I’m Not Your Affair Partner! - Chapter 5

His body felt as though it were sinking into the floor. Si-Ryeon buried his face between his knees and silently released a sigh.

He had spent the past several weeks throwing himself into work like a madman because he didn’t want to think about it.

But now, sitting idly in an empty room with a complete stranger and having nothing to do but let time pass, the rental deposit scam he had forgotten came rushing back to fill his mind.

‘…What am I going to do?’

Some people might find it ridiculous that a twenty-nine-year-old man with a stable job was panicking because he couldn’t repay a deposit of 170 million won.

But Si-Ryeon was barely managing to support himself while taking care of his two younger siblings. Coming up with that much money was far from easy.

His chest tightened when he remembered the bank’s collection calls.

Si-Ryeon closed his eyes.

He wished he could at least get some sleep, but he couldn’t relax with the man sitting barely ten steps away.

Just as Si-Ryeon swallowed another rising sigh, the sound of ragged breathing suddenly reached his ears.

“…?”

Si-Ryeon raised his head.

Nak-Do remained seated motionlessly across from him.

One knee was raised, an arm resting over it, while his head hung low.

“…Haa.”

But each time he exhaled, his breathing sounded rougher than before.

‘…Is he sick?’

Si-Ryeon cautiously studied Nak-Do.

However, Nak-Do’s head was lowered so deeply that Si-Ryeon couldn’t see his complexion from so far away.

“…Excuse me.”

“……”

“Hello?”

“—……”

“Are you… all right?”

Nak-Do didn’t answer his question. His breathing merely seemed to grow even rougher.

Si-Ryeon bent his knees slightly and leaned forward.

It would be troublesome if the man suddenly suffered some kind of attack while they were helplessly trapped inside the room.

“Are you in pain?”

Si-Ryeon carefully rose to his feet. There might be a first-aid kit inside the cabinet.

Just as he was about to take a step—

“Don’t come any closer.”

The harsh, cracked voice stopped him in his tracks.

Si-Ryeon turned around in surprise.

Nak-Do remained perfectly still.

…No, that wasn’t quite right. Unlike before, his head was now lowered completely.

As though he were trying to hide his expression.

Si-Ryeon swallowed dryly and tilted his head. From the new angle, he could see a little more of Nak-Do’s face.

“…!”

From his earlobes down to the back of his neck, Nak-Do’s skin had turned bright red.

It looked as though he had suddenly developed a high fever. Beads of cold sweat were forming across his alarmingly flushed skin.

Startled, Si-Ryeon unconsciously crossed the boundary they had made with the blanket.

“Are you all right? Should I call 119?”

“I told you… to fuck off.”

Nak-Do weakly brushed away Si-Ryeon’s hand when he grabbed his arm.

Si-Ryeon crouched beside him.

Even if this man was a gangster bastard who had kidnapped him—and a piece of garbage who casually harassed other people—Si-Ryeon couldn’t simply ignore someone who was sick.

It could become serious if he fell ill in a room without even a bottle of water.

Si-Ryeon reached out to feel Nak-Do’s forehead.

“Let me see your face. What suddenly happened to—?”

“I told you earlier.”

Nak-Do abruptly cut him off.

Then he slowly raised his head.

His burning-red face turned toward Si-Ryeon. His severely bloodshot eyes gleamed with an intense light.

“I’m in my rut.”

“…What?”

Goose bumps spread across Si-Ryeon’s back.

Seeing the color drain from Si-Ryeon’s face, Nak-Do gave a faint laugh.

“Why do you think I told you to leave earlier? You, Yoo Si-Ryeon—a man who could report me to the police?”

“…!”

As though he had been burned, Si-Ryeon tore his hand away and stumbled backward.

Nak-Do released a damp, labored sigh and weakly gestured at him.

“If you want to walk out of here in one piece, hurry up and get back to where you were.”

“……”

Despite Nak-Do’s blatant words, Si-Ryeon couldn’t bring himself to get angry as he had before.

He obediently returned to his corner and curled himself up as tightly as possible.

To think that a person could experience such a period…

And that it could be so intense that enduring it looked almost impossible.

The threat to his chastity, which he had briefly forgotten, crept up his spine once more.

Si-Ryeon wrapped both arms tightly around himself as though protecting his body and closed his eyes.

But unlike sight, hearing and smell weren’t senses he could escape simply by covering them.

“Haa…”

The sound of Nak-Do releasing a long breath thundered in Si-Ryeon’s ears.

Then came a rustle.

Something moved nearby.

The sounds continued as though Nak-Do were repeatedly shifting his position, making Si-Ryeon increasingly anxious.

‘…He must have been joking.’

Si-Ryeon squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lower lip.

The things Nak-Do had said while cornering him earlier kept replaying in his mind.

Surely not.

He wouldn’t really attack him, would he?

Could someone truly lose all reason because of sexual desire?

“…Haa… ngh.”

