HARD 23

—…You know that kid who used to follow you around? The gloomy bastard.

Embarrassingly, in that moment, Go Woonha glanced at Cha Gyuwon. There’s another gloomy bastard right here. But he’s not Simon, and even though he’s gloomy, he’s not annoying.

Go Woonha went to the bed and swept his fingertips over Cha Gyuwon’s bare back. The thick back flinched and twitched. Looking at it, he thought that his back irezumi looked quite good. Just as he said, it seemed to have its pretty aspects. Especially the carp scales.

He poked the carp’s eyes with his index and middle fingers as he drew out his words.

“I feel like I might remember, and I feel like I might not.”

—The restraining order against you has expired. That’s why I called to check if he’d contacted you, but it’s a relief you’re in Korea.

“Oh. Right.”

Go Woonha chuckled despite not even remembering. Cha Gyuwon shuffled closer to him and wrapped his arms around his waist. After hesitating, he parted his lips and licked the space between Go Woonha’s hard stomach and his side. Go Woonha looked down, made Cha Gyuwon lift his head, and hooked a finger into the corner of his mouth.

Cha Gyuwon was still not good at kissing or fellatio. He kept asking how much his skills had improved, how much fresher they had become, but compared to the worldly-wise Go Woonha, he wasn’t even a novice yet. At his plea to please be honest, Go Woonha gave a merciless evaluation every time, and Cha Gyuwon would get sullen before taking on the challenge again. Another time, he had brought a whole bunch of bananas, so Go Woonha had made him practice in front of him. It was an interesting spectacle.

“Anyway, I won’t be going back for a while, so don’t worry.”

—Even when you get back, you bastard. Be careful.

Go Woonha listened to the advice given with a click of the tongue in one ear and let it out the other, as usual. Go Woonha considered himself to be very lucky. It was his way to quickly forget bad incidents or not give them much meaning.

“Then we’re good, right? I’m hanging up.”

Go Woonha subtly looked down at Cha Gyuwon, who was licking his finger with all his heart and soul. He ignored the voice saying, “Wait a minute,” ended the call, and threw his phone onto the floor. Then he turned Cha Gyuwon’s large body over and straddled his chest.

“Should I do it, or will you give it a try, Mr. Cha Gyuwon?”

Cha Gyuwon’s cheeks flushed grapefruit pink as his lips moved.

“I’ll do it.”

Go Woonha smiled with satisfaction and pulled down the elastic waistband of his pants. Thwump, and his well-formed penis was revealed. Cha Gyuwon started by sucking on the glans at the tip of Go Woonha’s penis. Sighing in satisfaction, Go Woonha leaned his upper body back. Then, with his arms, he found and gripped Cha Gyuwon’s penis.

Before long, the very dark room was filled with rough breathing.

Only the cute, glow-in-the-dark stars twinkled on the ceiling.

👟

“The avocado is perfectly ripe.”

Go Woonha tossed the avocado up and caught it. Cha Gyuwon looked at Go Woonha with a prim glare and said.

“Hyung. Please put on some clothes.”

“Why? It’s a service because it seems your skills have improved a bit, Mr. Gyuwon.”

“It’s because I think you’ll catch a cold…”

“It’d be a problem if I caught a cold. For you, Mr. Cha Gyuwon.”

Go Woonha put his hand through the opening of the apron wrapped around Cha Gyuwon’s body, swept it over his abs, and subtly teased him.

Then, it suddenly occurred to him that he might be sleeping with this guy too often these days.

It was truly frequent. In the week since that presentation, they had met almost every day, except for perhaps one or two.

Lost in thought, Go Woonha absentmindedly kneaded Cha Gyuwon’s hand. Perhaps thinking it lacked a satisfying grip, his hand then naturally moved to squeeze Cha Gyuwon’s thigh. It was like a boulder. His hand was stealthily heading toward his butt.

“Hyuung.”

Cha Gyuwon let out a crying sound.

“I’m holding a knife, you know…”

“Ah. Right.”

“Please be careful. I don’t want to hurt you, hyung…”

“Really? I’m fine with it.”

Go Woonha glanced at the knife and grinned.

“There’s something I want to do next time, will you do it for me?”

“……”

Cha Gyuwon looked at him with suspicious eyes. At the gaze that was openly filled with distrust, Go Woonha burst out laughing and picked up a piece of tomato that Cha Gyuwon had sliced.

“What’s with that? I’m your angel, Mr. Gyuwon.”

“……”

“Is it okay to look at an angel like that?”

“I’m happy I got to meet you here thanks to you not being in heaven, hyung, but I don’t wish for you to go to hell.”

“Hell is fun.”

“……”

“Just kidding. But I won’t ask for anything too scary.”

Couldn’t I just slowly raise the intensity level? Go Woonha smiled brightly and chewed on the tomato. He ate it as if to show off, then grabbed Cha Gyuwon’s chin, pulled him close, and planted a loud kiss on his cheek. In an instant, Cha Gyuwon’s expression melted into a silly grin.

“It’s a fresh tomato, isn’t it?”

Cha Gyuwon shyly nodded his head.

Today’s breakfast was a sandwich with guacamole on well-toasted bread. Go Woonha ate cilantro very well too, so he had sprinkled a little on. Cha Gyuwon couldn’t eat even a bit of cilantro.

“The bread is amazing, isn’t it?”

Toasting the bread in a pan was all Go Woonha had done. Cha Gyuwon, who had done all the rest of the work, nodded his head.

“It’s toasted truly perfectly.”

