“What do you mean by that?”
It was when Dohyuk was about to press Junseo about words he couldn’t understand. Junwoo, holding a pad, approached the two who were sitting.
“First, guiding efficiency. The matching rate is 88 percent and the rapport rate is 94 percent. Even considering you’re in a relationship, it’s an outstanding figure. The rapport rate is 2 percent higher than the last examination.”
“Because we get along well.”
“…Junseo.”
Even at Dohyuk’s troubled call, Junseo only burrowed into his side. Junwoo, already accustomed to his younger sibling’s eccentricities, nonchalantly touched the pad beside Dohyuk.
“You both look good. Junseo is also getting more and more familiar with manipulating core energy with each passing day.”
While recently observing Dohyuk and Junseo’s guiding and the changes in Dohyuk’s internal core energy, Junwoo, who had been conducting new research, established another hypothesis. It was a hypothesis about Junseo’s abnormal awakening.
It started with a question.
Why is Junseo particularly sensitive to core energy?
Thanks to having dungeon cores including the cat in Junwoo’s lab, he had conducted several experiments with Junseo’s permission.
“Actually, I was worried at first. Junseo was affected by the dungeon core.”
“What?”
“At first he felt discomfort, and the longer he was exposed, the more stressed he became. Unlike ordinary people who can’t feel anything, it seems to be because of his abnormally developed senses. I’m viewing this as a hyper-sense.”
Junwoo was currently predicting that Junseo’s abnormal awakening was also through that hyper-sense. That he felt core energy so minuscule that ordinary people couldn’t detect it, and awakened as a reaction to that pressure.
Fifteen years ago, after the Second Cataclysm period, as the utility of dungeon cores drew attention, cores began leaking outside dungeons. Of course, the latest equipment was designed to prevent core energy from leaking outside. But what if that was human arrogance?
Korea currently possessed over 500 dungeon cores of B-class or higher alone. If energy was leaking knowingly or unknowingly, it could explain the increasingly varied dungeon gate rampage accidents and abnormalities.
At Junwoo’s explanation, Dohyuk’s expression sank instantly. Come to think of it, he had been afraid of the cat, and had frowned saying the energy felt strange inside dungeons.
But if that were the case.
“…Don’t you feel stability with me? The examination results clearly stated that guiding with me has a good influence on Junseo too.”
Dohyuk was also a human fused with a dungeon core. Just imagining that Junseo felt discomfort toward him and received unpleasant effects made it feel like blood was draining from his body. Perhaps noticing Dohyuk’s rigid state, Junseo intertwined his fingers between Dohyuk’s fingers. Hyung is different, Junseo whispered in his ear. It was a gentle voice as if soothing a child. A sweet scent rushed in.
“Dohyuk-ssi’s energy is different from typical core energy. To explain simply, in the process of transplanting the core into a human body, the nature of the core energy itself was distorted. To cause as few side effects as possible to humans.”
“……”
“Um… it’s a bit awkward to say this, but because Dohyuk-ssi was an experimental subject, he could become the most perfect partner for Junseo. Junseo is also a child whose balance is off, so he paradoxically feels stability in the altered core energy.”
It was Junseo who stopped Junwoo’s words. When Junseo sat up, Junwoo quickly examined Dohyuk’s complexion.
“Did I say something too rude?”
“…No. It was just so unexpected and sudden. So that’s why Junseo kept going to the lab. And I didn’t even know.”
But he also felt a bit hurt. In the end, hadn’t he participated in potentially dangerous research without saying a word? It was when Dohyuk only moved his lips at the strange emotion circling only inside him.
“Hyung, come here.”
Still not letting go of their tightly interlocked hands, Junseo led Dohyuk who had been sitting vacantly. Walking heavily step by step following Junseo with Junwoo behind them, Dohyuk was only looking at Junseo’s heels. How far had they walked? A gentle voice echoed through the empty corridor.
“Hyung.”
Still with his gaze fixed downward, Dohyuk grumbled.
“Don’t act cute.”
The heels changed to the front. He felt a gaze, but Dohyuk stubbornly only looked at his shoes.
“Look at my face while talking to me.”
“…Don’t want to. Just talk like this. Yu Junseo, you’re mine. So why do I have to hear about your research participation from someone else’s mouth? And a core energy reaction experiment at that? Why are you doing something like that?”
“……”
When Junseo didn’t respond at all, Dohyuk, who stealthily raised his head, frowned. Because the person before him was smiling prettily.
“What.”
“Am I yours?”
“……”
And it was the moment he buried his gaze in the floor again.
“It’s not some grand experiment. My purpose wasn’t research either.”
“Whether it’s grand or not, I didn’t even know and couldn’t even understand you going to the lab alone…!”
Familiar things touched both cheeks. Two hands grasped Dohyuk’s face, urging him to raise his head. It was when Dohyuk closed his eyes in defiance, knowing well he couldn’t properly get angry once he saw that pretty face. Thud, the emergency exit door closed.
