Light Mr. XX

Inside the single-patient hospital room he had returned to, a heavy and awkward silence had settled.

Kim Min-seok lay on the bed, alternating his gaze between the two men standing at the foot of it. On one side was a man in a black suit, and on the other, a man dressed in brown. Aside from both being tall and handsome, the two men were completely different in every other aspect.

The man in black was dressed in a suit, accessorized with an expensive-looking watch and polished shoes, exuding the scent of cologne. His gaze toward Kim Min-seok was cold and rigid, giving off the impression that he either looked down on or disliked him. Yet, despite that, he showed no intention of leaving the hospital room.

The man in brown, dressed more casually, maintained a consistently gentle expression. The faint smile at the corners of his lips and the slightly upturned shape of his eyes gave him a warm, affectionate aura. The subtle scent of fabric softener clinging to him was soothing, and his deep brown eyes, filled with kindness, made it clear that he held great fondness for Seo Ha-yoon, the original owner of this body.

“So… this gentleman here is Choi Sang-hyuk, and…”

As Kim Min-seok spoke while looking at the man in the black suit, the man furrowed his brows. Since he hadn’t shown a pleasant expression even once since their first meeting, Kim Min-seok figured that was just his natural disposition.

‘If you hate it so much, why don’t you just get the hell out of here?’

Grumbling inwardly, Kim Min-seok turned his head to look at the man in brown, trying to recall the name he had heard earlier.

“And this gentleman is Ha Jun-seo, right…?”

“That’s correct.”

The man in brown—Ha Jun-seo—smiled warmly as if to say that Kim Min-seok had spoken well. When such a delicate-looking handsome man smiled with joy, it felt as if the entire hospital room brightened.

Kim Min-seok took a deep breath. He had no clue how to navigate this situation. He had no idea what had happened to his real body or how he had ended up in someone else’s. But one thing was certain—he was now inside the body of a man named Seo Ha-yoon. However, running around screaming for someone to return his body didn’t seem like the best idea. If he pushed too hard, there was a very real chance he’d end up locked away in a psychiatric ward.

“So then… what exactly is the relationship between you two and, well, this body—Seo Ha-yoon?”

Kim Min-seok asked cautiously. The man in black scowled even more, while the man in brown deepened his smile.

“Are you… brothers, by any chance?”

Judging by their appearances, it didn’t seem very likely, but he threw it out there anyway. Ha Jun-seo laughed and shook his head.

“Then are you close acquaintances? Or maybe his boss at work?”

As Kim Min-seok spoke, Ha Jun-seo stepped closer, his scent of soft fabric softener wafting around him. Then, making sure not to startle him, he carefully took Kim Min-seok’s hand and said,

“We’re lovers.”

“……What? Lovers?!”

His brain stalled. Lovers? What kind of lovers? That kind of lovers? Wait, what exactly does that even mean? Like… dating and kissing and all that?

As Kim Min-seok dumbly blinked in shock, Ha Jun-seo nodded as if he could read his thoughts. And then, he dropped the real bombshell.

“Yes, that’s right. We are Ha-yoon’s lovers.”

Boom!

The shock hit him like a hammer to the head. His vision swayed.

“We? We are?”

Kim Min-seok asked in a trembling voice, and Ha Jun-seo nodded once again.

“You’re saying he’s also a lover?”

With shaking eyes, Kim Min-seok turned to look at the man in black—Choi Sang-hyuk. Choi Sang-hyuk furrowed his brows deeply and spat out his response with a glare sharp enough to kill.

“That’s right.”

“…Ah, fuck. I didn’t just end up in a gay guy’s body—I ended up in a perverted gay guy’s body.”

Kim Min-seok muttered, feeling his mental state shatter into pieces. As if shaking off something dirty, he quickly pulled his hand away from Ha Jun-seo’s grasp and took a few hesitant steps backward. As long as he was stuck using this body, he had absolutely no intention of dating random men. And there was no way in hell he was going to get caught up in some weird love triangle.

“Let’s break up.”

Covering himself with the white hospital sheet like a shield, Kim Min-seok declared firmly. The moment those words left his mouth, the expressions on both men’s faces vanished, as if wiped clean. Their previously furrowed brows and soft smiles disappeared in an instant, replaced by complete, eerie blankness.

A chill ran down his spine.

How was he supposed to describe this? A primal fear? An instinctive terror?

