"I said, What can you do in the meantime to make it subside? A cold shower perhaps?" Byeong Ho asked.
"Hmm. A cold shower does help to some extent. But I can't have that here right now." Doyun responded.
"Why? Don't you have a washroom here?"
"We do have them, but the showers don't work at this time."
"Hm. What about the tabs? They work, right?"
"I can't tell. I don't know if it will flow at this time."
"Go and check then. You have a bucket, right?" Byeong Ho asked.
Doyun nodded in answer. "There's some at the common bathhouse."
"Then take your soap and towel."
Doyun reluctantly nodded as he left the room with his shower gel and towel in hand. He didn't bother with a sponge since he took a bath earlier, before he had taken those pictures.
He felt quite tired to walk all the way there, but little by little, he finally got there after bypassing a few rooms on his floor.
For how long the boy has been away, Byeong Ho couldn't tell, but when he still didn't return from the bathroom after waiting for thirty minutes more, he decided to go and look for him just in case.
He contemplated whether to take his gun from where he had hidden it or not. After some time, he decided to leave both his phone and gun in the room.
He first scanned the rooms on the floor and thought that the common bathhouse would be in the middle, where the stairs are. Luckily, he was right.
He thought it would be easier to spot the boy by the sound of him bathing since it's the middle of the night. But no, he heard no such sound at all.
This made Byeong Ho's head start to be filled with all sorts of unpleasant thoughts as his mind's eye also visualized those unpleasant thoughts.
As such, Byeong Ho frantically opened one cubicle after the other, in hope that he would find the boy in one, but unfortunately, he was not in any of them.
As he turned to leave, he saw a bottle of shower gel on top of the wall of one of the cubicles and a towel hanging by the side.
Thinking that perhaps the boy might have gone to fetch water from a different place, Byeong Ho opened the taps, and his theory was proven to be correct.
He released a heavy sigh of relief. He came out of the washroom and went to check down the stairs to see if he was coming up with water.
The image he met threw him off guard. Just a few steps below, lies the boy.
Doyun was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, and a blue bucket was by his side.
Byeongho descended the stairs to check up on him. "Hey." He taps the boy by the shoulder.
Doyun opens his eyes. His eyes looked blank and empty as they stared at Byeongho with no idea what was going on.
"Why are you here? Won't you go up and wash up? Do you want to sleep here rather?"
His question made Doyun come to his senses, and he quickly tried to get off the floor, but he felt quite weak in the legs. He sat back down on the floor.
"Here, let me help you." Byeongho places the boy's hand around his shoulders and holds his waist with one hand while the other holds Doyun's hand on his shoulders.
He made Doyun sit on a high veranda in the washroom and went back to bring the bucket of water up.
He put the water in the cubicle where Doyun had put his bathing gel and towel. He then goes to assist him in getting into the cubicle.
"I'll be waiting for you here." Byeongho said this to Doyun, who had his face resting on his arm, which was against the wall.
He drew the curtains to close the cubicle and wait for him on the high veranda where Doyun had sat just a few minutes ago.
After not hearing the sound of water being splashed or any sound at all from the cubicle, Byeong Ho decided to check on the boy again.
Doyun was still leaning on his arm and had his face facing the bathroom floor with his eyes close.
"Aren't you going to bathe quickly so we can go back in? It's quite chilly here." Byeongho said, but Doyun didn't react.
Concerned, he asked. "Or do you need help? Should I help you?" He asked, but the boy only mumbled some unintelligible words.
Byeongho decided then to take matters into his own hands because he has started to feel cold, and he can't just leave the boy out here like that.
"I'll help you, she said then. Take off your top, but let go of the shorts. You can keep the boxer shorts on."
Hearing this, Doyun changed his posture. He now had his back leaning against the wall as he removed his shirt, which took longer than he usually would because he felt quite lethargic.
Even though Byeongho saw his full naked body just a few hours ago, he hasn't gotten used to how the younger guy's body is a complete contrast to his face.
His stature is a lot sturdier, and his muscles are well cut and toned. Yet his skin is very white, like he's never been allowed to step into the sun.
If Byeongho had met him elsewhere, he would've assumed that he was just some spoiled young master with no responsibility.
Byeongho gulped, unaware of how he was shamelessly ogling the boy.
His soft looks and his hard but beautiful body are like works of art. A fusion of an angelic face and a villainous body. This boy will easily pass as the main antagonist of a Xanxia comic story.
Byeongho was sure that if such a book existed, it would be a bestseller in no time at all.