GB 123 END

Yoon Moo-hwa was the first to regain consciousness, while Haero was still trembling intermittently. His shaking body felt cold. Perhaps it was because Yoon Moo-hwa was starting to develop a fever.

Still concerned, Moo-hwa turned Haero so he could lie on his back. Haero’s face, with his jaw weakly hanging open and eyes languidly unfocused, looked both smiling and tearful.

“Haa, haa.”

Yoon Moo-hwa wiped Haero’s mouth while slowly withdrawing his waist.

At that moment, something with a clearly different viscosity than semen gushed out from inside.

Yoon Moo-hwa frowned and urgently looked down between Haero’s legs. The space between, spread wide without the strength to close, was soaking wet as it dripped what he had released inside Haero.

“Oh my.”

Muttering in confusion, he gently pressed on Haero’s lower abdomen.

It seemed he had unknowingly caused Haero to release something fountain-like inside him.

This was beyond shameless—truly a situation where he’d have nothing to say even if dragged to a military court right now.

He pressed Haero’s lower abdomen to expel all the liquid mixed with semen, then pulled out the sheet and tossed it aside. After running his hand through his hair, he called out.

“Haero, Haero?”

Haero didn’t respond. He seemed completely exhausted.

Yoon Moo-hwa lovingly kissed from Haero’s face to his navel. The sound of soft kisses followed one after another. He sucked particularly intensely near the navel, and when he raised his head, he saw that Haero was becoming aroused again. It seemed that when he had released inside Haero, Haero had also released fluid at the same time. It was too adorable.

“What should I do?” Yoon Moo-hwa muttered with deep affection that wasn’t just pretty and sparkling, “I really think I can’t live without you, Haero.”

Haero blinked. Then he murmured softly, “You… just realized that now?”

He seemed to be pointing out the time when Yoon Moo-hwa had pushed him away, but right now it just seemed cute.

Yoon Moo-hwa lifted one of Haero’s legs onto his shoulder. Gently sucking his pretty pebble-like toes, he slowly pushed himself back inside Haero.

Just as his body was trembling, his insides were still quivering slightly. Haero exhaled a long “Haa,” and Yoon Moo-hwa too let out a sticky, very dark sigh.

If they continued having endless intimacy like this, it truly felt like the day would come when he and Haero would become one.

Haero was already in his stomach; he wanted to feed all of himself to Haero too.

Yoon Moo-hwa held Haero’s face and kissed him deeply, conveying a confession he could never tell anyone else.

✼✼✼

When Haero woke again, he was on the living room sofa.

Behind him, Yoon Moo-hwa was sleeping soundly, embracing Haero who was wrapped in blankets.

He could remember up to three times. Actually, the scenes were all mixed up, so he couldn’t clearly distinguish whether he was on his stomach the third time, or whether they had pleasured each other the second time.

It felt as if all the bones in his body had been removed and hastily put back. His inner thighs and inside of his abdomen felt numb and weak.

Yet his body felt light.

Haero tried to turn to look at Yoon Moo-hwa, but his arms were so strong that it seemed faster to slip forward instead. Wiggling out like a caterpillar, he finally escaped and tried to stand on his two legs, but his strength gave out and he sat back down.

“Wow… I barely survived, and then almost died doing this.” Haero’s voice, muttering as if truly amazed, was cracked beyond recognition.

Still, Haero was completely happy.

He got up and placed his hand on Yoon Moo-hwa’s forehead, confirming he had quite a fever. Perhaps that’s why Yoon Moo-hwa was only wearing underwear.

Haero went into the bedroom to get a blanket and gasped in shock. The crumpled sheets strewn about, the soaked floor from when they’d come straight from the bathroom, the displaced pillows, even the tissues on the windowsill caught his eye. The room was in complete disarray, as if a war had taken place.

With a reddened face, Haero cleared his throat and turned around. Just as it had taken him a while to reach the bedroom, it took him a while to turn back.

