Boy Monster Chapter 71

The girl, who had stopped mid-sentence, had tears welling up in her eyes. She buried her face hard into Eunho’s chest and mumbled something nonsensical.

“Teacher Jae Eunho, I… I love… you so, so much. In a different way than Hwonwoo-nim. To me, you’re like a very grateful older brother. Like family….”

Eunho pushed back the girl’s messy, permed hair and said,

“Well, all of us Hwelju and Yeonri are one family. …Did Hwonwoo do something mean to you?”

“He was mean…. Hwonwoo-nim, Hwonwoo-oppa, he… to me….”

“……”

“He made me cryyy….”

Hyeonyul must have been so upset, as her clear eyes instantly filled with tears.

“I’ve never seen such a scary expression, hiccup, before…. His eyes, like, turned so chillingly vicious, I was really, really startled. I didn’t know Hwonwoo-nim was that kind of person. It was scary… I was too afraid to even say anything, hiccup, I tell you…!”

Did he call her to tell her he would appoint her on the day of the succession ceremony, or could he have possibly gotten her drunk and seduced her into doing the deed? Could Jang Hwonwoo have possibly overpowered Hyeonyul and forced a connection? The thought that he might have slipped a demonic hand under her one-piece dress and already made the connection made his heart grow heavy.

Her small, tear-streaked face was flawless and lovely. Gazing at the girl’s reddened cheeks and lips, Jae Eunho bit his lip and looked away.

“Hiccup… I like you and Hwonwoo-nim in different ways… hic! Teacher… I’ll be honest… you’re like a brother, and Hwonwoo-nim is….”

While Hyeonyul was mumbling, Eunho arrived at her room and opened the door. After hesitating for a long while, the girl babbled in a barely audible voice.

“Honestly, I want to sleep with himmm…. Hmph.”

After hearing this, Eunho came out of his dark thoughts. This meant that they hadn’t spent the night together. Hyeonyul continued to whine, pouring out her heart.

“I want to be held tight! in those broad arms… but…, hiiiing….”

“Yes, yes. I understand.”

“Huh…? You understand…? Don’t tell me you also want to, hiccup, sleep with Hwonwoo-nimmm?”

“Ah, no. Ahem.”

Eunho spread out the blanket, carefully laid Hyeonyul down, and cleared his throat.

“It’s only natural for a young man and woman who’ve fallen for each other to want to share affection. If you were to make a pass at a man, asking to spend the night, who would refuse?”

The girl, looking up at Eunho, hugged the blanket with a blushing face.

“When I think of Hwonwoo-nim, my body gets hot and my breathing gets faster. I want to kiss him too… and if he were to take off my clothes and hold me, I could even allow the pain of intercourse…. But, the man I wanted to be held by sooo badly, the one I wanted to give my body to, to share affection with, and to lean on, that man… just today, a moment ago….”

Jae Eunho had shared deep physical intimacy with Jang Hwonwoo and knew how sweet and ecstatic it was, so he just listened without a word. Hyeonyul, who had stopped crying, burst into tears again and suddenly asked Eunho a question.

“Teacher, why do you, with that handsome face of yours, always receive passes but never make one? Hmm?”

“Me? I’m someone who can’t like anyone. My heart doesn’t stir, nor does it move.”

That was how it had been until the recent events, after having been close to Jang Hwonwoo for a long time. It was truly how he had been, so it wasn’t a lie. The girl said in a sorrowful voice,

“That’s right… I know it well, it’s a fact everyone in our Sashimcheon knows. That Jae Eunho Sa Yeonri-nim is a person without platonic or erotic love….”

Not only had the family head gone around blabbing about it, but Jae Eunho had also never been in a romantic relationship with anyone, excluding the sexual unions he had secretly practiced, so the people of the family also believed that Eunho was born with a disposition incapable of feeling romantic love.

