Why would the Young Master offer him something so cool and delicious? Hayeop treasured ice cream so much that he would roll it slowly around his mouth and let it melt little by little. People said nothing in this world was free. This was suspicious.
"You like strawberry, don't you? You look like you would."
Yoonwon opened the refrigerator, took out an ice cream bar, and waved it gently. Hayeop's mouth instantly watered, and he wiped his lips with the back of his hand.
"…Is it free?"
Yoonwon gave him a smooth smile, as though he had just heard something absurd. His eyes gleamed with languid amusement, his lips curved like a devil's tail, and even his head tilted slightly to one side.
"Of course not. Since when has anything between you and me been free?"
Hayeop glared like a newborn wildcat. People with money truly were the stingiest. Even if your living room was the size of a soccer field, apparently you still couldn't give anything away for free. What a cold and miserly way to live. Fine. Keep saving and become rich. Not that he wasn't already filthy rich.
"You might as well eat a flea's liver. It would probably taste better."
"Why would I eat something like that?"
The Young Master gave him a haughty sidelong glance. Then he caught the wrapper of the ice cream bar between his reddish lips.
"I'll give it to you if you answer my questions."
Scary.
What could Yoonwon possibly want to pry out of him badly enough to offer him ice cream? Hayeop had already explained that he wasn't a spy. His round eyes rolled anxiously.
"Now, my first question is…."
Yoonwon slowly peeled away the wrapper, and the ice cream bar revealed its naked body with almost indecent sensuality. It was a luscious strawberry red. Ah, it truly flaunted a seductive figure that was nearly impossible to resist.
Hayeop was completely captivated.
Damn, that looks sweet. It'll melt so gently in my mouth and cool my burning throat.
"Your name."
"Lee Hayeop."
Hayeop parted his lips slightly. What? He only wanted my name?
Carefully watching Yoonwon's reaction, he bit into the ice cream bar held in front of his nose. An entire sweet-and-sour strawberry farm blossomed inside his mouth. Goose bumps rose all the way to the nape of his neck, and his shoulders quivered.
Shocking. Shocking. Utterly shocking.
How could anything taste this good?
"…Your age?"
"I'm twenty."
A plump, reddish tongue slipped out past pearly white teeth, bit delicately into the crimson sorbet, then coyly disappeared again.
Yoonwon did not miss a single moment of it.
Gulp. His prominent Adam's apple bobbed. He had suddenly developed an inexplicable thirst.
"Why did you come to our house?"
"…Because I had nowhere else to go?"
Every question was easy to answer. It was as easy as eating rice cake while lying down, so Hayeop took another bite of the ice cream. His lips, red and swollen like plump cherries, glistened with moisture.
"Then where were you living before?"
Perhaps he had let his guard down too much. The final question caught him completely off guard.
"…Gasp."
He nearly bit his tongue. For a moment, it felt as though every fine hair on his body had stood on end.
"Why… are you asking me that?"
The ice cream melted beneath his wet saliva and began to drip. Plop, plop. Red droplets landed on Hayeop's clear, pale thigh.
"Baby, you…."
The murmured words sent goose bumps racing down his spine.
"Why can't you answer?"
The sticky ice cream continued trickling over his fair skin, threatening to run all the way to the inside of his thigh.
"Uh… Well, that's…."
Hayeop's eyes rolled from side to side. Then, as if he had suddenly spotted something, he opened them wide. Raising one slender, pale finger, he pointed somewhere behind Yoonwon.
"Oh! A cockroach!"
"What?"
The instant the Young Master turned his head, Hayeop shot away like a flying squirrel. He raced down the narrow corridor and slammed his bedroom door behind him.
Thump, thump. His heart hammered wildly.
He pressed his ear tightly against the door. From outside came Yoonwon's incredulous scoff.
"What the hell was that? The little runt has some goddamned nerve."
His voice was full of laughter, but Hayeop backed away from the door. He needed to put some distance between them immediately. He would never speak to the Young Master again. He never should have let himself be seduced by one sweet Screw Bar.
