TTDOTO 7.2

Seo Jae-rim, who had promised to return quickly, did not come back for two days.

During those two days, Jae-an managed less than four hours of sleep. Because he couldn’t fall into a deep slumber and kept waking up to check every corner of the room, both the caregiver and the bodyguard lost sleep as well.

Ultimately, it was only after sunrise that Jae-an drifted off, only to be awakened by a hand gently peeling back the blanket. The touch was light, shaking his shoulder softly, and the voice was cautious, like a grandmother waking a sleeping child.

“Seong-yoon, Seong-yoon. Wake up.”

The unfamiliar name left Jae-an staring blankly for a moment as he tried to grasp the situation. Once he realized he was currently ‘Lee Seong-yoon’ [1], he forced his stiff body up to see a nurse standing beside him. The caregiver was explaining to the nurse how Jae-an had struggled to sleep the night before.

“Mr. Seong-yoon, you have a lung function test today to check your progress.”

A faint shadow flickered behind the nurse. Jae-an rubbed his eyes, repeatedly confirming that it was just the shadow of a convenience store bag filled with snacks the caregiver had bought before finally turning his gaze to the nurse.

“How are you feeling?”

“…Fine.”

“Then, Mr. Lee Seong-yoon, we’ll head out right now.”

Jae-an’s dark eyes shifted. Lee Seong-yoon, Lee Seong-yoon. Every time he was called by that name, his mood hit rock bottom. Lee Seong-yoon—the man who was officially recorded as having committed suicide in the car in his place—might also use these shadows as a passage to reveal his existence.

The hair on his arms stood up, and his heart rate quickened. Out of habit, he looked for Seo Jae-rim. The very person who had turned him into Lee Seong-yoon and stashed him here was nowhere to be found.

He didn’t know if things would improve if Seo Jae-rim were here, but Jae-an was sick to death of being surrounded by strangers in an unfamiliar space, hearing the name ‘Lee Seong-yoon’ dozens of times, and being tormented by intermittent hallucinations.

His already pale skin was deathly white, and the area under his eyes had darkened from lack of sleep. His fingernails, which he gnawed on incessantly, often bled before they even had a chance to grow. The caregiver offered him a bandage, but Jae-an merely took it without applying it.

Jae-an walked in a line behind the nurse, with the bodyguard following behind him. They moved to another floor for the lung function test. He was told the rest of his hospital stay would be determined based on these results.

He changed out of his patient gown into a light T-shirt and sweatpants provided by the hospital and swapped his slippers for sneakers. The long explanation of how to bite the machine and exhale didn’t properly register in his mind. The bodyguard, who had been walking a step behind Jae-an, sat on a chair at the entrance of the examination room.

“Mr. Lee Seong-yoon, please enter Examination Room 1.”

Whenever the doctor, nurse, or caregiver called him by that name, Jae-an raised his head a beat late. He underwent the tests as instructed, but the nurse’s expression wasn’t great. It seemed the results didn’t meet expectations. It was only natural. Jae-an could feel his condition worsening during the two days Seo Jae-rim was away.

He moved between various examination rooms for different tests. Even as he bit down on the machines as told, Jae-an kept rubbing his eyes. The nurse, who had been watching Jae-an bite his nails and repeatedly look sideways, stopped the test. Approaching him, the nurse looked at his complexion and asked,

“Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?”

Jae-an swallowed hard and finally spoke in a voice that sounded like a deflating balloon.

“The bathroom… please.”

Unable to bear the nausea, Jae-an walked toward the bathroom, and the bodyguard immediately stood and followed. When he entered the bathroom, the man followed him inside as well.

Jae-an’s sensitive gaze flickered to the man. Ignoring him, Jae-an went into a stall and crouched before the toilet. He tried to gag a few times to throw up, but nothing came out. Having no choice, he stood before the sink. He washed his face with ice-cold water, trying to soothe his churning stomach.

After grabbing a tissue and rubbing his flushed, frozen face, Jae-an started to head back to the examination room but came to a dead stop. Turning toward the bodyguard, who stopped a beat late, Jae-an opened his parched lips.

