Since there were often times when those two would clash and fight, the reporter who had been trying to approach backed away again. Wasn’t there a saying about shrimp getting their backs crushed in a whale fight? There had been people who got injured just from being nearby.
“No, that’s not it! Can’t you get the people to back off first?”
“Those guys?”
Yoon Taegyeom asked, tilting his head. It seemed the information that the gate difficulty had suddenly changed had spread more than expected. From Awakeners to reporters, everyone had gathered, making the area in front of the gate crowded. Soldiers were also scattered among them.
It seemed they’d come to create a defensive line in case the gate burst.
“Or, let’s at least get me out of here.”
At Hong Seoyoon’s words, Yoon Taegyeom smiled nicely.
“You know that’s bullshit, right?”
“Fuck. I know, but just do it.”
“Why?”
Hong Seoyoon subtly turned his body to show Ian to Yoon Taegyeom. Yoon Taegyeom’s eyes rippled like waves when he saw him. He kept silent for a moment, then turned around.
“The white tent to the west. It’s empty.”
As soon as those words fell, a water curtain rose and briefly blocked people’s view. Thanks to that, Hong Seoyoon was able to secretly enter the tent Yoon Taegyeom had told him about together with Ian.
In fact, it might have been better to disguise him as one of the guild members and send him away from the scene, but he didn’t want to be apart even for a moment. Afraid of losing the kid he’d found after several years again, Hong Seoyoon chose the troublesome method.
The first thing Hong Seoyoon did upon entering the tent was to put Ian down on the floor and thoroughly examine him. He only let Ian go after checking his entire body to see if he was injured anywhere.
“First, sit down.”
Inside the tent were a large table and sofa, giving off an antique feeling.
“Hey, even looking while running, this is clearly Yoon Taegyeom’s tent.”
Everything matched that guy’s picky taste. What luxurious taste in a battlefield. Still, thanks to that, he could have Ian sit on the sofa.
“Let’s see.”
If it was Yoon Taegyeom, he definitely would have brought something to drink. After thoroughly searching the tent, Hong Seoyoon was able to find a thermos. Drinking black tea before entering a gate was Yoon Taegyeom’s habit.
“Well, look at this cup.”
Hong Seoyoon, who managed to find even a teacup, poured tea for Ian.
“Thanks.”
“Thanks my ass. First drink. Let’s talk after you drink.”
Hong Seoyoon, who had exceptional resistance to fire, swallowed the hot black tea in one gulp. It was a skill not anyone could imitate. That’s why Ian slowly took a sip of tea and put down the teacup.
“Hmm.”
Hong Seoyoon’s legs were trembling. He had a lot he wanted to ask, but it seemed he was holding back out of consideration for Ian. So Ian decided to speak first.
“You have a lot you want to ask, right?”
“A lot. A lot, but!”
Large hands roughly swept through red hair. When Ian first saw Hong Seoyoon, only the ends were red, but now it was all red.
“Did you dye it?”
When he suddenly asked, Hong Seoyoon shook his head.
“No, for Awakeners, parts of their body sometimes change according to their abilities. That’s why it got redder, well.”
Hong Seoyoon sighed and brought up the story he’d been wanting to ask all along.
“Ian. Where have you been all this time?”
If he’d disappeared due to something bad, he intended not to forgive whoever made it happen. To Hong Seoyoon, Ian was such a precious younger brother. Including him, the three of them—Yoon Taegyeom and Choi Jaeheon—had cherished and raised the kid. But that child had gone missing and they’d spent a whole five years not even knowing if he was alive or dead.
“Um, where you ask. Seoyoon hyung. Do you watch comics?”
“Ian. Haven’t we been to a comic book cafe together?”
“Ah, right. We did. Then the explanation will be much easier.”
Ian clapped his hands and continued.
“So, how should I put this. I was dragged to another world.”
“What? What did you just say?”
“I said I’ve been to another world.”
“You mean a gate?”
“No. Another world. You know, there are lots of settings like that in comics. Bringing a hero or saintess from another world to save the world.”
Hong Seoyoon looked at Ian with a dumbfounded face.
“There are comics like that… there are.”
“That’s what happened to me too.”
No, fuck! Hong Seoyoon desperately swallowed the curse. What power does our kid have that they summoned and used him! His fists clenched automatically from anger.
“You were an otherworld hero?”
“Ah, not a hero, a Saint.”
