The car arrived at the familiar apartment underground parking lot.
It had been a long day. Running through two Gates, coughing up blood, and drinking poison to his heart’s content—it had truly been exhausting.
Lee Kanghyun boarded the elevator and pressed the button for his floor. As the doors closed and it began to ascend, he felt inexplicably emotional.
I’m finally home. I need to hurry and wash up, change into comfortable pajamas, and lie down.
Lee Kanghyun kept staring intently at the panel showing the ascending floor numbers.
Ding.
—25th floor.
Finally arriving at the 25th floor, the doors slid open smoothly.
Freedom at last!
Just as Lee Kanghyun was about to step out—
Tap.
Someone grabbed Lee Kanghyun’s shoulder from behind and rapidly hit the close button on the elevator in quick succession.
“Huh?”
The open doors began to close. Lee Kanghyun twisted his body to try to escape, but a firm arm wrapped completely around his waist.
In that moment, the doors closed completely.
“What are you doing!”
Lee Kanghyun whirled around and shouted. The culprit was naturally Kang Yujun. Kang Yujun tightly embraced Lee Kanghyun from behind and rested his chin on his shoulder.
“Oops. My hand slipped.”
It was a shameless excuse. What slipped hand? This was clearly him trying to torment him again.
Kang Yujun buried his face completely in Lee Kanghyun’s shoulder and mumbled.
“Let’s go to my place…”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?!”
Goosebumps rising all over his body, Lee Kanghyun screamed.
After working nonstop for five years with barely any days off, this bastard’s brain had clearly malfunctioned. A man with a mountain-sized build was clinging to him and whining.
He struggled in horror, trying to unwrap the arms around his waist.
“Let go! Why are you being so gross! Let go!”
“Just eat and then go. Okay?”
Was this bastard not only drawing out his words but also acting cute?
Lee Kanghyun was so dumbfounded that all the strength momentarily drained from his body. In the meantime, the elevator arrived at the 26th floor and the doors opened.
Kang Yujun released the arms that had been wrapped around his waist and this time pushed Lee Kanghyun’s back forward.
“Here, we’ve arrived. Let’s get off.”
“Fuck off! I’m going home.”
“If you come to my place and eat with me, I won’t charge you for the car repairs.”
Lee Kanghyun hesitated at those words. The repair fee… he could afford to pay it, but honestly, it did feel like a waste of money.
Sigh. Lee Kanghyun let out a breath, relaxed his body, and let himself be pushed along. Kang Yujun, his lips curled up high, opened the front door and dragged the limp body inside, seating him at the dining table.
After sitting across from Lee Kanghyun, he rustled around setting burgers on the table. He even hummed a tune as he laid out four burger sets in a row on the table.
When he dumped all four orders of fries in one place, they piled up like a mountain. Lee Kanghyun frowned at the sight.
“Hey. Who’s going to eat all this?”
Obviously there would be leftovers. You get punished for wasting food. Why would he waste food like this?
“Who’s going to eat it all? Two for you, two for me.”
“Are you crazy? How can anyone eat two burgers? People only do that on the internet.”
At those words, Kang Yujun’s eyes widened as if they would pop out. He looked at Lee Kanghyun with a genuinely shocked expression.
“You… don’t tell me you only eat one burger?”
“Yeah.”
Why are you asking something so obvious? Of course you eat one burger, not two. Does this bastard not understand what a single serving means?
Kang Yujun couldn’t hide his horror.
“You didn’t eat a single meal all day and rolled around in a Gate, and you’re satisfied with just one burger?! You’re skin and bones because you always eat like a bird.”
Lee Kanghyun felt wronged. The amount he ate was just perfectly normal. It was ridiculous that this guy who stuffed his face was saying he ate like a bird.
“Today you’re eating both no matter what.”
Kang Yujun insisted stubbornly and pushed two burgers in front of Lee Kanghyun. Irritated, Lee Kanghyun wanted to just shout that he wouldn’t eat at all, but having starved all day, seeing the burgers made him involuntarily swallow his saliva.
“I’m only eating one.”
“Just eat first.”
Succumbing to his hunger, he eventually unwrapped the packaging and took a big bite of the burger. The savory taste touching his tongue awakened his forgotten appetite.
After confirming Lee Kanghyun was eating, Kang Yujun also began eating in earnest.
It is delicious though.
Lee Kanghyun thought to himself. When he had eaten about half the burger, he casually raised his gaze and froze in place.
…What?
Kang Yujun had already finished eating and was wiping his mouth with a napkin. Two crumpled wrappers lay in front of him.
