The summer of 1994 was sweltering. Hayeop was squatting in the kitchen, trimming the ends from bean sprouts. Snap, snap, snap. Beads of sweat dotted his little nostrils.
"Baby."
Oh, that was his mother. Hayeop dropped the bean sprouts and darted out.
"Yes, Mom? Did you call me?"
"Fold this laundry for me."
Hayeop obediently hunkered down and began folding. He might not have had much of a head for studying, but he had a natural knack for work. His hands were quick, and he was nimble on his feet.
Sweat streamed from behind his tightly bent knees. It was hot. So terribly hot. If only he could have one cool, sweet ice cream bar. He could buy a two-hundred-won Melona, slip it into his mouth, and slowly roll it around on his tongue. Nothing short of heaven could compare.
Then he shook his head vigorously. Honestly. The moment life gets a little easier, I lose all sense of shame and start wanting the most ridiculous things.
"Whoa…."
He unfolded a pair of trousers and spread them wide. Everything the Young Master wore was so enormous, it looked as though it belonged to a bear. Hayeop folded the trousers into crisp, perfect lines, then gathered the armful of laundry against his chest.
"I just need to put these in the Young Master's room, right?"
At Hayeop's question, his mother lowered her voice as far as it would go and warned him again.
"Baby, no one can find out you're here. If Madam catches you, we'll be thrown out."
Hayeop nodded to show that he understood. This mansion was as vast as a palace and spotlessly clean. It smelled lovely, and there was always plenty of delicious food to eat. He never wanted to be driven out. He wanted to stay here until the day he died and have his bones buried on the grounds.
"I'll be back."
He tucked his reddish lips firmly inward and crept away on tiptoe. It was so hot that he had put on the shorts his mother had given him, leaving his smooth, pale thighs completely bare.
Creak. Creak.
Hayeop climbed the wooden stairs. He had heard that the Young Master was nearly six foot two. Could anyone truly be that tall? Was that why his trousers were so enormous? Hayeop could hardly imagine it. In his mind, the Young Master was kind and delicate, slender as a willow branch.
Perhaps because their precious Young Master had been raised in such comfort, his health was frail, and every summer he came down with a fever. They would catch a female fox for him to replenish his yin energy. That fox had been so beautiful and adorable that the sight of it had come as quite a shock….
No, I shouldn't think like that. It's going into our precious Young Master's mouth. Even a hundred fox tails wouldn't be too many. Who do I have to thank for living in such comfort now?
Hayeop carefully opened the door to the Young Master's room.
The room was astonishingly large and clean every time he saw it, and it carried the pleasant scent of fine soap. Smiling softly, Hayeop folded the clothes neatly into the wardrobe. Anyone who lived in a room like this had to be handsome, brilliant at his studies, warm, and gentle. Not that Hayeop would ever see his face in this lifetime.
Then, the next moment—
"Jung Yoonwon, there is seriously something wrong with you!"
A woman's voice came from beyond the door.
This was a disaster. His mother had told him that he absolutely must not be discovered.
What do I do? What am I going to do?
Hayeop floundered in panic until, in the end, he wriggled his bottom and crawled beneath the bed. Only his round eyes gleamed white in the darkness.
A moment later, the door flew open. Four feet hurried into the room, nearly tangling together.
"You pounded Kim Jooyoung too?"
"Who knows?"
A low laugh rumbled from deep in the man's chest. Goose bumps prickled down Hayeop's spine, and he curled up like a shrimp.
Is that our Young Master? But… what does she mean by pounding? Is it like pounding rice cakes? Roasted soybean rice cake is so nutty and delicious.
Even at a time like this, all the rice-cake glutton could think about was food.
"Do you know what everyone at school is calling you? A fucking slut."
"They call me that?"
Ha ha. The Young Master laughed under his breath. His voice was raw and rough, as though it were scraping the inside of his throat—the voice of a grown man, which Hayeop himself did not possess.
"Hana."
Why does his voice sound so filthy?
He had merely spoken her name, yet Hayeop felt as if he were secretly watching an adult video. He flattened himself against the floor like a frog.
"Want me to put a rag in that mouth?"
"Who asks for a kiss like that, you pervert…?"
There was an oddly coy note to the woman's reply. Then came wet, smacking breaths, followed by breathless moans. Hayeop had only ever heard sounds like those in adult videos. His face turned scarlet.
Who in the world was this playboy, practically dripping sleaze? Hayeop had been told that their Young Master was handsome, brilliant, considerate, and such an exemplary student that he had entered Hanguk University at the top of his class.
"Wait… Wait, Jung Yoonwon! Your hands are too fast. I need to go pee."
"Okay."
A pair of slender ankles headed toward the bathroom.
