The biggest drawback of the convenience store was its 24-hour operation.
The body’s owner, Kang Ian, didn’t hire a night shift worker and would substitute his night’s sleep by dozing off in the deep early morning hours.
Since Kang Ian had done it that way, Onyul thought he could do the same. There were hardly any customers at night anyway, so it should be fine.
But it was a clear misjudgment. For the past few days, Onyul, who had stayed up all night working like Kang Ian, was dying.
He didn’t know that guarding a convenience store without customers would be such hard work. Only now did he realize how precious it was to lie down comfortably and sleep at night.
Thus, right after customers flooded in due to the large convenience store’s closure, he had posted a job listing for a night shift worker on a part-time job site.
After a few days, he finally received contact from one person.
Without being picky, Onyul told them to come to the convenience store first. He planned to hire them right away if their impression was decent.
10 PM. It was the time the part-timer was supposed to come.
As soon as the time came, the sound of the chime bell was heard. The person who entered through the glass door was the individual who had confused Onyul all morning.
“I’m here, honey.”
The protagonist was Gu Baekyoung, who casually spouted the cringeworthy term of endearment without showing any embarrassment.
“Wh-why are you here?”
Gu Baekyoung shrugged as if it were obvious.
“I’m here to try part-time work.”
An S-rank Esper doing part-time work, really! Onyul scoffed.
Gu Baekyoung was earning money that ordinary people couldn’t even imagine.
Of course, he wasn’t complaining about the fact that he earned a lot of money. He always had to enter the most dangerous gates and always had to risk his life.
If calculated as the price of his life, he should have been granted far more wealth.
What was absurd was that shameless face. That face blinking its two eyes honestly as if he’d really come to do part-time work!
Gu Baekyoung just sparkled his eyes with an innocent face.
The moment the flabbergasted Onyul was about to say something, the words he’d said while leaving the convenience store in broad daylight came to mind.
<Something came up.>
Onyul examined the state of him after returning from the gate.
The black clothes he was wearing were fine, and there were no visible injuries on the outside. However, his face was paler than the last time he’d seen him.
The reason was obvious.
‘He must be lacking guiding.’
Onyul couldn’t bring himself to scold Gu Baekyoung, who had come to the convenience store without even receiving guiding.
He must have been drawn here by that strange energy in the convenience store that he claimed existed.
He kept thinking of the past Gu Baekyoung, who always had a corpse-like complexion because he couldn’t receive guiding. He’d taken more care of him because he couldn’t stand seeing him like that…….
When his thoughts reached that point, Onyul’s momentum, which had been clicking his tongue at Gu Baekyoung’s shamelessness, deflated.
“You just came back from a dispatch. Why don’t you go to the center and rest while receiving guiding instead of doing convenience store part-time work?”
“I’m more comfortable here than at the center.”
Since he was someone who wouldn’t leave even if told to, Onyul quickly gave up. Well, he really did need a part-timer anyway.
He felt like even his brain had hardened from lack of sleep. It seemed impossible to pull another all-nighter tonight.
Onyul opened his mouth wide and yawned. If he closed his eyes like this, it felt like he would fall asleep just like that.
Whatever, I don’t care. Whether I find a new part-timer tomorrow or not, I need to receive Gu Baekyoung’s help today. Onyul desperately needed sleep.
“Fine then, come into the counter. I’ll teach you how to use the POS system first.”
“Okay.”
Gu Baekyoung walked toward the counter like a large, well-behaved beast.
Perhaps because of his large build, as soon as he entered the counter, the inside became cramped and hot.
“We’ve gotten close.”
“It’s because you’re too big!”
Onyul looked up at Gu Baekyoung while shrinking his body. As soon as their faces drew noticeably closer, the kiss Gu Baekyoung had given him suddenly came to mind.
As the distance became uncomfortable, Onyul twisted his body to the side and ended up slightly bumping into the POS system. Almost simultaneously, Gu Baekyoung’s brow furrowed. As if worried about Onyul.
Gu Baekyoung sat on the small chair in front of the POS system and reached out his hand to Onyul.
“If you’re uncomfortable because it’s cramped, want to sit on my lap? Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to explain while sitting?”
“No, why would I sit on your lap……!”
Before his protest could finish, Onyul’s light body was lifted up easily.
Without a chance to resist, he was seated on his thigh. He could feel Gu Baekyoung’s solid body behind his back.
The thigh touching his buttocks was also firm, but rather than being uncomfortable, it was actually comfortable being deeply embraced by him. Maybe it was because he’d only been sitting on chairs without backrests.
Absorbed in the comfort, the words asking why he was sitting on his lap completely disappeared. Onyul scratched his cheek unnecessarily and avoided Gu Baekyoung’s gaze.
“Instead of that, can’t you quit the convenience store? I’ll give you money.”
“Is your money something that comes from digging the ground? How can I just accept it? That’s the price of your life.”
