BIGBUTADORABLE . BL0GSPOT . C0M
"You always appear in my dreams."

On a sunny spring morning, a boy suddenly blurted out something weird to Tae-hwan. Tae-hwan, who was about to go to work that morning, had to turn his head and swallow in disbelief. Wow, kids these days are really scary, aren't they? Is this one of the ways they bully adults?

By the way, the kid in question was already a college student. His name was Yeong-hae. Tae-hwan scratched his chin slightly and looked at the twenty-year-old boy.

"Is that a college project or something?"

He asked.

Tae-hwan was forty years old, so it had been almost twenty years since he left college. He heard that universities taught all kinds of crazy things now.

Tae-hwan rarely interacted with the students who interned in his office, so he couldn't assume anything about their mental state. He didn't know anything about the ecology of kids nowadays. Besides, he didn't have the heart to scold Yeong-hae on this overly sunny morning. It could be that the boy just had a bad end to his adolescence.

Yeong-hae's parents raised their son strongly, to say the least, but indifferently, to say the worst. They moved abroad, leaving their only son behind. Perhaps that is why Yeong-hae had difficulty interacting with others. Even in middle school he had the audacity to roll his eyes at Tae-hwan. Well, instead of looking bitchy, he actually looked cute.

Poor kid. Tae-hwan clicked his tongue. He always felt sorry for Yeong-hae, whom he had known since he was in his mother's womb. The little baby twitching inside the swollen belly had come out, crawled, started to take baby steps and was now free to walk and run with both feet. How miraculous. Tae-hwan used to love stroking his head, although he rarely did it anymore because Yeong-hae would roll his eyeballs in disgust and shy away. But still, Tae-hwan always tried to take care of the boy. He loved Yeong-hae like his own son.

"You are in college now. You need a lot more money for a lot of things. I know that, man. Go on some blind dates, get a girl, hang out. But it hurts your pride if you can't go out because you don't have a dime in your wallet, right? Ask for more if this is not enough. I can give you more."

Tae-hwan looked at Yeong-hae's white sneakers, which he had bought him as a college entrance gift, then took his wallet out of his suit pocket. Tae-hwan was rich. Not only was he a recognized professional, he'd also inherited his parents' fortune. Besides, he wasn't the kind of person who liked to travel, so his money just piled up in the bank.

Tae-hwan had lost interest in dating and marriage since the failure of his first love at the age of 16. He never met a woman and had no hobbies other than drinking, smoking and nightlife. But his love for Yeong-hae made him take out two five thousand won bills without hesitation. As an only child, Tae-hwan was always worried about the kid next door, who often reminded him of his own childhood.

However, Yeong-hae, now holding the two fifty thousand won bills in his hands, grimaced at the sudden windfall.

"Haa, seriously. My head is spinning. Just wait, uncle!"

With that, Young-hae rushed into the elevator and immediately pressed the close button. Leaving Tae-hwan behind, who finally remembered that he had to go to the office as well. The man rushed to get in with Yeong-hae, but unfortunately he didn't make it. Alone in the spacious elevator, Young-hae continued to glare at Tae-hwan. His lithe eyes didn't blink, which amused Tae-hwan until he finally disappeared dramatically behind the closed elevator door.

"Damn bastard. I think he needs some medicine. Must be the Korean entrance exam that ruins so many kids."

Tae-hwan muttered while staring at his face clearly reflected in the closed elevator door. Come to think of it, Young-hae had been strange long before he became a freshman. Tae-hwan snorted, remembering how he was stared at by a middle schooler in an oversized uniform who looked like he was wearing an artillery sack.

***

"Ugh, why is it so ticklish?"

Tae-hwan's groin had been tingling and throbbing for the past few days. But no way in hell would he scratch it in the office. Tae-hwan tried to ignore the uncomfortable feeling by crossing his legs.

When Kim, one of his subordinates, approached with a lazy yawn, Tae-hwan quickly sat down on his chair to hide his lower half.

"Morning, Mr. Lim."

"Your face doesn't look so good, Mrs. Kim?"

Tae-hwan flashed his subordinate a wry smile as she handed him a file. Kim's complexion was gaunt from her all-night run last night.

"Unlike people like you, Mr. Lim, who always look good even after just waking up!"

"What's wrong with people like me?"

"You know that woman at the restaurant you frequent? Well, she has a niece who is a nurse, and she's been eyeing you for a match with her niece. Whenever you're not around, she's very chatty and asks me questions. Are you married yet, are you dating yet, blah blah blah."

"Is that so? But she never asked me anything though."

