Confinement Constitution Guide

A Perfect and Wise Life in Confinement (6)

I quietly gazed at Sa Hae-geon’s eyes, which seemed to be churning like waves, and then nodded with difficulty.

“…Yeah, sure. Good morning.”

Sa Hae-geon smiled slightly at my greeting and straightened his upper body. Then, he extended his hand to me. It seemed he wanted me to hold his hand and get up.

Although I wasn’t particularly inclined to do so, I had to take Sa Hae-geon’s large hand and raise my upper body to prevent him from saying unnecessary things like wanting to sleep next to me again. Sa Hae-geon’s hand, which I held again after a day, was hot, just like when we shook hands.

“What’s this? Why is your hand so hot? Didn’t you say it was usually cold?”

“Yes. But I thought you might not like it if it was cold. So I warmed it up with hot water before coming.”

Then, was the reason his hand was hot when we shook hands last time also because he had warmed it up like today? Is that why he rushed into his house before shaking hands? Is there really a need to go that far? I don’t particularly care whether the hand I’m shaking is cold or not.

I gave a half-hearted response while avoiding Sa Hae-geon’s gaze, which was fixed on me like a puppy waiting for praise.

“No, I don’t really mind if it’s cold.”

“I don’t like it. It’s not summer yet, it’s still winter. You might catch a cold.”

“Do you think a cold is some kind of plague that you catch just by holding cold hands a few times?”

“A few times? We’ve only held hands twice, is it okay to express it so abstractly?”

Sa Hae-geon asked with half-crazed eyes, seeming to have fixated on another strange point.

“So how many times did you think about? I thought about twenty times a day. Ten times in summer. More than that would probably be inconvenient for daily life. Is that not good?”

“…That’s not the important part right now.”

“Then what’s important?”

“Obviously… that you don’t catch a cold from holding cold hands twice.”

Sa Hae-geon made a dissatisfied expression at my words. As I was about to turn my gaze away after roughly scanning that fellow who only seemed proper in appearance, something familiar caught my eye.

“…By the way, what’s with that outfit?”

“Oh, did you just notice? How is it?”

Sa Hae-geon was sitting on the bed wearing a prisoner uniform just like me. How could I only now notice this outfit with such an insane presence? It was so absurd that I couldn’t even manage a hollow laugh.

“I love it because it’s couple pajamas with you, hyung.”

“…I see.”

“What about you?”

“I… feel similarly, I guess.”

I didn’t even have the energy to argue with Sa Hae-geon about this topic. Who would have expected to end up wearing couple pajamas with a kidnapper? And in a ‘prisoner uniform’ design, no less.

At this point, I was suspicious of Sa Hae-geon’s tastes.

“Since we’re on the topic, why is your taste in pajamas like this? The underwear too.”

“You don’t like them? I only bought things that I thought would suit you.”

“…There’s no way such things would suit me.”

“Seeing how well the current pajamas suit you, just as I thought, I think the other pajamas will too. And even if the designs don’t suit you, I’m okay with that. So don’t worry too much, hyung.”

My lips closed weakly at Sa Hae-geon’s sincere words. I had lost all will to fight because of what he just said. How could he interpret my words in such a way? With each repeated conversation, I wondered if he was doing this on purpose.

Was Sa Hae-geon’s mind as flowery as his innocent face? Right. There’s no way such ideas would be possible otherwise.

“If you really don’t like them, we can choose together next time. Things that match your taste.”

“…Yeah. That would be better.”

“Okay. And about Cream…”

“Cream? What about Cream?”

I involuntarily raised my voice when Cream’s name came out of Sa Hae-geon’s mouth. Sa Hae-geon’s eyes widened in surprise, probably because I suddenly raised my voice after responding weakly all this time.

But that was only for a moment, and he soon spoke with his characteristic shy expression.

“I went at 7 AM to feed her, changed her water and litter box. I heard it’s good to play hunting games with her, so I did that for about thirty minutes, and she seemed to like it. She even purred for me.”

“…Cream did?”

“Yes. There was only one. Is there another Cream I don’t know about?”

“No, that’s not it…”

There’s no way that picky cat would welcome a stranger other than me. Cream is even prickly and standoffish with my parents. But as Sa Hae-geon said, there isn’t another Cream in my house either.

I looked at Sa Hae-geon with suspicious eyes. I thought that this lecherous kidnapper might be lying. After all, until now, I was the only human Cream would play with and purr for sweetly.