“Excuse me… do you know when Seo Jae-rim is coming?”

The man seemed flustered by the request and hesitated. Jae-an gripped the tissue tightly, his voice growing more desperate as the man remained silent.

“Please?”

The bear-like man bit his lip once and spoke in a low voice.

“I am not permitted to speak.”

Jae-an blinked and lowered his head.

“Then, can I call him? I’ll… ask him myself.”

“I do not know his number. No more talking. Please return to the examination room.”

He spoke with a somewhat kind tone, but his voice was firm. Jae-an let out a short sigh and pressed his hand to his forehead.

“The thing is… I want to run away right now.”

He could feel the bodyguard’s agitation at the whispered words.

“I don’t want to feel this way… so please… just one phone call.”

Ultimately, the bodyguard pulled a phone from his pocket.

“I’m sorry, but I really don’t know the Representative’s [2] number. May I connect you to Manager Han Jong-seok?”

It didn’t matter much; he was either with Seo Jae-rim or would relay the message. When Jae-an nodded, the bodyguard handed him the phone. Han Jong-seok answered immediately.

“It’s Lee Jae-an. Please put Seo Jae-rim on.”

[He’s in a meeting right now. Is it an emergency?]

Jae-an didn’t answer, but the man was quick-witted. Before long, the voice he had been waiting for flowed from the receiver.

[Hyung?] [3]

“You… when are you coming?”

[I’ll be there tonight.]

“I want to go home.”

The words he had been holding back burst out.

“It’s uncomfortable… I’ve barely slept.”

[…….]

“I can’t stand hearing people call me Lee Seong-yoon anymore. …I’m dizzy.”

To his unease, Seo Jae-rim’s silence stretched on. Only the sound of Jae-an gnawing on his fingernails filled the void. After a long deliberation, Seo Jae-rim spoke in a fairly firm voice.

[I’ll head there now, so wait in the room for two hours.]

“Two hours?”

Jae-an’s brow furrowed. Having finally confessed how hard it was, he felt like he couldn’t stay for even ten more minutes.

[You don’t seem to be in a good state. I don’t like leaving you alone.]

“If you just let me go home, I’ll stay still.”

[Who knows what you’ll do.]

The knives used for cooking had been locked in a drawer, and fragile items like ceramics had been cleared away. Tools that could cause instant death had been hidden in advance, but if Jae-an put his mind to it, the possibilities were nearly endless.

There was no way to stop him from breaking the bathroom mirror or hanging himself from a hinge. Even if people were sent, it took time for them to arrive on the scene. Jae-an, unaware of the thoughts crossing Seo Jae-rim’s mind, immediately brought up the bodyguard.

“I’ll… stay with this bodyguard.”

[Why would you bring another man into the house? It’s already fucking annoying enough having the two of you stuck together in the hospital.]

The crushed pronunciation and the uncharacteristic curse at the end were part of Seo Jae-rim’s specific habit whenever he tried to suppress someone’s spirit. Finally, emotion seeped into the cornered Jae-an’s voice.

“There’s CCTV. You’re watching everything I do, so why are you like this?”

[I’m in Gangwon-do right now. I can’t get there immediately.]

“I told you I won’t do anything…”

[The fact that you’re suddenly being stubborn the moment you’re away from me… is a bit bothersome.]

Seo Jae-rim’s voice grew colder. When Jae-an didn’t answer, Jae-rim spoke in a forced, soothing tone.

[Even if you don’t do this, I’m already anxious enough about you. Stop the whining.]

“Jae-rim-ah. I really… if I stay here any longer, I feel like I’m going to die…”

[As you know, people don’t die that easily.]

Having nothing left to say, Jae-an simply repeated his desire to go home.

“Home—”

But even then, Jae-rim didn’t let him finish.

[I said two hours. If you’re not there when I get to the hospital… it won’t be you who gets hurt, but the bodyguard.]

He spoke of the method Jae-an was most vulnerable to.

[Put that bastard on.]

Jae-an flinched at the shift in address to ‘that bastard.’ His eyes flickered to the bodyguard, who was quietly waiting for the call to end. But Jae-an didn’t hand over the phone. Instead, he gripped it tighter.

