I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 14
Looking at Hyunjin, Jaewoo wondered what excuse to give, because he definitely couldn’t tell him the truth. However, Hyunjin turned around without waiting for an answer.
He wanted to understand Jaewoo’s reasons, but at the same time, he didn’t want to hear Jaewoo discussing that person at all. It was a contradiction. Hyunjin narrowed his eyes and approached Mujin, who was glaring at him, with the medicine.
“Take it.”
“I don’t even know what it is.”
Mujin raised the corner of his mouth and refused the medicine with a mocking laugh. Seeing Mujin unable to accept that a favor was just a favor, Hyunjin was reminded of himself just a short time ago. His mouth narrowed into a line and he placed his hand on Mujin’s neck. He squeezed tightly, forcing Mujin to open his mouth with a harsh cough. It was rough, but effective.
Hyunjin dumped the medicine into his mouth, and when he removed his hand, Mujin was forced to swallow it.
“Cough, cough.”
Mujin, who was coughing, looked at Hyunjin with death in his eyes. However, Hyunjin didn’t care and simply rolled up his blood-soaked shirt. There were dried bloodstains on the hard muscles, the type that came from a life spent fighting rather than from a gym. The stab wound was visible, but it didn’t look deep. It didn’t look like it had penetrated anything except the muscle. It’d need antibiotics, but if Mujin took care of it properly, he’d be okay.
“Do you have any disinfectant?”
Jaewoo replied to Hyunjin’s words.
“It’s in the medicine kit. One second…”
Jaewoo tried to find the bottle, but Hyunjin gently moved him aside. He could see Jaewoo’s hands were still shaking. He’d had a near-death experience, so it wasn’t unreasonable.
That’s why Hyunjin took out the disinfectant himself and poured it over the wound without mercy. It must have hurt considerably, but Mujin endured it without any reaction.
After disinfecting it, Hyunjin cleaned the wound with careless hands, covered it with gauze, and bandaged it. Then, without hesitation, he smacked the wound with his palm. In his mind, Hyunjin resisted the urge to punch him again.
“Ugh!”
The hit was so hard that even Mujin couldn’t help but make a sound this time.
“What are you doing?”
Mujin gritted his teeth and said, but Hyunjin just ignored it and turned to Jaewoo.
“It’s done.”
“Really? You’re so good at it.”
Jaewoo opened his eyes and said. To that, Hyunjin replied indifferently.
“It’s no big deal. I have some experience with things like this.”
Although he had never been stabbed before, Hyunjin’s life hadn’t been a smooth one. However, Hyunjin didn’t mention that. If he did, Jaewoo would be worried, and Hyunjin didn’t want that to happen.
After roughly treating the wound, Mujin seemed to be on the verge of passing out again. Jaewoo spoke.
“I’m going to go to the kitchen for a moment. You must be tired, you should go get some rest.”
“I’ll stay here a little longer.”
Hyunjin replied. Was it possible that he already liked Mujin? It was the natural progression of the story, but somehow, Jaewoo’s heart felt heavy. It must be because he knew how cruel Mujin would be at the beginning. That must be it.
Jaewoo shook his head and went out of the door. Then he went to the kitchen and added more briquettes to the furnace. His hands were no longer shaking as badly, so it wasn’t hard.
‘Wow, Mujin is a real asshole.’
Who tries to kill the person who saved your life? Only now did Jaewoo touch his neck. It didn’t feel any different to the touch, but when he looked in the mirror, there was a ring of human finger shaped bruises all around his neck.
‘I almost died.’
A chill ran up his spine. If he died, would he return to his original world? He had wondered about that before, but this incident had taught him that he didn’t want to find out. Death was painful, and terrifying. As Mujin had choked him, he’d had only one thought.
‘I want to live.’
Jaewoo wanted to live. He’d wished for someone to save him. It seemed like he wouldn’t be able to think about dying so casually anymore. Jaewoo let out a long sigh and sat down on the kitchen floor. Now that things had calmed down, the exhaustion was hitting him. He tried to stay awake somehow, but his head grew heavy.
Finally, his eyes went dark.
After Jaewoo didn’t return, Hyunjin headed to the kitchen. When he arrived, he found Jaewoo collapsed on the floor and his heart sank. He hurried over and placed his hand under his nose to verify that he was still breathing. Only then did Hyunjin feel safe.
As he carefully raised Jaewoo into a sitting position, he saw the blue bruises on his neck. By tomorrow, the bruising would be much worse. All because Jaewoo had been worried about a man who was a complete stranger. Hyunjin didn’t know how people could be so awful.
He sighed, laid Jaewoo down gently, and went back for the medicine box. He gently applied some cream over the bruises on Jaewoo’s slender neck. As he painstakingly wrapped his neck in gauze, he felt even more helpless than usual.
‘What should I do now?’
He was anxious to take Jaewoo back to his room and let him rest, but Mujin was in there. After hesitating, Hyunjin picked Jaewoo up and took him to his own empty room.
