Through contracts with humans, Constellations taste the sensation of existence they’ve so longed for. They aren’t beings that need to eat to survive, but once they taste it, they cannot exist without eating.
The reason Dohae never bowed to Constellations was because he knew he was ecstatically delicious and highly addictive prey. When Helios and Erebos were flipping their bellies and panting, wanting even one more bite, why should he praise such bastards?
Dohae found pathetic those who praised Constellations as if facing gods, and found disgusting the Constellations who tried to manipulate humans despite being parasites.
‘Acting all smart. There’ll be a lot to teach.’
Constellations crave humans who resemble them. Though the degree differs, all contractors were chosen because they resembled their Constellation. So to escape a Constellation’s nasty pranks, one just needed to become more similar to the Constellation.
Since the original ingredients were already ruined, he had no choice but to mix in delicious seasoning. Meaning he needed to raise his stats through training. If Noh Pyeonghwa reached at least A-rank Hunter level, he wouldn’t be manipulated by the Constellation like an idiot. Looking at Pyeonghwa now, he seemed roughly D-rank. Since he was holed up at home just playing games, he kept being manipulated by the Constellation. Pathetic bastard…….
Tap.
The egg that had been rolling for a while stopped in front of a cylindrical slide inside an elementary school. Empty soju bottles were rolling under the slide, and a single men’s dress shoe lay overturned. Dohae frowned and bent down to look inside the slide. Bare feet without a single callus came into view.
‘Ha, no wonder I couldn’t find him—he’s in a place like this!’
Pyeonghwa seemed to be sound asleep, breathing evenly with soft snores. Making him suffer for hours and now sleeping so comfortably? Dohae’s anger boiled over and he slammed his palm on the slide. Bang!
“Kuk! Augh, who is it!”
“Come out.”
“……I, I don’t want to?”
“Come out.”
“I don’t want to see your face today, hyung.”
“Fuck, won’t you crawl out right now?”
“Ah, I said I don’t want to! Who are you to boss me around? You think yelling and cursing solves everything? I can curse too. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!”
Bang! Dohae struck the slide once more. With a cracking sound, the plastic broke into several pieces and tumbled down inside the cylinder.
“Aagh, someone save me! S-rank Hunter Do Dohae is killing someone! Uwaa…… uwaaa……”
Pyeonghwa, who had been screaming shrilly inside the slide, gradually swallowed his voice when his eyes met Dohae’s.
“I’ll come out.”
Pyeonghwa struggled and came down. Dohae confirmed he was barefoot and looked around. There were no socks, and there was only one shoe.
Pyeonghwa was dressed unsuitably in a shirt and slacks. His disheveled hair was also clumped in parts, as if he’d slathered it with wax. It must have been a dressed-up look, but now he just looked like a drunk who’d rolled on the ground. He must have cried so much—Pyeonghwa’s eyes and nose were swollen and bright red.
“Hyuuuung!”
Pyeonghwa, reeking of nose-stinging alcohol, threw himself into Dohae’s arms.
“Hyung, why did you look for me? Were you worried I’d die from being sick? How did you know I was here?”
“Who’s worried? Whether you die or not… shit, get off!”
When Dohae pushed with force, Pyeonghwa staggered back a few steps. A soccer ball-sized egg got kicked by Pyeonghwa’s heel. Pyeonghwa was startled and picked up the egg with both hands.
“Wow! Why did this get so big? Amazing, it’s at 83%! It’ll hatch soon!”
“What is that egg? It broke through your front door and rolled all the way here.”
“It’s my companion egg. It has a bit of separation anxiety. Egg, say hello. This is…… want to be mommy?”
“No.”
“Uung, daddy’s fine tooo……”
Pyeonghwa twisted his body and mumbled. Dohae thought Pyeonghwa, who was acting disgustingly cute, was properly drunk. His house wasn’t that far, but in that state, walking might take half a day.
Dohae looked at Pyeonghwa’s bare feet and agonized. If he threw him over his shoulder or tucked him under his arm, people’s eyes would gather. If Pyeonghwa were still small it’d be one thing, but carrying him from the front between two men didn’t look good either. The only way was to carry him on his back.
Dohae squeezed his eyes shut and knelt on one knee. Since he had to get Noh Pyeonghwa home so he could rest quickly too, kneeling was an unavoidable choice even if it hurt his pride.
“Get on.”
