Chapter 19 : Drafts, Doors, and Dignity

“I’ve used that a lot too.”

“Let’s do the auxiliary guiding first.”

“Come over here.”

Segyeom, who had taken off his suit jacket and casually tossed it onto the sofa, stood in front of a machine placed in a corner of the living

room and called Jihan over.

Jihan, who had been constantly looking around, surveying the inside of the house, slowly approached the machine that resembled a massage

chair.

As a Guide, Jihan had never expected to use a guiding machine, so he hesitated awkwardly.

With an impatient gesture, Segyeom sat him down in the chair and activated the machine.

As soon as the device powered on, the sound of the machine running was heard, the leg rest of the chair rose, and the backrest reclined.

Jihan, finding himself almost lying down, was flustered while Segyeom, with quick and practiced hands, attached patches connected to the

machine to various parts of his body.

One near the temple, another where the ear meets the neck, and one on the inner wrist.

And then he pulled the shirt out from the waistband of the pants and attached patches near the chest and stomach…

“Ugh! H-Hey, I can do this myself!”

“Stay still.”

“I’m almost done.”

“It’s my body, after all.”

“I know best where and how to attach them for the best effect.”

Left speechless, Jihan clamped his mouth shut and subtly turned his head away.

It was embarrassing, but he couldn’t argue since he himself had insisted yesterday that it was his body and he needed guiding.

“You’ll feel better in a moment.”

“Just endure it a little longer.”

“…Yeah.”

“Thanks.”

“What’s there to thank me for?”

“You’re suffering because of my body.”

Segyeom gave a self-deprecating smile at Jihan’s words of gratitude.

Truthfully, Segyeom didn’t feel comfortable seeing Jihan suffer because he happened to swap bodies with him.

Whenever he saw Jihan, who seemed perfectly fine one moment, suddenly gasp for air like someone in discomfort, his own heart would

clatter along.

After that, he felt so sorry he couldn’t even meet his eyes properly.

That’s why, even now, as Jihan grumbled, asking what suffering he was talking about and telling him not to say such things, Segyeom kept his

gaze averted and continued speaking.

“Take a nap while receiving the auxiliary guiding.”

“Let’s discuss what to do next after you wake up.”

Jihan, watching Segyeom who couldn’t look him straight in the eye, curiously nodded his head readily.

“Alright.”

“But I have something I’m curious about.”

“…What are you curious about?”

“When you came to Changsoo’s wedding, your EC level was also 51%.”

“But how did you look so perfectly fine?”

“I feel like I’m dying right now.”

At the genuinely curious question, Segyeom finally let out a small laugh.

“Mental strength.”

“I’m so used to those kinds of symptoms that they’re bearable.”

Jihan was about to flare up at the mention of mental strength, wanting to retort, ‘So you’re saying I have no willpower?’, but he meekly shut

his mouth after hearing the words that followed.

He couldn’t imagine how accustomed one had to become for this pain to be bearable.

Counting from when he first manifested, it had been a whole 8 years.

Jihan internally clicked his tongue, wondering how Segyeom had endured those 8 years.

“Alright, rest for a bit then.”

“I’m going to go wash up.”

“Okay.”

“Got it.”

After saying that, Segyeom opened a door that seemed to lead to a bathroom and disappeared.

Jihan, sitting near the window where sunlight streamed in warmly, slowly exhaled and relaxed his tense muscles.

Just as Segyeom said, it seemed like a good idea to take a nap and wake up.

His frayed nerves loosened, making him feel drowsy and comfortable.

‘The bodies are already swapped anyway, can’t I just think about it after I wake up?’

As Jihan gradually shed his anxiety and was about to close his eyes with a slight lift of his lips…

“…Wait a minute, wash what?!”

Recalling Segyeom’s last words, Jihan shot up from his seat.

The patches stuck to his body fell off in the process, but he had no time to worry about such things.

Scrambling off the machine, Jihan ran towards the bathroom Segyeom had entered, his face pale.

He frantically grabbed the bathroom doorknob and tried to open the door.

However, the knob of the door, locked from the inside, just turned uselessly.

“Hey, Shin Segyeom! Get out here right now!”

“It’s not even your body, what the hell are you doing washing up! Come out while I’m asking nicely!”

Jihan, flaring up, kept turning the doorknob.

Then, after a moment, a presence was felt from inside, and the lock on the doorknob clicked open.

Jihan confidently opened the door and parted his lips to let out a rough curse.

However, no sound came out of his mouth.

Frozen like a statue, Jihan stared blankly at the scene before him, looking as if he had forgotten how to breathe.

