How Does Brother Namgung Know About Crotch Taping…?
Once I woke and my wits returned, confronting Brother Namgung was only natural.
"Brother Namgung…! Just what in the world was that this morning?! To molest the rear end of a young man with his whole life ahead of him like that! If I can't get married because of this, will you take responsibility?!"
I had meant to press him with cold, collected composure, but the more I spoke the less I could hold my temper, and before I knew it I was hopping mad.
"Now, now, calm yourself. Once you start looking for a spouse, husband candidates will come flocking like clouds."
Brother Namgung answered so nonchalantly that my rage, which had been a breath away from catching fire, drained of all its color.
"Grrr…!"
It was absolutely not because I couldn't land a single punch on him. He was my benefactor, so I couldn't bring myself to strike him; I could only stand there trembling with clenched fists, swallowing my fury.
"I'll explain, so listen while you eat. It's milk frozen with a generous helping of sugar. A specialty the Ice Palace has been pushing lately — they call it milk ice dessert…"
Inside the glass Brother Namgung held out was something that looked like a white lump.
"Are you trying to distract me with a snack right now?!"
"A single glass of this costs a full six coins."
I had been about to slap the glass away to display my mounting fury, but hearing the price, I couldn't bring myself to do something so uncivilized. A snack worth a whole sack of rice — how could I refuse?
"Ah, it's sweet…!"
Scooping the white mass with the little spoon inside the glass, I felt the cold, sweet lump melt on my tongue.
It's delicious…! I never knew something could taste like this.
The cold, sweet flavor of the ice dessert eased my anger — just a little, truly only a little.
So this is his scheme to smooth things over with a sweet snack…?
I caught on to Brother Namgung's ploy too late.
"This morning, you may have felt merely that your body was cold and your energy depleted. But contrary to that rough guess of yours, I can assure you that you were in quite a critical state."
Having no choice, I had to listen carefully as Brother Namgung slowly began his explanation, diligently scooping milk ice dessert from the glass with my spoon….
"Women also carry yang energy in their bodies, and a portion of yin energy flows through a man's body as well — that is the way of this world."
Ah, I've almost finished it.
"…Have this one too."
As I sucked on the spoon while listening after finishing the milk ice dessert, Brother Namgung handed me another glass, telling me to eat his as well.
"You were born with weak yang energy to begin with, and then you discharged all of it during the night. Just how strong must your willpower be to manage that… tsk tsk."
"………."
I wanted to say that after living a life of isolation for ten years in that remote countryside, it couldn't be helped… but that would be like spitting at the sky, so I held my tongue.
"Therefore, rather than something caused by your innate constitution, you could develop a peculiar, acute, and extremely dangerous meridian-severance syndrome. If I had left you as you were…."
Brother Namgung trailed off.
"If you had left me…?"
"Your testicles and penis, which generate yang energy, would have begun to rot from the inside, and we'd have had to amputate them."
"Eek……!"
At words too horrifying even to imagine, I couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.
"Even then, we could have saved your life for the moment, but once the testicles are cut off, you can no longer generate yang energy, so in the end you wouldn't have been able to escape dying before long."
Brother Namgung's bone-chilling explanation completely killed my appetite, and I had no choice but to set down the second glass, of which I'd already eaten nine-tenths… five-tenths, no, about six-tenths of the contents.
"Then… after that, you know, after you did that thing earlier, am I okay now?"
I never wanted to go through that again. That hope of mine was shattered to pieces by Brother Namgung's answer.
"You're not okay. You'll either have to obtain and consume a spiritual medicine so rare that even a thousand gold pieces couldn't buy it, or you'll have to periodically discharge yin energy."
"Whaaat?! …I-I don't want that…."
Watching me fidget with my hands as I expressed my refusal as firmly as possible, Brother Namgung finally sighed.
"Haa… You really are blessed. Normally, even developing this slowly over several months would be difficult."
Just what was he developing over several months? As I fell into doubt at Brother Namgung's words, he took something from a locked drawer and showed it to me.
"But for trainees as bashful as you, I've already prepared special measures. Here. This is a book from the Femboy Divine Art that explains the methods of discharging yin energy in thorough, kind detail. And this is an ointment that should help…."
"Ah, Brother Namgung, this is the one from earlier…"
Wasn't this the slippery ointment that had made a certain area heat up in an instant?
"D-Didn't you say the medicinal effects accumulate in the body?"
"……Ah."
Hearing my words, Brother Namgung froze mid-motion.
"Well, ……that's……. It's a premium product made by diluting a spiritual medicine that carries strong yang energy, so I meant that yang energy accumulates little by little. Haha, I didn't explain it properly at the time."
