VDN Ch 86

“Hyung!”

“…….”

“Hyung, Seo-oh Hyung! The Dinosaur King is burnt black!” 

“…….”

“Kwon Seo-oh Hyung!”

Se-han, who called out his brother’s full name, waved his small arm holding his chopsticks. It was only then that Kwon Seo-oh, who regained some life in his eyes, looked down. Two of the chicken nuggets in the frying pan were burned completely black. It was the large dinosaur-shaped nuggets that Se-han loved the most. Se-han pouted.

“There’s only one Dinosaur King…”

“I’m sorry. Hyung was thinking about something for a moment.” 

 “It’s okay. There are many small dinosaurs…”

Even though he said that, Se-han’s expression was still downcast. Seeing this, Seo-oh picked up a pair of scissors.

“I’ll cut off the burnt parts from the dinosaur king. The inside should be fine.”

“Mmm. Okayyy….”

With Seo-oh’s scissor work, the dinosaur’s head fell off. Seeing that, the corners of Se-han’s mouth also drooped. Se-han silently picked up his rice bowl from the sink and went to sit in front of the table. Nam-woon, who was coming into the room holding mustard sauce, saw Se-han’s gloomy face and asked,

“What’s wrong?”

As Se-han just mumbled with his lips, Seo-oh spoke instead.

“I burned Se-han’s Dinosaur King.

Nam-woon glanced at the plate of chicken nuggets and Seo-oh. Nam-woon soothed Se-han by placing the sauce in front of him.

“I’ll buy another bag of dinosaur chicken. I bought sauce too.”

“Really? Are you going to buy it today?”

“I’ll buy it later.”

Se-han’s mood seemed to improve as he received the sauce and placed it on top of his nuggets. His puffy, flushed cheeks hinted at the child’s excitement.

Nam-woon stared at Seo-oh standing in front of the sink. Although his face appeared calm as usual as he was transferring the dinosaur-shaped chicken onto a plate. Nam-woon could sense how noisy it was from inside of him.

in response to Se-han’s outcry about why he was late without a word, Kwon Seo-oh repeated, “I’m sorry” in a quiet tone. Se-han, who had been grumbling, noticed something was off about his brother’s unusually subdued demeanor and became observant.

“Hyung?”

“…Se-han, Hyung will just go out for a bit and come back.”

Leaving those words, Seo-oh headed to the yard. The eyes, which he glimpsed at briefly, were red.

Seeing that, Nam-woon once again blamed his own incompetence. In his case, having lived without family for a long time, it was hard to fully understand Seo-oh’s feelings for his father. However, thinking of the few people who had cared for him, he could somewhat understand the sense of loss Seo-oh must have felt.

I, who knew the future, should have protected Kwon Sang-moon better…

How much must he have looked forward to life with his father? And how much hope must he have harbored, the expectation of being able to find their father for his young sibling?

Seeing Se-han smiling brightly, oblivious to everything, Nam-woon couldn’t raise his head because of the guilt and remorse. If he felt this way, how much worse must Seo-oh feel?

Perhaps because of that, from that day on, Seo-oh catered to Se-han’s every whim and bought him everything he wanted. Se-han, who didn’t know any better, swept up the food and toys from Namnam Super with excitement. Even Grandpa Nam-nam found it strange, his eyes widening as he looked at Seo-oh, saying it was like the sun rising in the west.

However, unlike how he took care of Se-han, Kwon Seo-oh seemed unable to take care of himself at all. He often stared blankly, not responding when Se-han or Nam-woon asked him something, and small mistakes like this had become more frequent.

Nam-woon, hiding his worried expression, went to the sink and pointed at the chicken nuggets.

Only these two are burnt, right? Should I cut off the burnt parts?”

“…….”

Seo-oh didn’t respond again.

“…I’ll take a cup of water.”

When Nam-woon glanced sideways, took hold of a yellow cup, and turned his body. He felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. With a cry of ‘Ah!’, he dropped the cup, and water instantly drenched the floor. Seo-oh, who had been staring blankly, was startled by the sudden commotion and approached Nam-woon.

“Hyung, are you okay?”

Seo-oh urgently bent his upper body and examined Nam-woon, who was clutching one shoulder. Se-han, hearing the noise, also scurried over with a tearful face.

“Wooni Hyung, what’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Nam-woon swallowed his pain and answered. But Seo-oh, unlike Se-han, wouldn’t believe him.

It was a disaster. He didn’t want to worry Seo-oh, who was already struggling, so he had said it was completely healed. But the sudden pain had given him away.

“You said you were all better! Are you still in pain?”

“Yes, I’m healed. It’s just… sometimes it flares up, that’s all.”

He added belatedly, but Seo-oh didn’t even pretend to hear him, pulling Nam-woon’s clothes to check his shoulder himself. Seo-oh’s expression grew serious as he confirmed the skin, discolored like autumn leaves. Ignoring Nam-woon’s words that it just looked worse than it was, he stated firmly.

“Hyung, don’t do anything from now on.”

***

Knowing that Nam-woon’s shoulder had not yet recovered, Seo-oh began to take care of him with utmost devotion. To an extent, that felt a bit excessive.

