Chapter 23

Drenched in exhaustion, Gong Jio sluggishly pressed the keypad at his front door. Loosening his tie and letting out a low sigh, fatigue lingered in his every movement.

Normally, an itinerary of this level wouldn’t exhaust his stamina, but his body felt particularly heavy during this trip—no doubt because his head was packed full. And of course, the one occupying his mind was Cha Gyuhan.

‘Why is an idiot with nothing in his skull so heavy in my head?’

Jio slipped off his dress shoes while directing this petty, childish insult at Gyuhan for no reason.

Then, noticing the slippers resting beside his feet, he raised an eyebrow.

Judging by the size, an adult male. There was only one person close enough to have the door code, meaning there was only one suspect.

Holding his breath, Jio crossed the foyer and walked down the hallway. As he muted his footsteps and approached the living room, even breathing reached his ears. Considerably louder than a soft slumber.

“……”

Cha Gyuhan was asleep on the sofa.

Jio blinked his dry, tired eyes slowly, wondering if the muscle-brained fool had tumbled straight out of his thoughts and materialized here.

Yet no matter how long he stared, Gyuhan did not vanish. It wasn’t an illusion.

“Unbelievable.”

Carrying someone in one’s head to the point of exhaustion meant, ultimately, thinking about them non-stop. Jio had recalled Gyuhan over and over—feeling angry, going mad with frustration, curious, anxious, and then wanting to beat the crap out of him—only to return to Korea having decided nothing about what to do next.

And yet, right in front of him while in this unresolved state, the culprit was sprawled out, sleeping like a log.

Flaring with irritation, Jio tossed what he was holding right onto Gyuhan.

“Oof!”

Gyuhan jolted awake, blinking down at the duty-free shopping bag that had landed on his stomach.

Inside were liquor and cigarettes. Seeing a carton of the brand he smoked, Gyuhan lifted his eyes to Gong Jio.

Holy fuck.

Gyuhan was equally flustered.

His initial plan had been to wait at Gong Jio’s place while figuring out how to beg for forgiveness and how to phrase it in the least offensive way possible. But the moment he laid eyes on the sofa, an overwhelming wave of drowsiness had crashed over him. The fatigue from days of uncharacteristic sleeplessness hit him the instant he entered Jio’s familiar apartment, and Gyuhan simply couldn’t resist it.

Let’s just sleep for a bit. Really just a tiny bit. If I nap until 11:00 and wake up, adding the travel time from the airport to here will give me plenty of time to formulate a plan…

Before he could even finish rationalizing it to himself, he had conked out, only to wake up now after the owner of the house had already arrived.

Truly carefree.

Gyuhan could somewhat understand how his mother felt whenever she thumped her chest in frustration looking at him.

Crazy bastard. Why didn’t you just go sleep in the bed while you were at it?

Scratching his head vigorously, Gyuhan caught Gong Jio staring silently at him and offered an awkward grin.

“You look exhausted, man. Your eyes are bloodshot.”

Jio fished through his pocket and pulled out artificial tears. He was adept at applying eyedrops to eyes sensitive to both sunlight and dryness. Even after adding multiple drops because one wasn’t enough, and tilting his head back down into position, Gyuhan still hadn’t formed his next plan.

“So why are you here?”

Hesitating, Gyuhan glanced at Gong Jio and froze.

The eyedrops had overflowed, making it look as though Jio were silently weeping. The rims of his eyes were flushed red, making the illusion of tears even more convincing. And Jio’s pseudo-crying face was… truly pretty. It was probably because Gyuhan had looked at high-school Jio earlier today. And because the things Jio had gone through back then came to mind…

His heart softening, Gyuhan unconsciously rubbed his chest, his thoughts wandering—or perhaps circling back to the exact same conclusion.

No, how is he still pretty even after becoming a grown man? Does that even make sense?

It did make sense. Gyuhan stared blankly at Gong Jio, unaware his own lips were slightly parted.

“I asked why you’re here. I’m tired. I’m going to shower and go straight to sleep. Speak up quickly. If you just came to crash, go in and sleep.”

“I—I came to apologize.”

At Jio’s undisguised irritation, Gyuhan blurted it out before he could stop himself.

