# 057. Day and Night (11)
“Damn. Even the name is awful. What kind of name is ‘Desire Express’? Even a B-grade movie wouldn’t have such a terrible title.”
Just hearing “Desire Express” put him in a bad mood as he boarded the train. After getting on, Jaehee continued grumbling that whoever named it had a truly terrible sense of naming. The word “desire” made him feel embarrassed, and it was also a way to hide the inexplicable anxiety he felt while boarding the train.
The train was so pleasant that it made it hard to remember this was a dungeon. While Jaehee and Jeongwoo were still the only people there, that made it comfortable to relax.
Jaehee sat Jeongwoo down on a subway seat and slumped down beside him. Today was the first time he’d realized how difficult it was to move an unconscious person. Moreover, since Jeongwoo was taller and more solidly built than Jaehee, moving him was no ordinary task.
Though they hadn’t moved a great distance, sweat was pouring down his face. Jaehee wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve and let out a long sigh.
“Hoo… Jeongwoo, please wake up. Just wait until you do. I’ll really put you to work.”
Although Jeongwoo probably didn’t want to collapse, seeing him still unconscious made Jaehee moan involuntarily. Additionally, the fact that he still hadn’t regained consciousness made Jaehee anxious that something seriously wrong might have happened.
Normally, it seemed like Jeongwoo wouldn’t die even if someone tried to kill him, but seeing him collapse so weakly without regaining consciousness was upsetting.
Jaehee stared out the window of the rattling train. A crude cityscape that looked like it was made with CG stretched before him. Watching carefully, he could see parts where it seemed to repeat every few minutes, like it was on a loop.
For a dungeon, it lacked effort in strange ways. Perhaps they didn’t even feel the need to be convincing.
Looking at it made him feel helpless. He had been pulled into the dungeon without even realizing when he’d entered, and Jeongwoo was collapsed, unable to wake up—was he handling this right?
If only Jeongwoo would wake up, this would be nothing.
Though he felt pathetic for depending on Jeongwoo and showing weakness, he kept wishing Jeongwoo would wake up soon and sort out this whole situation.
Since there was no message saying the dungeon had been cleared after defeating the hideous monster with fireworks, it meant they still needed to do something more to complete it.
Would riding this train lead them to the final boss of the dungeon?
The system clearly said this was a B-class dungeon. Though it was a lower grade than the A-class Ouroboros dungeon, back then they had several people, while now Jaehee was alone.
Come to think of it, the phone call he received before boarding the train was really strange. His stepmother wouldn’t know the emergency phone’s number, so she must have called from her own phone. The fact that it connected to the emergency phone inside the dungeon made Jaehee suspect that maybe the “Pretty Oppa” Constellation had used its power.
Recalling what the “Pretty Oppa” had said through Yeong-i, Jeongwoo’s unconscious state didn’t seem like an ordinary matter. If so, Jeongwoo needed to wake up… Jaehee remembered the kiss that Yeong-i had shouted about at the end of the call.
“Hoo…”
Jeongwoo looked peaceful with his eyes closed, as if he were just sleeping. As Jaehee looked at him, his face gradually reddened.
In his rush, he hadn’t properly heard, but Yeong-i had said that to wake the princess, the prince needed to give a kiss. Would Jeongwoo really wake up just from a kiss?
If so, giving a kiss wouldn’t be impossible.
For some reason, his throat felt dry. Jaehee took out water from his inventory and gulped down half a bottle at once. Yet he still felt thirsty.
‘When the prince wakes up the princess, he says “I love you!” and gives a kiss.’
Yeong-i’s words echoed in his ears.
Even knowing no one was around, Jaehee still looked around once more.
His heart pounded when he looked at Jeongwoo’s face. Jeongwoo’s face, masculine yet somehow delicate, was truly his type.
“Jeongwoo, if you don’t wake up, I’m seriously going to kiss you, you know?”
He felt self-loathing, as if he’d become some kind of terrible person, but he tried to reassure himself that he was doing this for Jeongwoo.
Jaehee brushed Jeongwoo’s hair back. Pushing back his slightly wavy hair revealed his rounded forehead.
