Boy Monster Chapter 74

It seemed like the right time to explain it was a joke, but Jang Hwonwoo’s mouth remained shut. Even when Eunho gave him a stern look, he only responded with a smile, then brazenly climbed on top of Eunho’s body again and began to caress every corner of it.

I command you. Make that sound again. You liked it, didn’t you? You can’t? You won’t? …Here, shall we see what it’s like inside right now….

At the sweet whisper, Jae Eunho forgot Jang Hwonwoo’s coldness from a moment ago. As the night came to an end, Jang Hwonwoo whispered as if taking an oath.

“If you endure just a little longer, we will be able to open our eyes together in a Joseon land that has found its light, where all Hwelju and Yeonri have gained their freedom and no one uses us as weapons. Your will is my destiny.”

:･⚜️⊹.️

The next day, Hiroshi’s succession ceremony as the family head was held at the Sashimcheon family mansion, with the garrison and officials from the Government-General in attendance.

A massive wall artifact engraved with the Four Heavenly Kings stood tall behind the platform. Five-colored cloths connecting the eaves of the tiled roof fluttered in the wind. Large flags soared high into the sky between the procession of Hwelju and Yeonri, who had their hands together in prayer, their prayer beads shining on their wrists.

State-protecting Buddhist masters in ceremonial robes and soldiers in Japanese military uniforms followed the procession, holding sky lanterns. The monks rhythmically beat drums and endlessly chanted scriptures used for divine power.

‘Unfurling the spirit of the state-protecting deity, we shall protect the people with the authority of old.’

The family’s newly written motto, on a white cloth, decorated the front of the procession.

“First-rank Poong Hwelju, first-rank Hwa Hwelju, and an outstanding strategist. This is Hiroshi, who has inherited the sacred spirits of this land and the patriotic souls of fallen heroes.”

According to the family’s thousands of years of tradition, he should have worn a ceremonial robe combining a monk’s and a warrior’s attire, but the former family head and Jang Hwonwoo ascended the platform in Japanese military uniforms. Jang Hwonwoo, having been bestowed a lute and a longsword from the former family head, stood in the center. A golden crown, holding a long history, was placed upon his head.

The Hwelju and Yeonri knelt below the platform and pledged their obedience to the family head. Jae Eunho also knelt in the very front row of the Yeonri procession. Authority and power emanated from Jang Hwonwoo’s presence as he stood, draped in a dopo embroidered with the crest of the Four Heavenly Kings and leaning on his longsword.

The Hwelju and Yeonri who had been officially entered into the family came up to the platform one by one and bowed to promise their obedience. Jae Eunho, too, ascended the platform after the Hwelju’s turn was over. Reaching Jang Hwonwoo and kneeling, Jae Eunho said,

“Sa Yeonri Jae Eunho pledges subservience and loyalty to the Head’s reign.”

When he lifted his head, which had been bowed at Hwonwoo’s feet, his eyes met Jang Hwonwoo’s, who was towering high above him. It was now time for Jang Hwonwoo to offer his longsword as a sign of accepting the loyalty, after which Eunho would have to put his hands together in prayer and bow once more. As Eunho lowered his gaze to the tip of the long blade, Jang Hwonwoo suddenly issued a command.

“Sa Yeonri Jae Eunho. Raise your head.”

“……!”

In shock, Jae Eunho reflexively lifted his head. The gazes of the many people attending the succession ceremony gathered in one place. As confusion mounted, with no way to predict what words or actions would follow, Jang Hwonwoo, standing under the scorching sun, suddenly opened his mouth.

“For the time being, I will confine the Sa Yeonri to my room in the main building and personally monitor his every move. As an important matter concerning the Sa Hwelju is approaching, everyone in the family shall pay special attention to the Sa Yeonri’s well-being.”

“……”

Eunho suspected the intent behind the words, mulling over each and every one of them. Jang Hwonwoo’s command, which felt utterly unreal, did not end there.

“From now on, I order that all his actions, including his pills, meals, friendships, and conversations, be conducted through me.”

The man who had spoken of reverence to Jae Eunho last night and kissed the back of his hand was today demanding a wicked form of obedience from him. Jae Eunho could not easily escape his shock. He couldn’t blame him for breaking his promise for this action. He had kept his word not to publicly announce Jae Eunho as his Yeonri, so the boy had not disobeyed Eunho’s teachings. He had merely acted beyond them.

“Will you pledge to follow my instructions?”

Jang Hwonwoo forcefully flung his heavy dopo back and offered his sword. Jae Eunho shifted his gaze from Jang Hwonwoo’s thigh to the tip of the sword.

It was, in effect, an order of confinement. The people kneeling in the courtyard exchanged glances and murmured without words. Hyeonyul watched Eunho’s back with a pitiful and complicated expression. The former family head and the shaman were also flabbergasted by Jang Hwonwoo’s bombshell declaration.

The boy I know is a kind and good child. Now he stands in a position far beyond Jae Eunho’s control, issuing an order of confinement in front of everyone, but this must all be for the sake of a safe future, right…?

As he held onto that belief and looked up at Jang Hwonwoo, the gaze that had always reassured Eunho descended upon him. In his eyes as he looked at the kneeling Eunho, a secret desire and tenderness that only Eunho could understand poured out. A solid sense of trust spread through his body. Within that affectionate gaze he sent, Eunho felt a clash of inexplicable pleasure and sinfulness. Immersed in this strange emotion for the first time in his life, Jae Eunho opened his mouth.

“Yes, my Lord.”

As he answered, for some unknown reason, the pit of Eunho’s stomach burned hot. Eunho hid a sharp intake of breath and pressed his forehead to the ground.