He saw a body familiar to Jihan.

The only problem was that the familiar body was stark naked, without a single thread on it.

Segyeom, returned to his primal state, had opened the door and was looking up at Jihan with a sullen face.

Ah, f*ck.

Such a curse seemed to escape Jihan’s lips very quietly.

“What is it?”

“I told you to take a nap while getting auxiliary guiding.”

“…You, you!”

“Me what?”

“Speak.”

“Or is it because of this?”

Segyeom’s lips curled into a mischievous grin as he pointed a finger towards his lower body.

Below his finger, the smooth nether region, lacking what an adult male should naturally possess, was starkly revealed.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t gone to the bathroom once since yesterday until today.”

“I already knew.”

“…You knew?”

“Yeah.”

“So don’t worry, just rest until I’m done washing up.”

“I’ll respect your preferences.”

Finishing his words nonchalantly, Segyeom closed the door again.

Jihan stared blankly at the bathroom door that closed before his eyes, frozen and unable to make a sound.

Then, the click of the door locking finally jolted him back to his senses.

His neck and face instantly turned beet red as Jihan shouted indignantly.

“You son of a b*tch!”

“It’s not a preference, it’s a condition, a condition!”

“To someone who’s sick, huh? You can’t even offer comfort!”

Something, whether shame or anger, surged up from within him, and he kicked the door with all his might.

It was a foolish act, committed forgetting he was currently in Segyeom’s body.

Kwang!

A sound unbelievable to have been made by a person kicking echoed, and the door began to tilt crookedly.

Flustered, wondering what was happening, Jihan checked the rattling hinge area.

At that moment, the door, which had been hanging crookedly, detached with a thud and fell forward.

“Whoa!”

Jihan quickly caught the door, preventing it from falling.

If it hit the floor and broke the expensive marble, that would be a true disaster.

“Wh-Why is this happening?”

So startled that he didn’t even realize he was holding the large door like a piece of paper, Jihan tried desperately to reattach the door

somehow.

But a door that had already come off wouldn’t attach so easily.

As he stood there holding the bathroom door, unsure what to do, his eyes met Segyeom’s through the gap.

Feeling flustered and ashamed, Jihan shrank back like a child who had caused trouble.

Segyeom already wore a cold expression, as if looking at a nuisance.

“Why wouldn’t you know?”

“After kicking it with all your might?”

“Keep holding the door.”

“So the draft doesn’t come in.”

“What?! Why should I!”

Jihan’s eyes widened as if wronged, putting on a rebellious expression.

However, the moment his gaze met Segyeom’s exasperated look, he inevitably backed down.

“Because you broke it.”

“My body is weak enough as it is, what if I catch a cold because it’s chilly?”

“Didn’t you tell me not to get a single scratch on your body?”

Jihan inwardly cursed him as a heartless bastard.

Outwardly, however, like a puppy caught misbehaving, he watched Segyeom’s expression and carefully opened his mouth.

“A house this big, surely this isn’t the only bathroom…”

Hearing the mumbled words, Segyeom, who was heading towards the shower booth, shouted loudly.

“That’s true, but I like this bathroom the most.”

“F*ck.”

A curse escaped Jihan’s lips, sounding aggrieved.

But Segyeom, whose hearing seemed incredibly sharp now, heard the curse and burst out laughing.

“Why get so worked up?”

“Lots of people do it for hygiene purposes these days.”

Hygiene?

Jihan raised an eyebrow askew at that word and once again raised his voice loudly.

“Hygiene, my *ss.”

“What does a hairless guy like you know, spouting nonsense!”

“Do you know the sorrow of someone who lacks it?”

That’s when it happened.

An unexpected question flew at Jihan.

“You saw?”

“…Huh?”

“You saw.”

“Judging by you saying I’m hairless.”

Jihan, who had been awkwardly holding the door as instructed, gaped with a dumbfounded expression.

Then Segyeom, leaving the shower booth again, stood before the door and met Jihan’s eyes through the gap.

His eyes, which had narrowed suspiciously, curved playfully the moment their gazes met.

“Pervert.”

“Don’t even think about peeking while I shower.”

“Okay?”

Jihan remained frozen like ice, unable to make a sound or move.

And seeing this, Segyeom went back into the shower booth, turned on the shower, and pressed his lips firmly together with his hand.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d had this much fun.

Swallowing the laughter that kept threatening to burst out, Segyeom began his shower refreshingly.

Fortunately, no draft seeped in, allowing him to finish his shower warmly.