His uniform, crumpled and fallen to the floor, was also a mess with various fluids splattered on it, so in the end it seemed he would have to share the blanket wrapped around his body. As he was barely walking, dragging his feet like a snail with his head bowed low, Yoon Moo-hwa’s husky voice pierced through.

“You’re taking baby steps, my Haero.”

He quickly raised his head to see Yoon Moo-hwa looking at him with eyes languorously wet from the afterglow of very satisfying intimacy and fever. His cheeks were also flushed, making him look like a beautiful youth whom the gods in ancient paintings were said to have loved.

Yoon Moo-hwa approached Haero, who stood frozen in place, mesmerized by his appearance. He picked up Haero, placed him on the sofa, and scratched his tousled hair before heading to the kitchen.

Haero could only follow Moo-hwa blankly with his gaze.

“Want some water?”

Even though Haero didn’t answer, Yoon Moo-hwa came over and handed him a cup. Haero could clearly see his outstretched hand trembling. Yoon Moo-hwa smiled awkwardly and held Haero’s head, feeding him directly. Just like when he used to care for him as a child.

“Feeling a bit better?”

“Mmm. Really good.”

Haero’s life experiences were limited to what he’d done with Yoon Moo-hwa, but among those, this was truly wonderful. How could being with Yoon Moo-hwa feel better with each passing day, with each time? It clearly had serious addictive properties.

“What about you? Are you okay? You’re starting to have a fever.”

“That doesn’t matter. I’ll get better if I sleep well while holding you.”

Yoon Moo-hwa truly looked languid and genuinely pleased.

He knelt in front of Haero and gazed at his clear face for a long time. His stare was so intense that even Haero felt a bit sheepish.

“What? Do you need something?” Haero ended up asking first.

Yoon Moo-hwa was resting his chin on his arm, which was propped on the sofa cushion next to Haero. “Yes. I need something.”

“What is it? Just tell me!”

‘Ah, as expected. He needed something.’ 

Haero, feeling relieved, declared confidently, “I’ll do anything for you!”

“Really?”

Yoon Moo-hwa, with a flushed face, fiddled with Haero’s wrist. The bracelet he had once given him should have been there, but it was gone now. The pirate must have broken it when taking him. However, neither Haero nor Yoon Moo-hwa mentioned it. Perhaps because the time when he gave the bracelet was when their relationship was at its worst.

Still, Haero felt regretful inside. Actually, he missed it a lot. It was the first accessory Yoon Moo-hwa had ever given him.

“Of course.”

He was about to start with “Sorry about the bracelet,” when Yoon Moo-hwa stood up. He opened his bag, grabbed something, and approached.

Haero waited for Yoon Moo-hwa, cup in hand. Yoon Moo-hwa sat down in front of him again and opened his palm.

It was a ring case.

“I’d like you to have this.”

It wasn’t just any ring case, but one containing a commissioning ring.

Most military academy graduates had fiancée rings made together, whether they would use them or not, since they wouldn’t be able to get or touch them except now.

Yoon Moo-hwa had originally planned to be among the very few exceptions. He knew he would spend his life doing dangerous work, so he said he couldn’t imagine a future with someone… at least on the surface.

But the truth was he simply wasn’t interested in anyone. There was no one who caught his interest or whom he wanted to show himself to. Friends or colleagues were enough; anything beyond that was just an uncomfortable territory.

He ended up making a fiancée ring only because of Alyosha’s constant insistence. If it would just shut Alyosha up, he could give his ring size as many times as needed.

So he had thrown out some random size. He couldn’t even remember what number it was.

Yoon Moo-hwa was secretly nervous. Very much so, in fact. He was half-naked, feverish, and the room was a mess. But he felt that if not now, he might never have the chance to give this to Haero. What if Haero grew up more? If he came to know the wider world? If he realized that Yoon Moo-hwa was a harmful presence in his life?

Yoon Moo-hwa would use any means necessary for victory. For Haero, he could become even worse.

He took out the fiancée ring and waited for Haero’s hand.

“I’m sorry you missed the chance to make this ring.” Yoon Moo-hwa whispered.

