OL Ch 44

Hayun rushed to knock on the door, hearing the faint sound of retching.

“Mookyeong-ah, Mookyeong-ah, what’s wrong? Are you sick? Are you okay? Open the door.”

Click, click, click.

The doorknob didn’t move, as it was already locked. Hayun looked at the firmly closed door resentfully. Hayun had thought Mookyeong was resting because it was a holiday, but now it seemed he was sick. Although his rampages were frequent, Mookyeong had a healthy constitution.

Of course, that’s why he could endure the frequent rampages. How sick could he be if he was sick?

He might have to take him to the hospital right away. Hayun quickly looked for his phone. Fortunately, he had left his charger in the living room. He quickly connected the charger and called out to Mookyeong again, wondering if he had lost consciousness.

“Mookyeong-ah, answer me. Are you very sick?”

Mookyeong still didn’t answer. Frustrated, Hayun suddenly remembered where he had put the master key. He quickly got the key and was about to unlock the door when Mookyeong shouted.

“Please, don’t come any closer!”

The key hanging on his fingertips clanged. The ensuing silence was too heavy. Hayun, weighed down by the silence, tried to speak several times but kept his mouth shut. Finally, he barely managed to squeeze out a question.

“…Still, I need to know if you’re okay.”

Mookyeong screamed instead of answering. As if resonating with the emotion in his torn voice, Hayun’s body also trembled. He didn’t know what was going on or why, but he felt vaguely sad and helpless.

Hayun’s hand couldn’t knock on or open the locked door and slid down. The bag containing precious and valuable things felt heavy.

Hayun couldn’t bring himself to tell Mookyeong about the time capsule. Since that day, Mookyeong had treated Hayun as if he didn’t exist. He rarely spoke to him, and even when he did, it was usually a warning. Hayun tried not to remember what Mookyeong had done during that time and lived a busy life.

The days that he had found overwhelming passed him by, as always, without leaving any particular memories.

But Hayun was okay with everything. Mookyeong and his family were by his side, weren’t they? It was nothing for Mookyeong to torment him in such a situation. After all, it was his fate to be bound to Mookyeong, to love him, and for Mookyeong to love him.

Just as Mookyeong had endured all his tantrums and troubles because he loved him, he could do the same.

Hayun decided to think so. Then, when he felt unbearably tired, he would fiddle with the ring on his middle finger, pretending to scratch the inside of his palm with his thumb. Then he would feel a little better. Just enough to endure.

“…”

Hayun suddenly woke up in the early hours of the morning. He let out a long sigh, seeing the empty space beside him. His body was languid, and his eyes were full of sleep, but he couldn’t just lie there. Hayun got up and headed straight to the living room.

‘Why is he sleeping so pitifully?’

As Hayun had expected, Mookyeong was sleeping on the sofa. Unable to carry Mookyeong to bed, Hayun scratched his head in a bind. Even though it was a well-heated house, it would be a little cold to sleep with just a blanket.

Hayun brought a blanket and a pillow from the bedroom. Seeing the liquor bottle on the coffee table, it seemed unlikely that even the sensitive Baek Mookyeong would wake up easily.

‘He might mistake me for someone else in his drunken state.’

Unlike before, Mookyeong was easygoing with others, as long as it wasn’t him. Of course, he was a little confused as to whether he was easygoing or just didn’t care. But if he thought it was someone other than himself, he wouldn’t feel any resistance to him putting a pillow under his head. After making up his mind, Hayun carefully supported Mookyeong’s head and placed a pillow under it.

He was so deeply asleep that he didn’t even stir.

‘I actually thought he would wake up when I touched his head.’

Suddenly, a desire arose, and his hand moved. But Hayun couldn’t touch Mookyeong and withdrew his hand. He covered him with the blanket and then got up. He was about to turn off the living room light but stopped, feeling reluctant. Hayun sat on the coffee table and looked at Mookyeong’s sleeping face.

It had been a while since he had seen his face like this.

‘He’s so handsome.’

His features had become sharper than before, but his features were so well-proportioned that he looked even more attractive. Probably, many people had a crush on Mookyeong.

Hayun clenched his fist and rolled the ring with his thumb.

‘I have to get up before he wakes up.’

Even though he thought he had to get up, he couldn’t. He was afraid that if he missed this moment, he wouldn’t be able to see his face like this for a long time. Then Mookyeong frowned and twitched his lips. For a moment, the young Mookyeong and the current Mookyeong overlapped.

“…I, I like you. You didn’t know, did you?”

Hayun gasped at the words that had slipped out without him realizing it. He puffed up his chest and then exhaled the breath he had been holding in and got up.

He turned off the living room light and had just turned around when the sleeping Mookyeong sat up. He roughly ran his hand through his hair and then sighed when he saw Hayun. Mookyeong had a double eyelid on one eye, and the whites of his eyes were reddish around the edges.

“…Fuck, disgusting.”

“…”

He made eye contact with the displeased Mookyeong, and at that moment, Mookyeong’s eyes gleamed. Hayun took a step back without realizing it. He remembered the first time he had met Mookyeong after he had lost his memory. Hayun still vividly remembered what had happened to him then.