“Hey.”

[…….]

“You think you’re the only one who can make threats?”

The bodyguard, realizing the person on the other end was Seo Jae-rim, watched Jae-an warily.

“If you touch someone else using me as an excuse, I’ll really…”

[…….]

“I won’t look at you anymore.”

[Hmm. You don’t look at me much even now, Hyung.]

“There will never be a day I like you, either.”

The playful response was brief; Seo Jae-rim fell silent. After a long pause, he let out a dry laugh and answered.

[How terrifying.]

“…….”

[See you in two hours.]

The call ended with a voice that was languid yet somehow bone-chilling.

With a troubled expression, Jae-an handed the phone back to the man. Having unintentionally heard a conversation that defied imagination, the man’s complexion wasn’t exactly bright either. Looking troubled, the man tucked the phone into his pocket and looked at Jae-an.

“Let’s head to the examination room.”

Seo Jae-rim would not budge, and if he left now, this man would be hurt. But at this very moment, a dark silhouette swayed inside the bathroom mirror. It felt like he could hear a creaking sound, so Jae-an raised his hand and rubbed his ears vigorously.

I’m not saying I’m running away, I’m saying I want to go home, so why the hell…

Anxiety and anger welled up as an impulse swept through his entire body. At the same time a ringing pierced his ears, he took off running.

“Mr. Lee Seong-yoon!”

Ignoring the shout, Jae-an bolted from the bathroom, and the bodyguard missed catching the hem of his clothes by a hair’s breadth. He tore off the EKG sensors attached to his body and ran toward the emergency exit sign. He pushed past people in patient gowns and nurses pushing carts.

He threw open the steel door leading to the emergency stairs and leaped down two or three steps at a time. Due to the echoing structure, he could hear the sound of the bodyguard’s footsteps running from a distance.

Though he had lost muscle and might not be at his former peak, he wasn’t a bad runner. Furthermore, the large hospital was crowded, and Jae-an used the people to move nimbly.

Even when he felt relieved to have escaped the bodyguard’s sight, he didn’t stop running. His lungs felt like they were tearing and he tasted blood in his throat, but he didn’t slow down, driven by the single-minded goal of returning home.

As he ran, he reached the busy area where Seo Jae-rim’s restaurant was located, and from there, the path was familiar. He sprinted desperately, teeth clenched, down the path he used to stroll lightly. It was only when he reached the familiar mansion that he stopped running. Collapsing in front of the gate, Jae-an clutched his chest and gasped for a long time as he tried to catch his breath.

Jae-an curled his knees and rolled up his sweatpants. His left ankle was red and swollen. He had twisted it once while jumping down the hospital stairs, and though he hadn’t even noticed the pain while fleeing, it was now thumping quite severely.

He carefully touched the swollen spot and covered it with his pants again. Moving his hollow gaze to the street, Jae-an tilted his head back as a cold raindrop grazed his nose. He had been so out of it that he hadn’t even realized the sky was cloudy. The sky, filled with dark clouds, was so gloomy it looked ready to pour at any moment.

Before long, raindrops fell onto his sweat-drenched forehead. The drops that fell intermittently after ten minutes became a fairly heavy rain, and soon it began to pour so hard that nothing could be heard over the sound of the rainfall.

He had no place to hide from the rain and no strength to move his legs. Puddles soon formed on the uneven road, ripples forming every time the rain struck them. His blank gaze settled on the puddles along with the rainwater.

Jae-an’s brown hair grew dark and auburn from the rain. His lips turned blue, and his fingertips froze bright red. His vacant, freezing pupils moved only when a sleek dress shoe crushed a muddy puddle.

“Now, what am I supposed to do with this?”

He raised his head at the clear voice that pierced through the sound of the rain. Seo Jae-rim, dressed in a black shirt and black suit pants, slowly crouched down to meet his eyes.

“Why are you so disobedient?”

The umbrella held in his scar-covered hand tilted toward Jae-an. Seo Jae-rim glanced at where Jae-an was sitting and the large mansion behind him before letting out a faint smile.

