GHLL Ch 14

“Wow……”

It was around the time I was starting to get tired of sleeping in the car that I discovered that house.

We were moving in the car, but we couldn’t just speed coolly along the straight-stretching expressway. As always, the main roads were either completely clogged with cars abandoned during evacuations, blocked by car walls or barricades, blown up, or had collapsed or been severed due to lack of maintenance. One wrong move could lead to just wasting fuel, so we were moving along provincial roads that were only one or two lanes wide. Of course, those roads were not in perfect condition either. Sometimes we had to drive on the dirt ground that used to be rice paddies or fields, but it was certainly less obstructed than the city.

Following that road, we would occasionally come across private houses that were once hamlets or villages. Unlike the city, there were few buildings made of concrete, so most of them had crumbled or were broken. Since they were not suitable places to rest, we would open the car trunk and put up a sunshade to improvise a shelter. If you folded down all the back seats, the space became quite wide, so it wasn’t bad for lying down to sleep.

However, unlike Gyeol, who was still growing, it was cramped for me. It was even more so because when we slept, Gyeol would stick right next to me without a single gap. When I came to my senses, I would find myself pushed into a corner and Gyeol cradled in my chest, and I couldn’t wake him, so it wasn’t easy to secure my own space.

So, when what looked like a private housing complex appeared, I was quite pleased. Those houses, built by pouring concrete, affixing bricks, and topping them with tiled roofs, still maintained a respectable appearance. Because of that, many people had passed through them, so the interiors were not in good shape. The fixtures and furniture were all broken, all sorts of trash were scattered around, and everywhere there were pits where human waste had been buried. Even though it was covered in ash, the stench was formidable.

Just as I was about to turn back without any particular gain, I changed my mind and suggested we search the area a little more. The neighborhood itself seemed to have been wealthy, so it felt like a waste to just turn back. Most importantly, a concrete-paved road continued towards the mountain. Wondering if there might be something more in that direction, we walked for quite a long way.

At the end of that road, a gate marking it as private property appeared. An iron gate that must have once been luxurious was rusted and broken, standing slightly ajar. Passing through it and walking further, a wide space that looked like a garden was revealed. Though you couldn’t find any trees or flowers, you could see shriveled bonsai and ceramic pots scattered here and there on a stone-piled flowerbed.

Beyond that, a house that looked luxurious at a single glance was situated. A triangular roof that seemed to have an attic, the glass decorating the projecting landing of the stairs, and the delicately shaped wall sconces caught my eye. It looked gloomy from being covered in ash under the dark sky, but otherwise, it was a very fine and sturdy house.

Seeing Gyeol let out a gasp of admiration at the sight of the place, I chuckled. Then I reached out and pushed up his blankly hanging jaw to close his mouth. I did it thinking ash would get in, but without appreciating my concern, Gyeol let out a cry of “Woooow,” and ran towards the house.

I leisurely followed behind him, then realized what was in front of the carelessly running Gyeol and quickly kicked off the ground. And before Gyeol could tumble headfirst into a pond that had completely dried up, I snatched the scruff of his neck. Fortunately, he was wearing a hoodie, so it was easy to grab the fluttering him.

Letting out a “Keck,” the pulled-along Gyeol looked back with a dissatisfied expression. The way he furrowed his brow and pouted his lips was just like a child.

“What’s wrong?”

“There’s a pit in front of you. Watch where you’re going.”

“Ah.”

The thickly piled ash made it easy for one’s vision to be distorted. It was not easy to notice the pit, which just looked like flat ground. As I let go of the hood I had grabbed, Gyeol tilted his head, looking at the pit that seemed perfect for breaking a leg.

“Why did they dig a hole in a place like this?”

“To fill it with water.”

“Like a water tank or something?”

“No, for ornamental purposes. They fill this with water, raise fish, and grow flowers and such.”

“What do you mean, for ornamental purposes?”

“It means it was made just to look nice.”

“You don’t eat the fish, you just look at them?”

“Yes. Some fish don’t taste very good, but their colors or shapes are pretty. Like goldfish or koi. They also raise animals like birds, cats, or dogs.”

Gyeol, who had an expression that asked why anyone would do such a strange thing, suddenly looked at me and asked.

“I’ve been feeling this for a while, but how do you know such things so well?”

“Huh?”

“You’re not that much older than me. You’re not an old-timer, so how do you know so well?”

“It’s because I’m from Pyeongseong Penitentiary. There are a lot of things there.”

“What kind of things are there?”

“Things like books, pictures, and videos. At Pyeongseong Penitentiary, they collect and preserve those things. Women are smarter than men, after all. They know the value of such things.”

“Hmph.”

Making a nasal sound by wrinkling his round nose, Gyeol muttered as if to himself.

“I’d like to go there someday, too.”

I chuckled and pulled him closer. Then, tucking him under my arm, I rubbed the top of his head, sending ash fluttering into my face, and said.

“A kid like you would have your semen sucked dry until you’re as shriveled as beef jerky if you went there.”

“Not eaten?”

“Well…”

I looked down at Gyeol, who was looking up at me askance. Though his body was skinny, his face was roundish as if his baby fat hadn’t completely gone away, like a pebble. Looking at that face, I doubted the fact that Gyeol was only a year or two different from me in age. He said he was twenty, but maybe because he didn’t know anything, he seemed like a child to me.

