What If We Need Them?

“Hey, don’t tell me this is… that?”

Jaeyoung’s face burned like it had been set on fire.

He lifted his head while wetting his dry lips, then let his gaze wander, not knowing where to look.

“W-well, you’re an adult now. You should have a healthy s-s*x life.”

Dongjun scratched at his arm, clearly embarrassed just saying it out loud.

“But would this even fit us?”

Mintae stared seriously at the unopened condom.

“Would it?”

Haewoon snapped at him.

“I’m not even that big either…”

Jaeyoung muttered gloomily, glancing down at himself.

“Obviously.”

Haewoon replied like Jaeyoung was stating the most obvious thing in the world, giving him a weird look.

“Wasn’t this supposed to be my gift?”

It stung his pride, but they weren’t wrong.

Still, staying quiet felt unfair, so Jaeyoung burst out.

“I bought it because it’s supposed to be g-good for the pr-princess’s body!”

Dongjun shouted.

As a fan of Esper Jin Saheon, Dongjun’s words only translated in Jaeyoung’s brain as: Saheon was supposed to use it.

“…Is hyung really that big?”

Haewoon shrugged, his face a mix of envy and jealousy.

“What kind of stupid question is that…”

Haewoon replied, gesturing vaguely in the air as if measuring something.

The envy in his voice was unmistakable.

The rest of them let out sighs full of jealousy as well.

“No, but what does that have to do with me?”

Jaeyoung rolled his eyes following Haewoon’s hand, then frowned as a sudden thought hit him.

“You said you already guided hyung!”

Jaeyoung and Dongjun yelled at each other, both red-faced and flustered.

“What does guiding have to do with con—”

From the media, the most you ever saw of guiding was hugging.

But if there was more than that…

“…No way.”

Irritation crept onto his face, then confusion, then shame, and finally sheer disbelief.

So the next step after kissing was…

Saheon and himself in an indecent situation flashed through his chaotic mind.

“Are you insane? You think guiding stops at just that?!”

Jaeyoung shouted, his eyes turning red.

Of course, he’d never even imagined going that far.

“And we’re both guys!”

Even if such a method existed, he thought it wouldn’t apply since both he and Saheon were men.

But at his outburst, his friends’ expressions went blank.

“Guys can do it too.”

Haewoon said flatly, like Jaeyoung was hopeless.

As if Jaeyoung had ever imagined doing it with a guy when he hadn’t even done it with a girl.

Jaeyoung’s mouth fell open.

“R-really?”

Jaeyoung looked far too young as he asked, eyes wide.

At this point, whose fault was his innocence, really?

“What are you gonna do, seriously.”

Haewoon pressed a hand to his forehead like he had a headache.

Trying to explain Z to a kid who thought the world ended at C was exhausting.

“B-but hyung said it was fine if we just held hands and slept…”

Jaeyoung protested.

His voice wavered, completely lacking conviction.

Seeing his troubled face, the friends burst into hollow laughter.

“You actually believe that?”

Haewoon looked at him the way you’d look at a kid who believed babies were delivered by storks.

“No, even if guys can do it. The other guy isn’t just anyone. It’s Jin Saheon. Does that make sense?”

Jaeyoung argued, presenting what he thought was solid logic.

“How does it not make sense? Hyung’s the wife, you’re the husband, right?”

“Come to think of it, hyung only calls you rice cake, and you’re the only one who calls him hyung.”

“That was destiny from the start.”

Seizing the moment, they all started tying Saheon and Jaeyoung together.

And yet, somehow, they were the ones looking disgusted.

“No, Kim Jaeyoung and Jin Saheon?”

After playing along just fine, Haewoon suddenly gagged dramatically.

“And why is it automatically hyung who uses it? I could use it too!”

At Jaeyoung’s shout, the friends fell silent.

“Wow. Look at the courage.”

“So our son was general material all along.”

After the silence, the comments that came out were unmistakably teasing.

“I’m my mom’s son.”

Jaeyoung pouted and complained.

“Anyway, not all guiding goes that far.”

“But it can. And since hyung’s S-class, he might need more than others.”

“If you’re compensating for everything he’s never gotten before, the odds are high.”

Still, there was a contract stating they’d guide in the way Jaeyoung wanted.

Though Saheon was absolutely the type to ignore a contract if he felt like it.

Jaeyoung let out a sharp sigh to calm his rattled nerves.

“Anyway, thanks.”

With an awkward expression, Jaeyoung took out condoms of different types and handed them to his friends, then closed the box.

Seeing Haewoon staring longingly at the handful he’d grabbed, Jaeyoung shoved the box next to his suitcase.

“You guys know these have expiration dates, right?”

Jaeyoung tapped the box meaningfully.

“So what? I’ll get a girlfriend once I start college.”

Mintae argued back, eyes already brimming with tears.

Jaeyoung silently patted his shoulder.

“But how are you moving your stuff?”

“Is your dad driving you?”

“We’ll help you carry it.”