Someone with fox sickness certainly knew how to lure people in. He was frighteningly good at it.
Hmph.
Hayeop glared fiercely, then quickly returned to his usual docile self and began sweeping and cleaning the room. When had so much dust accumulated?
It was a day like any other. The old electric fan rattled as it turned, while acrid smoke curled from the mosquito coil burning in the corner.
"What are we going to do?"
His mother's heavy sighs grew more frequent. It was understandable. The Young Master had refused all food since the previous evening.
"How strange."
Had the heat gotten to him?
His mother said that sour and sweet foods were best at times like this. She finely chopped young radish kimchi and prepared a refreshing bowl of chilled kimchi noodles, but the Young Master did not touch it.
Hayeop had sworn to himself over and over that he would never see Yoonwon again. But how could a Korean refuse to eat rice? Didn't he understand that rice was the source of all strength?
Hayeop counted on his fingers.
He's already missed four meals…? He must be starving.
He crept over in secret, careful not to let anyone discover him, and peered at the food. Not even one spoonful was missing.
"Why won't he eat…?"
Hayeop fretted as though his own puppy were refusing its food. The Young Master was hateful and infuriating, but Hayeop could not help worrying when he would not eat. How could anyone go without rice? Rice!
And with their only son this ill, where in the world were his parents? What cold, heartless people.
"What good is having more money than you could ever spend?"
The master of the house was constantly traveling abroad on business, while Madam had gone down to Busan to help select Miss Korea. The young miss Yoonmi was studying in Germany.
"There's no warmth in this house at all."
Hayeop was a born coward, so he had worried terribly that someone might catch him. As it turned out, there had been no need. No one was ever home. His mother practically did nothing but guard and clean an empty house.
Why would everyone leave such a wonderful home behind?
The master of the house was abroad, while Madam apparently had no attachment to the house and traveled all over the country. Hayeop had heard that she did not even bother unpacking her luggage.
Only the Young Master remained in the mansion. As long as Hayeop kept his class schedule straight, they almost never had to cross paths.
That was how he had lived for the past month.
Still, Yoonwon was their only son. Couldn't they at least come and see him? Hayeop had enjoyed the freedom of mopping the floors and preparing dinner while the house stood nearly empty during the day, yet now that this had happened, he could not help resenting them. This must be what people meant when they said your feelings changed once you had relieved yourself.
"…How strange. It isn't time for that sickness yet."
His mother was winding the noodles into neat coils as she muttered to herself. Hayeop whipped his head around.
"Sickness?"
When Hayeop blinked, his dense lashes fluttered like willow catkins. By sickness, could she mean fox sickness?
"Fox sickness?"
His mother immediately exclaimed in alarm.
"Oh, goodness!"
Scolding herself for her careless mouth, she slapped her lips several times. Then she cautiously called him over.
"Hayeop."
"Yes, Mom."
Although there was no one nearby to overhear them, his mother nervously glanced around before lowering her voice. The air felt damp against his skin. Was it going to rain? Summer showers arrived without warning and vanished just as quickly, so they were impossible to predict.
"I'm going to the herbal pharmacy."
"Oh, I'll go."
Hayeop had been pouring perilla oil beside her. He quickly set down the bottle and stood up. A rich, nutty scent clung to his hands. He brushed off his bottom, but his mother shook her head firmly.
"No. I have to go myself."
"But it's dark outside, and it looks like it might rain…."
His mother reassured him that she had been handling this duty for ten years and insisted that she had to go. She told him to watch the house carefully, then secured her raincoat and took out a long umbrella.
"And just in case…."
She gave Hayeop a grave warning. Raising one finger, she pressed it through the air as though firmly tapping the tip of her son's nose.
"No matter what happens, you must never enter the Young Master's room."
Hayeop blinked his gentle eyes. His fingers fidgeted anxiously.
What in the world was fox sickness for her to warn him so sternly?
Surely it isn't fatal, is it? The Young Master is enormous and looks so strong.