Chapter 31: Strawberry Scent and the Sea Breeze

It wasn’t a dream after all.

Sa-yoon raked his fingers through his scalp, untangling his messy hair. He pressed down the disheveled strands that bristled around his crown.

Across the bed, Han Do-hoon lay half-undressed, his bathrobe askew, his gaze fixed on Sa-yoon. Sa-yoon had initially thought the whispers from last night were just a dream, but it seemed they were very real.

“Did you sleep well?”

“I suppose I’m quite oblivious.”

To have slept so soundly with such a large intruder clinging to him, Sa-yoon almost admired his own thick-skinned constitution. He pushed away Han Do-hoon’s heavy arm, which was still wrapped around his waist.

“If you were coming in, you should have woken me, or just slept in your own room. Why are you lying here?”

The arm he swat away detached easily. Han Do-hoon, without any thought of adjusting his open gown, seemed content to flaunt his sculpted muscles so early in the morning.

It was as if he assumed others lacked muscles and chose to sleep neatly in their bathrobes. Sa-yoon instinctively lowered his head to examine his own physique. While certainly not inferior to anyone else’s, it felt somewhat lacking when exposed before Han Do-hoon.

“If you’re not planning to get up, then just keep lounging. I need to shower and head out.”

“Are you going to use that strawberry-scented bath bomb again?”

It was a deliberate jab at something Sa-yoon preferred to keep private.

“What’s wrong with strawberry scent? It’s a classic.”

“I had a hard time holding myself back from devouring you.”

“Ugh…”

For a young man, he spoke like an old pervert. The fact that it wasn’t flirting, but genuine, made it even worse. Sa-yoon pulled out the new body wash he had packed in his bag.

Now that he thought about it, Han Do-hoon hadn’t carried any particular scent when Sa-yoon woke up. Though he suspected the scent he’d noticed last night might have been his imagination, he still grumbled at Han Do-hoon.

Muttering about being treated like food and calling him a pervert, Sa-yoon flicked on the bathroom light. Beyond the translucent glass, his own reflection appeared in the mirror.

“…”

Sa-yoon clutched at his own nape. ‘Damn Han Do-hoon. What restraint?’

“What is this?”

Stepping back out of the bathroom, Sa-yoon grabbed the body lotion bottle from the vanity and hurled it.

“This is strawberry scented too, I see.”

“You said you held back! You practically chewed me up while I was sleeping!”

Sa-yoon’s nape, where Han Do-hoon had been clinging, was covered in a plethora of red marks and bite marks.

Sa-yoon pulled open the collar of his gown and thrust his neck directly in front of Han Do-hoon, urging him to look. With clothes getting thinner, leaving marks in such visible places was unthinkable.

While Sa-yoon didn’t mind rumors of a good relationship with Han Do-hoon, he certainly didn’t want their intimate connection exposed.

“How am I supposed to hide this?”

“Hmm…”

Han Do-hoon hummed softly, then tugged Sa-yoon’s arm. Sa-yoon instantly lost his balance, finding himself straddling Han Do-hoon, and he frowned.

“You remember that our contract is void if anyone finds out about us, right?”

“Considering how much I’ve held back, I’m disappointed you don’t appreciate it, Sa-yoon.”

Han Do-hoon placed his hands on Sa-yoon’s shoulders. Then, he grabbed both sides of the gown and pulled it down. Before Sa-yoon could even process the embarrassment of being stripped bare in the bright morning sun, his world spun upside down.

With no time to utter a sound, Sa-yoon’s body was pressed into the bed as Han Do-hoon, now above him, gazed down.

“It seems I’ll have to kindly demonstrate just how much I’ve held back.”

Han Do-hoon untied his bathrobe. Through the parted fabric, his chest muscles and taut abs were revealed, boasting deep contours. Below that, his completely naked lower body came into full view.

Under the familiar weight, Sa-yoon blinked, his face rigid.

“Couldn’t you just explain it with words?”

“I’m not very articulate, so I think this method would be better.”

Han Do-hoon’s eyes curved as he smiled. His large hand brushed the corner of Sa-yoon’s eye. The last expression Sa-yoon saw before his vision was blocked was utterly lecherous.

“It’s still morning, though. And our main mission starts today… Ah!”

“Indeed.”

Han Do-hoon’s affirmative response was matched by his uninhibited hands. His palm swept over Sa-yoon’s lean chest. He untied the belt around Sa-yoon’s waist, all while gently rubbing his small nipples.

Laid out like sashimi on the suddenly spread-open gown, Sa-yoon, flustered, squeezed his legs together. His heart pounded wildly at the sight of Han Do-hoon smiling, his tongue tracing his own lips.

“Alright, alright, I get it. You held back a lot. I’ll admit it.”

“Too late. It’s quite a beautiful view to turn away from now.”

The morning sunlight brightly illuminated the room. Though he had seen this body countless times, it looked different under the bright light than it did in dim illumination. Sa-yoon found himself unable to tear his eyes away.

In that moment of hesitation, Han Do-hoon lifted one of Sa-yoon’s legs and wrapped it around his own waist. The soft, crumpled bedsheet beneath his hips shifted along with the movement.