"Ah, I see……."
Was that how it was…?
Truthfully, the situation at the time had been so hazy that I couldn't remember the details clearly.
"Ahem…, a single jar of ointment made from that spiritual medicine is worth a full fifty silver taels. Make sure you take good care of it so you don't lose it."
"Fifty silver taels?!"
It might have been because I was born into a family of swindlers… no, merchants, but hearing that this tiny jar of ointment could buy a hundred sacks of rice was both astonishing and, on the other hand, left me feeling a bit strange.
To casually hand over an ointment worth fifty silver taels…
I had already vaguely known that Brother Namgung was no ordinary person, but I could feel that he was far, far more remarkable than I had guessed.
…It wasn't because I'm materialistic that I only thought of this after hearing about the money…! Really!
"If possible, try it about once a day. If you read the instructions carefully and follow them, you should manage somehow. If it's truly difficult, I can help you."
"Ah, yes…. Brother Namgung, thank you truly."
I didn't forget to express my gratitude with a cupped-fist salute. Truthfully, there was a bit of gold buried in the mountain cabin, but I had no way to convert it to cash…. In essence, I had no home, no temple, no hometown with connections — at best a wanderer, at worst a beggar. To someone like me, Brother Namgung, who showed such kindness based solely on our childhood friendship, was truly, endlessly grateful.
………That said, while I was genuinely thankful that he so readily gave me such an outrageously expensive medicine, in the end, it meant I had to do to myself what… what had been done to my rear end just a little while ago. I tried to think positively that I'd manage somehow, but I had no idea how I was supposed to handle it starting today.
That aside…
Today, Brother Namgung was wearing pants and a top that clung tightly to his skin. What's more, that top of his left everything from below his chest all the way past his navel completely exposed, making it hard to tell whether it was underwear or outerwear. Whether it was because we were in Brother Namgung's room, or because of the revealing clothes, the sweet yet savory fig scent I could usually catch from him felt even thicker….
"…If you keep staring like that, your gaze is going to bore a hole through my face. What are you thinking so hard about?"
I've already gotten used to Brother Namgung surprising me with his outfits, but even so…
Looking at Brother Namgung, a certain question suddenly floated into my mind.
"Ah, curious about these clothes, are you! These are called yoga clothes…"
"Brother Namgung, when you wear clothes like that, how do you deal with the front of your pants sticking out?"
Cutting off Brother Namgung's words with my question, his eyes went wide, and he immediately tried to cover his surprise with a cough.
"Ahem, ahem… I think I can guess why you're asking this, Gaeul. You're bothered by what happened yesterday while getting a massage at the gym, aren't you?"
This time it was my turn to be flustered by Brother Namgung's counterattack.
"Ah, n-no, who said anything about getting hard! I absolutely never did anything like that!"
"I never said any such thing… Anyway, there is a method. You see…."
Brother Namgung went on to teach me what he called his own method, but well, how should I put this….
"You move the testicles upward and hide them in the inguinal region, then tuck the… shaft down between the thighs and press it flat. It's called crotch reshaping."
"Once you reach a certain level in the Femboy Divine Art, you can do this without even using your hands. How about it? Even wearing clothes this tight, there's no bulge at all, is there?"
"No… Brother Namgung, that's not what I was curious about…"
If the thing wasn't standing up in the first place, there shouldn't be anything to get caught, right? …When I asked Brother Namgung that, he turned his head with a look of great embarrassment.
"The truth is. Even when there's no force in the thing, there are people who will inevitably get found out…. If I don't use this method, I can't wear the majority of lower garments."
"What…?"
"Ahem…, at any rate, what you're curious about is a method to keep the thing from standing up unintentionally at unwanted times or places, isn't it?"
"That's right. Originally this never caused me any trouble, but every single piece of clothing Brother Namgung gives me is like this…."
Saying so, I tugged at the pink bloomers I was wearing. As a proud man, I had firmly refused skirts — the kind of thing only women would wear — any number of times, but the pants Brother Namgung gave me instead, telling me to wear those, were all so extremely short that they didn't cover the thighs at all.
"Hmm, a device that forcibly prevents erection…."
But after hearing my complaint-filled lament, Brother Namgung crossed his arms and pondered, then broke into a thoroughly sly smile that filled his entire face. Seeing that expression, anxiety began to slowly well up in my chest.
"Come to think of it, I've just remembered a fine item I'd forgotten about since I never had use for it. It's not something you can use right away…. I'll let you know when the time comes to use it. …Though I say that with my own mouth, perhaps you'll need it sooner than expected."
It seems like Brother Namgung has cooked up some wicked scheme, but… that can't be, right…?