“Not really. And you’re my lover, so I can give you money.”
It was a tempting proposal. Enough to overlook the naturally spoken phrase “my lover.”
Operating this damn convenience store didn’t suit Onyul well.
There were many things to take care of, no personal time, and above all, since it was in front of the Management Bureau, he didn’t know what kind of unexpected situations might occur.
But still, it couldn’t be done.
“No. I’ll faithfully pay you your part-time wages too.”
When he was already strangely entangled with Gu Baekyoung and didn’t know what to do about it, if they became entangled with money too, more headache-inducing matters could arise.
“Stop talking about money and listen to the explanation. I’m going to sleep in a bit.”
“……Okay.”
Onyul explained how to use the POS system one by one. Even while doing so, he couldn’t help yawning.
Perhaps because Gu Baekyoung’s embrace was warm and cozy, drowsiness seemed to come on a bit more.
Eventually, Onyul, holding the barcode scanner, started dozing off.
“Youuu…… mustn’t forget.”
“Mm.”
Gu Baekyoung answered half-heartedly and just patted Onyul’s back as he barely managed to squeeze out a word.
It was a devious patting meant to put him to sleep quickly.
Finally, Onyul’s head drooped down. Gu Baekyoung quickly reached out his hand and caught that small head.
When he gently pushed his head, Onyul rubbed his face against Gu Baekyoung’s chest on his own.
Seeing Onyul’s face relax as if the spacious embrace was comfortable, an affectionate smile appeared on Gu Baekyoung’s face too.
Gu Baekyoung hugged him with both arms just enough not to wake Onyul.
When he slightly tilted his head and brought it to Onyul’s head, he could feel his scent. He had a fresh fragrance, like well-dried laundry in the sun.
Strangely, even the scent they gave off was the same.
“Hyung…….”
There was no answer to the quietly spoken word.
Of course, he hadn’t expected an answer. He was already deeply asleep.
When he took a deep breath, the good energy that Onyul hadn’t fully contained seeped in with his breath.
He insisted he wasn’t Kang Onyul and didn’t have any abilities, but no matter how many times he felt it, the energy of the two people was almost the same.
Gu Baekyoung’s conviction that they were the same person remained unchanged.
Moreover, the more he talked with him, the more he was reminded of Kang Onyul. That personality that tries to treat coldly but can’t cut off decisively, really…….
‘It’s a personality that attracts a lot of flying insects.’
He didn’t know why Onyul was reluctant to take the guide examination, but his reluctance was also welcome to Gu Baekyoung.
Gu Baekyoung also didn’t want Onyul to become affiliated with the Management Bureau. He hoped he would never enter dangerous gates again.
And if he became affiliated with the Management Bureau, the good energy he gave off would also become known. Then, like in the past, countless ability users would want Kang Onyul.
That fact was also unpleasant. He didn’t want Onyul to mix in with ability users. He wanted only himself to possess Onyul.
What if he had realized this impure heart a little earlier?
To Gu Baekyoung, Onyul was a good hyung, a hyung he wanted to see more, a hyung he wanted to touch here and there, a hyung he wanted to be with all day.
He hoped Onyul would only meet him without meeting other ability users, but thinking he might be hated by Onyul if he did that, he remained only as a good dongsaeng.
But hyung died helplessly, caught up in a gate rampage, leaving only the words “see you tomorrow.” For the first time, the words “see you tomorrow” seemed terrible.
As soon as he lost him, Gu Baekyoung realized how precious he was.
He was so excited that he even rampaged and blew up the center…….
If it weren’t for Na Geonwoo’s reincarnation theory, he wouldn’t have been able to return to his right mind. Gu Baekyoung firmly believed those words.
And didn’t he finally meet him again after 6 months? He was proud of himself for enduring well.
He vowed not to live like the past anymore. He wanted to make hyung his own by any means and hold him tightly.
He wouldn’t let Onyul disappear helplessly again. If hyung could bear children, he might have even made him give birth to their child to hold onto his ankles.
Because Gu Baekyoung had this conviction that Kang Ian was Kang Onyul, he could also accept Onyul’s unexpected proposal.
<Forget Kang Onyul.>
Right, let’s forget our past relationship as hyung and dongsaeng, and now only keep our relationship as lovers.
Gu Baekyoung had simply accepted those words that way.
“You’re mine…….”
To perfectly possess Onyul, it seemed good to first increase the time they spent together.
He wanted to make him quit this damn convenience store right away so they could be together all day, but Onyul quite firmly insisted on operating the convenience store.
The thought of wanting to possess him was desperate and urgent, but he didn’t want to incur his hatred.
Gu Baekyoung planned to gradually infiltrate him so that Onyul wouldn’t feel repulsed. If he did that, he could make him quit the convenience store too.
Meanwhile, there were those secretly stealing glances at Gu Baekyoung and Onyul’s sweet embrace.
