March Novel (Completed) - Chapter 39

He wished Gi Taejeong would tease him as usual. But Gi Taejeong just stared at Sehwa with an unreadable gaze.

“When did you come under President Son?”

As Sehwa awkwardly bit his lip, fortunately, Gi Taejeong spoke first. Sehwa brightened and straightened his posture.

“It hasn’t been ten years. I came over when my original place went bankrupt…”

Come to think of it, where did all the people who came over with him back then go? Even trying to remember, their faces were now hazy. Even though it wasn’t that long ago. Sehwa suddenly felt his age was impossibly old. He had been doing one job for twenty-one years… Even though others teased him for being young, Sehwa himself felt like he had lived a long, tiresome life.

“The President liked me at first too. When I transferred to 4-won, he said he liked my fierce spirit. Even though I wasn’t good at Hwatu, he often put me in big games…”

He became a manager at nineteen. Even though Sehwa had been wandering this world since birth, it was indeed a very unusual promotion. Of course, he was annoyed by nicknames like March Boy, Sakura, or Redhead, but he didn’t dislike the promotion itself. The basic salary he could take home changed, and the speed at which his debt was paid off also changed, so there was no way he would dislike it.

“At first? He doesn’t like you now?”

“You can tell just by looking.”

Sehwa smiled bitterly.

“Because I… didn’t want to do that.”

“What, selling your body?”

“…Yes.”

That’s why he worked even more desperately. He heard customers complaining he was stiff, so he tried his best to be gentle. He even deliberately created a sensual atmosphere when giving out drugs. Still, when unavoidable moments came, he actively introduced the house’s exclusive prostitutes—or, to borrow the President’s expression, “escort services”—to the customers.

“Perhaps it’s because I don’t obey readily like the other kids… he might just hate the sight of that.”

When he diverted customers’ attention by using the exclusive prostitutes, Sehwa thought that the higher-ups, including the President, would like it. Because he wasn’t having free sex, but rather making the house more money. He expected praise for generating more profit than anticipated. However, the President only grew more displeased with him.

“Is that why you’re so sensitive?”

“Huh?”

“It seems like you cry whenever I even mention similar topics.”

Gi Taejeong chuckled, peeling the plastic off a cigarette pack next to the sofa.

“Whore, slut… what else was it? Anyway, you cried just because I said such words. And they weren’t even directed at you, but you got startled all by yourself.”

“That’s… actually, I…”

Sehwa touched his flushed earlobes, then hung his head. He had once briefly confided his troubles to an auntie at a restaurant, but this was the first time he was truly pouring out his heart. So his heart pounded as if he were confessing to Gi Taejeong. Well, in a way, it was a confession.

“I-I haven’t done it with someone I like yet…”

Gi Taejeong, who had taken a deep drag of cigarette smoke, coughed briefly. As if he had heard something he shouldn’t have.

“…What?”

“Oh, it’s not that I don’t have experience…”

“No, you have such a fantasy?”

“I might…”

Embarrassed, Sehwa wiggled his bare feet. The bleeding had completely stopped, new skin had grown, and only scabs remained on the severely injured parts. At this point, he could walk without any problem.

“Well, okay. You haven’t had sex with someone you like… so what?”

“But… Director, you said it was obvious. About, you know, kids who’ve done it a lot.”

“Ah, I see. You’re afraid the person you like will notice that you’ve given yourself to just anyone?”

“…I haven’t given myself to just anyone…”

“Uh-huh, right.”

Gi Taejeong kept chuckling as if he found it absurd. He seemed to be wondering where to even begin advising this pathetic, naive bastard.

“Sweetheart.”

At his usual address, Sehwa’s heart sank again. After hearing him call his name once, he wanted him to keep doing it.

Then he realized. For quite a long time, no one had called him Lee Sehwa.

He was a beggar, a drug container, March Boy, but he had never been Lee Sehwa to anyone. That’s why he felt strange when Gi Taejeong called his name. This was why his heart had pounded as if he were on drugs. Gi Taejeong had probably just blurted it out in a hurry, but for Sehwa, it was the first time.

“You idiot, no, naive fool who talks about love, I feel a little sorry for screwing someone eight years younger than me, so let me tell you this: if you meet someone who talks like that, run away.”

“Huh?”

“You’ve probably seen it a lot in the house. People who get hooked by bad guys and ruin their own lives.”

Having sex with someone you truly like? Gi Taejeong snorted, telling him to stop talking nonsense.

“There’s a limit to fantasizing about fairy tales. Kids like you give your body and heart away, and then you ruin your lives.”

Sehwa’s eyebrows drooped sadly at the non-cursing curse. However, when Gi Taejeong clicked his tongue, saying it was a big problem that he only cared about men’s faces, Sehwa couldn’t hold back any longer and flared up.

“N-No! It’s not that I’m afraid of disappointing him… it’s just that I’d feel too sorry for the other person. I haven’t lived a life I can be proud of… I am a criminal, after all.”