“But the fact that the place you worked so hard to flee to was the wall of our house.”

“…….”

“It’s actually a bit lovely.”

A raindrop that had been clinging to Jae-an’s eyelashes flowed down his cheek. He met Jae-rim’s eyes for quite a while, but it was hard to read his expression. He couldn’t distinguish whether the glint in those golden pupils was from amusement or simply because he was stimulated. Jae-an parted his wet lips.

“I told you.”

“…….”

“I really… home…”

Unable to finish his quiet sentence, Jae-an buried his forehead in his folded arms. He hated the way he was flinching at hallucinations like a madman, the nausea that rose every time he heard Lee Seong-yoon’s name, and the atmosphere where medical staff and caregivers had to watch Seo Jae-rim’s ill-timed skinship. He just wanted to be somewhere quiet where no one else was.

Like a toy, in a fitting place.

“You’re going to catch a cold. Shall we go in for now?”

Seo Jae-rim helped Jae-an up and tilted the umbrella further. It was a meaningless kindness to the already drenched Jae-an. He wished Seo Jae-rim would use the umbrella for himself instead. Ultimately, when they stepped into the foyer, both were like drowned rats.

As soon as Seo Jae-rim closed the front door, he folded the umbrella and threw it onto the floor. Along with the snapping sound of the umbrella frame, Jae-an’s throat was roughly grabbed.

“Ghk…”

His body went rigid as his airway was crushed. Fearing he would be struck, he clenched his molars, but Seo Jae-rim gave him a kiss instead of violence.

“Wu, mph.”

Seo Jae-rim’s hot tongue forced its way between lips cooled by the rain. It was a rough kiss that felt like it was sucking out every space in his mouth. He was already short of breath from being choked. His trembling hands gripped Jae-rim’s firm shoulders.

“Su, huff, focating…”

When Jae-an desperately pushed him away, Seo Jae-rim removed his hand from his throat and grabbed his hair painfully.

“Haa…”

Panting heavily, Jae-an let out a resigned laugh. Yes, this was like Seo Jae-rim. A hand that choked him and grabbed his hair suited him far better than the unearned kindness of holding an umbrella over him.

Then, with a thud, his back was slammed against the foyer mirror. Jae-an grimaced and let out a small groan of pain.

“You’re laughing? I guess you’re having fun right now, Hyung.”

Seo Jae-rim leaned his face in close, a smirk pulling at one corner of his mouth.

“While I was coming all the way from Gangwon-do after hearing you were lost. Do you have any idea what my heart was like?”

“…Like I give a damn.”

Jae-an mumbled with dark eyes. He wiped the saliva that had flowed down the side of his mouth with the back of his hand.

“Why should I… have to know your heart too.”

Seo Jae-rim’s eyes twitched. After a bone-chillingly long silence, Seo Jae-rim closed and opened his eyes slowly.

“That bodyguard.”

The moment the bodyguard was mentioned, the expression of resignation on Jae-an’s face vanished instantly.

“What did you… do?”

Jae-an grew anxious as if a panic attack were imminent. His face looked precarious, as if he would smash his own head against the wall without hesitation if told that something had happened.

“I didn’t touch him. You told me not to, Hyung.”

Seeing the relief spread through Jae-an’s eyes the moment he was told the man hadn’t been touched, Seo Jae-rim was seized by a strange emotion. He wondered if not touching the bodyguard had been the right choice, even while wanting to find the man right now and chop him to pieces before Jae-an’s eyes. However, Seo Jae-rim feigned a smile and spoke in an affectionate voice. First, he wanted to be praised by Jae-an.

“I did well, didn’t I?”

Jae-an endured the gaze that was staring at him like a snake with prey before finally squeezing out his voice.

“…Yes.”

“Is that it?”

Seo Jae-rim asked back as if it were absurd and even shrugged.

“What is this? You said you’d like me.”

Watching Seo Jae-rim, who was noticeably disappointed, Jae-an searched his memory with an anxious face. But no matter how much he thought about it, he had never said such a thing to Seo Jae-rim. Seo Jae-rim had once again interpreted Jae-an’s threat—that he would never like him if he touched the bodyguard—in a way that favored himself.