By then, Nak-Do’s breaths were emerging in broken intervals. The sound alone filled the cramped storage room.

The air inside seemed to grow hotter all at once.

Feeling heat spread across the back of his neck, Si-Ryeon anxiously worried his lower lip between his teeth.

Even though Si-Ryeon wasn’t a variant, he could tell.

He could sense just how aroused the man in front of him was—and how violently charged the atmosphere around him had become.

‘This is dangerous.’

If things continued like this, Si-Ryeon might genuinely end up sleeping with a variant who had become as frenzied as a wild animal.

His muscles instinctively tightened with tension and fear.

Si-Ryeon strengthened his protective hold around his body and cautiously opened his eyes.

“…!”

The rustling that had been grating on his ears stopped.

Even if he didn’t want to know the reason, it was obvious.

Since when had Hong Nak-Do been watching him?

The intensity of Nak-Do’s gaze felt as though it might pierce straight through Si-Ryeon’s eyes.

Unable to close them again, Si-Ryeon swallowed dryly.

‘Gulp.’

The sound of his throat moving thundered in his ears.

At the same moment, Nak-Do rose to his feet.

“—Hhk.”

Staring up at Nak-Do, Si-Ryeon reflexively swallowed the scream that threatened to escape.

In only a couple of strides, Nak-Do crossed the boundary they had drawn between them.

“Hey.”

“Wh-Wh-What are you doing?! Stay away from me!”

Si-Ryeon turned his head away in panic and covered his face with both arms.

But without a weapon he could actually use to defend himself, his pitiful resistance was completely powerless.

A hot, solid hand soon seized Si-Ryeon’s wrist, and the arms covering his face were forcibly pulled apart.

“Mr. Yoo Si-Ryeon.”

The heated command, spoken in a low voice, descended from above Si-Ryeon’s head.

Si-Ryeon hesitantly turned toward him.

Nak-Do was already standing directly in front of him.

From a position about a handspan higher, the man stared fixedly down at Si-Ryeon.

“You… Now that I’m looking at you properly, you’re actually pretty tempting.”

“…!”

A strange light gleamed in the man’s black pupils.

For a moment, Si-Ryeon felt as though his airway had tightened.

‘This man… isn’t in his right mind.’

Nak-Do’s face was expressionless.

But the absence of an expression didn’t mean that Si-Ryeon couldn’t feel any emotion from him.

Was this what it meant for someone to devour another person with nothing but their gaze?

A fierce heat radiated from Nak-Do’s strangely gleaming eyes.

Si-Ryeon felt thirsty.

Instinctively curling his fingers inward, he held his breath.

Deep shadows filled the contours around Nak-Do’s eyes, making him resemble a wild animal.

Si-Ryeon had never been exposed so openly to another person’s overwhelming desire.

Least of all when he himself was the target of it.

An unfamiliar fear he had never experienced before crept up his spine.

Si-Ryeon lowered his gaze, avoiding the eyes of the beast that looked ready to devour him.

“…!”

That was when a hand radiating intense heat seized both of Si-Ryeon’s cheeks.

Startled by the force that turned his head, Si-Ryeon’s shoulders trembled as he was made to face Nak-Do again.

“Open your eyes and look at me properly.”

Holding Si-Ryeon’s face in place, Nak-Do spoke in a voice that had dropped dangerously low.

Then he began moving again, narrowing the distance between them even further.

Si-Ryeon wanted to look away, but it felt as though an invisible pressure had seized the back of his neck.

Keeping his gaze locked with Nak-Do’s, Si-Ryeon swallowed dryly.

His mouth filled with saliva, yet strangely, his throat remained parched.

The man didn’t blink once as he looked down at Si-Ryeon.

Then, without warning, he suddenly buried his lips against the back of Si-Ryeon’s neck.

The sounds coming from so close gradually took on a wet quality.

Unable to look directly, yet equally unable to escape Nak-Do’s grip, Si-Ryeon could only swallow repeatedly.

Please, hurry. Hurry…

“Haah, fuck.”

Still trapping Si-Ryeon within his arms, the suffering man cursed under his breath.

Si-Ryeon flinched in surprise, and Nak-Do slowly straightened his body.

“Hey. Give me your hand.”

“Wh-What… do you want me to give you?”

Si-Ryeon was so tense that he failed to understand Nak-Do’s words properly.

The man furrowed his brow, making the eyebrow with the two slashes appear even more menacing.

“You really have a talent for making people repeat themselves, Mr. Yoo Si-Ryeon.”

As he spoke, Nak-Do pulled on the wrist he had been holding the entire time.

Stunned senseless by one bewildering situation after another, Si-Ryeon failed to shake him off in time.

“I’m not proud of it, but I’ve never spent a rut alone before.”

A feverish delight appeared in Nak-Do’s black eyes.

Like a man who had completely lost his reason, Nak-Do opened his mouth and laughed.