On a bright morning, Jaegyeom opened his eyes groggily while hugging a pillow. The pillow smells nice, he thought, nuzzling his face against it.
Though the pillow and blanket were very comfortable, they felt strangely unfamiliar compared to his usual bedding. Blinking his eyes, Jaegyeom suddenly sat up.
"Wha, what's going on?"
He was wide awake now. This wasn't jaegyeom's room.
Everything he saw was unfamiliar. The soft gray bedding wasn't his either. There were an enormous number of pillows around, and the bed was much larger than the one he used.
Where am 1? Why am 1 in a place like this...
There was only one bed sitting in the spacious room.
After looking around, Jaegyeom got out of bed. He went to the door and grabbed the handle, feeling slightly nervous for some reason. He opened the door halfway and peeked his head out. He saw a large living room. He stepped into the living room, looking around.
The first thing he noticed was a massive bookshelf covering an entire wall, filled with an incredible number of books. All kinds of books were densely packed on the shelves.
Turning his head, he saw a black leather sofa. And on one side was a window made entirely of glass.
Jaegyeom went to the window and pressed his forehead against it to look outside. A bright sky stretched out beyond the open window. The buildings below looked small, probably because he was on a high floor.
Just then, he noticed a suit jacket carelessly tossed on one side of the sofa.
"..."
Jaegyeom picked up the jacket and immediately buried his nose in it. He sniffed it.
It's Yoon Taehee's scent.
Only then could he realized who this home belonged to. This was Yoon Taehee's place. He remembered going to meet him at the bar last night. But his memory was cut off partway through, probably because he had drunk a lot of strong alcohol. It
seemed Yoon Taehee had brought him, completely drunk, to his own home.
But where did Yoon Taehee go?
As he stood there looking around blankly, he heard the sound of running water from somewhere.
Jaegeom listened carefully and shifted his gaze. That seemed to be the bathroom.
Yoon Taehee must be washing up in the bathroom.
Deciding to ask what happened when the homeowner came out of the bathroom, Jaegyeom headed to the kitchen. He was thirsty right now. Without the homeowner's permission, he opened the large refrigerator. As soon as he opened it, his brow furrowed.
The only things in the fridge were a pack of withered cherry tomatoes and a square pizza box. When he peeked inside the pizza box, there was an untouched pizza pathetically hardened inside. The only drinkable things were a few bottles of soju.
What did this guy even eat to survive?
Having failed to find drinking water, Jaegyeom turned on the tap at the sink. He cupped the tap water in his hands and gulped it down. After quenching his thirst, he felt hungry. Jaegyeom decided to wait for Yoon Taehee for now. But no matter how long he waited, the sound of water from the bathroom showed no
signs of stopping.
Why was he taking such a long shower?
It was now late morning. Normally, it would be well past mealtime. He had been hungry since he woke up.
Tired of waiting, Jaegyeom rummaged around the kitchen looking for something to satisfy his hunger.
Having confirmed there was nothing edible in the fridge, he had to look elsewhere this time.
Without the homeowner's permission, he started searching through the cabinets. But there wasn't much in the cabinets either. There were a few individually packaged nuts rolling around, some protein powder for supplements, and a few snacks like jelly and candy.
Jaegyeom grabbed some nuts without the homeowner's permission.
After grabbing the nuts, he returned to the living room and sprawled out on the sofa. As he was nibbling on the nuts, the sound of water suddenly died down, and the bathroom door opened. Someone wearing a shower robe came out, twisting their long hair up in a towel.
"Sweetheart, can you get me some clothes to change into..."
The nuts in Jaegyeom's hand clattered to the floor.
"..."
"..."
Their eyes met. Seeing Shin Jihye emerge from the bathroom with a cloud of steam, Jaegyeom couldn't help but be extremely flustered. Why was she in Yoon Taehee's home?
"Where's he?"
"...Pardon?"
Shin Jihye looked Jaegyeom up and down, then narrowed her eyes.
"Where did sweetheart go?"
Jaegyeom looked around with a confused expression.
"I'm not sure either..."
"Huh, are you still acting?"
"..What?"
Shin Jihye crossed her arms and sneered.
"It's not funny anymore, so why don't you stop? I already found out that you two planned this together and pretended not to know each other while approaching me. Do you think I'll believe you if you act like you don't know anything now? Do I look that stupid to you?"
Shin Jihye fired off her words rapidly. In contrast, Jaegyeom, who truly didn't know anything, had a bewildered look on his face. Seeing this, she shook her head as if she'd had enough. She was too tired to deal with him further. Shin Jihye plopped down on the sofa.
As she sat down next to him, Jaegyeom awkwardly stood up.
"..."
Yesterday, Shin Jihye and Yoon Taehee had been affectionately close. But when he woke up in Yoon Taehee's home, Jaegyeom had thought that Yoon Taehee had broken up with Shin Jihye and only brought him here. But she was in this house.
What exactly was going on here?
Just as Jaegyeom was glancing at Shin Jihye with an uncomfortable expression, not saying anything:
"...Huh?"
As Shin Jihye crossed her legs while sitting, Jaegyeom finally noticed her feet and legs that were different from others. The scales that had now grown up to her shins were enough to catch his attention. They were very beautiful, changing colors moment by moment as they caught the light.