Jang Hwonwoo was still an unknown world and a chaos that left Jae Eunho with only a series of question marks. Eunho did not want to lose that boy, who threw thousands of unsolved mysteries at him.

Jang Hwonwoo commanded his attendants without delay.

“Take the Sa Yeonri, bind him, and lock him in my bedchamber.”

As he headed toward the main building with the attendants, Jae Eunho glanced back. From the receding platform, he could hear Jang Hwonwoo’s voice announcing an additional command.

“And listen, all who wish to become my Yeonri. I will give you time to prepare. Next month, as soon as the important national affair is over, I will call you all to my bedchamber, one by one. I will make my final decision after spending a night with each of you, so be fully prepared until then.”

The declaration that he would spend a night with all the unconnected Yeonri sent the family into an uproar. He’s going to taste every single one? He’s a greater lecher than his father! With the meticulousness of confining the Sa Yeonri and his heartlessness, we were all fooled! The shaman and the state-protecting Buddhist master shook their heads.

Furthermore, a few days after the succession ceremony, the mansion was rife with curiosity. How on earth did the new family head bring the shaman and the state-protecting Buddhist master to heel, that they, who had been so haughty with the former head’s power behind them, were now meekly kneeling and showing respect? The shaman and the Buddhist master began to treat Jang Hwonwoo with even greater courtesy than the former head, and even started using honorifics toward Jae Eunho.

Jae Eunho, who now spent most of his days in Jang Hwonwoo’s room, had grown accustomed to his sweet words and voice that soothed him daily, and held no complaints whatsoever about his confinement. Today too, as soon as he entered the bedchamber, he was enveloped by Hwonwoo, who showered him with affectionate words, making it hard for Jae Eunho to even find a chance to ask a question.

“How did you tame that haughty shaman?”

It was the shaman who would glare and rain down nagging words whenever she saw Eunho. Jang Hwonwoo, who was holding Eunho from behind and swaying him as if soothing a crying child, answered.

“I didn’t say much. There was a certain fact they hadn’t realized, so I just reminded them. That the person of power they will be working with from now on is Jang Hwonwoo, not the former family head.”

“And their attitude softened just from that explanation?”

“Of course. Would I have threatened those elders?”

Jang Hwonwoo had used the fact that the shaman and the state-protecting Buddhist master had been idling away for the past several decades when the Sa Hwelju bloodline hadn’t appeared as leverage, telling them, ‘If you want to continue maintaining your well-being and live comfortably in this family, behave yourselves.’ However, by Jang Hwonwoo’s standards, that was not a threat, so it couldn’t be called a lie.

Jang Hwonwoo, cutting off Eunho who was about to retort, whispered secretly.

“Teacher, your Hwelju’s body feels a little strange… you’ll have to help me resolve this….”

“Are you in your right mind? What are you trying to do right now…!”

“Shh. We must resolve it quietly. Shall we go to the bathroom?”

“You resolve it alone, by yourself… Ah….”

The conclusion, which always ended up going Jang Hwonwoo’s way, brought with it the pleasure of sinfulness and submission he had felt when kneeling before him. It was as if a new sense for perceiving the world had been opened.

:･⚜️⊹.️

The day for the experiment of injecting the Sa Hwelju’s power into an ordinary person, which was also the day of the great undertaking, was set for the full moon of July. Every day for Jang Hwonwoo, now the family head, was fierce. Moreover, it was a time when Japan’s desperate war was reaching its peak. The number of watchful eyes the two had to be wary of also increased.

If he hadn’t held Jang Hwonwoo and shared passionate, lewd movements and sounds on the night they danced the social dance, he would have regretted it bitterly. The two could no longer go out as they used to. They couldn’t eat jjajangmyeon, sit opposite each other in a coffee shop, or ride the streetcar together. The sweet tingling of looking up at Jang Hwonwoo standing quietly in front of him after giving Eunho the empty seat on the streetcar and exchanging smiles was also a thing of the past.

But in a month, just as Jang Hwonwoo had asserted, they would not have to be wary of anyone’s eyes. Everything was going according to plan. There were no flaws in the great undertaking, for which Eunho had laid the groundwork and Jang Hwonwoo had devised the on-site execution strategy.

For the commissioning ceremony to be held in Japan, the two boarded a ferry to Shimonoseki Port together. Since it would be problematic if something happened to the Sa Yeonri before the experiment, no one raised any objections to First Lieutenant Hiroshi obsessively confining and dragging the Sa Yeonri around.

Their love affair, which had to be hidden from people’s eyes, grew even more heated. It was as passionate as their time was limited, and the vulgar banter exchanged during their brief relations became all the more audacious and bold.

They would be secretly confirming their plans for the great undertaking, or discussing the Japan-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, and then suddenly lunge at each other and join their bodies. The time and space allowed to them were far too limited. The cabin on the ferry, the waiting room at the Ministry of the Army where the commissioning ceremony took place, the hotel room where only the wealthy could stay. Even though theirs was not a Hwelju and Yeonri relationship recognized by the heavens, Jae Eunho’s body and soul cultivated a desire and thirst for its master.

Jang Hwonwoo would often whisper sweet nothings of ‘reverence’ to the Sa Yeonri, who was subservient as his possession and prisoner.

There was a reason why Eunho came to trust those words of Jang Hwonwoo. He had secretly entered his mind. The words of affection he recited were not false in the slightest within his thoughts, consciousness, or subconscious. He did feel guilty for peeking into a person’s true feelings by sensing them without permission, but he ended it with the shallow rationalization that as long as the result was good, he could be forgiven….

Because every moment he searched his mind, Jang Hwonwoo wanted Jae Eunho even more than his whispered words suggested.