He didn’t want to go this far. Ian grabbed Choi Jaeheon’s clothes and gently pulled him down. Then when he kissed his cheek, his eyes widened.
What Ian did wasn’t a simple kiss. The moment his lips touched skin, power surged while his body became lighter. Added to that was a light pleasure. The moment he felt that, Choi Jaeheon’s eyes turned fierce.
“Hyung, you might already know this, but I can restore other people’s power.”
There had never been a healer like this before. They could treat wounds or detoxify poison, but only time could restore depleted power. But restoring power with just a kiss? It was a story that would make Awakeners lose their minds.
“You.”
Choi Jaeheon struggled to suppress his anger as much as possible. Ian had no fault in this whatsoever. It wasn’t an ability he’d wanted to obtain, was it? So for now, he tried not to think about who Ian had done such acts with during his disappearance.
But because people can’t always act rationally, he unconsciously ground his teeth. He’d been concerned about this from before, but it hadn’t hit hard. Experiencing it made it real.
“Did you do this with other bastards too?”
At the words that popped out, Ian began to roll his eyes. He seemed to not want to answer that part. Seeing that, the anger he’d desperately suppressed surged up.
“Still, I didn’t do it often.”
The answer that came after a long while grated on Choi Jaeheon’s nerves even more. So this is what it feels like to have a thousand fires burning inside. He gripped Ian’s shoulders tightly.
“Ian. Let’s not use this ability from now on.”
“Huh?”
“This is a power that shouldn’t exist.”
Ian opened his mouth with an expression that said he had a lot to say.
“Why? With this, I can help you too, hyung.”
He recalled Hong Seoyoon, who had tried to show Ian dirty things under the excuse of sex education when he was young. He’d shouted that Ian was at an age where he should know now. But Choi Jaeheon had blocked Hong Seoyoon, saying it was still too early. He’d wanted to keep Ian pure forever.
‘I shouldn’t have done that.’
While teaching him not to let others touch his body, he hadn’t thought about the opposite case. Ian was so kind that he wouldn’t have been able to turn away from other people’s pain.
“No.”
Choi Jaeheon said firmly.
“This isn’t something you do carelessly.”
What if some crazy bastard lost his mind and clung to him! If Ian looked this lovely even to Choi Jaeheon’s eyes, would it be different for others? As his hyung, he tried to correct Ian’s wrong way of thinking.
“No, I’m not saying I’d do it carelessly. I just want to help you, hyung.”
“Still, no. What if someone sees?”
“A younger brother can’t even kiss his hyung?”
“Ian. Normal siblings don’t kiss at this age.”
“They do it in foreign countries.”
“This is Korea.”
No matter how much Ian tried to persuade him, Choi Jaeheon wouldn’t budge.
“I’m not a kid anymore. I can help you too, hyung.”
Ian tried to speak calmly. He felt hurt that he was being rejected this much when he was speaking out of worry for his hyung.
“Absolutely not.”
Ian’s lips jutted forward. It really seemed like he wouldn’t grant it no matter what he said. If I happen to see hyung get hurt later, do you think I won’t regret it? He was about to raise his voice when he squeezed his eyes shut.
Right, if hyung says no, I’ll just use another method.
[Sanctuary Declaration]
Bright light exploded from Ian and spread to the surroundings.
He released the divine power he possessed and declared the surroundings as a sanctuary. And within the sanctuary, Ian could do whatever he wanted. If he wished, he could stop someone, restore them, or hide his body.
“Hyung, don’t move.”
At Ian’s words, Choi Jaeheon’s body stopped with a jolt. The moment he tried to call Ian in panic, his body smoothly disappeared from sight. And when his body began to move again, Ian wasn’t there.
“Ian!”
He called out urgently, but no answer came back.
***
Ian walked down the street thoroughly sulking. He left the neighborhood where everyone had evacuated and headed to the nearest bus stop.
“Let’s see.”
Where was Hong Seoyoon’s guild? It wasn’t far from here. It had been a while, but finding the location wasn’t difficult. The roads within Seoul were familiar. Plus, fortunately, he had several fifty-thousand-won bills in his pocket. Last time when they were grilling meat, Hong Seoyoon had stuffed money into his outer pocket, and he’d brought that with him.
