YHP 21

Of course, the plan had been to use Jeong-in’s car, but as soon as class ended, Ho-jin sprinted straight to the parking lot and had the car waiting in front of the building before Jeong-in could say a word. Loading the gardening tools from Jeong-in’s studio apartment, which was just a stone’s throw away, barely took any time. Skillfully maneuvering out of the narrow alleyway, Ho-jin calmly started driving.

The car was filled with silence the entire time they were on the road. Yet, neither of them felt awkward or uncomfortable. Jeong-in was not a talkative person to begin with, and Ho-jin was the type to focus solely on the task at hand.

The only thing that occasionally broke the temple-like stillness was the cheerful voice of the GPS providing directions.

“…You don’t have any, right?”

Jeong-in was just about to drift off to sleep when Ho-jin’s question snapped him back to attention.

“What?”

“Just checking. If you have any food allergies, please let me know so that I can leave them out.”

Oh, he’s talking about food.

“I don’t.”

Jeong-in gave a vague answer and then turned his head toward the windows, stifling a yawn. Maybe it was the drowsy, warm weather, but sleep kept creeping up on him.

Ho-jin’s car was a Swedish mid-size SUV with a considerable reputation for its stability. Even his driving was so textbook perfect that it bordered on tedious, making it hard for Jeong-in to tell whether he was rolling down the road or lying on a bed.

After nodding off and waking up a few times, Jeong-in finally recognized the familiar neighborhood.

Gazing out at the streets he could navigate with his eyes closed, Jeong-in switched off the navigation. The voice, which had been nagging every ten seconds about speed bumps, faded away.

“Turn left at the second corner.”

“Okay.”

They entered a street lined with luxurious single-family homes. Hyun-wook’s mansion was tucked away at the very end.

“You’re doing manual labor… in a place like this?”

“Yeah. You can park the car back there.”

Jeong-in pointed to a spot, thinking about the blind spots in the CCTV coverage. The car stopped exactly where he indicated.

As soon as he cut the engine, Ho-jin jumped out of the car and ran around to open the passenger door for him. Jeong-in, who had spent much of his childhood with a chauffeur, followed without any awkwardness. Then Ho-jin began unloading the gardening tools he had placed in the back seat, one by one.

“I need to carry these in myself, so just wait here for now,” Jeong-in said.

“Okay.”

After taking the tools from Ho-jin, Jeong-in walked along the long wall and stood in front of the main gate. He stared quietly at the pad next to the door. The sensor quickly scanned his iris, and with a cheerful beep, the latch was released. The gate swung inward, revealing the garden.

Landscaped trees swayed gently along the path stretching from the main gate to the mansion. In the far left corner of the vast garden was a greenhouse full of houseplants, which Ju-young tended to as a hobby, and in the right corner was a separate building built solely for Jeong-in. Everything else was the work of a professional gardener.

Crossing the beautiful garden, Jeong-in soon arrived at the vegetable patch below the wall. The distance was long enough that he found himself out of breath again. He dropped all the tools onto the soil and called out loudly toward the other side of the wall.

“Are you still there?”

“Yes,” a reply came back.

“Just hang on a little longer. I’ll be right there.”

“Can’t I just climb over this wall and come straight to you?”

“What?”

There was a thump as something hit the wall from the direction where Ho-jin must have been standing.

“I think I could make it over.”

“Wait a second!” Jeong-in yelped. “Don’t do anything and stay still.

He immediately opened the door to the annex. While Jeong-in had been living abroad, the vacant annex had become Taffy’s food storage. Panting, he opened the refrigerator, and sure enough, there were several chunks of fresh raw meat.

After snatching up some of Taffy’s lunch ingredients, Jeong-in scurried back and stood under the wall. Then, he threw the meat upward with all his strength.

“What is this?”

Of course, as expected, it didn’t land neatly on top of the wall. It seemed to have fallen somewhere near Ho-jin’s feet.

“Do you see the decorations on top of the wall? Can you get it up there?”

“I’ll try.”

Almost simultaneously, the meat flew soundlessly through the air and landed precisely on the sharp decoration. It was awkwardly perched, its end touching the wall, but it would do for now.

Jeong-in watched it for a moment. If there had been a live electric current, sparks would have flown. But seeing it hanging there limply, it seemed clear that the high-voltage line was off.

“Now it’s good.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll bring you a ladder…”

Jeong-in was about to tell Ho-jin to wait a little longer when he heard footsteps, and then a large hand suddenly appeared over the wall, grabbing onto the pointed decoration. With tremendous arm strength, Ho-jin immediately pulled himself up and grinned, his head poking over the top of the wall.

So this is what people with extraordinary physical abilities can do, Jeong-in thought, stepping back in awe. In the meantime, Ho-jin had already climbed halfway over the wall.

“What are you doing?” Ho-jin asked, looking at Jeong-in standing with both hands stretched up toward the sky.

“I have to catch you, don’t I?”

“…Yeah.”

Then, Ho-jin smiled. “I’ll jump on three. One, two—”

Wait. How am I supposed to catch him? What if he falls and gets hurt? I said I’d catch him, but I’m suddenly scared I’ll mess up.