“But Teacher, I really… want to talk with you for the rest of my life… and I want to talk to you whenever things are this hard…. You are a good person. I can’t imagine the Sashimcheon family without you, Teacher Eunho…. I love both you and Hwonwoo-nim, each in a different way….”

At this rate, she seemed poised to repeat the same things all night. Eunho brought two glasses of water, had Hyeonyul drink them, and calmed her drunkenness.

“First, let’s drink some water. What’s wrong? What happened at the drinking party?”

Staggering as she drank the water, the girl’s hiccups subsided. She seemed to be dozing off, but then she suddenly came to her senses and said,

“Yes, something happened, it did. He confessed to me.”

So he must have asked her to be his Yeonri in advance. The clear answer brought him some peace of mind. It was a relief that he hadn’t pounced on her and forced a connection during the drinking party. The girl, holding the water glass with both hands, said quietly,

“That Hwonwoo-nim deeply loves Teacher Jae Eunho.”

“……”

“I was so scared when he said that. I was so surprised and asked how he could possibly love a Sa Yeonri, and then… how… how chillingly terrifying his face was….”

Eunho listened in silence, but inside, he had to forcefully suppress the uncontrollably churning emotions. However, as Hyeonyul continued to speak, Jae Eunho’s inner self simply would not calm down.

“He said he can’t give up on those feelings, so he’s willing to brave all opposition and scrutiny. He said he’ll be the first family head without a Yeonri, so he told me to give up my feelings for him early. He said that even though he knows Jae Eunho Yeonri-nim is an asexual person who has no affection, no platonic or erotic love, and is wicked and cruel, he can’t stand the desire to have you.”

“……”

“He asked, isn’t it enough to just love you by himself for his whole life….”

He couldn’t tell if the tempest raging inside him was pain, joy, or sorrow. The girl clung to Jae Eunho, sobbing and pouring out her raw emotions.

“Huuuhhh…. Because of that… because it seemed like Hwonwoo-nim likes you so much… I couldn’t push my own feelings anymore…. I hate him… It’s so frustrating!”

Jae Eunho, being shaken endlessly by the girl’s arms, stared blankly into the darkness.

He had heard Jang Hwonwoo’s confession as it was, but he felt as if he’d been punched in the back of the head. Saddened by the fact that he couldn’t just be happy right now, the rims of his eyes gradually reddened.

“He said since it’s his one-sided love, it doesn’t matter what you think, and that he’s going to issue an order to forcibly keep you by his side.”

The girl, having poured out her intense emotions, seemed to have exhausted her strength and laid her head on Eunho’s lap. As she fell asleep, she murmured in a voice that grew smaller and smaller.

“Of course, I’ll keep it a secret…. If a rumor gets out that he harbors such dangerous feelings for you, Teacher… what good would that do… right….”

Jae Eunho wanted to say no, but he didn’t know what to say or how to say it, so he couldn’t open his mouth.

“Teacher Eunho, I’m so happy that you’re still living so admirably, I want to be like you… Someday, someday a happy day will come for you too, right…? And for me…?”

His heart ached with a weight dozens of times heavier than the words he couldn’t say. Their feelings of love had to not be mutual to avoid the Empire’s suspicion, and for them to be safe until the day of the great event to test the Sa Hwelju’s power. And so, the girl who saw Eunho’s sorrowful tears misunderstood that he was lamenting his own situation and began to earnestly console him.

“The object of my long-held affection, Hwonwoo-nim, is trying to forcibly… have you, Teacher, so I… it’s painful but… Teacher, I’ll be your strength….”

“……Hyeonyul. How did you grow up to be so mature? Thank you.”

Even Jae Eunho, who was hopeless at romance, could tell that the tears making the tip of his nose sting weren’t flowing because he was moved by Hyeonyul’s kind heart.

Eunho decided to meet Jang Hwonwoo, carrying all the problems for which he could find no solution. He put Hyeonyul to bed and went to his room. After taking off his kimono and tucking it neatly under the blankets, he unfolded the papers he had crumpled earlier and folded them carefully. He put the folded papers into his shirt pocket and prepared to leave.