However, fearing the fallout for the bodyguard, Jae-an even nodded and said thank you.

“No, thank you…”

“If you’re thankful.”

Seo Jae-rim slowly tilted his head and tapped his cheek with a finger. His golden eyes, shining like beads, remained fixed on Jae-an’s lips. Realizing the meaning belatedly, Jae-an stood on his tiptoes and carefully pressed his lips to Seo Jae-rim’s cheek.

“Here too.”

As if the cheek weren’t enough, Seo Jae-rim tapped his lips. Jae-an pressed his lips there without hesitation as well. He could feel Seo Jae-rim’s lips curving into a smile against his own. This time, without being told, Jae-an was the first to kiss him once more.

If it could appease Seo Jae-rim’s long-held anger, he could give a few more kisses. Jae-an, who had grown numb to pressing his lips together, parted Seo Jae-rim’s lips with his own to create an opening and then slid his tongue inside. It was what Seo Jae-rim usually did.

The moment Jae-an’s warm breath and tongue flowed into Seo Jae-rim’s mouth, he could feel the muscle-packed body go rigid. It was ironic that Seo Jae-rim, who had been playfully demanding kisses, was the one who froze up when Jae-an became active.

“Ah…”

With an aroused groan, Seo Jae-rim entangled their tongues forcefully.

“Wrap your arms around my neck.”

As soon as Jae-an reached out to embrace his neck at Seo Jae-rim’s command, Seo Jae-rim picked him up by his thighs and headed for the bedroom. Messy, wet footprints were left on the marble hallway from the foyer to the bedroom.

Dropping Jae-an onto the bed almost like throwing him, Seo Jae-rim hurriedly stripped off the clothes clinging to his body. The naked body, drenched by the rain, turned even whiter in the cold air.

“Take off my clothes.”

Jae-an also moved his stiff hands. He unbuckled the belt tightening Seo Jae-rim’s waist and lowered the zipper. The moment he pulled down the underwear without being conscious of the hot, heavy front, Jae-an’s fingers twitched.

“…….”

The area around Seo Jae-rim’s member and pubic hair was already soaked and sticky with an immense amount of fluid. It was neither rainwater nor pre-cum.

The member, which had reached a climax just from the initial tongue-sharing, jerked up and down, and the semen on the glans stretched like a thread onto the underwear hanging at his thighs.

“Don’t look at it like it’s so dirty—touch it.”

Seo Jae-rim wrapped his hand around Jae-an’s frozen one and made him grab the messy member. Lukewarm semen stuck between his fingers and onto his palm. Jae-an gripped the shaft with both hands, leaving no gaps, and stroked it. A wet sound accompanied every move of his palms up and down.

“Haa……”

Seo Jae-rim growled as he licked every corner of Jae-an’s rain-soaked body like a dog. Choosing only sensitive spots like the armpits, nipples, and navel to rake with his tongue, Seo Jae-rim was clearly more aroused than usual.

It was a strange pleasure born from the satisfaction that the place Jae-an had fled to was the very fortress he had built, fueled by the anger of Jae-an’s escape.

“Hey, ugh!”

Seo Jae-rim’s tongue, which had been biting and sucking his rain-drenched body, finally reached Jae-an’s crotch. Having his member sucked while sober was horrific. Jae-an hurriedly lowered his hands to cover his member and testicles. But Seo Jae-rim’s tongue, which had been licking between his thighs, moved not toward his member, but below it. The tongue, traveling over the skin below the testicles to the opening, reached the tightly closed hole.

“You’re right now… where… hey! Stop…!”

Seo Jae-rim pinned down the flailing legs and sucked the opening intently. Every time Jae-an shouted, his pointed tongue poked the twitching entrance of the hole. Sensing something, Jae-an shuddered.

“Stop, really!”

But the tongue slowly forced its way inside. The moment the tongue burrowed into the place that hadn’t even grown accustomed to fingers or a member, Jae-an thrashed his legs and recoiled.

“Hey! Hey! Huff….”

