UR Chapter 52

Chapter 52

I-bom shook his head. The way his fingertips drooped was like a balloon losing air.

To break the heavy mood, he quickly changed the subject.

“Um… before we part ways, would you… maybe like to take a picture together?”

He thought of the politicians and conglomerate secretaries who came to Aji Village’s welfare center and orphanage during holidays. They never bothered to fix broken streetlights or damaged roads, but they would bring bundles of socks wrapped in fancy packaging, acting as if they were looking after the village’s children and youth.

“A… picture?”

“Yes. Like that man mentioned earlier… if you came here because of the feline beastman image, then…”

I-bom stammered as he pressed the back of his hand to his forehead. The heat in his flushed cheeks didn’t subside—instead, beads of sweat gathered on his brow.

What’s wrong with me…

He tried to speak slowly and clearly to show that he was fine, but his tongue felt stiff, curling back awkwardly so that his words kept tripping over themselves.

“You should at least take a picture.”

“No. That’s not it.”

The man denied it the instant I-bom finished speaking.

“I’ve never seen you that way from the start.”

He let out a deep sigh. His hand clenched into a fist, then relaxed. With a firm grip, he looked straight at I-bom.

“Because I fell for you at first sight.”

The words came slowly, carefully, as if he were chewing on them. Every syllable sounded as if there wasn’t a shred of falsehood in it.

“Oh, um…”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to see you again.”

“Uh…”

I-bom trailed off, flustered.

“How about tomorrow?”

“……”

In many ways, the man was too good for Soo-hyun. He was considerate, well-mannered, and kind. The sort of person who could meet someone good anywhere, without needing a blind date.

Which was why he didn’t fit this blind date at all. I-bom decided to think of it as just a brief, pleasant dream.

It was time for both of them to return to where they belonged.

“Tomorrow… won’t work for me.”

This was right. He had come here to turn him down, after all.

He had to keep reminding himself—over and over—that this wasn’t his place to be.

The man stepped closer to I-bom.

Just one step.

But that single step closed the space between them completely.

“Is it because you’re afraid?”

I-bom shook his head.

Thump, thump…

His fingertips brushed against warm skin that caught his chin for a moment before letting go. Through that hot, faintly rough touch, the man’s scent spread subtly, like it was seeping into him.

Should I say it? Or not?

That I’m not Kang Soo-hyun. That I’m just a stand-in for Soo-hyun, who’s afraid of you. That you shouldn’t be interested in me.

His heart pounded so fast it felt like it might burst. He bit the inside of his lip hard to hide the sound of his short, ragged breaths, but the man’s fingers caught his chin again—gently this time.

“Do you have some difficult reason that makes you have to turn me down?”

The man’s low voice broke down I-bom’s walls quickly, brushing dangerously close to letting his own desires spill out.

But still…

I-bom’s trembling gaze met the man’s deep eyes head-on.

That precarious closeness closed in as if it had been waiting for him. Between I-bom’s feet, the man’s polished shoe pushed forward.

“Ah…”

The sudden closeness made I-bom sway. A shiver ran up the hollow curve of his nape.

“Soo-hyun? Are you okay?”

The fingers holding his chin slid down to the back of his neck. Just that touch sent an electric sensation through his entire body.

That subtle feeling crept down his nape, traced the dip of his waist, and pooled just above his navel. Before he knew it, it turned into a ticklish sensation, almost like his stomach was being rubbed, making his waist twist slightly. His whole body felt like it was breaking apart and moving on its own.

This is dangerous.

“You’re not feeling unwell, are you?”

“N-no, it’s fine. I… just feel a little dizzy…”

Swallowing his ragged breath, I-bom waved his hand. His head was spinning more and more, but he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.

“Should I take you to the hospital?”

“N-no, I’m not going to the hospital.”

Suppressing the pang of regret, I-bom slowly removed the man’s fingers from him.

Truthfully, the thing that upset him most was that it was himself pushing away the man’s touch.