Eunho, dressed in a suit and a fedora, snuck out of the inner quarters with his shoes in his hands. Even if everyone was asleep, sneaking out of the grand mansion was no simple task. It was a moment he envied the Hwelju, who could deceive people with all sorts of supernatural powers. His head throbbed from how anxious he was until he got over the wall without being caught by anyone.

After putting on his shoes and pulling his fedora down further, Jae Eunho quickly hid himself in a dark alley. To avoid suspicion, he walked towards the entertainment district and then called for a rickshaw.

Because he had been taking fake pills, taking advantage of the recently loosened surveillance, Eunho’s sensory abilities had improved considerably within a range untouched by the amulet’s control. Erasing memories or creating hallucinations was still difficult, but sensing information over a wide area was no problem. Eunho got off near the cafe where Jang Hwonwoo and the girl had been drinking together and began to sense.

「Telegram… Sa Yeonri… Family Head… Jae Eunho… Mansion… Succession Ceremony」

He sifted through the consciousness of those nearby, narrowing down what Jang Hwonwoo might be thinking to a few keywords. But there was no place where he could be precisely detected.

‘He’s not at the cafe… Where did he go? Could he have already left for the mansion?’

This time, he tried searching with the telegram and the mansion’s location in mind. There was no useful information to be found aside from drunk people. He gave up on the search and quickly tried to sense the people riding rickshaws near the cafe one by one. The result was the same even after scouring the area as if hunting for a mouse.

Then the next most likely place was near the mansion. Eunho walked back the way he came, continuing to sense while hiding the light of his prayer beads with his suit sleeve. As he was rapidly sifting through the consciousness of the people who were awake and not asleep around the mansion, a familiar phrase entered his mind.

「In the vast wilderness, you run…」

It was the lyrics to a song by Yun Simdeok. Eunho immediately stopped his ability’s movement and focused on the person who had those lyrics in their mind. As he entered the consciousness of the person humming <Hymn of Death>, he saw faint cigarette smoke and the magnificent first-floor banquet hall of the Chosun Hotel.

「Where are you going

O, pitiful life engrossed in living

You are a dancer on a sword’s edge」

Jang Hwonwoo was standing next to the Hwangudan Pagoda, glaring at the enemy nation’s powerful figures and Joseon’s traitors who were indulging in pleasure. Under the brilliantly shining chandeliers, they were dancing in pairs, man and woman. In Jang Hwonwoo’s thoughts as he watched the scene, two men in suits stood in the middle of the banquet hall, holding hands.

It was Jang Hwonwoo and Jae Eunho. The two of them stood in the banquet hall, which was filled with dazzling decorations. There, where they didn’t have to avoid anyone’s gaze or be pointed at by anyone, the two of them danced.

Beyond the thick cigarette smoke, the two danced beautifully and skillfully. The song lyrics disappeared from Jang Hwonwoo’s consciousness, lost in fantasy, and a new thought emerged.

‘Seriously, a body so pretty it makes you curse.’

“……”

‘Jae Eunho. Stop playing hard to get and let’s do it now. You asked me to connect us. That’s what you meant, right?’

“……!”

In Jang Hwonwoo’s imagination, Eunho’s suit changed into a white dopo. It was the clothing Eunho always wore before the family was handed over to Japan. The fabric, which was sheer enough to show some of his bare skin, fluttered, revealing the ‘死’ (Death) mark. The image of the plump skin where the mark was located soon expanded to Eunho’s buttocks and genitals.

‘Here, my…’

Just as a crude word was about to appear in Jang Hwonwoo’s consciousness, Eunho broke off the connection as if fleeing.

Clutching his flushed cheeks, Jae Eunho unconsciously walked wherever his feet took him, calming his startled heart.

“Crazy… that crazy bastard… how much informal language and lewd talk has he been spouting at me in his thoughts…?”