The temperature touching his skin had become cool before he knew it. The moment he reflexively opened his eyes, his vision was blocked pitch-black. Shoved carelessly against the wall, their lips locked.
“Why so suddenly, what if people come?”
Because it felt like even raising his voice a little would echo, Dohyuk whispered to Junseo while lowering his voice as much as possible. But Junseo only rubbed his well-defined nose bridge against Dohyuk’s cheek with a moist gaze.
“I was wrong. I just wanted to give hyung a surprise gift. I didn’t know you’d worry so much….”
“…A gift?”
And the place Junseo took Dohyuk to was a location familiar to Dohyuk as well. Because it was a place he always visited even briefly whenever he stopped by the lab.
At the sound of the door opening, the animal that had been lying down enjoying a nap under the sunlight pouring through the window crack raised its head.
It was when Dohyuk fully embraced the cat that ran over with its long tail raised high as always.
“His name is Yu Junhyuk.”
“…What?”
The name was too formal to give to a cat, so Dohyuk unconsciously narrowed his brows.
“Because ‘Jun’ is the generational name.”
“No, I wasn’t asking about the generational name…”
“Right, Junseo. If you name him like that, Junhyuk and we become the same generation.”
And because Junwoo, who had arrived at some point, naturally picked up the conversation, Dohyuk’s expression became even more blurred. Moreover, Junwoo was already calling the cat by the strange name ‘Junhyuk,’ and the cat, perhaps familiar with its own name, only meowed long.
In the end, Dohyuk, who gave up on ordinary names like Nabi or Kkamang, sighed.
“Why the surname Yu?”
“I’d be jealous giving him something I don’t have. After I marry hyung and change my surname, I’ll change it then.”
It was the moment Dohyuk was about to pass it off thinking I see at the shameless retort.
“Junseo…. Korea isn’t a country with married couples sharing surnames. And if you even change your surname, father will collapse. What are you going to tell father when you change your surname?”
“I’ll say what’s the problem when I’m married so I’m an outsider to the family.”
Only Dohyuk, who never imagined that damn phrase about being an outsider to the family would reappear here, choked on his breath. Perhaps feeling similarly, Junwoo retorted with an absurd expression.
“…I don’t know. Anyway, even if you take Junhyuk, don’t forget you have to get him examined once a month.”
Take him?
After shrugging his shoulders and putting on the mask of an observer, Dohyuk asked Junwoo.
“…Can I take him? He’s a dungeon core, have any measures been taken so there’s no problem taking him outside?”
“Actually, we were planning to develop and attach a mechanical device that blocks core energy, but Junseo devised a better method.”
“A better method?”
“Yes. ‘Training.’ As befitting a naturally occurring entity, he has the ability to contain core energy. We’ve confirmed that core energy isn’t being released, and there will be no danger as long as Junseo watches over him well. Actually, Junhyuk becomes noticeably docile when Junseo is nearby, so it might be safer for Junseo to take him.”
There are quite a few machines he’s broken and labs he’s demolished, you know. It was when Junwoo, who playfully added that, disappeared at a call notification. Dohyuk, who had been standing vacantly only looking at Junseo, finally reacted slowly.
“You, the reason you kept visiting the lab lately was…”
Junseo rubbed his forehead against his shoulder and muttered.
“I worked so hard preparing a surprise. But hyung only played with Seah…”
“……”
“Scold me.”
“……”
“You’re sorry, right?”
“Yeah… I thought you were hiding being sick.”
“You even suspected me.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Then comfort me when we get home. They say family should resolve things like this quickly.”
The one who gently kissed Dohyuk’s cheek smiled with raised lips. The cat held in his arms also rubbed its head against Dohyuk and let out a small cry.
A home to return to and family.
“……”
“Yes?”
When he was given something he never thought he could have in his lifetime, rather than being happy, he only felt dazed. After standing still for a while only steadying his breathing, Dohyuk finally opened his mouth with difficulty.
“Junseo, can I really be family with you…. No, that’s not it, I mean….”
Everything he’d prepared in his head until now disappeared in an instant like a bursting balloon. Why do people become most stupid at the moment they most want to look cool?
What ultimately flowed from his lips was a simple statement without any embellishment.
“Marry me.”
“……”
“I’ll really, really do well, so… not joking, seriously with me….”
Dohyuk, who slowly exhaled, put down the cat he’d been holding on the floor. The touch pulling out the ring he’d only kept in his pocket, unable to find an opportunity to give it until now, was incomparably clumsy.
Until he opened the small case and fully slid the ring onto Junseo’s ring finger, Dohyuk could barely breathe. The moment he finally took a deep breath, solid arms pulled Dohyuk in fully.
What spread with each moment of contact. The other name for the touch that drove away all loneliness, anxiety, and pain was not guiding.
It was love.
The End of “The Final Fate of a Face-Obsessed Fan” Side Story Complete.
