UR Chapter 18

Chapter 18

I-bom’s footsteps, which had been hurrying around busily, suddenly grew slow and heavy, as if weighed down by sandbags.

After 10 p.m., the place always filled with office workers coming to drink. Tonight was no different.

Maybe someone was having a farewell party—amid the loud and rowdy atmosphere, I-bom had to carry five beer towers (or was it six?), deal with the constant chiming of notifications at least ten times in a row, and by the time it was all done, he was drenched in sweat and completely worn out. Somi, who had been silently watching I-bom doing the work of three people alone, finally stopped in her tracks.

“Oppa, you’re tired, right? Want to go to the break room and rest your eyes for a bit?”

“Huh…?”

I-bom blinked as he turned around. Since the store operated until 2 a.m., the staff on closing duty always had to battle drowsiness late into the night. Even the employees who had been full of energy earlier were now walking sluggishly, eyes half-closed.

I-bom was no exception. With weekend allowance plus the extra night shift wage, working from evening to dawn paid well, but the fatigue hit twice as hard because of the constant stream of customers.

“Ahew…”

I-bom covered his mouth with his hand and let out a big yawn. His heavy eyelids kept dropping shut, then snapping open again, on repeat.

Before he realized it, his once-clear eyes had become bloodshot and teary.

“Go to the break room. I’ll cover the floor.”

“Mm… thanks.”

I-bom quietly replied as he wiped the tears that had gathered at the corner of his eyes with a fingertip. Among the night shift part-timers, it was an unspoken rule to take turns resting. Unlike the daytime shift, the break times weren’t clearly set.

“Sigh…”

Lightly patting his shoulder with a fist, I-bom headed toward the break room.

The small break room attached next to the store’s locker room was a space reserved for the night crew. It doubled as a storage area for supplies like paper cups and boxes, and also housed a long church bench—an odd kind of place. Plus, it was connected to a side door at the back of the store, making it feel quite secluded.

With familiar movements, I-bom grabbed the blanket and pillow that had been shoved next to the supply boxes and hugged them to his chest. As he clutched the pillow meant for quick naps, the dusty scent from the storage room tickled his nose.

His eyes shut before he could even glance around. It was like his eyelids were soaked in sleep—he was just that exhausted.

Bzzzt—

He was drifting off, blinking slowly, when his phone buzzed.

“……”

He picked up the phone, screen half cracked, and saw a message from his younger sibling, I-seol.

[I-seol: Oppa, when are you coming home? I’m alone and scared ㅠㅠ]
[Did Big Bro not come home either?]

Seeing I-seol’s message snapped I-bom wide awake.

[I-seol: Still nothingㅠㅠㅠ He’s not answering my calls either. Hurry home, little oppa. The wind sounds scaryㅠ There’s no one homeㅠㅠ]

What the hell. Leaving a young sibling home alone and not even coming back? With a sigh, a sharp headache started to throb in his head. I-bom quickly messaged I-seol back.

[Oppa’s closing today, so I get off at 2 a.m.… I’ll talk to the manager and try to come home as fast as I can. I’m sorry.]

The reason his older brother hadn’t come home was obvious. It was probably because he got pissed off when I-bom refused to give him money in front of someone. I-jun, his older brother, was extremely vain. He never paid attention to his siblings but obsessed over how he looked to people he barely knew. He was even ashamed of being from Aji Village and sometimes lied about being a full beastman instead of a half.

What he probably wanted was for I-bom to apologize and suck up to him. That’s how it had always gone. Honestly, I-seol—who was still in elementary school—acted more mature than him.

Where could he have gone this time? Sure, he was an adult and could do whatever, but it wasn’t like he could crash at a pool hall all night.

I-bom let out a bitter smile. Leaving a little girl alone until 1 a.m. just to make him angry? That was seriously messed up.

“……”

I-bom carefully opened his contacts and hovered his finger over the name listed as “Hyung.”

[When are you coming home?]

He didn’t owe his brother any apology, and he wasn’t about to grovel—but he figured he should at least ask. Their grandmother was still hospitalized and not home, but if his brother didn’t come back soon, she’d definitely notice and start asking questions. Pressing a temple as the headache pounded on, I-bom calmly sent another message.

[When are you coming back? If you don’t, Grandma’s gonna worry.]

Bzzz.

He must’ve at least looked at his phone, because the “1” on the message disappeared immediately. The screen flashed, followed by a new vibration.

[Hyung: ㅗㅗㅗ Acting all concerned now when you didn’t even give me any allowance? LOL. You ungrateful little shit. I’m not coming home tonight.]

Called it.

Ha. I-bom let out a short, incredulous breath and tapped on his brother’s name again.

Tuurrurrr—

The long ringtone echoed through the quiet break room. And then—click—it abruptly stopped.

—The person you are calling is unavailable. You will be redirected to voicemail…

“…All this just because I didn’t give him money?”

I-bom clenched his jaw, biting his lip as he snapped the phone shut and hugged the pillow beside him. His head was pounding.

