“Uwah, hey! Hey…”
Raon didn’t have the strength to defend against a kid with a good physique coming at him with all his might. Moreover, hadn’t he been trapped in his arms last night too? Affectionate kisses and hugs were all good, but when he hugged him this hard as if to burst him, at the breath that got blocked, Raon instinctively hit Jaehwi’s back hard to survive.
“Can’t you not go in?”
With this face, with this build, with this expression, saying such words—is that allowed? Not allowed?
Isn’t it too cruel to come between his legs as he’s sitting on the car trunk and do this?
Still wet from the kiss they’d just shared, seeing his swollen lips and his hair disheveled and messed up as he couldn’t overcome his instincts and did as he pleased, Raon squeezed his eyes shut then opened them.
Does someone think he wants to go in? He’s doing this because if he delays and avoids it, something bigger might happen.
“Don’t go in?”
When he asked back at his words, Jaehwi buried his face in Raon’s chest, who was half-lying on the trunk. Feeling his thick upper body, which even felt burdensome to him, swell greatly then deflate with a whoosh, Raon calmly arranged his disheveled hair.
“Don’t go in. Should we just live like this, the two of us? Ignoring all contact from NCSC. Should we hide somewhere?”
“Yeah.”
At the small sound mumbling like a baby, the corners of Raon’s mouth rose.
“Want to go on a trip after coming back from this dungeon?”
“Yeah.”
“This dungeon has less than 12 hours until extinction. Whatever’s inside, don’t even mine ore or anything, just check if Bbobbo is there and bring him out right away. You can do at least that, right?”
When he patted his head and shoulders and coaxed him gently, it showed clearly on his handsome face.
“Are you looking down on me right now?”
Being pulled along by Jaehwi, who was sitting up with a still dissatisfied pouty face, Raon could also sit up properly on the trunk. And then once again he had to give his lips, face, and even his nape entirely to Jaehwi.
Having to fix and put on his clothes that his hands had completely disheveled was a bonus.
“It’s on the left back.”
“…It’s F-grade though.”
To even call it a dungeon was something. For those entering an F-grade dungeon where even ordinary people would find nothing much, their appearance was even tragic.
Or was it just Jaehwi like that?
In his right hand, wearing protective gear he usually didn’t bother to wear properly, was a long sword. And he was carrying a backpack that Raon had stuffed full of this and that, even including food bought at a convenience store on the way just in case.
To say only Jaehwi was like that was also something, as Raon also had lightweight protective gear, a dagger, a gun, and in his hip bag were emergency contact supplies and light, simple food.
The moment they entered the dungeon entrance where blue and red colors rippled, a sound familiar to Raon’s ears was heard softly.
“Huh? This is a Gem Kitten sound.”
Smiling brightly at the welcome sound, Raon took out his tablet first. Even though Jaehwi was with him in an F-grade dungeon, he had to keep what should be kept. Since they were still standing at the dungeon entrance, various information didn’t come up yet, but when he stood still for a moment watching the tablet, he felt Jaehwi also standing beside him.
“In F-grade, life forms… nothing particularly caught. And there doesn’t seem to be any decent ore within 100m nearby either.”
Though he hadn’t expressed it, it wasn’t that he wasn’t worried. Because there were so many variables in the situation. But having confirmed there was no peculiarity in the dungeon itself, Raon put the tablet back into his hip bag.
“Still, don’t forget what’s on the left back.”
At Jaehwi’s words as he took the lead after checking the tablet together, Raon looked at his back view and quickly took a step. Then he grabbed his left hand. There was nothing dangerous, no problem. Moreover, hadn’t Jaehwi also acknowledged this was a dungeon date?
“……”
At the same time as holding hands, the corners of Jaehwi’s mouth, who turned to look at him, rose slightly and their fingers intertwined smoothly one by one. Raon, whose gaze met Jaehwi’s, winked and lightly shook their interlaced hands.
Though the floor was bumpy, humming flowed softly from Raon’s mouth as he walked holding hands with Jaehwi. It was a typical low-grade dungeon. A cave-type, slightly humid, low-light ore dungeon.
“Want to eat a choco bar while we walk if you’re peckish?”
Though they hadn’t walked for even a few minutes, Raon pulled Jaehwi’s hand a bit harder out of boredom to stop him and took out a choco bar. When he held the long choco bar between his lips and raised his head, Jaehwi with an incredulous expression came into view.
“Eat.”
His pronunciation was slurred because he was holding the choco bar.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Mm.”
