# Chapter 156
Huh? Iyeon blinked. The conversation had progressed in the blink of an eye, leaving no time to comprehend. Only after a couple of breaths did Iyeon grasp the situation.
Sano, who Iyeon had assumed would refuse unless he went along, had readily agreed. The person who had been acting clingy to Iyeon to the point of obsession was nowhere to be seen.
“You never know. Each team should have one hunter.”
The logic he followed was irrefutably reasonable. Even to Iyeon, it made more sense to have Sano go with Hyegang than pairing him with Jaekyung. Doesn’t Sano dislike Jaekyung? And Jaekyung finds Sano uncomfortable… So while this was the appropriate combination—
Sano’s exquisitely sharp facial profile was fixed on Hyegang, as if he had no interest in Iyeon.
“…Yeah, that’s true.”
It was inexplicable why his heart sank at that attitude.
“Then it’s decided that Iyeon-hyung and Jaekyung-hyung will go first.”
Hyegang, who had won at rock-paper-scissors once again, waved his hand leisurely as he declared. Jaekyung, who was clutching his hand with a miserable expression, looked like someone who had just witnessed the sky falling.
“Well, it shouldn’t take long, so hurry back. Don’t forget to count the doors carefully. Iyeon-hyung. …Iyeon-hyung?”
“Huh?”
Iyeon belatedly lifted his head at Hyegang’s call. Hyegang was nodding lightly.
“Hurry back.”
“Ah.”
Finally snapping back to his senses, Iyeon looked at Jaekyung, who was already nodding with a disciplined expression. His steps toward the door were already wavering.
“Now that we’re actually going, I’m getting nervous… Let’s go, Iyeon-ssi.”
Iyeon nodded and followed Jaekyung, who was walking hesitantly. He deliberately avoided looking at Sano’s face. Soon, the two entered the building.
Once inside, they immediately turned on their phone flashlights. The bright lights illuminated every corner of the walls.
Since it was a small building without an elevator, they had to climb the stairs. As they searched for the stairwell door and walked up, Jaekyung seemed to find Iyeon’s behavior strange—his responses were noticeably slow even to Jaekyung, who was already shrinking from the atmosphere. A cautious question was offered.
“Are you okay? Are you really scared?”
“Ah, it’s not that. Just thinking about something else. Let’s hurry.”
Having regained his focus, Iyeon smiled brightly. Seeing his composed face, Jaekyung also nodded with a relaxed expression and climbed the stairs.
Thinking about it, there wasn’t much to worry about. It’s not like he was alone in some remote mountain area—it was just that he ended up in a different group for this courage test. The guy who had been acting like he would follow Iyeon even to the bathroom suddenly, too readily, agreed to go with someone else. That’s what surprised him. There were no other emotions involved.
‘Could he be interested in Hyegang?’
Sano’s face as he talked with Hyegang was strangely etched in his mind. Since Sano rarely focused on other people, it made him feel that way even more.
With that thought, he couldn’t even bear to look at Sano and Hyegang together. Of course, even if it were true, it wasn’t something Iyeon could interfere with, but still…
He didn’t even have the presence of mind to say a casual goodbye. Iyeon couldn’t understand what this feeling was. His thoughts mixed together, leading to illogical emotions. Iyeon faintly furrowed his brows.
…He said he’d never leave my side.
“Wow, it’s really dark in here. There should be six doors on the second floor, right?”
“Yes. Six doors including the stairway door that leads here and the bathroom doors.”
Ah.
Iyeon suddenly realized.
The belief that Sano wanted to never be apart from him was just something Iyeon wanted to believe.
Because he liked Sano, he hoped that Sano would have feelings for him too. He arbitrarily thought that Sano liked him enough to want to stay close all the time. He tried to find affection in even the smallest actions. He attributed meaning to simple behaviors. Because people said they were close, he mistakenly believed that Sano considered their relationship truly special.
Iyeon was the one who had feelings. He shouldn’t get confused about that.
“Iyeon-ssi?”
Iyeon snapped out of his thoughts at the voice falling from above. Jaekyung stood a couple of steps higher, looking at Iyeon who had stopped walking. His face, though full of tension, showed a hint of concern.
