In Yoo-shin's eyes widened as he settled down on the bed.
“The bed is really wide?”
It was large king size. He didn't know why a man who lives alone bought a wide bed.
“I’ll sleep in this big bed without doing anything, just holding hands.”
“……”
“You don’t trust the pet rat?”
“……”
When he looked at him with sad, shocked eyes, all his faith disappeared. However, as he was looking at the status window with separation anxiety still lingering, he had no way to refuse.
'You must have been very surprised today, so it's probably an illusion to feel like you're just adjusting for a day.
“Are you really just holding hands and sleeping?”
“I may have hidden things from you, but I have never told a harmful lie.”
That was it. Even when telling a lie, he’ll probably start by declaring, 'I'm going to tell you bad lies from now on' at this point.
As In Yoo-shin shook off the pillow and lay down, Hyeon Gyu-ha quickly lay down next to him. The blanket automatically slid up to cover the two people's bodies, and the light suddenly turned off. The arm that stretched out squirming under the blanket grabbed In Yoo-shin's hand and he looked relieved.
“It was annoying when a married couple insisted on having a bigger bed, but it was a good idea to buy a really big one.”
“Was it the bed that Seong-gil and Hye-yun chose?”
"yes. The interior is all a collaboration between Yoo Byun and his wife.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha, who was fiddling with the hand he was holding, clasped his hands. He inadvertently squeezed the hand that was not being held. In order to divert his attention from his thumb, which was loosely stroking the skin of his palm, In Yoo-shin brought up another story.
“This is my first time sleeping with someone else since I left daycare. Because it was a daycare center in a temple, many people slept together on mattresses on the floor. If someone snores heavily or grinds their teeth because they are tired, they keep waking up during their sleep. I had a brother who had terrible sleeping habits, and I once got hit on the arm while I was sleeping.”
As he continued talking, Hyeon Gyu-ha, who had been quietly listening to In Yoo-shin's voice chattering away as he became engrossed, smiled and whispered softly.
“I guess you had fun.”
In Yoo-shin took a breath and then answered.
“.......Yes. It was good.”
He was annoyed at the time, but looking back now, even that was a good memory. The reason my 6-year-old falls asleep while listening to the sound of him spinning his treadmill or playing alone may be because he needs the nights that weren't quiet in the past.
Hyeon Gyu-ha tapped his intertwined fingers as if responding to his words.
“Did I tell you that I was in an orphanage when I was young? But I don't have any good memories like Yoo-shin. Even though we were in similar situations, you made memories there.”
“.......Can I ask how you ended up going to the orphanage?”
"sure. Ask me anything. I'll tell you what I can answer. I like it when Yoo-shin takes interest in me.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha's face was blurred through my vision, which was accustomed to the dark. The feel of clasped hands, the softly heard voice, and the five senses wrapped in darkness become more concentrated in Hyeon Gyu-ha again.
“My mother was a very wanderlust person. If she had been born during the Joseon Dynasty, she would have probably become a prostitute and traveled around the country. Anyway, whenever she was away from her house for months at a time, she left me in daycare. I was isolated from my grandmother early on, so there wasn’t a single family member who could take care of me.”
“But somehow the news reached my grandmother’s ears. She immediately picked me up from daycare and had a big fight with my mother when she came home later.”
“My biggest wound as a child is when my parents fight.”
“Well, I don’t remember much because I was young. Maybe I just gave up early on that my mother was that kind of person. I was someone who always sprinted at full speed without keeping my feet on the ground. Whether it’s my goal as a hunter or love.”
Or love.
For some reason, the sound of the voice that said those words sounded self-mocking.
In Yoo-shin hesitated and then asked cautiously.
“If it’s love... then what about Gyu-ha’s father?”
Suddenly, Hyeon Gyu-ha laughed lowly. The laugh that crawled up his throat and resonated deeply fell from his lips and dissipated cynically.
“It seems like they loved their children so much that they abandoned them at daycare and chased after them blindly.”
“…….”
“So, anyway.”
He continued his words in a light tone. As if he doesn't care about his mother's blind love for his father.
And his words and actions seemed to paradoxically indicate that he was bound, so In Yoo-shin kept his mouth shut.
