M 6

Aphrodisiacs? Sehwa raised his head in surprise. If torture was the intention, there were countless more effective drugs available. Just thinking about it, there were over ten different options. But, it was not like that man would use aphrodisiacs if he knew about it.

Anyway, the instructions themselves weren’t too difficult. The problem was his thoroughly beaten body. Whether he licked it with his tongue or inhaled it through his nose, he needed to hold that glass pane in his hand to consume it. Even sitting up was difficult for him, as he trembled like a newborn animal trying to stand on wobbly legs.

Ki Tae-jeong’s feet caught his attention and it was turned at an angle. He tapped the floor with his toes in a steady rhythm as his legs bent crookedly. It seemed to be estimating an angle to kick him again. So, what was he supposed to do? Ki Tae-jeong was well aware that Sehwa was not in a position to move right now. Frustrated, he looked up and saw Ki Tae-jeong smiling gleefully.

The view kept getting blurry, so Sehwa blinked his eyes in an attempt to focus, but tears streamed down his cheeks. It was just a physiological reaction. He wasn’t crying out of fear or sadness, absolutely not. However, Ki Tae-jeong seemed to interpret it in a different way. He smirked and made an ambiguous gesture as if he were going to let it slide.​

Sehwa bit his lips to hide a sigh. It wasn’t just about wounded pride… His gestures only added to the confusion. In that context, what could he do? What could he say? Grumbling to himself in frustration, Sehwa suddenly wondered if there was a deeper meaning behind his gaze. When he unintentionally met his gaze as he peered through his blurred vision, he automatically lowered his head.

Sehwa’s usually indifferent expression turned sharp. Ki Tae-jeong wanted him to get down and lick it like a dog. Sehwa wanted to grab his past self who had been captivated by Ki Tae-jeong and shake him. Ki Tae-jeong was worse than the perverts who said they would repay him twice as much if he did them a favor.

“I don’t know if you are clueless or not.”

​“…”​

“So are you going to do it or not? It seems like I’m already talking about this for the second time.”

I flinched again at the soft voice pouring into my head. Alright, I’ll do it. Sehwa mumbled timidly and leaned down. Bowing seemed to cause less pain than sitting, but as his knees pressed against his stomach, he couldn’t help but wince in pain and broke into a cold sweat. The throbbing pain reminded him of the irritable pain he felt when he saw the man in front of him.

Anyway, it was his own fault, and if Ki Tae-jeong had thought about Sehwa’s situation, he would not have asked him to do such things. Sehwa bowed his head and brought his face closer to the floor as instructed. He couldn’t pick up anything to eat because his fingers were already filthy from wiping away blood and saliva. He pressed his face up against the glass, stuck out his tongue, and lightly licked the powder. During the process, he cast a brief glance at Ki Tae-jeong. As if to say, he wanted this position, which resembled giving a man a blowjob.

“You’re doing good.”

It was an unpleasant compliment. He couldn’t stand to hear him say that he was good. Sehwa swallowed the powder that had clung to his tongue and the roof of his mouth. Even though he wanted to figure out what it was, his mouth was torn, and the only sensations he could feel were the taste of bitter blood and a fishy scent.

“Anything else.”

Sehwa licked the glass with the tip of his tongue. As if it were a habit, Sehwa meticulously ran his tongue across the back of his teeth, the roof of his mouth, and inside his cheeks. Suddenly, he had a strange feeling and examined his own body. Unbeknownst to himself, Sehwa had straightened his previously hunched body. He could feel his bloody nose drying up, and the pain seemed to subside slightly.

A new glass plate was placed on the floor before he could say anything. This time, there were four different types, all of which were white powders. Sehwa ate them without waiting for Ki Tae-jeong to say anything because he didn’t want to hear any nonsense.

After that, the plate that was placed again had a composition similar to the one eaten at the beginning. Sehwa crumpled his brow and carefully rolled his tongue. As the blood stopped and the pain subsided, little by little he was able to distinguish the taste. These were definitely something he had never tasted before, and they weren’t aphrodisiacs.

