# Chapter 83
“Huff…”
Iyeon’s stamina was also approaching its limit.
While Sano’s condition was serious, Iyeon was also an injured patient with his ankle and various other injuries. It was only because of the time he’d rested in the cave that he’d been able to make it this far.
Sweat was already beading on his forehead and neck. It was only a matter of time before his strength gave out completely. When he grabbed Sano’s opposite shoulder to at least partially remove the open coat in an urgent attempt, it happened.
“…?”
Iyeon put more strength into his hand with a puzzled expression, but the situation remained the same. Sano’s body didn’t budge at all.
Only then did Iyeon realize the biggest problem.
With his own strength, especially with just one hand’s worth of muscle power, it was impossible to lift Sano’s body to remove his clothes.
“No way…”
A single exclamation escaped him out of sheer frustration, though there was no one to hear it. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. As a last hope, he tried shaking Sano’s arm a little, but the grip on his hand didn’t loosen. Iyeon’s gaze grew a bit forlorn as he stared helplessly at the large hand that was like a shackle.
Let’s just cut everything.
Pushed to his limits, Iyeon turned to radicalism.
Sano slept quietly while Iyeon created a large pair of scissors and shredded the damned pieces of fabric to bits. He was so still that even the cool cloth neatly placed on his burning forehead didn’t fall off.
The cutting itself wasn’t difficult, but with one hand and one foot not being free, it was hard to position himself properly, so it took quite a while. Snip. With a light sound, the last pant leg that had been stuck was revealed.
I guarantee this feels more rewarding than winning first place in the Superpower competition. Iyeon suppressed the urge to lie down immediately and awkwardly backed away. He had been practically covering Sano to cut the pants on the opposite side from where Sano was holding his hand. If he collapsed right there, he’d just be a person pouncing on Je Sano.
As he carefully withdrew, Iyeon’s gaze naturally fell on the palm-sized piece of fabric covering Sano’s lower waist. It was the only remaining article of clothing.
“…”
Despite being black, perhaps because it was wet, there was a clear outline that Iyeon didn’t particularly want to identify.
For a clean finish, it would be better to remove that too, but Iyeon decided to just be a crude person. It was his last act of decency.
Now he just needed to cover him with a blanket. Iyeon created a blanket that was extremely large, thick, and soft—enough to wrap around Sano’s large frame. Just as he grabbed the edge of the fabric and leaned toward Sano’s upper body to cover him, it happened.
Suddenly, goosebumps rose on his forearm. Iyeon instinctively looked down.
Green eyes were staring back at him.
“…”
“…”
A hellish silence fell. Not only had he not simply removed Sano’s clothes, but he had cut them to pieces and was now bending his head toward the naked body—a posture more than sufficient to cause misunderstanding. Iyeon’s brain experienced a rare shutdown.
Up until now, Iyeon’s actions had clearly been close to life-saving, and he could pride himself on having absolutely no ulterior motives. He had even tried to handle it peacefully at first! What was he supposed to do when the arm wouldn’t let go!
Yet when he met the eyes of the person in question, an inexplicable embarrassment washed over him. It was a natural reaction for anyone with a conscience.
“Um, I…”
Unable to bear the silence, Iyeon awkwardly pointed to his captured arm, and Sano, like an obedient child, followed Iyeon’s gesture and lowered his gaze. At last, Iyeon felt the grip on his hand loosen slightly.
A tingling sensation spread throughout his arm as blood quickly circulated again. In his surprise, he also finally pulled back his body that had been pressed close. Iyeon massaged his freed forearm with his opposite hand and began to say:
“Thank—”
But before he could finish, his arm was grabbed again. This time, it was both arms.
“Huh?”
Before he could look back at Sano in bewilderment, his field of vision flipped. His body was pulled forcefully, giving him no chance to resist. Iyeon’s nose hit a soft, hot surface, and before he could even feel the numbness, he realized what it was. It wasn’t something to be proud of, but it was a place he had bumped into several times before. It was skin.
Sano pulled Iyeon close like a body pillow, wrapping him tightly with his arms and legs. The feverishly hot limbs rubbed against Iyeon’s damp clothes. He presumed Sano felt hot…
No, no. No! This isn’t right!
