“......Hngh...!”
A current shot through him from his toes to the crown of his head. At the same time, Lee Kangjoo elegantly pressed down on the back of Haejun’s hand with his index and middle fingers. From the tip of the cock bent downward to avoid his body, a white streak shot out with a sharp snap.
Once—then twice. Haejun’s body shuddered violently as his eyes squeezed shut. His parted lips trembled too, soaked in pleasure.
“Ugh...!”
Out of nowhere, Lee Kangjoo grabbed Haejun by the chin and yanked him closer. He brought him right up and picked him apart piece by piece. Skin flushed red and damp with lingering heat, unfocused pupils, cherry-colored lips bitten raw and wet with moisture, the red tongue jutting out slightly, cheeks pressed in by fingers, soft cheek flesh puffed up so his eyes narrowed into thin crescents.
“.......”
Lee Kangjoo released him. Haejun’s legs gave out and he staggered, barely managing to straighten himself before collapsing.
Reality finally caught up to him—who he’d just grabbed his cock in front of, what kind of show he’d put on. The faint flush on his skin flared into a burning red. He bent forward in a panic and yanked his underwear and pants up together. His cock and palm were slick with semen, but he didn’t even have the presence of mind to wipe it off.
He saw it on the floor. The mess he’d made.
His face burned all over again.
“That was pretty entertaining.”
The comment came out flat and honest. Haejun reflexively said thank you—muscle memory—while shoving his arms into his shirt sleeves. His fingers kept fumbling at the buttons. After several slips, Lee Kangjoo reached out and fastened the very bottom button for him.
Slowly. One by one. Smoothly, all the way up.
“You came fast.”
“I’m not usually quick. Today was just... that was... kind of—”
It was true, he’d finished way earlier than usual. Escaping erectile dysfunction and getting hard properly should’ve been cause for celebration, but coming fast wasn’t exactly something to be proud of.
“That’s not my problem.”
Haejun snapped his mouth shut. Lee Kangjoo patted his shoulder a couple of times like he was saying good job and stood up. Then he picked up a shopping bag resting beside the sofa and handed it to Haejun. Haejun looked between the bag and Kangjoo, silently questioning him.
“It’s a gift.”
“A gift?”
Payment for the masturbation show, maybe? He peeked inside. He could only see the top of a box—no idea what it was.
“And this is for a taxi.”
Lee Kangjoo held out a thick wad of bills. When Haejun hesitated, he urged him to take it. Haejun wasn’t the kind of person to turn down money out of pride.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll contact you next time.”
“Next time?”
“We’re not done yet.”
Before Haejun could ask anything else, Lee Kangjoo waved him off with a flick of his hand. Get out. Haejun left the office in a daze. Even after calling a taxi, waiting, getting in, and giving the driver his address, his head still felt empty.
“Next time?”
He leaned his forehead against the taxi window. Only after replaying Kangjoo’s words over and over did his mind finally click back on.
He’d gone to see Lee Kangjoo to smooth things over—to take back the offer to sell his body.
Instead of smoothing anything over, he’d just ended up putting on one hell of a cock show.
Thud. Haejun smacked his head against the glass. The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror, and Haejun covered his face with both hands. Behind them, his eyes, nose, mouth, and cheeks twisted into a miserable mess.
“Are you fucking stupid?”
He muttered under his breath. The memory of grabbing his cock and performing in front of Lee Kangjoo made his whole body shake with shame. So did the image of Kangjoo’s refined fingers pressing down on his hand to keep the semen from splattering back onto him.
He banged his head against the window again and again. The driver asked worriedly if he was okay, but Haejun couldn’t bring himself to answer.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but don’t hit your head that hard. You’re the one who’ll get hurt.”
“......Sorry.”
Haejun dragged his hands down his face like a dry wash, then rubbed at his watery eyes with the back of his hand.
That’s when the gift from Lee Kangjoo caught his eye.
A white paper bag.
Curious, he pulled out the box and opened it. The taxi was stopped at a light, and the driver, bored, glanced back and chimed in.
