Ryu Seo-ha’s eyes shook greatly. A tracking device? His eyelashes fluttered as he looked down at the spoon waiting by his mouth.

“You don’t need to worry about anything.”

Choi Gang-hu gently lifted Ryu Seo-ha sitting on his lap as if soothing a startled child. The touch quietly patting his thin thighs was not comforting at all.

“It’s just food containing nanobots with search-type skills applied.”

Even the words emphasizing that it wasn’t harmful to health didn’t register. There are quite a few items that can be forcibly equipped. There are ordinary GPS chips too. But why embed tracking functions in food of all things?

Choi Gang-hu was the man who had helped him redefine the meaning of meals. The person who taught him that eating could be a realm of pleasure beyond mere survival. But why this, of all things?

“…I’d rather wear handcuffs.”

Ryu Seo-ha shook his head, slightly lifting his wrists tightly bound with the necktie. Choi Gang-hu’s smile quickly faded as he grasped both his wrists with one hand.

“That wouldn’t reassure me.”

His expressionless face was chilling enough to make his heart sink.

“You could cut those off easily by yourself.”

It was as if he saw right through Ryu Seo-ha’s inner thoughts. That once he made up his mind to escape, he wouldn’t hesitate to use any means necessary without regard for his own body.

“Did you run away from me without even being prepared for this much?”

Choi Gang-hu’s thumb languidly caressed the skin inside the wrist held without resistance.

“I’ll personally feed you with my own hands every morning.”

He couldn’t guess the emotion contained in the softly whispered voice. Intense aversion gathered in Ryu Seo-ha’s eyes as he looked at the spoon persistently hovering around his mouth.

The thought that it would settle in his stomach and constantly transmit location information made him shudder with discomfort. To the point where the delicious pearl ice cream looked like disgusting insect eggs.

In fact, several devices for surveillance were already prepared. This was just adding one more method. But why did it cause such severe aversion? Because it was inserted into the body?

“It’s disposable and excreted in urine every day.”

Even hearing the additional explanation, he couldn’t bring himself to open his tightly closed lips. Ryu Seo-ha shook his head again. And looked up at Choi Gang-hu pleadingly.

“…I don’t like that.”

When he clearly expressed his refusal as previously instructed, Choi Gang-hu’s sharp eyes narrowed gently. Usually at this point, he would easily back down as if he had no choice. But this time, the atmosphere felt different somehow.

“I won’t run away anymore. No, I can’t run away.”

Ryu Seo-ha quickly continued, clenching his fists. Because otherwise, it seemed like Choi Gang-hu would forcibly feed him the tracking device in the ice cream right away.

“The remaining lifespan shown on my status window has increased.”

Perhaps because he was in a hurry, disorganized words tumbled out hastily.

“Remaining lifespan?”

“Yes. Just now when we kissed…”

The teaspoon that had been thrust right in front of his face slowly retreated and gently rested on top of the glass containing the ice cream.

“Is that so.”

A low voice calmly agreed. Without needing a detailed explanation, Choi Gang-hu seemed to have already grasped the situation with that brief word.

As he slowly raised his head, he saw an expression devoid of any surprise or puzzlement. It was like the reaction of someone who had just confirmed a fact they already knew.

Had there been some change for him too? He wanted to ask in detail, but facing the coldly sunken gaze, he couldn’t open his mouth. Choi Gang-hu, who had been looking at him with a heavy gaze, twisted one corner of his mouth.

“So you have to stick close to me to live.”

Ryu Seo-ha belatedly realized his mistake. It occurred to him that his words could be misinterpreted as meaning “I want to run away right now, but I have no choice but to give up because I need to survive.”

It was true that he needed Choi Gang-hu’s existence for survival. At their first meeting, and now too. But that wasn’t all. If it had been, he would have desperately clung to him somehow, asking him to find a way to survive instead of foolishly running away.

“I…”

“I’ll save you.”

Ryu Seo-ha’s lips, which had been about to move to explain, closed at the firmly continuing voice. The grip on his captured wrists felt increasingly strong.

“Even if I have to destroy the system.”

Choi Gang-hu’s gaze touched him intensely enough to feel hot. Lips holding as much heat as that gaze pressed down on his tightly closed lips. Ryu Seo-ha accepted that invasion without any resistance.

The two lips overlapped with a much more docile feeling than when they first touched just a few hours ago. The tongue that dug between his lips, affectionately gentle, skillfully led the exchange of saliva.

“Haa…”

After being immersed in the kiss for a long while, Ryu Seo-ha exhaled a long breath that had built up. He leaned his forehead against Choi Gang-hu’s shoulder as if collapsing, while Choi Gang-hu lightly bit and released his upper lip.

