Chapter 44

That afternoon, Geum Seoul quietly examined two small gems resting upon his open palm. One had fallen yesterday, and the other just moments ago, yet neither showed the slightest hint of pink.

“Mmh…” Seoul murmured, furrowing his brow.

The Deputy Director had insisted the stone was pink. Pinching a gem between his thumb and forefinger, Seoul held it aloft against the fluorescent lighting, but the surface remained cloudy and chalky white without a trace of rosy pigment.

Seoul whispered under his breath, “It still looks like a Grade D…”

Years spent assisting Park Gil-pyeong with gemstone brokerage had given Seoul a rough eye for grade. It was not some extraordinary talent for appraisal; he simply remembered the countless classified stones that had passed through his hands. After examining the new gems, he tucked them into the bottom drawer of a utility cabinet beside the kitchen door, among the cleaning supplies.

He glanced toward the curtains completely sealing off the living room.

—“I’m excited to see how much prettier you can become.”

Seoul rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand. The man had been referring to the gemstone, not him, yet recalling the phrase made his heart flutter wildly. The Deputy Director spoke rough profanities without hesitation, yet tossed out sweet words just as easily. Flustered and burning with heat, Seoul was always left alone to suffer.

Had the grade improved because intimacy had felt so good? Splaying his fingers wide, he stretched his arm into the air. Neither his knuckles, palms, arms, nor legs bore the prickly heat rash of summer; his skin was entirely smooth and dry.

A life transformed overnight remained deeply unfamiliar. Everything was novel, everything felt awkward, and above all, nothing felt truly his.

—“Aren’t you curious to see just how bright you can shine?”

Because those words sounded as though they had been meant specifically for him, Seoul reminded himself a dozen times a day to keep perspective. This was only another errand from the Deputy Director. Nothing more. He repeated that thought whenever the strange flutter in his chest returned, hoping repetition would eventually make it true. Yet even now, merely seeing the man filled him with bright, unreasonable joy, and the faintest trace of his pheromones sent warm prickles racing beneath Seoul’s skin.

—“How long will it take for Geum Seoul to climb to Grade A?”

Seoul did not think the Deputy Director’s question was entirely a joke. Everyone coveted high-grade gems. Naturally, the higher a person’s rating, the more affection and consideration they received. Rin—the highest grade in their settlement—had lived proof of that hierarchy. Wealthy buyers came specifically for his stones, villagers treated him with deference, and even Im Gyun-il was universally scorned whenever he tried to harass him. Rin was spared manual labor as well, lest stress lower the quality of his gems.

He had never harbored envy toward Rin. Having spent his youth drifting between ruined slums and assisting auctions, that hierarchy was self-evident. More beautiful gems fetched higher prices, making society’s adoration entirely logical.

If his grade truly improved, Seoul wanted to give the Deputy Director one of his gems. He had seen the appraisal only as text and could not be completely certain, but if the rating really reached Grade C, he would offer the stone without hesitation. A few cheap Grade C gems could never repay the debt of being allowed to live in this magnificent home, yet for the first time that imbalance no longer felt completely hopeless. The thought filled him with quiet, almost childlike anticipation.

Click.

A faint rustle caught his attention, and Geum Seoul sprang to his feet. Having just finished dinner, it wasn’t the meal courier. He hurried to the glowing console in the corner of the living room, which indicated a vehicle entering the premises.

“It’s the Deputy Director,” Seoul whispered, his chest fluttering.

Biting his lower lip, Seoul positioned himself by the foyer. Calming his racing pulse by pressing both hands lightly against his chest, he leaned an ear against the door. Ding. The chime of the elevator echoed. Pushing the heavy entrance door open, he peered into the hallway.

Gye Do-hyeop raised an eyebrow as he approached. “What’s this? Why are you out here?” Strolling down the hall, Gye Do-hyeop arched a brow in amusement.

“I thought you were coming home, sir,” Seoul answered timidly.

At Seoul’s reply, Gye Do-hyeop muttered under his breath, “What, did I adopt a puppy?” and hauled the door wide open, instantly sweeping the body stumbling toward him right up into his arms.

“Ah!”

The gasp escaped him as his feet left the floor. Flailing in midair, Seoul took desperate care not to grab Gye Do-hyeop’s hair, settling for clutching tightly around his neck and dangling awkwardly, though Gye Do-hyeop only let out a thoroughly pleased chuckle.

