“Hyung, it says the password is wrong.”
When Haein asked, unable to hide his confusion, Yeonjun muttered like a broken recorder.
“0412… It is right… Mmm…”
Haein nudged Yeonjun and tried once more, but the exact same merciless result came back.
No, hyung, it says that isn’t it!
Still carrying Yeonjun on his back, Haein swallowed his tears and asked,
“Could you be confusing it with something else? Is that really your home password?”
When Haein asked again to make certain, Yeonjun said nothing. Haein could not tell whether he was thinking for a moment or had simply fallen asleep again.
“Hyung?”
Sensing something ominous, Haein called to him. Yeonjun thumped his forehead against the bony part of Haein’s neck and mumbled.
“Ow.”
“0412, 00…….”
Praying that it would be right this time, Haein quickly entered the numbers Yeonjun had mumbled.
0… 412… 00.
He firmly pressed the now six-digit number and closed the cover. Apparently, the problem had been that they had omitted the final digits. With a mechanical trill and the sound of the lock turning inside, the door opened.
“Gasp, it worked.”
Haein quickly pulled the door open, and Yeonjun shifted again.
He needed to hurry inside and toss him onto the bed or something.
Trying to ignore the sweat pouring down his back, Haein felt along the wall and switched on the light. With the click of the switch, the interior came into view.
What kind of person was Ignis-nim, and what kind of home did he live in?
It was the moment a question Haein had carried in one corner of his heart all this time was finally answered.
The interior was a simple studio apartment without any separately divided spaces. The bed had ordinary, neutral-colored sheets and an extremely plain design. Directly in front of it stood a computer desk.
As though proving that its occupant never cooked at home, the kitchen had only a single pot hanging forlornly on the wall. The sink held so few dishes that they did not seem sufficient even for one person.
It was the textbook studio apartment of a male office worker whose entire life at home consisted of using his computer and sleeping.
There was only one unusual thing about it.
A large aquarium stood directly across from the entrance. It looked at least a foot across, densely filled with carefully maintained aquatic plants growing lush and green.
“Wow…”
Inside the aquarium, landscaped like a forest submerged beneath the water, cherry-colored shrimp slightly larger than a pinky nail swam around at a leisurely pace.
Haein stared absentmindedly into the softly illuminated tank until he heard Yeonjun fussing behind him.
“Mmm…”
Oh, right.
Finally coming to his senses, Haein closed the front door and carefully laid Yeonjun on the bed. Yeonjun’s body swayed and tilted. Perhaps he felt uncomfortable, because he resisted being separated from Haein, staggered, and tightly grabbed Haein’s sleeve.
“Um, hyung, you have to let go of this before I can lay you down on the bed!”
Haein spoke as though he were nearly in tears, but Yeonjun did not appear to have any intention of letting him go.
“Um, hyung……!?”
After considerable effort, Haein managed to turn his body and lower Yeonjun onto the bed. However, with Yeonjun still clutching his clothes, he could not straighten up.
“Hyung, please let go of me first!”
Screaming internally, Haein shook Yeonjun. The eyes that had remained peacefully closed the entire time finally fluttered.
A narrow gap appeared between his eyelids. They slowly parted, revealing irises that were lighter than most people’s.
“……?”
Apparently still not fully sober, Yeonjun gazed up at Haein through hazy eyes without releasing him.
The instant their eyes met, Haein felt as though his heart had dropped straight down.
“…….”
Haein stared down at Yeonjun, unable to think of anything to say. Yeonjun blinked eyes filled with melancholy, by which one meant that he was simply sleepy, drunk, and completely out of it.
Thinking that he had to say something, Haein blurted out something stupid without realizing it.
“Th-the aquarium is really impressive! I’ve never seen anyone keep shrimp before……!”
Not Hello, or I’m Haesal, but Your aquarium is impressive.
What was that even supposed to mean?
Still, there had been a certain logic behind his actions.
Looking back over Haesal’s roughly twenty years of life, people who put that much effort into maintaining an aquarium possessed their own philosophies, knowledge, and pride.
The easiest and most reliable way to win points with them was to praise the aquarium they had worked so hard to cultivate.
One should not offer pointless, strange criticisms such as saying that the plants might look better trimmed or that the fish were too brightly colored. Simply saying that it was well maintained or impressive was enough to win their favor.
Perhaps Haein’s assumption had been correct, because Yeonjun blinked up at him through his hazy eyes and mumbled,
“…You’ve never seen shrimp before?”
His hoarse voice did not sound much different from when he had answered in his sleep earlier.
At Yeonjun’s question, Haein quickly nodded.
“What? Ah, yes, yes!”
Haein answered with a desperate smile so that he would not appear suspicious or stupid.
