Boy Monster Chapter 70

“You’re cruel, really. To think you can even control your emotions by calculation.”

Jang Hwonwoo, whose expression had darkened along with Jae Eunho’s, let out a scoff before knitting his brows together fiercely.

“No, that’s not it. It’s not calculation… it’s just that your feelings only go that far. It’s fine if I get aroused by someone else, fine if I give my body and pleasure to someone other than you and make them cry out.”

His anguish was palpable in his intensely furrowed brow. Jae Eunho, having never had such an emotional fight with anyone in his life, was simply bewildered. After much thought on how to best soothe his feelings, he offered a response.

“This is a matter where judgment and calculation should take precedence over feelings. I believe it’s right to put it in objective terms.”

Though it was the best answer Jae Eunho could muster, the cold anger on Jang Hwonwoo’s dark face did not dissipate at all. Jang Hwonwoo, who had moved close enough for their bodies to touch, gripped Eunho’s shoulders.

“Shall we talk a bit more in objective terms? Are you saying it’s okay if I, completely naked, thrust my private parts into another Yeonri dozens of times and then cum inside them?”

“That sounds more like obscene words than objective words.”

“What can I do when the act of sex is an obscene act from beginning to end.”

“…….”

At a loss for words, Jae Eunho found a different point to argue.

“That act is over after a few minutes of panting. And one night is enough for the connection, right? Since it lasts for a few days. I am merely proposing the best way to avoid suspicion.”

Jang Hwonwoo let out a sigh and smoothed his furrowed brow. His eyes were now slowly turning cold.

“Fine. I understand. It was I who allowed you to use even my soul as you please…. The one who loves more is bound to lose.”

His words struck Eunho’s chest like a huge shock. Jae Eunho was confused by this situation that only worsened the more he tried to explain. What was the problem? Had Jang Hwonwoo ever been this angry for so long? What on earth had caused it? Seeing Eunho lost in thought and not responding, Jang Hwonwoo blinked his dark eyelashes several times. Jang Hwonwoo’s muttering, as he turned his head to a distant place, grew increasingly harsh.

“The mere thought of you panting with someone else for a few minutes makes my killing intent boil, but you’re okay with it?”

After carefully choosing his words, he continued.

“If something like that happens, I don’t know what I might do. Seonsaengnim, you don’t know me at all.”

Jae Eunho doesn’t know Jang Hwonwoo’s true self? Jang Hwonwoo, who had uttered the bewildering words, slowly stroked his chin.

“And there’s one thing you should know. That act that ends after a few minutes of panting is not sex. After you experience the sex I will have with you now, you will understand what I mean.”

“What? Now?”

Jang Hwonwoo, who had slung the camera over his shoulder, seized Jae Eunho’s wrist. A strong force led Eunho out of the botanical garden.

“Follow me. Didn’t you say you would allow my body after the great deed.”

“…What? Now… in broad daylight? Let go of my hand first.”

“I wasn’t planning to do it in broad daylight, but I must do this first.”

“Wait a minute, let’s talk first. A conversation. Let’s talk it over from the beginning, step by step…,”

“No, let’s talk with our bodies first.”

“Wh-What are you talking about!”

Because of the watching eyes around, he couldn’t protest more vigorously. Jae Eunho, held captive by a fearsome strength, moved his feet in large strides. Jang Hwonwoo dragged Eunho down a path lined with green and vibrant trees, muttering.

“I’ve booked a hotel. It’s a room with a view of Hwangudan. When I was young and offered my blood there and found out I wasn’t of Sa Hwelju’s bloodline, I thought it was a relief, but not anymore. I want to be of that bloodline so much, so very much.”

When Eunho tried to pull his hand away at the door, Jang Hwonwoo pulled him with even greater force. It was when Jae Eunho let out a groan from the force that made his wrist ache.

Weeeeing—

An emergency alarm rang loudly through the skies of Gyeongseong. It was an alarm broadcast from the Government-General through speakers throughout the entire area.

When this sound rang, all officials of the Government-General had to wait for emergency orders at their respective duty stations. Hiroshi, too, had to remain at his post at the garrison headquarters.

