1.
A pretty flower bloomed in the field. The boy wanted to have it, but the flower wouldn’t break off. Angered, the boy trampled the flower mercilessly. Then one day, a man approached and began watering the endlessly crushed flower. The flower that seemed about to die began to revive under the man’s love. The boy wanted to take back his flower. Because it was my flower that I destroyed. In the end, the boy pushed the man off a cliff and pulled the flower out by its roots.
What happened to that flower? What did the boy do with that flower? Hui-myeong knows the answer.
The boy made a fine flower bed in his house, planted the flower there, and trampled it whenever he got angry, then watered it again when he felt like it. Because he realized that no matter how much he stepped on it, the flower would come back to life if he just gave it water.
***
It’s tiresome. Looking at the hand sliding up his thigh, Hui-myeong thought. The touch was so familiar now that he couldn’t even feel much emotion from it. Hui-myeong moistened his mouth with the cold black tea on the table.
The couples in the noisy room weren’t all male-female pairs. Three pairs were male-female couples, but their partners constantly changed, and two pairs switched the gender of their partners whenever they felt like it.
In the 10 years he’d known them, only Do-ha had kept the same partner. Whether that was a blessing or poison, he didn’t know, but today Hui-myeong couldn’t bear that fact.
“I never dreamed you’d get married, Do-ha. I thought you’d live with Jung Hui-myeong forever. Guess that’s not the case?”
Dae-hyeon, one of Do-ha’s party members, said while draping his arm over his partner’s shoulder and kneading their breasts. There was alcohol, cigarettes, and some marijuana, but today there was no ecstasy or syringes. It was a gathering to celebrate a marriage, and the main character, Do-ha, didn’t particularly like drugs.
“Hui-myeong is Hui-myeong, and marriage is marriage.”
Do-ha, who had been stroking the inside of Hui-myeong’s thigh, said with a faint smile. It was a formal expression without any emotion mixed in. A person who must always be by Do-ha’s side, separate from a major life event like marriage. That was Jung Hui-myeong’s fate.
Club Mad Hat was a playground for rich kids. At least here, they could freely bring their lovers and play dissolutely without being bound by formalities or obligations. Some were already married, some engaged, but no one felt any guilt. Their partners probably had lovers too, and even if they ran into their wives or fiancées who brought lovers here, they wouldn’t be very surprised.
That’s why no one thought it strange that Do-ha, who was about to get married, had a male lover of 10 years. The only one uncomfortable about having to sit sober and listen to congratulations for his marriage was Hui-myeong.
“Hui-myeong, Hui-myeong. Aren’t you fucking tired of it? You two have been stuck together for 10 years.”
Yeong-mu, who had been listening quietly, grumbled. He was a fickle person who changed partners every time regardless of gender, so Do-ha keeping only Hui-myeong consistently for 10 years must have looked pathetic.
“Hey, leave them alone. Jung Hui-myeong, there’s something about him that drives people crazy, you know.”
When Dae-hyeon glanced sideways teasingly and giggled, the muscles in Hui-myeong’s back tensed up. He couldn’t help but know it was sexual in meaning. That was the purpose of everyone bringing their partners here.
At Yeong-mu’s words, even the partners who came with them looked at Hui-myeong and giggled. The gaze of looking at a well-decorated doll was something he regularly felt whenever he came to these gatherings, but today more than ever, it all seemed to be mocking him. Of course. To them, Hui-myeong continuing to stay by Do-ha’s side when he was getting married must look ridiculous.
Crash—. Just then, a glass suddenly hit the wall loudly and shattered. The atmosphere instantly became quiet.
“You fucking bastards.”
At Do-ha’s single word, tinged with anger, the noisy gathering froze as if cold water had been poured on it.
“Hey, haha. Why are you suddenly overreacting?”
Dae-hyeon tried to stop him with an awkward laugh, but there was already murderous intent in Do-ha’s eyes.
“Is Jung Hui-myeong your fucking toy? Where do you get off casually saying Hui-myeong this, Hui-myeong that?”
“No, we can have a few words of conversation with Jung Hui-myeong. You should ease up a bit too. We gathered today to celebrate your marriage, so calm down.”
A glass had already been thrown, and everyone knew well what would happen if Do-ha acted on his temper here. He’d probably grab the heaviest liquor bottle upside down and crack the head of whoever annoyed him most first.
Even as his name was being tossed around in the suddenly sunken atmosphere, Hui-myeong kept his mouth shut, unable to say anything.
“…I need to use the bathroom.”