Fortunately, it didn’t seem he was in the hero position fighting on the frontlines. Still, something nagging remained. If Ian really played the role of a Saint in another world, what would that ability be?
‘He restored my depleting power.’
Then let’s think about the method of recovery. What action did Ian take toward Hong Seoyoon?
‘A kiss…?’
Could that be a routine action in another worlds? Like greeting with kisses in France?
“Ian. I’m asking just in case.”
“Yeah?”
“Is the activation condition for your ability a kiss?”
Even while saying it, he thought it was fucked up. If what Hong Seoyoon said was really true, Ian would have kissed shitty bastards in that other world, wouldn’t he? Our country is strictly a Confucian nation sensitive to physical contact.
No, they made this young kid do such lewd acts? Those bastards wouldn’t be enough even if caught and torn limb from limb. At least they should be burned alive starting from the toes…!
When Hong Seoyoon’s thoughts were running to extremes, Ian nodded.
“Right. But it’s not exactly a kiss.”
“Then?”
Somehow he had an ominous feeling.
“Physical contact.”
“Fuck!”
Before Ian’s words could even finish, a curse burst from Hong Seoyoon’s mouth. He poured out every curse he knew like rap. He’d tried not to curse in front of Ian, but this time he failed.
He wanted to ask right away how many bastards he did such shitty things with, but Hong Seoyoon desperately held back. How hurt must that tender kid have been? He didn’t want to needlessly dig that up.
“Haa.”
Sighing, Hong Seoyoon tried hard to calm himself. Only after seeing Hong Seoyoon did Ian belatedly realize again. It was something normal for a Saint in another world so he’d just accepted it, but not on Earth!
Just Hong Seoyoon alone was going wild after knowing that fact, so what would happen if his hyung Choi Jaeheon found out? Ian, who had been calm all along, broke out in cold sweat for the first time.
‘I absolutely can’t let him find out!’
Choi Jaeheon believed his younger brother was the most pure and innocent being in the world. And he was someone who would do anything for Ian. If such a hyung found out about his circumstances of rolling around with his body in another world and returning, he would go to any lengths to destroy that world and more.
Although he only suffered a lot there, he’d still grown attached in his own way. It was a world he’d saved by painstakingly cutting off the Demon King’s head, so he couldn’t destroy it again, could he?
“Seoyoon hyung!”
Ian approached Hong Seoyoon with sparkling eyes, firmly grasped Hong Seoyoon’s large hand, and said while acting delicate.
“Can you keep what you just heard a secret?”
“So, you want me to keep it secret from Jaeheon?”
“Yeah!”
Hong Seoyoon seemed to understand what Ian was thinking. But even so, he couldn’t decide such an important matter alone.
“It’s embarrassing to me. I wish no one knew. Besides, I don’t want to do the same thing here either.”
It wasn’t particularly embarrassing. Maybe it was because his only partner was Vermouth. Kissing him wasn’t different from kissing a dog. Sometimes his heart would flutter because of his beauty, but when he saw his usual behavior, the fluttering completely disappeared.
‘He’s too crazy a bastard to fall in love with.’
Even just when he tore people apart. Seeing that scene, Ian almost got traumatized. After thoroughly beating down the blood-covered Vermouth at the time, he got a promise that he wouldn’t do it again.
‘Ah, I wasn’t originally that kind of person.’
He’d been hardened by a world where human lives were regarded like insects. Ian had become selfish and strong while living in the other world.
“Of course!”
Hong Seoyoon’s voice reached Ian’s ears, who had been lost in other thoughts for a moment.
“I have no intention of telling other bastards about this!”
Hong Seoyoon said that and firmly grasped Ian’s hand in return. The tightly held hand hurt, but Ian couldn’t help but smile. How is this person unchanged from before?
Before returning to his original world, Ian had felt anxious. Since he’d been away for five years, he’d worried whether he could adapt. On tough days, he sometimes thought, what if hyung forgot about me? But it felt like all those anxieties were melting away.
How long had it been since he genuinely smiled? At Ian’s smile blooming brightly, Hong Seoyoon smiled back.
It wasn’t a bad atmosphere. Until someone’s voice interrupted, that is.
“Ahem.”
Someone lightly cleared their throat at the tent entrance.
It was Yoon Taegyeom, who had helped Hong Seoyoon smuggle Ian out.
“Taegyeom hyung!”
At Ian’s voice calling him happily, Yoon Taegyeom stepped into the tent. Then he approached Ian and looked him up and down.