Lee Kanghyun alternated between looking at the half-eaten burger in his hands and the two empty wrappers in front of Kang Yujun.
In the time it took him to eat only about half of one burger, Kang Yujun had devoured two entire burgers.
Is that even possible? Is he even human?
Feeling the piercing stare, Kang Yujun asked curiously.
“What? Do you need something?”
Lee Kanghyun shook his head. He was just surprised by the eating speed.
The more he saw of Kang Yujun, the more fascinating he found him. It was amazing how he suppressed his obnoxious personality to manage his image, amazing that he cleared Gates for five years straight without days off, and now he’d learned that he even ate incredibly fast.
Come to think of it, he did eat quickly that time at the home-style restaurant too. He’d been too troubled to notice then.
Lee Kanghyun soon brushed off the thought.
Whatever. Let me just finish mine. He turned his gaze away and resumed eating the remaining burger.
Kang Yujun propped his chin on his hand and stared quietly at Lee Kanghyun. The face chewing the burger with puffed cheeks was peaceful in itself, but below that was a disaster. His clothes were tattered and completely soaked in blood. It looked like something that couldn’t even go in a used clothing bin and should be thrown out as regular trash.
Kang Yujun’s eyes, which had been full of playfulness, gradually settled into calm seriousness.
“But are you really okay?”
“What do you mean?”
Kang Yujun silently looked him up and down.
Noticing the gaze, Lee Kanghyun shrugged his shoulders.
“Yeah. I regenerated. I’m fine.”
At his too-nonchalant attitude, Kang Yujun let out a deep sigh openly. Lee Kanghyun paid no mind and took a sip of cola.
“Still, wash up before you go. You look like a complete mess right now.”
“I’ll wash when I get home.”
“I’ll fill the bathtub for you.”
Kang Yujun ignored Lee Kanghyun’s words, stood up, and headed straight for the bathroom.
It wasn’t the first or second time he’d acted so willfully, completely ignoring what people said. Instead of arguing stubbornly that he wouldn’t wash, Lee Kanghyun cleanly resigned himself.
I’ll just wash and go.
Truth be told, his whole body was sticky to the point of madness. Although it was just one floor down, it felt unpleasant to ride the elevator again in this gruesome state, covered in blood with his clothes melted into tatters. If he unluckily ran into a neighbor, it was the perfect appearance to be mistaken for a murderer and reported to the police on the spot.
As Lee Kanghyun was eating the remaining burger, the rushing sound of water stopped and Kang Yujun poked his head out of the bathroom.
“The water’s almost full. Come in and wash.”
“Thanks.”
After taking the last bite, he left the kitchen and opened the bathroom door to enter.
Kang Yujun, who said he’d filled the water, hadn’t left but was standing firmly planted next to the bathtub.
He needed to take off his clothes, but he couldn’t undress with someone watching like that. Lee Kanghyun looked at him with a puzzled expression.
“Aren’t you leaving?”
At that question, Kang Yujun leaned crookedly against the wall with a sly smile. He played an obvious prank to make Lee Kanghyun flustered.
“Why? Embarrassed? I want to watch.”
What bullshit is this? He wants to watch?
What’s there to see between guys?
Not feeling it was worth responding to, Lee Kanghyun grabbed the hem of his shirt, soaked in blood and poison and tattered. And without hesitation, he threw off his top.
Thud.
The shirt fell to the floor.
His pale, thin upper body was fully exposed. Despite everything, being an S-rank Hunter, his lean muscles were nicely defined. The newly regenerated skin had a strangely pinkish-red tint.
Kang Yujun’s face, which had been full of mischief, turned to shock. He hadn’t expected Lee Kanghyun to actually undress so casually right in front of him.
“Ah! Y-you crazy bastard!”
Kang Yujun’s face flushed bright red as if it would burst. Turning red all the way to his neck in an instant, he let out a strange scream and bolted out of the bathroom with a crash.
BANG—!
The door slammed shut.
Left alone with his shirt off, Lee Kanghyun stared at the closed door with a bewildered expression.
What’s with him?
He couldn’t understand why, after making a fuss about not leaving, Kang Yujun was now fleeing in such horror. They’re both men, aren’t they? He couldn’t understand at all what there was to be embarrassed about.
Besides, it wasn’t even the first time seeing it, was it? When they lived in the studio apartment, Kang Yujun had already seen Lee Kanghyun’s naked body once before.
“Anyone would think I tried to jump him or something.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Lee Kanghyun stripped off his remaining pants and underwear without regret and headed straight for the shower booth.
