ACJY C49

They fell asleep entangled on the living room floor. Taeheun woke up to a sucking sound. Not the sound of kissing or caressing, but the sticky sound of something being sucked. A sound that shouldn’t be heard in this place. Frowning deeply, he opened his eyes. Slowly, he moved his head.

The youth president was sleeping soundly, snoring so loudly it was almost painful to the ears. Kwon Yeonjun and the man were nowhere to be seen. He turned his head the other way. That’s when he saw the man’s feet. Following his feet upwards, he saw a small, crouched figure in the darkness. It was Kwon Yeonjun.

Kwon Yeonjun was crouched between the man’s spread thighs, knees on the floor. His face wasn’t visible. Instead, his head moved. With each rhythmic up and down motion, there was a thick sucking sound. Taeheun wondered if he was seeing things because he was drunk. He rubbed his eyes.

Right in front of him, Kwon Yeonjun was sucking the man’s penis.

He jumped to his feet. Engrossed in sucking, Kwon Yeonjun didn’t even notice Taeheun getting up. He busily worked his mouth, clutching the sleeping man’s penis in both hands as if it were a treasure.

Fucking hell. That son of a bitch!

Taeheun quickly looked around. Amidst his rage, he tried to compose himself and not throw a punch. He saw the dining table with empty plates and glasses scattered on it. Without a second thought, he lifted the table and swung it at Kwon Yeonjun. The thought that he could have accidentally cut off the man’s penis only occurred to him later.

Crash! The glasses and dishes on the table fell to the floor with a loud clatter. At the same time, Kwon Yeonjun collapsed. The man flinched. Taeheun swung the table again. He didn’t remember what happened after that.

When he came to his senses, the man was holding him tightly from behind, pleading tearfully, “Stop it, please stop it.” Kwon Yeonjun was injured, but not fatally. His face was a bloody mess.

Taeheun seethed.

“You perverted bastard! You had nothing better to do than suck a sleeping man’s dick? You fucking dare!”

“Stop it. Let’s just stop and go.”

Kwon Yeonjun hung his head low. Afraid of being discovered, he glanced nervously at the youth president to see if he had woken up. The youth president, amidst the commotion, continued snoring peacefully. He was completely passed out.

“Please, just stop and go.”

The man pulled Taeheun with all his might, desperately trying to drag him out of the house. Taeheun was no less strong. He could have easily slammed the man to the ground and finished off Kwon Yeonjun. But he didn’t, because of the man’s desperate pleas from behind him.

As soon as they were outside in the yard, Taeheun shoved the man away. He looked directly at him.

“Mr. Gibeom, do you even know what that bastard did?”

“…”

“Wow, I never thought I’d meet a pervert in a place like this.”

“Mr. Taeheun, stop it.”

“Stop what?! That fucking bastard, while you were sleeping…”

The man interrupted Taeheun.

“I know. I know, so stop it.”

He said it with resignation.

“Know what? Huh?”

It felt like he had been hit by a hammer.

“…You know? No, what do you know… Fuck.”

He was momentarily speechless. His mind was in turmoil.

So, the man and Kwon Yeonjun were involved. He hadn’t been completely oblivious to the possibility, but he had believed it was a misunderstanding. He never expected to get confirmation like this.

He was disgusted by the betrayal. The man appeared different now. Even if he was lonely, how could he have an affair with a married man whose wife was heavily pregnant? How could he be involved with a guy who would suck someone’s dick in front of others who might wake up at any moment? He was deeply disappointed.

“Ah. So that’s how it is. You two were having a good time, and I barged in thoughtlessly.”

He spoke sarcastically. He looked down at the man’s lower body. The erection that had been there moments ago was now completely gone, hidden inside the man’s shorts.

“Well, you should have told me sooner. What is this? Now I look like a fool. I wonder if Mr. Gibeom’s lover is alright. I think I hit him pretty hard.”