Jang Hwonwoo slowly released the strength in his arm and let go of Eunho’s wrist. Eunho awkwardly moved his hand, which had been hovering in the air, into his trouser pocket. It was impossible to know what the back turned towards the emergency call was thinking.

His firm neckline and jaw turned slightly, and a command-like statement fell.

“Return to the mansion and wait until my separate telegram arrives tonight, seonsaengnim. I might be up all night, so get some rest in advance.”

At the end of his words, a strange, smile-less smile followed.

“As I intend to show you what real sex is.”

:･⚜️⊹.️

The reason the Government-General had summoned the key officials was that the Foreign Minister, who had finished his tour of Southeast Asian puppet states, had visited Gyeongseong without notice. A banquet was held to welcome the Foreign Minister, who had arrived at the Government-General in secret to avoid independence movement terrorism. The first floor of the Chosun Hotel was steeped in hyangak music until late at night with performances by famous gisaeng dispatched from the Gwonbeon and renowned artists.

Jang Hwonwoo, too, was away from the mansion until late at night. According to the news, military officers below the rank of commander had left the banquet early, but no telegram had yet arrived for Eunho.

Instead of a telegram for Eunho, only this news circulated.

“It seems Hwonwoo-nim will designate Hyeonyul as his Yeonri on the day of the succession ceremony tomorrow! He sent a car to call for her separately!”

The outside, which had been ringing with broadcasts praising the Emperor and cheerful military music, had been quiet for some time. Deep darkness descended upon the mansion, which had finished preparations for the succession ceremony. Night also fell on the large wall carved with the Four Heavenly Kings, the tall flags, the five-colored cloth, and the ceremonial fan decorations.

Jae Eunho, with a paper lantern lit, sat at his desk and scribbled with a pen. It was a plan for the great deed titled <Breaking the Shackles of Fate and Shrouding the Black Moonlight>. The notebook was filled with related content.

The names of the powerful figures who would control the ritual during the final great deed. What illusions to implant to replace the existing memories of the Hwelju and Yeonri. How to neutralize the head shaman that day and remove the amulet that controlled Eunho’s abilities. The plan to quietly cross over to Japan afterwards and induce their defeat. The results of sensing the wiretapped information from the Government-General’s security department.

The plan for the great deed was progressing smoothly like this, but there was a problem that couldn’t be solved no matter how deeply he thought. Eunho turned to the next page of the notebook. The content written under the title <Jang Hwonwoo> was only question marks.

<Jang Hwonwoo>

???

Jae Eunho had a history of giving romance advice, but his own romance was a complete labyrinth.

Jang Hwonwoo, who had shown a chilling anger, seemed like a different person. It was completely different from his usual smiling and polite demeanor. Jae Eunho began to write down the root of the problem one by one.

Reason Jang Hwonwoo was angry:

‘You, those words, are they really nothing to you?’

—> Are my words the problem, or is the fact that my words are nothing to me the problem?

What kind of ridiculous wordplay is this. Jae Eunho crossed out the sentence he had just written and scribbled over it. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair and collected himself again.

Reason Jang Hwonwoo was angry:

‘You, those words, are they really nothing to you?’

—> My words are also a problem.

—> The fact that my words were nothing to me is also a problem.

—> He might have been upset by my words recommending he connect with a Yeonri. But what can I do? What’s the use of being upset?

Jae Eunho, moving his pen with a serious face, suddenly had a flash of insight.

“Wait a minute. This punk spoke informally to me?”

Ha! Eunho, letting out a hollow laugh, furiously underlined the impudent informal speech.

‘You, are they nothing to you?’ 

Jang Hwonwoo’s dark voice as he spat out the informal words came to mind. Surprised by the feeling of heat rising to his cheeks and ears, Jae Eunho cleared his throat and turned the page.

“I don’t know about this, let’s move on to another problem.”

Eunho began to write down his thoughts on other worries. Questions led to more questions, endlessly.

Reason my mind is complicated right now:

Isn’t Hwonwoo calling Hyeonyul to the cafe just now exactly what I suggested?

Why am I feeling down after I was the one who recommended he connect with a Yeonri?

Was I really okay with it…?

Really…?

