Promising citizens’ safety, creating three quarantine centers nationwide and the National Security and Peace Maintenance Department was the work of Party A, the current ruling party. They gained enthusiastic support from citizens by presenting a plan to definitely quarantine and control Transcendents by creating this system, and it was clear that a Party A candidate would be elected in the upcoming presidential election that wasn’t far off.
At this rate, it would continue to be Party A’s monopoly structure for a while.
When he heard it, it was right. A tool to use politically.
It wasn’t that Yeojin hadn’t thought about such things, but since he wasn’t a Transcendent himself, he hadn’t delved this deeply into it.
It seemed like he had gained some great enlightenment, and on the other hand, it was surprising. To hear such talk from none other than Haeju.
Yeojin silently narrowed his eyes and glared at Haeju. Haeju, who had been about to open his mouth to speak again, quickly closed it and watched Yeojin’s mood.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Since when?”
“What?”
“Since when did the infantile regression symptoms disappear?”
Haeju pressed his lips tightly together.
“There was never such a thing from the beginning, was there?”
This time too, the guy remained silent. Yeojin pinched and shook his prominent nose bridge like he had pulled his earlobe earlier.
“How did you deceive me so perfectly?”
“It hurts.”
“Don’t exaggerate.”
“It really hurts.”
Whether it was real, tears even welled up in the guy’s eyes. He had no choice but to let go of Haeju’s nose. The guy stroked his own reddened nose tip and looked up at Yeojin. He was watching his mood.
Could he be fooled this perfectly? Well, Yeojin wasn’t a psychiatrist. Since there were no specialized testing equipment or psychiatric counselors within the Center, it was a judgment Yeojin made alone just by looking at Haeju’s condition.
He thought it was that way because a fully grown guy was acting like a child. And he had personally written down “temporary infantile regression symptoms due to post-traumatic stress disorder” so he could allocate separate counseling time by adding one more condition to the paperwork. It was to give Haeju even a little more benefits, not for his own performance record.
Actually, during counseling sessions, there were times when his gaze or tone of speech was occasionally strange. Now that he thought about it, that was it, but at the time he hadn’t noticed at all. What could he have done in a counseling session of barely an hour or so?
Seeing the guy just watching his mood thinking Yeojin might get angry, the words he should say just went back in.
“Were you normal from the beginning?”
When he met Haeju again, he had so much he wanted to ask, but in the end, that one sentence was what came out.
“No. At first, my mind was really coming and going.”
“I see.”
Could he have held on with a sound mind after experiencing such a horrific accident? Yeojin let out a deep sigh.
“At first, I was so out of it that I didn’t know what I was doing or what I was saying. I probably cried like a child. Because there was no one next to me but you, Doctor. Even during the accident, there was only you, Doctor.”
“Do you remember everything? The accident…”
Yeojin couldn’t continue to the end and mumbled his words. This time it was Yeojin who watched Haeju’s mood.
“Yes. I remember everything. When I became stable, I slowly started to remember.”
Fortunately, Haeju looked calm. He must be pretending to be okay. How could he be fine when his family died right before his eyes? He felt anew that even though he had remembered everything, he had endured well at the Center without much problem.
Even if it had been Yeojin, it would have been hard to endure with a sound mind. Yeojin had lived like a cripple for five years after losing his younger brother.
Haeju was so pitiful and poor again that he tried to reach out his hand to at least stroke his hair like before. Then the guy grabbed Yeojin’s hand and brought it to his cheek, then rubbed his cheek against Yeojin’s hand like an affectionate cat.
“I like it when you touch me, Doctor.”
His expression was strange and his voice whispered strangely too, making him feel weird.
“Don’t say strange things.”
“What strange thoughts are you having, Doctor? Don’t think dirty thoughts.”
“Look at this guy? Now that you’ve been caught, you’re climbing all over?”
Haeju laughed quietly. While laughing, he kept rubbing his face against Yeojin’s hand and even pressed his lips to his palm to kiss it.
“Don’t kiss.”
“Kissing is on the lips. This is just skinship.”
He chatters with his lips pressed to his palm. His palm tickled so he tried to pull his hand out, but he wasn’t the type to let go obediently. Stubbornly holding onto Yeojin’s hand, he playfully kissed his palm with little pecks and then pressed his lips to his wrist too.
“I told you not to.”
When he told him not to, he stuck out his tongue and licked his wrist smoothly. It tickled and he really felt strange, so he pulled his hand out forcefully. Haeju, who failed to grab his hand in time and missed it, looked at Yeojin’s hand as if regretful.
