Confinement Constitution Guide

Life in Confinement, Hard Ver. (6)

“What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, well.”

“Lies. If you knew even a bit of my emotions, you wouldn’t treat me like this.”

Sa Hae-geon asked with sharp eyes, as if wondering which part bothered him.

“No, not your current emotions, your past emotions. I meant I vaguely read the emotions you felt when you were young.”

“Emotions from when I was young?”

Sa Hae-geon’s aggressive aura softened considerably, as if he had drawn his blade. The small misunderstanding that had arisen seemed to be resolved.

“Yeah. The emotions you had when you decided to learn cooking… stuff like that.”

After finishing, I carefully observed Sa Hae-geon’s reaction. Sa Hae-geon looked at me with an inscrutable expression.

“In short… you can read the emotions inside me?”

“That’s right…? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, and theoretically this is only possible with an extremely high matching rate, but there are no domestic cases. I’m not sure about overseas cases though. Anyway, I arbitrarily read your personal emotions…”

“I like it.”

“I can understand if you feel upset… What did you say?”

“I said I like it, a lot.”

Sa Hae-geon was delighted, his cheeks flushed red. At the fact that I could peek into his private emotions. The fourth day of confinement passed like that.

The fifth day of confinement also went by peacefully. Nothing notable happened, except for Sa Hae-geon constantly trying to lean on me and sob during guiding sessions. No, wait. Sa Hae-geon finally making loach soup for dinner might count as a big deal.

And Sa Hae-geon finally remembered what he said on the first day and started nonsense again about sleeping in the same bed.

I ignored Sa Hae-geon, who was looking at me with eyes more earnest than when Cream begs for snacks, and firmly locked my bedroom door. Cream was also kicked out of the room along with Sa Hae-geon.

Early morning on the sixth day of confinement, I woke up and took a look. Cream was stretched out in the middle of Sa Hae-geon’s bed, while the room owner was precariously hanging off the edge of the bed, fast asleep.

I almost burst out laughing at the sight that made Cream look like the owner of the room. Stifling my laughter, I carefully closed the door to Sa Hae-geon’s room.

An hour of lazily watching TV while lying against the armrest of the sofa. Sa Hae-geon, stretching as he came out of his room, flinched upon discovering me.

“You’re up early?”

“Yeah. Good morning.”

“Was the bed uncomfortable? I should sleep with you after all, right? Wouldn’t the matching rate increase if we sleep together? Of course it’s high now too, but the higher the better. What do you think?”

I had gotten used to Sa Hae-geon’s absurd remarks to the point that I no longer laughed hollowly or found them absurd. Just like how Cream adapted to freely roam this spacious house, I had also adapted to Sa Hae-geon as a person.

So I had a decent grasp on how to react to Sa Hae-geon’s words.

“Seems like you’re still half-asleep. We can have breakfast late, so why don’t you go back and sleep some more?”

“No. I’m wide awake though.”

Sa Hae-geon’s gait as he insisted that was unsteady. He tottered over to the sofa and stood by my head.

“…What?”

“Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“Guiding while using your lap as a pillow would be too much for you, right?”

Sa Hae-geon spouted nonsense, perhaps still not fully awake. As if I, who could guide well in any adverse situation, couldn’t guide while using a lap pillow.

“What? Why would that be too much? And who’s giving who a lap pillow here.”

“I am.”

“Is that so? Then sit there. I’ll show you whether guiding is possible or not while using a lap pillow.”

It’s funny for me, only twenty-five, to say such things, but Sa Hae-geon, having just turned twenty-one, felt like a child.

Snorting, I lifted my head that was resting against the sofa armrest and slowly slid down. Sa Hae-geon promptly sat on the sofa and placed my head on his thighs.

His thighs, which looked firm at a glance, defied my expectation that they would be too hard and uncomfortable, serving as a decent pillow.

“Is it okay?”

“Yeah. Not bad.”

“That’s a relief.”

Sa Hae-geon’s face looking down at me was quite a sight. Especially his tall nose bridge and lively red lips were a treat to see. As I gazed at Sa Hae-geon like admiring a celebrity’s face, our eyes met.

