Chapter 17: A Peculiar Companion

Arranging a taxi for him—Jung Ban-ri possessed no altruism, yet his thorough upbringing had made him proficient at aiding others.

As for making a mess inside and then completely ignoring it—that was his usual habit.

Clinging to him, nursing him with such meticulous care as if to prevent his escape—it carried no meaning of worry or affection, yet it was a performance he was entirely capable of.

Especially when there were many eyes watching.

Coincidentally, his body had felt unwell after s*x, and with a taxi even pre-arranged, everything had seemed like a perfectly orchestrated script.

‘Had a wrongly assembled puzzle simply looked too plausible?’

He must have been a little sharp-tongued due to the stomachache caused by that guy. For In-tae, there was a clear causal link between s*x, the abdominal pain, and their current escape from the MT.

Yet, in reality, Jung Ban-ri had no idea In-tae was in pain because of s*x. Everyone, including Ban-ri, was oblivious. After all, In-tae had simply blamed it on alcohol poisoning.

From Jung Ban-ri’s perspective, he had merely cared for In-tae, who was “suddenly ill,” with utmost sincerity.

In-tae, however, had arbitrarily assumed Ban-ri understood the causal link only he knew, thus misunderstanding Ban-ri’s actions.

Fundamentally, Jung Ban-ri would never commit an act to harm others.

“Are you feeling better now?”

Jung Ban-ri lowered his brows, asking cautiously. Though it was an act, the sight of his pitiful expression made In-tae’s heart twinge.

‘I was the villain in this scenario,’ he thought. ‘Pushing an innocent Jung Ban-ri, and even inadvertently hitting him.’

“Uh, that… I’m sorry. And for… your hand earlier. Does it hurt much?”

“Yes.”

The answer was sharp, like a blade.

“Right, of course… Then, how about I… blow on it? Hoo-hoo.”

He’d tossed out a joke, but chosen the wrong target. Blowing his alcohol-laden breath on a germaphobe? As expected, Jung Ban-ri simply stared blankly at In-tae, who was pouting his lips and pretending to blow.

There wasn’t the slightest hint of him playing along. Feeling embarrassed, In-tae decided to act brazen instead.

“Hey, but honestly, aren’t you glad you got out of the MT thanks to me?”

Jung Ban-ri tilted his head ever so slightly. It was a string of mistakes. The phrase “glad” or “feeling good” was beyond Jung Ban-ri’s comprehension.

Still, he paused, about to explain that being home was “less unpleasant” than being at the MT.

If Jung Ban-ri hadn’t felt “unpleasant” after their encounter in the showers—there would have been no need for him to return to Seoul with In-tae right now.

Having participated in a school event, staying until the end was the more typical and exemplary choice.

“Hey, but you could’ve just sent me off in the taxi alone. There was no real need for you to come along, was there?”

“…Ah.”

Jung Ban-ri remained silent for a moment, then, as if gaining a belated realization, let out a short sigh.

Though In-tae had asked out of momentary doubt, he quickly deduced the answer. There was, after all, only one reason.

Even if Jung Ban-ri had felt much better immediately after s*x, he would have grown unpleasant again during the subsequent drinking party.

Indeed, there had been times when Jung Ban-ri had appeared visibly displeased while they were talking back at the dorm.

“Even if you pretend otherwise, the MT was tough, wasn’t it? Home truly is the best, I tell you—”

“No.”

Jung Ban-ri shook his head. Following his rather firm denial was a cautious conjecture.

“It seems I…”

“…”

“I wanted to be alone with you.”

***

They arrived at the officetel just before dawn. As the two stepped out of the taxi side by side, only darkness and silence greeted them.

“It reminds me of the old days,”

In-tae murmured inadvertently as they walked down the narrow alley. He recalled the clandestine night walks they used to take at Jung Ban-ri’s house.

“Old days?”

“Yeah. Back when you’d cling to this older brother’s hand and trail after him.”

That is, before he knew Jung Ban-ri was a monster.

After his mother passed away in the hospital, In-tae stayed briefly in an orphanage for about a month until Jung Ban-ri’s butler came to pick him up.

At the butler’s single suggestion, “How would you like to live with the young master?”, In-tae had nodded so vigorously his head nearly fell off.

However, even after moving into the same house, seeing Ban-ri was not easy.

When they occasionally met at meal times, Ban-ri wasn’t very talkative, and it was the same on the rare occasions when the three of them—with the butler—played chess.

Then, one deep night, they encountered each other by chance. From then on, they often embarked on night walks together.

Of course, it was In-tae who had initiated them.

“Feeding Lexy, secretly riding Grandfather’s horse… it was really fun.”

“Fun?”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

Though that guy wouldn’t even know what enjoyment was.

In-tae, like a fool, kept replaying Jung Ban-ri’s words from the taxi just moments ago.

‘He wanted to be alone with me?’

The words had startled him so much his heart had dropped. He’d wanted to ask immediately, but the taxi driver’s presence had prevented him. “Oh, is that so?” he’d mumbled, pretending to sleep.

Even so, his mind had raced so loudly that all his alcohol-induced drowsiness had vanished. ‘What on earth did he mean, wanting to be alone with me?’

“You got hurt back then.”

With an emotionless face, Jung Ban-ri brought up their last night walk—the childhood accident that had put an end to their nocturnal adventures.

