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“You’re okay… It won’t hurt…”

The entrance was swollen from their daily encounters, but the inside was already soft and slick, needing no further preparation. Ha-gyeom nodded with difficulty. As Baek Sa twisted his angle and pushed deeper, a strained breath finally escaped through Ha-gyeom’s clenched teeth.

It probably wasn’t sex that Ha-gyeom wanted right after waking up, but there was no resistance that could be taken as rejection. Instead, the way he clung on tighter—as if he didn’t want to be apart—allowed Baek Sa to sense the fear Ha-gyeom must have felt during training or while he’d been unconscious.

“Hyung….”

The voice came out rough, scraping against his throat, barely audible. Forgetting any thought of being watched, Ha-gyeom clung to him like a child. Baek Sa pulled him in tightly. With his face buried deep in the crook of Baek Sa’s neck, Ha-gyeom seemed to be trying his best to suppress the rising sensation. Because of that, Baek Sa’s throat, already parched with thirst, burned even hotter.

“Ugh, huu…”

The pained moan that barely slipped out sounded pitiful. But there was nothing that could stop what had already begun. Baek Sa simply pressed their lower bodies even closer together, moving his hips in a gentle rhythm. Whenever he felt Ha-gyeom tense up from the pleasure, he held his hips down and moved even more slowly.

“Haah… Does it hurt?”

“Ugh… No, it doesn’t hurt…”

There was a whimper in his voice, something uncharacteristic of Ha-gyeom. Even as he said he wasn’t in pain, his fingers, now sliding up Baek Sa’s back, curled tightly. The sting from the nails digging hard into his skin felt closer to pleasure than pain, so Baek Sa didn’t bother stopping him.

“Mmng…!”

Though still slow, the deeper thrust made Ha-gyeom moan louder. Baek Sa gently pried Ha-gyeom off, who had been clinging to him desperately, and rested their foreheads together, locking eyes once more. In those jet-black pupils—so much like his own—there wasn’t a trace of change from before the training. A wave of relief washed over him.

He kissed him, eyes moving slowly over the furrowed brows, the damp gaze, and the lower lip being bitten in urgency. The lips responded without hesitation, as if thirsting for relief. As their chapped surfaces rubbed together, their mouths grew wetter, and Ha-gyeom, savoring the flow of shared saliva, swallowed instinctively—then tightened his thighs with a moan.

“Haahng…!”

His strength was fading, and his whole body trembled with exhaustion. Yet despite that powerless response, Baek Sa could feel the inner walls twitching and tightening around him again and again. With a deliberate breath, he thrust up hard, making Ha-gyeom’s entire body jolt with each motion. When he rubbed and scraped against the sensitive spot with his thick tip, Ha-gyeom, overwhelmed, began to shed heavy, helpless tears.

“Hyung… Hic, hyung…”

There was blame in his eyes, as if pleading to be understood without a word. He must’ve been scared, must’ve suffered. But Ha-gyeom wasn’t the type to whine easily. Instead, caught between the heat of their pressed bodies, he trembled and whimpered as if the overwhelming warmth itself were painful.

Baek Sa knew Ha-gyeom wouldn’t care about the wounds or the pain carved into his body. Still, he deliberately stirred up his release faster. Just the feel of his sweat-drenched skin, just locking eyes with those innocent, unguarded pupils was enough to bring him to the edge. And now that Ha-gyeom’s movements had grown more practiced, the rising pleasure surged even faster.

“Hnngh, h-huh…!”

Sliding a hand beneath Ha-gyeom’s back, Baek Sa pulled him close into his arms and slowly raised his upper body. Ha-gyeom sat heavily on top of him, impaled, too drained to move. So Baek Sa took the lead, rocking his hips as he thrust in. He circled his movements, continuously stretching the already aching entrance. Without even much motion, Ha-gyeom came, his whole body trembling violently.

“Uuh, uuh… ngh…”

The space between their bellies grew slick with wetness. Feeling that slippery heat, Baek Sa pulled Ha-gyeom’s slender waist tightly against him and began thrusting. As the intensity rose, his movements grew rougher, but Ha-gyeom only let out louder moans—he didn’t push away or show any sign of pain.

So Baek Sa drove in deeper, until their pubic bones pressed together, pushing in as much as he pleased. As the pace quickened, Ha-gyeom’s body squirmed more in his arms. When he tried to move on his own, Baek Sa held his hips still and kept thrusting without pause. Panting, Ha-gyeom rubbed his face over Baek Sa’s neck again and again—until finally, as if reaching his limit, he began clawing at his shoulders.

“Mmngh, ngh…! Now…!”

“Haah…!”

The inner walls clenched tightly around him, trembling in spasms. Overwhelmed and unsure what to do, Ha-gyeom’s body trembled as Baek Sa came deep inside him, his brow furrowing hard from the overwhelming rush of pleasure.

“Haah, hah.”

Ha-gyeom clung to him, still crying silent, hot tears in his arms as Baek Sa released with a beast-like groan. Holding the boy—who was barely half his size—Baek Sa kept pulling out and thrusting back in, over and over.