Just as Shin Jihye looked up at Jaegyeom as if to ask what he was staring at:
"Y-Your legs, why..."
Shin Jihye frowned.
"Why are you asking when you already know? It's because the effects of the gallbladder are wearing off."
"...Effects?"
"Yeah. We need to eat human gallbladders for our legs to grow, you know."
What? Eat human gallbladders? As Jaegyeom hesitated.
"Anyway, bring me some clothes to change into."
Shin Jihye suddenly ordered, waving her hand.
This isn't my house, so I don't know...
Jaegyeom reluctantly moved. After wandering around the house for a bit, he was able to find what looked like a dressing room. Without the homeowner's permission, he headed to the walk-in closet and opened drawers at random. Inside the drawers were neatly folded clothes. Rummaging through the drawers, Jaegyeom found some shorts and a t-shirt.
Only after messing up the dressing room did
Jaegyeom awkwardly return to Shin Jihye.
"H-Here you go..."
Shin Jihye, who was sitting on the sofa drying her hair with a towel, haughtily accepted the clothes. Having completed her errand, Jaegyeom awkwardly bowed.
As he was glancing around and clumsily picking up the nuts that had fallen on the floor.
"Is there no hair dryer?"
A hair dryer now...?
A hair dryer was a familiar object to Jaegyeom too.
Scratching his head again, he set off on another journey. He managed to find a hair dryer on the bedroom vanity. As he was bringing it back to hand to Shin Jihye, she suddenly untied her shower robe.
Gasp.
Witnessing the sudden disrobing, Jaegyeom was startled and covered his eyes.
"H-hey... In, in front of a stranger...!! Taking off your top so carelessly..!!"
He was so shocked that his legs went weak and his heart pounded. As Jaegyeom trembled with his eyes covered, Shin Jihye said with an irritated look,
"This is why I can't stand human men."
Truly unbelievable. Shin Jihye, now wearing a t-shirt, stood up and poked Jaegyeom's chest with her finger.
She glared at him and snapped,
"Hey, don't you guys go topless? We normally go around with our tops exposed. You guys are always walking around shirtless, so why are you making such a fuss about seeing someone else's top?"
Shin Jihye cornered Jaegyeom, firing off words As she started to grab at him like catching a mouse, Jaegyeom panicked. He was pushed onto the defensive, his hands caught.
"This is all because of the problems with your way of thinking."
"..."
"It's because your ideology is rotten from the start, you know."
"..."
"Why aren't you answering? Am I wrong?"
"..."
As Jaegyeom shrank back, not knowing what to do: "I-I'm sorry... B-But men and women should be separate..." Jaegyeom became more and more polite as he was backed into a corner.
"What? Men and women should be separate?"
Shin Jihye made a face as if she'd heard the most ridiculous thing.
"Hey, is this the Joseon era? Huh? Did you come from the Joseon era?"
"Y-yes..."
"We're in the 21st century now..."
Shin Jihye, who had been speaking firmly, suddenly stopped.
"..."
"..."
"Wait, what did you say?"
Shin Jihye frowned and thrust her face close. Startled by this, Jaegyeom flinched and took a step back. Shin Jihye asked with a hardened expression,
"What's this now? What concept are you going for this time?"
"..."
"You came from the Joseon era? Is that really true?"
As Jaegyeom hesitated, Shin Jihye narrowed her eyes.
"Hold on. Let me dry my hair first, then we'll talk again."
She spoke haughtily as she picked up the hair dryer and started drying her hair. Listening to the whirring of the dryer, Jaegyeom stood with his hands clasped.
"Is there no comb?"
"Pardon?"
"A hairbrush."
"I-I don't know..."
Jaegyeom searched the whole house again and found a comb.
"Here..."
"Oh, just hold it for a moment."
Jaegyeom held the comb in a polite posture and waited. Just then, there was a beeping sound from the entrance as the door opened. Yoon Taehee, wearing a baseball cap pulled low and a large black short sleeve t-shirt, was holding a big paper bag in his hand.
Their eyes met.
"..."
"..."
Whirrr...
The house was noisy with the sound of the hair dryer.
Yoon Taehee looked back and forth between Shin Jihye drying her hair and Jaegyeom standing politely next to her holding a comb.
Yoon Taehee asked Jaegyeom:
"What are you doing like that?"
Jaegyeom hesitated and avoided his gaze.
"Oh? Sweetheart, where did you go?"
Just then, Shin Jihye, who had finished drying her hair, turned off the dryer and whirled around to look at Yoon Taehee. Yoon Taehee lifted the bag in his hand and answered simply,
"There was nothing to eat at home."
"Are you the type to have breakfast?"
"Not really, but I wanted to get something."
At his unchanged attitude from yesterday, Jaegyeom's face hardened.
"Me? I don't usually eat breakfast though?"
Yoon Taehee, who had put the bag down on the table, said:
"No, not you."
Yoon Taehee approached Jaegyeom, took off the cap he was wearing, and put it on Jaegyeom's head. "It suits you well." Yoon Taehee said, cupping Jaegyeom's cheeks.
"My darling is someone who eats three proper meals a day."
As Jaegyeom hesitated and looked at Yoon Taehee, Yoon Taehee rested his head on Jaegyeom's shoulder.
Nuzzling his forehead, Yoon Taehee softly gave a morning greeting.
"Did you sleep well..."