Did I rationalize it by saying I was okay with it because there was no other choice…?

No matter how carefully he considered it, no clear answer came. In the end, all the questions ended with ‘???’.

Eunho threw down his pen and lay down on the floor. The light of the paper lantern faintly illuminated the dark room.

Jae Eunho was clearly terrible at romance. He was frustrated with his own body and mind, which knew nothing of romance and love. The cause of Jae Eunho concluding that he had no connection to feelings like affection, romance, or love was the tragedy of losing his parents long ago, and the one who had presented him with that tragedy was the family head.

And yet, Jae Eunho was now trying to have a relationship with the son who inherited the family head’s blood.

“Are you out of your mind? Jae Eunho?”

Jae Eunho shot up and repeatedly washed his face dry. He picked up the pen again and wrote down the current situation in large letters.

What am I to do with my enemy’s son? And a Hwelju who is 14 years younger at that? Even I think it’s a love affair that would be condemned by the world.

The reason he couldn’t let go even though he knew it was a messy relationship that would be criticized by the world was clear. Because two feelings were certain.

1. I am afraid of losing Jang Hwonwoo.
2. I feel carnal desire for him.

Jae Eunho was more afraid of losing Jang Hwonwoo than of losing his country or failing his revenge. He was more afraid of it than anything else in the world. It had come to that.

Eunho began to pick a fight with his own feelings, as if to cross-examine them.

—But the feeling of not wanting to lose someone, isn’t that a feeling you can have even if you’re not lovers? Don’t you feel that kind of attachment to family too?

—I’ve relied on him for so long with the intention of using him, so I might have been mistaken.

—The physical desire might also be because I’ve lived for so long without knowing romance….

—No!! It’s because the light of the paper lantern reminds me of an erotic story. It’s just that the paper lantern is suggestive!!

In the end, Jae Eunho tore up the paper, crumpled it, and threw it, clutching his hair.

“Damn it… I have no idea… I don’t know…!”

Whenever he thought of Jang Hwonwoo, he couldn’t think straight, and his heart was just in turmoil. In his thirty-one years of life, there had never been a problem that Jae Eunho couldn’t find an answer to. There was no problem for which he couldn’t find a solution by thinking rationally. But…… as for Jang Hwonwoo, it was as if he was looking at the surface of water whose bottom he couldn’t see, and the answer was nowhere in sight….

“…Is this why people read romance poems and poetry collections? Are there answers there?”

As the family head had said, Eunho was a block of wood. Not only his body, but his heart too. Jae Eunho’s heart, which had been closed off and hardened like a stone, living only for revenge, was being shaken so much by one man.

“……Jang Hwonwoo. Jae Eunho. ……Sa Hwelju. Sa Yeonri.”

Eunho, who had been muttering with a dazed look, suddenly came to his senses. It was noisy outside. Hearing the laughter of girls, it seemed Hyeonyul had returned. He checked the time; it was well past 12 o’clock at night.

Eunho went down the stairs and out into the courtyard. He saw the children surrounding Hyeonyul. Eunho scolded the Hwelju and Yeonri who were making a fuss without sleeping late and sent them back to their rooms.

“The succession ceremony starts early tomorrow, so everyone go in and sleep. Hurry! The ones who are late will have a surprise test.”

The Hwelju and Yeonri followed Jae Eunho’s words without a single complaint, so the late-night disturbance was quickly settled. Hyeonyul was very drunk. The attendant who had supported Hyeonyul asked Eunho to take care of the rest. Hyeonyul leaned more comfortably into Eunho’s arms.

“Seonsaengniiim….”

“You’re back? Looks like Hwonwoo didn’t come with you.”

“Yes… I came firsst….”

Hyeonyul, like the other Hwelju and Yeonri, had followed Eunho well since she was young. The tongue of the girl, who was being courted by all the Hwelju for her clear and elegant appearance, was completely loose. Eunho, who was tidying the girl’s disheveled clothes as they entered the room, paused.

Jae Eunho’s eyes darkened significantly when he discovered that two buttons of her dress were undone.

“……Did you drink a lot?”

“Yees…. Hwonwoo-nim taught me how to drink. Hwonwoo-nim… today he…, he…”