The slightly rough fibers of the towel swept across Hwichan’s hair and cheek, wiping away the cool dampness. The gazes that met between them were sharp yet fragile.
“You came out to the sea in just those clothes? Where are you staying? There’s an empty house near the beach — are you there? Or at the village chief’s place?”
The questions came tumbling out one after another. Haeshin waited for an answer and shook his head, sweeping the wet, clumped wheat-colored hair from his eyes to the side. But Hwichan stayed silent the entire time, until the large towel had fluffed all the moisture from his hair.
He only stared at Haeshin with eyes thick with unease. As if he hadn’t just been cradled against someone and crying like a child — his eyes were full of exhaustion and venom.
Just looking at his eyes, he reminded Haeshin of a sensitive, brooding young artist from some old drama. It felt exactly like the moment just before a timer runs out and a bomb goes off, and Haeshin tensed up without even meaning to.
Only after the towel had grown heavy and damp with seawater did Haeshin finally break the weighty silence and manage to speak.
“Your name’s Shin Hwichan, right? I heard it earlier at the shore.”
No answer.
“You’re cold, so take off those wet clothes first and wash up with warm water. Quickly. If you keep wearing those, your body temperature will drop even more.”
“You wash up first.”
This time there was an answer. Still rude and half-hearted as ever. And it seemed he had no intention of apologizing for the slap from earlier either.
Well, he hadn’t expected one. The attitude had spelled it out from the start.
Haeshin held back the laughter that was awkwardly trying to break through and replied.
“I’ll take care of myself. You go wash up first.”
“Why are you being stubborn? I said you go first.”
“No, you go first——”
“You. Go first. And wash up.”
This time he enunciated every single syllable with force. His voice was even raised. They hadn’t even known each other for two hours, and he was already having to deal with this prickly city boy’s temper.
Haeshin pressed his hands over his ringing ears.
“You’re the one being stubborn. And lower your voice…… I’m going to go deaf.”
“You go in and wash first. You got soaked in the water earlier too.”
He won’t apologize for the slap, but he’s worried about me getting wet. Is this rude or just thoughtless? Both?
Haeshin barely swallowed the sigh that was about to escape on its own and shook his head.
“I’m fine. But you’re showing signs of hypothermia and need to warm your body up quickly. Stop being stubborn and go.”
“I’m not going in until you wash up first. If it were me, I’d have already washed instead of wasting time arguing.”
Out of nowhere, Haeshin thought of the time he’d rescued a cat last autumn.
He’d been lingering next to the village chief, who was fishing for gizzard shad, when he’d rescued a cat that had fallen into the water. Of all places it had fallen in near the rocks where the fishermen’s trash collected, so Haeshin had gritted his teeth and gone in to fish it out.
That cat’s reaction had been exactly like Hwichan’s right now. No gratitude whatsoever for being pulled out of the water — it had just hissed and puffed up its fur.
Haeshin set the memory aside and replied flatly.
“Then should we shower together?”
“What?”
“You’re on the verge of hypothermic shock yet you’re making a fuss about me going first, so let’s just shower together. Works out fine for me — no corpse to deal with. Saves water too, and electricity.”
And besides, getting to see the body of a good-looking city boy — that’s a bonus.
The last line he kept to himself. Naturally, Hwichan had no way of knowing Haeshin’s sly inner thoughts. Even so, as if he’d instinctively sensed something off, Hwichan scrunched his face and slowly leaned his upper body back.
“You’re joking, right?”
“Why? Too embarrassed to have someone lather you up when you’ve only just met? Or are you so startled you can’t wash yourself? If that’s it, I can help.”
Haeshin went into the bathroom as if he genuinely intended to scrub him down, and came back out holding a green Italian exfoliating towel — the kind you’d find in a bathhouse. Hwichan’s already twisted expression crumpled into even greater horror.
“Ha……”
Seeing that, Haeshin covered his lips with the back of his hand and laughed in stifled bursts. He looked less like someone laughing and more like someone choking on something.
“Ahem. Sorry for laughing.”
“Ha…… Right, go ahead and laugh. Laugh all you want, to your heart’s content.”
“Okay.”
His words were twisted like a pretzel, but somehow his expression was gradually, quietly loosening. Instead of pressing him further with words, Haeshin brought his hand down hard against that broad back. It was the rough, careless touch of a man in his twenties — nothing like the gentle pats Grandma Sooni had given.
“Wounded pride? Fine, we’ll each wash separately. But if you’re rude to me even one more time, I will actually get angry.”
An empty threat. The hand that followed shoved Hwichan straight into the bathroom. At first he fought it like a cat that hated water, refusing to go in — but once Haeshin rolled up both sleeves and started pushing in earnest, Hwichan gave in as if he had no choice and shut himself inside the bathroom.
Soon the sound of running water came through. Droplets that had hit the old tile floor bounced out through the open bathroom door. It seemed he intended to shower with the door open. Haeshin was in the middle of putting the clothes Hwichan had taken off into the laundry bin when he looked up and asked.
“Water’s splashing out.”
A roundabout suggestion to close the door — which Hwichan showed no intention of doing.
“……”
“Not going to close it?”
This time the question was direct. Was he going to close it or not.
“Nope.”
Nope, he wasn’t.
“……Why?”
“Why do you think?”
How would I know. Sure, some people shower with the door open. Could find the cramped bathroom stifling. But Haeshin’s bathroom wasn’t particularly small by adult male standards, and the ventilation was decent enough.
Even if it fell short by Hwichan’s standards, a person who throws their bathroom door wide open and flaunts their bare body in front of a stranger they’ve just met is generally not a normal person — they’re a lunatic.
The unhinged kind of lunatic, at that.
As it turned out, Hwichan himself seemed embarrassed by the whole situation — he pulled the wide-open door half-shut again, and stood there the whole time staring outside while running the shower with only cold water, waiting for warm water to come out.
Could he have exhibitionist tendencies? Is this some kind of “look at me, island hick” psychology? Not that I’d mind……
Not uncomfortable. If anything, it’s a little startling — a perk I didn’t expect.
Haeshin watched him fidgeting for a moment, then made a face that said I have absolutely no idea what’s going on with this person and went into the bedroom to look for clothes Hwichan could wear. In every possible way, this guy was a handful and made no sense whatsoever.
“These will probably be too small. Should I go borrow some from the village chief’s place……”
On top of everything, the difference in their builds was too much — it wasn’t easy to just hand over his own clothes.
Putting him to bed naked or forcing him into clothes that didn’t fit would cause more problems than good for both of them. Better to go borrow something with a looser fit. Shin Hwichan wouldn’t want to bare everything in front of a stranger his own age he’d only just met, and Lee Haeshin had no intention of making the already rough weather even worse.
If he said he needed clothes for a guest, the village chief would probably dig out something decent enough.
Haeshin slipped on his sandals and rummaged through the entryway shoe cabinet looking for an umbrella. Just then, the bathroom door that had been half-open suddenly swung all the way open. There was a loud thud of a large body hitting the wall, and Haeshin’s head snapped up.
“Hey!”
A body without a single thread of clothing revealed a solid silhouette from the bathroom doorway. Instinctively, Haeshin’s gaze dropped to between the other’s legs — but thankfully, he was able to avert his eyes again before the rising steam had a chance to clear. Wait — given that it was someone with exhibitionist tendencies, should it be thankfully, or disappointingly? He wasn’t sure.
Haeshin kept his gaze fixed on the yellow linoleum floor and spoke.
“It’s been less than five minutes and you’re already out? I told you to wash with warm water. You can use the bathtub.”
“Hey, you…… where are you going?”