Han Do-hoon squeezed body lotion into his free hand and applied it to Sa-yoon’s thigh. Spreading the leg that twitched at the cold sensation, he massaged the perineum.

His fingertip slid shallowly inward. After his middle finger delicately widened the interior, his index finger followed, pressing deeper. Sa-yoon’s face flushed at the explicit movements.

His lower body, squirming with each movement, felt brazenly exposed.

“It’s… so bright right now.”

He was seeing things he hadn’t wanted to notice: Han Do-hoon’s veiny forearm between his legs, his own lower abdomen twitching shamelessly.

The hotel room was unnecessarily spacious, so much so that he couldn’t even reach the curtains from the bed.

Sa-yoon futilely pressed his thighs together, trying to push Han Do-hoon away. Unfazed, Han Do-hoon simply pushed Sa-yoon’s thigh further towards his stomach, fixating on his fully exposed buttocks.

It wasn’t their first time together, yet the embarrassment was overwhelming. Sa-yoon instinctively curled his toes, gathering what little strength he had.

“Let’s… do this tonight.”

Han Do-hoon’s lips stretched into a thin, knowing smile. His large hand covered Sa-yoon’s eyes. The last expression Sa-yoon saw before his vision was blocked was utterly lecherous.

Sa-yoon clutched the pillow tightly. All he could do was bite into it, stifling his cries, to prevent any sounds from escaping.

They had indulged in another lively tumble. Sa-yoon meticulously folded and secured the scarf around his neck, then stood facing the sea breeze. Hotel breakfast? Forget it. He had intended to eat his fill, but instead of a full stomach, he had an aching back.

Ultimately, he ordered a simple meal via room service before heading out for his mission. Sa-yoon stood on the sandy beach, checking his device. It was a mission he had already familiarized himself with, but just to be sure, he was double-checking everything when he heard a voice.

“Isn’t that Team Leader Jin Sa-yoon?”

Someone called Sa-yoon from behind him. The address was friendly, yet the voice was unfamiliar.

“Who… might you be?”

“I’m Hae Wan-woo, Team Leader of Team 5.”

“Ah, right.”

Indeed, he felt as though he’d seen him somewhere before. It was a face he might have encountered in a personnel roster or an Esper directory, but its common appearance meant it didn’t immediately come to mind.

“Oh, my memory isn’t the best.”

“I know. I’m glad we’re on a mission together after so long, so I came to say hello.”

At his words, Sa-yoon tilted his head. ‘After so long’ implied they had been on a mission together before. Yet, no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t recall ever being dispatched with him.

“As expected, you don’t remember.”

Hae Wan-woo said with a smiling face. One might have expected him to feel slighted by Sa-yoon’s disregard, yet his expression remained notably cheerful.

“Three years ago, during the giant Rain monster incident in the West Sea, I was in charge of the aerial team. Team Leader Jin Sa-yoon, you were with the ground assault team.”

Indeed, such an event had occurred. Occasionally, monstrously huge Rain creatures would appear and attack residential areas, and that particular incident had taken place in the West Sea, near Incheon.

Despite the difficulty in pinpointing its coordinates due to its numerous legs, the creature’s movements were sluggish and its resilience weak compared to its terrifying appearance, allowing them to defeat it quickly.

“Ah, you mean that thing, whether it was a squid or an octopus.”

“Team Leader Jin Sa-yoon, you’re probably the only one who would speak so lightly of that creature.”

“The Director-General just got scared by its size and overreacted with a big fuss.”

“Ha… haha. Is that so?”

Hae Wan-woo chuckled, feeling a trickle of cold sweat down his back. A marine-type Rain. It had been an emergency, a Level 1 alert issued across the entire West Coast. Neither explosives nor physical attacks could penetrate its slick, viscous bodily fluids.

Due to the Rain’s slow trajectory towards Incheon, Espers from all departments had converged on the West Coast.

Even foreign media had reported that a third of the Korean Peninsula might be destroyed, prompting martial law and the pre-staging of relief supplies. At that time, Jin Sa-yoon, an S-rank Esper, wasn’t particularly famous despite his rank. He wasn’t a physical-type Esper, nor did his peculiar personality allow him to keep many people close.

Just before the Rain reached land, Jin Sa-yoon, who hadn’t even formed a team at the time and was essentially stashed away on his own with a ground team, made his move. Due to his young age and handsome appearance, the Jin Sa-yoon of that era was often whispered about behind his back, with people wondering if only his looks were S-rank.

However, the moment Jin Sa-yoon raised his hand high, such thoughts vanished completely. He tore apart every port crane, using them to bind the Rain. He twisted the steel girders to seize the monster’s body, which had withstood extreme heat, electric shocks, and even deflected missiles.

Then, he shoved a waiting ship, laden with explosives, directly into the Rain’s belly.

The mountain of bombs, accumulated to combat the Rain, detonated simultaneously with the ship. The Rain, which had remained unscathed by external impacts, exploded with a deafening roar.

Just 35 minutes. That was the time it took for the colossal monster, which had terrorized the entire world for three weeks, to be utterly annihilated in an explosion.