# Chapter 91
To hunt the Agwi with minimal strength, they decided to use the most effective method. That was removing the scale from the Agwi’s vital point. Because of the disadvantage of it being in a difficult-to-find location, it was originally something only an S-class Esper who could surpass the Agwi’s reflexes and strength would attempt.
After removing the Agwi’s scale and beheading it, Dohyuk burned the separated parts with his ability to prevent any regeneration. Thanks to the Agwi being neutralized, the process went smoothly.
The severed head’s bright red eyes met Dohyuk’s gaze. Lacking the courage to look at his own reflection in those eyes, Dohyuk quickly turned away.
Before returning to Junseo, he drew his dagger across the back of his hand again, over the already healed wound. After confirming the color of his blood, Dohyuk rubbed his eyes hard, feeling like crying. Why was it that even though what he’d been praying for had come true, instead of laughter, an odd feeling of tears welling up flowed through him helplessly? While sinking into anxiety that wouldn’t subside, Dohyuk slowly walked toward Junseo.
Junseo was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. He wasn’t asleep. At the sound of Dohyuk’s footsteps, he slowly opened his eyes and smiled, lifting his lips despite his pale face.
When those long arms opened and made space for him, Dohyuk instinctively embraced Junseo fully. They say loneliness isn’t an emotion you add, but one you lose. Dohyuk never wanted to know this kind of deprivation again.
“Were you worried about me?”
“…You’re asking the obvious. If you had died, I would’ve…”
If you had died, I would have died too.
Swallowing the words that rose to his throat, he knelt down and rested his forehead on Junseo’s shoulder as he sat.
“Why would I die? I only thought about living.”
A faint smile spread against his ear. Junseo cradled the back of Dohyuk’s head with one hand and kissed whatever he could reach. His touch as he ran his fingers through Dohyuk’s hair was gentle.
“Who would I be dying for anyway?”
At that softly whispered voice, Dohyuk finally released his tired tone like tears.
“…I like you, Junseo.”
The gentle stroking of his hair stopped, and Dohyuk laughed bitterly.
This wasn’t how he wanted to say it. This wasn’t the story he wanted to blurt out in a hurry, in this damp, sunless space that didn’t suit Junseo at all.
“Someone like me… likes you too much.”
He wanted to give him something most precious. Though nothing would be enough, he wanted to open his mouth while offering something delicate and beautiful, something that seemed about to melt. With words as well-arranged as you had waited for, he wanted to confess all night how marvelous a being you are, in the moment when sunshine pours down most brilliantly.
“I’m sorry for being greedy for you.”
Junseo’s shoulder silently grew damp.
Maybe he had already become a monster. Seeing how he was gasping, wanting to cling to this side as much as possible without knowing his place.
# Chapter 91
Even as he laid his affection on his tongue, he felt like he was drowning in deep despair. Dohyuk wondered if he was running away again. He didn’t even have the courage to meet Junseo’s eyes. Long, gentle fingers supported Dohyuk’s face as he cried endlessly like that. Only then did his tear-covered eyes finally look up toward Junseo.
“Why are you saying such things while crying, hyung?”
Because his vision was completely blurred with tears, he couldn’t tell what expression Junseo was making. Eventually, approaching lips touched the corner of his eye. At the same time, a teardrop fell and rolled down Dohyuk’s neat cheek.
The tongue that lightly licked his tear-wet eye corner withdrew, then the lips gently pressed against the same spot. Dohyuk quietly lowered his gaze. Another tear, clearly formed in his eyes, traced a round shape and disappeared downward.
“Why do you keep crying? I feel upset because it doesn’t seem to be because of me.”
“……”
“Hyung, look at me. Hmm? Do you dislike looking at me? Am I not pretty right now?”
Even in the midst of this, when Dohyuk shook his head repeatedly, Junseo smiled lightly like a flower bud blooming.
“Don’t lie. I’m a mess right now, aren’t I?”
“…No. *sniff*”
The voice that hastily replied was so cracked even in that short silence that it sounded unpleasant to hear, so Dohyuk quickly cleared his throat.
“I’m a mess, though. I want to confess to Junseo later when I can make it pretty.”
Narrowing his eyes into a smile, Junseo whispered playfully as he pulled Dohyuk’s neck into a full embrace, acting cute. His intention was obvious—he seemed to be trying to change Dohyuk’s downcast mood.
“Right now…”
“Yes?”
“…Can’t we do it right now?”
When the very small, fidgeting hand wrapped around Junseo’s waist, Junseo stiffened slightly. The reason he noticed even this tiny reaction so keenly was because he was giving all his attention to Junseo. Thinking that Junseo’s response was close to rejection, Dohyuk felt deflated and only blinked his eyes.
