The Sleepwalker’s Mansion Chapter 7

Doeon, who had only ever lived in the mansion, was used to this life. But Doha, as if frustrated by the confinement, roamed around the inside of the mansion several times like a child searching for treasure. Then, he suddenly pointed to the stairs leading down to the basement.

“What’s over there?”

“The basement. You can’t go down there.”

“Why?”

“Because Mom said we shouldn’t go down.”

“That’s ridiculous. Mom’s not here anymore.”

“Still, you can’t.”

Doeon, who was sitting on the recliner chair turning the pages of a book, watched him anxiously, worried that Doha might actually go down to the basement. Doha let out a short laugh, then muttered to himself as he approached Doeon.

“So we’re not liberated after all.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”

Only the last paragraph of the book remained. But he couldn’t read, distracted by Doha. As if displeased with Doeon for maintaining his composure and dignity despite his provocations, at least on the surface, Doha came over to Doeon’s side to bother him for no reason.

“Is it fun?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

“What’s so fun about a book like that.”

“It gets fun as you read it.”

“How long is it supposed to rain?”

“Probably until this Saturday…”

According to the weather forecast, it was supposed to rain continuously until this Saturday. It was a severe rainy season.

“This sucks. Just like this dump of a house.”

Kicking the table with a thump in a pointless fit of anger, Doha disappeared into the first-floor guest room.

It was better that the guy had disappeared. Doeon brought the remaining crepe from the table to his mouth. Perhaps it had gotten soggy from the humid weather, as it felt mushy as he chewed.

Brushing the crepe crumbs from around his mouth, he focused on the book again. But all his nerves were directed toward the guest room where Doha had disappeared. How much time had passed? Suddenly, the sound of a door being thrown open with a slam was heard.

“…?”

A noise followed, the sound of someone stomping harshly on the floor. Thump, thump. It was the sound of bare feet, not wearing slippers, pressing down on the marble floor as if to crush it. Doeon closed his book and went out to the entrance.

“You… where are you going?”

Doha, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and short pants, was putting on his slippers. Glancing at Doeon, Doha ruffled his short hair and opened his mouth.

“I can’t stand this suffocation.”

“Where… are you trying to go?”

“Anywhere.”

“Anywhere, where?”

“What’s it to you, hyung.”

“Where are you going when it’s raining….”

“Rain? It stopped.”

Doha pointed to the window with a brief gesture. Looking at the window, he saw that the rain had stopped at some point. But it was the rainy season. There was no telling when it might rain again. The mansion was in a remote area, far from the city, and it wasn’t a neighborhood where buses ran frequently. Doeon let out a low sigh.

“You haven’t already forgotten what Dad said, have you? He told you to listen to me.”

Watching Doeon, whose lips were pressed firmly together, Doha sneered with a short laugh.

“Hyung, you sound like a damn boomer.”

A hint of amusement was also present at the end of his sneering lips. Doeon just found this situation tiring. He couldn’t do anything about being teased as a boomer. If a fight was picked, he’d rather just back down. Doeon calmly lowered his voice.

“I can’t help it if I sound like a boomer. Just listen to me.”

“I’m going to die of boredom if I stay here any longer. Aren’t you bored too, hyung?”

“Even if the rain stops, this isn’t the kind of neighborhood with anywhere to go.”

“How depressing. How did you live in a place like this. Oh, does it not matter because you’re a Beta?”

“…That could be it.”

Doha knew him as a Beta. The question implied he could live stuck in the suburbs because he was a Beta who had no entertainment to enjoy and no need to go meet a partner. For those with secondary genders, the process of meeting a partner and imprinting was quite important.

In the eyes of Doha, an Alpha, the life of a Beta with no choices must have seemed like a non-mainstream existence pushed out of the mainstream. Doeon was also an Omega, but Doeon hoped his life would fade away like a dim light, living in the suburbs without ever attracting attention. Inside this mansion.

To do that, he needed the cooperation of these two Alphas, Taeoh and Doha. To inherit the mansion safely, he had to get this father and son on his side. Doeon gently pressed his temples to calm his tautly stretched nerves.

“Just stay inside the mansion. You can’t leave the mansion.”

“I’ll pass on the boomer nagging. One Seo Taeoh is more than enough of a boomer.”

Doha did not stop his excessive sneering. Striding with his long legs, he walked out of the front door without hesitation. Doha’s back quickly grew distant.

“Seo Doha…!”

Slam, the door closed, and Doeon was left alone. Doeon unknowingly gnawed on his fingernails. He paced in front of the entrance with an anxious gaze, repeatedly and nervously peering outside from under the entrance light that flickered on and off.

