# Chapter 165
“Huu… Huu…”
Even though he woke without screaming, his body was completely hot. Lee Hwan, barely suppressing his breath, realized that he had once again awakened from a dream.
The sight of a man dying miserably in what appeared to be a heavily guarded laboratory. The blood-covered man mumbling something to himself had a somehow familiar face.
Slightly drooping eyes with a sensitive impression. The cause of the monster wave that had shaken the world before the regression. He was undoubtedly Kang Dongha.
‘Why was he there like that…?’
Moreover, the monster attacking him was quite familiar. Even though Lee Hwan must have killed hundreds or thousands of monsters while wandering in the world on the brink of destruction, he could be certain of where he had seen this one.
A bizarre appearance not recorded in any monster-related literature. Overwhelming power.
‘…The regression skill stone.’
Unexpectedly, it was the monster that had brought the regression skill to Lee Hwan.
‘What exactly is going on here?’
It was too strange a feeling to dismiss as an insignificant dream. Lee Hwan chewed on his lips. Could this also be a memory he had forgotten? Or was this just another nonsensical dream?
But there were too many memories coming back to him lately to dismiss them as simple illusions. Even though it was Kang Dongha dying instead of himself, it was undoubtedly a story related to regression.
The monster that spat out the regression skill stone, Kang Dongha who swallowed it, the strange words he uttered…
‘White bowtie.’
Lee Hwan closed his eyes again, groaning. Almost connecting but not quite, incomprehensible memories tormented him once more.
Eventually, unable to overcome the discomfort, he moaned and buried his face in Taesung’s arms. Somehow already awake, Taesung’s hand gently stroked the back of his head.
As always, a warm and affectionate hand. Lee Hwan sometimes felt a strange longing to tilt his head and rest his face in that hand.
Just as he was barely regaining his composure from the pleasant sensation, Lee Hwan suddenly realized the situation and opened his eyes wide.
‘…!’
Right now, he was lying in Taesung’s bed, being held in his arms, and having his head caressed.
“…”
Come to think of it, Taesung’s chest was right in front of his wide-open eyes. Through the thin white t-shirt, he had the illusion that he could faintly see his skin.
Lee Hwan almost gasped but barely held it in, rolling his eyes to calm his quickening breath.
However, he soon carefully sifted through last night’s memories and realized the startling fact that he had arbitrarily invaded Taesung’s room while he was sleeping well and burrowed into his bed.
His heart sank.
‘…Crazy. Joo Lee Hwan, you crazy bastard.’
What’s more, just now he had rubbed his face against Taesung’s chest who knows how many times. No wonder it felt warm and nice—he was a living heater.
Crazy. Why the hell was Kang Taesung acting like this? If your friend suddenly lifts your blanket and crawls in, you should kick them out, not fiddle with their hair and whatnot.
While Lee Hwan was blaming Taesung in his confusion, it suddenly occurred to him that Taesung might not have confirmed his face yet.
‘Could it be that he still thinks I’m asleep?’
He might have thought Lee Hwan was having a nightmare and struggling. So he did what Lee Hwan had done—embracing a fully grown man and rubbing his head. After all, neither of them had been sleeping comfortably lately.
‘Even so…’
Lee Hwan mumbled with his lips reddened from excessive chewing. He felt his ears getting hot for no reason.
‘Let’s pretend to be asleep.’
Waking up would be death. Death from embarrassment. Honestly, Lee Hwan was more embarrassed about the fact that a grown man like himself had clung to someone and made what seemed like sleep tantrums than about lying in Taesung’s bed.
If only he could just pretend not to know and fall back asleep. Or if Taesung would get up first and leave the room, that would be good too.
But contrary to his wish, his body was squeezed tightly once. Lee Hwan was so startled that he almost made a “kkeek” sound, forgetting human language.
‘What are you doing, you jerk?’
Instead of inwardly cursing him out, Lee Hwan frantically tried to calm his heartbeat. Taesung had particularly good hearing. If he was discovered to be awake by his rapidly beating heart, it would really be difficult to face him.
However, being conscious of it made his body twitch obviously. Each time the warm scent tickled his nose, his spine shivered and sweat seeped from his back.
Perhaps it was from being too conscious. When Taesung’s fingers brushed through his hair with a rustling sound, heat rose from his waist with a tingling sensation.
Damn it. Damn it. Lee Hwan swallowed his curses inwardly. His face burned endlessly.
Calm down. Settle down. Lee Hwan, not understanding his own reaction, tightly closed his eyes again and wiped his mind clean. Then he struggled to recall unpleasant faces one by one.
That Kim whatever who jealously whined because his promotion was delayed even though he joined only half a year before me… That section chief Cho who trash-talked me in front, thinking he was something just because he hung around with Kang Taesung… Those drunk people who picked fights saying students should study instead of working part-time jobs… And Kang Dongha who ultimately backstabbed me even though I endured his annoyance and let it slide without hitting him.
‘…?’
Just as his irritation peaked, for some reason, Dongha’s smirking face came to mind. Lee Hwan felt heat surging to his head for a different reason.