“Fuck,” Gye Do-hyeop rumbled, burying his face into the youth’s skin. “Look at this scent.”

Seoul blinked in mild confusion. “I took a shower after dinner.”

“Dense as a rock,” Gye Do-hyeop muttered with a rough scoff.

Gye Do-hyeop rubbed his face roughly against Seoul’s neck and shoulder. Thick black hair dragged over sensitive skin, sending intoxicating shivers down Seoul’s spine, while the heat of the man’s breath stirred a dizzy, restless thrill low in his abdomen. Today the Deputy Director wore a tailored dress shirt and tie. In casual clothes he could pass for any young operative with a shoulder holster; dressed like this, he looked unmistakably older, sharper, and more imposing.

Gye Do-hyeop teased in a low, husky growl, “You showered in advance so I could eat you up, didn’t you?”

Seoul blushed to his ears. “No, I didn’t.”

Gye Do-hyeop commanded with a raspy laugh against his neck, “Are you crazy? Just say yes.”

“…Yes,” Seoul answered in a faint whisper.

An amused laugh rumbled out of Gye Do-hyeop. Seoul had not known he was coming; the obedient answer had simply been the response demanded of him. Apparently satisfied, Gye Do-hyeop lowered his head once more and sank his teeth through the thin cotton of Seoul’s shirt into the tender flesh beneath.

Gye Do-hyeop lifted the lightweight body into his arms, though he carried him only a few steps. The bedroom lay directly behind them, but instead he set Seoul atop the display cabinet in the hallway. Terrified of slipping from the narrow surface, Seoul grabbed at him with both hands, bunching fistfuls of expensive shirt fabric in a way Gye Do-hyeop found absurdly endearing. When kisses began traveling along his throat, Seoul slowly tipped his head back to give him room.

Gye Do-hyeop asked, pressing a kiss against his neck, “What did you have for dinner?”

“Sushi,” Seoul murmured. “It was my first time trying raw fish…”

“Then what’s for my dinner?” Gye Do-hyeop countered.

Seoul blinked in surprise. “Why haven’t you eaten yet?”

A faint flush warmed Seoul’s face as soft pheromones spread around them. When he asked the question, his brows dipped with genuine concern, as though reprimanding Gye Do-hyeop for neglecting meals at such a late hour. Amused that someone who had only just gained stable footing was already worrying over somebody else, Gye Do-hyeop brushed the back of his hand over Seoul’s soft cheek.

Then again, Geum Seoul had always worried about others even when his own life hung by a thread. Knowing nothing about him, soaked to the bone in the pouring rain, he had offered his own dry towel first.

Chuckling softly, Gye Do-hyeop clarified his true intent to the youth fussing over his dinner.

“No,” Gye Do-hyeop murmured, rubbing Seoul’s soft cheek with the back of his hand. “I’m asking where I should suck on you first.”

Only then did Geum Seoul realize that the ‘dinner’ in question was himself. His earlobes burning scarlet, he lowered his gaze, but Gye Do-hyeop had no intention of letting him brush it aside.

A calloused thumb pressed into Seoul’s flushed cheek. “Here?”

“…”

Tracing along the blood-flushed cheek toward the ear, the thumb pressed gently against the cartilage and the soft lobe.

“Here?” Gye Do-hyeop asked, dragging his thumb along the earlobe.

“Ah…”

Seoul’s amber eyes sank beneath the heavy weight of embarrassment, his slender fingers gripping the hem of Gye Do-hyeop’s dress shirt. The thumb that had toyed with his ear slipped past his jawline, caressing the corded sternocleidomastoid muscle along his throat.

Gye Do-hyeop warned in a low rumble, “If you don’t answer, I’m going to keep moving lower.”

Down to here. As he spoke, Gye Do-hyeop’s other hand appeared to cup Seoul’s rear, his middle and index fingers pressing firmly against the perineum between his thighs before pulling back. A sharp gasp broke from Seoul’s lips, his teeth nearly catching his tongue.

“I’ll ask again, little student.”

Though Seoul was merely paralyzed by mortification, he was suddenly treated as a student craving something more intense. Stepping closer, Gye Do-hyeop pinned Seoul’s slender calf against his flank as sweet pheromones welled up in delicate bursts.

Leaning down until his warm breath coated the youth’s ear, Gye Do-hyeop whispered, “Where should Teacher bite into you first?”

“Te-Teacher?” Seoul stammered in bewilderment.

