea inside a novel, I couldn’t help but wonder how a human being who had never been to a rest stop could exist.
Moreover, Baek Sahyun was even a young master from a rich family overflowing with money. There’s no way he’d never gone on a trip, right? When I scolded him not to lie, Baek Sahyun started insisting while rolling his long eyes.
“It’s my first time.”
I let out an empty laugh.
“Who are you telling lies that no one will believe for? For fun?”
“I’m telling you it’s my first time.”
“Yes, yes. Then what about that? You’re eating gamja hot dogs for the first time too, and you’re eating fish cake skewers for the first time too, right? The only things you’ve eaten and grown up on your whole life are steak, sushi, lobster, stuff like that?”
I had criticized him quite sharply in my own way, but the response I got back was utterly absurd.
“That’s probably right. …Heejae, what’s your favorite rest stop food?”
He didn’t even listen to my sarcasm and only spat out what he wanted to say. His manner felt exactly like someone who was really visiting a rest stop for the first time, making me newly realize that he was a novel character.
Right. This is a setting that only makes sense if he’s truly a character from a novel. I confirmed again.
“Is it really your first time? Really?”
“Yeah. Stop asking. I’m about to get annoyed.”
“Is this like a chaebol experiencing commoner life or something?”
“I wonder. Someone like me probably isn’t a chaebol. My grandfather is the chaebol.”
“It’s all money that’ll come to you anyway.”
“That’s true though.”
“…Are you really eating that for the first time?”
I asked while gesturing toward the fish cake skewers and gamja hot dogs with white steam rising from them. Baek Sahyun, who tapped the table with his straight fingers, grabbed a fish cake skewer and said:
“No?”
“……”
“Of course it’s a lie.”
And then he pulled up his lips annoyingly. How did this bastard’s personality end up this way? That Baek Sahyun bastard, as expected, seemed to have attempted a shitty scam wanting to tease me.
Haha. That’s what I thought, there’s no way a vigorous twenty-something who has everything wouldn’t have been to a rest stop…
“Mmph…!”
It was around that time I was thinking that. Baek Sahyun’s face, having bitten into and swallowed the fish cake skewer, started heating up rapidly. The skin color that ripened bright red like wild strawberries was unfamiliar, so I asked haltingly:
“What, what is it? Why suddenly like that?”
“……”
“Baek Sahyun?”
As if he’d burst into tears at any moment, his eyes had already turned red. I looked down at the fish cake skewer Baek Sahyun had eaten just one bite of. Baek Sahyun, gripping the skewer tightly, shot laser beams from his eyes.
Unfairly, that attitude seemed like he was reproaching me, so I brought back the squid body I’d torn apart earlier and asked:
“Don’t tell me it’s because it’s spicy? No, how spicy can fish cake be…”
That’s when it happened. This time too, Baek Sahyun, who ignored the squid piece I offered, suddenly shoved the fish cake skewer into my mouth.
The characteristic savory and salty taste fully colored my tongue. The taste of the spicy sauce felt here and there was, oh, quite harmonious. As expected, isn’t rest stop fish cake the best?
Though it was unpleasant to share food that a guy’s lips had touched, having already rubbed lips several times, I didn’t have time to worry about such trivial matters. It was just as I was about to chew roughly and swallow.
“Ah, fuck…!”
The spiciness that surged up a beat late aggressively struck the inside of my mouth. Not only the mucous membranes but even my throat was helplessly exposed to pain. At the feeling of my palate being seared by fire, even dry heaves burst out.
Moisture naturally formed in my pupils and my face color heated up bright red. Damn it! Even without looking in a mirror, I could guess that my face and neck right now were reddened as much as Baek Sahyun’s.
Moreover, I knew very well the name of the sauce that delivered a taste similar to pain. Capsaicin. Thinking they might have sprinkled capsaicin on the fish cake skewer, I checked urgently.
“Did you, slurp. Ha…. Did you sprinkle capsaicin on this? That really dark red stuff?”
I was about to demand why he’d sprinkled that here, but first stood up. It seemed better to go to the bathroom and at least rinse my mouth. My tongue root stung like it would be pulled out, so I couldn’t even speak freely. But Baek Sahyun grabbed my wrist.
“Let go, dude! Let me go wash my mouth quickly!”