Since the main point had already tumbled out, it was far too late to craft a smooth preamble or clumsily dress things up with some nonexistent plan. Cha Gyuhan rose awkwardly to his feet, hesitating as his thick fingers repeatedly clenched and released the fabric of his rumpled shirt.

“What?”

Watching Gyuhan’s fidgeting, Gong Jio took a step closer. A distance of about one meter still separated them, yet to Gyuhan—whose 20/20 eyesight had never been degraded by exhausting pursuits like studying or reading—Jio seemed startlingly close. Close enough to clearly see the damp tracks left on Jio’s face.

“What did you do wrong? Did you cause an accident? If that’s it, spit it out. Do you need to turn yourself in?”

Well, I did come to turn myself in…

When Gyuhan gave a solemn nod, Jio clicked his tongue and picked his travel bag back up.

“Which precinct do we need to go to?”

“What? No, it’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“I came because… I have something to confess to you…”

Jio, who had looked ready to march straight to the local police station, slowly set the bag down.

Both men wore cold, rigid expressions. Gyuhan assumed Jio was simply exhausted from his long flight, while Jio believed Gyuhan was tense because the very moment he had both awaited and prayed would never arrive had finally come.

That fucking news of yours. The goddamn thing he’d almost wished would just arrive quickly and get it over with. Yet the news he prayed would never come, knowing he would never be able to accept it.

Jio asked in a low, measured voice. “Did you decide to get married?”

Gyuhan stared at him blankly.

Marriage, out of nowhere?

“No. That makes no sense.” Gyuhan denied it vehemently before he could stop himself. Marriage out of the blue? Bringing up something he hadn’t even entertained in his wildest dreams.

Right. It was something he hadn’t considered for ages. Since when had he stopped dreaming about marriage and finding a wife? Had that become a secondary concern the moment he reached climax while imagining Gong Jio—his best friend who was practically a brother—or had it begun even before then?

Either way, that wasn’t a topic to bring up now. At least, not right now.

Gyuhan shook his head, and then…

“Gong Jio.”

He dropped straight to his knees.

“I’m really sorry.”

“What the hell…? Did your company go under?”

“No. It’s not that kind of problem.”

Brushing aside the rise or fall of his entire company as “that kind of problem,” Gyuhan muttered in a voice laden with profound misery, “I… with you… did it.”

“What?”

Unable to bring himself to lift his head, Gyuhan squeezed his eyes shut.

“I, I… I took you and…”

“Took me and what.”

Jio was going out of his mind with frustration. He was already dead tired from the overseas flight, the situation made zero sense, and the only person available to explain it was Cha Gyuhan of all people. Getting straight to the point without beating around the bush was one of Gyuhan’s few redeeming qualities; if he mumbled and swallowed his words like this, even that virtue vanished, leaving behind nothing but an obscenely hot, fuckable shell.

“I…”

Gyuhan sucked in his lower lip, clinging to Jio’s threadbare patience with grim determination.

“I… I jerked off while imagining you, Jio-ya.”

Right…

Jio raised his gaze to the ceiling for a quiet moment, finding his own rationalization.

I must still be on the plane. That’s why I’m having such a bizarre dream. Cha Gyuhan on his knees, confessing in a voice that sounds like he wants to die that he jerked off imagining me? It’s as nonsensical and weird as a feverish nap when you’re completely exhausted.

Still, to have a dream I never even had as a teenager?

Dumbfounded, Jio let out a dry, incredulous laugh.

The laugh sounded so completely unhinged that Gyuhan looked up in pure panic, sprang to his feet, grabbed Jio’s wrist, and pulled him close.

“Hey, just beat the shit out of me instead. I came here fully prepared to take a beating. You can hit me until you’re satisfied.”

“You’re fine getting beaten…? What a hell of a reward for coming back from a business trip.”

Gyuhan’s face drained of color at Jio’s dazed murmur. To his ears, it sounded like this. “(I bust my ass on a grueling) business trip, (and the) reward (my supposed bastard of a friend gives me) is fucking stellar.”

“N-No, I know you’re tired, but I couldn’t help it. Things were urgent on my end too, Jio-ya. Just listen to me for a second.”

In more ways than one, Gyuhan was dealing with an urgent release.

