The Dokkaebi Waiting for the Moon

Chapter 27

The lost appetite returned as if by magic with the taste of the red bean pieces softly crumbling in his mouth and the chewy texture of the rice cake. It seemed like a good decision to have saved them to eat together.

“It’s delicious.”

“Is it good?”

“Yes. The rice cake is really chewy.”

The half-dokkaebi looked at the smiling man in front of him for a moment, then picked up the largest-looking rice cake.

“This time, I’ll give you one. Yeo Moon-beom, say ‘ah’.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“No, quickly say ‘ah’!”

“Alright then. Ah—”

His plump lips parted slightly. Just as he had done, Eun-hwi pushed the round rice cake between them and felt satisfied. He could see a smile spreading around Yeo Moon-beom’s eyes.

He had made a friend for the first time.

A human friend, after more than fifteen cycles of twenty years.

“I’ve laid it out. You can lie down now.”

Eun-hwi spread out the blanket Yeo Moon-beom had been using next to his own and tidied up around them. Though he had only added one more blanket, it felt as if the large room, the size of two combined, was now completely filled.

“Oh right, I need to turn on the light.”

He belatedly realized he hadn’t lit anything, focusing only on laying out the bedding. Since there was no separate oil lamp, Eun-hwi opened his palm to create a dokkaebi fire. Yeo Moon-beom, who had been looking around continuously, waved his hand diagonally as if to say it wasn’t necessary.

“It’s fine without light. I can see everything right now.”

“You can see everything?”

“Maybe my eyes have adjusted to the darkness. I can see the room better than usual.”

“Have you become like a dokkaebi because you’re friends with me?”

“I guess so. They say friends start to resemble each other, so I’ve become a dokkaebi too.”

Casually playing along with the joke, Yeo Moon-beom lay down. Eun-hwi also withdrew his upturned palm, abandoning the idea of creating a ball of fire, and lay down on the blanket in the same way. Yeo Moon-beom took his hand again.

“Are we going to sleep like this?”

“Why, don’t you like it?”

“N-no, it’s not that…”

So humans hold hands tightly even when they sleep.

It felt strange, as he had never held hands while sleeping with Gabi. Thinking that the way of building friendship was quite unique, Eun-hwi awkwardly lay looking up at the ceiling.

“…”

Usually, his eyes would close naturally when he laid his head on the pillow, and he would fall asleep at some point, but with all his nerves concentrated in his hand, he felt wide awake.

The warmth of the human seeping into his skin and spreading throughout his body felt newly fascinating. With his heart pounding, it seemed it would be difficult to fall asleep.

Eun-hwi wiggled the fingers of his free hand while leaving half his arm to Yeo Moon-beom. If he didn’t do at least this much, he felt his arm, stiff with tension, might get a cramp. He had finally become friends with Yeo Moon-beom and couldn’t show such an embarrassing sight.

One sorghum and red bean rice cake, two sorghum and red bean rice cakes. Three sorghum and red bean rice cakes…

As he was placing imaginary rice cakes one by one in a mental bowl, Yeo Moon-beom turned to his side and spoke to him.

“Eun-hwi. Are you asleep?”

“…No, why?”

“Come to think of it, we’re running low on firewood.”

“Already? We’ll have to go collect wood tomorrow.”

“Let’s go together. I’ll help.”

“You don’t need to…”

“Of course I do. Friends should help each other.”

Friend.

Still unfamiliar, but no longer bringing sadness, the word lodged in Eun-hwi’s heart.

So friends naturally help each other…

Overwhelmed that their relationship no longer required compensation, the half-dokkaebi smiled quietly. His cheeks, tinged with pink, rose roundly.

“Yeo Moon-beom, have you ever chopped firewood?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“It might be difficult the first time. I struggled when I first tried it.”

“I’ll probably be good at it. I’ve chopped a lot of other things.”

“What have you chopped a lot?”

“Trash.”

Perhaps they chop and burn trash like firewood on the mainland.

Eun-hwi rolled his eyes back and forth, feeling like he somewhat understood but also didn’t understand at all.

Yeo Moon-beom’s gaze fell precisely on the golden iris that resembled an evening primrose petal.

Even though it was too dark to make out shapes without even moonlight, he gazed for a long time, as if tracing even a single fine eyelash. Their quiet gazes intertwined silently.

“…”

“…”

Having completely forgotten the content of their earlier conversation, Eun-hwi stared blankly at his eyes, and a smile appeared at the corners of Yeo Moon-beom’s beautifully extended eyes. He spoke in a languid voice, almost whispering:

“Your eyes are pretty.”

