Your House Now

When they arrived at the underground parking garage and got out of the car, Jaeyoung rubbed his lips with his hand.

They were tingling from how much he’d talked nonstop on the way over.

“Oh? There’s a cart over there!”

Before Saheon could say anything, Jaeyoung bounced off and dragged over a luggage cart.

“They say you just have to return it after using it.”

Maybe living away from home really did excite him.

The flush on his pale cheeks refused to fade.

The luggage was light enough that Jaeyoung could have carried it alone, but Saheon decided to let him do whatever he wanted.

“Is that everything?”

Jaeyoung checked the cart and the trunk back and forth to make sure nothing was missing.

And then he noticed it.

“Uh? Why is that—”

He stared at Saheon with a stunned expression.

The ramen box he’d been looking for was tucked under Saheon’s arm.

“It felt like my gift.”

Saheon said it casually and turned toward the shared entrance.

Jaeyoung, on the verge of tears, reached out toward his back, then quietly pulled his arm back without saying anything.

“Memorize the password.”

“O-okay!”

Answering briskly, Jaeyoung hurriedly pulled out his phone and typed in the password Saheon was entering.

While he was doing that, the door closed, leaving only a narrow gap.

“Uh…”

Jaeyoung stared blankly at Saheon’s back through the glass door.

Then he turned to look behind him.

The underground parking garage was silent, lit only by dim lights and the glow of black boxes.

Maybe because it was unfamiliar, a chill sank straight into his bones.

“Hyung! Please open the door!”

Jaeyoung gently knocked on the glass.

Saheon finally turned around, noticed that Jaeyoung hadn’t followed, and walked back toward him.

“Press it yourself.”

That was all he said, even after coming right up to him.

Jaeyoung lifted and lowered his head, glancing between Saheon and the keypad.

It was obvious he wasn’t going to help.

“Hoo…”

In the end, Jaeyoung raised his finger.

He’d lived in houses his whole life, so shared entrances felt unfamiliar.

Carefully, afraid of making a mistake, he began pressing the numbers.

“Hyung! It opened!”

Jaeyoung watched the door unlock with sparkling eyes, then scampered over to Saheon.

Saheon lowered his gaze and looked at Jaeyoung, who was clinging to his arm and bouncing slightly.

“Ah…”

Snapping back to his senses under that heated stare, Jaeyoung flinched and let go.

“The cart’s still outside.”

Saheon gestured past Jaeyoung’s shoulder.

In his rush to run over, Jaeyoung had left the cart piled with luggage behind.

“Ah…”

Watching Jaeyoung stare blankly, Saheon, as usual, reached out and gave his head a light pat.

“I’ll let you touch me all you want once we’re inside.”

“W-what? Touch?”

He’d only grabbed his arm once, yet it sounded like he’d been groping him all over.

Jaeyoung panicked.

“No, hyung! That sounded weird—”

Ignoring him, Saheon walked over to the elevator at the very end of the hall.

The moment he pressed the button, the doors slid open silently.

Afraid of getting left behind again, Jaeyoung hurried in and scanned the panel.

“Which floor are we—”

But there was only one button.

“Hyung… are we really allowed to ride this?”

Jaeyoung rolled his eyes around the elevator interior.

There wasn’t even a CCTV camera in the corner.

“The elevator password is ‘01041223.’”

Saheon recited it without explanation.

Jaeyoung hadn’t even known the elevator had a password.

He quickly scribbled it down next to the entrance code.

“The last numbers are my birthday! That’s kind of amazing.”

Jaeyoung looked up at Saheon and grinned.

“It is your birthday.”

“…What?”

“I set it that way because I figured you’d whine about not being able to remember it.”

Jaeyoung tilted his head.

“How do you know my birthday?”

“There’s nothing about you I don’t know.”

Depending on who said it, the line could’ve sounded romantic.

Coming from Saheon, it sent chills down Jaeyoung’s spine.

“Th-then what about the first part?”

“My birthday.”

Using each other’s birthdays as a password was something Mintae once said he wanted to try when he got a girlfriend.

Doing something that embarrassing with Saheon instead of a girlfriend made Jaeyoung dizzy.

At the end of a short hallway beyond the elevator was a massive front door.

By the time they finished fingerprint authentication and stepped inside, Jaeyoung was already a little tired.

“Whoa!”

The moment he stepped into the living room, his fatigue vanished.

One entire wall was made of glass, opening up a breathtaking view.

The sky looked wide and clear, as if it were right above them, and beyond it flowed a blue river with winding streams of cars.

“If I were scared of heights, this would’ve been a disaster.”

Saheon frowned at the thoughtless comment.

“You aren’t.”

He said it with certainty.

Instead of reassurance, it sounded like a threat.

“Th-then what’s on the other side?”

Avoiding Saheon’s sharp gaze, Jaeyoung scampered to the opposite end.

Unlike the front, there was a door that led outside.

