HARD 5

Go Woonha held out his hand. The child, looking quite pleased by the handshake offered by an adult, grasped it with a triumphant expression.

“Hyung, did you move in? I haven’t seen you before.”

Now that we’re buddies, he calls me hyung instead of Mister… Woonha shook his head.

“No. I’m here to see a friend.”

“Wow. Is that friend also twelve years older than you?”

How many years apart is that? I have no idea… Go Woonha just smiled faintly. When his new adult friend said nothing, the child, unable to wait for the gap to close, fired off a barrage of questions.

“What are you going to do for fun? I have to go do my workbooks. My teacher is supposed to come over. Hyung, do you know Noonnoppimon? Have you ever tried it?”

Of course I haven’t…

“Are you going to get tutored together? Are you good at studying?”

I don’t know about studying. He wasn’t very good at sex, though.

But he couldn’t very well say that out loud. Seeing that the child’s floor was approaching, Go Woonha answered in a way that was appropriate for all ages.

“Hyung and hyung’s friend are going to work out and have fun.”

Fortunately, the time came to part with his new friend right before he could ask what kind of workout. The child waved his hand, his disappointment palpable. Just before the doors closed, he didn’t forget to shout a piece of advice.

“Hyung! Watch out for the samjae! Samjae!”

As he went up to Cha Gyuwon’s home on the 3rd floor, Go Woonha searched for “samjae.” There were things like “how to avoid samjae,” “how to ward off bad luck,” and so on, but it was all yawn-inducing nonsense.

“I don’t even believe in horoscopes.”

In the US, people were, of course, unaware of things like saju, but they tended to have blind faith in horoscopes instead. Go Woonha had always lived spontaneously, doing as he pleased, so he’d never been curious or worried about the future and thus had no interest in such things.

Is Cha Gyuwon like that too?

Only after arriving at his home did he become slightly curious about Cha Gyuwon. Though he wasn’t sure if he would still be thinking about such trivial things once they were actually face to face.

His body, fraught with pent-up desire, felt stiff and sluggish, as if he hadn’t worked out in a very long time, and his head was foggy. Go Woonha pressed the doorbell to Cha Gyuwon’s home.

Ah, see. I’m already not curious about him anymore. Because I want to get to the fun part.

Go Woonha smiled quietly.

After a good while, not waiting for the door to open just a crack, Go Woonha pulled it wide open and, with his characteristically melancholic yet gentle smile, asked in a sweet voice.

“Why did you stand me up?”

Cha Gyuwon’s eyes, which were looking up at Go Woonha due to his own hunched-over posture, trembled violently.

👟

Go Woonha sat on a stool and slowly spun around.

The atmosphere of the house was quite different from what he had imagined when he heard from Cha Gyuhan that his younger brother never left the house and that his visit to their place that day had been a rare occurrence.

It seemed like it would be gloomy without artificial lighting because of the blackout curtains, but under the lights, the house was well-organized and felt loved. It had the air of being well-cared for according to the owner’s personal taste. A lot of game consoles, a lot of manga on the bookshelf… no, there are just a lot of books. Are those all Blu-rays?

“…Here you go.”

“Ah. Thank you.”

Go Woonha turned his body again at the sound of a deep, low voice from behind him and smiled brightly.

“The house is a bit…”

“Dark?”

Cha Gyuwon cut Woonha off, asking a bit aggressively.

“No, that the house is a bit interesting. Looks like there’s a lot to do. The dark interior just seems like your preference.”

It’s no wonder he doesn’t want to leave.

Unlike Cha Gyuwon’s preemptively sharp reaction, Go Woonha didn’t really have any strong feelings about it. As such, he had nothing to judge. In any case, how Cha Gyuwon lived or whether he was satisfied with his life was not a major issue for him. Doesn’t everyone live by compromising to a certain extent?

“Why did you come to my house?”

Cha Gyuwon stood to the side, his head bowed low, and mumbled.

“Ah, you’re not even going to show me your face? Sit in front of me and let’s talk. I feel like I’m the homeowner here.”

Go Woonha said with a friendly cheekiness. But Cha Gyuwon remained standing, avoiding Go Woonha’s gaze.

“I was worried because you weren’t coming out no matter how long I waited. I’m sorry for showing up so suddenly. But did you really not hear from your brother that I was coming? You two seem to have a good brotherly bond.”

There was no excuse or explanation for the fact that he had been lying naked in that good brotherly hyung’s bed. It would have been the same even if Cha Gyuwon had only discovered him that day instead of pouncing on him.

Cha Gyuwon glanced at Go Woonha, and when their eyes met, he flinched in surprise and curled up again, tucking his chin toward his chest.

He startles like a squirrel. But if he were a squirrel, he’d be a really big one. A squirrel that accidentally got injected with some super-soldier serum and grew to be, at a rough estimate, 190cm tall.

“…I never said I was going out.”

“Is that so? I thought we had a date set up… If it was a misunderstanding, that’s a real shame. I came out with high expectations.”

“Why?”

Suddenly, Cha Gyuwon’s voice turned sharp.

“Why do you think? Because I wanted to see you, Mr. Cha Gyuwon.”

Go Woonha rested his chin on his clasped hands and smiled with his eyes.

Cha Gyuwon glanced at Go Woonha, then suddenly started pacing around the house. After walking frantically from one end of the kitchen to the other, he stopped dead and asked grimly.

“You said you’d hang out with me outside. My brother told me so. You heard about my condition and that’s why you said it, right?”

“To be honest, ‘outside’ was just an excuse. I’m fine with playing inside.”

Go Woonha spoke with the full intention of stripping his clothes off and laying him down right then and there. However, Cha Gyuwon muttered quickly, as if he hadn’t heard him.