“Oh, isn’t that a kids’ vitamin? My daughter used to beg for that every day when she was little. Didn’t know they still made those.”
“Huh.”
A hollow laugh escaped Haejun. Just like the driver said—it was a children’s supplement. Something you only ever saw when you were a kid.
Something he’d never tasted even once.
A gold-colored cylinder, boldly printed with a slogan about being healthy at three and strong at eighty. Haejun stared at the words, dazed.
“A gift...”
He never would’ve imagined receiving something like this. Eighty, my ass—this was the man who’d acted like he could slit someone’s throat at any moment. And yet this was what he gave him. The contradiction twisted Haejun’s lips into an awkward half-smile.
He opened it and took out a gummy. On impulse, he offered one to the driver too, then unwrapped another and popped it into his mouth. It was chewy like gum, sweet, with none of the bitterness you’d expect from medicine.
So this is what it tasted like.
The gummy he’d envied as a kid—watching other children pull one from their pockets, their moms telling them sternly they could only have one a day. A question from his forgotten childhood was finally answered.
The sweetness melted on his tongue, dulling the embarrassment of what he’d done just a little. Haejun let the gummy dissolve slowly. Lee Kangjoo’s words about next time felt less frightening than before.
* * *
Most things that happened to him ended up spilled to Yohan—but there was no way he could talk about Lee Kangjoo. He’d bragged about sucking other guys’ cocks in rooms if it meant he made money, but standing naked in front of Lee Kangjoo and jerking himself off? Even someone as shameless as Haejun couldn’t bring himself to say that out loud.
He even thought about why. He was already a worn-out rag—what was so embarrassing about a masturbation show?
And yet, whenever he remembered Lee Kangjoo’s hands, his indifferent gaze, the way he’d scanned him head to toe, the heat of his body—his face burned and his whole body heated up, like he’d been caught mid-act under the covers by a roommate bursting into the room.
Haejun fanned himself with one ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) hand and checked his phone. He flipped through chat apps and messages, checked for missed calls—but there was nothing from Lee Kangjoo.
A whole week.
If he’d really been erased from Kangjoo’s mind, that was exactly what Haejun had wanted. He should’ve been cheering. Instead, he felt unsettled. Not happy, not relieved—just strangely empty.
That realization made him flinch.
Feeling disappointed made no sense. Why? Because the money smell coming off Lee Kangjoo had been so good? Or because he’d lost what looked like a deliciously easy mark?
Definitely not the second. The man hadn’t left even a hair’s breadth of an opening.
Haejun shook his head hard, tying off the thought before it could deepen. Digging into it would only give him a headache and no answers.
His throat was the police station—he had to work to eat. But with his head elsewhere, there was no way customers wouldn’t notice. No matter how prettily he smiled, he kept getting passed over.
“You got something going on?”
After failing to get picked and squatting uselessly in a corner of the hallway, the Boss approached. Hands in his pockets, he nudged Haejun’s ass with the tip of his shoe. Rubbing the spot, Haejun shook his head.
“Just work.”
“Or you getting ideas?”
The Boss crouched to Haejun’s eye level, eyes sharp and probing. He was checking whether Haejun was thinking about running off with a mountain of unpaid debt still hanging over him.
Those rolling eyeballs drifted to Haejun’s slender ankles and protruding ankle bones. Like he was measuring where to cut for the cleanest slice. Haejun tugged his pant legs down, avoiding the gaze.
“No way. I’ll die as a ghost here.”
“Then why aren’t you trying harder? Look at you—so dried out. What customer’s gonna pick you like this? Invest in yourself. Go to the shop, work out. Back when I was young, I hit the gym in the morning and took customers at night. Kids these days are completely undisciplined.”
The Boss grabbed Haejun by the hair and yanked. When Haejun yelped, he clicked his tongue and let go. Maybe he didn’t like the sight of Haejun rolling around the hallway like dust—he waved him off toward the waiting room.
Haejun trudged away.