But he couldn’t shake off Seo Jae-rim’s strength. Seo Jae-rim moved his tongue in and out, meticulously pleasuring the area around the pink folds. He ignored Jae-an’s horror, even intentionally making sucking sounds as he kissed it.

Ultimately, Jae-an covered his ears in resignation. He simply couldn’t bear the gluttonous sounds Seo Jae-rim made while burying his face in his lower half.

“Haa… ugh, I said stop… really….”

Tears welled up from a sensation that was more terrifying than shameful. Seo Jae-rim, despite sucking on such a dirty place, kept making whimpering sounds from whatever was making him so aroused. Each time, a damp breath and vibration were transmitted between Jae-an’s buttocks.

Using his tongue, which was shorter than a finger, and using saliva instead of gel to loosen the opening, Seo Jae-rim finally lifted his buried face once the saliva-soaked hole grew limp and soft.

“Fuck…. It really tastes good.”

Seo Jae-rim, having spread Jae-an’s weak legs after his defiance was crushed, inserted his member to the root and let out a smile filled with pleasure.

“Hoo, ugh….”

Jae-an, who had lost his senses simply from having the opening sucked, couldn’t make a loud sound and only sobbed. Soon, the sound of rain-drenched bodies hitting each other echoed loudly.

“Ugh, ghk. Hic. Hah.”

“Ah. Ah… Hyung. Tell me you love me.”

During the encounter, which was more persistent and agonizing than usual, Seo Jae-rim constantly forced the words “I love you.” Jae-an, with eyes glazed over, mechanically repeated the same words.

I love you. I love you.

And every time he said he loved him, Jae-an convulsively wrapped his legs around Seo Jae-rim’s waist. He pressed and pulled Seo Jae-rim’s thighs with his calves, making their crotches meet without any gap.

“Harder, do it harder….”

As he whispered with eyes filled with tears, he felt Seo Jae-rim looking at him inquisitively. He couldn’t understand why Jae-an, who couldn’t even breathe properly from the pain, was suddenly urging him to shove his member in all the way.

“More, don’t stop….”

At the second urge, Seo Jae-rim thrust so hard it made a thud, causing a sharp pain so intense it sent a jolt through Jae-an’s spine.

“Ugh.”

Simultaneously, the faint, swaying image of his mother on the wall vanished. The only way to erase the hallucination of his mother that appeared whenever he told Seo Jae-rim he loved him was to awaken his mind with the pain of his insides being stirred.

Seo Jae-rim, unaware of the reason, simply seemed satisfied by Jae-an’s active behavior. Always acting like a hungry beast, Seo Jae-rim took the opportunity of Jae-an’s weakness to express his desires to his heart’s content. Flipping the panting Jae-an over, he pinned down the back of his head and spine, inserting his vein-ridged member to the root.

“Ack, ack….”

Sounds that couldn’t be called groans scraped his throat. With his face pressed into the sheets, he could see nothing. He could only feel the sound of Seo Jae-rim’s heart beating violently and the primal scent of Seo Jae-rim’s skin.

Seo Jae-rim’s member pushed into his organs like a snake. From his head to his gut, everything was filled with Seo Jae-rim. He couldn’t even feel the pain anymore. He was surely being broken.

He wished he would be broken beyond recovery, becoming a fool who could no longer perceive this hellish reality. His tightly shut eyes, and even his mind, turned a hazy white.

***

He opened his eyes. He had lost all strength after coupling like a beast, and his last memory was closing his eyes in exhaustion. However, his body had been washed until it was perfectly clean and dry, and he had been dressed in fresh clothes. He was in such an orderly state that it was confusing, making him wonder if the previous night’s terror had merely been a nightmare.

He turned his head to check outside the window. The pre-dawn sky, before the sun had risen, was dark, and there was no one beside him. A terrible thirst arose, making his throat feel as dry as if it were tearing.

Jae-an attempted to lower himself carefully from the bed to drink some water, but with a sharp, jolting pain, he collapsed onto the floor.

“Ah.”

His ankle had no strength, and a pain like being gouged with a knife flared up. Only then did Jae-an realize that everything had been real.

