The moment his focus shifted back to the guiding, any thought of stopping dissolved without a trace.
As if reading his mind, a soft tongue pressed slowly against Hae-il’s lower lip at just the right moment. Unhurried and languid.
But the movement that had seemed about to push inside his mouth suddenly stopped altogether. It seemed like cautious waiting for permission — or hesitation — or perhaps deliberate teasing.
Whatever the true intent, it worked on Hae-il with devastating effect. Having tasted this kind of guiding even once, there was no way not to chase it. The grip tightening around their already-interlaced fingers was thick with impatience. Following the path where the guiding felt strongest, Hae-il pushed his tongue past Moon Woo-shin’s lips.
“Hmh….”
Their tongues tangled together at once, the inner lining of their mouths making direct contact. The slick, wet, burning sensation crashed in alongside the guiding in a relentless rush.
Without even realizing it, a faint moan slipping from him, Hae-il pushed blindly to go deeper. He slid along the inner lining of his cheek, moved past his teeth, and explored beneath his tongue. Moon Woo-shin’s tongue glided smoothly in return — tracing the length of the side as if climbing over it — and wound around his. Their saliva mixed together until their lips were a wet, ruined mess. The sensation of moisture-slicked lips became all the more overwhelming.
He couldn’t hold onto his senses against the wave of pleasure rushing in from every direction. He couldn’t tell whether the source of this almost too-good pleasure was the guiding, or the physical touch itself, or both.
Acting on instinct to press closer, Hae-il lifted the hand that had been braced on the ground and grabbed hard at Moon Woo-shin’s waist. Moon Woo-shin’s hand, which had been gripping Hae-il’s jaw, had at some point shifted lower to curl around the back of his neck.
Every time that rough palm stroked gently down his neck and brushed through the back of his hair, every time those slick wet lips slid and ground together, every time their tongues tangled fiercely — goosebumps rippled across his skin and his entire body buzzed with pleasure.
The more contact there was between them, the more at ease his body became, and the more desperately he craved. He had the illusion that his entire field of vision was bleeding red.
Through the narrowed slit of his vision, their eyes met again directly. Dark and deep eyes. Meeting his gaze wasn’t unsettling in the slightest. If anything….
In that instant, every single thing they were doing stopped at once. The hand that had been tenderly stroking his nape abruptly pulled far back, then firmly gripped Hae-il’s shoulder and pushed him away.
“Why — just a little more — not yet—”
Hae-il was spilling words in fragmented, breathless urgency — and then he came face to face with Moon Woo-shin properly, and the effect was like cold water dumped over his head.
Unlike his own face, which was surely a complete mess, the man in front of him was expressionless. If not for the saliva smeared at the corner of his lips, Hae-il could have believed what the two of them had just been doing wasn’t a kiss at all, but a strategy meeting.
Moon Woo-shin released their tightly interlaced fingers without a second thought and checked Hae-il’s watch with businesslike hands.
“It’s full. In 5 minutes….”
Rising to his feet and looking down at Hae-il, he changed what he’d been about to say — unusually for him.
“We leave in 10 minutes. Get ready.”
Then he turned around and climbed out first. His retreating figure was clean of any emotion. Nothing but a clear, unspoken line that said: it was only guiding.
Hae-il was left behind in an instant, alone in the dark pit.
As reason slowly returned, the heaviest of the emotions that flooded in with it was self-loathing.
“Ha, fuck…….”
He scrubbed the back of his hand roughly across his wet mouth and drew his knees up, curling in on himself. He pressed his forehead down hard against his sharp, raised knees.
Chasing guiding was an Esper’s instinct, sure — but what just happened…….
I already knew exactly what it was, and I fell for it anyway. I’m out of my mind.
In contrast to the guiding now full to the brim and almost sloshing over, something deep inside felt hollow with hunger.
This was exactly why he’d wanted to avoid Moon Woo-shin’s guiding of all things. The line he’d drawn for himself like a personal vow might as well have meant nothing.