“You’re doing this because you feel sorry for me after hearing my story, aren’t you? You have lots of friends, you hang out outside often, and you’re obviously the center of attention wherever you go. Why would you want to do anything with a gloomy guy like me? If it’s pity, then no thanks. I’m comfortable here.”

Of course he’d be comfortable… This is a ridiculously expensive building constructed under the motto of providing everything you need without having to go out.

Go Woonha once again slowly looked around the interior.

A very beautiful home, filled to the brim with Cha Gyuwon’s hobbies and tastes, with everything arranged in a tone-on-tone style centered around the black leather sofa, right down to the perfectly placed accent colors.

“Who pities you, Mr. Cha Gyuwon?”

Go Woonha asked back in a genuinely puzzled tone.

“That’s really strange. Why on earth would they? Pity Mr. Gyuwon, who lives in a nice house like this, fully enjoying all the hobbies he wants.”

At those words, Cha Gyuwon slowly raised his head.

Go Woonha was leaning his arms on the island bar, looking at the living room, so he wasn’t looking his way. His body, seated at an angle, was slender and well-proportioned. But he knew very well from seeing it firsthand that under those clothes, he was very firm. His eyes were always sparkling, and when he smiled, it was as bright and soft as a vanilla flower blooming. He was the complete opposite of himself. Cha Gyuwon swallowed hard.

“You have a successful hyung to fall back on, you have family money, you get to do only what you like in a nice place without having to see people you dislike. I think people might envy you. Aren’t you the only one who pities yourself, Mr. Cha Gyuwon?”

The handsome man with the gentle features turned to look at him. He flinched when their eyes met, but a crooked smile he had never seen before was playing on his lips, so Cha Gyuwon couldn’t turn his head away this time.

“You’re really immature, Mr. Cha Gyuwon.”

Go Woonha chided him in a tone as sweet as honey and as tender as cotton candy.

He hadn’t come to console Cha Gyuwon. He disliked self-pity even more. If he had said he just didn’t want to do anything, he would have said okay. But wallowing was not a fun game for Cha Gyuwon, for himself, or for anyone else. Feeling his rising sexual desire completely dissipate, Go Woonha stood up from his seat. Then he picked up the teacup and drank it all in one go.

“Thank you for the tea. And I’m sorry for just leaving that day. There’s no need for me to stay any longer if you don’t want me to, right, Mr. Cha Gyuwon?”

Go Woonha picked up the jacket he had taken off, tucked it under his arm, and turned around without hesitation. He took out his phone and searched for the contact information of a US soldier he had known a few years ago. He thought he’d mentioned coming to Korea or not back then, so he wondered if he was still here. How far is Pyeongtaek from here?

“Wa-wa-wa-wait a minute.”

Just then, there was a heavy thud. When he turned around, he saw Cha Gyuwon emerging awkwardly from behind the island bar. In his large hands, he was holding a dainty glass bottle that looked comically out of place.

“Th-th-th-this, take this…!”

The subsequent series of thuds was the sound of Cha Gyuwon clumsily bumping into things. Cha Gyuwon, who was approaching with a limp, tripped over his own feet in his haste. Seeing him tilting forward, Go Woonha took the hand that had been stuck in his pocket out, trying to block the door-sized man from falling onto him with both hands.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

But everything happened in an instant, before he could fully prepare.

With a crash, the glass bottle Cha Gyuwon was holding shattered. A sweet fragrance wafted up powerfully. A tangy scent came with it. The balance of sour and sweet was so perfect it made his mouth water.

“What is this…”

Go Woonha tilted his head up to look at the substance that had splashed and drenched his neck and chest.

Grapefruit pulp was scattered all around next to his face.

“…Grapefruit?”

Above Go Woonha, who was muttering, Cha Gyuwon groaned, then scrambled to his feet.

He turned pale upon seeing the incident he had caused. His skin, which was pale enough to be anemic, likely from not going out much, turned pink with embarrassment.

Absurdly, it was the exact color of grapefruit.

Go Woonha muttered again, this time toward Cha Gyuwon.

“Is this grapefruit…?”

“D-don’t move! You’ll get hurt!”

Cha Gyuwon didn’t know what to do about the shattered glass scattered on the floor.

But to get up, he had to first place his hands on the floor. Seeing Go Woonha unconsciously reaching out a hand, Cha Gyuwon snatched it and wrapped it around his own neck.

“You’ll get hurt!”

The gloomy voice burst out loudly.

Is he… is he a bear?

Go Woonha thought of the California grizzly bear, said to be extinct.

Cha Gyuwon wrapped Go Woonha’s arms around his neck, held him by the waist, and then shot to his feet using only the strength of his thighs, without even touching the floor.

It was incredible lower body and core strength.

“Wow… Mr. Cha Gyuwon…”

Go Woonha muttered, his face beaming.

“Let’s go to the bathroom first. I-I’m wearing slippers.”

Every time Cha Gyuwon took a step, there was a crunch crunch sound. Go Woonha’s eyes sparkled as he tightened his arms around Cha Gyuwon’s neck.

“You startled me… I was scared, Mr. Gyuwon.”

And he feigned distress, leaning his head against his chest.

At those words, Cha Gyuwon’s chest puffed out dramatically.

The bathroom they entered was quite large. Unseen by Cha Gyuwon, Go Woonha gave the door a slight nudge with his foot, closing it slightly.

Only after setting Go Woonha down in the bathtub did Cha Gyuwon seem to come to his senses a little. Go Woonha, who was sitting in an awkward position, saw the “oh, shoot” expression on his face and quickly lifted his sticky shirt, saying.

“Can I borrow a change of clothes?”