It’s only good when drinking. With the hangover that inevitably came the day after overdrinking, Raon wrapped his hands around his head that felt like it would split and curled his body into a ball. The splitting headache aside, his stomach turned at the smell of alcohol flowing out from him with each exhale.
“Ugh…”
Grabbing his hair with one hand and stretching out the other arm, Raon searched for the nightstand beside the bed. After getting hurt, when coming to his house, he needed to press the call bell he’d placed there to easily summon the person who always stayed at home when needed. To quickly bring him something to drink, whether honey water or whatever.
Groping around here and there, Raon realized that no matter what he did, what his hand touched was a fluffy blanket, so he opened his eyes drowsily. Whether his eyes were closed or open, there was no light, so he couldn’t distinguish anything in the dim space.
“Haah.”
After exhaling long and scrunching up his eyes at the alcohol smell he felt abruptly, Raon laboriously rolled his body on the bed and reached out his hand again. Whether left or right, he should be able to touch the nightstands on both sides of the bed with just one roll, but again what felt under Raon’s hand was the cozy texture of a blanket.
Face down with his face buried in the pillow, Raon stayed that way for a moment without strength. Last night he met Hajun and clearly stated he couldn’t accept his feelings. And then he drank. Drinking back and forth, sometimes drinking alone, drinking like that…
Raon’s head, which had been hanging limply, lifted briefly but soon dropped back onto the pillow.
Min Jaehwi. He saw Jaehwi, did he catch Jaehwi? No. He just looked…
Rather than rummaging through his head that throbbed and creaked, filled with white fog as if not working properly, his sense of smell told him the answer first.
There was only one person he knew who had a scent embedded in this comfortable pillow and seemed to have an endless bed even when rolling around here and there.
“Ppippo ppippo.”
Plus the familiar sound of Bbobbo heard by his ear. By the way, Bbobbo, how are you making the most appropriate sound for this situation? Ppippo ppippo… Don’t you know my feelings too well, wanting to request rescue from 119 or 112 or somewhere?
Face down, as he continued to blink, his vision adapted to the darkness and he could distinguish his surroundings. The window with heavy curtains drawn was over there, and the white cotton ball frolicking before his eyes was Bbobbo.
At the action of bringing his small body to his face to rub against it, and finally poking his cheek with a moist nose tip, Raon couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Ppiik!”
No. It’s true he smelled a bit of alcohol, but what’s with openly showing dislike and running away like that! Watching Bbobbo move away while even raising wind with a scream-like sound as if horrified, Raon turned his body to lie on his back.
“Bbobbo. I told you not to disturb hyung. You came out to play, so when did you go back in? Come out here.”
At the low voice heard as the door carefully opened, Raon hastily closed his eyes that had been open well until now.
“Ppi. Ppyop! Ppyoo!”
“Shh! If you want to make noise, come out and make noise.”
“Ppyooo.”
“Shh.”
“Ppying.”
At the cute conversation between Jaehwi and Bbobbo, he tried to firmly press down his lips that were slowly rising, but at Jaehwi’s words, “Listen to me. Bbobbo. How is it that you’re becoming more and more like your owner,” Raon let out a sigh of “Huh.”
Who’s becoming like who? Bbobbo is becoming like me?
“Hyung, stop pretending to sleep and get up. Should I give you water?”
At Jaehwi’s words delivered as if tossing them out indifferently, Raon opened his eyes that he’d been trying to keep closed. If it were someone else, he’d feign ignorance pretending to sleep to the end, but it was impossible to deceive Jaehwi whose five senses were extremely sensitive.
“Yeah.”
Looking at the bright light entering through the door gap left open by Jaehwi, who had disappeared from in front of the door, perhaps having gone straight to get water, Raon slowly sat up.
In the end, he couldn’t hold back and went to Jaehwi. The fact that he caught and stopped Jaehwi wasn’t a fantasy but reality. So what happened after that? Jaehwi was definitely with other people. He didn’t remember whether he suddenly intruded and made things awkward for Jaehwi, and what he said to Hajun before bringing him here.
Raon, who received the mug Jaehwi offered as he appeared quickly, looked at him wordlessly.
“You don’t remember?”
Raon couldn’t readily answer because he didn’t know how Jaehwi would react, so he brought the water he gave him to his lips. It would be good if it was cold water that would wake him up completely, but Raon’s cheeks puffed up as he held the warm water that was nice to drink.
“It would be good to remember.”