He had eyes like a puppy that lost its toy. What does he trust to be so cute like that? Even though it should be a situation where he should be angry, the fact that he had such thoughts seemed like Yeojin was also ruined. Cute was cute, and when scolding, he should scold properly and clearly establish what wasn’t allowed.
“I told you not to do such things, didn’t I? I’m really going to get angry?”
“Are you going to hit me again?”
“Why would I hit you? Last time, you flipped out and did crazy things, so my fist flew out without me realizing.”
“I wasn’t out of it then. I was normal.”
“The fact that you did such things in your right mind is more of a problem. You can’t do that. Pressing your lips, touching strange places, panting, holding hands anywhere, hugging, licking hands—you can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Anyway, you can’t. Don’t do that, you. I don’t like it when you do that.”
“But I like it.”
A curse almost burst out. His insides felt frustrated. He didn’t know where the intelligent guy who had been spouting difficult things like an expert on a TV debate show earlier went. He was such a good kid. A kid who listened well and was gentle.
All of Seo Haeju’s appearances within the Center that Yeojin knew might have all been fake. The appearance he showed on Haeju’s birthday might be the guy’s true nature.
“I like it. I like you so much, Doctor, that I want to touch you all over and kiss you.”
“Even if I say I don’t like such things?”
It seemed like he would immediately retort, but Haeju was quiet. Staring silently seemed somehow unsettling, and the guy stirred his large body and got up. Yeojin was startled without realizing it and sat back.
“Why are you backing away? Doctor, are you scared of me?”
The guy asked as he sat up with his upper body.
“It’s not like that, man. It’s because you suddenly got up.”
Yeojin’s gaze became entangled with Haeju, who sat up next to him. Their eye levels became the same. The face that was only cute when looking down exuded maturity when seen from the front.
Since he had such an upright appearance, the sense of intimidation was no joke when seen up close. The laughter disappeared from his expression, making him look even more mature. It seemed he had decided not to pretend to be a child anymore.
Yeojin gulped down dry saliva. His throat kept getting dry. Even his heart was pounding.
Since it was just the two of them, thinking that something big might really happen, Yeojin moved his hips and shuffled backward.
“Doctor.”
“What!”
He was startled because he suddenly called him seriously, so his voice rose.
“I’m an adult now.”
“S-so what?”
He even stuttered without realizing it.
“Even before my birthday passed, my body was already an adult. I also have instincts and desires. Looking at you all day long, Doctor, I want to touch you everywhere. Actually, I want to do crazier things than what I did on my birthday. You know what? I want to hold you, Doctor. Not just hugging you tightly, but holding you in a sexual sense.”
Uh, uh-uh-uh. He was so absurd and embarrassed that he couldn’t even speak properly. Yeojin stammered in confusion, just opening his mouth.
“Y-you really can’t do that.”
“Do you dislike me?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“If you don’t dislike me, why can’t I do that? That means you like me too, Doctor.”
“I like you. Yes, I like you. But you’re a patient and I’m a doctor, and you’re like my younger brother, and I like you because you’re cute and pitiful like a younger brother, cute and that’s why I like you.”
“I’m not your patient anymore, Doctor. And I’m not your younger brother either. Are you saying you dislike me when I’m not your patient or younger brother?”
“Hey, it’s not like that. It’s not that.”
When the guy revealed his true nature in earnest and questioned him point by point, he had already been swept into the guy’s pace. Belatedly, he thought ‘oops.’
“Are you totally playing with me? This guy, really.”
When he raised his hand to playfully hit him once, Haeju suddenly flinched and shrank his body.
“Don’t hit me. I was wrong.”
Huh! He was so dumbfounded that only an empty laugh came out. Look at this guy? He should say something stern telling him not to tease and smack his back, but his heart softened and he ended up putting his hand down. I’m ruined too. Yeojin thought that and clicked his tongue inwardly.
“Seo Haeju.”
First, to organize the situation, he seriously called the guy’s name. The guy who had shrunk saying not to hit him brightened his eyes and answered cheerfully, “Yes.”
“Listen carefully. I don’t dislike you. I like you. But Haeju, it’s a different kind of liking from how you like me. You seem to like me as if treating me as the opposite sex.”
“It’s not ‘as if,’ I do. I’ve never liked a woman, so I don’t know if this is the emotion I should have for the opposite sex, but.”
“Don’t interrupt.”
The guy said “Yes” again and closed his mouth. He answers well.
“Anyway, your and my emotions are, what should I say, different in direction. I don’t want to k-kiss and hold you and do that. Even though you’re cute, I just stroke your head and that’s it—I don’t want to touch you and kiss you all the time like you do. Do you understand?”