Status: Remaining lifespan 1 day 8 hours 12 minutes

Checking a beat late, the lifespan displayed on the status window had indeed increased significantly. Though it was clearly good news, his mind was unsettled. The words he had been about to explain just before scattered hazily, unable to find their bearings.

He couldn’t proudly say it wasn’t just about using him for survival. The more the necessity increased, the harder it became for him to honestly acknowledge his own feelings of liking.

“…”

Ryu Seo-ha stared blankly at the glass on the table. Then he reached out with his bound hands and picked up the spoon. He could feel Choi Gang-hu’s gaze staring intently at him.

He put the pearl ice cream in his mouth as if to show him. He wanted to prove it. To himself, not anyone else. Moving as his heart dictated, without knowing what, how, or why he wanted to prove it.

The sensation of the quickly melting ice cream going down his esophagus towards his stomach was too vivid. It felt like the area Choi Gang-hu could control was expanding to inside his body.

“I thought you didn’t like it.”

A hand approached with a much softer voice and cupped Ryu Seo-ha’s cheek. When he obediently entrusted his face to that hand, a light “chu” kiss landed on his lips.

After scooping up another spoonful, he swallowed it without delay. Choi Gang-hu’s lips gave him another “chu” kiss as if in praise. Then another spoonful, and another.

Ryu Seo-ha’s spooning continued, and every time his bound hands moved, chu, chu, the shower of kisses repeated. Until the glass revealed its bottom.

“Pretty.”

When he finally put down the spoon, Choi Gang-hu licked his lips lengthily this time instead of a peck. Then he lifted Ryu Seo-ha up in his arms and stood.

“You hated it so much, why did you eat it?”

Ryu Seo-ha, firmly grasping his shirt hem, asked quietly as he looked up at his lover leaving the dining room. At his much softer expression.

“Because you wanted it.”

When you like someone, the threshold for accepting losses caused by that person becomes more generous. To the point where you can willingly accept things you dislike, and gladly endure instinctive aversions.

“…I’m sorry for running away alone.”

He wanted to confirm it to himself. That he could sufficiently endure this much to soothe Choi Gang-hu’s wounded heart. Just like the many things he had to endure to protect his collapsed older sister.

“Why did you run away?”

Choi Gang-hu, who had been striding into the bathroom, stopped and asked back. His black eyes were deeply sunken, as if recalling the time he had chased the traces of his disappeared lover.

“Because I was scared.”

Ryu Seo-ha rested one cheek against his firm chest and smiled bitterly. In his past life’s childhood, he was forced to witness many deaths. Not one of those many people’s final moments could be easily forgotten.

“I didn’t want to remain in Choi Gang-hu’s memory as a dying image.”

It was a desire to be remembered by his precious ones with a face full of vitality. He also didn’t want to leave behind traumatic scenes for them before departing.

Perhaps he wasn’t actually ready to accept the parting. That was why death was frightening, even though he had already experienced the amazing miracle of reincarnation once.

“Didn’t you think about looking for new methods together with me?”

Choi Gang-hu said reproachfully as he set down the person he was holding onto the blanket-covered toilet lid. Ryu Seo-ha nodded with a slightly dejected smile.

He had considered whether or not to honestly confess the problem, but he hadn’t thought about looking for solutions together. It was a side effect of a life where he had always judged and sought everything alone.

Who would have known a method would appear so close by? If he had discussed and received help from the beginning, he might have found it much faster. He wouldn’t have had to leave unnecessary wounds on his lover’s heart.

“I was foolish.”

As he lowered his eyelashes, candidly admitting his mistake with regret, sweet kisses landed on both his eyelids, chu, chu. Ryu Seo-ha smiled, slightly closing and opening his eyes as if welcoming those lips.

“Are you trying to enchant someone by acting so pretty?”

Choi Gang-hu praised him, smiling back. His tone suggested the coldly boiling anger had subsided a lot. It seemed worth it to have obediently entrusted his body to him like a doll.

Hoping that his anger had eased somewhat and he might now untie his hands, Ryu Seo-ha quietly lifted his head. Choi Gang-hu was putting mint-flavored toothpaste on a new toothbrush.

“Are you… going to brush your teeth?”

When he quietly asked with subtle anxiety, Choi Gang-hu smiled brightly and brought the toothbrush to Ryu Seo-ha’s mouth.

“You first.”

“You need to untie this…”

“There’s no need to get your hands wet.”

The sound of water gushing from the faucet that moved on its own to fill the bathtub could be heard.

“I’ll wash you.”

It was the sound of anxiety becoming reality.