It was the first time he’d seen Jeongwoo’s face so vulnerable. His smooth skin without a single blemish was like porcelain.
Jaehee swallowed hard as he looked at Jeongwoo.
Even if he kissed him, Jeongwoo wouldn’t know, right?
If he woke up after the kiss, that would be good, and even if he didn’t, it wasn’t really a big deal, right?
With these thoughts, his heart naturally leaned in one direction.
Actually, thinking about it, people perform CPR to save lives, so to wake Jeongwoo from this dangerous state, it wouldn’t be wrong to give him a kiss, right?
This was to save Jeongwoo from danger, not to fulfill my own desires… So I shouldn’t even be troubled by this, right?
While rationalizing to himself, Jaehee kept stealing glances at Jeongwoo’s face.
His heart pounded again when he saw Jeongwoo’s smooth, peach-colored lips.
“Jeongwoo…”
Jaehee caressed Jeongwoo’s face. He wouldn’t have been able to do this if Jeongwoo were awake. Thinking about it that way, Jeongwoo’s unconscious state didn’t seem so bad.
Jaehee slowly lowered his face. He moved closer until Jeongwoo’s breath tickled his face. Above his closed eyes, Jaehee could see neat, long eyelashes.
I like Jeongwoo like this too, but I also like when he opens his eyes and looks at me.
So please wake up, Jeongwoo.
Just as he was about to press his lips against Jeongwoo’s, after caressing them with his fingers, the train stopped.
“Wh-what?”
Jaehee jumped up like someone caught doing something wrong.
Looking around, he couldn’t see anything in particular. Then, with a clunk, the subway doors opened. A man and woman wearing dark green uniforms entered together.
While Jaehee was warily watching them, the man came up to him and extended his hand.
“Um, what? A handshake…?”
Looking at the expressionless man, he didn’t particularly want to shake hands. The man extended his hand once more. Not wanting to refuse again, Jaehee slowly reached out his hand, but the man slapped it away.
“What? You offer a handshake and then…”
“Ticket.”
“What?”
“Train ticket inspection.”
Train ticket?
It was something he hadn’t even imagined. When Jaehee didn’t hand over a ticket and just stood there, the uniformed woman who had been watching them approached.
“Are you this human’s owner? If so, you need two train tickets, including one for that human.”
The woman pointed at Jeongwoo. Of course, Jaehee didn’t have anything like a ticket.
“Riding without a ticket requires paying 20 times the fare. Are you an illegal passenger?”
“No, I… I mean… I don’t know what you mean by a ticket.”
The female ticket inspector took out a ticket from her pocket and showed it to him. It was a red piece of paper about the size of two finger joints. Jaehee tried to remember if there had been a place selling such tickets at the previous station, but he hadn’t seen any.
As Jaehee stood there with a perplexed expression, the inspector pointed at Jeongwoo again and asked Jaehee:
“Is that human also riding without a ticket? Are you his owner?”
“Haa, that’s not it… Yes, can I buy tickets here? How much are they? I’ll buy one for my friend too.”
Jaehee spoke, thinking of his points. The currency in this strange train would surely be points.
“One ticket per arm. One ticket per leg. You have two arms and two legs, so you need four tickets. The same applies to that human. The price of one ticket is 20, but since you are illegal passengers, you must pay 20 times that amount.”
Per person, four tickets, so 80P, but having to pay 20 times that meant 1,600P. For two people, 3,200P. Not only was it an absurdly expensive price, but most importantly, he didn’t have that many points.
“Hey, isn’t that a bit too much? I didn’t do this on purpose, can’t you make it cheaper…?”
“Extracting illegal passenger.”
At the woman’s cold voice, the man lifted Jaehee up effortlessly. Jaehee was surprised at how easily he was lifted and struggled, but to no avail.
After putting Jaehee outside, the man was about to pick up Jeongwoo and throw him out of the train as well. If Jaehee hadn’t quickly run to catch him, the man might have dumped Jeongwoo in a trash can.
After putting both of them off, the train doors closed. Jaehee watched helplessly as the train departed, then turned around.
[Castle of Desire]
The name of the station was Castle of Desire.
