# Chapter 156.
The scent lingering at the tip of his nose.
‘Damn it.’
His saliva gradually dried up. He wished this guy would just fall asleep like he’d passed out.
Lee Hwan, who had been mentally counting numbers to calm his heart, quietly traced through his memories. Come to think of it, what had he done the day before when Taesung had collapsed into deep sleep?
Nothing special. He had just tried to calm him, even if only in his dreams. He wanted him to be a little more comfortable. He hoped he would find stability, even if just from his voice.
If that was the case…
Lee Hwan held and shook the hand gripping his arm, then licked his lips with a perplexed expression. He considered striking the hand with his fist, but after deliberating, he raised his head.
‘This… can’t be helped. I have no choice since this guy shouldn’t come to harm.’
He muttered what sounded like self-justification. Then, as the sleeping Taesung’s face came into full view, his shoulders stiffened completely.
Lee Hwan took several long deep breaths before placing his hand on the sleeping Taesung’s back. The sound of regular patting echoed in the quiet room.
He never dreamed he’d be lullabying a fully grown man. Should he be thankful that at least he wasn’t awake?
It was embarrassing, but he didn’t stop patting. He even stroked his back. Hoping that Taesung would find comfort in whatever dream he was having. Wishing he would release him quickly and fall into a peaceful deep sleep.
How long had he been comforting and soothing the sleeping man? Finally, as if he had fallen into a deep sleep, the grip on his arm gradually weakened. His tightly held arm felt lighter.
‘Good.’
Lee Hwan awkwardly rejoiced and massaged his numb arm several times.
But just as he was about to raise his upper body to dash to his room, suddenly a large hand grabbed Lee Hwan’s back.
“What the…”
Without time to resist, his body was pulled in, and Lee Hwan found himself embraced in Taesung’s arms.
Wham. Strong arms wrapped around his back. His entire body was pressed against a warm body that could melt him completely, and that distinctive scent overwhelmed his senses. Lee Hwan’s thoughts froze momentarily. His spine stiffened from the waist up.
What was this situation? Was this bastard actually awake? His thread-like suspicion evaporated when he saw Taesung’s face nearly touching his nose. He was sleeping with his eyes gently closed. This was just an extension of him walking and grabbing arms while asleep.
It was close. So close that his breath tickled his face. As soon as he recognized this, Lee Hwan’s face suddenly burned hot.
“Kang Taesung… Taesung-ah…”
He quietly called to wake him, but there was no movement. Instead of his answer, only the sound of his heartbeat grew louder. Lee Hwan tightly closed his eyes, then opened them and took a deep breath, startled anew by the face so close to his.
Having a good sense of smell was a poison at times like this. It felt like his body scent was rising like a heat haze.
‘Fuck.’
Should he just punch him once, wake him up, and escape? Even such extreme thoughts occurred to him, but what actually came out was a voice that seemed ready to extinguish at any moment.
“Hey, Kang Taesung…”
His heart raced without any awareness, and he became unsure when to inhale and exhale. In the end, he closed his eyes again to block his vision, but thinking that Taesung’s sleeping face was right in front of him made his nape alternately hot and cool.
Familiar smell, familiar temperature, skin. Was it right to react this much just because a friend hugged him in his sleep?
Lee Hwan, who was trying to snap out of it and twist his body to slip out from below, unfortunately got stuck with his head buried in Taesung’s chest.
‘Should I hit him?’
As violent methods again became appealing, the sound of a heart that wasn’t his own began to reach his ears.
Thump. Thump. Lee Hwan felt the back of his neck tingle with the rhythm transmitted through his skin. Taesung’s heartbeat was flowing directly to his head.
‘He’s safe…’
He vividly recalled the time when he put his ear to the sleeping Taesung’s chest to check his pulse. That had been just a few days ago. The same happened a few weeks ago, and a few months ago…
Since embracing him, Taesung’s heart was beating more peacefully than ever. Realizing this, Lee Hwan felt his tension somehow completely dissolve.
Damn it. He really didn’t know. He muttered internally. The clearer the heartbeat became, the more his chest tickled. It felt like his face would continue to heat up endlessly and turn to ash.
If he stayed like this, would Taesung wake up and wander around the house again? With that thought, it even seemed right that he was being embraced like this.
Taesung was now making steady breathing sounds, as if he had fallen into a deep sleep. Listening to it and breathing along with him somehow made him feel somewhat comfortable.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t been able to sleep properly since the regression either. Lee Hwan clenched and unclenched his fist as if contemplating, and finally stopped resisting.
From then on, drowsiness overtook him. The air warmed by body heat and the scent filled with him were incredibly comfortable.
With his head buried in Taesung’s embrace, Lee Hwan fell into a deep sleep for the first time since the city collapsed.
* * *
Four more days passed, flowing yet creaking along. Taesung, who had been busy moving around even on weekends, became someone truly difficult to see except for dinner once weekdays arrived.