But unlike then, Mookyeong didn’t miss Hayun. He approached him in an instant and grabbed Hayun’s hand roughly. Realizing where he was trying to drag him, Hayun immediately leaned back and resisted.

He grabbed the sofa in a hurry, but Mookyeong lifted the sofa and flipped it over. The moment the sofa lifted, Hayun, who had expected it, fell to the floor and lay flat on his stomach. But Mookyeong had no trouble lifting Hayun’s upper body with his telekinesis.

He floated up, then sank down. Perhaps because he had just woken up, Mookyeong’s ability was erratic. But that alone was enough to make Hayun lose his balance. Mookyeong grabbed the ankle of the unbalanced Hayun and dragged him roughly.

“Mookyeong-ah, Mookyeong-ah!”

“…”

“Wait, listen to me for a second!”

“So what if I listen? Will anything change?”

“No, that’s…”

“If not, then shut up. I feel like I’m going to puke.”

Mookyeong flung away the leg he was holding and grabbed Hayun’s left hand. Mookyeong’s gaze fell on the middle finger of Hayun’s left hand.

Mookyeong moved his lips without making a sound. His eyes were full of disgust, so he knew what he was saying without hearing it. Hayun’s stomach churned with anxiety. He tried to hide his hand by lowering it, but Mookyeong was faster this time too.

Mookyeong forcibly opened Hayun’s hand and began to take off the loose ring. Hayun tried to shake off Mookyeong’s hand by any means, but he couldn’t because his feet were lifted by Mookyeong’s telekinesis.

After a long confrontation, Mookyeong took Hayun’s ring.

“Gi-give it back. Mookyeong-ah, please. Please don’t do this.”

Despite Hayun’s plea, Mookyeong didn’t care. He flung Hayun away and went out to the veranda. He immediately opened the window and the screen door. Mookyeong didn’t flinch at all from the cold that rushed in as soon as he opened the door. He stared out at the blackness and threw the ring he had taken out the window.

“…!”

The small ring was swallowed by the black night, and neither its shape nor its sound could be heard. Hayun hurriedly got up, pushed Mookyeong, and stood on the veranda window frame. He leaned on the railing and looked down, but all he could see was the usual scenery. Hayun moved his lips.

‘No.’

If he lost this too, he would have nothing left. In a hurry, Hayun put his foot on the railing. He jumped up onto the railing in an instant and then pushed off the railing and jumped.

The body that should have fallen down hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly his neck was choked. Mookyeong, who was standing behind him, had grabbed Hayun’s collar and pulled him back.

He pulled so hard that Hayun hit the wall. The dizzying impact made his head throb, and at the same time, he fell down again. He used a breakfall, but the cold tile floor made the impact considerable. While Hayun was curled up, unable to get up right away, Mookyeong grabbed Hayun’s collar and screamed like a scream.

“Are you crazy?!”

“…”

“Did you decide to die?!”

“…”

“Huh?! Answer me!”

No answer came out. Of course, he had no intention of dying. He just wanted to get the ring back. The trajectory of the light and small ring falling and the trajectory of himself falling couldn’t be the same, but he just thought that if he fell from the same place, it would be nearby.

Unlike the ring, he was a person, so it was obvious that he would break and die if he fell.

‘You can’t even use your abilities.’

You can’t do anything.

His chin trembled, and his neck was wet. Only then did Hayun realize that he was crying. Hayun grabbed the arm of Mookyeong, who had grabbed his collar.

“Did you try to jump out the window to get back just one ring? Answer me!”

“…”

He had to say it wasn’t just one ring, but the words wouldn’t come out. Hayun just made a wheezing sound and shook his head.

“You really make people tired.”

“…”

“Yeah, go ahead and look for it all you want.”

Mookyeong grabbed Hayun’s collar and led him to the front door. This time, Hayun also let himself be dragged limply and did not resist. No, it was more correct to say that he had no strength left to resist. Even when his knees buckled and he lost his strength, Mookyeong dragged Hayun by force.

Mookyeong opened the door and pushed Hayun into the hallway. Mookyeong looked at the weakly collapsed Hayun coldly, closed the door, and locked it.

Hayun sat down in the hallway and stared at the door.

“…Is it because I confessed?”

Hayun asked the door, knowing that no answer would come back.

“Because my love is dirty?”

But instead of Mookyeong’s answer, his own head came up with the answer.

“Or because I’m dirty?”

A wave of sadness washed over him, and Hayun lowered his head and sobbed. Because he couldn’t make a sound, his chest felt tight. He pounded his chest with his fists, and then, realizing it was useless, he fell to the floor like a burial mound.

He scratched the cold tile floor with his fingertips and tensed the veins in his neck. An emotion that was difficult to put into words washed over him. Sometimes his mind went black, and at other times his vision felt red. Then, at some point, it felt like his whole body had burned to a grayish-white.

Just then, the sound of the elevator arriving from upstairs rang out. Hayun lifted his tear-soaked face and looked at the elevator. Then he got up, his body creaking.