Winter Season Chapter 17

“No, but I mean, isn’t it fascinating how two guys rub their bodies together and swap spit? When it’s not useful for breeding for shit. Don’t you agree?”

At Seunghyeok’s unpredictable remark, the organization members awkwardly exchanged glances. Noticing this, Seunghyeok let out a hollow laugh and put a cigarette in his mouth.

“Ah. You guys don’t know. He’s gay.”

Where he pointed with his chin stood Yihyeon with a hardened face. At Seunghyeok’s sudden revelation, the members all shut their mouths and scrutinized each other’s reactions. The air inside the storage room suddenly turned still.

“…….”

Even at the direct outing, Yihyeon showed no reaction. He merely stood there, biting his lower lip hard and glaring at Seunghyeok. Seunghyeok stared back at Yihyeon fixatedly with his pitch-black pupils. After a moment of staring each other down, Seunghyeok turned his head first and beckoned someone with his finger.

“Hey, you, come here.”

“M-me…?”

A young man who had been tense in the very corner looked around before pointing a finger at his own chest. Visibly nervous at the sudden summons, he walked out hesitatingly.

He had sharp eyes, but his face still held a trace of youth. His yellow hair, with its ruined ends, was disheveled. The man, who had a fair amount of lean muscle and was said to be quite the fighter on the outside, looked like a high school delinquent facing an adult when he stood before Seunghyeok.

The man bowed his head instinctively. Toward him, Seunghyeok spoke.

“What’s your name.”

“Yes, hyung-nim. It is Jang Yunsu!”

“Right, Yunsu. Why don’t you try kissing him once in front of the boys.”

“…Pardon?”

At the unthinkable words, the man raised his head with a dazed expression. If it were the usual Seunghyeok, he would have handed the man over to Taeshik to be properly disciplined the moment he saw him asking back with a stupid look, but this time, he merely chuckled and answered kindly again.

“I said kiss him. Let’s give our boys a fascinating show for once. I can’t exactly do it myself, can I, hm?”

Yihyeon clenched his fists tightly at the blatant insult. Unable to bring himself to step away, he stared at Seunghyeok with every nerve on edge.

Yunsu, gauging Seunghyeok’s expression and the surrounding atmosphere, realized he wasn’t simply joking and rolled his eyes anxiously. He was afraid that if he did something wrong, the sparks might fly toward him too.

Hoping for help, he glanced at Taeshik standing to the side, but Taeshik merely frowned and signaled with his eyes for him to listen quickly. Yunsu had no choice but to mumble and walk over to stand in front of Yihyeon.

The shoulder area of a man he didn’t know filled Yihyeon’s vision, which had been fixed on Seunghyeok. As soon as a rough, hot hand grabbed near his jaw and cheek, Yihyeon slapped the man’s hand away with the back of his own.

A sharp smack echoed, followed by an awkward silence. Yunsu, whose face flushed with a mixture of anger and embarrassment from being hit, once again checked Seunghyeok’s reaction.

“Ugh… uugh.”

In the heavily settled silence, only the ragged breathing of Jinseok, who was standing almost suspended, resonated. Seunghyeok sighed and stood up from his seat.

“Ah… Yihyeon. Everyone is disappointed because of you.”

“…….”

“Alright, alright. Is it because I’m asking you to do it for free?”

Muttering “Sigh, alright” like someone dealing with a disobedient child, Seunghyeok frowned while rummaging through his wallet. Then, he reached out toward someone behind him.

“Hey, I only have checks right now. Do you have a fifty-thousand-won bill?”

“Yes, hyung-nim.”

“Give me that. It seems he doesn’t take it if you hand over too much, being as picky as he looks.”

As Seunghyeok snickered, a yellowish bill landed in his hand. Seunghyeok walked over with steady thuds and tucked the half-folded bill into Yihyeon’s shirt pocket. When the distance closed, there was a pungent smell of cigarettes, but Yihyeon only kept his gaze fixed straight on Seunghyeok.

“If the amount was the issue, you should have told me it was too much. I didn’t know.”

Yihyeon still kept his mouth shut while looking at Seunghyeok, and Seunghyeok patted Yihyeon’s shoulder as if to encourage him. Despite the fierce gaze directed at him, a mocking smile hung on his handsome face. Yihyeon, clenching his molars tight, slapped Seunghyeok’s hand away as if repelling it and hissed.

