# Chapter 169
## Bad dreams are still dreams, so dream team
After that night when they recruited Kang Dongha, Lee Hwan began subtly avoiding Taesung.
“The weather’s nice. Want to go for a drive in the evening?”
“…No. It’s fine.”
“We can eat something you like too.”
“I’m not hungry.”
He felt he’d be tense sitting next to Taesung if they went for a drive. What if he unnecessarily fastened Lee Hwan’s seatbelt for him again? His heart would go thump.
Although he was adept at managing his expressions, there was no way to hide his pulse and complexion. If he knew how to do that, he would have become some kind of secret agent instead of a hunter. He wasn’t a spy or anything.
When Taesung made a strange expression after repeated rejections, Lee Hwan would smoothly avert his gaze, pretending to be doing something else.
“Just, not hungry…”
After that, there was usually nothing left to say. The only thing he could do while avoiding Taesung in his house was use his phone. He would tap on the portal site’s main page, and some random advertisement would pop up, which he pretended to look at.
[Spring Women’s Clothing BIG SALE 30-80% OFF]
Of course, when something like this appeared, he would hastily change the window.
‘Ah, shit…’
He’d been like this ever since realizing something was wrong with him. He didn’t want to show it, but unfortunately, it seemed painfully obvious.
In the end, though he had thought to coldly ignore him, whenever Taesung made a hurt expression, a part of his heart ached. Indeed, Lee Hwan found it difficult to ignore Taesung’s gloomy expressions.
It couldn’t be helped. Thinking he’d get better if he just stayed away for a while, he kept his distance without reason. Being close to him made Lee Hwan increasingly conscious of him.
His voice, his laughter, just him in general.
‘…Am I crazy?’
Even in the moment of turning his head, it happened. His heart fluttered at the sight of Taesung’s neck, his Adam’s apple moving in his peripheral vision.
He admired Taesung and cherished him as an irreplaceable friend, and the same would be true for Taesung. That’s how it should be.
“Lee Hwan. Are you still angry?”
At the presence of Taesung approaching and sitting next to him, he even turned off his phone screen with a jerk. His body stiffened. As Taesung leaned slightly on his shoulder and sat down as usual, the warm scent seemed to faintly approach.
Damn it. Lee Hwan counted numbers inwardly and then recalled all kinds of sad thoughts. Throwing away the ice cream while trying to throw away the wrapper. Stubbing his big toe on a threshold. Tuition fees rising again, making it impossible to return to university. Wanting to go home but the gate battle never ending…
It was quite a good choice, as his racing heartbeat seemed to calm a little. But the moment Taesung made a sad sighing sound, Lee Hwan couldn’t endure and rested his head on top of Taesung’s.
He had lost. Even before becoming strange, Lee Hwan was already very weak to him. So how could he resist this?
Despite his heart beating rapidly, touching him strangely gave him a sense of stability. Lee Hwan suddenly realized that he had wanted to be like this with him all morning.
“Lee Hwan. Joo Lee Hwan.”
Even his voice calling his name became a strange stimulation. His low voice felt like it was licking inside his ear somewhere.
‘…Ah.’
Was it because of his strange thoughts? Suddenly it was hot. Lee Hwan’s tongue dried up at this unfamiliar experience he was having for the first time in his life. It’s ruined. Something seems ruined. Only incomprehensible sentiments rose haphazardly.
Now he couldn’t even visit Taesung’s room. Last night too, he lay alone in his room, spending the night with his eyes open. Feeling uneasy or restless. His dreams were always full of vague nightmares.
Thud. Taesung’s hand rested on his head. It felt ticklish inside, as if he had swallowed a feather.
Lee Hwan tightly closed his eyes, then pushed Taesung’s head away and stood up abruptly. Taesung’s hand lost its destination and stopped in midair.
“…I’ll go out for a bit.”
“Where?”
To calm down. And if there’s a chance, to meet Kang Dongha. Lee Hwan only muttered these words inwardly and smiled faintly. Acting as if nothing was wrong, the corners of Taesung’s eyebrows seemed to droop slightly at his nonchalant smile.
Lee Hwan turned his head sharply, struggling to hide his expression that was about to crumble along with Taesung’s.
Thump. Thud-thud. Thump.
“Sssip, haaaah…”
Thump. Thump thump.
“Haaah… Sssip, haaaah…”
Only after leaving the house and taking a long deep breath did the heat that had risen to the tips of his hair subside. Lee Hwan tried to find his composure by erasing the image of Taesung that kept flashing before his eyes.
His face, his voice, his physique had hardly changed from before. Even the fact that his hands were large and warm was exactly the same as in the past.
But why did contact that was just pleasant before the regression now suddenly feel like an intense stimulation?
‘…Stimulation?’
Stimulation, really?
Did he just think of ‘stimulation’ about Taesung?
