Agreement
When he was young and living with his grandfather, there were times at meals when the old man would ask him, half in jest, “Cheongwol. Once your revenge is finished, what kind of woman would you like to marry?”
“I’m not sure?”
Cheongwol would always answer the same way, shrugging. “I’ve never even met any women, so how would I know?”
It had been a careless answer, spoken without thought, but now that he looked back on it, he could feel the sting of regret.
“...That makes sense.”
If only he had known that the emotion in his grandfather’s eyes had been guilt and sorrow, he would have given a better answer, even if he had to lie a little.
“Then this old man will tell you. Listen well.”
One day, his grandfather set a large piece of meat into his bowl and smiled faintly. “You don’t need anything else. Just meet a woman who likes you. Wealth comes and goes, and beauty fades before a kind heart.”
Even now, he still remembered clearly the taste of the meat he had chewed there, mouth full, back then.
It had been the first rabbit meat he had ever prepared himself, not his grandfather’s.
“...Grandfather.”
“Yes?”
Because the blood hadn’t been drained properly, the air in his mouth had been thick with a nauseating gaminess.
“Stop making me carry your share too.”
His grandfather had frowned deeply at that.
“What nonsense is that? At your age, you ought to eat twice as much as other people. Quit your complaining and chew properly.”
---
Looking only at the situation itself, he supposed he had ended up obeying his grandfather’s words after all.
“Hngh...!”
There was only one trivial difference: the one who loved him was a man, not a woman.
“Didn’t you say you were afraid someone might see us? If you don’t want to be discovered, then you should lower your voice.”
Seomun Hwi smiled lazily as he pulled his teeth free from Cheongwol’s nape.
“You... Are you out of your mind?”
Cheongwol barely managed to steady himself and drew back, gasping for breath.
Only one, perhaps two steps separated them.
When his back hit the wall and there was nowhere left to retreat, Cheongwol hurriedly tugged at his disheveled clothes.
Like a small animal cornered by a predator, he stared at Seomun Hwi with trembling eyes.
“...I’m a man. And so are you.”
He had waited patiently enough, curious what Cheongwol would say.
“You’re not one now, are you?”
Seomun Hwi bent down and slowly approached him.
It was a movement that seemed to say, Then say what you want.
“My heart is still a man’s, even if my body isn’t. I only look like a woman on the outside.”
“Strange. When I kissed you before, you didn’t seem to mind much.”
“Th-that was... because you were hurt...”
“And you call that an excuse?”
At the low sound of his laugh brushing against Cheongwol’s ear, his heart began to pound wildly.
He had to get out of this somehow, at any cost.
Otherwise, he really would...
He shut his eyes tightly the moment he saw Seomun Hwi’s hand coming toward him.
Instead of what he expected, however, a gentle touch stroked his cheek.
“Don’t make that face. So long as you say you don’t want this, I won’t do anything.”
Cheongwol blinked and met Seomun Hwi’s eyes.
Though desire dripped thickly from his gaze, Seomun Hwi kept acting as though nothing were amiss, and for the first time, that annoyed him.
Why did that make him feel like this?
The answer did not take long.
Click.
Cheongwol bit down on Seomun Hwi’s thumb as it brushed the soft curve of his lips.
The merciless snap of his jaw drew a faint line of blood, and Seomun Hwi flinched, unable to hide the pain.
“...Don’t act so smug.”
And then, at last, the face that had been calm and composed began to distort little by little.
Only then did Cheongwol understand the strange burst of satisfaction that had swept through his chest.
“How long are you planning to keep holding back? At this rate, you’ll end up giving all the good things to someone else.”
He himself had not realized it until now, but it seemed he had been harboring a quiet irritation toward Seomun Hwi’s too-good behavior.
If he was a man, then when he wanted something, he ought to reach for it. Why must he be this frustrating?
As a friend, he had given him a sharp piece of advice; surely that was enough for him to understand.
“If you understand, then let go alre—”
Having done what he came to do, Cheongwol tried to rise from the bed with a relieved expression.
Thud.
“...?”
Of course, Seomun Hwi had no intention of allowing that.
“Thank you for the advice.”
---
“P-please... calm down a little...”
As Seomun Hwi kneaded his chest roughly through his clothes, Cheongwol did his best to pry his arm away.
Even then, he kept biting his lip so that no humiliating sounds would escape, and that only seemed to drive Seomun Hwi even more frenzied.
“If it hurts, tell me.”
He had already said it several times, but apparently it still hadn’t reached him.
Just when the pain had started to blur his vision with tears, Seomun Hwi’s fingers lightly brushed over Cheongwol’s sensitive place.
“Hngh...!”
With a sudden surge of pleasure sweeping through his whole body, he let out a cry before he could stop himself and jolted at the waist.
After a moment of ragged breathing, Cheongwol looked up at Seomun Hwi with alarm.
