KTC | Chapter 28

“Hyung…”

Unexpectedly, Seo Jihan made a sound. Using his own voice, not like a child’s, he uttered a term usually reserved for kids. Choi Seonwoo’s voice, softly continuing the lullaby, paused momentarily.

“Will you really wait for me?”

[…]

“Will you stay here and wait for me?”

[…Yes, I’ll be here waiting, so don’t worry.]

At last, Seo Jihan seemed relieved, his eyes closing as he relaxed his body. The tension gradually left the bodyguards who had been tensed up as if in battle.

It wasn’t long into their drive on the unpaved road when a tire finally burst. Nam Sangkyung directed the injured to be sent straight to the hospital, then switched to another car that had been following. He made sure Seo Jihan, along with Kim Youngchan and another bodyguard, were settled in the back.

They finally saw the towering cross. Who would have thought that this commonplace symbol would bring such relief?

The car came to a quiet stop. Choi Seonwoo came out to meet them, checked inside, and then flipped open Seo Jihan’s eyelids to look closely into his eyes.

“Bring him to my room.”

It was a polite request but carried an oddly compelling force. Choi Seonwoo’s tone had always been like this, somehow commanding respect.

Kim Youngchan carried Seo Jihan to the familiar path to Choi Seonwoo’s room. Choi Seonwoo halted the others with a gesture.

“It’s nothing serious, so please stay here, everyone. Team leader Kim, you come with me.”

The other men stayed put in the churchyard like chickens after the chase, leaving Nam Sangkyung sighing deeply as he turned away. Inside the open back door of the car, the crumpled shopping bag was visible.

It was the gift Seo Jihan had been holding onto, even while unconscious.

Since the malevolent spirit had already left, there was no need for an exorcism. Still, to be safe, Kim Youngchan was left outside the door as a guard.

Choi Seonwoo leaned over Seo Jihan, who was now awake and looking up at him intensely from the bed.

The disheveled black hair against the stark white sheets and those sultry eyes, too mature for his age, were truly a sight. Seo Jihan’s beauty had been increasing over the past two weeks, with a noticeable gain in weight.

Every time the islanders saw him, their sympathy was slowly being replaced by admiration, as if they were recognizing a gem beginning to shine.

“Brother, have I ever told you? Most of those who claim to be possessed by demons aren’t really possessed. The problem usually lies with the person themselves.”

Seo Jihan didn’t respond, just rubbed the back of his head against the sheet, his fingers twitching. When Choi Seonwoo sat down beside the bed, Seo Jihan’s hand quickly reached out and pulled at his wrist.

His grip was so strong that, despite resisting, Choi Seonwoo was pulled down in a moment. The strength didn’t come from any demonic power; this was his natural strength.

“You’re exactly in such a state now. The actual demon that wanted to attach itself to you ran away as soon as it realized it couldn’t possess me, leaving only the residual malice behind.”

Seo Jihan’s arms encircled Choi Seonwoo’s waist tightly. Choi Seonwoo, managing only to keep his face up with his hands on either side of Seo Jihan’s face, looked down at him.

“All this talk about brother this and that, yet why are you aroused?”

Seo Jihan simply smiled in response. His thick lashes curved seductively, his gaze alluring. In that momentary change, as he seemed about to kiss him, he said,

“You’re just too beautiful, Father.”

Choi Seonwoo quickly twisted his jaw away. The missed kiss damply pressed against his cheek.

“I want to see what’s under those priestly robes.”

Seo Jihan whispered mischievously.

“I can recognize you’re a priest. How about moving those blasphemous hands then?”

Choi Seonwoo pressed down near the collarbone with one forearm to support his weight and grabbed Seo Jihan’s wrist with his other hand. He tried to pry off the hand that was inappropriately groping, but it was no use. Instead, Seo Jihan rolled over, reversing their positions, pinning Choi Seonwoo down.

“You smell so good, Father. It’s intoxicating, really. It’s all your fault.”

“Oh, gaslighting now.”

Seo Jihan buried his face in Choi Seonwoo’s neck, breathing him in like an animal, slowly grinding their lower bodies together.