“Hhuh… h-huh…”

His release, unusually thin and runny, dripped from inside Ha-gyeom, sliding down along Baek Sa’s shaft. As the sticky warmth spread down to the insides of his thighs, Ha-gyeom bit down on his lower lip, his flushed face twisting into an expression of discomfort even in the heat of it all.

Without pulling out, Baek Sa gently laid Ha-gyeom down again and touched the wounds on his back. As he wrapped their legs together and held him close, Ha-gyeom—who had been breathing in short, shallow gasps—finally stopped crying. Baek Sa pressed his lips to the damp cheek, then licked along Ha-gyeom’s flushed ear and whispered,

“I thought you wouldn’t wake up like this.”

Ha-gyeom rubbed his slick, heated ear against Baek Sa’s lips. He couldn’t decide what to say first. In fact, he forgot what he even needed to respond to—but it didn’t matter.

His mind felt distant, like he had spent an eternity alone. And the thought of waking up without sensing Baek Sa’s warmth beside him… it was too terrifying to even imagine.

---

“…There was something.”

It was Ha-gyeom’s first testimony. With only the medical light left on, Baek Sa was wiping down Ha-gyeom’s body when his expression tightened the moment he heard those words.

The semen from a week’s worth of release had likely dried up inside by now, but today’s was still fresh. Even after everything he’d already spilled, it seemed there was more left—Ha-gyeom kept glancing downward while Baek Sa cleaned him.

“I could’ve sworn our eyes met… but whenever I became aware of it, it was already gone. I couldn’t see it anymore…”

“……”

“After that, even when I couldn’t see anything, I felt like I was bound. I couldn’t move at all.”

Ha-gyeom shuddered, as if recalling what happened inside. His lips looked dry and chapped, so Baek Sa lifted the cold towel from Ha-gyeom’s inner thigh for a moment.

“I don’t even know if the wave held properly…”

As he spoke, Ha-gyeom looked over his body, checking to see if he’d been exposed to radiation. But even after Dr. Cha’s examination, and upon visual inspection, there were no clear signs of exposure. Apart from some weight loss due to exhaustion and an empty stomach, his skin was uninjured and smooth.

“How long… was I in there?”

“A full ten days.”

Baek Sa’s jaw clenched hard as he admitted it, then slowly relaxed. The tension from all his worry over the past days was still visible in his eyes, sharp and fierce. Ha-gyeom, gently rubbing his throat as if speaking still hurt, opened his eyes wide in disbelief.

“No way… I thought it had only been a day at most…”

The innocence in his eyes hadn’t changed. Just that alone filled Baek Sa with immense relief. But as the image of Ah-rang’s glowing red pupils flashed through his mind, he quietly resumed wiping Ha-gyeom’s calves with a gentler touch.

“What else did you see?”

Ha-gyeom hadn’t reported anything right away after waking. Better to filter out certain details before involving the child. Faced with Baek Sa’s not-quite-interrogation, he seemed to search his thoughts deeply.

“The memory’s fuzzy. I think it was some kind of monster… but it moved so fast, I can’t be sure.”

Baek Sa approached the head of the bed and placed a towel on Ha-gyeom’s chest. Seeing his confused expression, he didn’t rush him, only waited patiently. After carefully wiping down the rest of Ha-gyeom’s body to rid him of any lingering discomfort, Baek Sa opened Dr. Cha’s drawer and pulled out an alcohol swab and tweezers.

“Then what are these wounds?”

They were clearly scratches from something. As Baek Sa disinfected them one by one, Ha-gyeom’s eyes flicked from side to side without fail.

“…Nngh.”

“I think I was attacked… but like I said… I’m not sure by what…”

There was no doubt the training had put Ha-gyeom in danger, though it didn’t appear to have reached a fatal level. Based solely on what he described, there wasn’t much that distinguished his experience from other guides. Still, the disappearance of the strange phenomenon wasn’t something that could be overlooked.

Even so, for now, just the fact that he came back safely was enough. Just thinking of the days spent anxiously waiting had left Baek Sa lightheaded.

“But I could endure it, I really could.”

“……”

“It was confusing, frightening, unfamiliar… but it was still bearable…”

Baek Sa didn’t want to report those exact words to Assemblyman Tak. The mere thought of Tak’s eyes lighting up with hope made it hard to breathe. Unconsciously, Baek Sa bit his lower lip and continued disinfecting the wounds.

As he moved over a faint cut on Ha-gyeom’s unusually pale nape, Ha-gyeom suddenly reached up with trembling fingers and gripped his wrist.

“Were you… really worried about me?”

“How much do you think?”

Their eyes met heavily, and Ha-gyeom’s cheeks turned red. In response, Baek Sa pressed the alcohol swab firmly onto the wound, as if to make a point. Ha-gyeom flinched again and again before answering.

“…A lot.”

His honest voice trembled, sounding almost afraid. It was a natural answer, yet the way he nervously searched Baek Sa’s expression made it clear there was no need to hide anything anymore. Of all the emotions that had shaken Baek Sa, he chose to express the one that rang out the clearest.

“I missed you.”

His throat burned from thirst. His heart pounded with painful intensity. And when he didn’t look away, Ha-gyeom’s gaze began to tremble.

“Normally, you don’t have those kinds of thoughts just waiting for a mission partner.”