He smiled, one corner of his mouth lifting, deliberately raising his voice.

The man’s face contorted.

“Ha, fuck. I’m seeing all sorts of things.”

He ran a hand roughly through his hair.

“Mr. Gibeom, let’s not do this again. If you’re going to do it, do it in a room. What was that? You’re not animals. I didn’t know you were the type to enjoy thrills.”

Cruel words kept spilling out.

“Does Jihye know? You even did it in front of…”

He couldn’t finish his sentence.

The man’s fist flew at him. Caught off guard by the sudden violence, Taeheun almost collapsed. His head spun. He tasted blood, metallic and bitter, probably from a cut inside his mouth.

He spat, then looked at the man. The man was trembling, his fists clenched. He looked like he was the one who had been hit, his face a mask of pain.

Taeheun was furious. He was the victim here, and yet, here the man was, playing the victim. He clenched his fists. He couldn’t hit him with his bare hands. He looked around the yard, but it was too dark to see anything.

Taeheun strode towards the man and grabbed his face with both hands. He held the man’s head firmly, as if he would crush his skull, then bit down hard on his lower lip. Caught off guard, the man flinched. Then he groaned loudly, “Aaah!” He struggled to push Taeheun away, but he couldn’t.

Taeheun gnawed on the man’s lip. The lip tore, and blood flowed. Only then did he let go.

The man carefully touched his torn lip with his fingers.

“What was that for?”

He asked, his words almost unintelligible. The look in his eyes, beyond bewilderment, clearly expressed his thoughts: “What kind of crazy bastard is this?”

For some reason, that calmed Taeheun down. He spat out the blood in his mouth. His heart, which had been pounding with rage, calmed down.

“Let’s go. Are you going to spend the night here?”

Taeheun led the way.

The man followed, touching his lip.

There was only one streetlight on the way to the village hall. Rain was falling steadily. The road was dark and muddy. The temperature had also dropped significantly. The air was quite chilly, though not enough to give him goosebumps.

Two large shadows walked side by side in the darkness of the country road. Thud, thud, drag, thud. The regular footsteps and the slightly dragging, off-beat rhythm broke the silence of the early morning.

Taeheun stopped in front of the village hall. He desperately craved a cigarette. He went back to his parked car to find his pack. He cleared away the empty pack lying on the driver’s seat and took out a new one. He flipped the pack, tapped it a few times, and tore off the foil.

“Aah, fuck. This hurts like hell.”

Taeheun grumbled as he put a cigarette in his mouth.

It had only hurt briefly when he was punched; he was fine now. The torn skin stung, but only pleasantly so. He thought he must be a masochist. Getting hit felt good rather than painful.

“Give me one too.”

The man said.

Taeheun silently offered him the pack.

The man hesitated for a moment, then took a cigarette and put it in his mouth.

“I thought you quit?”

Taeheun said, lighting the man’s cigarette first.

In the light of the flame, the man’s lip looked mangled. Wincing in pain, he took a drag. His cheeks hollowed, then returned to their normal shape.

Why is he acting like that?

Blood, which had trickled down from his earlobe, had left a long streak on the man’s neck.

“What happened to your earlobe?”

Taeheun pointed with the hand holding his cigarette.

“You did that and you don’t even remember?”

“I did?”

He widened his eyes. He had no recollection of it.

“Yes. When I tried to stop you, suddenly…”

The man trailed off and took another drag. The cigarette filter turned red from his torn lip. Did the man also give Kwon Yeonjun a blowjob? Even now, he was curious about that.

“Did you only bite my earlobe?”

“…Yes. And here.”

The man tapped his lip with the hand holding his cigarette.

Taeheun stared at the man’s lip as he took a drag. They smoked in silence. Only after their second cigarettes did the man speak.

“Please keep it a secret.”

His voice trembled. He couldn’t bring himself to meet Taeheun’s eyes.

“What do you like about Damas, I mean, Yeonjun?”