“Oh. You aren’t aroused?”

He teased. Sehwa slowly raised his body.​

“… It must be a drug used only in the military.”​

“Right. It’s useful during operations.”​

Ki Tae-jeong nodded as if it was nothing extraordinary for internal organs to be damaged during combat.

“There are better drugs in the unit, but this is all I have right now. But your body is okay now, right?”

Giving medication after inflicting pain? Sehwa was dumbfounded but he tried not to show disrespect as much as possible. It was literally true. He was perplexed as to why he had done such a troublesome thing, but now Ki Tae-jeong was bragging to him. Ki Tae-jeong could literally drive him to the brink of insanity before giving him relief. So he should listen to him well.

Having shown how he could toy with him, Sehwa expected the real point to come now. And he also realized that he must not provoke Ki Tae-jeong’s emotions from now on.

“Then what about this?”

Sehwa’s shoulders tensed unconsciously. The learned fear rushed in, but there was no time for it to take hold. It was because Ki Tae-jeong personally handed him the plate for tasting this time. It almost looked like a proposal from the way he was kneeling with one knee on the ground and holding the glass plate with both hands.

Sehwa hesitated and leaned towards the glass plate. It was an awkward posture, neither fully lying down nor sitting properly. Now, he could simply use his hands to scoop and eat, but with him presenting it so elaborately, it seemed to mean that he should continue to lick it. Sehwa did not hide his discomfort and poked at the powder with his tongue as if pecking at birdseed to taste it.

“… Ah, this is definitely an aphrodisiac. From the left, Gahara, Karona, and Sering.”​

​“Sering?”​

“It’s a slang. It’s a refinement of Karona, made a little milder. Among several variations, it’s the most popular drug. It mixes well with alcohol and it’s relatively less addictive…”

He swallowed his follow-up comment about how well it sells. Ki Tae-jeong’s eyes staring at his face were burdensome. Did it bother him that he talked a lot about the field he knew? Sehwa lowered his eyes again in embarrassment, and Ki Tae-jeong tapped his forehead with his index finger. It felt like he was smiling softly at him. What’s with the sudden tender touch? Feeling embarrassed, Sehwa awkwardly rubbed the spot where Ki Tae-jeong’s hand had touched.

Alternating between the whip and the carrot was a common tactic used to tame gullible fools who came to sell themselves instead of paying off their debts. It may be predictable, but the effect was guaranteed. Sehwa’s current state of mind was exactly like that. Having gone through the ordeal of being humiliated by Ki Tae-jeong and even vomiting blood. It had only been a few minutes since he had trembled with the certainty that Ki Tae-jeong would make him suffer in agony. He hoped that his touch, offered as a sign of forgiveness, would bring some relief. This was why they say ignorant people can’t see it.

“I thought he brought you around to fuck you when he’s bored, but you’re a lot better than I thought…” ​

Sehwa’s brow furrowed as he was immersed in conflicting sentiments. It was a taunt no different from those of the guys in the House, but hearing it in that pleasant voice felt somewhat different. It made him feel more embarrassed and ashamed. It seemed like he deliberately chose vulgar expressions… Ah, could it be because of his appearance? Well, he looked too handsome for a soldier. Maybe that’s why he was deliberately being so low and vulgar. Sehwa couldn’t say for sure.

“I know for sure that you weren’t just a porter who dedicated his body to transporting medicine.”

​“…”​

“Did Lieutenant Kim ever ask you to roll medicine in different combinations?”

“That…”​

“Yes, or no.”

Sehwa clenched his jaw so hard that he thought it would fall off. Ki Tae-jeong’s breath was so close that it reached his chin.

“Did you learn nothing but gambling, constantly waiting for the right timing and inventory?”

Ki Tae-jeong hit Sehwa’s cheek with the back of his hand as if to make him come to his senses. It was more like patting than hitting, but his terrified body flinched reflexively because of the previous experience.

“It’s okay to play dumb. After all, you’ll learn eventually once you get hit a few times.”