‘A person with clear priorities rarely changes their standards.’
He wasn’t sure why that saying suddenly came to mind. As if entranced, Iyeon asked:
“Hey, Jaekyung-ssi.”
“Huh?”
“Do you still like mutants more than humans?”
“What?”
Taken aback by the sudden question, Jaekyung forgot his nervousness and asked in bewilderment. The question, stripped of all context, seemed so disconnected it sounded like nonsense.
“Of course. Can’t you tell from where I got a job?”
Nevertheless, Jaekyung’s answer was firm. In response to the quick reply that felt so clear, Iyeon nodded, saying, “I see.” I see. …They don’t change easily, huh.
“Why ask that suddenly? Why do you keep saying weird things when you’re scared?”
Jaekyung must have felt like Iyeon was possessed, suddenly making incomprehensible comments. With a frightened face, Jaekyung came down the stairs and stood beside Iyeon. Iyeon stared blankly at the man who was making a fuss asking if he was alright.
“Someone told me that. That if someone has clear priorities, they don’t change.”
The words he thought he’d casually dropped remained in his heart. The reason he cared so much about what had been said about someone else was probably because Iyeon felt some commonality with it.
“Do you think that’s true?”
Iyeon’s face looked a bit depressed as he asked. So instead of dismissing it as nonsense, Jaekyung let out a thoughtful “Hmm.”
“Well, people don’t change easily.”
Jaekyung’s voice flowed lightly through Iyeon’s complicated feelings. Iyeon looked up. Jaekyung’s face was nonchalant, seemingly unbothered by deep contemplation.
“But as you live, your priorities might change.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s not like I was born preferring mutants over humans, right? I was scared of mutants when I was young too.”
With a small chuckle, Jaekyung began walking again and climbing the stairs. Iyeon followed him as if in a trance.
“I was bullied in middle school. So I had no friends.”
The story told in a light voice sounded like it was nothing significant.
“But the ringleader always said he would become a hunter and exterminate mutants.”
But of course, it couldn’t have been nothing.
“Isn’t the human heart fascinating? Hearing that made me want to learn about mutants out of contrarian spite. Like, ‘Who are you to exterminate them?’ you know?”
That was the trigger. Throughout his subsequent school years, Jaekyung lived in front of library books and computers. It was much, much easier to become friends with written words than with people.
The mutant research that had started as defiance had become Jaekyung’s everything. He was curious, wanted to learn, found it interesting. Even as an adult, even in college, his heart didn’t change. At some point, it seemed okay to have no one by his side. The pure academic thirst to learn more about mutants sufficiently filled the void.
“…But you said you also told ghost stories in high school.”
“Well, that was a whole class event. It was mandatory participation even if I didn’t want to go. Still, listening to the stories was fun. Though no one paid attention to me.”
Since I was alone in the corner, no one noticed when I got scared, or maybe they noticed but just ignored me. Jaekyung laughed playfully. Amid the sound of steady footsteps climbing the stairs, Iyeon quietly asked again.
“Do you think there will come a day when humans become your priority again?”
“That… might be difficult.”
“Why? Please like humans a bit too.”
“Hey now. I’m a person who has dedicated my entire body to mutants.”
Exchanging what sounded like jokes, Iyeon lifted the corners of his mouth that had been drooping dejectedly. Even though nothing major had been resolved, somehow talking made his heart feel a little lighter. Seeing Iyeon’s more relaxed expression, Jaekyung finally expressed the discomfort he’d been feeling.
“By the way, Iyeon-ssi.”
“Yes?”
“Did it always take this long to reach the second floor?”
“…Pardon?”
Blinking his eyes, Iyeon looked ahead past Jaekyung. Even though they had stopped briefly midway, they had been walking continuously while talking, so they should have climbed quite a few stairs. It seemed like they had passed several intermediate landings where the stairs turned 180 degrees.
The door to the next floor was nowhere to be seen.
Tap, tap, tap…
It was around then that they started hearing something strange. Jaekyung and Iyeon looked at each other with a start. The sound was very faint, but since both were holding their breath, they heard it clearly.
An unidentifiable sound was echoing from somewhere up the stairs.