When I snapped irritably, Baek Sahyun lifted his pitiful eyes. Unable to figure out what his intention was, I had no choice but to threaten again, ‘Won’t you let go?’
He appealed in a low tone.
“…It’s too dirty so I can’t go.”
“What?”
“The bathroom.”
“Public bathrooms are all the same. Let go, fuck.”
It was actually more foolish to expect a rest stop bathroom to be as comfortable as your own home. If you go outside, shouldn’t you compromise appropriately?
Besides, I actually had very rarely felt that public bathrooms were dirty. It was because they all looked the same to me as long as there were urinals and sinks.
But Baek Sahyun persistently interfered with me. He gradually put more strength into the hand gripping my forearm. Seeing him display this much tenacity, damn it, he definitely seemed to be hiding some other scheme.
I asked with a frown just in case:
“…Don’t tell me you’re being petty enough to not let me go because you don’t want to go?”
Only then did Baek Sahyun reveal his true intentions.
“You caught on. Buy me some water.”
“Wow…, you bastard.”
“Hurry. I’m saying I can’t move because it’s spicy.”
“Why don’t you really get tested for psychopathy? At this point, shouldn’t you get tested and treated?”
Thud, I tried to push away Baek Sahyun’s hand and run toward the bathroom, but failed again. Because his grip strength was as strong as an arm wrestler’s.
Feeling like magma might erupt from my mouth soon, I desperately proposed:
“Crazy Baek Sahyun. I’ll buy your water too while washing my mouth. Okay? My tongue really feels like it’ll burst.”
Just when I was thinking I’d have to flip the table if he refused, Baek Sahyun said:
“Buy the water first.”
“By any chance, do you not have legs…”
“I can’t move.”
“……”
“My mouth hurts. My mouth hurts soooo much.”
“It’s your mouth that hurts, so why can’t you move your feet?”
“I told you. I’m saying it hurts too much.”
Baek Sahyun’s lips were swollen quite plump, perhaps even less immune to spicy taste than Nam Heejae. Even so, they were a guy’s lips so they didn’t even look pitiful.
I hardened my expression wanting to act cold-blooded. Honestly, fuck! My mouth hurt and stung enough for tears to well up too. My throat also ached terribly, so I wanted to wash it out with running water as quickly as possible.
But there was one aspect I’d overlooked.
Namely, that I, Jang Woohyun, had absolutely no immunity to acting weak…
Baek Sahyun stuck out his tongue slightly.
The flesh heated to a red color captured my gaze. His moist eyes narrowed. Baek Sahyun, who slowly looked up at me, whispered in a thoroughly drained voice:
“It hursh…”
The slurred pronunciation and powerless touch. The fingers that slid down along my wrist gently covered the back of my hand. I can’t describe how pitifully his soft flesh, befitting a young master, felt.
Damn it! It was a honey trap beyond limits. As expected of the protagonist of a 19+ gay novel, his skill at seducing people was no joke. Though his build was as big as a bear’s, when he deliberately acted weak, it was true that I felt slightly sorry for him. Moreover, this bastard’s appearance was quite innocently deer-like in its own way. Look at those eyelashes, fluttering like butterflies.
1 second, 3 seconds, 5 seconds…. Exactly 1 minute of experiencing the feeling of time’s flow vividly touching my skin.
I picked up the wallet Baek Sahyun had left on the table and spat out as if chewing:
“I’m only playing the fool this once. Got it?”
Then I dashed like an arrow toward the convenience store visible far away. Fortunately, perhaps because Nam Heejae’s physique supported me so well, I could sprint the short distance without difficulty. His legs were long like a model’s, so I’d already arrived in front of the convenience store though it felt like I’d only taken a few steps. Amazing.
Just as I was rubbing and wiping my lips that still had the spicy taste rising, about to push open the glass door, I stopped dead.
Huh? Now that I think about it.
“…I’m alone right now?”
Even in my pocket existed not only my phone but also the wallet containing that Baek Sahyun bastard’s card. Nicely enough, Baek Sahyun was in the middle of struggling with his feet bound by capsaicin…
“Thank you, Father God!”
That’s right. I had definitely become a free man! My head spun round and round as I decided on my final destination. Right, man Jang Woohyun. It seems an escape opportunity has finally come to you too. The right time to flee from that hideous monstrous gay psychopath had approached with great strides.
Now, it was time to make a decision.