While thinking that I wanted to take a full bite of his cheek, which looked soft despite being covered in ash, I narrowed my eyes. Naive, small in stature, and weak in strength, Gyeol certainly did not seem to possess the genes that should be secured for posterity. Rather, he seemed fit to be culled and disappear, but women have a high aesthetic sense. They like pretty things. It was clear that if they saw Gyeol, they would all, without exception, want to drag him to bed and pin him down. A daughter who resembled him would be very cute and pretty, so they would undoubtedly squeeze his seed out until his dick was swollen and bursting.

The thought of it was subtly annoying. I put strength into the arm around his shoulder. Then, pulling his face close as if to choke him, I glared at him.

“Why, you want to go because you think you won’t get eaten?”

Gyeol rolled his light-colored eyes.

“Because you said there’s a lot of stuff…?”

“There’s a lot, alright. It’s teeming with women.”

I thoroughly scared him, saying things like it would be so hard he would wish he had been eaten instead, that once he learned the pleasure of swallowing a cock he wouldn’t even feel good doing it with a woman, that he would surely die from sexual overexertion, until Gyeol pushed my arm away as if to say, “Stop.”

“I get it, I won’t go. I just won’t go, okay.”

“Don’t you dare take my words lightly. Women are terrifying.”

“I said I get it.”

I nipped the bud of any foolish thoughts Gyeol might have. But the fact that Gyeol had never been with a woman weighed on my mind. I had warned him with all my heart and soul, so he would probably shrink back if he saw a woman, but he was a man, wasn’t he? Just like he had hesitated and couldn’t kill the woman last time, he might be instinctively drawn to women.

In fact, quite a lot of men had come to Pyeongseong Penitentiary of their own accord, even after hearing of its infamy. There was no end to the guys who came with the mindset of “If I’m going to die anyway, I might as well try doing it with a woman once.” Thanks to them, there was rarely a shortage of food. Of course, the guys who came to die because they had no confidence in surviving on their own were not chosen by the women. They were just treated as chunks of meat.

I couldn’t understand why those guys made such a choice when I was young, but as I got older, I felt like I understood a little. It was because the instinct for procreation to preserve the human species was engraved in their genes. It was the same as the survival instinct to stay alive even if it meant eating human flesh. The thought that Gyeol would be the same made me feel grumpy for no reason.

I followed Gyeol, who was entering through the wide-open front door, with my eyes half-closed. As Gyeol stepped inside, his mouth fell open just like when he first saw the house, and he let out a gasp of admiration, “Wow……” The interior was as magnificent as the exterior, so it was worth Gyeol’s admiration. A large fireplace was situated there, along with a large, plush-looking sofa and an intricately carved table.

What caught the eye most was the taxidermied deer above the fireplace. Though it had lost its original color from being covered in ash, the magnificence of its long, stretching antlers was fully intact. However, with only the realistic-looking head remaining, it was a bit eerie. Gyeol’s eyes widened as he looked up at it and pointed.

“What is that?”

“It’s a deer.”

“That’s a deer? But why is it only a head?”

“It’s because it’s been taxidermied.”

“What’s taxidermy?”

“It means preserving it exactly as it looked when it was alive.”

“Then can you eat it?”

At his question, I burst out laughing with a “Pffft.”

“You can’t eat it. It’s just a decoration.”

“Aww…”

As soon as I said he couldn’t eat it, Gyeol quickly lost interest in it. Then he plopped down on the sofa. Ash rose up in a white cloud, and I waved my hand and coughed. But Gyeol didn’t seem to mind the flying ash at all.

“It’s really soft.”

“Seeing as the leather hasn’t rotted, it must be real.”

“This place is in really good shape.”

“Maybe they thought it was too far from the housing complex and inconvenient to stay here.”

Leaving Gyeol, who had completely sprawled out on the sofa, I looked around the house. Because it was in an isolated spot, the interior wasn’t damaged or vandalized, but like all the other houses, it had been looted, so there was almost nothing useful left. The cupboards and refrigerator were also completely empty, and meaningless and unsightly graffiti was left here and there.

While rummaging through the kitchen, I was looking for a pantry and found stairs connected to the basement. The basement was dark, so I gripped my large knife and stepped onto the stairs. I thought it would be connected to a garage, as is common in luxury homes, but it wasn’t. It was connected to a sealed space. A formidable iron door blocked the way.

Facing the firmly shut door, I stopped in my tracks for a moment. It seemed to have been originally sealed with a chain and padlock, but the looters’ hands must have reached this far, as the padlock was broken and lay on the floor.

Pushing aside the chain that clanked under my feet, I carefully opened the door, and a familiar but by no means pleasant smell wafted out. I pulled up my bandana to cover my nose and mouth, holding the knife in my right hand and a Zippo lighter in my left. With a click, I turned the wheel to light the Zippo and entered.

The inside was quite spacious. It seemed it wasn’t just used as a warehouse or a cellar. Seeing that it was filled with various kinds of home appliances, furniture, and goods, it seemed to be a bunker. I extended the hand holding the lit Zippo lighter forward and scanned the interior. Though the fixtures were disheveled because someone had rummaged through, it was relatively clean as there was no accumulated ash.