In-tae unconsciously touched his collarbone, which had been broken at the time. He had only tried to reminisce about pleasant memories, yet the immediate reply was about the accident that had ended their joyful times.

“…That’s right. And you never even visited me in the hospital.”

Feeling somewhat deflated, he found himself replying with a touch of sharpness.

The still-developing young Jung Ban-ri had never visited him when he was injured. He was dredging up old grievances precisely because he felt aggrieved now.

What kind of answer had he expected to hear? He knew full well that a monster’s declaration of “wanting to be alone” held absolutely no emotional reason.

‘It just means being alone with me is preferable to being at an MT swarming with drunk people. That’s all it means.’

As In-tae hastened his steps toward the officetel, something gently brushed against his backside.

“What was that?”

“Because it felt like it was about to leak.”

Jung Ban-ri spread his palm wide, covering In-tae’s buttocks as if to shield them. It seemed like an affectionate gesture, but In-tae was no longer fooled.

It was likely because Ban-ri himself would be inconvenienced if the person he was with went around dripping bodily fluids.

Upon entering the building and stepping into the elevator, In-tae immediately distanced himself by half a step.

“That’s enough. There’s no one on our floor anyway.”

As soon as they reached their floor, he quickly strode across the hallway.

“Well, see ya.”

He rushed into his apartment and immediately pulled off his pants. He blushed to himself at the sight of his stained briefs, then tossed them into the washing machine.

Just as he was about to head for a shower, he heard the click of the door lock button. At this late hour, he wondered if someone from another floor had gotten drunk and mistaken his apartment for theirs.

“Who is it?”

Instead of an answer, the door lock disengaged. Only one person knew the password to this apartment.

“Jung Ban-ri?”

Sure enough, he abruptly pushed the door open and stepped inside.

‘What is it? Could this meticulous bastard actually… be planning today’s tutoring session?’

He stared, dumbfounded, as Ban-ri’s gaze fell upon his unclad lower body. In that brief moment, a pale, milky fluid was trickling down his thigh.

“Hey, uh… I’m just going to go wash up first.”

He couldn’t possibly argue or explain himself in this state. As he hurried towards the bathroom, a hand tugged at his collar, making his body tilt precariously. He barely managed to steady himself before colliding with Jung Ban-ri.

“Why?”

“Why?”

The words came out simultaneously. ‘No, why is he saying what I was going to say first?’

“Why? I need to wash, don’t I?”

“What for?”

He couldn’t understand why Ban-ri was asking, when the answer was clearly visible before his eyes. Was Ban-ri treating him like some incredibly dirty person just because he wasn’t a germaphobe like him?

In-tae wiped away the mess on his leg as he retorted.

“I’m a clean person too, you know.”

He scoffed and started to move again, but suddenly his shirt was yanked upwards, and his top was instantly stripped off.

Jung Ban-ri was probably the only person in the world who could undress him as easily as one would a child.

“Oh, how veeery kind. You think I need to shower quickly too, don’t you?”

“No.”

‘What is he talking about?’ In-tae thought, ‘The guy who just stripped me naked.’ As In-tae frowned, wondering what on earth he meant, Jung Ban-ri spoke.

“Since I’m going to put it back in anyway—what for?”

“Put it… back in?”

“Yes.”

Staring at Ban-ri as he strode closer, In-tae finally understood the bitter meaning of Jung Ban-ri’s earlier words, ‘I wanted to be alone with you.’

It meant he had wanted to escape the MT and enthusiastically ‘put it in’ without restraint.

***

1-1. You and the MT

Yoon In-tae exited the dorm.

“Yoon In-tae, your face is really red! Let me help you.”

Na Ye-eun followed closely behind him.

Jung Ban-ri watched the two disappear outside the dorm. Then, he felt the only emotion he was permitted to experience.

‘Unpleasant.’

Jung Ban-ri knew how to suppress his singular emotion. More accurately, it was closer to expertly concealing it.

The more unpleasant he felt, the more he sharpened his senses and strived for perfection in his human mimicry. It meant pretending not to be unpleasant, the more unpleasant he truly felt.

After all, if he merely responded appropriately to offensive touches or bothersome barrages of questions, they would eventually pass.

But what if the unpleasantness was continuously provoked? In such cases, he had to directly resolve the source of the unpleasantness.

This meant finding and dealing with the object that triggered it. It was a simple matter to appropriately sweet-talk persistent people into leaving or to silence noisy mouths.

However… the unpleasantness he felt now was different. Jung Ban-ri couldn’t pinpoint exactly ‘what’ was triggering it.

Yoon In-tae and Na Ye-eun had merely left this place. Why did that matter?

If, for whatever reason, those two were the source of the unpleasantness, then it should have vanished now that they were out of sight.

Yet, the moment he recalled their figures, the unpleasantness intensified dramatically.

To find the root of this feeling, Jung Ban-ri meticulously replayed the scene he had just witnessed, scrutinizing and dissecting every corner as if it were a photograph.

Upon the fragmented image, only one thing remained.

Yoon In-tae.

‘Perhaps… it’s Yoon In-tae?’

His image, as he had appeared throughout the MT, flashed before his eyes like a panorama.

Yoon In-tae, who kept calling out to Jo Gi-tae; Yoon In-tae, who burst into laughter upon seeing Song Hee-yeon; Yoon In-tae, who leaned close to Na Ye-eun and whispered; and then, Yoon In-tae, who sometimes even blushed… just as he did when looking at Ban-ri.