“To me, the orphanage was where my mother left me. It was also a place where I would be picked up again a few months later. Maybe that's why I couldn't open my heart to the people I met at the orphanage. After I grew up, I thought about it, and I think the underlying thought was that we would be apart after a few months anyway.”
“…….”
“Then I went to live with her grandmother, and soon after, my mother went missing, and her grandmother passed away in an accident, so I was really left in foster care. That was when I was 9 years old.”
“If that happened when Gyu-ha was 9 years old...”
"That's right. The gate has opened at the orphanage.”
The fact that Hyeon Gyu-ha was the youngest person to clear the dungeon and go to the training center at the age of 9 was an incident that was so famous that even In Yoo-shin, who had not been very interested in him in the past, knew about it.
“Even after leaving the training center, I moved around here and there, but I always stayed in solitary confinement. So, Yoo-shin, this is my first time lying next to someone since I was 9 years old.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha laughed softly as if he was satisfied with that.
This man is, after all, a person who has lived a life of incomparable weight to his own.
In Yoo-shin gazed at the depth of the life he had endured and slightly gave strength to his clasped hands.
“If you’re bored sleeping alone, call me. I’ll just hold your hand and sleep.”
A soft laugh spread quietly across the darkness.
“I will certainly do so, master-nim.”
Yoo-shin-ssi.
He’s worried that he might wake up, so he can't even call out loud and just place it on my tongue. He caressed his clasped hands while he was sleeping soundly, then lay down on his side and carefully hugged him. He would often leave a kiss on the back of his hand, but as he fell asleep, it was difficult to even hold him in his arms.
To keep him from waking up, he gently ran his fingers through the hair on the top of his head and lightly pressed his lips against his. The small warmth of tossing and turning in his arms gently spreads to his heart.
<Master-nim is not ordinary either.>
He remembers the look on his face when he heard those words. Black eyes that wondered if he was an ordinary person.
Could he be an ordinary person?
<You can keep thinking about wanting to kill me, and you can say that to me too. I think that would be better than not thinking about anything.>
There's no way a person who calmly and sincerely says that to someone who could kill me would be normal.
Hyeon Gyu-ha knows what my reputation is. Since this world has no meaning to me, I have nothing to worry about and it is arbitrary. Even though he was swayed by himself, unable to move, and swept away, the strong will that was built in his heart never wavered.
Yoo-shin-ssi.
I suddenly became curious about what his hard heart was made of. Hyeon Gyu-ha felt unfamiliar with the unfamiliar desire to deeply understand the essence of others and deeply embraced him.
Is it because all this unfamiliarity is tied to the relationship of timing? He thought as he felt the gentle breathing of In Yoo-shin, who was sleeping soundly and defenseless in his arms. If he continued meeting without being involved in any kind of relationship with him.
Nevertheless, Hyeon Gyu-ha found herself chasing him in the end.
I don't know what the name of this feeling is.
***
During the summer vacation after high school, he started working part-time without the monks' knowledge. He went out every day under the pretext of studying at the library and visited the pharmaceutical company's research center. He mainly assisted in the office work and also cleaned the laboratory when it was busy. Then, after the experiment was over, he saw three white rats.
<Director, can I take care of them in a corner of the lab? I won't let you interfere with my work.>
<If you leave those kids alone, they will die before long.>
The researcher was worried, but eventually gave permission.
It's been almost 10 years, but taming wasn't difficult. He named them three-se, four-se, and five-se in turn. He blushed when he was given the name he had given him when he was five-seyo, but he wanted to keep the name he remembered from that time.
As they interacted with their owners and received healing, the white rats that seemed ready to die seemed to regain their energy.
[Current status: Joy. stability.]
<Somehow, my fur seems to be more shiny than before.>
Researchers who did not know that it had a timing ability were puzzled but came to see it.
<No matter how necessary clinical trials were, I felt uneasy as they kept sacrificing rats, but I am glad that they seem to be healthy.>
I was content.
Maybe I can explain the situation to the monk and continue to raise him at the orphanage. He even had such a simple dream.
It was a vain dream.
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader:
This chapter is unedited. and I've not been able to get in contact with the editor. So, if anyone likes to join as the editor, please check out our discord server. The release of this novel will be irregular due to some issues in real life as well. The chapters of TGITG and MYBIAH are prepared so we shouldn't have issues with that.
HM: It feels a bit cruel TwT… I often hear about animals like rats or pigs being used like this….
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