“Gasp… r-really? Can I get on? Isn’t this progressing too fast?”
“If you don’t want to, walk barefoot.”
“I’ll get on! Just a sec. Let me put the egg in my pouch…… done!”
Pyeonghwa put the egg in the transparent egg pouch and pushed it from his chest to his back. He didn’t want the egg to interfere with the moment he could stick close to Dohae. Hoo, ha, hoo, ha. After taking deep breaths, Pyeonghwa wrapped his arms around Dohae’s neck.
“Hyung, you know what. I had so many things happen today.”
“……”
“I became gay.”
“Fuck, what?”
Dohae stopped walking abruptly. The kid who was chanting noona, noona suddenly became gay? What did Byun Taehui do to make him think that? Don’t tell me he learned that disgusting pleasure like in the dream……!
“My life is ruined because of you, hyung.”
Dohae’s heart sank. There were countless words to refute, but either way, it was true that it happened because of his involvement. His insides boiled. He felt like he wouldn’t be satisfied until he tore Byun Taehui’s limbs apart right now.
“Marriage was in my original life plan, but I became gay so I can’t get married anymore. You came to ruin my life… you’re my savior.”
“……Sorr—”
Smooch!
Just as he was about to say sorry after much deliberation, Pyeonghwa’s wet lips stuck to his nape. Goosebumps rose to the tips of his hair as Dohae whipped around to look at Pyeonghwa.
“Noonaa… hehe.”
Pyeonghwa mumbled and rubbed his face against Dohae’s neck. Drunken ramblings. Dohae let out a sigh of relief and looked forward again.
Throughout the way home, Pyeonghwa’s drunken ramblings continued from his back. Dohae roughly played along as he walked.
“Noona, you know what.”
“Yeah.”
“I would have liked you even if you were super ugly, noona.”
“Sure.”
“I wouldn’t care even if you were eighty. There are lots of couples like that in Hollywood.”
“Mm.”
“It’s okay even if you’re a man. Really. But the reason I was depressed today……”
Sniffle, sniffle. Pyeonghwa curled up and buried his face in Dohae’s shoulder and started crying. Dohae increased his walking speed. Since it was still a time when many people were walking around, he was frustrated he couldn’t use his movement skill.
“I touched another man’s dick first!”
“Fuck, what?”
“I really hate Bongsuk noona. I want to cut off her hands……”
“Where else? Ha, where else did you touch!”
“Thighs and… she even kissed me…!”
“Fuck!”
“And she stole all the gifts I bought to give to noona too! Noona, I think. Bongsuk noona has an inferiority complex toward you. She kept asking if Dohae is pretty or if she’s pretty. Seems like she can’t read the room? Anyone can see noona is a million times prettier!”
Dohae, who had been suppressing his anger, hesitated for a moment as ‘noona’ and himself seemed to be increasingly identified as the same person.
“Why do you keep calling me noona?”
“Huh? Because hyung is noona.”
“……”
He didn’t want to be found out about that, but did Byun Taehui tell him? Dohae’s ears turned bright red.
“Ah, thank fucking god. Actually I got really fluttered by you before, hyung. So I thought I was like Dad, a polymorph, and I was shocked. A polymorph is… loving multiple people at the same time……”
“Polyamory.”
“Ah, right. Polyamory. I thought I was going crazy liking both noona and hyung. But noona is hyung, and hyung was noona! I’m not a polymorph.”
Confusion spread across Dohae’s face hidden behind sunglasses and mask. He liked him even when he didn’t know he was the same person as that woman? The bastard who got beaten to a pulp three years ago and harbored deep malice, suddenly why?
There was only one answer. Face! No wonder he made such a fuss from the moment he first took off his mask. In the end, Noh Pyeonghwa was no different from other humans who only looked at appearances and clung on. Dohae felt the impulse to throw Pyeonghwa into that river right now.
“Noona said so. Getting angry, cursing, and being good to me while doing that… but hyung came to my house and did exactly the same thing, and wow, my heart went crazy.”
“……”
“Come to think of it, I’ve liked tsundere characters since I was little? Hyung and noona’s personalities just hit my taste.”
“Not the face?”
“Huh? Of course the face is my taste too! I haven’t even met noona yet, and hyung keeps seducing me with that pretty face, so I’m going crazy. That’s why I was trying to keep my distance from hyung and meet noona quickly.”