Though it was an embarrassing, shy, and awkward action, isn’t this what dating is? Moreover, it’s a dungeon where there’s absolutely no chance of meeting other people, so what does it matter?
“Because of hyung, I… really…”
It’s good that he’s sighing and lamenting, but why… It’s a fairly long choco bar though… After their lips briefly touched and separated, Raon’s eyes widened seeing the disappeared choco bar.
I told you to just bite the end, who told you to eat all of it in one bite!
In the end, while eating only the tip of the choco bar he’d been holding in his mouth, Raon shook his head. Well, we can gradually adjust these small things.
“Piyong. Ppi. Piya…”
While the two were briefly doing something else, a loud and noisy yet bright and cheerful sound gradually grew closer, so Raon looked straight ahead.
Raon’s head, who was chewing the choco bar in his mouth and staring at the dark place that wasn’t clearly visible, tilted slightly to the side. When they first entered the dungeon, it had been a small, faint sound. As they went in, the sound got louder, so until now he’d thought that was just how it was.
But the Gem Kitten’s sound grew louder at an astonishing speed. That sound wasn’t one made when feeling good but was full of anxious signs.
Only after Jaehwi’s broad back entered his field of vision looking forward did Raon realize he’d stepped forward in front of him. And then, with his hand on his back, Raon, who stuck his head out slightly to the left, couldn’t move in surprise at something approaching incredibly fast.
The sound grew louder almost like a scream, he stuck his head out to the side, and Jaehwi raised his left hand upward.
Along with a thud sound, it seemed like less than a second had passed until he felt a subtle vibration from Jaehwi’s arm.
“Ppiu. Ppi. Ppyaak~”
Between rough, panting breaths, the Gem Kitten’s sound gradually died down.
“…Bbobbo?”
Raon, who blinked several times, carefully called out to the white cotton ball caught in Jaehwi’s left hand.
From the small white cotton ball, large golden eyes were visible, a red nose was visible, and even pointed ears were visible. And from the Gem Kitten’s mouth that made eye contact like that, a small “Ppiing” sound flowed out. The frightfully high sound full of anxiety was gone, and it was a sound mixed with aegyo like what Bbobbo usually made.
“Our Bbobbo?”
Having confirmed the pretty eyes welling up with moisture and even the struggling movements in Jaehwi’s firmly gripping hand, Raon grabbed Jaehwi’s forearm and looked at Bbobbo more closely.
“Bbobbo!”
At the Gem Kitten’s action of lightly touching his nose tip when he brought his face close, Raon, who gained certainty, received Bbobbo with both hands. Without even a chance to say anything, at the action of rubbing its tear-soaked face against him, Raon, whose eyes were also welling up with tears, raised his head at Jaehwi’s action of slightly pushing him further back.
Inside the dungeon that had been noisy with the Gem Kitten’s sounds until just now, only a heavy silence had descended.
A Gem Kitten is a dungeon master. So it’s typical for them to be located in the deepest part of most dungeons, but the Gem Kitten came directly?
Moreover, it had been startled by something, frightened, and hadn’t hidden its anxious appearance. Only after being caught by Jaehwi’s hand and recognizing him did it feel relieved.
Really Bbobbo? Not something similar but really Bbobbo?
It was definitely regression, but the actions of the Gem Kitten that had come into his hands now matched Bbobbo’s. Rubbing that small face against his cheek, licking his cheek with its rough tongue like a cat, then bringing its nose tip close. The purring sound too, and Bbobbo’s fur color, which had been white at first, was changing to different colors every moment.
It remembers him and Jaehwi? Then. Did Bbobbo also regress together?
After petting for a while, kissing together, and cooing, when Raon stared at the front that had darkened and couldn’t see the end, Bbobbo that had been in his hands flew up with a flutter. Raon, who alternately looked at Bbobbo and Jaehwi, took out his tablet again.
Since they hadn’t gone to the end of the dungeon yet, there was no revealed map, but the dungeon was still displayed as F-grade. And three green dots were clearly visible, indicating whether there were other life forms nearby.
“Did Bbobbo regress too?”
Having checked once more that there were no other life forms at close distance, Raon spoke as if whispering softly.
“Probably.”
“Was he in the dungeon then too? Did you bring him in?”
“Mm.”
Though there were no danger factors and it seemed okay to continue going inside the dungeon, Jaehwi, who stopped in place and didn’t move, seemed to be looking at a very distant place.