“Is the hospital what you’re uncomfortable with?”

The man stopped, his face softening into something pitiful at I-bom’s cold, deliberate removal of his fingers.

“I just can’t leave you like this.”

Biting his lip like a crying kitten, he gently caught I-bom’s fingertips again.

So even a tiger, a member of the feline family, could show this kind of kitten-like side after looking so mature. Blinking, I-bom found it ironic that such a sight made him want to smile.

“I-it’s really fine.”

“Then how about coming to my place? We have a family doctor—he could help.”

The man, who had been left with his hands hanging, gently took I-bom’s hand again. Not tightly, as if it might break, but lightly, threading his fingers softly between I-bom’s like he was holding something delicate. Then he began to rub I-bom’s hand against his own cheek.

“Uh… well…”

“It won’t take long by car.”

His worry weighed heavy in the air. Like I-bom’s faintly furrowed brows, the man’s face was marked with a subdued, wounded sorrow as he gazed at him. A dull ache stirred in I-bom’s chest.

“No, it’s just… my condition’s gotten a bit worse. If you could just drop me at the entrance of Aji Village, that’s enough.”

I-bom glanced at him cautiously. The man looked down at him with a strangely unsettled expression, different from when they first met—his lower eyelids faintly red.

“Not even to your front door?”

“No, I… it’s not that…”

“……”

I-bom had always been weak to small, pitiful creatures. He couldn’t be cold to anything that looked at him with pleading eyes—like Weoong, the stray who wandered the neighborhood begging for food.

His older brother mocked him as a pushover, but it wasn’t something he could just ignore.

“So… um.”

As he snuck glances at the man, something caught his eye.

The man’s lips, visible between his lowered lashes and sighs, were swollen and red from being bitten too much.

“‘Make sure to ruin the blind date.’”

Would Kang Soo-hyun, who had told him that with a glare, ever have guessed that the man he was meeting would be this handsome and this gentle?

…This is driving me crazy.

Seeing the man’s face, drenched in quiet sorrow, tangled his thoughts even more.

Unconsciously, I-bom clenched his fists, then looked up at the man as if making a decision.

“So… the thing is.”

“……”

“I really do have my reasons. It’s not because I don’t like you…”

I-bom kept clenching and unclenching his fists, ruffling and shaking his hair.

“If it’s hard to say, you don’t have to. I understand. But still… I’m worried. Your face is very pale right now.”

“I… I’m just scared of hospitals. Or, well, of doctors…”

The man seemed to realize after a few more questions that I-bom wouldn’t budge. He gave a polite nod, then slowly escorted him to the passenger seat and pulled the seatbelt down for him. Tapping the navigation screen, his face carried a faint shadow of gloom.

He wasn’t crying, and he wasn’t angry, but that drooping, downcast look lingered in I-bom’s mind. Clenching his trembling fist, he spoke. The back of his hand was cold and stiff.

“Is my energy what’s causing the problem?”

“…What?”

“I thought we matched pretty well, but seeing your pale face makes me wonder if maybe not. Maybe my energy is too strong compared to yours, and it’s making you unwell.”

The man let out a deep sigh.

“When energies clash, it can make you feel sick.”

“T-that’s really not it…”

“Hmm?”

“It was fine at first…”

His worried expression was almost comical, but I-bom knew that wasn’t the reason. If their energies had clashed, he would have had a headache from the very first moment they met.

Slowly, he leaned in. Stumbling slightly, his cheek bumped against the man’s shoulder.

“It’s not because of your energy.”

Tap.

His lips brushed against the man’s cheek. Or rather, just barely grazed it.

“See? I’m fine, aren’t I?”

It was a kiss meant as proof.

Could he claim it happened only because the man’s sorrowful expression was so hard to watch? Could he even call it a “kiss”? The fleeting contact left behind a dazzling, burning sensation that words couldn’t capture.

But… immediately after, he lost consciousness.