Iyeon, who had almost lost himself and become a passive observer of reality, came to his senses. He tried belatedly to break free, but someone who couldn’t even overpower a single hand had no chance against restraints using the entire body.
It was absurd that after removing all the moisture, he was now seeking new moisture, and the bare skin, the bare skin… Is this insane? Iyeon’s face turned bright red. It felt like an unbelievable reality. He had slept in the same bed with Sano so many times, but he had never seen this kind of sleeping habit before.
Beyond the chest touching his cheek, he could continuously hear the warm sound of Sano’s heart. Sano’s body was so hot that Iyeon could vividly feel where and how it was pressed against his own body. The same was true whenever Sano moved to adjust his position.
While he had slept like the dead when Iyeon was cutting his clothes, now Sano kept slightly moving his arms and legs to adjust his position as he held Iyeon. Almost like he was checking the presence in his arms.
“…”
Iyeon squeezed his eyes shut. His heart was racing. It was beating so fast that he worried it might actually burst. Is this a dream? Come to think of it, he did seem to have had a dream like this once…
It wasn’t that he disliked it—not that he liked it either!—but an inexplicable sense of guilt and avoidance grew rapidly. He turned his mind, which was threatening to shut down from the overwhelming stimulation, and came up with a solution.
Turning only his head to discreetly survey his surroundings, Iyeon moved his hand slightly. Whoosh. Two more campfires appeared, one on the left and one on the right, in addition to the one that had been placed under the bed. The flames burning the firewood made the cave not just cozy but started to become hot.
It was the sun and wind strategy.
Iyeon would soon become a hot, damp lump, and when the unpleasant sensation reached Sano in his sleep, he would quickly push Iyeon away. Although it was his own plan, it was quite plausible. Never had he been so happy to become an unpleasant lump.
However, there was something he overlooked.
Iyeon was already receiving Sano’s high fever with his entire body. In that state, when the heat from the campfires reached him as well, he felt like he was going to go crazy from the heat, no lie. Sweat streamed down instantly as if he had suddenly entered a sauna. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he got heat exhaustion.
Eventually, even his own clothes began to feel cumbersome. They were already damp with rainwater. There was no way they could be comfortable.
Iyeon’s current clothes were new ones he had created with his ability. He could have made them disappear if he wanted, but he wasn’t quite that far gone mentally yet, so he barely endured. If Iyeon’s clothes disappeared too, they would just be two naked men tangled together… Is this really insane?
Throughout all this, Sano never relaxed his grip. While he seemed to be sweating, it didn’t appear to bother him that much. How…
The slight flutter in his heart from being held in Sano’s arms gradually dulled in the extreme heat. After enduring a while longer, Iyeon finally surrendered and eliminated two of the campfires. The cool air coming from the entrance slowly lowered the temperature inside.
‘I’m really going to die from exhaustion.’
Thanks to the unexpected sauna session, his already depleted stamina had hit rock bottom. Soon, a wave of drowsiness washed over him. As a last act of resistance, he tried to push away Sano’s leg, which seemed to have cooled down a bit, but again, it didn’t budge at all. Maybe I should just pour ice on him.
“…”
When Sano woke up, he would have a lot of explaining to do about this elaborate hideout and the state of his clothes, but in his current mood, Iyeon didn’t care what Sano might say. What are you going to do, kill me…? Iyeon thought delinquently. The human mind is so fragile.
Having successfully completed his mission, Iyeon quickly fell asleep. The sounds of two people breathing alternated in the small space, almost like a conversation, before soon merging into one.
*
He had a dream. There were two young boys in an entirely white space. The surroundings were a mess with colorful toys as they ate snacks, drew pictures, and read storybooks. The boys, who kept laughing as if something was so funny, looked completely happy.
A boy rustling a bag lay down next to another boy who was lying on his stomach reading a picture book. Some of the snack crumbs that covered his mouth fell off.
‘What do you want to do when you get out of here?’
At the snack-eating boy’s question, the boy reading the picture book looked up. The book showed a scene of yellow butterflies flying across a vast sky.
‘I…’
The fading end of the sentence couldn’t be heard. Iyeon opened his eyes beyond the blurring scenery.