The smell of old dust and the damp, musty smell characteristic of a basement faintly arose. But the most intense was the smell of a corpse. It was the smell that only came from ghouls.

Looking around inside, I found that behind the kitchen and living room area, there was a small bathroom and one room attached. That area was suspicious, so I readjusted my grip on the knife and grabbed the doorknob. Turning the knob all the way and opening the closed door, the dark interior was revealed.

At the same time as furniture like a bed, a wardrobe, and a desk came into view, a safety bar embedded in the wall caught my eye. A chain was connected to it, which was a kind of shackle.

Hanging from that shackle was the corpse of a ghoul, with only skin clinging to a skeleton. It was a ghoul in a one-piece nightgown with long, sparse hair. In life, it might have been cute and lovely, receiving all of its parents’ love, but now only its withered remains, shriveled like a mummy, were left.

When wandering around here and there, I sometimes witnessed similar scenes. Traces of ghouls being raised were left in the deep interiors of houses, in bunkers, or in corners of shelters. They probably didn’t raise the ghouls because they were cute; it seemed that they couldn’t bring themselves to abandon a family member, friend, or lover who had turned.

But there must have been a limit to feeding them human flesh, and in the end, they must have abandoned them and left. If that was the case, it would have been better to kill them early on. Or rather, eat them before they turned into a ghoul and be together. It’s futile and meaningless, not to mention irresponsible.

I clicked my tongue with a tsk. Then I brought the blade down and severed the ghoul’s bones dangling from the shackle, and kicked the skeletal corpse with my combat boot. With a crack, as the bones shattered, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs, thump, thump, was heard from outside, along with a voice asking, “Is there anything down there?” I quickly kicked the bone fragments under the bed and left the room.

By then, Gyeol was standing at the entrance of the bunker. He was looking around and opened his mouth when he saw me appear from the direction of the room.

“There was a place like this in the basement. But why does it smell like this?”

“Looks like there was a ghoul here. The stench in the room is terrible.”

“Ugh, no way.”

Together with Gyeol, who was pinching his nose, we went back up and also checked the second floor and the attic. On the second floor, there were two bedrooms and a bathroom, and the attic was decorated like a study, but there were no books. They had probably used them all as kindling for the fireplace.

We also checked the backyard and the shed. There were various tools, but most were too rusted or rotted to be used. The portable swimming pool in the backyard was also torn and broken, lying scattered on the ground. The crock stand in the back was also completely shattered, making it difficult to find an intact one. Even the ones that maintained their shape were either dried up or empty inside.

“I don’t see anything edible, but it looks good enough to use as a base for a few days. It’s tiring to sleep crumpled up in the car, so let’s sleep here today.”

Gyeol, who readily nodded at my words, said.

“Then shall we go get the car?”

“You want to get it?”

At my suggestion, Gyeol pointed to himself and his eyes rounded.

“Me? By myself?”

“I taught you how to drive.”

“Uh, um…”

Gyeol hesitated with an unconfident expression. He could drive, but he had never done it alone, so he seemed worried. To be honest, I was a bit worried too. So when I asked, “Should we just go together?” he bit his lips firmly and shook his head.

“No, I can do it alone.”

Even though Gyeol volunteered to do it, I felt like I was forcing him to go against his will. It felt a little bit sad, too. I thought he would cry or cling to me, asking to go together, but it was funny how he pretended to be mature. I lightly pinched his grubby cheek and feigned a glare.

“Really? Can I trust you with it?”

“Yeah, I can do it well.”

“Hmm.”

As I looked at him skeptically with half-closed eyes, Gyeol frowned and shrugged his shoulders.

“Have you only ever been deceived? I said I can do it well.”

Somehow, his way of talking and his gestures seemed to be getting more and more like mine. It was probably because I was the only person he talked to, but the swaggering look really didn’t suit him. So I 괜히 put on a threatening air.

“Just you try crashing the car somewhere or making it unusable.”

“Hmph.”

I was trying to scare him, but instead of getting nervous, he snorted, so I let out a “Ha.” Seeing him acting shamelessly as if to say, ‘What are you going to do even if I wreck the car,’ I pinched his soft cheek hard enough to hurt.

“This little thing, I’ve been coddling you and calling you pretty, and now you don’t know your place and are getting cocky?”

Wincing, Gyeol flinched and pushed me away, shouting.

“Owowow, it hurts! You’re the one being cocky!”

“What?”

“Acting like you’re the only adult when there’s barely any age difference between us.”

“Hey, are you and I the same? We might not have a big age gap, but our experience levels are different, our experience levels!”

“Since you’re not denying it, I guess the age difference really isn’t that much. How old are you? Twenty-two? Twenty-one?”

I was about to grab him by the scruff of his neck and give him a proper punishment so he wouldn’t talk back again, but Gyeol slipped out of my grasp like an eel. I stared at his back as he bolted out of the house and shouted, “I won’t let you off if you wreck the car!” but my lips were stretched into a wide smile.