Ki Tae-jeong’s large hand swiftly swept through his backpack and pulled something out. It was long and looked as clean as a wire. Was he going to strangle him now?

“But, you can’t be indecisive, trying to figure out if it should go here or there. That won’t work.”

“This, what…”​

“Did you say that anesthetics don’t work well on you?”

As if ridiculing the ominous imagination, Ki Tae-jeong tore open the plastic packaging. What was that? Masking tape? Insulation tape?

“Since the military is a place where all kinds of people gather, it’s not like there aren’t people with a similar constitution to yours.”

Ki Tae-jeong removed the adhesive backing and wound a black line of unknown identity around Sehwa’s neck. Since he didn’t neatly seal the end, the dangling part swayed loosely, making it look like he was wearing a collar.

“Wait a minute, this…”​

As Sehwa’s fingers timidly touched the line around his neck, Ki Tae-jeong firmly grasped his wrist. Despite using only one hand to suppress both of Sehwa’s hands, there was no sign of wavering.

“When you have to perform emergency surgery in the middle of a battle, it would be troublesome to have an injured person who doesn’t respond to anesthesia.”

No way. Sehwa’s eyes widened, and Ki Tae-jeong winked his eye as if to say that his guess was correct

“As long as the patch is on, you will be able to accept any medication. Of course, the dosage might need to be adjusted more than usual.”

Ki Tae-jeong’s fingers came in through the cracks in Sehwa’s gaping mouth. The powder on his fingertips spread over the roof of his mouth.​

“Uh, ugh…!”​

Sehwa struggled as he remembered what the powders were, but his strength was insufficient to push Ki Tae-jeong away.

“There is a saying that if you want to feel the essence of modern medicine, come to the army. It will work incomparably better than what is provided in public health centers.”​

Hmph, instead of crying or begging, a moan escaped.

“You seem to have sensitive skin.”

Ki Tae-jeong clicked his tongue and touched the scar around Sehwa’s eye. It looked like a wound caused by the glasses flying off from the beating earlier. It was a light touch, neither comforting nor playful.

“I think you would have wanted something like this. At least you won’t have to go to the dentist without anesthesia.”​

That’s… That was true. It was also one of the reasons Sehwa wanted the castle’s resident card. They said that if you go to the public health center there, you will be able to find all of the medicines for all of the unusual constitutions. He had no choice but to obtain items that could be illegally used by someone like him, and he had heard that even mediocre items were as expensive as a single room. ​

Since his hair thickened, one of Sehwa’s fixed wishes was for his wisdom teeth not to decay. He felt that he would do whatever it takes to find some medication for toothache. If he were to accumulate more debt here just because of his wisdom teeth, wouldn’t that be too depressing? So…

“I gave you expensive patches for free. Instead of thanking me, you wanted to hit me.”

While observing Sehwa’s face like an art critic, Ki Tae-jeong got up as if he had seen everything.

“Wash him off and make him presentable. Especially the smudge all over his face, clean them off.”

“Yes.”

“Wait a moment, please…”

“I gave you good medication, so your stomach should be feeling somewhat better…”

Before Sehwa knew it, he was grabbed by the approaching soldiers’ hands, handcuffed, and abruptly dragged away. His lower stomach began to sizzle as soon as his arms touched someone else’s body heat.

“Gahara, Karona, Sering… that’s what you said, right?”

He was short of breath. Something exploded in the pit of his stomach. It was a different kind of pain than the violence from earlier and one that Sehwa had never felt before.

“Hmph…, ugh, this… this, this, weird….”

“Yeah, it’s weird, but you still sold it knowing that it’s a drug that makes you lose your mind.”

His senses seemed to have become extremely sensitive that even the mere touch of the cloth on his skin stung like a needle. The pain was so unbearable that he couldn’t understand why people could enjoy such things.

“Hmph, ugh…”

Ki Tae-jeong smiled and wiped Sehwa’s teary eyes with a touch of pity. The dampness made the suppressed wounds sting slightly.

“If you do something bad, you should be punished. Don’t you think so?”​