Haero stared blankly at the ring and then extended his hand. Without waiting for Yoon Moo-hwa to put it on, he snatched the ring and placed it on the fourth finger of his left hand.

Surprisingly, the ring fit Haero’s finger perfectly, as if finding its rightful place.

Both Yoon Moo-hwa and Haero were surprised.

“Is this sized for my finger?”

“No…”

Haero would have been about eight years old at that time. Yoon Moo-hwa felt self-loathing, but his surprise was greater.

“But it’s totally mine!” Haero exclaimed in surprise, stretching out his arm to look at his hand. “And it looks almost exactly like a commissioning ring!”

That was thanks to a slight change in the design of commissioning rings during that period.

Haero looked at the very tacky and very sparkly ring from different angles and burst out laughing. “It’s ugly!”

Yoon Moo-hwa agreed with that statement. “We’re using this for now because it’s urgent, but I’ll get a new one made.”

“Yeah. This is too ugly. Ah, it’s really fortunate that I couldn’t get one made. Honestly, hyung, this is a truly terrible design.”

Haero continued to laugh, and that laughter began to infect Yoon Moo-hwa.

Eventually, Yoon Moo-hwa also tilted his head and started laughing.

Haero pulled Yoon Moo-hwa up. Despite the spacious sofa, it became quite cramped when Yoon Moo-hwa joined him, forcing them to embrace tightly.

Haero took the ring box from Yoon Moo-hwa’s hand and removed the commissioning ring as well. He placed it on Moo-hwa’s finger and laughed again.

“I don’t like this ring.”

“Yeah. Me neither.”

“But honestly, it suits your finger well.”

“No. Give both of them to me. In exchange, I’ll have new rings made for you.”

What could he refuse? What could he deny? As long as it wasn’t about leaving, about abandoning him, nothing else mattered.

Yoon Moo-hwa ran his fingers through Haero’s hair, kissing him repeatedly. Embracing Haero as if he wanted to crush him, he murmured.

“Yes. Let’s do that. Let’s do that, Haero. You can do whatever you want.”

Loving Yoon Moo-hwa’s whispers, yet feeling how feverishly hot his body was, Haero opened the blanket to cover Yoon Moo-hwa too. Even that wasn’t enough, so he pulled it up over their heads. It was fine if their legs stuck out from under the blanket.

As they made eye contact inside the dark blanket, it felt like being in a cave. Haero stared directly at Yoon Moo-hwa without hesitation, as he always had. Surrendering completely to that arrow-like gaze, Yoon Moo-hwa looked back at Haero.

“It’s like a cave, isn’t it?” Haero whispered, as if speaking inside the cave where he had rescued a handsome man in fine clothes with wonderful buttons, away from the eyes of adults.

“You’re right. Just the two of us.” Yoon Moo-hwa replied. His body felt languid, like he had drunk the lukewarm syrup from canned peaches.

“I think I can even hear the sound of waves.” Slowly closing his eyes, Haero murmured.

Behind his closed eyes, the scenery shown by the jellyfish appeared again.

A man standing in the middle of the sea, showing his back.

The man slowly turns around. Haero thought he was on the beach, but he wasn’t. In fact, he was swimming toward the man.

Finally, as he got closer, he had to look up high to see the man’s face.

The man’s face was Yoon Moo-hwa’s, and Haero wasn’t surprised. Without even knowing what he was looking for, he had jumped into the sea day and night, every day. He was entranced by coral glowing in the night sea and blinded by plankton. Yet he always came out empty-handed. Because it wasn’t what he had been looking for.

“You know what? I was always waiting for something on the island.” Haero said in a voice filled with joy.

What he had been seeking, throwing himself into the sea endlessly without letting his body dry…

“It was you all along.”

A smile slowly spreads across his face. It becomes a surface so vast that you can’t tell if it’s the sky or the sea. A pilot, thinking it’s the sky, plunges into it and barely emerges, while the moon sinks into that place.

Now the moon is in the sea.

-The END-