I found myself smiling like a fool and self-consciously closed my mouth. Then I fumbled with my face and slapped my cheeks.

“What are you doing, Kim Daesik, get a grip.”

Lately, Gyeol had been acting cute and charming so often that it was hard to stay on edge. At a time when I should be sharpening my mind like the edge of a knife and raising all my senses to focus solely on survival, I was spacing out like this.

Objectively speaking, it was not a situation to be letting my guard down. We had overcome a major crisis, but in reality, not a single problem had been solved. Securing food and water and procuring supplies for that purpose was something that could never be perfectly resolved. In that sense, racking my brain and worrying about it was also meaningless.

Whatever, it’ll work out somehow. With that thought, I turned my body. And while Gyeol was away, I headed to the basement to dispose of the corpse under the bed in the bunker.

🖤

After cleaning the bunker, I went out to meet Gyeol to see if he was driving well or not. I crossed the garden, removed the broken iron gate, cleared an entryway, and waited for the car to appear.

Not long after, I saw the car approaching, kicking up ash. As if thinking he must not get into an accident under any circumstances, the car was rolling along slowly. Because of that, it took a while for the car to enter the front yard and come to a stop. I watched Gyeol, who had finished parking, let out a sigh of relief while still holding the steering wheel, and chuckled.

“It would’ve been faster to walk.”

Gyeol pouted his lips as he got out of the car.

“Still, it’s faster than walking.”

“I thought my neck was going to break from waiting.”

“Why, were you worried I’d wreck the car?”

Seeing his cheeks puff out as he grumbled, I felt my cheekbones rise so high they ached.

“No? It’s because I missed you.”

I hooked his neck with my forearm, pulled him in, and planted kisses on his temple and cheek, and Gyeol struggled in disgust.

“Stop lying! You said you wouldn’t let me off if I wrecked the car!”

“Yeah, I wasn’t going to let you off. I was thinking of flipping you over and spanking your butt. Like this, smack smack…”

“Don’t touch my butt!”

I was acting like a pervert and groping his butt when I got kicked in the shin. Gyeol said, “Just get the luggage,” and walked around the car towards the trunk. I clenched and unclenched the hand that still remembered the firm, bouncy feeling and pulled at my trousers. I was confused about whether I should consider it fortunate that my lower half was still intact even after overcoming a near-death experience. It was probably fortunate, right? I grinned and approached the trunk, taking the luggage from Gyeol, who was struggling with it.

There were two bedrooms on the second floor, and a sofa in the living room that could be used as a bed, but if we were going to stay here for a few days, it was better to hide the light. We had no choice but to lay out our things in the underground bunker, where a musty smell remained even after cleaning out the ghoul, and made a spot to build a fire. Then we gathered the broken crocks from outside, piled firewood from broken furniture inside one, and used clothes as kindling to start a fire.

It was nice to have a proper fire for the first time in a while; it was bright and warm. We were out of canned food, but we had a few packs of military MREs, so I took one out and prepared it. It was easy to heat up and tasted good, so Gyeol repeatedly said how delicious it was several times.

For someone saying that, he ate a tiny amount. He soon put down his spoon, muttered, “I’m full,” and flopped down on the spot. I said, “You’ll get indigestion if you lie down right after eating,” but Gyeol didn’t even pretend to listen. He was patting his stomach, which was flat and withered from not having eaten much.

Leaving him be, I looked around. Thanks to the fire, the inside of the bunker was much more visible than before. Wondering if there was anything, I started to rummage around.

It had been looted a long time ago, so there was nothing to eat. It was full of useless junk. They were electronic products that were completely useless without electricity. There were tons of things like old film cameras and camcorders, game consoles, massage devices, and heaters. They must have been worried about the electricity getting cut off, as there were also a lot of board games. As I was digging through them, Gyeol propped himself up on his side and asked.

“What’s that?”

The colorful picture on the board game box seemed to have caught his eye.

“It’s a board game.”

“Hal… li… Galli?”

I was busy looking for a first-aid kit or a toolbox, but Gyeol had opened the board game box and was laying out all the contents. He happily rang the small bell that was in the box, making ding, ding sounds, and then started to read the paper with the rules written on it.

“The… youngest person… starts… and play proceeds… clockwise… on your turn… you flip… the top card of the deck…”

He read slowly, furrowing his brow deeply and sounding out the words. He wracked his brain and read for a long time, but it seemed difficult to understand. He patiently read through the rules once, and repeated it several times, but it seemed he still didn’t get it. He pulled on the hem of my clothes as I was opening every single drawer and turning over every single box, and asked.

“How do you play this?”

There was nothing more to search for. Like all the other places, everything useful here had been taken. Thinking I might as well just play with Gyeol, I sat down on the floor and, picking out a card with a strawberry picture from the cards Gyeol had scattered on the floor, said.

“It’s simple. You and I sit facing each other and flip over cards from a pile. When the fruit on the cards adds up to five, you ring the bell.”

I gathered the cards and divided them between Gyeol and myself. I placed the remaining cards face down and set the bell in the middle. Then, as I was flipping cards, five apples appeared, and I rang the bell with a ding.

“It doesn’t matter who rings the bell. The first person to ring it just takes the cards. The person with more cards at the end wins.”

