The Dokkaebi Waiting for the Moon

Chapter 38

“You don’t have a single penny? Not even one won?”

“No…”

“You know, customer, I chase down the bastards who eat and run to the ends of the earth to get my money.”

After thoroughly rinsing his hair, he curled up both corners of his mouth and continued,

“But since you’re pretty, I’ll do it for free.”

“For free?”

“Yes, free. You don’t have to pay.”

“Really?”

“Would I lie about that?”

Yeo Moon-beom laughed lightly, discarded the dirty water, and placed a newly filled basin on his thigh to rinse Eun-hwi’s entire head once more. The hair, now free of bubbles, shone so brightly it seemed like it would make a crackling sound if touched.

“Oh, right. I should clean your horns too. I almost forgot.”

He grasped both horns with his thumb and index finger and began rubbing the roots on both sides. It was something he did every time he washed his hair, but the feeling of someone else’s hands on his horns was unfamiliar and strange.

It felt even more peculiar than when Yeo Moon-beom had touched his horns out of curiosity before. His heart pounded wildly.

“Ngh…”

It was becoming increasingly difficult to endure. His waist jerked up on its own, and his thighs involuntarily closed inward. Eun-hwi curled his toes outward and endured as much as he could.

“It, it tickles there.”

“Why is it ticklish? Are you still in your growth phase?”

“Please, stop there now. Okay?”

“I’m just cleaning it. Please bear with it a little longer even if it tickles.”

After thoroughly rubbing and rinsing the entire length, he now rubbed the protruding tip with his index finger as if scraping it. Goosebumps rose from below his ears and ran down his nape, making him shudder.

“…Hik!”

He could see his half-risen manhood between his weakened thighs. Except for when urinating, he had never experienced an erection before, so he was extremely flustered.

Dumbfounded, Eun-hwi suddenly stood up to get a better look down below.

“Wah!”

His toes, which had been barely supporting him on the floor, bent wrongly, and his body slid down. In an instant, he sank below the water surface, his face submerged.

Water entered his mouth and nose, making it impossible to breathe. In his panic, Eun-hwi flailed his arms and legs, grabbing onto Yeo Moon-beom’s wrist.

Crash!

The basin fell to the floor with a loud noise. Simultaneously, Yeo Moon-beom’s face, pulled forward by Eun-hwi’s grasp, plunged into the bathtub.

Yeo Moon-beom raised his head from a precarious position just above the water surface. If his body had been pulled in just a bit deeper, he would have certainly swallowed water too.

After adjusting his posture to a stable position while holding onto the outside of the tub, he pulled Eun-hwi out of the water.

“…Cough!”

Eun-hwi spat out the water that had entered his mouth and regained his senses. The suddenness of it all made it difficult to grasp the situation.

“Ugh…”

“Are you okay? That was dangerous.”

As Eun-hwi lay sprawled against the tub, exhausted, Yeo Moon-beom patted his back.

“Hah…”

Fortunately, he hadn’t swallowed much water as he was quickly pulled out. After carefully checking Eun-hwi’s condition like a doctor, Yeo Moon-beom sighed in relief and asked,

“You were lying down fine, why did you suddenly get up?”

“It’s because my pepper…”

“Pepper?”

“…Huh?”

Somehow, his manhood, which had been standing erect just moments ago, had returned to its normal state.

“Ah, no. I must have seen wrong.”

“Did you get dizzy and fall?”

“Uh…? Maybe?”

It felt a bit different from the spinning dizziness, but as Yeo Moon-beom said, it seemed like he might have seen an illusion due to vertigo. No matter how he thought about it, there was no other explanation.

“I should have killed that bastard bird-man after all. How dare he reduce an innocent kid to this state?”

“…”

“Come out, I’ll dry you off. Let’s bathe another time.”

Yeo Moon-beom’s expression was not good, seemingly very worried about Eun-hwi’s condition. With deep lines between his brows and tightly closed lips, his expression was as fierce as when he had swung an axe at the bird-man.

“But I wanted to bathe together…”

“You said you were dizzy. Not today. It’s dangerous.”

“No ‘tree-tree-moon-moon’ either?”

“There’s no need to do it now. Your hair is already in great condition. I’ll do it for you next time.”

After coming out of the tub, Yeo Moon-beom quickly lathered and washed Eun-hwi’s body. Thanks to this, Eun-hwi could comfortably have his body washed without moving a finger.

“That’s done now.”

After drying even the last drop of water from his hair with a towel, Yeo Moon-beom finally smoothed out his furrowed brow and lightly kissed Eun-hwi’s forehead.