“…I don’t do such things for money.”

“Then do it without taking it.”

“…….”

“Do I look like I’m making a suggestion to you right now?”

Seunghyeok, having suddenly changed, growled lowly while casting a sharp, three-sided glare. At the atmosphere that had turned lethal in an instant, the organization members who had been standing blankly also put tension into their bodies.

“Ah. Or is it because you don’t like this guy?”

“…….”

“It seems you have a type, despite being in heat for a partner who has a cock just like you.”

Seunghyeok, looking down at Yihyeon, approached step by step.

His own tense reflection was visible in those piercing pupils. As Yihyeon clenched his fists, Seunghyeok spoke without taking his eyes off him.

“Hey, someone go outside and bring in a guy with permed brown hair.”

“Yes, hyung-nim!”

The tense confrontation lasted only a moment before someone with terrified eyes was dragged in without knowing why. Seunghyeok, after only lifting his eyes to check the face, finally took a step back.

Yihyeon let out a short breath he had been holding back unconsciously. The scent of Seunghyeok’s perfume, which still lingered in the air, subtly brushed past the tip of his nose.

“Um… for what reason… did you call me…”

The voice full of wariness and anxiety was one he knew well. When he turned his head, his eyes met Subin’s, who was rolling his terrified eyes around.

He seemed surprised to find Yihyeon and opened his eyes wide, and upon discovering Jinseok, who was barely breathing and looked like a pulp, he parted his lips with a horrified expression.

“Why… why me all of a sudden…”

“Ah. Because that Kwon Yihyeon over there is more fastidious than he looks.”

Seunghyeok, pointing at Jinseok with his chin, creased his eyes into curves and smiled gently as if it were fabricated.

“If you don’t want to end up like him, hurry up and put your lips on his and swap some spit.”

“…….”

“It’s not exactly a difficult thing for people like you.”

Returning to the steel chair he’d been sitting in, Seunghyeok toyed with his lighter, flicking it in his hand. Subin, looking back and forth between Yihyeon’s heavily stiffened face and Seunghyeok’s smile-less face, began to hesitatingly approach Yihyeon.

“…Don’t.”

The small mumble reached Seunghyeok’s ears. Though it shouldn’t be, the voice sounded quite piteous, causing Seunghyeok to let out a dry laugh and check his wristwatch.

“It is your working hours, as you said. And you said you won’t take money.”

“…….”

“Ah… I’m starting to get a bit bored now, Yihyeon.”

It was actually Subin who grew tense at the soft voice. Gauging the mood, he pulled his eyebrows together as if pleading and weakly grasped Yihyeon’s arms.

Ooh, ooh. Mocking jeers erupted from the surroundings. Yihyeon grit his teeth and clenched his fists in humiliation.

Let’s just finish this and get out.

Subin seemed to be conveying that with his eyes. His fear seemed greater than the humiliation of being placed before people like a monkey in a zoo.

Subin’s hand wrapped around Yihyeon’s neck and jaw. Yihyeon, noticing the hand touching his skin was trembling, met Subin’s gaze. The black pupils were shaking. He couldn’t torment the innocent Subin any further.

As if resigning, Yihyeon avoided the gaze by staring at a point next to Subin’s ear. Subin’s face drew closer to Yihyeon’s hardened face.

Click, click, click. Along with the steady sound of the lighter wheel turning, Seunghyeok’s gaze also fixed there.

Tap, tap.

Tap.

Tap.

The lighter hit the armrest of the chair with a short, solid sound. It was an action Seunghyeok did unconsciously while trying to suppress the unpleasant disgust starting to boil from below his navel.

Seunghyeok, who had been maintaining a cold gaze like someone forced to watch something they didn’t want to see, gripped the Zippo lighter tightly just before their lips touched. And almost simultaneously, with a creaking sound, the door that seemed like it would be closed forever opened its mouth.

“I wondered what you were doing, gathering the boys in the corner of a storage room.”

A voice slightly higher than Gu Seunghyeok’s, but similarly devoid of inflection, cut through the air. The lips that were almost touching pulled apart. Yihyeon belatedly exhaled the breath he had been holding.