“What if I ring it by mistake?”

“You have to give me one of your cards.”

What started as explaining the rules turned into us actually playing the game. It was funny seeing Gyeol staring at the cards with a level of concentration he had never shown before. Every time a card was flipped, he wouldn’t even blink, and if he thought fruits of a similar color had appeared, his fingers would twitch, ready to ring the bell.

To tease him, even when an apple came out, I would act like a strawberry had appeared, shouting “Ah!” and flinching. Gyeol, falling for it, rang the bell incorrectly several times. In the end, I took all his cards, and he lost. I laughed out loud with a “Haha,” but Gyeol’s expression was not good. He was practically red and blue in the face with anger.

“One more time.”

“Aren’t you just terrible at this?”

“It’s because it’s my first time. One more time!”

This time too, when I tried to trick him by making a fuss, Gyeol got really irritated. Every time I faked, he would pinch and hit my thigh. Then, after a while, he became immune, and no matter how much of a commotion I made, he wasn’t fooled. He became able to accurately count the color, shape, and number of fruits on the cards and would ring the bell like lightning with a ding ding.

In the end, after playing for the third time, Gyeol won. Gyeol shouted “I won!” and threw both his hands up in the air. Seeing him so happy he could die, his face flushed red, was both funny and cute.

“Again, let’s play again!”

“You won, so that’s enough, what’s with playing again.”

“I want to win again. Let’s play again.”

He kept pestering me, so we continued the game. I won a few rounds, but as I got bored and my concentration waned, Gyeol started winning consistently. But as he learned the trick and kept winning, it seemed Gyeol was also losing interest. His expression became indifferent, so I put away the Halli Galli and took out another board game.

“Let’s play this now.”

“What’s that?”

“Jenga.”

I stacked the blocks like a tower and explained the rules. When I said the person who makes the tower collapse while pulling out a block loses, Gyeol boasted.

“That’s easy.”

“It’s easy at first, but as you keep pulling out blocks, the tower becomes unstable, so it’s not just easy.”

“It looks easy, whatever.”

Seeing his arrogant demeanor, I hid the sly look spreading across my lips and said.

“Then want to make a bet?”

“A bet?”

“Yeah. It’s no fun just playing, so let’s change the rules. Come here.”

I sat with my legs spread and patted the space between them. Gyeol, without any suspicion, got up from his spot and plopped down between my legs. Then, as if it were the most natural thing, he leaned his back against my chest and lifted his chin to rub his forehead under my chin. It was an extremely natural and ordinary action, devoid of any thought or consciousness.

Gyeol was often like this. He was defenseless, even though I could devour him at any moment. Even after I had finally cut off and eaten his little finger, he was guileless, without a hint of caution. This side of him would unexpectedly pierce my heart like a dagger. It wasn’t just a feeling; a part of my chest would actually tingle and ache with a sharp, probing pain. The sensation was so sudden and intense that it sometimes frightened me.

I tilted the head of Gyeol, who was tilting his head under my chin and saying “I’m here,” to the side and kissed his exposed nape. A light peck, smack, then that wasn’t enough, so I sucked on the skin with my lips, slurp, before letting go.

“Ugh.”

When I lifted my head from his shrinking shoulders, a reddish mark was left where my lips had been. Admiring it, I slowly lifted the hem of his shirt with my fingertips.

“I’ll distract you while you pull out the blocks. If you make the tower collapse, you lose.”

“Ah… No way, is this the kind of distraction?”

“Yeah. It’s no fun if it’s easy, right?”

I traced his thin side with my fingertips and pinched the small mound of flesh. As I rolled the firm, round nipple back and forth, Gyeol twisted his body and complained.

“I, I don’t think this is right. I’m… ugh, I’m at too much of a disadvantage.”

“I’m giving you a penalty because you said it was easy.”

Even though I was caressing his chest in the way he liked, he didn’t fall for it. He insisted on pulling my hand down and pointed out the flaw in the game.

“If I’m the only one pulling out blocks, I’ll be the one to make the tower collapse, so it’s a game I’ll lose no matter what.”

“…Now that you mention it, you’re right.”

“To be fair, I’ll distract you too, so you pull out blocks too.”

“Alright, whatever. Fine.”

I thought, how much could Gyeol distract me, so I agreed. Then we sat facing each other, with our legs intertwined. Gyeol went first. While he pulled my face close and peppered my cheeks, earlobes, and under my chin with kisses, I easily pulled out the first block.

“Now it’s my turn.”

I grinned and flicked the nipple I had been touching earlier with my fingertip. Gyeol, his neck turning red, swallowed a moan and pulled out a block. Then, as if realizing that a gentle approach wouldn’t work, he quickly pulled up my shirt as soon as it was my turn. He then stuffed the hem of my shirt into my mouth and immediately latched onto my chest.

“You, w-wha…”

I was about to say, “What are you doing,” but I bit down hard. Gyeol gathered my flat chest with his hands and sucked on my flat nipple, slurp slurp, as if he were a baby suckling. More than the physical stimulation from that, the very fact that Gyeol was perfectly mimicking what I did was stimulating. It was lewd to watch him, with his long eyelashes cast down, concentrating on sucking the nipple. As he moved his lips, which were protruding from suckling the nipple, my lower abdomen tightened, and I could feel my penis in my pants swelling as if it would burst.