Moreover, even for me, who was such a unique existence for Cream, it took a whole six months to hear her purr.

“…That’s impossible.”

“She even did the kneading thing on my thigh, so I sat on your sofa for a while. That’s okay, right?”

Jealousy suddenly arose as I watched Sa Hae-geon checking my reaction while talking about sitting on the sofa. They say you shouldn’t take in black-haired beasts. Although Cream wasn’t a black-furred cat, I still felt a great sense of betrayal.

Abandoning her owner and giving not only purrs but even kneading to this terrible person who kidnapped her owner? Have you ever seen such an ungrateful cat?

“Why can you, a kidnapper, see Cream but I can’t? It’s not like it’s hours away, it’s right next door. I miss our Cream too. I want to feed her myself, I want to wave the fishing rod toy myself. I could do that much under your supervision, right?”

Although I knew it was right to act docile, words of resentment kept spilling out of my mouth. I knew this was all unnecessarily provocative behavior towards the kidnapper, but because it was related to Cream, I couldn’t easily calm down.

After all, considering how I’ve raised that cat, how could I possibly calm down easily?

Sa Hae-geon stared at me with a subtle expression and then stood up from his seat. Since Sa Hae-geon had been the one chattering all this time, an uncomfortable silence fell as soon as he closed his mouth. As a result, this time I found myself checking Sa Hae-geon’s reaction.

At least he didn’t look displeased. But he didn’t look happy either. There just didn’t seem to be anything that could be called emotion at all.

But I had no intention of backing down. Sa Hae-geon had an obligation to help me reunite with Cream once a day. If he didn’t like that, he should bring Cream here.

Ridiculously dressed in a prisoner uniform that suited him very well, Sa Hae-geon, who had been silent for a long time, finally moved his lips.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“I understand how you feel, so let’s talk about it again after breakfast. You’re hungry, right?”

“That’s true.”

“We just need to heat up the soup and meat, so come here.”

Sa Hae-geon, who quietly soothed me in a voice not much different from usual, led the way out of the room. I quietly stared at his broad back and then slipped my feet into soft slippers.

‘…Somehow, it feels like I’m the one being trained.’

As soon as I left the room, scratching the back of my head, a savory and delicious smell tickled my nose. Sa Hae-geon, who had gone to the kitchen first, was heating up a frying pan. After confirming that I had sat at the table, he cracked eggs into the now sufficiently heated frying pan.

“How do you like your fried eggs, hyung?”

“Over easy.”

“Me too. Our tastes match even in this. We won’t have to fight over this.”

“Mmm. That’s fortunate.”

“Right? How many fried eggs do you like in your bibimbap?”

“Hmm, three?”

“That’s similar to me too.”

Sa Hae-geon turned to me with a bright smile while flipping the eggs. It was a smile that strangers might find pure. Of course, his inner thoughts were nothing more than those of a dark kidnapper.

“I like about four in mine. But since too much of anything isn’t good, I’ll cut it down to three too.”

“Not bad. Three is plenty delicious. And for bibimbap, two…”

“Two over easy, and one fully cooked, right?”

“Oh, yeah. How did you know?”

“I just thought it would be like that. That’s how I eat it too.”

Sa Hae-geon shrugged as if it was no big deal. But I clearly saw it. His round ears had turned slightly red, though faintly.

‘…Is he really innocent?’

Just looking at the fact that he kidnapped me, he’s clearly a kidnapper with dark intentions, but paradoxically, his actions seem very innocent. That’s probably why I can’t gauge this person called Sa Hae-geon at all.

“Hyung, you’re very hungry, right? It’s all done. We just need to mix it now.”

Although it wasn’t a specialized Korean restaurant, Sa Hae-geon brought out bibimbap, bean sprout soup, bulgogi, seaweed, and scorched rice tea in brass tableware.

“…Do ordinary households have brass tableware?”

“I noticed you didn’t have any at your place either.”

“You checked that too?”

“That was just by chance. Anyway, let’s eat, hyung.”

Sa Hae-geon held a lettuce wrap filled with bulgogi and rice to my mouth as if trying to shut me up, and I pretended to give in and ate it. Just like yesterday, Sa Hae-geon’s food boasted perfect taste and seasoning today as well.

Would I ever experience such a blissful kidnapping in my life again? Not likely. I was certain, no, I could guarantee that there would never be another kidnapper who could perfectly satisfy my palate like Sa Hae-geon.