‘This is Kang Taesung, my really close friend. We save each other’s lives, sleep in the same bed, and just seeing him makes my insides tingle with stimulation.’
Fuck. Does that make any sense?
‘And actually, this time I thought I’d like him to bite my wrist… Anyway, he’s my friend.’
“Uwuuu…”
It was crazy talk. There was no other way to express the thoughts that kept coming up. Looking at it all laid out, it was just absurd.
Lee Hwan had a tendency to interpret things his own way, but that didn’t mean his perceptiveness or intelligence was lacking. Damn it. An assumption he didn’t want to acknowledge brushed his mind.
Ugh, Lee Hwan stopped walking, crouched down, and let out a groan.
He felt bewitched looking at Kang Taesung. His reason was paralyzed and his heart raced. He wanted to stick close to him, yet when Taesung touched him, he started to creak like a broken doll.
Though he didn’t know how it had come to this, he couldn’t help but understand why he was acting this way.
Lee Hwan realized he had feelings for him.
A short and simple, yet absolutely not simple, realization struck his head like lightning. Lee Hwan lifted his head from his knees with an incredulous “Huh” sound.
He liked Taesung.
He always did, but this time, he really liked him that way.
No, thinking about it, he probably didn’t like him as just an ordinary friend before either. No matter how lonely Lee Hwan’s upbringing was, throughout his childhood, he had never laid his head on a friend’s lap to watch TV.
‘…I’m fucked.’
He realized too late what he had been doing all this time. The past images of himself rubbing his face against Taesung’s hands, resting his head on his lap, hugging him, feeding him, and doing all sorts of things unfolded like a panorama from a third-person perspective.
Suddenly he recalled Jade looking at him and Taesung alternately with a strange expression. Lee Hwan’s face twisted just as strangely.
“Oh shit… what do I do?”
How did he not know this? How did he not notice this while living like that for so long?
Lee Hwan, lost in thought, hit his head with a thud like a crazy person. No, that’s not it. It wasn’t that he didn’t know. He pretended not to know because he didn’t want to know. Because if another relationship that would shake him emerged, life would become extremely difficult.
‘And I haven’t even solved the regression problem yet…’
It was the same now. Taesung still hadn’t told him the full story related to the regression. But it seemed like he had many concerns, as he asked if Lee Hwan was still angry even when Lee Hwan just kept his mouth shut.
It was a disappointing treatment even for just a friend. But if he wasn’t even a simple friend…
‘…Ah.’
Suddenly, the courage to face Taesung disappeared. Lee Hwan got up shakily and walked again.
It seemed difficult to go home today. If he saw his face, nonsense might burst out like rap.
Thud, Lee Hwan took out his phone from his pocket with a weakened hand and quickly scrolled through his recent records.
[Kang Dongha]
He touched the text messages they had exchanged a couple of times and pressed the call button.
Drrrr, the ringing sound in his ear. And then…
—”Finally calling?”
As if he had been waiting, the familiar voice answered the phone.
***
Lee Hwan visited the Naru headquarters for the first time since the regression. It was a company he used to visit daily, but seeing it after a long time made him feel unfamiliar and his stomach churn.
Even though it was a building located at the very edge, Kang Dongha had a personal office despite not having a proper position. That’s because he was part of the Naru family, and the Vice President’s son at that.
When Lee Hwan entered the office and sat on the reception sofa, a secretary brought coffee and cookies and left the office without saying much. Lee Hwan, who happened to be hungry, threw a cookie into his mouth and crunched it.
“Is Kang Taesung starving you?”
Kang Dongha organized his documents, snickered, and sat across from him. One of his arms was in a half-cast. Lee Hwan glanced at him, grabbed another cookie, and dipped it deeply into his coffee.
“Why did you tell me to come here?”
“Our conversation, it’s not appropriate to have it just anywhere, is it? Or would you prefer my home? Want to eat ramen and leave?”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Last time they met, he had been submissively backing down, but without Taesung around, he was playing tricks again. Lee Hwan completely ignored his nonsense and continued munching on the cookie in his hand.
Honestly, no matter how big Naru was, this side must all be under Kang Dongying’s control, so he couldn’t understand the nerve of him calling him here.
Having come here following Kang Dongha while ignoring his business card, he was already annoyed at what that prideful person might think.
“Afraid my brother Dongying might see?”
Suddenly Kang Dongha asked while picking up his coffee cup. He hadn’t even mentioned Kang Dongying yet. It was as if he had read his mind.
Unexpectedly, Kang Dongha had a bright expression despite mentioning that person. Far from being worried, he even wore a subtle smile.
That smile, Lee Hwan had already seen it once when he was being sarcastic.
“I called you here on purpose. So he’d get annoyed seeing you.”
As expected. Typical of a person whose head was wired to gently scratch others’ nerves.