What do I have to lose by not remembering? Answering so lukewarmly like that. And if you want to keep talking, sit down. With that big guy standing right there beside the bed with his tall height and large build, it felt like facing a giant wall. He didn’t even want to lift his head to look up because it hurt his neck.
Only after gesturing with his hand for him to sit could Raon properly see Jaehwi’s face.
“Say what you want to say. Anyway, I can’t even remember. It’s uncomfortable for me and this and that, I don’t like guiding. Let’s formally keep a proper distance. You’re going to say things like that anyway.”
“Should I really say that?”
“Hwi-ya. My head hurts right now, and my stomach is burning. I don’t have the strength to argue with you. What time is it? Didn’t Jay contact you? Going to work… Ah, really, what was I thinking drinking that much?”
Raon, who handed over the mug he’d finished drinking to Jaehwi reaching his hand toward him, buried his face in both hands. He’d said he wanted to match bellies, shouted a few days ago, and already showed everything to the bottom, so there was nothing to be embarrassed or awkward about. Even if he said, ‘Hyung, I don’t like you because you have a bad personality,’ he’d have nothing to say.
Just as he could predict Jaehwi’s reaction, what he would have done to him was obvious too.
I want to be your Guide. Should I guide you? Or, I’ll cover your ears like before, so want to sleep together? What else could there be besides words like that?
Was there a meeting this morning? First, he should contact Jay and tell him to bring clothes… Since he didn’t have a habit of regretting and blaming himself for things that had already passed, Raon organized in his head the things he needed to do right now.
“From when will you guide me?”
Raon’s hand, which had been dry washing his face while wondering whether or not he should call Hajun separately, stopped.
“Since I’m entering an A-grade dungeon this afternoon, guide me before going to work.”
Before properly understanding what Jaehwi said, at his continuing words, Raon gulped down the saliva pooled in his mouth. Guiding? Jaehwi is asking to be guided first? No, Jaehwi decided to accept my guiding? What on earth happened yesterday?
“…Ah, you don’t like contact guiding?”
Simultaneously with hearing the word guiding, Raon, who had been releasing energy without controlling it, hastily stopped the energy flowing out.
“That doesn’t mean stop it right away.”
Raon, who had still been burying his face in his hands, finally felt something strange and raised his head. Jaehwi had definitely been sitting in the chair beside the bed, but at some point he was sitting on the bed, matching eye level with him.
Moreover, his face, which had always been stiffly hardened after regression, even had a gentle smile.
“Min Jaehwi. Don’t joke around, tell me properly what happened yesterday. This might be a light joke to you right now, but it’s not to me.”
“That’s why I said it would be good to remember properly.”
Unlike himself who was serious, at Jaehwi’s action of continuing words lightly, Raon paused for a moment before opening his mouth.
“You’re really going to guide?”
“Yes.”
“Are you doing this today to say something different again tomorrow?”
“That won’t happen anymore. Although hyung isn’t my main Guide, we agreed to guide depending on the situation. It’s not like we’re forming a bond though. Also, we decided not to accompany each other into dungeons. Instead, I won’t stop you from coming to the site. Because hyung tries to do everything if told not to do everything. This is the compromise we made appropriately.”
“Why?”
At Jaehwi’s suddenly changed attitude, Raon couldn’t help but continue to be suspicious. Should he say he was happy yet anxious?
“To protect humanity… Ow!”
He knew Jaehwi was smooth, brazen, and shameless, but he ended up raising his hand because it was annoying that he was calmly spouting random words again. Just how hard did he hit him? At the sight of Jaehwi making a fuss, pretending to be startled in surprise, Raon couldn’t help but laugh along unknowingly.
“See. It’s nice when you smile. I won’t say anything more now. Instead, when I say I’m having a hard time, you have to guide me right away.”
“Okay. I’ll absolutely not make contact and do it radiatively. Is that okay?”
Even while saying that, Raon slyly reached out his hand and placed it on Jaehwi’s thigh, then stealthily released his energy. At the sight of Jaehwi lightly whistling as if proving himself that it was all a lie that the energy was uncomfortable, Raon rolled his eyes.
“Your words are different from yesterday.”
“What again? Are you really trying to manipulate memories now because I can’t remember? What will you do if I remember everything like this? Coming out this shamelessly?”
“As long as you keep the promise not to follow me into dungeons, I’m fine with whatever hyung does.”
“……”
Because Jaehwi’s smiling face was so pretty, because that voice was warm, because it really seemed like seeing the Jaehwi of before, Raon clicked his tongue lightly.
