“Want to have lunch together?”
At Raon’s words as he came out of the testing room with a calm expression, Hyukjin didn’t answer right away. He just stared at Jaehwi standing one step behind Raon.
“Is 70 correct?”
At the question thrown based on inference from Raon and Jaehwi’s conversation before entering the testing room, Jaehwi shrugged his shoulders.
“Is there more?”
“…Probably.”
Even without saying exactly what it was, Jaehwi seemed to understand everything and gave answers immediately. If only 70% of his ability stats showed, there might be more hidden abilities. He only knew about the eavesdropping ability because Jaehwi revealed it with his own mouth—if he hid it, he could hide it to the very end.
While most Espers wanted to show even a little more of their abilities, the Nox he had seen so far seemed like someone skilled at hiding rather than revealing, whatever it was.
What good was it to officially announce he was fire-attribute? Through the test they just did, he learned that overall he could handle all attributes… What he directly showed was only fire-attribute, but the calculated result based on resistance to other attributes was that way.
“Do you think there will be a chance to know the limit?”
“Yes.”
Unlike taking a long time before speaking, Jaehwi answered quickly and concisely, yet firmly.
“I hope that doesn’t happen.”
Even showing only about 70% of his ability stats, it was an ability that surpassed S-grade. If such a Nox had to demonstrate all his abilities, then that would be… The thought flashed through Hyukjin’s mind that it would be a situation close to annihilation.
“Hyukjin, aren’t you eating with us? Then. We’ll get going. I didn’t eat breakfast properly so I’m hungry. Hwi-ya. What do you want to eat?”
“Me? Well…”
Watching the backs of the two leaving while saying “anything hyung wants to eat,” Hyukjin turned his body to look at the researchers. He hadn’t given any answer to Raon’s question about eating together. He asked the question himself, answered it himself, and disappeared with Jaehwi in an instant. And the researchers whose eyes met all wore expressions that said they had a lot to say but couldn’t say it.
Jaehwi, who arrived at the place where Raon had hurriedly taken him by firmly holding his hand as if he was really very hungry, inhaled deeply and exhaled. It was clear he too was feeling what he had felt. The meal was just an excuse to quickly get out of there.
“Are you going to see Bbobbo?”
Jaehwi reached out and touched the crossbow hanging on the wall. Only after fully feeling the cool energy of wind attribute flowing through his fingertips did he remove his hand.
“It seems connected to our relationship and the repeating situation, so we need to find out. There’s no way that dungeon would appear this quickly, so let’s prepare more thoroughly before going.”
Raon, who found protective gear that suited him well though he didn’t have much experience, didn’t bother bringing up that today might be the end.
“Choose what you need yourself.”
There was no excess in Raon’s actions as he found a dagger and gun after the protective gear.
“Our hyung. Anyone would think you’re a dungeon hunter.”
At Jaehwi’s words tinged with a hollow laugh, a futile laugh also flowed from Raon’s mouth as he put necessary items into a backpack with lightening ability.
“That’s right. Dungeon hunter. We’re going to raid a dungeon without permission. You don’t know this, but do you know how many good minerals were in that dungeon? Bbobbo ate them all though. If Bbobbo hadn’t eaten them, it would have been enough to properly equip your protective gear.”
Raon, who was checking items in his hands and tossing them into the backpack one by one, stopped his hands and turned around when he couldn’t even feel any presence.
He saw Jaehwi standing alone, isolated at a spot some distance from him.
“Min Jaehwi.”
When Jaehwi, who had been looking somewhere, raised his head at his call, Raon deliberately smiled even more brightly.
“What are you doing standing there dazed? Let’s go quickly. We’re meeting Bbobbo and having our first dungeon date. You said you go on lots of dungeon dates. Ah~ Honestly, for a date, that place with the hot spring would have been better. That place was pretty nice.”
“…Don’t you remember dangerously falling asleep alone?”
“You came for me.”
After gathering all the things he used, Raon began looking for things Jaehwi could use on his behalf, as he still hadn’t chosen anything.
“Was this the protective suit you used?”
“Yes.”
“What about weapons?”
After finding the familiar protective suit, when there was no answer coming back as he looked around, Raon looked at Jaehwi again. Did he use weapons?
“Anything.”
