4 Passage of time

"You're annoying" Frowning slightly his little frown, Seojun slightly stood up and gently kissed his mother's cheek, then lay back on the bed and yawned while mumbling "I'm hungry."

"..." But as if not hearing those words, Sujin blinked in a daze for a few seconds and foolishly touched her cheek, then looked down at her lazy son and watched him with a twinkle in her eyes.

Instantly feeling his mother's intense gaze, Seojun swallowed saliva nervously and slowly hid under the blankets, not knowing if it was really the right thing to do.

Although Seojun and his mother usually sleep together and in a way have a good mother-son relationship, Seojun never did something like what he just did.

He was always cautious with his actions, constantly fearing that a small move he makes will be considered a big heresy or insult, ending up with a miserable fate thanks to his own mother.

After all it is really hard to breathe easy in front of this woman, even more so when you consider that she occupies the same position as the person who burned him alive in his former life.

Although it may not seem like it, traumas are not fantasy and certainly only Seojun knows how uncomfortable it was to adapt again to this new 'family'.

But who knew this terrifying woman would wake him up with a gift?

While his mother said she would bring him something to amuse him, he never thought she would actually do it. Let alone did he think she would go to the trouble of contacting a craftsman just to make him a couple of straw dolls.

Seojun, who lived more than 20 years in the modern world, never received any gifts in his life.

No dolls, no perfumes, no toys, nothing.

His whole life was only studies, religion, work and more work.

"Tomorrow I'll bring you the clothes for the dolls."

Feeling no discomfort in his mother's voice, Seojun sighed with relief and peeked his head from the blanket again, then muttered, "I'm sleepy."

"Weren't you hungry?"

"Yes, but I'm more sleepy than hungry."

Smiling with amusement, Sujin nodded and took off her sandals, then lay back on the bed and opened the top of her clothes to reveal one of her breasts.

Smiling happily, Seojun approached his mother and gently cupped her breast, then snuggled next to her and started drinking milk while closing his eyes.

'Somehow I think these moments make up for all the torture of being a baby. Nothing is more restorative than having a good nipple in your mouth.'

***

"Not bad."

Staring into a murky mirror in front of him, a big smile formed on the face of a boy as he stared at his reflection.

While his body is around 118 centimeters and his build is slim, it should be noted that he is only around 8 years old right now and still has a lot of growing to do.

But if there is one thing you can begin to recognize from this age, it is the beauty a person will have.

His hair is long and dark, falling in soft waves around his face thanks to being tousled, while his eyes are an in tense crimson color, highlighted even more by his slightly pale complexion.

His features are soft and well-proportioned, with a defined jawline and slightly marked cheekbones. His lips are thin and have a naturally curved shape, giving him a charming smile.

This boy's face could be considered attractive in any culture without a problem.

"Seojun, don't become arrogant" Shaking his head, the boy sighed and started to gently massage his face "You have to take care of this face..."

After a few minutes of just massaging his face, Seojun looked at his bronze mirror with a smile and muttered "Who knew I would ever have to use bronze to be able to see my own face... how fun."

It was quite some time since Seojun received his mother's first gift, but he never imagined that that little kiss he gave her out of gratitude for a simple impulse would change his life so much.

After that day, his mother would literally come out every morning to wake him up with a new gift, then sit beside him and look at him with obvious expectation on her face.

At first it was little things, clothes for his dolls, new dolls, clothes for him to wear, new sandals, and many more little things. But as time went on everything went up a notch, receiving a large wooden tub so he could soak in the hot water, rare jewelry of what appears to be jade, a large bronze mirror that he uses daily, she even gave him a strange spoon that appears to be made of some kind of red jade that he eats with every day.

You don't have to be very smart to know that every single thing his mother brought could literally cost a fortune overseas, but as if none of this mattered to her, she would buy everything for her son with great expectation, only to receive a kiss on the cheek as a reward.

At first Seojun just took advantage of this and was quite clingy every time they brought him a new gift, but he never thought that even as the years went by, his mother would always find something to bring him and to this day, it can be said that it became a tradition between them.

"*Sniff*" Inhaling the air while slowly frowning, Seojun quickly turned and squinted his eyes towards the entrance, then sighed and rubbed his forehead wearily "Mother... you said you wouldn't do it again."

Lowering her gaze, Sujin stared at her blood-soaked body and mumbled feignedly "Oops?"

