“Fine, do as you like.”
“Then you won’t bully the kid anymore, right?”
“Well… I won’t.”
“Good thinking!”
Rae answered excitedly and approached the child who was still sitting down. The leader of the delinquent students clicked his tongue at the sight, said ‘see you later,’ and left with his group.
Rae diligently wiped the child’s dirtied face with his uniform sleeve.
With frizzy curly hair so thick you couldn’t see his eyes, pale skin, and a small build. He was exactly the type of child to become a target for delinquent students.
“Rae, you don’t have to… Your uniform is getting dirty.”
“I’m fine. The uniform can be washed. Let’s go to the bathroom and wash up. That would be better.”
“I can do it alone…”
“Yeah, I know. But I want to help you.”
Kind-hearted Narae stood up and extended his hand to the child. And the next moment, Wonyoung heard something unbelievable.
“Let’s go, Heegang.”
‘What? Who?’
This child before his eyes is Baek Heegang…?
As Wonyoung was in shock at the unbelievable fact, the child presumed to be Heegang took Rae’s hand, stood up, and smiled. Seeing the dimples that appeared at that moment, Wonyoung’s eyes widened.
At least that smile and those dimples were the Heegang he knew.
And then Wonyoung’s dream ended.
“…”
As soon as Wonyoung opened his eyes, he looked at Heegang’s perfect face right in front of him and thought. As expected, they’re too different to be the same person…
‘Wait, why so close… Huk?!’
“This crazy!”
Wonyoung belatedly realized he was just about to kiss Heegang. He quickly rolled his body away from Heegang. Cold sweat trickled down his back.
“Wh-what are you doing!”
“Oh, Rae, you’re awake. Are you okay?”
Heegang asked caringly while stroking his forehead, but Wonyoung turned to him with a bright red face and pressed him.
“You, you, what are you doing?! So shamelessly to a sleeping person!”
“Hm?”
Heegang tilted his head with an innocent expression and asked.
“What?”
“J-just now! To me, me, me…”
“Ah.”
Heegang lightly pinched the cheek of Wonyoung who was stuttering as if he finally understood.
“Our Rae, were you that embarrassed by it?”
“Don’t pinch.”
Even Wonyoung’s fierce tone seemed to look like just pouting to Heegang’s eyes. He smiled gently and explained the circumstances.
“You kept saying you were thirsty, so I thought I should give you water. But you wouldn’t wake up even when I tried.”
“…So…”
“So I was going to feed it to you with my mouth.”
Wonyoung covered his face with both hands. His ears, slightly visible through his hair, were bright red. Heegang, who had been silently watching Wonyoung, guessed something and asked carefully.
“Rae. By any chance, is it your first time?”
At those words, Wonyoung quickly raised his head then hid under his hands again. Heegang smiled brightly with his dimples deeply creased.
“I see. I missed a good opportunity.”
He clicked his tongue as if truly regretful. Whether Heegang did that or not, Wonyoung, who had his own time of self-reproach and doubt, let out a breath and recovered his original state. It wasn’t like their lips actually rubbed, and in the first place, he was trying to give him water, so he couldn’t pursue it any further.
‘I’m the cool-headed Heo Wonyoung. Don’t succumb to Narae.’
“M-more than that, where is this?”
Soon, Wonyoung, who came to his senses, asked Heegang.
“Hm?”
“I was definitely at my house.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Heegang respond as if he understood.
“That house didn’t seem comfortable for a sick person to stay in, so I brought you to my house.”
“Then this is your house? Your real house?”
“Then would it be a fake house?”
A top celebrity actor’s house. Wonyoung looked around with fresh eyes. It was a desolate house with less than expected.
Somehow, it seemed to represent Heegang’s psychology exactly, and Wonyoung felt strange.
“Drink some water. I’ll go prepare porridge.”
Soon, Heegang said that and tried to stand up. Wonyoung belatedly recalled the dream content and grabbed Heegang.
“Wait a minute. I saw you in my dream.”
“Really? I came out, what did I do?”
“…It was when you were young. High school.”
At Wonyoung’s words spoken while reading the room, Heegang’s brightened expression slightly hardened.
“I see. What was the content?”
“Just, it wasn’t much content. A story about eating school lunch?”
Wonyoung couldn’t bring himself to say Heegang was being bullied and answered like that, but Heegang’s expression didn’t soften. It seemed the perceptive him had roughly guessed the dream’s content. Judging from this reaction, that child in the dream really seemed to be Heegang.
While thinking he’d brought up an unnecessary topic, Wonyoung opened his mouth to somehow wrap up the subject.
“Y-you grew a lot taller…?”
“Yeah. I suddenly grew after transferring schools.”
“That’s… nice.”
“No. The time without you is all dead time to me.”