When Jaehwi picked up a sword closest to him, swung it a few times, and slightly held it up as if to say he’d take this, Raon checked the backpack again. What more should they take? Not knowing, he just roughly ran his hand through his hair and looked around, when Jaehwi approached closely and took the backpack.
Thanks to Jaehwi’s ability, they could get to the parking lot without running into anyone. Since Jaehwi, who was holding the steering wheel on the way to the dungeon, didn’t say anything, Raon examined his expression.
He just held the driver’s side door and looked at me, so I even allowed unlicensed driving, and what else is he dissatisfied about now?
“Let’s eat something before we go. Like hyung said, you didn’t eat breakfast properly.”
“What do you want to eat?”
“Anything.”
“Everything’s ‘anything.’ You’re telling me to do as I please. There’s a place that makes decent cold noodles on the way, want to go there? Cold noodles and dumplings.”
“Whatever.”
Even at dawn in bed, they had lived as if they were one body, sucking and biting as if there was no tomorrow. It was the same when they went to work together, and even until they did the test, he didn’t show any particular behavior. He became sulky like this… Though he didn’t say it out loud, because Raon could understand this behavior of Jaehwi’s, he didn’t nitpick about that part anymore either.
Between the two who arrived in front of the dungeon after filling their stomachs with cold noodles and dumplings that they didn’t know whether went into their mouths or noses, no conversation was exchanged.
In that awkward atmosphere, Raon first put on his protective suit and got out of the car.
Two people at a dungeon he came to alone… Back then it was night so he couldn’t properly look around, but the area around the dungeon in early afternoon was quiet and serene. Looking at the rippling dungeon entrance at the bottom of a low mountain where people rarely came and went, it seemed like his insides were rippling too.
Raon, who lightly shook his head and was about to take the backpack from the trunk, turned his head saying “Hm?” at the presence felt right behind him. Caught between the car and Jaehwi, Raon twisted his body saying “Why?”
Then he spread both arms and embraced the large mass coming into his arms. Though from the outside it would look like Raon was completely buried in Jaehwi’s arms.
Feeling Jaehwi’s scent subtly mixed with the scent of the body products he always used, Raon lightly patted Jaehwi’s back with his palm.
Even when he scrunched up his body and hugged him so tightly he couldn’t breathe, then finally closed the trunk as if that was uncomfortable, sat him on it, and bent his upper body to match eye level, Raon wasn’t flustered. He was already enjoying the moment when that handsome face approached right in front of his nose, came closer, and their noses lightly touched.
“Want to go in after a few days?”
At his voice whispering lowly, Raon almost nodded unconsciously. No, he actually nodded once then urgently shook his head, so their noses that had been precariously touching brushed past quickly.
“Why?”
At Jaehwi’s speech that seemed to drawl and whine a bit more than usual, Raon’s small head that had been shaking stopped moving. He too wanted to spend as much time together as possible if it were up to his heart, but the estimated time for the dungeon’s natural extinction was only 17 hours. That was the prediction in the dungeon occurrence report this morning.
About five or six hours had passed, so only about 12 hours remained until the dungeon’s extinction.
At Jaehwi’s action of hugging him more tightly in response to the question and just touching noses, Raon lightly brought his lips to his lips. And before the kiss deepened, he slipped his head back slightly. As he tried to avoid Jaehwi approaching as much as he went back, his upper body naturally leaned backward. But he couldn’t get further away because of Jaehwi’s arms wrapped around him.
“Why that expression?”
“What about my expression?”
Leaning his body back and finding it hard with strength going into his waist and back, Raon released the strength from his body. Then Jaehwi’s arms wrapped around him even more firmly.
“You’re asking because you don’t know?”
“There’s no mirror, so how would I know my own expression? What’s my expression like?”
“It says you like me so much you could die.”
When he raised his hand to cup his cheek and spoke, Jaehwi’s hardened expression finally relaxed a bit.
“Hwi-ya. Let’s bring Bbobbo back. Then let’s go home and take a half-bath together to relieve fatigue… Ugh.”
As soon as he mentioned the word half-bath, Raon, who was hugged as if completely trapped in Jaehwi’s arms again, had to accept his hot lips. Between the two, ticklish and light kisses like other lovers didn’t seem to be allowed.
Like he said last night, with things already progressing now, for the two there was only today. This moment right now was everything.