"..." Squinting at his mother, Seojun was silent for a few seconds and sighed, then shook his head and snorted "Ask for water to be brought and get into the bathtub."

"Anything you command" With an amused smile, Sujin waved her hand behind her back and instantly servants entered with large buckets of water, then poured them over the bathtub and quickly left the place.

Being alone, Sujin grabbed the edges of her clothes and pulled them right off, then ignored her nudity and stepped into the bathtub with a broad smile.

"..." Shaking his head, Seojun muttered as he stood up "You don't know how sorry I am for what I did that day..."

A few years ago, Seojun made the foolish mistake of wiping a drop of blood on his mother's cheek.

Where's the mistake, you ask?

Somehow this woman ended up having the fantastic idea of repeating it every day and as time went by, his mother only became more and more exaggerated, arriving to this day with her whole body soaked in blood while a rare smile formed on her neat face.

Seojun almost fainted when his mother arrived like that for the first time, and needless to say, at first he felt quite disgusted at having to clean up unknown blood on a mere whim of his mother.

But just like the new tradition of gifts, this act of cleaning his mother's body became an unfailing routine of his new, weird life, and somehow it served him well to pass the time inside this boring place.

As for the source of the blood?

Seojun honestly doesn't want to think that in the least, seriously fearing that his mental health will go down the drain if he gets to the bottom of this mystery.

Rolling up his clothes and tying his long hair with a piece of cloth, Seojun walked over to the bathtub and watched the dark blood spread in the water, then sighed and looked at his mother reproachfully "I told you I didn't like the smell of blood."

"This time I really didn't mean to" with a smiling face, Sujin settled quietly in the tub and commented "Would you believe me if I told you I was forced?"

"Who would force the fearsome celestial demon?" raising his eyebrows with interest, Seojun commented.

It's amazing how the passage of time can make even the rabbit lose its fear of the tiger.

It only took about 5 years for Seojun to finally understand that his mother, though strange and somewhat rigid, the love she felt for him was truly genuine, causing him to lower his defenses completely today and easily accept his new life.

"Not that I was forced per se, but a certain situation happened that I didn't really expect and I had to act without much time to react as to dodge the blood" Shrugging with a smirk as she felt the small hands massaging her neck, Sujin continued "Have you eaten yet?"

'Again dodging everything before giving me a chance' Pursing his lips, Seojun sighed.

Whenever his mother mentions anything from the outside that has to do with the cult or something similar, he quickly changes the subject and instantly closes off any possibility of even getting any information out, causing it to this day to look increasingly difficult to even take a step out of this place.

"You won't answer me?"

"I haven't eaten yet."

"Why don't you eat? You used to eat all your fruit when you were younger... don't you like the meat I bring you?"

"It's not that I don't like it" Shaking his head while smiling wryly, Seojun thought 'But meat tastes so weird... I was checking every detail, and ended up finding out it's the damn salt'.

For a while now Seojun started eating firmer foods, surprisingly trying rice, pork and beef, fish and even seafood.

But to his despair, while salt is already used here, he doesn't know what a lousy way they refine it, having a rather dark color with a taste more bitter than salty.

Literally the salt is so bitter, even the strong flavor of the meat evaporates completely.

Slowly lowering his hands, Seojun began to calmly wipe the top of his mother while thinking 'If only I knew even a little bit of the outside... refining a good salt is not difficult at all, even a child could do it if he knows the right steps'

"What do you think so much?" Cocking her head to one side, Sujin asked with interest "Do you dislike food that much?"

"I don't dislike it, but I don't like the bitter taste of salt very much."

"Salt is important to the human body, I also find that it adds quite a bit of flavor to food."

"I don't like it."

"And what can I do?" smiling with amusement, Sujin held her two large breasts and squeezed them teasingly "There's no more milk left"

"There's still some."

"It's only a few measly drops."

"Just enough to live on."

"Shouldn't you stop breastfeeding already? Normally children your age would have stopped a long time ago."

"Children my age don't understand how nice it is to lie in a bed while they stroke your hair and you drink warm milk."

"You're weird" Smiling softly, Sujin leaned her arm against the side of the tub and rested her chin on her fist, then looked at her son warmly and commented "The other kids would laugh at you if they heard you say that"

"What do kids my age usually do?" Cocking his head with interest, Seojun asked.

"Mmmm... that depends on their origins."

"Origins?"