“…”

I breathed through my nose, my face flushed, and pulled out a block. The tower swayed slightly from my rough breath, but it didn’t collapse. I let go of the shirt hem I had been biting and said.

“It’s your turn now.”

As my shirt hem fell, it covered Gyeol’s head, which had been attached to my chest. When Gyeol sat up, his hair was standing on end from the static electricity caused by rubbing against the clothes. Gyeol stuck out his tongue and licked his wet lips as if he were disappointed. I couldn’t hold back and grabbed his small chin, forcing it open, and crashed my lips onto his.

“Mmm…!”

I thrust my tongue into his narrow, damp, and lukewarm mouth and swirled it around, and Gyeol grimaced and patted my arm. It was undoubtedly a protest, asking how he could possibly pull out a block like this, but I paid no heed. Like a snake, I roamed around the inside of his mouth, which was sweet, soft, and slippery with a pool of saliva. Then I pulled his tongue into my mouth, sucked on it, and gently chewed on the tip.

“Umm, un, uung…”

The moans leaking from his throat were pleasant to hear, so it wasn’t easy to let go of his lips. Only when my penis became so stiff it was painful did I release his lips. Then Gyeol, whose face was dazed and flushed, who had his eyes closed, shot them open and, with a reddish glare, gestured to the Jenga with his chin.

“I pulled one out. It’s your turn now.”

I looked at the Jenga in surprise. No, when did he pull out a block? Thinking it might be a lie, I counted the blocks, but what he said was true. While I was completely absorbed in our kiss, Gyeol had slyly glanced to the side and pulled out a block.

I glared at him resentfully, but I didn’t stop him as he pushed my chest and his hand went to my pants. Gyeol, determined to win, unbuckled my belt, pulled down my zipper, and pulled out my hard penis from within the bulging briefs. The penis, which popped out as if to hit his face, was already hot and wet, emitting a sour, fishy smell. Nevertheless, Gyeol unhesitatingly stuck out his tongue and licked the tip.

I unknowingly tensed all five fingers that were on the floor. Soon, Gyeol, who had been flicking his tongue, opened his mouth and swallowed the head. Then he puckered his lips and began to suck, slurp slurp. I couldn’t bear the pleasure that rushed through me because of it.

“Umm.”

I let out a moan and grabbed his head, pressing it down. His lips opened in a circle and began to swallow my penis. When his mouth was full, Gyeol grimaced as if it were too much and grabbed the remaining shaft with his left hand. That hand, which still had a bandage wrapped around it, somehow felt empty. It was because his little finger was gone.

Seeing that, I felt as if someone had scooped out a large spoonful of my heart. But strangely, my penis grew even harder. An overwhelming love for Gyeol washed over me, followed by a destructive feeling. I wanted to pounce on him right now and chew up not only his remaining four fingers, but also his arms, his torso, his face, his head, his heart, and his penis.

I threw my head back, clenched my teeth, and tightened my grip on his head. Then I bucked my hips and thrusted up into his throat.

“Hook, uk, oop…”

Gyeol let out a pained moan, but I couldn’t stop. Then, as if he couldn’t take it anymore, Gyeol bared his teeth. At the feeling of my penis being bitten, I instinctively tightened my grip on his head.

“Ugh.”

A hot wave of heat spread through my body, and my grip twitched. If I put just a little more force, Gyeol’s small head seemed like it would burst with a pop, like the head of a rotten ghoul. Resisting that bizarre impulse, I bared my teeth and smiled.

“Why, trying to bite it off?”

Gyeol, still with my penis in his mouth, couldn’t answer. He gestured to the side with his watery eyes. Only then did I realize he was demanding that I pull out a block quickly. I couldn’t care less about the game, but it seemed Gyeol did.

I sighed, let go of his head, and moved my hand towards the Jenga. As I carefully chose a block, Gyeol suddenly slid his tongue down my penis and licked it all the way.

“Umm.”

My fingertips trembled from the intense stimulation. I almost knocked over the tower and curled my fingers. Then, slowly, with a pained expression from the feeling of my penis being pulled into a deep place, I looked down at Gyeol.

He was opening his throat. Gulp, gulp, swallowing my thing, he looked up at me with his eyes. Realizing he was determined to make me knock over the tower, I let out a short, “Ha,” and laughed. Then I flicked the tower with my hand, making it collapse with a clatter. As soon as I did, I grabbed his head and emptied my semen into his throat.

“Hoo-eut…! Haa, haa, hauk, ugh.”

I thrusted my hips repeatedly and shot a bucketload of semen into his mouth. Because of that, Gyeol’s face turned red as if it would burst, unable to breathe. As soon as I let go of his head after squeezing out the last drop of semen, he jerked his head up, spat out my penis, and coughed uncontrollably.

“Ugh-! Keuk, cough, heu, cough cough, cough cough…”

Saliva mixed with semen dribbled out of his mouth. I snatched the back of his head again, pushed him to the floor, and at the same time, pressed my lips against his. A bitter, green smell filled his mouth, but the limp tongue inside was sweet. I quickly fumbled with his lower half and pressed my slippery penis against his exposed crotch.