“Can I go out?”

His light-colored eyes sparkled.

He looked like he had little ears perked up over his head.

“It’s your house now. Don’t ask every little thing.”

Saheon replied irritably.

Even so, he followed closely behind.

“This is insane.”

The terrace had a pool, sunbeds, and a barbecue grill straight out of a movie.

There was even a small garden along the railing.

If he pushed the sunbeds aside and pitched a small tent, it would almost feel like camping.

“Can I brag about this to the guys?”

Jaeyoung was already excited about taking photos for the group chat.

“When I’m not here, you can bring them over anytime.”

“Just don’t let them into the bedroom.”

At Saheon’s words, Jaeyoung’s face twisted into something between a smile and a grimace.

“I was just going to take pictures…”

It wasn’t like ‘bedroom’ meant anything special.

But coming from Saheon’s mouth, it sounded strangely suggestive.

Especially since his friends’ bold gift was still gnawing at the back of his mind.

“If you’re done looking, let’s check the bedroom.”

The timing of Saheon’s suggestion made Jaeyoung swallow hard.

Saheon tilted his head, watching him.

“What were you thinking about that your face looks ready to burst?”

He spoke in a low, almost muttering voice and toyed with Jaeyoung’s flushed cheek.

It was warm, and the texture felt exactly like freshly steamed rice cake.

“I-it’s not something you need to worry about…”

“That’s for me to decide.”

Saheon cut him off firmly and scrutinized his face.

His sharp gaze felt like it might peel Jaeyoung open and expose everything.

“I-it’s embarrassing… Can’t I just not say it?”

As Jaeyoung dipped his head slightly, the crown of his round head was fully visible.

Saheon watched him with narrowed eyes, then tugged the corner of his mouth up.

“What, were you imagining rolling around with me in the bedroom?”

The blunt words shocked Jaeyoung into snapping his head up.

He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but no sound came out.

He couldn’t even deny it.

“You freaked out over kissing, but that’s fine?”

Saheon rubbed Jaeyoung’s lips with the finger that had been caressing his cheek.

The lips looked like they’d stain if touched, but all that came away was clear saliva.

Jaeyoung’s eyes trembled faintly.

The pressure of the finger on his lips gradually increased.

Beep, beep, beep—

A sharp mechanical sound sliced through the hazy atmosphere.

It was coming from Saheon’s wrist.

Jaeyoung jolted like he’d woken from a dream.

“We’ll unpack later.”

Saheon muttered, checking his watch with a displeased expression.

“Ah— th-that’s a callout?”

“Yeah.”

Jaeyoung looked around in a panic.

Then he dug through his bag and pulled out the I×on Man mask his friends had given him.

“What’s that for?”

Saheon looked at him like he’d grown a second head.

“I’m going to wear it.”

Jaeyoung slipped the mask over the back of his head and pulled up his hood.

He wouldn’t wear it every time he went out.

Just when getting out of the car.

“You’re seriously going out like that?”

Seeing Saheon react so strongly was new.

Jaeyoung’s eyes widened.

“Why? You want to play hero?”

Saheon sneered.

With that single line, Jaeyoung was reduced to a kid playing pretend Avengers.

“I just need something to hide my face.”

Jaeyoung muttered gloomily.

“So it really does look like that to others too…”

“Well, you’re not Seo Mintae.”

Saheon clicked his tongue briefly and continued.

“You said you don’t want to be known.”

“You don’t have to come to the site.”

He turned his back like he was about to disappear.

“Still…”

Jaeyoung hesitated, clutching the hem of Saheon’s clothes.

He’d signed a contract.

Not doing what he was supposed to felt wrong.

“Then today, I’ll just use the mask!”

Beep, beep, beep, beep—

The machine sounded even more urgent.

Jaeyoung looked up at Saheon with clear, expectant eyes.

Saheon answered by reaching up and pulling the hood off Jaeyoung’s head.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

He pressed a button on the device irritably, and the noise stopped.

Jaeyoung released his grip, looking sullen.

“I won’t let you go when you get back, so wash up and wait.”

Jaeyoung swallowed.

Saheon wasn’t someone who spoke lightly.

He said what he wanted, when he wanted, and that often scared people.

Lately, he’d also been saying things that were far too easy to misunderstand.

“That’s your room. Use it as a study.”

“Clothes go in the dressing room.”

After dropping those words, the person responsible for the mess in Jaeyoung’s head casually vaulted over the terrace railing.

“Th-this is the 24th floor!”

Only then did Jaeyoung snap out of it and rush to the railing.

Below, there was a heavy thud followed by sharp screams.

“I hope those people’s hearts are okay…”

Jaeyoung muttered awkwardly.

It wasn’t Saheon falling from the 24th floor that worried him.

It was the ordinary people who’d witnessed it.

Setting aside his pointless concern, Jaeyoung turned on the dungeon raid livestream on the living room TV and diligently began unpacking.