It was strange. He had never interacted with that bastard in that way.
‘Could it be…’
If so, then this that just popped up… though it was just speculation, could it be an episode from the past that appeared somewhere in a dream he couldn’t remember?
As he tried to recall information about him, the dream he had just woken from slipped back into Lee Hwan’s mind.
‘…Aaaaah-!’
The death with a terrible scream echoing. However, since he had never seen news of Kang Dongha’s death, perhaps it was a fragment of memory from before the regression.
In truth, since he didn’t know him well and he deserved his punishment, Kang Dongha’s gruesome death was regrettable but not particularly sad or painful. However, as Lee Hwan traced through the already fading laboratory scene in his head, he discovered something strange.
Come to think of it, in that dream, why was Kang Dongha alone?
Since it was his memory, he should have been present in the situation. But in the hazy memory, only Kang Dongha and the monster were alive and breathing in that place.
What could it be? Why did this crazy memory fragment suddenly start introducing variations to the pattern? As he pondered, Lee Hwan suddenly realized that he had forgotten all his memories and regressed.
Though he didn’t know the mechanism, his memories had flown away somewhere and were coming back one by one in fragments. If so, could someone else’s memories also be scattered this way?
Though it was a baseless conjecture, that situation certainly didn’t seem like his own. The memory recorded as if observing Kang Dongha, whose could it be?
‘Tamitree Bar, white bowtie.’
Only these incomprehensible mutterings remained deeply in his mind. Lee Hwan sighed long and thin, feeling Taesung’s hand that had stopped above his head at some point.
Just by recalling Kang Dongha, the excited sensation had considerably subsided. It was fortunate, but not a pleasant feeling.
‘What kind of person was Kang Dongha anyway?’
A fox in tiger’s clothing. A brother who couldn’t match his older sibling. A figure falling short compared to the other bloodlines. After the monster wave broke out, various unflattering modifiers adorned him, but what kind of person he actually was had never been revealed.
Just assuming he was idle and living off others didn’t sit well with the recent dream. In that past moment, Kang Dongha was helping his brother’s work.
Then, would he need to meet Kang Dongying to see him?
‘Unless I’m crazy, would I crawl into a tiger’s den to catch a fox cub?’
It was an absurd thought. Lee Hwan inwardly snorted and carefully recalled his unfragmented memories from before the first regression.
‘Kang Dongha… Kang Dongha… where was he caught?’
Ah. Now that he thought about it, Kang Dongha had a bar he frequently visited. Realizing this fact, Lee Hwan suddenly startled and twitched his body.
The regular bar he entered as if it were his home. The name of that bar was…
***
BAR TAMITREE.
Guards who appeared to be Awakened at a glance were guarding the luxurious entrance. A high-class bar where even those who claimed to be strong couldn’t cause trouble recklessly. The nouveau riche Kang Dongha’s regular drinking establishment.
Lee Hwan scraped together his barely existing bank balance from seven years ago and bought an imitation suit. Originally, he had planned to steal Taesung’s clothes, but when he saw the sleeves coming down to his palms, he cleanly gave up.
Taesung had given him a card, saying not to hesitate to buy whatever he needed, but as soon as he saw the price of the clothes, the desire to purchase completely disappeared.
Though he was worried that wearing cheap clothes might be noticed, Lee Hwan somehow managed to pass through the entrance. In reality, the guards didn’t even look at his clothes. They just scanned his face and stepped aside on their own.
“Marti… no, um, Grasshopper please.”
About to order the sweet and sour drink that Taesung had bought for him before, Lee Hwan suddenly changed his mind for some reason and quickly asked for the bartender’s recommended cocktail. For some reason, he felt like he would regret ordering a martini.
‘This has an interesting taste…’
After the sweet and strange taste, the alcohol aroma brushed his nose. Lee Hwan sipped the absurdly expensive cocktail bit by bit while eagerly looking around.
Would Kang Dongha be here? Even if it was his regular bar, he wouldn’t be hanging out here every day, so if he was unlucky, he might have to visit this place for days until meeting him.
And this was a bar that charged crazy prices even for serving a glass of cola that was obviously mass-produced. Lee Hwan, who couldn’t get a job because of Taesung, certainly didn’t have money to spend freely here.
Taesung’s card… he had sealed it away well, knowing that the moment he used it, Taesung would come running. Seeing his appearance sitting here trying to entice someone, Taesung probably wouldn’t be too pleased.
‘He’ll just try to confine me at home, making various excuses.’
But was he lucky? Before even emptying half his glass, Lee Hwan unexpectedly discovered Kang Dongha sitting at a table. He was wearing a noticeable mustard-colored shirt and was busy talking on the phone, barely drinking his alcohol.
‘It’s surprising that color suits him.’
Then for a moment, as he turned his head, Kang Dongha’s eyes met Lee Hwan’s. For some reason, his irritated brow smoothed out, and his slightly drooping eye corners curved as he looked at Lee Hwan.
‘Hello.’
What pleased him so much? Despite Lee Hwan being a complete stranger, he brazenly mouthed a greeting.