Sa Hae-geon lowered his head slightly to meet my gaze and smiled, the corners of his mouth lifting. With a face tinged with laughter, he seemed to ponder something for a moment before opening his mouth.

“You think my face is pretty, right?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“And you like my cooking skills too?”

“Yeah. Totally.”

“What about the pace of getting to know each other? Does it seem appropriate?”

“…Huh?”

I was at a loss for words at the sudden question. Sa Hae-geon curved his long eyes as he looked at me struggling to answer.

“It’s okay. It’s only been six days so far. I’m confident I can wait even if it takes years.”

“Years…?”

“Yes. Years.”

Does that mean he intends to confine me here for years? That’s quite burdensome. No matter how nice this ‘rest disguised as confinement’ is, being locked up for years felt repulsive. It also occurred to me that at that point, it wouldn’t be confinement but close to cohabitation.

“But are you guiding right now?”

“…Ah, right. I forgot for a sec.”

I barely remembered that the reason I lay my head on Sa Hae-geon’s lap in the first place was to check if guiding was possible. While caressing Sa Hae-geon’s waves that had improved quite a bit thanks to the guiding sessions these past few days, I slowly began untangling the twisted threads.

Sa Hae-geon blankly stared into the air as if he could see the intangible waves emanating from me. After being entranced like that for a while, Sa Hae-geon soon looked down at me and smiled softly.

“What?”

“Guiding really is possible even while using a lap pillow.”

“I told you. I think I can get up now…”

“Strangely, I feel like the guiding is lacking today. Can’t you do it a bit longer?”

“Okay. But can’t I do it after getting up?”

As I moved as if to get up right away, Sa Hae-geon flinched and carefully grabbed my shoulders.

“I prefer it like this. Isn’t it more comfortable for you to do it lying down too?”

“Well. It doesn’t really matter.”

“No. I think this position is comfortable for both of us. Keep going like this.”

Sa Hae-geon’s ploy was obvious, but it was cute enough that I decided to let it slide this once. Not because Sa Hae-geon’s hand resting gently on my shoulder felt tense and stiff, nor because the lap pillow was quite comfortable.

I closed my eyes and focused on guiding again. Amidst the tranquil surroundings, the sound of Sa Hae-geon’s heart beating fiercely rang in my ears.

* * *

After eating dinner to my heart’s content, I was about to open the cabinet holding underwear and pajamas to wash up when Sa Hae-geon suddenly barged in.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah, what.”

“Which pajamas are you wearing today?”

“Well. I’m thinking of wearing the most decent-looking one out of these.”

“I want you to wear this one.”

What Sa Hae-geon pulled out from the drawer was some animal pajamas imitating a flying squirrel. Why do humans do this? Flying squirrels are cute because they are flying squirrels, but humans don’t become cute just by copying their appearance. It’s so frustrating.

I stared in shock at Sa Hae-geon shoving a piece of cloth at me that would easily make the top 3 pajamas I never want to wear.

“It doesn’t look decent at all.”

“But it’s cute.”

“…So what.”

“So I think it’ll suit you well.”

Sa Hae-geon naturally put the flying squirrel pajamas in my arms as if my opinion didn’t matter since he had decided.

“I’m not a little kid, and I’m wearing all sorts of things because of you. Prison uniforms and animal pajamas…”

I sighed involuntarily. Still, it’s better than pajamas with frills and lace or ones with flamboyant leopard print designs. There’s a limit to enduring prison uniform-style pajamas too.

The hood attached to the back was a bit annoying, but it didn’t seem like it would be too much trouble to wear. Right. What’s the point of caring about pajama designs when I’m not even a prisoner but still wore a prison uniform.

Leaving the brightly smiling Sa Hae-geon behind, I closed the bathroom door and entered the shower stall. No matter how resigned I was, I couldn’t help but slow down my bathing speed due to an inexplicable aversion.

Standing under the showerhead, soaking my body with hot water as if cleansing my soul, I finally turned off the faucet with a heavy resolve.