Finally, Junseo let out a deeply suffering sound.
“Ah, I really don’t have the energy to move a finger right now, but why are you being so cute…”
“Tell me you like me.”
He put a little more strength into the hand holding Junseo’s waist. “Later” is a moment that might never come. Even tomorrow was pitch dark, and the present was sprawled at his feet. Dohyuk wanted to hear it from Junseo now. Even waiting a day made his tongue dry. To be exact, he wasn’t confident he would still be loved tomorrow.
Finally, Junseo pressed his forehead against Dohyuk’s forehead. Nuzzling Dohyuk’s nose with his round nose tip like a small puppy, he whispered.
“Are you anxious?”
Dohyuk quietly lifted his chin and kissed Junseo’s lips. Tracing the other’s lips with his own, he answered silently.
Yes, very much.
Even now, he was so anxious that he wanted to tear open his scabbed hand again to check.
***
When Sangjun’s party arrived at the Agwi’s nest, a considerable amount of time had passed—enough for the reasonably recovered Junseo to have given guiding to the battered Dohyuk.
The arriving party all looked so exhausted they might collapse at any moment, and hopeless. Even Sangjun was in a state of just shouting at the top of his lungs, “Choi Dohyuk Esper! If you’re already dead, I’m going to kill you again!” It seemed they were certain that someone had already died or at least suffered major injuries. Well, who would hope that a non-combat S-class Guide and an A-class Esper, just the two of them, could face an S-class monster? Even Dohyuk himself had been prepared to die.
Perhaps because of this, when they discovered Dohyuk and Junseo—who looked very tired but were neither dead nor missing limbs—Jihun and Minseok grew so emotional their eyes turned red.
“Esper Choi Dohyuk-nim! Guide Yu Junseo-nim! I’m so glad you’re both safe!”
“Huh-huhuhuuh, *sniff*! So, *sniff*! So worried about you…”
In the end, while Jihun was comforting Minseok who was sniffling and streaming tears, he shed a few tears himself. Watching this scene with incredulous eyes, Jaesik frowned one eye.
“You’ve got tough lives. How on earth did you defeat an S-class monster?”
“…I’m not sure myself. With Guide Yu Junseo-nim’s help, somehow.”
At Dohyuk’s answer, Jaesik’s expression wrinkled.
“What kind of answer is that? Like you just happened to find money while walking?”
While Jaesik was scolding Dohyuk, Sangjun turned to Junseo.
“You helped him? Hey, don’t tell me you…”
And Sangjun discovered a crudely colored toy gun sprawled on the floor. Picking up the object from the floor, Sangjun was in the middle of rapidly speaking to Junseo.
“Does this work on monsters too? Wasn’t this weapon given to annoy irritating Espers… mmph!”
Junseo swiftly covered Sangjun’s mouth.
“What are you talking about? It’s something like self-defense gear. The world is dangerous.”
It was a voice gentle beyond comparison. Sangjun, who knew very well for whom that tone was fabricated, glared at Junseo with disgusted eyes. He wanted to shout, “You’re the most dangerous, you bastard!” but with his mouth firmly covered, he couldn’t say anything.
In truth, the reason for Junseo’s weapon having such a ridiculous design was equally abominable.
South Korea was still a country where possession of firearms and dungeon byproduct-processed weapons was considered illegal under the Act on the Safety Management of Guns, Swords, Explosives, etc. Even Espers couldn’t freely own or use lethal weapons or tools made from processed dungeon byproducts. They could only use them during missions, then return them to headquarters and write usage reports. It was quite annoying even for headquarters-affiliated Espers, so many Espers who worked as mercenaries didn’t use byproduct weapons at all.
But mocking these strict laws, Junseo’s strange weapon that didn’t even look like a gun fell just outside all regulatory causes.
Under domestic law, a firearm was considered a device with firing mechanisms and barrels capable of loading and discharging. However, Junseo’s weapon didn’t have a firing mechanism to begin with.
It was also ambiguous to consider it a byproduct weapon because the byproduct content was lower than the standard. Moreover, the part utilizing byproducts was just in the shape of a long cylinder, making it ambiguous to view it as intended for killing.
Ridiculously, the main material of that barrel was, as it appeared, plastic. Reinforced with aramid fiber, but still, just plastic? At first, even Sangjun couldn’t believe it and checked several times, but the result was the same.
And so, that crazy bastard was able to walk around without any restrictions, carrying a weapon that had even incapacitated an S-class Esper. If the creator of that weapon hadn’t been Dr. Yu Junwoo, Sangjun would have been the first to denounce the current situation.