Whether or not it had been intentional, Seomun Hwi was staring down at him with a shocked expression as well.
“...Sob.”
The helplessness of having given his body over to a man by force.
And beneath that humiliation, the pleasure he had felt for the first time in his life as a woman.
The two emotions mixed together until his heart, so confused only moments before, became achingly clear.
“Huk...”
The tears that had been pooling in his eyes finally began to spill, one by one.
If this continued, the pain he would have to endure.
And the pleasure he would come to know.
All of it was too much for the Cheongwol of this moment.
“Cheongwol.”
When he broke into loud sobs, Seomun Hwi was visibly flustered and quickly withdrew his hand.
“I’m sorry. I think I lost my mind for a moment.”
He hurriedly pulled the sobbing Cheongwol into his arms and stroked his hair.
“It was my fault. So don’t cry, all right?”
He patted his back as if calming a child, but Cheongwol continued crying in his arms for a long time afterward.
Until there were no more tears left to spill.
---
“...Are you all right?”
He had cried so hard that there was nothing left in him, yet Cheongwol still could not lift his head.
Seeing him like that, Seomun Hwi deeply regretted his own haste, though in truth the reason was coming from a completely different place.
...Maybe I should just die.
Blushing eyes swollen red, Cheongwol silently chewed on his embarrassment.
Why had he suddenly burst into tears there?
Even if he had let his body be touched a little, he was still a man.
He should have just shaken it off casually and pretended nothing had happened.
“This will never happen again. I swear it.”
If there was one small relief, it was that Seomun Hwi seemed to be making some terrible misunderstanding.
Since an escape route had appeared right before his eyes, there was no reason to refuse it.
“...Don’t do this again.”
Even he thought he sounded shameless, but Cheongwol forced down his feelings and looked up at him.
“Of course.”
Only then, as if relieved, did the stiff set of Seomun Hwi’s face loosen a little.
But there was one thing he had overlooked.
Those eyes that were drooping lower than usual.
That face, faintly flushed from the force of his emotions.
Most of all, their bodies were still pressed too close together from when Cheongwol had been held in his arms.
All of it combined, and Seomun Hwi found himself faced with an obstacle no man could easily resist.
As Cheongwol’s eyes narrowed, Seomun Hwi’s widened.
“...Ha.”
A gaze tinged with a little contempt pierced him alongside a faint laugh.
“You sure can say anything with your mouth, can’t you?”
“...Don’t move.”
With his head lowered, Seomun Hwi forced out the words as though he were trying to keep himself in check.
At that, a deep sigh slipped from Cheongwol’s lips.
“Hwi.”
He did not want to place affection and lust side by side, but once upon a time he had been a man himself, so he understood.
The man before him truly, deeply desired him.
Otherwise there was no way to explain the heavy proof pressing against his thigh.
In the end, Cheongwol decided to open his heart to him, however slowly.
To be honest, if he was going to follow his grandfather’s words and continue the bloodline, it would be hard to find a better man than him.
“For now, it would be best to pull back a little. Don’t rush. Take it slowly...”
“Shut up.”
As if to keep him from fleeing, Cheongwol’s hand slid around Seomun Hwi’s neck.
Then he began to let out words that were playful and harmless on the surface.
“You lecher.”
“...What?”
Seomun Hwi frowned, but Cheongwol ignored him and curled his lips upward.
“Lusting after a friend. And a man, at that.”
“...”
“Seomun Hwi.”
Some indescribable feeling tickled at Seomun Hwi’s chest.
“You’re the worst man I know. Truly.”
Seomun Hwi could not keep listening in silence either.
“Worse than your nonexistent fiancé?”
Cheongwol’s eyes curved beautifully.
“Since when did you know?”
“Elder Hong told me. He said it had all been made up just to settle your lips, so I shouldn’t worry about it.”
“What a shame. I was planning to tease you with it a little longer.”
When Cheongwol let out a soft laugh, Seomun Hwi wrapped an arm around his slender waist.
“So, what do you want to do? Stay like this?”
“That wouldn’t be so bad.”
Cheongwol and Seomun Hwi met eyes in the air between them.
“But I’d rather not do that.”
Once again provoked, Seomun Hwi bit his lip and pressed him for an answer.
“Cheongwol.”
“All right.”
Cheongwol lifted his waist slightly and swung one leg over Seomun Hwi’s body.
Then, after steadying his breathing, this time he leaned forward on his own.
“Do you remember Yin-Yang Union Divine Art? Since doing this all at once is a little scary, let’s start from the beginning and take it step by step.”
Seomun Hwi swallowed dryly.
“You don’t like that?”
There was no way he could dislike it.
But if he remembered correctly, that book had been quite thick.
“...From the beginning?”
Cheongwol gave him an alluring smile and tilted his head.
“Yes. From the beginning.”