Taeheun asked.

The man didn’t answer. He hung his head like a guilty man.

“Does Gicheol hyungnim know?”

The man shook his head.

“Of course, Yeonjun’s wife doesn’t know.”

He exhaled a long stream of smoke.

“Mr. Gibeom, just do me one favor.”

The man looked up at Taeheun.

“Hold back while I’m here. It’s only for a month at most, so hold back. If you really need to, just jerk off. You can do that, right?”

The man nodded glumly.

“Tell Yeonjun the same. If he doesn’t want his pregnant wife to hear strange rumors, he should hold back while I’m here. If you can’t tell him, I will.”

“No, I’ll tell him.”

His voice was barely a whisper.

Taeheun sighed deeply.

Normally, he would have just thought, “Disgusting bastards,” but he felt sorry for the man. Kwon Yeonjun, doing that to a sleeping man, felt violent. Even though it was probably consensual between two grown men over thirty, he kept wanting to make excuses for the man.

I must be really messed up too.

He mocked himself.

“By the way, Mr. Gibeom, you have a strong punch. It’s been a while since I was shocked by a punch.”

Taeheun touched his left cheek where he had been hit.

“I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? I hit you too.”

“…You bit me.”

The man pointed to his lip and right ear.

Taeheun chuckled. The man laughed too. They both winced at the same time.

On the way to the parking lot, he saw a rusty bicycle. A good idea came to mind.

“If the villagers ask why our faces look like this, let’s say we were drunk, playing around on a bicycle, and fell. Since you’re the least injured, you were driving, and I was riding on the back and got thrown off and fell. How about that?”

“Okay.”

“And Yeonjun is in pretty bad shape, so… hmm. Let’s say he was riding a motorcycle, not a bicycle. He swerved to avoid us and flipped over. How’s that? Sound plausible?”

“…Yes.”

Taeheun opened the car door for the man. The man hesitated, then got into the passenger seat. Taeheun closed the door, then turned back before heading to the driver’s seat. He bent down to meet the man’s eyes. He knocked on the closed passenger window, and the man, who had been looking straight ahead, flinched and turned to him.

The man rolled down the window. They were close enough to hear each other’s breathing.

“I’m sorry I brought up Jihye earlier.”

Looking into the man’s eyes, he said, “I’m really sorry. I’m a jerk.” The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed. At the same time, his black pupils darkened, bottomless like spreading ink. Tears welled up. The man turned his head away.

Taeheun straightened up and stared into the distance. He could faintly make out the low ridge of a mountain. Beyond that was the man’s house. A solitary house, far from the village, where the man and the child lived alone. He suddenly thought that the man must be very lonely. I’m lonely too, so we’re a good match, two lonely people. He thought wryly.

The drive home was difficult. Even with the high beams on, he could barely see a few inches in front of him because there were no streetlights. The darkness of the countryside was much deeper than the darkness of the city, and the rain made the roads quite slippery. Because of the wet grass. He barely avoided sliding into a ditch several times before finally reaching home.

As soon as he entered the yard, the man berated himself for forgetting to feed the dogs.

“I’m sorry, Mansu, Mukang. I didn’t feed you even though it’s raining. Were you hungry?”

The man emptied the bowls filled with rainwater and wiped them with his shirt. The sound of kibble being poured into the bowls followed. Then the dogs noisily ate their food, crunch, crunch, crunch. The man limped to the faucet and filled a bowl with water for them. The rain-soaked mud of the yard was a mess of the man’s footprints.

The man watched the dogs eat, squatting in the rain. His broad back trembled slightly. His clenched fist repeatedly went to his eyes and back down. The man was crying. Taeheun watched his back with a heavy heart.

Don’t cry. Why are you crying?

He wanted to stroke the man’s back, which looked so pitiful. He bit the inside of his cheek to suppress the urge. The wound that had already torn opened again. The taste of blood was bitter.