Hae-il let out a long, heavy sigh. It seemed like it would take considerably longer than just 10 minutes to cool down a body that had worked up this much heat.
***
The inside of the Gate was quiet, lit only by that same faint, dim glow as before. It seemed like the only living things nearby were the two of them. Both walking with their mouths shut tight and their footsteps deliberately muffled — all that remained was silence.
Hae-il turned his head in every direction checking his surroundings, drew water out in the shape of a long spear and jabbed it here and there, and occasionally reached it far out in search of any monster traces.
He tried to focus entirely on the search, but within only a few minutes, he found himself drifting into other thoughts entirely.
How many days will it take to get out of here.
Until then, whether he liked it or not, he’d have to keep receiving guiding from Moon Woo-shin. The problem was that he couldn’t clearly define for himself whether that was actually something he liked or something he didn’t.
He had always avoided close guiding to keep from repeating the same mistake from the past.
But now, faced with exactly this kind of situation, he was rationalizing it as something unavoidable — while somewhere deep inside, a quiet, creeping pleasure was slowly blooming.
Get a grip.
For now, there was nothing he could do but take the bare minimum of guiding and escape the Gate as quickly as possible. Before he ended up somewhere he couldn’t come back from.
With a small sigh, he turned his head forward — and immediately came to an abrupt stop.
“Oh.”
The single syllable slipped out on reflex and he quickly took a step back.
Without realizing it, he had gotten right up against Moon Woo-shin’s back as he walked ahead. If he’d been even a fraction of a second later, he would have buried his face somewhere between his neck and shoulder.
Moon Woo-shin turned around at the sudden sound in the silence. Hae-il took another step back, awkwardly avoiding his gaze.
“Do you need more guiding?”
“…No?”
“Then, did you find something?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Then stop drawing unnecessary attention.”
His tone really was consistently insufferable.
But right now, Hae-il couldn’t bring himself to argue back. Because he had a feeling he knew exactly what kind of behavior was included in stop drawing unnecessary attention.
As Moon Woo-shin turned back around to face forward, Hae-il felt his own face slowly growing hot from behind him.
Damn it. Please get it together, Seo Hae-il….
For the entire half-day of walking since the morning’s guiding, every time Hae-il’s guard even slightly relaxed, he had unfailingly ended up pressed close against Moon Woo-shin.
Nearly colliding just now was actually the best of them. He’d stopped before making contact, after all. Earlier, he’d found himself placing his hand against the back of Moon Woo-shin’s hand without even noticing. And before that, he had drawn so close that his entire arm was pressed flush against him at full length — nearly stepping on his foot in the process.
Of course, none of it had been his own conscious will. A body that had tasted Moon Woo-shin’s guiding after so long simply wouldn’t listen to him.
It felt like self-loathing and shame flooding in all at once.
It’s not like I’m some kid receiving guiding for the first time.
Hae-il gritted his teeth and deliberately slowed his pace, putting distance between himself and Moon Woo-shin.
Walking roughly two full steps behind him now, Moon Woo-shin glanced back and made a face like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“Hae-il.”
“…What?”
“When, where, and what could jump out at us at any moment — and you think that much distance is fine? Don’t you know it’s more dangerous if we get separated?”
Then he tilted his head with a short jerk of his chin toward his own side. He was telling him to come closer.
Complain when I’m close, complain when I’m far.
Technically, Moon Woo-shin wasn’t wrong. And it was all the more valid given that they still hadn’t figured out what type of monsters were inside this Gate. That was exactly why his own body not cooperating frustrated him even more.
Pressing his lips tightly together, Hae-il closed the gap by one tiny step. Moon Woo-shin looked at him and tilted his head to the side.
What is it now. He shot back with the same tilted look — but got no answer.
Instead, Moon Woo-shin tucked the guide’s gun he’d been holding into his jacket, took a quick sweep of the surroundings, and pointed toward one corner.