“Hnnng, hnnnngh…!”

With his mouth blocked, Gyeol couldn’t make a sound and just let out nasal moans. I held his head, which was trying to shake free, firmly and thrust my tongue into his defiant, obscene throat as if to penetrate it. In that state, I began to part his tightly closed body. The narrow entrance seemed to stubbornly reject me, but once I got the tip in, things went smoothly. His hole, which had been broken in to fit me perfectly, recognized its owner and began to pucker and greedily swallow the shaft, gulp, gulp.

Finally, when my balls were pressed firmly against his groin, the hole was incredibly comfortable. It was to the point where I never wanted to leave.

Instead of thrusting, I released his lips and looked down at Gyeol. Gyeol, who had opened his mouth wide with a “Puha!” and was gasping for breath, had his face drenched in a mess. With unfocused eyes, he was blankly holding open his upper mouth, which had inner flesh as red as his lower mouth, and the smell of my semen wafted from within. He had an innocent and harmless face like a young animal, yet he was unconsciously lewd. Looking at that face, I slowly thrusted my hips, and he began to purr and moan.

“Ah… Aahng… Uum, a little more…”

“A little more what?”

“A little faster…”

As I pressed down on the top of his head with my palm and quickened my thrusts, Gyeol’s cheeks flushed a rosy red. He moved his plump, swollen lips and made various demands, but it was hard to keep up with his rhythm. I wanted to hear his moans and whimpers a little longer, but my desire had reached its limit, and I couldn’t hold back.

I pulled him into a tight embrace with my forearm and began to pound into him. As I thrust into him intensely, as if to break him, Gyeol’s low moans rose endlessly. Eventually, he began to wail loudly and scream as if he were about to stop breathing.

“Ahk! Ah! Aht, ah, you, too, fa, fast…!”

“Just bear it for a bit.”

“Slo, slowly… my stomach, ahk, feels like, it’s going to… burst… Aaaah!”

The result of the game seemed to have completely vanished from his wailing mind. I smirked and spread the inner flesh that was tightly gripping my thing, and shot my semen deep enough to reach his colon. He must have liked it, because Gyeol couldn’t even scream and just trembled. Soon, he too shot a mess of semen onto my stomach, no less than I had.

I flipped over the twitching and limply starting Gyeol. Then I stripped off his cumbersome clothes and this time, began to enter him from behind. Gyeol, seeming tired, asked, “Again…?” but I answered spitefully.

“Yeah, again.”

“Ah…”

“I played along with you several times.”

“Uuungh…!”

“You have to do it until I’m sick of it too.”

Gyeol mumbled something, but I couldn’t hear it properly. I started round two, clinging to his back, which was damp with sweat, and sucking on his earlobe.

🖤

‘…Mo, Mom.’

I reached out and grabbed the hem of the woman’s clothes as she turned to leave as soon as she put down the food. The woman felt her clothes being pulled and stopped in her tracks, looking back at me, who was trapped in an iron cage.

I had stopped the woman with some kind of expectation, but the moment our eyes met, my fingers curled. Because of that, I almost let go of the clothes I was holding.

There was no emotion in the woman’s eyes. Not a shred of affection, not even a hint of guilt or the slightest bit of curiosity. Therefore, I couldn’t tell if calling the woman ‘Mom’ to survive was the right thing to do. I knew that one called the woman who gave birth to them ‘Mom,’ but no one had ever told me that she was my mother.

The thought that the woman might be my mother was purely a hunch. The woman’s appearance was somehow familiar, and every time she appeared, my eyes were drawn to her, and I felt a pull. I was certain that if someone had created me, it could only be that woman.

But the woman, as if she didn’t know what the word ‘Mom’ meant, asked a question back.

‘What did you just say?’

At her accusatory tone, as if I had done something terribly wrong, I flinched but summoned my courage. With the feeling of grasping at straws, I spoke to the woman I presumed had given birth to me.

‘Mom.’

The woman’s expression became strange. She widened her eyes slightly and muttered to herself as if it were unexpected.

‘Mom, you say…?’

As she mulled it over, a strange light flickered in the woman’s eyes. For some reason, I became frightened and let go of her clothes. But at that moment, the woman snatched my hand and pulled.

‘…!’

My body was yanked by the strong grip, and I was practically stuck to the iron bars. The woman who had pulled my hand mercilessly rubbed her face against it. The feeling of a living person’s nose and lips rubbing against my palm, which was sweating from tension, was indescribably strange. It was even more so because the woman pressed her nose between my fingers and inhaled the scent with a deep sniff. Soon, she stuck out her tongue and licked my palm, which would have been salty with sweat, and then, with a smirk, she said.

‘You look delicious.’

Only then did I realize what was glistening in the woman’s eyes.

Appetite.

I was horrified and quickly pulled my hand away from the woman who was licking her lips and salivating. Then I frantically rubbed my palm, which had the terrible sensation remaining, against my chest as if it were on fire. When I looked up, the woman was nowhere to be seen, and a familiar person was standing there.

It was Gyeol.