Choi Seonwoo sighed softly, grabbing Seo Jihan’s hair tightly. Despite the pain, Seo Jihan grinned, eyes squeezed shut.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret, brother.”

“I won’t regret it. I’ve wanted this for a while.”

Whether or not his hair was being pulled, Seo Jihan lowered his head and bit at the roman collar, tearing it off. He smiled broadly, liking what he saw, and began rubbing his cheek against Choi Seonwoo’s, then moving to his lips. His large hand smoothly climbed under the lifted clergy shirt—a skilled flirtation that didn’t seem like it came from someone who had been bedridden.

Some low spirit had taught him well, Choi Seonwoo thought grimly, grinding his teeth.

“I’ll say it again, the demon has left. It’s up to you to ward off the temptation. If we go any further from here…”

Choi Seonwoo was still giving Seo Jihan a chance to extract himself from the mire. However, Seo Jihan laughed deeply, then moved his lips to below Choi Seonwoo’s ear.

“Why? Going to abandon me again?”

“…”

“That’s something you’re good at, getting me utterly reliant on you and then coldly leaving.”

Manipulating one’s sense of original sin was a typical tactic of demons. Even Choi Seonwoo almost fell for it for a moment. He quickly covered Seo Jihan’s temples with his hands, locking eyes with him, but clearly, no demon was present.

His irritation was rising.

It wasn’t unthinkable given he was a young man in his prime, but this behavior was problematic.

“Yes. If I deem brother unworthy of salvation, I will abandon you.”

At Choi Seonwoo’s cold declaration, all of Seo Jihan’s flirtatious movements abruptly stopped.

“Why should I bother with someone who crumbles at the mere hint of a lustful spirit?”

Seo Jihan looked hurt but didn’t reflect on his actions. But Choi Seonwoo was unmoved.

“What you’re attempting now is the precursor to rape, you know that rationally.”

“No, that’s not it. I’m seducing you, not forcing you.”

“No. Forcing someone with physical strength isn’t seduction.”

Seo Jihan looked down, chastened, his long lashes casting shadows under his eyes like fans.

“You’ve suffered possession for a long time, brother, and you never learned to control your sexual impulses; you’re still too young. That’s why I’m being lenient with you now. So please, step back yourself.”

Hesitating momentarily, Seo Jihan then lay down beside him. The brief struggle had left even Choi Seonwoo drained. He lay staring at the ceiling, catching his breath.

Watching Choi Seonwoo blindly, Seo Jihan hesitantly reached out, twirling the ends of the light brown hair splayed on the sheet around his fingers and then brushing it with his lips, his gaze implying a kiss, sweet and sticky even in the absence of an audience.

“I want to have a deep relationship with you, Father.”

“Save that talk until you’re at least legally an adult in three months. Can’t you keep your mouth shut?”

“I want to see every inch of you hidden under that cassock, to be with you like a married couple every day,”

“If you say more, I’ll really get angry.”

Seo Jihan stopped his vulgar words and grinned. Choi Seonwoo brushed off the fingers and lips tangled in his hair as if shooing away a fly.

“In life, you’ll meet many people prettier than me. If you can’t control your impulses like this every time, you’ll end up a rapist in jail someday.”

“That won’t happen.”

“It most certainly will. You’re even attacking a man after being enticed by a mere low spirit.”

“No. You’re missing the point of what I’m saying.”

Finally, Choi Seonwoo turned his head.

When their eyes met up close, Seo Jihan, well-versed in using his looks from a young age, made his eyes as pretty as possible.

“I mean, I won’t see anyone prettier than you, Father.”

“…What nonsense.”

“You swore, Father.”

“It was to myself, let’s move on.”

Seo Jihan giggled then suddenly frowned, clutching his head as a wave of headaches crashed over him. It felt like being pricked with needles at each hair root.

“Brother, it hurts. Ah, feels like my scalp is being torn off, damn…”

The malice left behind by the lustful spirit was akin to an aphrodisiac. It ignited and violently fanned the human’s base lust, but that was it. It couldn’t force the host to commit rape, and now that the spirit had departed, its effects were fading fast.