He turned on the heating pad and touched it with his hand, but it was still cold. Still, Hyunjin knew that in a little while, the warmth would start circulating. He laid Jaewoo on top of it and sat down next to him. Jaewoo’s eyelashes trembled and he twitched slightly. It seemed like he was dreaming.
“Mmm.”
Unthinkingly, Hyunjin reached out to touch the frown lines on Jaewoo’s forehead. He rubbed at them gently, trying to soothe him. Then, before he could blink, Jaewoo suddenly grabbed hold of his hand in his sleep, and held it tightly.
Hyunjin quietly blinked his eyes. He tried to remove his hand, but Jaewoo started to grumble, as if he was going to wake up. So he stayed there. It might be nice to spend some time doing nothing, Hyunjin thought. It ended up being a long break.
“Mmmmmph.”
Jaewoo woke up with a moan. A cold wind was blowing from somewhere. The tip of his nose was chilled, but the rest of his body was warm. He nuzzled forward, until the cold wind no longer bothered him. He smiled and burrowed deeper into the warmth.
He was suddenly reminded of a time when he was young, when he’d nestled in his grandmother’s arms at her country house. She’d always smelled so nice. As he sniffed more intently, chasing that remembered scent, the warm body in front of him shifted.
‘Don’t move…’
Jaewoo hugged them tightly. He was on the verge of dozing off again when his eyes suddenly shot open.
‘I have to prepare dinner.’
Jaewoo opened his eyes without thinking and looked straight ahead. Then he saw an old T-shirt right in front of him. No, to be precise, it was a strong man’s chest wrapped in an old T-shirt.
He slowly lifted his head and saw Hyunjin’s sleeping face.
‘Ahhhhhhhhh!’
Frightened, Jaewoo dropped his gaze, putting himself at eye level with Hyunjin’s pecs instead. Until now, the place where he had been hiding his nose from the cold wind seemed to have been Hyunjin’s chest.
‘Woah, woah!’
Jaewoo swallowed his screams and tried to stand up. However, there were strong arms wrapped around Jaewoo’s waist. They held on to him tightly, keeping him pressed against Hyunjin’s body.
When Jaewoo glanced around the room frantically, he saw Hyeonu and Woohee on the other side. The two of them were sitting in front of the table, doing their homework diligently.
“Oh, mister, you’re awake!”
When Woohee said that, Hyeonu also turned around.
“Did you sleep well?”
Hyeonu smiled and said.
“Y-Yeah, I slept well. By the way, what time is it?”
“It’s six o’clock. My brother asked us to wake him up in 10 minutes.”
Jaewoo stopped prying at the arms around his waist. There were only 10 minutes left. That was precious sleep time for Hyunjin. He could stay here for 10 more minutes. Jaewoo lay there stiffly, hardly daring to breathe.
‘Would it be better for me to just get up?’
He didn’t know if Hyunjin would freak out if he woke up and saw Jaewoo next to him. Jaewoo wasn’t sure what to do. As he was thinking, he felt like someone was staring at him. He turned his head up slightly and saw Hyunjin watching him calmly.
“Are you awake?”
“Uh, yes. But why am I sleeping here?”
Jaewoo smiled awkwardly and asked.
“You can’t sleep in your room with someone so dangerous.”
He wasn’t wrong.
“Is your neck okay?”
“Um? Uh huh.”
It still stung a little, but overall seemed fine. It seemed that this body is stronger than Jaewoo thought. He smirked and rubbed his neck, noticing a difference from before. There were bandaged placed over the bruises on his neck.
“Did you treat me?”
“Yes.”
Jaewoo’s heart was suddenly pounding. At first, Hyunjin had despised him, but now he had gone so far as to treat his wounds. It was worth putting in so much effort to feed him. Even when Hyunjin and Mujin got together, he seemed unlikely to die. It was a faster-than-expected achievement.
Although Jaewoo’s throat was sore, he felt okay. When Jaewoo sat up, Hyunjin got up too. And then he took off his t-shirt.
“Ack!”
Surprised by Hyunjin’s appearance, Jaewoo let out a small scream, and Hyunjin looked at him with an questioning expression.
“It’s nothing”
Jaewoo looked at Hyunjin’s back, which was covered in strong muscles. It was a musculature that any man would envy. What would Jaewoo give to have a body like that? He tried to flex his arm just in case, but nothing happened. Of course it didn’t.
‘I spend all day writing at home, how could I have muscles?’
Jaewoo thought that, then froze as he realized that a piece of memory that he had lost had suddenly returned.
‘I was a writer.’
No wonder he felt so comfortable staying at home all day. Jaewoo nodded and left the room. Hyunjin, who had changed his clothes while Jaewoo was distracted, followed him out.
Jaewoo opened the door to his room. As soon as he did, warm air poured out. The floor heating must have been working overtime.