“Three.”

But Ho-jin counted to three without hesitation. Jeong-in reflexively squeezed his eyes shut.

The next moment, strong arms wrapped around Jeong-in’s shoulders.

To prevent Jeong-in from falling backward from the impact, Ho-jin held him securely, pivoted on his left leg, and spun himself around half a turn. Thanks to that, all the force of the fall was transferred to Ho-jin without Jeong-in even realizing it.

The sand underfoot made a soft, gritty sound as it shifted. Only after everything had settled did Jeong-in slowly open his eyes.

Sunlight pierced straight down, dazzling through his lashes. As he winced slightly against the glare, Ho-jin lifted his hand to block the sunlight.

“…”

A refined, woody scent drifted from Ho-jin’s embrace. It was the same scent that lingered on the tracksuit, but now it smelled deeper and fresher, like standing in a dense cypress forest.

“Thanks to you, I got down safely, hyung.”

Jeong-in slowly lifted his head. Black, soft eyes, a straight, elegant nose, and a wide, easy smile came into view, one after another.

Looking closely at his face, Jeong-in realized Ho-jin was quite handsome. So much so that he wanted to keep looking at him like this a little longer.

“…Let go now.”

Coming to his senses, Jeong-in pushed at Ho-jin’s chest. The pectoral muscle under his palm was as hard as stone.

“What do I need to do?”

“Ah… well, we have to dig up all of this.”

Jeong-in shook his head to clear his mind and pointed to the vegetable patch.

“Why?”

“Nothing can be planted because the soil’s like this.”

Ho-jin crouched down in response to Jeong-in’s words and stirred the soil with his bare hands. After rolling his large hand through it a few times, all the soil crumbled away, leaving only gravel.

He tossed it aside and said, “It looks like it just needs a little work.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, it’s not bad soil. What are you trying to plant?”

Ho-jin walked straight over to where Jeong-in had tossed the gardening tools. Jeong-in naturally expected him to grab a shovel, but what Ho-jin picked up instead was the massive pitchfork that the garden equipment store owner had strongly recommended.

“Carrots, peppers, blueberries, and onions.”

Ho-jin stabbed the pitchfork into the far end of the garden bed and looked back at Jeong-in.

He looked genuinely puzzled. “…Is that what your employer told you to plant?”

“Why?”

“It’s just so random. You could do it, but it wouldn’t be very efficient.”

Ho-jin stretched his arm out and pointed to the opposite end of the garden.

“Blueberries and peppers are faster to plant as seedlings than from seeds. But if you set up the irrigation from here to there, and adjust the water pressure for the seedlings, the carrot seeds will be too tiny and will be washed away. Conversely, if you adjust it for the carrots, the seedlings will die from dehydration.”

“…”

“And watering each row separately, matching it perfectly, would just be a huge waste of time… Seriously, what were they thinking when they told you to do this?”

“… I don’t know.”

Truthfully, he hadn’t been thinking at all. Jeong-in had just blurted out whatever came to mind.

“Still, it’s a relief.”

“What is?”

“When you said manual labor, I thought you were working at a construction site. That would have been way tougher.

At some point, Ho-jin had started dragging the pitchfork across the ground. With each long pass, only the gravel magically got caught inside the tines. Watching him work, Jeong-in sat down in the shade.

“… But how do you even know how to do all this?”

“My family farms.”

Branches swayed in the gentle spring breeze, casting a net-like shadow over Jeong-in’s face.

“Until I moved up to Seoul, I spent almost all day out in the fields, and since summer vacation is peak farming season, I often went down unless it overlapped with competitions.”

It was an unexpected answer. With his fair, flawless skin, it was hard to picture Ho-jin working under the sun in the fields.

Ho-jin suddenly asked, “What are your parents like, hyung?” I bet your mom’s really beautiful.”

Jeong-in replied without much thought. “I don’t have a mom.”

Ho-jin immediately stopped what he was doing and turned to look at Jeong-in.

“Ah, sorry…”

There was nothing to be sorry about. With two dads, it was only natural. Jeong-in was about to explain and clear up the misunderstanding when a low growl came from somewhere.

Startled, Jeong-in turned to see Taffy standing there. He hadn’t even heard Taffy approach.

“Taffy.”

Jeong-in quietly called Taffy’s name, but Taffy didn’t approach Jeong-in affectionately as usual.

Taffy’s ears and tail were stiff and alert, and her eyes were locked onto Ho-jin. Seeing that Taffy had shifted her weight onto her front paws, Jeong-in slowly stood up, careful not to provoke the dog, who was on high alert at the presence of a stranger.

“Yoo Ho-jin, don’t move. Don’t even answer me right now.”

Speaking in the softest tone possible, Jeong-in took a step toward Ho-jin. Now Taffy had fully bared her teeth, ready to spring and go straight for Ho-jin’s throat if anything went wrong.

Slowly, very slowly. Jeong-in approached and wrapped his arms around Ho-jin’s waist, gripping the handle of the pitchfork still in his hand.

“There, good girl.”He pressed his face fully against Ho-jin’s chest. Then, smiling at Taffy, he gently stroked Ho-jin’s firm back.