Geum Seoul had never attended school. Since childhood, his mother had taught him basic literacy and he had learned by reading discarded newspapers. He understood the concept of a teacher only in abstract terms. Yet the man’s voice was so low, so thoroughly indecent, that Seoul found himself forced to reconsider the fundamental definition of an educator.

“Yeah,” Gye Do-hyeop replied with a grin. “The person who solves a student’s troublesome problems.”

“I… I know.”

Meanwhile, fingers gliding past the trembling expanse of his chest settled upon a delicate presence that could have easily been overlooked.

“Here? Your nipples?” Gye Do-hyeop asked softly.

Seoul held his breath with a muffled gasp. “Hngh…”

He knew he should nod as quickly as possible, yet asking to be bitten there was so mortifying that he hesitated. Lightly scraping the small bud with his thumbnail, Gye Do-hyeop’s hand descended toward the next station.

“Your belly button?”

“Yes!” Seoul blurted, nodding frantically.

Knowing that descending any lower would invite unbearable humiliation, Seoul hastily settled on his navel. The naive strategy was transparent as glass, prompting a dazzlingly radiant grin to break across Gye Do-hyeop’s face, his eyes curving into crescents.

Gye Do-hyeop flashed a dazzling smile. “Then today, Teacher will suck and chew on Student Seoul’s belly button as if it were your little asshole.”

“Ah, what? As if it were what? Wait a second…” Seoul stammered in horror.

“Wait, my ass,” Gye Do-hyeop rumbled, hoisting him up. “We need to raise your grade, Geum Seoul.”

“Hnnh…”

Seoul swallowed nervously. Gye Do-hyeop’s words were so filthy that he briefly wondered whether a belly button was supposed to be some profound erogenous zone he had simply never learned about. Maybe the belly button I know and the one the Deputy Director knows are completely different things. Before that ridiculous thought could finish forming, Gye Do-hyeop swept him off the cabinet and carried him over one shoulder into the dining room. He set Seoul on the broad marble table, stripped away his shirt, and spread the pale body beneath the lights like a feast laid out for one.

“Well then,” Gye Do-hyeop hummed, “let’s dig the fuck in.”

Trembling at the waist, Geum Seoul curled his fingers into tight fists as Gye Do-hyeop’s tongue went to work. Licking the navel with wet precision, the man applied firm pressure with the tip of his tongue like savoring a sweet confection, then flattened it to paint wide swathes of saliva across the pale abdomen.

“If you come, I’ll suck on that ass until it’s wrinkled tight,” Gye Do-hyeop threatened with a grin.

The sensation was so ticklish that Seoul kept his eyes squeezed shut, unable to unclench his fists. Arching his hips under the relentless mouth, each flick of the tongue dipping into the hollow of his navel forced him to stifle whines.

Arching an eyebrow, Gye Do-hyeop asked, “Hey. Why is your cock standing at attention just from me licking your belly button?”

“Your tongue is… so…” Seoul whispered faintly.

Curling his fingers, Gye Do-hyeop flicked Seoul’s erection four times in quick succession. The sharp stimulation made Seoul twist at the hips in near-fainting spasms, clear pre-cum streaking across his belly. A stinging smack landed against his rounded buttocks for tensing without permission. It was then—caught between pain, shame, and pleasure—that Geum Seoul wept his first gemstone.

Gye Do-hyeop gave his hip a firm smack. “Did Geum Seoul leak already?”

“N-no, that’s… this is…” Seoul stammered.

“Where the fuck does a student get off talking back while Teacher is speaking?” Gye Do-hyeop scoffed. “Classroom discipline has gone straight to hell, hasn’t it?”

Declaring with a bright smile that pre-cum counted as coming, Gye Do-hyeop bit firmly into his shoulder before beginning the meal in earnest. Rather than using cutlery to slice portions delicately at a grand banquet, he devoured Geum Seoul like a starving demon presented with a feast after days of famine.

From shoulder to throat, between fingers and toes, Gye Do-hyeop tasted him greedily. At the most ticklish hollows—the backs of Seoul’s knees, the soft pits beneath his arms—he flattened his tongue, rubbed, sucked, and bit until vivid red marks bloomed across pale skin. Whenever Seoul arched with a breathless cry, another sharp swat landed on his rump, followed by a curt order to lift his hips properly. The blows merely stung, yet tears kept spilling from Seoul’s eyes as fluid leaked freely from his body, and Gye Do-hyeop only grinned down at the sight.