As though he had discovered an opportunity to reduce the number of shrimp in his tank, Yeonjun squeezed out the last of his strength and unsteadily pushed himself upright.
“Then do you want to raise some?”
“What?”
His hair was mussed from sleep, and his cheek had been flattened from resting firmly against Haein’s back. Looking utterly defenseless, Yeonjun made a suggestion of a kind Haein had never expected.
“Shrimp are easy to raise. They don’t eat much, and you only have to change the water properly… I’ll give you a marimo moss ball too.”
Where had he found the presence of mind for that in his current state?
Yeonjun abruptly sat up, took a plastic bag from the storage cabinet beneath the aquarium, and placed two shrimp inside along with a suitable amount of water, a few aquatic plants, and a marimo moss ball.
He did not forget to neatly package some soil for planting the aquatic plants in a separate bag.
There were so many shrimp swarming through the lush aquarium that removing two or three would hardly be noticeable.
Haein accepted the bag with a conflicted expression.
“No, hyung…”
Haein had barely begun to process his confusion when Yeonjun collapsed into a deep sleep on the bed, as though that had consumed every last bit of his remaining energy.
Somewhat dazed, Haein alternated between staring at the bag in his hand and at Yeonjun. He leaned the bag Yeonjun had securely tied and prepared against the aquarium, then carefully checked Yeonjun’s condition.
Fortunately, he merely seemed drunk rather than on the verge of vomiting. His complexion looked much more comfortable than it had earlier.
Just to be safe, Haein undid only the top button of Yeonjun’s shirt, the one closest to his neck, and laid him in a proper position.
Still sleeping as though unconscious, Yeonjun’s eyelids twitched.
What in the world am I even doing…?
With emotions he could not understand himself, Haein gazed down at Yeonjun’s sleeping face. Before he realized it, he touched Yeonjun’s cheek with the tips of his fingers.
“Gasp.”
Startled by his own actions, Haein was about to pull his hand away.
At that moment, Yeonjun caught Haein’s wrist without opening his eyes.
“I-I’m s-sorry. I thought you might be uncomfortable, so I was only going to turn your head a little to the side…….”
Just as Haein desperately attempted to explain himself, Yeonjun pulled him closer without opening his eyes.
Haein’s weight tilted, and his entire body fell toward Yeonjun.
Whoa!
Haein used every bit of his balance to avoid crashing into him, but Yeonjun was pulling with greater strength.
What do I do? Gasp…!
Just as emergency alarms began blaring wildly inside Haein’s mind, an unexpectedly warm and soft sensation touched his forehead.
“……?”
Before Haein’s mind could fully process what had happened, Yeonjun smiled, the corners of his eyes curving upward.
His complexion looked much better, as though he were having a pleasant dream, and Haein’s heart dropped once again.
The spot on his forehead where Yeonjun’s lips had briefly pressed felt as hot as though it had been burned.
The moment Haein saw those full, slightly parted lips, he could not think of anything at all.
By the time he regained his senses, he had already pressed his own lips against them.
His first kiss at twenty made his heart tremble as though it might burst. It tasted bitter, yet sweet.
He did not dare even think of doing anything more. When he pulled away, breathless to the point that the air caught in his throat, only the soft sound of Yeonjun’s breathing filled the room.
I’ve lost my mind. I’m garbage.
What had he just done?
Haein’s face repeatedly flushed bright red and then drained deathly pale as he offered an excuse.
“Y-you did it first, hyung.”
Trying to destroy the evidence, Haein quickly rubbed Yeonjun’s lips with his hand. The soft, yielding sensation against his fingertips horrified him, and he staggered backward.
I’m insane. I really must have lost my mind.
Swallowing a silent scream, Haein fled into the bathroom and slammed the door.
Yeonjun apparently remained asleep as though nothing had happened, because not a sound could be heard from the room.
Only Haein’s own heartbeat struck his eardrums, pounding wildly again and again.
How could you do that to someone who was drunk and asleep?
But hyung did it first…
While those two thoughts wrestled evenly against one another, Haein’s twenty-year-old body was demonstrating an embarrassingly healthy condition.
What was he doing in somebody else’s home?
Trying to calm himself, Haein sat down on the perfectly dry bathroom floor, stood up again, sat on the toilet, and tried every imaginable thing.
However, all that appeared in his mind was Ignis-nim standing in this very room without a single thread covering him.
Naturally.
There was no one in the world who bathed with their clothes on.
This is driving me insane…….
Reciting his high school anthem, then his middle school anthem, and even the national anthem did nothing to improve the situation.
In the end, Haein dealt with the physical reaction by himself. When he saw the packaged bag resting in front of the aquarium, he wanted to plunge his head straight into the tank and die.
He truly was an irredeemable lunatic.
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