The sensation of the plump flesh once again evoked the strange feeling he had experienced earlier. Eun-hwi blankly stared at the lips that had collided with his several times today.

His thoughts were filled with wondering when Yeo Moon-beom would kiss him again.

“Up we go.”

Yeo Moon-beom lifted Eun-hwi, who had changed into fresh clothes, with ease. Perhaps due to the strength from eating the immortality herb, he didn’t seem to find Eun-hwi heavy at all. His strong arms stably supported Eun-hwi’s body.

“Lie down and rest. I’ll quickly wash up and come make you a meal.”

Until he was laid down on the blanket in the main room, his groin remained calm. Even after Yeo Moon-beom left, when he reached out to gently touch it, there was no reaction.

It truly seemed like a dokkaebi’s prank.

* * *

“Sigh…”

Today too, his undergarments were damp.

As soon as he woke up and checked the state of his lower body, Eun-hwi got up from his bed with a dejected face.

At first, he thought he had wet himself in his sleep and frantically felt around the blanket. However, only the front part of his undergarments was wet.

After tidying up the blanket, Eun-hwi gently slid open the door to check if Yeo Moon-beom was there. Fortunately, there was a sound of a knife hitting a cutting board in the kitchen, probably preparing the meal.

With his undergarments sticking to his skin, wet with an unknown fluid, he trudged towards the clothes room. He wanted to take out clothes in advance and change in the main room, but fearing it might look strange, he always changed into different undergarments when Yeo Moon-beom wasn’t around, just like today.

“…What should I do?”

He, not Yeo Moon-beom, was the bed-wetter.

Since they started sleeping separately after the bathtub incident, Yeo Moon-beom hadn’t discovered it yet. But if this continued, it was only a matter of time before he found out.

He hoped it wasn’t a serious illness.

It seemed that what he saw in the bathhouse the other day wasn’t an illusion. Something in his body must be sending signals.

He feared he might die before becoming human, without even seeing Gabi’s face. He was filled with regret, wondering if he should have eaten even a small piece of the immortality herb’s leaf.

Eun-hwi sighed deeply and headed to the well, carrying laundry that didn’t really need washing. Somehow, he had come to start every day with laundry.

“You’re up?”

“Mm-hmm… Good morning, Yeo Moon-beom.”

“You still look weak even though I fed you eel last night. I’ll do the laundry, so go back inside and lie down. I’ll call you when the food is ready.”

“No, no. I’m not sick at all. I’m just not fully awake yet, so you go back to the kitchen and cook.”

He quickly doused the laundry he was holding with water and picked up the washing bat. Unlike urine that just soaks in, he couldn’t carelessly let Yeo Moon-beom do the laundry because of the white, sticky fluid that left stains.

Eun-hwi vigorously scrubbed the front of his undergarments with the laundry soap Yeo Moon-beom had brought. It was convenient not having to make lye for laundry anymore, but he felt uneasy about the laundry soap that was wearing away faster each day.

Recently, Yeo Moon-beom had brought something called a portable solar generator, allowing them to use a refrigerator and TV like the Mr. Kims in the village. But Eun-hwi was too preoccupied with worries about his illness to pay any attention to these new modern conveniences.

Should I go ask the mountain god for help?

Thwack!

But if I go to the mountain alone, Yeo Moon-beom will get angry…

Thwack!

He beat the white undergarments vigorously with the washing bat, removing the stains. After washing a few times, he had developed a knack for quickly removing the fluid that had stuck to and stiffened the fabric.

The half-dokkaebi, having put the soaped laundry in a basin, rolled up his pant legs and began stomping on it firmly with his feet.

‘It felt good in the dream…’

Today too, he had dreamed of kissing Yeo Moon-beom. It was a dream where they kissed while looking at the full moon, where the image of the jade rabbit pounding rice cakes could be seen clearly, in a flower garden full of evening primroses.

Every time their tongues intertwined deeply, a sweet taste spread throughout his mouth as if slowly rolling a plum-flavored candy. Even though it was just a dream, his whole body became languid and the inside of his lower abdomen tingled as if it were real. It was an ecstatic sensation, as if floating on clouds.

‘I want to kiss soon…’

He had said he would save it for next time, so surely they would kiss again someday. But since he hadn’t specified exactly when “next time” would be, Eun-hwi wondered which day it would be.

‘…Huh? I won’t pass on my illness to Yeo Moon-beom by kissing, right?’

This sudden thought made him stop stomping on the laundry.