Hyungoh shook Michael’s shoulders, which were dotted with heat rashes here and there, trying to wake him from his sleep-drunk state. To show such an unseemly sight to those who had saved his life—he wanted to crawl into a mousehole and hide.
Finally seeming to regain consciousness, Michael’s heavily downcast eyes suddenly flew open. Hyungoh, caught in those large hands in an instant, flinched in surprise and tried to pull away, but the grip only grew stronger.
“Choi.”
“Uh, what?”
“…Choi.”
As if half-asleep, Michael, who couldn’t even open his eyes properly, gently wrapped his arms around Hyungoh’s waist. Beyond his disheveled bangs, his slightly crumpled brow was clouded with an inexplicable ominousness.
“Did you have a dream?”
His chapped lips trembled hesitantly before he finally nodded.
“What kind of dream was it?”
“…”
“You need to answer. We agreed to do this together, didn’t we?”
“…A dream where Choi kills me.”
“What?”
Hyungoh, who had been facing him with a solemn expression, widened his eyes in surprise at the unexpected answer. Me killing you?
“Did you really dream that?”
“Actually, I’ve dreamed it before too.”
“Huh.”
That’s absurd. To have such a dream twice. Hyungoh covered his lower face, pretending to touch the tip of his nose, not wanting to reveal his trembling lips.
“Something like that will never happen.”
He spoke with a voice full of confidence, but Michael’s still-drooping shoulders bothered him. Well, after being tormented by dreams for so long, it’s not like he could easily take courage from mere words.
“Would you tell me about that dream in detail?”
Michael closed his eyes tightly at the gentle urging. As he traced that pungent memory, it felt as if the smell of blood was suddenly rushing in. Hyungoh with a nosebleed and himself with a knife in his chest. The voice apologizing repeatedly, saying sorry, gradually faded as he fell into an eternal sleep.
As he explained from memory, it was disorganized and could have been confusing, but Michael listened seriously without the slightest distraction. Though surprisingly calm on the surface, Hyungoh noticed that his tightly clenched fists were trembling slightly.
Of course. Michael smiled silently. For Choi, who had stabbed and killed his father, it must be traumatic. He stroked the back of Michael’s hand soothingly, where veins were standing out, and then subtly ran his hand along his thigh.
“…Michael?”
What are you doing in this situation? Michael asked with a straight face as Hyungoh glared at him reproachfully, his face quickly turning red.
“Are you alright? You must have overdone it earlier.”
“Hey…!”
“Shouldn’t we put some ointment on?”
It wasn’t easy to push away Michael as he approached with a worried face. While Hyungoh was entranced by his angelic appearance, he suddenly felt the softness of the blanket behind his back.
“Mi-Michael. Calm down.”
“If we don’t apply it now, it’ll hurt a lot later.”
“No, wait… Your hand on my pants…!”
The atmosphere suddenly turned provocative. As Hyungoh’s face turned bright red, feeling awkward seeing his own reflection in those transparent eyes, a shrill cry poured through the suddenly opened door.
“It’s time for dinner!”
Both pairs of eyes turned simultaneously toward the sharp voice that pierced like a nightingale’s call. Lucas, who had hurriedly rushed over, was struggling to detach Isabella, who was stubbornly clinging to the wall.
“Ahem, I’ve made a simple tomato stew, so come and have some.”
Once again, their gazes intertwined, creating an awkward silence. They were both pretending nothing had happened. Lucas finally managed to detach Isabella, who was smiling brightly saying that grandfather’s stew was always delicious, and quickly moved away after those final words.
Left alone, Michael and Hyungoh looked at each other. The still-awkward air continued to swirl around them.
* * *
“I wish only the two of us remained in this world.”
Michael, sitting side by side with Hyungoh on the front steps, muttered while looking up at the bright blue sky. Hyungoh, who had been blankly watching Isabella joyfully jumping on the trampoline in the lawn with stew smeared all over her mouth, laughed when he heard Michael’s words.
“Do you think you’d be happy then?”
“Yes.”
“Well, if there were only two living beings in the world, Earth would collapse right away.”
“I don’t care. It would mean dying together with Choi.”
Hyungoh slowly turned his head to meet Michael’s gaze. The slight curve of his lips contained neither joy nor sorrow. Only pure desire was slightly smoldering there.
“…So you don’t mind as long as you die with me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
After being lost in thought for a moment, he soon answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Because it would be the moment when I finally become like Choi.”
Countless words swirled in Hyungoh’s mouth, but he couldn’t push them out beyond his throat.
He felt heartbroken thinking about how lonely Michael must have been to have such thoughts, but at the same time, he felt a chill from the somewhat twisted obsession.
“Even in our current situation, we can be sufficiently happy.”
A bead of sweat on his forehead drew an elegant curve as it fell to the ground. When Hyungoh raised one arm to stroke Michael’s back comfortingly, Michael smiled languidly.
“Yes. But there’s still something left to do.”
“What is it?”
“We need to deal with Hunter and Federico.”
It was time to face the cruel reality he had been avoiding. Hyungoh’s complexion gradually darkened as he recalled the last image of Hunter, who had taken a bullet in his place.
Why did you save me? Why would that selfish man… The unanswered suspicion kept growing, but since that wasn’t what was important right now, he decided to set it aside for the moment.
“What do you mean by ‘deal with them’?”
“There was a bet between them. Until they see the result of that bet, Federico won’t let Hunter go.”
They’ll keep causing big and small incidents to torment us. Michael, rising from his seat, waved broadly toward Isabella, who came running like a puppy expecting to play ball, bouncing all the way.
“So it’s time to tell them the result they’ve been so eager to know.”
Michael knelt down to Isabella as she approached and whispered something. Whatever it was made her burst into giggles and rush excitedly into the house.
“What did you say to her?”
“I told her I’d hidden grandfather’s car keys and she should try to find them.”
“What?”
“We need a car to go there.”
“Where is ‘there’?”
Shrugging as if it was nothing, he soon answered in a suddenly serious voice.
“To the hospital where Hunter is.”