He thought he would feel anxious if not with him, but in some ways, he felt more at ease. When he woke up from strange dreams that he almost but couldn’t quite remember, he strangely didn’t even want to get out of bed.
During that time, Lee Hwan took him to his room for three nights, and two of those times, he was caught and fell asleep in Taesung’s room.
Once, Lee Hwan woke up first and hurriedly returned, and another time, when he woke up, Taesung had already left. In the empty house, Lee Hwan munched on the meals Taesung had bought and was glad that he also seemed to consider this not a big deal. He didn’t have much to say if Taesung demanded an explanation.
While Taesung was out of the house, the Awakened registration results arrived. More precisely, Jade visited with the news. The tablet PC he handed over displayed documents filled with blank spaces.
The first thing that caught his eye was the Hunter rank, which had been set differently from before the regression.
‘A-rank.’
Despite clearly listing his ability as B-grade, he had been exceptionally granted a higher rank. Since there were clear physical differences between B-rank and A-rank, and the gap in abilities between Awakened people widens exponentially from C-rank, this meant the Administration Bureau had definitely recognized his abilities.
Although it was thanks to skills whose origins were still unknown, Lee Hwan felt his chest swelling with pride.
“Stop smiling and sign already. Read from page 1 and fill in the blanks as needed. Skip anything without an asterisk… they’re just optional and only a hassle.”
The awkwardness was at its peak as someone who had been speaking casually to Taesung was suddenly using formal speech again. Lee Hwan, glancing around aimlessly, spoke to him.
“You can speak comfortably. Like you do with Kang Taesung.”
“I’ll do that.”
He dropped formalities at the speed of light, as if he had been waiting for it. As if he would have done so on his own eventually, even without it being mentioned.
Only then did Lee Hwan look at the tablet PC with ease. A-rank. The red, bold letters seemed to be etched into his eyes.
S-rank was beyond consideration with only a few people nationwide, so A-rank was essentially the highest rank one could see in an ordinary company. With these specs, any company would wave their bank accounts asking him to come. His future was blooming even more brightly than before.
‘Well, Naru would be the best anyway.’
And he had already been accepted there as a supporter. Come to think of it, this news must have spread to Naru as well.
Normally, they would have contacted him eagerly, thinking what a stroke of luck this was. After hiring someone who had been verified through three interviews, he had awakened as an A-rank on his own.
However, his phone was surprisingly quiet. Given that no offers to renew the contract or change teams had come, it seemed that Taesung had indeed done something.
Lee Hwan gradually erased the smile from his face and thought of him, whom he had become quite difficult to meet. He had definitely changed. In the past, he would have been desperate to pull Lee Hwan into the advance team.
Could he have said something to Jade that he had hidden from Lee Hwan? Unable to contain his curiosity, he opened his mouth while poking his chin with his thumb.
“So, how much do you know?”
The blunt question was due to anxiety. On the day of the Awakened registration, he had tried to ask about this but suddenly felt an unpleasant sense of déjà vu.
Jade scanned Lee Hwan with a look that seemed to wonder what he was asking about, then answered indifferently.
“That you’re Kang Taesung’s friend, whom I’ve neither seen nor heard of?”
Indeed, he hadn’t understood properly. His answer was so ordinary that it seemed he didn’t know about the regression.
Well, if Taesung had kept things from him, he probably hadn’t shared much with this person either. It was childish, but he might have felt hurt if this person knew something he didn’t. Lee Hwan felt both disappointment and relief simultaneously.
“Hasn’t that guy become a bit strange?”
Lee Hwan bluntly asked again. He was curious whether Taesung’s changes were properly visible to Jade’s eyes too. Whether this was just how he was seven years ago, or if he was acting unusually.
Jade pointed to a spot where Lee Hwan had missed signing and spoke.
“Since last week?”
Judging by how accurately he pinpointed the time, he must have noticed that Taesung was different from usual. Lee Hwan signed where indicated and lowered his eyebrows.
“He’s always had a deadpan face. To me, you both seem strange.”
It was a striking comment. Lee Hwan too was just an unusual element that had suddenly appeared before him.
“Now that you’re registered, you should be able to use the training facilities.”
After the final signature was completed, Jade said as he took the tablet PC.
“The young master said to go there if you’re bored. I’ll handle the commute, so call if needed.”
He took out a new phone with a smoothly shining screen and made a call somewhere. Simultaneously, a vibration sounded from Lee Hwan’s pocket.
Click, the call ended, and Jade immediately turned his body. Lee Hwan quickly moved, in the middle of saving his number to his phone.
“I’ll go now.”
While Taesung was moving alone, he couldn’t just sit still either. Building his body and refining his ability came first.
If that guy remained the same afterward, he planned to move alone even without his cooperation. Now that he had received his Hunter rank, confidence was filling him up to his head.
“As you wish.”
After the door clicked shut and Lee Hwan rushed out, only silence flowed through the empty house.