It was clear that it was one of two things: either Cha Gyuwon had great resilience when it came to Go Woonha, or Go Woonha was truly so good at toasting bread that he had won Cha Gyuwon over. The atmosphere full of distrust completely vanished, and Cha Gyuwon’s eyes were filled only with trust.

Go Woonha, realizing that not only was he meeting this guy too often but that he had also become accustomed to sleeping at his house, suddenly found that gaze a little burdensome. I haven’t done anything for him, why is he looking at me like that? Go Woonha, with a barely-there smile, lowered his head and ate his open-faced sandwich.

“What are you doing today?”

“Why? Is there something you want to do?”

“Can’t we play that game we played before again?”

He was talking about the idol-raising game. It was multiplayer, you could choose your gender, and depending on your choices, it could be divided into an exploration type, a simple raising type, or a dating simulation. Apart from its good gameplay, it was a minor game that was easily misunderstood and underrated because of its regrettably niche design. A so-called ssipdeok game.

Go Woonha had been the one to suggest it first. When he rummaged through his game collection, Cha Gyuwon had been fidgeting beside him. Like a person whose collection of bizarre sex toys gathered from all over the world had just been discovered. Of course, even if something like that were to happen, Go Woonha wouldn’t bat an eye.

Cha Gyuwon’s angel had no prejudice. Go Woonha didn’t call him a ssipdeok or a gloomy otaku bastard, nor did he find some illegal and morally bankrupt image from somewhere, shove it in his face, and condemn him by asking if he liked this kind of thing too. He purely enjoyed what looked fun without prejudice, and that time was a kind of therapy for Cha Gyuwon. No, that moment itself was a gift to Cha Gyuwon. Peeling away, one layer at a time, the suspicion that had piled up from layers of misunderstanding, making him wonder if he really was that kind of bastard.

“Ah. We’re almost done with that one, aren’t we? I think my character is going to become the demon king.”

“I think my character will become the hero. If we keep playing, we should be able to unlock the hidden event. It said that if the two characters become the demon king and the hero, they fight.”

“A fight between brothers?”

Go Woonha’s interest was piqued, but he hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.

“Sorry. I’ll have to do it next time. I have to go to work tomorrow.”

At those words, Cha Gyuwon was disappointed but resigned himself to it as if there was no other choice.

Go Woonha was a working adult who commuted to a respectable company every day. There was no way to hold him back.

“By the way, maybe because your room is dark, Mr. Cha Gyuwon, I sleep well. I’m thinking of making my house like that too.”

“Ah, no.”

Cha Gyuwon shook his head, thinking of his room. It was closer to a nest, and indeed a solid fortress he had built for his own solace.

“Bright places suit you well, hyung…”

At the dispirited Cha Gyuwon’s words, Go Woonha replied blankly.

“I’m telling you I can’t sleep, okay? Because it’s bright.”

“……”

Cha Gyuwon couldn’t help but laugh.

But inside, he was still thinking about his house and his lifestyle.

A house that Go Woonha, that hyung, that angel, visits every time. If he doesn’t, he can’t go out first or ask him on a date. He had tried a few times, but without Go Woonha, he sweated so much that he just looked like a large thug sweating profusely in dark clothes. A bright person, a cooler person would suit Go Woonha better…

Cha Gyuwon looked at Go Woonha with a wistful expression and licked his lips. Go Woonha just thought, our Mr. Cha Gyuwon is spinning a whole scenario by himself again. He was sorry, but such movies and dramas were not to Go Woonha’s taste, so he wasn’t even curious. Still, these days it seemed he would do it in moderation and then stop.

Instead of telling him not to have useless thoughts, Go Woonha asked with a smiling eyes.

“Shall we have some coffee?”

Go Woonha knew well how to handle Cha Gyuwon, and in his own opinion, he thought there was nothing he didn’t know about Cha Gyuwon anymore.

I’ve figured everything out, so just how long will this interest last? Lately, that was Go Woonha’s new question. Where the end of this game, which strangely moves on to the next stage every time it seems about to end, would be.

👟

“Team Leader. I contacted the artist, BearB, that you mentioned, and the reply came back that they are currently not accepting new work due to personal reasons.”

Monday morning meeting. Go Woonha frowned upon hearing the name of the artist who had made him wait for quite a long time, starting to annoy him, and their response.

“Personal reasons?”

“Yes.”

“And did you attempt to negotiate, saying we could match the compensation they desire?”

“I did present the offer, but it doesn’t seem like it will be easy.”

Go Woonha, who had been tapping the desk with the back of his pen, thought about the promotion schedules he had been paying special attention to in order to expand their market further into the Asian sphere, especially China, after finalizing the contract renewal. The locations for the video advertisements had already been scouted, and all that was left was to coordinate the schedule, but looking at other people’s work, he wasn’t drawn to any of it. Since it was no longer an era where athletes only advertised sports-related brands, he was trying to highlight a somewhat different direction, but now he was in a bind.

“I’ll contact them myself.”

Go Woonha resolved to at least try meeting them in person. He was getting stubborn.

He received the email address and sent an email as soon as the meeting was over. Just as the first reply had taken a while, he was prepared to wait up to three days, but thankfully, a reply came from BearB before the end of the workday.

In summary, the plan was still not to increase their workload as they were busy with their personal schedule, but Go Woonha just couldn’t bring himself to give up.

He wrote a reply.

He asked for at least a chance to meet once. He also dangled a carrot, saying he would explain in person and accommodate the artist’s schedule as much as possible.

On his way home from work, an email arrived in his car, so Go Woonha waited until he was stopped at a light and immediately opened it.

From: BearB

I do not hold separate meetings. A video conference is possible. However, I am extremely reluctant to show my face, so I will not be sharing my screen. If you are okay with that, I will consider it.