In the end, Hui-myeong couldn’t stand the discomfort and got up from his seat. He wanted to escape this situation, even if just for a moment.
Escaping the loud music, Hui-myeong entered a bathroom stall, closed the toilet lid, and sat on it.
“Huuu…”
Even coming to a glamorous room wearing expensive clothes with bottles of liquor worth hundreds of thousands laid out, only in this shabby space could Hui-myeong truly breathe.
Even when they lived in America, they often gathered for these chaotic parties. At least at these gatherings, the second and third generation chaebols could be uniquely free from the rigid constraints of their families like business classes and inheritance conditions. To lighten the weight of their crowns even a little, they indulged in alcohol, drugs, and sex. It had become so familiar now that he didn’t even think it was strange anymore.
The members were generally not normal, but the strangest one was Do-ha.
10 years. The time Jung Hui-myeong had been leashed by Do-ha. At first, he thought Do-ha would soon get tired of him. But Do-ha wasn’t someone who easily let go of what was his.
As soon as he got his high school diploma, he was dragged away—6 years in America, 4 years in Korea. As they said, Do-ha didn’t get tired and kept Hui-myeong by his side.
To them, sex partners were the most disposable commodities. Moreover, there was no reason at all for a rich chaebol heir to keep a male lover for 10 years when he couldn’t marry him or have children with him. Nevertheless, Do-ha absolutely wouldn’t let Hui-myeong go. Even at this moment before his marriage.
Hui-myeong was tired of this entire situation.
If I go back late, he’ll throw a fit.
Just as he was about to catch his breath and go out, he heard someone entering the bathroom.
“That Do-ha is a weird fucker anyway. When it comes to Jung Hui-myeong, he flips out like a mad dog. Who would dare open their mouth out of fear?”
“Isn’t Jung Hui-myeong the weirder one? He’s a man too, but living for 10 years offering his asshole can’t be easy. Or does Do-ha fuck him really well?”
Voices Hui-myeong recognized—Yeong-mu and Dae-hyeon who had been in the room with them.
Along with the sound of urine pouring out, their filthy conversation continued.
“Jung Hui-myeong’s ass pussy must be really tight. Look at his face. I don’t even have a hobby of eating dick, but when I see that fucker’s face, my cock gets hard.”
“Speaking of which, if it weren’t for Do-ha, Jung Hui-myeong would’ve been gangbanged in that room and then some. If it’s a hole fitted to Do-ha’s horse dick, shouldn’t we shove two in at once?”
“…”
Quietly listening to their conversation from inside the stall, Hui-myeong’s gaze slowly lowered. It wasn’t the first time he’d heard such crude jokes about himself. Bluntly speaking, without Do-ha, being gangbanged was entirely possible.
“Do-ha doesn’t seem to get tired of him. There’s a line of guys willing to offer themselves, but the only one he fucks is Jung Hui-myeong. I’d like to taste how chewy he is.”
“Hey, shut up. If Do-ha catches you saying that, he’ll really rip your dick off.”
That’s when the two were giggling and washing their hands.
“Not watching your mouth?”
At Do-ha’s voice ringing out simultaneously with the door being kicked open, even Hui-myeong inside the stall flinched in surprise.
“Hey, haha. Can’t we even talk that much in the bathroom?”
Flustered by Do-ha’s sudden appearance, Yeong-mu laughed awkwardly.
“No, you can’t. If I ever catch you jerking off while talking about Hui-myeong, I’ll really rip your dick off and tear it to shreds, you fucking bastards.”
Do-ha’s monotone way of speaking had something that made people sick of him. Especially when talking about Jung Hui-myeong.
“Dude, you’re being so fucking sensitive over something we said while taking a piss. Hey, as if we’d jerk off imagining Hui-myeong or whatever. Fuck, I’m so sick of this.”
“Congrats on your fucking marriage, Do-ha. Have lots of good sex.”
The two spewed insults as they left the bathroom. They were also heirs of great families, but they wouldn’t have the confidence to beat Do-ha when he’d lost it.
Hui-myeong waited inside the narrow stall for the bathroom to empty again. After others had talked plenty using him as their drinking snack, he didn’t want to run into Do-ha here too. But the perceptive Do-ha couldn’t not know.
“Jung Hui-myeong, come out.”
With the click of the bathroom door locking, Do-ha’s voice echoed through the space.
He knew.
From the beginning, he must have followed anxiously when those two went in while Hui-myeong hadn’t even come out of the bathroom. Those guys drunk and unable to filter their words wouldn’t have considered at all that the person in question was inside.