For a moment, an ice-cold silence filled the room. There was no better word to describe the atmosphere than deadly. His entire body tensed as if he had committed some unforgivable crime. The fear creeping up his skin was so intense it felt surreal—like they might lunge at him any second and snap his legs in half.

Why?

If these two were really this body’s lovers, shouldn’t he feel safe with them? Feeling this level of fear toward one’s own lovers was just plain wrong.

“No matter how much you’ve lost your memory, that’s not something you should say so lightly, Ha-yoon.”

Ha Jun-seo suddenly gave a gentle smile, his tone soothing. As if the terrifying expression from earlier had been nothing but an illusion, it was now completely gone.

Choi Sang-hyuk’s blank expression also relaxed slightly, and Kim Min-seok felt the tightness in his body ease—just a little.

As the tension eased, a surge of embarrassment rose in reaction to the fear he had just felt. Who was he, after all? He was Kim Min-seok, a man who had lived independently, strong and capable. The fact that he had been afraid just from telling two gay men that he wanted to break up—now that was truly embarrassing.

Straightening his posture as if he had never cowered in the first place, Kim Min-seok spoke up.

“But as you can see, I don’t have any of Seo Ha-yoon’s memories. I don’t even know who you two are. So why exactly do I have to stay in a relationship with you? Right now, I don’t feel anything for either of you, and I have no desire to date you. So, breaking up seems like the most logical choice.”

Choi Sang-hyuk let out a scoffing laugh, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Ha Jun-seo’s smile deepened.

“Ha-yoon,” Ha Jun-seo said in a tone of finality, “you can’t break up with us.”

A wave of defiance surged within Kim Min-seok, and he shot back curtly, “Why not?”

This time, it wasn’t Ha Jun-seo who answered—it was Choi Sang-hyuk.

“The moment you break up with me, I’ll kill you.”

Choi Sang-hyuk uttered the horrifying words as if they were nothing, then looked at him as if asking, So what are you gonna do now?

“…What the fuck? Are you a gangster or something?”

Kim Min-seok asked, unable to hide the shock in his expression.

“No.”

“Yes.”

Two answers came at the same time.

Choi Sang-hyuk shot a glare at Ha Jun-seo, who only chuckled and shrugged.

That was answer enough. Either he was a gangster or something very close to it.

Alright. Let’s not mess around.

Kim Min-seok swallowed hard and averted his gaze.

“So… what you’re saying is that Choi Sang-hyuk loves this body so much that he’d rather kill it than let it break up with him…?”

“So, it’s… a touching love story, huh.”

Kim Min-seok tried his best to phrase it nicely, resisting the urge to let curses slip out.

Choi Sang-hyuk eyed him like he was calculating the best way to hit him—hard enough to hurt like hell but not enough to cause real damage. There’s no way he’d actually hit his injured lover… right? Even so, the look in his eyes was enough to make Kim Min-seok nervous. In a panic, he quickly shifted his gaze to Ha Jun-seo instead.

“Then how about you, Ha Jun-seo? You can break up with me, at least.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Why not?”

“Because we love each other deeply.”

Ha Jun-seo interlocked their fingers together as he spoke in a soft voice. The second Kim Min-seok felt another man’s fingers entwined with his, goosebumps shot up his arms. He instinctively tried to pull his hand away, but despite his delicate appearance, Ha Jun-seo’s grip was unbelievably strong. There was no way he was getting out of it.

“But I don’t love you anymore.”

“That’s okay. I love you.”

Ha Jun-seo smiled gently. At the same time, he squeezed their fingers together even tighter, the pressure so intense that Kim Min-seok felt like his bones might snap. Unable to hold back, he let out a pained groan, his face contorting in discomfort.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?”

Ha Jun-seo asked in the sweetest voice, loosening his grip just a little. But he still didn’t let go.

Kim Min-seok had the distinct feeling that continuing to argue about breaking up was a very bad idea.

A gangster lover who would kill him if he left was already a nightmare, but an angelic-looking man who might break his fingers while smiling sweetly? That wasn’t any better.

Is this what love between gay men is always like? So intense and passionate?

He wouldn’t know—he had never been gay.

Thinking it over, he realized he might have spoken too soon.

Whatever. Once I’m discharged, I just won’t contact them or meet them again. That’ll be the end of it.

This isn’t my problem.

Once he got back to his real body, everything would be solved anyway.

Since Kim Min-seok stopped talking and shut his mouth, Ha Jun-seo smiled softly and spoke up.

“The doctor said you can be discharged. The hospital is dull and boring, so let’s go home.”

“…Home?”