He carefully rolled up his pant leg. It was so dark he couldn’t see anything, so he cautiously felt the area that hurt. The ankle he had sprained on the stairs yesterday was burning with heat.

Before long, the door opened. The bitter scent of cigarettes reached him before Seo Jae-rim’s presence did. It seemed he had been smoking on the terrace and came inside upon hearing Jae-an’s movement.

“Where are you going?”

The question was asked with a smile, but it held a hidden edge. While Jae-an hesitated, wary of his reaction, Seo Jae-rim slowly approached, shifting his cigarette between his fingers.

“Why the flustered look? Are you trying to run away again?”

“No. I was trying to get some water… but my ankle hurt, and I fell.”

Jae-an stammered as he touched his ankle. Seo Jae-rim passed right by him and turned on the auxiliary light next to the bed. Using the light, Jae-an hurriedly examined his ankle. As expected, it was severely swollen and marked with a bluish bruise.

“Yesterday… I sprained it a little…”

“Let me see.”

Seo Jae-rim, who had walked over slowly, did not sit in front of him but remained standing, letting smoke drift from his lips. Then, he used the tip of his foot to give Jae-an’s hand a sharp tap. The hand Jae-an had been using to cradle his ankle was knocked away.

Jae-an lifted his eyes to look up at Seo Jae-rim. A thick, unsettling atmosphere filled the room for some reason.

“…….”

Because Seo Jae-rim was standing with his back to the light, his expression was completely invisible. Then, with a sudden whoosh, Seo Jae-rim lifted his foot. His slipper-shod foot went straight for Jae-an’s ankle.

Exactly on top of the swollen bruise.

“Agh!”

A horrific pain radiated through him as the heavy stomp landed before he could even think of avoiding it. Jae-an’s eyes flew open to their limit as he lurched. Reflexively, he curled his body into a ball and clutched his ankle, trying to escape by any means.

“Ah, ugh!!”

“Uh-uh, stay still. You’ll break something else.”

Unlike Jae-an, who had turned deathly pale from the pain, Seo Jae-rim only had a slight furrow in his brow. Seo Jae-rim’s foot tapped against the folded leg, and after trampling once more on the defenselessly exposed ankle, he did not remove his foot. Jae-an thrashed like a madman and screamed.

“Ah… Ah!! Jae-rim-ah!”

“Yes, Hyung.”

“Why, why—ah—why are you doing this…!!”

“Yesterday, I was a bit possessed… I forgot to give you your punishment.”

Seo Jae-rim, who had been grinding his foot down on the ankle a few more times as if crushing a bug to death, took a breath and slowly ran a hand through his hair. His face, caught briefly in the light, was devoid of any emotion. The white face, lacking even a trace of common anger, looked like that of a corpse.

Jae-an, pale and trembling, looked down at his ankle. The ankle, bent at a bizarre angle, looked grotesque.

“Ah… ah…, it’s really—it’s br—broken.”

“Yes. It seems so.”

“It hurts….”

It hurts, it hurts. Jae-an, murmuring incessantly, used his hips to scuttle backward while clutching his ankle. Dragging his foot, he reached the wall and looked up at Seo Jae-rim. Tears welled up instantly amidst the greatest pain he had ever felt in his life.

“Why are you looking at me with those eyes?”

“…Hic, what do I do, it’s—it’s broken.”

“Didn’t you act out with this level of resolve?”

Panic set in from the sudden onslaught of agony. His breathing grew erratic, and Jae-an panted heavily, covering his mouth with a trembling hand. The psychological pressure squeezing his entire body was one thing, but the physiological pain radiating from his ankle was simply too much.

“Endure it for a little while. It’s still a long time before the hospitals open.”

Leaving behind a cold warning, Seo Jae-rim brushed past Jae-an. Jae-an couldn’t even manage a response, much less a loud groan, and held his breath. Only after Seo Jae-rim had left the room did he curl into a ball and pour out the tears he had been holding back.

“Hoo, ugh…….”

It had been a grave miscalculation to think he could threaten Seo Jae-rim using affection as a hostage. And he would have to receive the punishment for that mistake, one step at a time, starting now.