What if Doha leaves the mansion, and gets into some kind of trouble? What if Dad finds out about it? Then it would all be my fault. His thoughts spiraled, connecting one after another and flowing only in a negative direction. In any case, he was the guy’s guardian while Dad was away. If that unruly punk really went out and caused trouble. Just as he was biting his nail hard enough for it to bleed.

“Seo Doha!”

Doeon finally opened the front door and went outside. Then he ran frantically across the garden. He looked around, but there was no sign of Doha. Had he already left the mansion grounds? Should I have followed him right away to stop him from leaving? I should have prevented his misbehavior. It was around the time late regret set in.

Splash, splash-.

The sound of splashing water came from under the bridge in the garden where yellow irises were blooming. For a moment, a sense of relief washed over his heart. Doeon went down under the bridge. Then he saw a short-sleeved t-shirt, folded on a rock.

The fact that another person had invaded a secret place that only he knew felt strange. For some reason he couldn’t pinpoint, the feeling was odd. Doeon bent his knees and sat down. He stared at Doha’s upper arm as he unhesitatingly stretched out his right arm in the swollen stream under the bridge, bending it and pushing against the current.

Doeon, who had been quietly watching Doha, unfolded his bent knees in a fidget when the chestnut-like top of his head looked up. Eyelids that held the gray sky looked at him, shedding drops of water.

“Boomer, you’re here?”

“Are you going to keep calling your hyung a boomer?”

“Do you even want to act like a hyung? Anyway, I kept my promise. I didn’t leave the mansion.”

“…….”

Doha said it as if asking for praise, lying straight on his back, riding the current while looking at the sky. Doeon had no choice but to give him praise, exhausted by his own efforts.

“Good job….”

Doha burst into a refreshing laugh as if he was quite pleased. Then, he slowly approached the rock where Doeon was, pushing the water by rotating both arms alternately.

Resting both arms on the rock below, he whispered.

“Since you praised me, I’ll tell you a secret too.”

“A secret?”

“Want to hear it?”

“Huh? Yeah….”

The peculiar gray eyes read the curiosity in Doeon’s eyes and shone distinctly. Doha placed his knee on the rock and pulled himself out of the water.

A stream of water trickled down his firmly built shoulders and abdominal wall. The trail of the water droplets sliding down his body felt, for reasons hard to explain, erotic. His vision suddenly blocked, Doeon didn’t know where to look and ducked his head low.

“Dad didn’t go to a meeting.”

“Th-then?”

Doha leisurely crinkled his long eyes into a smile.

“He went to meet his fiancée.”

“F-fiancée?”

Dad has a fiancée?

Doeon’s head shot up. His heart sank with a thud. His light-colored eyes wavered, unable to find a place to rest. He said he was going to an urgent meeting, but that wasn’t it?

“His fiancée is a lawyer.”

Well, it’s not like such a handsome man would be single all this time.

“I wonder if a secret meeting with his fiancée counts as a meeting.”

Watching Doeon’s expression darken, Doha raised the corners of his elegant lips as if he found it amusing. A humid, warm breeze, like one after a sudden shower, swept through Doha’s bangs and passed by.

“What’s even more fun is….”

Doha stepped closer to Doeon and tilted his head.

“…?”

“Dad is planning to bring his fiancée to this mansion and live together until the wedding.”

“Wh-what did you say…?”

Doeon’s eyebrows twitched. For a moment, he doubted his ears. It was unbelievable. He’s planning to bring someone to live in this house? Having lost his self-control, Doeon couldn’t hide his face, which was rapidly changing colors from red to blue.

The one maintaining his composure was Doha. Doha delivered the most interesting fact he knew, as if driving a nail into Doeon’s ear.

“And after the wedding, he plans to sell this mansion.”

“…!”

Doeon’s face turned as pale as a sheet of paper. Sell the mansion? By whose authority?

“Wh-who gives him the right to sell the m-mansion…? It’s m-my mansion…?”

“You don’t get it. That’s only if you have the money to inherit it. You were about to ask Dad for help because you don’t have it.”

His hands trembled. Unable to hide his chaotically shaking eyes, Doeon mumbled in a small voice.

“Th-then what about m-me…?”

What is he planning to do with me? Me, who lives in this mansion! It was the most important question. Taking a short breath, Doeon panted. The shock made even his earlobes turn bright red. Doha turned his head and slowly looked at the shimmering surface of the water.

“Hyung, you’re in the same boat as me.”

“The same… boat…?”

“Dumping us in a land with a different language and different water.”

“…Dump us?”

“He’s going to send us far, far away into exile to a foreign country that takes 30 hours round-trip. Like getting rid of bothersome things.”

Doha laughed self-deprecatingly. It was unbelievable. Was the will his mom wrote before she died nothing more than a scrap of paper? Doeon asked in a trembling voice.

“Wh-what if I don’t want to goa?”

“You won’t be able to defy Dad’s words.”

“Wh-why…?”