“Hyung’s not home, right?”

They fired questions nonstop without giving him time to answer.

Jaeyoung opened his mouth several times, then shut it again.

“I checked with Jaehyo hyung. He has a schedule this afternoon.”

Jaeyoung gave Haewoon, who spoke confidently, a subtle look.

Just then, the smartphone on the desk vibrated softly.

“You’re really helping me move, right?”

Jaeyoung asked meaningfully as he picked it up.

“Of course!”

“If we’re not loyal to our crew, we’re dead!”

Jaeyoung’s lips curled upward.

By the time his friends noticed the glint in his eyes, it was already too late.

“The car’s out front.”

Jaeyoung handed each of them a piece of luggage to carry.

As soon as they stepped out the gate, the kids froze.

A blue SUV parked in front of Jaeyoung’s house gleamed like it was brand new.

“…Did your dad change cars?”

Haewoon asked suspiciously, scanning it.

Living right next door, the two families were close enough to know even how many spoons the other owned.

There was no way he wouldn’t recognize their usual car.

“I-I think my mom called me, I should go check…”

Dongjun, the biggest Saheon fan, recognized the car immediately and tried to slip away first.

Jaeyoung quickly hooked an arm around Dongjun’s neck.

“All the moms went to the sauna together. They won’t be back till evening.”

Jaeyoung smiled smoothly, blocking Dongjun’s escape.

“Why isn’t the trunk opening?”

Only the oblivious Mintae walked slowly toward the trunk with his luggage.

At that moment, the driver’s door opened.

The man everyone but one had expected stepped around the hood and stopped in front of Jaeyoung.

Jin Saheon.

“What are these?”

“Huh—!”

Saheon didn’t even acknowledge Jaeyoung’s friends as people.

He was tall enough to lower his head, but instead kept his posture straight, only looking down at them.

His lowered gaze made him seem even sharper.

“They said they’d help me move my stuff.”

The friends shot resentful looks at Jaeyoung, the only one smiling.

“Stuff?”

Saheon frowned and swept his eyes over the piles they were holding.

“I told you to just come yourself. Why is there so much?”

As Saheon spoke with a furrowed brow, Mintae’s grip slackened.

The box didn’t fall completely, but its contents slid out.

“Ah—!”

Seeing the condoms spill onto the ground, Jaeyoung sucked in a breath.

He’d thanked his friends for the gift, but he never planned to use them with Saheon.

And he definitely didn’t want Saheon to see them.

Saheon looked down at the fallen box, then lifted his head.

When his eyes met Jaeyoung’s flustered, shaking gaze, the corner of his mouth twisted upward.

“So you look soft, but you’ve got a dirty side too?”

Saheon spoke with obvious amusement.

It sounded half like mockery, half like approval.

Since the one he’d be using them with was himself, Jaeyoung couldn’t say a word and only moistened his dry lips.

“You weren’t planning on bringing a woman home while living with me…”

Saheon’s eyes gleamed as he stared at Jaeyoung.

How dare you even think that with me?

That was the feeling.

“…You never know when you might need them.”

Jaeyoung muttered weakly.

“Won’t need them.”

Saheon replied firmly.

The answer was so immediate and clear that Jaeyoung’s eyes widened.

“If we’re doing it, we’ll just do it.”

“…What?”

Jaeyoung asked blankly at the added remark.

Judging by his friends, who were also staring at Saheon with mouths agape, he hadn’t misheard.

“Even if you tried giving them away, none of these guys look useful.”

Saheon said leisurely, scanning them up and down.

They were furious but couldn’t refute it, so they just simmered in silence.

Saheon calmly ignored their glares and loaded the luggage into the trunk.

“You won’t even get to use them if you take them with you. Hyung! Hey!”

Realizing the condom box had gone in first, Jaeyoung clung to Saheon’s arm.

Saheon, unfazed, shoved him lightly into the passenger seat.

While that happened, Mintae grabbed the rear door handle.

But it didn’t open.

Another hand was holding the door shut.

Following the arm upward, he met Saheon’s expressionless face.

“Don’t stick yourself where you don’t belong. Go do your own thing.”

Saheon personally pried Mintae’s frozen hand off the car.

By the time the friends came to their senses, the engine was already running, ready to pull out.

Jaeyoung pressed against the window, eyes watery, looking like he was being sold off somewhere.

“Our Jaeyoung… he’ll be okay, right?”

Mintae sniffled, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

“They say a Guide is special to an Esper. He’ll be fine.”

Even as Haewoon said that, his expression wasn’t exactly reassured.

For someone who hated having his territory invaded, Saheon had brought Jaeyoung all the way into his home.

At the very least, that meant Jaeyoung was being treated as special.

“That’s depressing. Let’s go to a PC café and play Battle Arena.”

“This asshole’s already planning to ride the bus again.”

“A bus? More like a bus straight to a cliff.”

With Jaeyoung gone, the friends soon headed off toward the PC café, bickering like usual.