With heavy, languid lids, Jio swept an even more hooded, sultry gaze over Gyuhan. Gyuhan was fidgeting with his belt as if eager to display his grief right this instant. Jio’s fist clenched tight. Looking down at the fist tightening within his grasp and the tendons straining in Jio’s wrist, Gyuhan swallowed dryly.

He’s really not messing around. Is he actually going to beat the life out of me this time? Am I heading to the ER?

Even if he ended up in the hospital, he had no choice. Enduring a sudden bout of insomnia followed by a crushing wave of exhaustion, Gyuhan’s face was pale and puffy, and his mind was just as hazy and clouded. With his face contorted in distress, he began to whine and plead, “T-To tell you the truth, Jio-ya… when I jerked off to you, it felt so fucking amazing. It was the greatest climax of my life. Fuuuck, I shouldn’t have done it. It was so good I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Th-That must be why I was punished. I think I’m fucked. No, my dick is fucked. I’m in serious trouble, Jio-ya. Mine won’t get hard. I think I got erectile dysfunction. I must have been cursed. This isn’t even just mine—it belongs to my future wife… What am I supposed to do…? I was wrong. Beat me half to death and sob, please forgive me.”

Jio’s gaze shifted to Gyuhan, who was clutching his wrist with both hands and sniffling. It almost felt as if one could hear the creaking gears grinding in his head. Though Gyuhan wasn’t shedding real tears, his remorse was entirely genuine.

A heartfelt apology? Sincere remorse? None of that mattered to Jio right now.

“…Ha. Is that so,” Jio murmured slowly.

Gyuhan lifted his head at the chillingly cold tone. By now, he was already down on his knees for the second time.

Jio had covered his face with one hand, obscuring his expression. All that escaped was an ambiguous sound—somewhere between a sinister chuckle and a heavy sigh.

“So that was why—” Gyuhan swallowed hard as Jio’s voice dropped lower and lower.

“Gyuhan-ah.”

And then Jio moved.

Lowering the hand that had covered his face, Jio rested it atop Gyuhan’s head like a priest about to grant absolution. I absolve you of your sins. His posture, his aura, and his austere, ascetic expression seemed straight out of a confessional. Gyuhan stared at him blankly, then flinched, the soles of his kneeling feet twitching.

Huh? A tin… gle?

Before Gyuhan’s brain could even process whether that sensation was truly a tin… gle…?, Jio parted his lips first.

“Gyuhan-ah. Mine suddenly won’t get hard either.”

“…Huh?”

“I think I must have been cursed too. It wasn’t getting up, so I was actually thinking of going to the clinic. But I was feeling so depressed that I just wanted to be left alone… and then you showed up at my place while I was away and told me all this…”

Bending one knee, Jio lowered himself to face Gyuhan directly. His solemn, reverent expression went beyond asceticism to the point of looking holy. There was no way someone wearing a face like this would lie. Gyuhan stared blankly, then twitched his toes again.

A tin-gle? In my soles?

“Gyuhan-ah.”

At Jio’s whisper, Gyuhan nodded.

“It seems we’ve been cursed together.”

“H-Hey, what do you mean together? It’s all because of me. You, you bastard… you didn’t get cursed.”

“Really…? You don’t have to say that. I’m used to hearing things like that anyway.”

Stung by Jio’s nonchalant tone, Gyuhan flared up. “What the hell are you talking about! This is all my fault! I jerked off to you and tainted our, our friendship, didn’t I, huh?! I was supposed to protect you like a big brother…!”

“My birthday is earlier than yours, though… Sure. Whatever. In that case, Gyuhan-ie hyung.”

Pride? If one clung to pride over something as trivial as an age-based title, one could never win in court. To Gong Jio, pride was a detachable accessory whose weight varied depending on the price tag.

And compared to the prize he might claim right now, it was a pitiful option he would gladly detach not just for pennies, but for free.

“Let’s break through this situation together.”

Before Gyuhan knew it, instead of him grasping Jio’s hand, the roles had reversed.

Gyuhan stared blankly at Jio, who was gripping his hands with the kind of expression a five-term assemblyman might put on in a traditional market during election season. Gyuhan nodded first, then stammered, “B-But what does ‘break through’ mean, Jio-ya…?”

I have to know what it means before I can decide whether to do it or not…

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