Yet, Nam-woon didn’t feel like stopping him. This was because Seo-oh was concentrating on caring for Nam-woon, which allowed him to move past the incident of losing Kwon Sang-moon and return to reality. It was a welcome thing for Seo-oh to get his life back, but there was also a somewhat awkward aspect. That was the fact that his care was becoming increasingly over-the-top.

“Hyung, ‘ah’.”

“Give it here. I’ll eat it myself.

But nothing was within his grasp. Seo-oh held the spoon higher and said again.

“Say ‘ah.'”

“I’m fine.”

“Hurry up and say ‘ah’.”

“I said I’m fine! Really, I’m fine! I can eat by myself!”

Every day, Nam-woon wrestled with Seo-oh, who insisted on feeding him directly with a spoon.

He couldn’t stand to see Nam-woon moving alone. Whenever Nam-woon got up, he would get up too, and whenever Nam-woon walked, he would follow closely behind. Even though the only place to go in the small room was the bathroom, Seo-oh still followed him around. It got to the point where even Se-han, who was watching this, asked,

“Wooni Hyung, did you injure both your right and left arms?”

“…….”

Nam-woon couldn’t bring himself to answer. There was no other way to explain Kwon Seo-oh’s actions. So Se-han thought Nam-woon had injured both his arms.

He even overheard Se-han on the phone, worrying that Nam-woon had hurt both his arms and was completely unable to use his hands. Perhaps he got some advice from Min-chan, but from then on, Se-han also started taking excessive care of Nam-woon.

For example, it was like this. Whenever Nam-woon opened the bathroom door or room door, Se-han would scamper out first to open and close the door. And if Nam-woon stayed in the bathroom for even a little too long, he would ask from outside the door in a clear voice.

“Wooni Hyung, should I wipe your poop for you?”

“What? No! I’m not pooping!”

“Oh, I see! Tell me if it’s poop!”

“…Uh.”

Nam-woon couldn’t correct Se-han’s misunderstanding and, gritting his teeth, continued his awkward pretense of having two injured arms.

It was somewhat better when he was eating, but the real problem lay elsewhere.

“Why did you come in?”

“To wash you.”

Seo-oh had followed him into the bathroom with a shower towel in his hand.

“Ah, get out.”

Nam-woon tried to push him out of the bathroom irritably, but Seo-oh resisted, holding onto the door.

“Your shoulder’s still sore. I’ll wash you.”

“I don’t need help. I can do it myself.”

“How? You can’t reach your back.”

After a brief back-and-forth argument, they finally agreed that Seo-oh would only help wash Nam-woon’s hair. However, it wasn’t easy for two adult men to fit into a cramped bathroom without a bathtub. The posture alone was problematic.

In the end, Nam-woon took off his top and crouched down, bowing his head. When Seo-oh suggested he should take off his pants too, he managed to get through the crisis by replying that it didn’t matter if they got wet anyway, since they’d be doing laundry.

“You sly bastard.”

Nam-woon muttered as he looked at Seo-oh positioning himself in front of him.

“I could do this faster on my own.”

But he couldn’t stop Seo-oh from hauling Se-han’s bath chair over. Reluctantly, Nam-woon tilted his head back.

“Close your eyes, I’m going to shampoo.”

Seo-oh’s fingers gently massaged Nam-woon’s scalp. Perhaps because they were so close, he could smell a familiar scent. The system said he was an intermittent omega, but that was a complete lie.

Despite what the system said, Nam-woon had been smelling Seo-oh’s scent every day lately. Most of the time, he could pass it off as a pleasant scent, but sometimes it was too much, like now.

Nam-woon looked down in horror at his increasingly heated body. What’s wrong with him now?

If the Omega gauge was any higher, the bathroom would be filled with the smell of taiyaki right now.

“Hyung, it doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“H-uh, No”

Seo-oh’s light, ticklish hand movements felt quite stimulating. His hand swept over the upper part of Nam-woon’s neck, gently kneading it as if massaging, then moved up his scalp. From Nam-woon’s lowered gaze, he could see his own ‘thing’ slowly rising.

Nam-woon hunched his body slightly, trying to prevent Seo-oh, who had an innocent face, from noticing his lower body’s state. Then a voice came from above.

“Hyung, if you do that, you’ll get wet.”

“I’m already wet.

“Hyung, if you do that, you’ll get wet.”

 “I’m already wet. Ugh, my back hurts, so hurry up.”

Nam-woon tried to change the subject and urged Seo-oh to speed up. Ah, I’m going crazy. I’m not a hormonal teenager, yet the tiniest touch from Seo-oh has me rock hard.

To be honest, there were times I got an erection just from smelling his floral scent when he simply walked past me. Hiding it each time was torture. Living together in such a cramped room, it wouldn’t be strange if I got caught at any moment.

Should I just go to the office or the apartment for the time being? I don’t have money, so I was planning on moving out…Nam-woon felt dizzy and he broke out in a cold sweat.

“Since you’re already wet, let’s wash your body too. Take off your pants.”