“…He’s not a kid. Why is he acting like this? Ugh. Instead of getting angry, I should just sleep.”

He’d only come in here to catch a quick nap, but just getting pissed had already eaten up twenty minutes. Getting mad at someone who wasn’t even around was a waste of energy. Burying his cheek into the dusty-smelling pillow, I-bom lowered his head. He closed his heavy eyes, thinking he should ask if he could leave thirty minutes early after taking a short rest.

Huff, huff. Before long, I-bom’s trembling shoulders settled into steady, even movement—he had drifted into a deep sleep.

Creeaak—

The small side door connected to the break room opened with a faint creak. The sliver of crescent moonlight that had been dimly visible through the break room’s tiny window disappeared behind a cloud, plunging the space into darkness.

Step, step.
Heavy footsteps in dress shoes slowly approached the sleeping I-bom. A long shadow stretched out before him, looming over I-bom’s small form as if ready to swallow him whole.

“…So this is where the baby student was hiding.”

A tall man stood quietly before the sleeping I-bom. Holding an energy drink to his lips, the man looked down at him slowly. Under the deep shadow of his pulled-down hat, a sharp nose and narrow, glinting eyes could just barely be seen.

His golden eyes glowed vividly. In the darkness, the way they shimmered yellow made him seem less like a man and more like something transcendent—something beyond human.

“…Guess he’s asleep.”

The man tilted his head curiously and slowly leaned down. No matter how he looked around, this didn’t seem like a place fit for someone to rest. A side room barely big enough to hold a person, with a tiny window that would be believable even in a prison cell, and a bunch of stacked boxes and dusty clumps crowding the space.

He crouched down to meet I-bom’s eye level, quietly sitting across from him, watching him intently.

Each time I-bom stirred in his sleep, a sweet and savory dog-like scent softly drifted through the air. The man drew in a deep breath, filling his lungs with that warm aroma.

There was something that caught in his gaze as he kept staring at I-bom, asleep all alone in a place like this. On I-bom’s tired face, tear tracks lingered faintly at the corners of his eyes. The man slowly reached out and gently wiped away the tears that clung there. Then, he carefully brought the dampened fingertips to his tongue.

“Mm…”

A small groan escaped I-bom’s lips as he twitched in his sleep, maybe from the ticklish sensation.

---

“Why are you upset?”

A gentle voice slid down I-bom’s ear and trailed low along the back of his neck. The deep, weighty tone made I-bom’s pale nape flinch instinctively. At some point, long, delicate fingers had cautiously slipped under the rustling uniform, pressing slowly against his skin.

“Ah…”

It was a strange sensation.

Why would he ask why I’m upset?

It didn’t feel like interrogation, and yet it carried a weight of inquiry. The voice was calm, almost emotionless, but the breath that accompanied it was anything but. It was heavy. Sticky.

That voice… it sounded like the customer who used to call him baby student.

He wanted to open his eyes and confirm who was touching him, but his eyelids were far too heavy—they wouldn’t budge. His body felt pinned, like he couldn’t even move a single finger. I-bom figured he must be experiencing sleep paralysis. But could something this strange, this intimate, even count as sleep paralysis?

The hot sensation of fingertips slipping past the buttons of his glossy silk-and-lace uniform made I-bom’s waist tremble faintly. It felt far too real. Like actual fingers were sliding in through the fabric. His heart thundered in his chest, like it might explode.

What kind of perverted dream is this?

‘I’m… not upset.’

His tongue felt paralyzed, so he could only respond in his mind.

Not even a whisper stirred in the break room’s silence.

At some point, the man, now close in the dark, reached out with his other hand. When that unfamiliar body heat touched his skin, I-bom tensed and squeezed his eyes shut. The man’s fingers brushed through his bangs. Long fingers gently slid through the damp strands, slowly stroking them down.

“Or… were you crying?”

Strictly speaking, he hadn’t really cried. He was angry that his brother hadn’t come home, upset that his younger sister was scared and alone, and frustrated that he couldn’t rush back to her right away because of work. His anger had built all the way to the top of his head, but he’d closed his eyes thinking what’s the point in being mad… may as well sleep, not because he was sad.

“But your tears… taste like sorrow.”

Before he realized it, the man’s breath was right against his face.

Tears?

Was this a dream? He’d been thinking since earlier how handsome the guy was, hoping to see him again—and now that desire must’ve gotten all jumbled and come out like this? While I-bom’s thoughts raced in confusion, something wet brushed against his cheek. The man’s breath tickled his skin in soft, cautious bursts. It was smooth. Damp. And then—

Ah…!

The feeling of a tongue on his cheek was scratchy, ticklish.

In that moment, I-bom’s eyes flew wide open. A dark silhouette loomed just above him.

TL/N: ㅗㅗㅗ
This is an emoticon using the Korean letter ㅗ, which visually looks like someone giving the middle finger (🖕).
ㅠ (or ㅠㅠ, ㅜㅜ)
These are crying emoticons—super common in Korean texting.
The ㅜ and ㅠ characters look like eyes with tears, with ㅠ having “more tears.”