“…”
Wonyoung truly became like a mute who ate honey. He was perplexed about how to react to Heegang’s obsession. What exactly is Narae to Baek Heegang? A fresh question arose. He’d be grateful for being protected from bullying when young, but… well. Isn’t it excessive for just that?
“I’ll go make porridge, wait?”
Whether knowing such feelings or not, Heegang stroked Wonyoung’s head and left the room. Wonyoung looked at the door he left through and fell into thought. Judging from what he said when they first met and what happened when he was a student.
‘Still, it’s the same as with Ki Siyeon. There’s no need to forcibly dig into something he dislikes. Especially since this isn’t even a mission.’
What’s important is affection. Wonyoung dragged his tired body out of bed to soothe Heegang’s heart. Still, perhaps thanks to resting while receiving Heegang’s care, his stamina had recovered to about 8.
But the next moment, Wonyoung, who opened the door, truly fell into panic. Because black smoke filled the house.
“Hee, Heegang! Baek Heegang!”
“Ah, Rae.”
Wonyoung, who was urgently looking for Heegang, discovered Heegang leisurely waving his hand in the middle of the source of the fire where the smoke was especially thick.
“Baek Heegang, what are you doing right now…”
“The porridge burned, sorry. I just turned on the fire, isn’t it strange?”
“Are you kidding!”
Wonyoung shouted loudly and looked around.
“Water, water, bathroom!”
Wonyoung, who opened a nearby door looking for the bathroom, stopped right there.
“What is this?”
The room was literally packed full with numerous photos of Narae and things that appeared to be Narae’s belongings, as well as other miscellaneous items whose identity he couldn’t even guess. For an actor, Heegang didn’t have a single photo of himself at home, but he actually had more photos of Rae than of himself.
At such a bewildering scene, as Wonyoung stood dumbfounded, forgetting even to put out the fire, he heard a short tongue click from beside him.
“Ah. You saw it.”
Heegang, who had already put out the fire on his own, had approached his side without a sound. Wonyoung was startled and stepped back several steps.
‘D-don’t tell me he’s going to silence me…’
Don’t tell me he’s holding a hammer or wrench in that hand?!
Recalling the game’s death ending he’d seen a while ago, Wonyoung got goosebumps. In that game, Wonyoung had to see a terrible story where the happy ending was mutual suicide because he chose the wrong capture target.
As he was worrying whether he should call the System even now, suddenly with a ‘whoosh’ sound, water streams poured down. The sprinkler had burst because of the smoke.
Only then did Wonyoung check the notification window he’d missed.
[Penalty Level 1 ‘Lucky Pervert’ will be activated.]
Soon after, with a childish sound effect of ‘sha-ra-ra-ra,’ the water stream falling on Heegang sparkled.
“…”
Heegang slowly looked at Wonyoung while sweeping up his dripping hair. His wet hair and eyelashes glistened like jewels, and his shirt was completely soaked, clearly showing his skin underneath. It felt like watching a living photo shoot.
“Rae.”
Soon Heegang called Wonyoung and approached. Wonyoung flinched without realizing it, but Heegang made a hand shade over his head.
“What should we do? You’re all wet. Your cold will get worse.”
“…Ah.”
Come to think of it, this wasn’t the time to be enchanted by someone else’s beauty. The water finally stopped, but his body was already all wet. As soon as he realized that fact, as if waiting, he sneezed with an ‘achoo.’
“Ah, this is serious.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine at all. Let’s change clothes first. Come here.”
Heegang took Wonyoung to the dressing room and took off his soaked, drooping T-shirt in one go. Wonyoung was startled and crossed his arms to cover his body and shouted.
“Wh-what are you doing!”
“You need to dry off and change.”
“I can do it myself… achoo!”
“Even if you can, I want to do it for you. Okay?”
As Heegang asked like that, every time he blinked, his wet eyelashes sparkled. His body was wet, but who knows why even his perfectly fine eyes looked moist.
His swept-up hair also gave a different feeling from usual. If usually he was a sweet and gentle handsome type, today it was a slightly dangerous and stunning feeling…
This guy is really a player, judging by how well he takes off clothes too. Wonyoung thought that but couldn’t stop himself from nodding.
Anyway, that bastard’s face was the problem. On top of that, when the image of him being bullied as a child overlapped, he absolutely couldn’t say anything harsh.
‘They don’t even look alike.’
Soon Heegang began carefully drying Wonyoung’s body with a towel. The pants weren’t that wet, and also thanks to Wonyoung defending until the end, they reached an agreement to only dry the upper body.
Nevertheless, it was showing bare skin. And to Baek Heegang at that.
Wonyoung stiffened completely and creaked like a scrap metal robot. Actually, sounds came from his joints from being so tense.
