STABLE BOY ; Trash of the Count's Family

32. ROLE OF A HYUNG

South drove the carriage out to the inn where the wolf beastchildren were. He had to do it alone today.

Apparently, Coachman Leon laughed so hard when he saw the Stan house coachman that he pulled a muscle and had to rest for a day. He loudly declared he had no regrets.

"Hey, stable boy," Cale spoke to him as they arrived. "If I put you in charge of ten wolf children, what would you do?"

South stared at him.

Then, not even bothering to get down from the coachman's seat, he said, "I will—"

And fell asleep.

Cale considered that. His head just dropped instantly, his body still perfectly upright, in the middle of his sentence and everything.

And he nodded. "Yeah, that's a perfect response."

Definitely not leaving South in charge of any children, even if he's the best candidate after Hans.

-

"—probably go jump off a... oh,"

South waked up among wolf children playing around the carriage and no Young Master in sight. He blinked. And blinked again.

One of the wolf children managed to conquer Tower South and raised their arm into the air declaring they were king of the jungle. There were cries of despair as someone dramatically fell off the side, only to be caught by someone below them who went oof.

"Jump off a what, hyung?" Lock asked.

South rubbed his eyes and blinked again. Right.

"Nothing," he said. "Why am I being used as a jungle gym?"

"Uh," Lock didn't know how to answer. "They thought you were a statue and wouldn't believe me when I said you were a person. Then you didn't move even when they did all that, so I couldn't stop them without risking waking you up, and Choi han-hyung said I shouldn't wake you up, so—"

Alright, enough enough. "Okay, I get it."

Someone's tugging at his cheek.

"He's alive!" the wolf children cried out with horror, and all scurried off him in a panic, nearly rolling off the side of the carriage in their fluster.

They all ran and stared at him, terrified.

So, South did the obvious thing.

He held up his hands like they were claws and went, "RARRR I'M GONNA EAT YOU!"

They all ran away screaming.

-

"You're the worst hyung ever," Lock declared, when Cale was done drinking with Billos and they would all go home but leave Lock here with his siblings.

South nodded. "I'm not meant for hyung duties."

Lock's cheeks puffed up at that, very annoyed. "You're demoted. I'm the hyung from now on until you learn how to behave."

"That's not how it works," South couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Well it's going to be how it works if you don't behave."

"Aigoo, I'm getting scolded by someone seven years younger than me."

"Sheesh, you're so nonchalant all the time, take me seriously!" Lock protested. "Will you be fine going back? You look like you're about to fall asleep again."

South swooned. "You're so nice to me even when you're mad."

"Answer the question!"

"I'll be fine," South told him, "I always look like this. Plus, it's Pengallope and Ponychael today," he gestured forward. "They know the way very well, and they know how to stop the carriage without my guidance. Even if I fall asleep, I'll be fine. Hong and On will protect the Young Master, right?"

The two kittens beside him mewed approvingly.

Lock still seemed worried, but he decided to sigh and relent. "You don't seem at all worried about getting hurt yourself," he said.

"Oh, spare that kind of worry for the Young Master himself," South dismissed. "I'll tell you guys a secret. If you look across my body, you'll rarely find any fresh scars. I only have these tattoos, but even they will sometimes disappear. Do you know what that means?"

Lock frowned.

He definitely hadn't seem South's whole body before. His body full of tattoos already stood out enough, but it wasn't true that there were no scars on his body. There was one, right on his cheek.

"You've never been hurt badly before?"

That's nice. And assuring.

"No," South told them, "you see. Usually, people who give me wounds that will scar? I give them right back. So, I only bear scars that I feel guilty for," he pointed at the wound on his cheek. "But eventually, I'll give it away, too. To whoever hurts me next."

Lock didn't understand.

Is he speaking about revenge? Is he speaking metaphorically?

"Even if I'm hurt, I'll be okay," South told him. "That's why, you should worry about yourself, okay, dongsaeng?"

Lock could only nod when he said that.

He didn't know what South meant when he said all that, and honestly, he was a little afraid of knowing how literal those words could be.

"See? Now you're upset," South said. "Told you, I'm not Hyung material."