Gi Taejeong didn’t reply. He just exhaled acrid smoke through his slightly parted lips instead of curses. It was obvious he was laughing at him, thinking he was stupid. Sehwa rubbed his eyes, pretending to be tired. …He shouldn’t have said anything. He should have just told him about his pathetic past and left it at that. He had never told anyone about this because he expected this kind of reaction… Why did he unconsciously want to talk to him so much?

He definitely felt a little strange when he was with Gi Taejeong. He acted younger and more foolish than usual. Was it because he had shown him his beaten and crying self from the beginning? In front of Gi Taejeong, he didn’t need to pretend to be strong, or indifferent, or worldly. Perhaps that’s why he unconsciously peeled back layers of himself, even knowing full well that he would bleed and get hurt.

“The first time I saw you.”

Sehwa’s head peeked up at Gi Taejeong’s half-submerged voice.

“I thought, ‘That one’s got some spunk’…”

His eyes narrowed as he exhaled smoke. Sehwa knew the meaning of that gaze. Gi Taejeong was sizing him up now. How to hunt him, how to tear him to shreds.

“I even pondered how to break you and make you obey. Not knowing you were such a softie.”

Gi Taejeong had said something similar recently. That he thought he wanted to screw him because he was pretty the moment he saw him. Sehwa certainly didn’t believe the “pretty” part, but the intention to break him and make him submissive seemed genuine.

Gi Taejeong ran a hand through his slightly damp hair. The thin white cigarette, rather than a thick black cigar, held precariously between his lips looked a little awkward. It wasn’t that it didn’t suit him, just that he wasn’t used to it. The way his cheeks hollowed when he took a deep drag on the filter, or the way his fingers curved more prominently when he held the cigarette… somehow felt even more sensual than when he smoked a cigar.

Feeling Sehwa’s gaze, Gi Taejeong also looked his way. In his deep-set pupils, Sehwa saw his own reflection, mouth slightly agape. Sehwa suddenly felt an unbearable tickle in his throat. He felt like he had to say something.

“I, I have something I’m curious about too, Director.”

A murky sediment, like a failed drug, gathered in his chest. It was so stifling he wanted to shake it all up and mix it. So Sehwa blurted out whatever came to mind. It was truly reckless courage, like when he first raised his hand to volunteer as a transporter.

“You asked me what you were curious about too.”

Most of all, he didn’t want the conversation to end like this. He felt like he wouldn’t have this kind of time again. If they returned to the office, he’d be back to just wearing a gown and waiting for Gi Taejeong to return, then suffering his absurd nitpicking and spreading his legs. He felt that Gi Taejeong wouldn’t speak to him brusquely, or give him advice, or call him by his name anymore… So, before Gi Taejeong changed his mind and only showed interest in his hole, he wanted to talk as much as possible.

“You’re acting up again.”

“I’m really curious. Why did you bring me today? Honestly, I wasn’t any help at all.”

Of course, he wanted to add that Gi Taejeong’s eccentricities were too extreme, but that wouldn’t help the situation, so he swallowed the words.

“You know you were just a burden?”

Gi Taejeong, with a hint of a smile, rose from his seat.

“Lieutenant Park probably edited it to be as favorable as possible, but I thought it would be better to have someone less obviously military as an escort. If you’re too skilled, it might raise unnecessary suspicion.”

Gi Taejeong’s broad back, deeply bent over to take a bottle of water from the mini-fridge, paused for a moment. What was it? The moment he turned his head towards him in confusion, something flew towards Sehwa.

“What is this…?”

It was a water bottle. The bottle, which had suddenly struck Sehwa’s chest with a peok, rolled across the floor. He wasn’t particularly unathletic, but he hadn’t expected Gi Taejeong to even take care of his share, so he naturally wasn’t ready to catch it.

“So clumsy.”

As Sehwa rubbed the stinging spot on his chest with his palm, Gi Taejeong clicked his tongue briefly, completely forgetting that he had ambushed him.

“Most importantly, I needed someone to confirm if that drug was truly a finished product.”

Ah… Sehwa nodded awkwardly. That’s right, that was the most important issue, and that was why Gi Taejeong had kept him alive until now. Know your place. Sehwa pulled back the words he had thrown far away again. He kept thinking he needed to get his head straight, but it felt like he was only thinking it.

“Anything else? You’re curious about it?”

Gi Taejeong lit a cigarette, saying this was his last chance today. He had noticed Gi Taejeong smoking cigars whenever he had a moment, but he was a heavy smoker.

“Uh… do you exercise a lot?”

As he stared blankly at the scattering white smoke, an abrupt question popped out. Gi Taejeong probably didn’t set the stage for him to ask something like this… But he couldn’t think of anything else right away. He wanted to continue the conversation, but he couldn’t ask about military secrets.

“You ran so fast earlier… I was surprised. Your, uh, lungs… even though you smoke often…”

“Only fast? Honestly, I think it’s beyond human level.”

Hmm… Sehwa couldn’t reply. The nuance was strange. It sounded like he was bragging nonchalantly as usual. But it also sounded self-deprecating… It was hard to react.

“I’m an orphan too. I was picked up by the military, not a house, though.”

“Huh?”