"Maybe she's embarrassed to ask you directly. Or maybe afraid? I mean, you look intimidating to a stranger. You're six feet tall, broad-shouldered, aka big. Especially when you're quiet, your face looks so cold. Brrr—"

"Oh, you mean your first impression of me is not good?"

Tae-hwan raised his left eyebrow and grinned mischievously.

"Hey, why do you say that? It's just that you're so good-looking. That's not flattery, by the way. I mean, every time a new employee comes in, everyone gets together and says, Oh, there's no face that can beat yours this year."

Kim handed over some new files and said in a low voice, almost a whisper. Tae-hwan took them, struggling to keep the corners of his mouth from curling up.

"You mean you?"

Despite his denial, Tae-hwan already knew that he was quite handsome and popular. As a child, he was often mistaken for a girl because he was thin and pretty. But as he grew, his bones became thicker and bigger, making him taller than his peers. And during hormonal puberty, instead of pimples, Tae-hwan was blessed with secondary sex characteristics: he became muscular and tall. His height continued to grow into adulthood, eventually reaching 190 cm.

In his twenties, Tae-hwan's body was full of muscles without any flab, but as he got older, he gained a lot of fat around his hips, waist, and chest. Yet, despite the passage of time, Tae-hwan still looked younger than his peers, with a full head of hair and a good hanger. Even at the age of forty, he still attracted the attention of many younger people.

"Oops, I got caught. So don't go to that restaurant anymore. I'm so tired of being asked questions."

Tae-hwan chuckled as Kim shook her head with crossed arms. Then he picked up the pen and looked at the file, squinting slightly as the sunlight from the front window behind him shone on the papers, suddenly remembering the strange morning.

"Yeah. Oh, right, Mrs. Kim. You know, uh... can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"That..."

Tae-hwan did not know how to tell the events of this morning without sounding as if he had experienced them firsthand. He was afraid of insulting Yeong-hae's character and being misunderstood. When she saw that Tae-hwan kept his lips sealed without speaking, Kim's eyebrows furrowed slightly in question. Finally, Tae-hwan forced himself to speak.

"That... I watched a weird French movie yesterday. It was an accident though. You know, Mrs. Kim. That French movie was really weird. There's this twenty-year-old boy who suddenly says to his twenty-year-older neighbor. You always come in my dreams. What kind of scene was that? I really don't understand the mental structure of young people!"

Tae-hwan's tone became angry and very heated. Kim gave her boss a strange look. Getting angry about a European movie he just watched?

"Is that like... a confession?"

"Confession?"

Tae-hwan, who had lived in Korea for nearly forty years, knew what those three syllables meant. But it wasn't a word that would come between Young-hae, the little boy next door, and himself, the old man next door. It didn't make any sense.

"Yeah. I mean, the lady is twenty years older than the young man, and he doesn't love the lady like he loves his mom and dad, but somehow he always sees the lady in his dreams... Hm...how should I say this? I don't know how to say it without being rude..."

"Just say it."

Kim's mouth twitched as she was urged. But Tae-hwan wanted to know exactly what was going through the boy's mind, so he pushed for an answer. Kim only spoke after she had leaned in a little closer.

"The lady is... ugly, in a word. The young man feels so bad just looking at her! Yes, I think that's a confession. Hmm... Awww, this movie is really weird, isn't it? Is it an R18 movie? Well, maybe I should watch it later. By the way, do you want to pay for my subscription...?"

In his whole life, Tae-hwan had never found anyone who called him ugly. He'd had women gently touch his biceps and say things like "Your arm muscles are so sexy," but never as blatantly as this morning with Young-hae. So instead of thinking that the angelic and innocent-looking boy's head might be more messed up than he thought, Tae-hwan decided to blame Kim, who smelled faintly of alcohol. There was no way that the petite, cute and only twenty-year-old Han Young-hae, whom he had known since childhood, had such feelings for him; he was just a little stressed out from his first semester at college.

"Mrs. Kim, I know it's been a long night for you, but there's no way the young man has that kind of feeling for the lady!"

"Oh, well, I'm just kidding, French movies are so weird anyway. I mean, I get it, it's supposed to be deeply artistic, but I don't know how artistic people think, but won't you pay for my subscription?"

Kim gestured to the files on her boss's desk. Tae-hwan moved the pen in his hand and scribbled his signature haphazardly. Unlike the long conversation, it was a simple and quick process.


NOTE

One of the novels I translate got removed from NovelUpdates. So...
I made a DISCORD SERVER. Just in case.



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