He had his own little finger in his mouth. He sucked on it as if eating it, and when he pulled it out, the little finger that should have been attached to the last joint of his left hand was nowhere to be found. As the words, “What happened to your little finger,” were about to escape my lips, Gyeol smiled sweetly and asked.

‘It’s delicious, right?’

“…!”

I woke up from my sleep, shuddering.

I sat up, my body drenched in a cold sweat, and saw Gyeol lying next to me. He had fallen asleep right after we had sex, and at the commotion, he let out a “Umm,” and turned over.

I noticed his left hand resting on his chest as he lay on his back. That hand was missing its little finger.

I stared at it blankly, then grabbed my bangs, from which sweat was dripping, and pushed them up. Then, so that Gyeol wouldn’t hear, I let out a low sigh and relaxed my tense, bulging shoulders.

For the first time in a long time, I had slept in a house, a place I considered safe, not in a car or outdoors, so I had slept too deeply. I had a dream I had never had before, and it seemed to be a nightmare.

It was strange that I could see the woman’s face so clearly, even though it was a dream. Was it because she looked just like me? I had had similar dreams several times before, but it always ended with her appearing as I had last seen her. With her neck bitten and covered in blood. Because of that, the taste of blood and flesh that had lingered in my mouth was more vivid than her appearance.

I unknowingly raised my hand and touched the wound on my neck, which was healing. It was where Gyeol had bitten me. From the way it was healing, it looked like a scar would remain in the shape of his bite marks. As I stroked it, the dizzying feeling of the moment I was being eaten by him came back to life.

It would have been good if I had been eaten alive by Gyeol right then and there. The fact that I was having such thoughts proved that my affection was undoubtedly severely twisted and distorted, too brutal to be called love. But for me, I couldn’t find a better way to prove my feelings than to offer my flesh and blood, my life.

Gyeol was the same. He had never uttered anything resembling love, but hadn’t he saved me by cutting off his little finger?

I reached out and swept the disheveled hair from his forehead. Gently, my touch brushing his eyebrows and ears must have been annoying, because Gyeol turned over once more. As he lay on his side, I remembered that we had moved to the bed in the room, had another round, and fallen asleep without cleaning up. I lifted the blanket and saw that semen had dried white on his buttocks.

With a tsk, I clicked my tongue and brought my hand to his buttocks. I pushed my finger into the clenched hole and spread it open, and the semen, which had been trapped inside his body and had not yet cooled, trickled out. I pretended not to notice Gyeol moaning, “Uung,” and rubbing his front against the bedding, and took off the pillowcase to wipe it clean.

When I covered Gyeol with the blanket again, he soon fell asleep, breathing softly. He looked so soundly asleep that it seemed he wouldn’t know even if the world ended right now. Gyeol was a sleepyhead who would fall asleep as soon as his head hit the ground. For me, who slept lightly and always woke up every hour or two, it was a strange thing.

I got up, roughly gathered the scattered clothes and put them on, and left the bunker, going up to the ground floor. When I went outside the living room, it was already broad daylight, as I had overslept. The sky, covered with clouds, was gloomy but high, so it didn’t seem like it would rain ash. The air, mixed with ash, was murky but dry and crisp.

I thought about wanting a cigarette and smacked my lips. I originally had some tobacco left, but I had lost it during various incidents. Feeling regretful, I walked around the house and then towards the mountain. As I walked along the slope, I saw traces of cultivated land. A greenhouse, with only its frame remaining, stood with a gloomy appearance. As I wandered through the gaps, I discovered a large water tank. Sometimes when I wandered around farmhouses, I would see things like this placed to collect rainwater or groundwater.

The water collected in the tank was rotting and unusable, but a large hose was lying nearby. I followed the decaying hose and saw a dilapidated farmhouse. Next to it, a water pump was lying on its side.

I quickly approached it, cleared away the thick layer of ash, and set the pump upright. Just in case, I tried to turn on the pump, but it didn’t work. Instead, the hose on the other side was connected to somewhere, so I followed it.

Not long after, I found a concrete structure buried in the ground. It seemed to be a water tank, a facility built to supply water to the nearby fields.

The lid made of hardened concrete was slightly ajar, and a hose was inserted through the gap. I didn’t have the heart to go inside, so I looked around, picked up a stone, and dropped it inside. Soon, I heard the sound of a stone falling into water with a plop. I was certain that there was still water at the bottom.

The pump was broken, so I had to use a classic method. I went down to the house and looked for a bucket that could be used for drawing water. The handle was broken, so I removed it and used a rope and a carabiner to simply make a well bucket. I took it back to the water tank and tied the end of the rope to a tree stump that had all its branches broken off. Then I threw the well bucket into the tank and pulled it up.

I could feel the bucket getting heavier and the liquid sloshing inside. Soon, when I put the bucket on the ground, I saw that it was about half full of water. The water looked clear at a glance and didn’t have a rotting smell. I scooped up some water with my hand and took a sip.

The water was sweet and cool. It was a taste that couldn’t be compared to the rainwater mixed with ash or the murky water collected at the bottom of a river. I plunged my head into it and gulped down the water, then washed my wet face. While I was at it, I even dunked my head and scrubbed it vigorously, then came to my senses when I saw that my clothes were completely soaked.