“…Huh?”

Looking deeply into the faintly shining golden eyes once more, he added:

“Now I understand what it feels like when they say you get sucked into someone’s eyes.”

“Sucked in?”

“Yes, soul and all.”

“Oh no, that’s not good. Then you’ll disappear!”

A hint of bewilderment flashed across his clear face. Sucking someone in through the eyes. It sounded like a frightening magic just hearing about it. However, Yeo Moon-beom muttered quietly, as if unconcerned:

“What a shame… To think I couldn’t see this wonderful sight because it was dark. I should have held your hand earlier.”

“But you still shouldn’t get sucked in. It’s dangerous.”

As Eun-hwi tightened his grip on their clasped hands with a very serious expression, Yeo Moon-beom laughed out loud.

“Our Eun-hwi has a talent for taking everything seriously. How cute.”

“…Huh?”

“It’s just a saying. I don’t mean I’m really getting sucked in, but that your eyes are so captivating it feels like I could.”

He met Eun-hwi’s gaze without blinking, as if there was no need to be afraid at all. Although he was smiling, the intense look in his eyes, tinged with an indescribable longing, made Eun-hwi’s heart skip a beat again.

Just as he said, it felt like he might really get sucked into those black pupils. While it felt dangerous, there was a power in them that drew his heart in, making him stare blankly.

Gulp.

Intoxicated by the dizzying scent of mint wafting over, Eun-hwi swallowed.

“It seems like there’s a lot I need to teach you. What should I start with?”

A whisper that sounded almost like humming reached his ear. As Eun-hwi squirmed at the ticklish feeling, Yeo Moon-beom’s slightly furrowed brow smoothed out, and the three scars curved into a crescent shape.

“What shall we do now, hm?”

Yeo Moon-beom interlaced their fingers and with his other hand, gently grasped Eun-hwi’s earlobe where there was a small mole. Every time he subtly rubbed the soft flesh with his thumb, heat rushed to Eun-hwi’s neck, making it shrink.

This is going to make it even harder to fall asleep…

Unable to do anything, Eun-hwi closed his eyes, desperately hoping that Yeo Moon-beom couldn’t hear his pounding heart.

However, thinking that closing his eyes would make him fall asleep like before was clearly a miscalculation.

As time passed, the mint scent became more distinct, and the subtle touch caressing his skin made his spine tingle.

It was a strange sensation similar to what he felt when Yeo Moon-beom had stroked his horn.

“Eun-hwi.”

“Y-yes?”

At the low call, a single layer of delicate eyelid slowly lifted. The pitch-black gaze that had been causing an inexplicable fear met the half-dokkaebi’s eyes.

“I…”

“Yes.”

“I have a personality that needs to double and triple-check things to be satisfied, so I deliberately sent Dr. Hong-salgwi away…”

Then he stopped speaking and just stared intently. At that silent gaze, Eun-hwi’s face drew a question mark.

“…You sent him away and?”

But the answer to his question didn’t come immediately. Yeo Moon-beom slowly examined Eun-hwi as if observing each feature, down to a single hair.

His fingertips grasping Eun-hwi’s earlobe tightened again. As if hesitating about something, he traced the curve behind Eun-hwi’s ear, and finally stopping his movement, he spoke:

“It seems I’ve found the answer on my own.”

“The answer?”

Suddenly, what answer?

Was there some important problem that needed solving? A quite difficult problem that made him hesitate to bring it up easily.

As Eun-hwi blinked repeatedly, unable to grasp the context of these words, Yeo Moon-beom asked:

“So. I’ve confirmed the answer, and Eun-hwi can learn something new with me. How about it?”

“Learn what?”

At the naive voice asking back, the hand holding his ear let go.

As Eun-hwi let out a shallow breath, feeling an inexplicable disappointment, Yeo Moon-beom raised himself and narrowed the distance between them. Then, putting his lips close to Eun-hwi’s ear where only lukewarm heat remained, he whispered secretively:

“Sex.”

A strange light flashed in his eyes that seemed to have absorbed all the colors of the world, turning them black.

“…Sex? What’s that?”

It was an unfamiliar word, difficult to identify, like the name of a fake person.

Eun-hwi looked at Yeo Moon-beom with a puzzled expression. He was willing to learn anything as long as it didn’t involve studying from books, but he needed to at least know what kind of thing it was.

It seemed like something difficult that required using his head, so he was starting to feel scared, but Yeo Moon-beom explained in a more cheerful voice:

“It’s a physical game that close friends play together.”

“A physical… game?”

“Yes. As you do it, you both start to feel good.”