Hayeop buried his plump cheeks in both hands. A faint trace of oil from his fair skin was left on the gleaming floor.
What was he supposed to do? How long would he have to stay under here? If he wanted to slip away without being caught, he would have to wait until the Young Master left, but judging by the way things were going, that did not seem likely to happen anytime soon.
Hayeop let out a deep sigh and turned his head.
His heart nearly plummeted all the way to his navel.
"Peekaboo."
Jung Yoonwon's upside-down face was staring back at him. His sleek, elongated eyes curved like the tip of a snake's tail. Every hair on Hayeop's body stood on end.
"…Aah!"
A large hand seized his wrist and dragged him out in one long pull. Hayeop braced himself against the floor, but the grip was so powerful that he was helplessly hauled along. Scrape. His knees rubbed against the floor until they turned red.
Yoonwon, who had taken off his shirt, deposited Hayeop on his stomach. Not knowing what else to do, Hayeop found himself straddling him.
"Well, look at you."
Yoonwon drew out the final word, sending a chill down Hayeop's spine.
"Now, what might you be?"
It sounded less like a question than something he was muttering to himself.
His jet-black hair was stylishly long, his eyes sleek and sharp, his nose tall and straight, and his lips beautifully shaped. He was strikingly handsome, but the seductive air that clung to him was so strong that it almost overshadowed his refined features.
He was the exact opposite of the Young Master Hayeop had imagined. So much for an exemplary student. He looked like a playboy who had no interest in staying home and studying, someone who spent every day surrounded by women's skirts. A Casanova who went around seducing every woman he saw—or something like that.
"H-how did you know I was there?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
His sharp eyes curved into crescents.
"When I opened the door, I saw someone scurrying into hiding."
So he knew someone was under the bed, and he still went around smashing his l-lips against hers? He's insane. Insane. Completely insane….
"More importantly, who the hell are you?"
Hayeop pressed his lips tightly together. His mother had told him not to be discovered. If he was thrown out of here, he truly had nowhere else to go.
"Well…."
When Hayeop dragged out his answer, Yoonwon urged him on. He jerked up one knee, bouncing Hayeop's body.
"…I'm the son of the woman who works here."
Suddenly ashamed, Hayeop curled in on himself. This was a real disaster. Even a bolt from a clear blue sky would have been less outrageous. How could something like this happen? The Young Master was supposed to be in class right now. Hayeop wanted to climb off him, but he was afraid his bottom might rub against the man's stomach if he moved.
"How old are you?"
"……."
"I asked how old you are. Why so tight-lipped, little boy?"
Hesitating, Hayeop answered with the tips of his ears burning red.
"Twenty."
"Mmm. Twenty."
Yoonwon poked the exposed inside of Hayeop's precariously spread thigh.
"Then why are you wearing girls' gym shorts and hiding in big brother's room?"
"Because it was so hot—and I came to put away the laundry…."
Hayeop felt Yoonwon's eyes slowly sweep over his face, then glide down the lines of his body. When Yoonwon saw that Hayeop's white socks reached all the way up his slender calves, he hooked a finger under the elastic and snapped it.
"Ow, that stings…."
"And you're telling me you're not a high school kid?"
He murmured it almost to himself. The words were soon swallowed by the sound of running water.
"Wow, Yoonwon! Your bathroom is incredible. I've never seen a bedroom with its own bathroom before."
The bathroom door flew open.
Startled, Hayeop sprang up like a puffed rice cracker. The instant their clammy skin peeled apart, he scrambled away in a panic. He rushed out and pulled the door shut behind him, only to hear the woman's voice.
"You scared me! What was that? Didn't someone just run out of here?"
She seemed to be asking about him. A long moment passed before the Young Master answered.
"It was nothing. Just a kid."
Hayeop practically tumbled down the stairs. He shot across the polished living room floor as though he were wearing roller skates, then fled into the kitchen.
"What's wrong, baby? Your face is all red."
His startled mother asked what had happened, but Hayeop quickly waved her off. His heart was pounding so hard that every breath escaped in ragged bursts.
"N-no, it's nothing. I'm just hot."
"No one saw you, did they? I thought the Young Master had come home earlier, and it gave me such a fright."
"Well…."
Hayeop averted his eyes.
"N-no. No one did…."
Not wanting his mother to worry, Hayeop told the harmless lie and bit down hard on his tongue. Mortified inside, he began cursing the Young Master for no reason.
Punk. Playboy. Pervert. F-fucking slut….
His mother had personally brewed fox tails for the Young Master, so Hayeop had assumed he must be a respectable, kind gentleman. Apparently, that had all been a dream.
The Lee Hayeop who had secretly admired the Young Master no longer existed.
Only one thought circled endlessly through his mind.
I must never get involved with him again.