He went to a nearby convenience store, bought a chocolate bar, broke the bills into change, and took the bus. It took quite a while, but he arrived at the Phoenix Guild office near Gangnam. Fortunately, getting inside wasn’t difficult. When he gave his name at the first-floor desk, they immediately told him to come in.
“Hyung.”
Hong Seoyoon opened his mouth in surprise at Ian’s sudden visit.
“Wh-why are you here!”
Ian ignored Hong Seoyoon and entered his office, plopping down on the sofa.
“Weren’t you supposed to be evacuating?”
“No.”
“Well, did something happen? Why are your cheeks puffed up like a pufferfish?”
“I fought with hyung.”
“With Jaeheon? Why?”
In his life, Hong Seoyoon had never seen Choi Jaeheon and Ian fight. Ian put his legs up on the sofa and hugged them with both arms.
“He told me to run away.”
“That’s not wrong though.”
“I can help too!”
“You, don’t tell me you did that to Jaeheon?”
Hong Seoyoon couldn’t bring himself to say “kiss” with his own mouth.
“I did!”
“Crazy! And then you said you’d help with that ability?”
“Of course. But even then he told me to run away! I know hyung worries about me. But I can’t worry about hyung? What if he gets hurt when I’m not there! Then what am I supposed to do?”
Ian poured out his frustration. And each word he uttered wasn’t wrong. But what kind of existence was Ian to them?
Good grief! Hong Seoyoon rubbed his forehead with his hand and then knelt down in front of Ian.
“Well, I understand how you feel.”
“But, what!”
“Ian. Your ability is really special. So there are really many people who will covet it. Power takes time to recover once used, but you eliminate that process. And this is what I’m guessing. That guy Vermouth, you know him too, right?”
“How do you know about that bastard, hyung?”
“He’s been famous recently, didn’t you see? He’s on almost every news broadcast every day.”
“I didn’t see.”
“Could it be that guy followed you from another world?”
Ian nodded.
“Then shouldn’t you avoid showing yourself in front of that guy? He’s participating in this dungeon operation too.”
“So you’re saying I should leave hyung alone to avoid him?”
“Can’t you think of hyung’s old appearance? He’s really strong now.”
“Still, you never know what’ll happen in the world.”
Ian was usually gentle, but once he started being stubborn, it was hard to break. Knowing that, Hong Seoyoon clicked his tongue briefly.
“But I’m asking this because I’m really curious, you didn’t do that with that guy too, did you?”
This time no answer came back, but sometimes silence can be an answer.
“Did you only kiss?”
Now Ian turned his head away completely. You did more. You did. Hong Seoyoon nodded and stood up from his seat.
“That bastard, I have to kill him.”
“What?”
Only then did Ian’s mouth open.
“It’s okay. Hyung will pretend it’s an accident and smoothly kill him. Then our Ian will be at peace, and hyung will be happy too.”
Both Choi Jaeheon and Hong Seoyoon seemed to want to get rid of Vermouth. Well, there were people like that in Lancia too. It’s just that Vermouth was so strong they couldn’t lay a hand on him.
No, to begin with, he couldn’t even imagine that guy being killed by someone. Ian wondered if he should tell Hong Seoyoon that to kill Vermouth, several people would need to attack together.
“So will you contact Jaeheon for me?”
“No, I’m going to stay here.”
“You still haven’t cooled down?”
“If I tell hyung, he’ll tell me to evacuate again.”
“Well, that’s true. But you have to raise children to be strong!”
Hong Seoyoon pinched Ian’s nose with his finger and let go.
“Follow me around for the time being.”
“Can’t I just stay here?”
“We don’t know when the gate will burst, so being with me is the safest.”
“But I can’t let Vermouth find out my location, right?”
“Then shall we try a disguise?”
Saying that, Hong Seoyoon pulled out a black card from his pocket.
“Let’s go to the department store!”
Even while citizens were evacuating, there were still department stores that hadn’t closed. It was an exclusive department store only for Awakeners. This place served as a supply depot, so it didn’t close even in emergencies. Hong Seoyoon went there and bought Ian a suit.
“Oh, our baby. Now suits look pretty good on you?”
He dressed him in a slightly fitted suit and slicked his hair back. With sunglasses and a mask on top of that, he looked like a different person.
“This is the magic of clothes. Plus, hold this tablet. Yes, perfect. Now you’re my secretary.”
“Did you have a secretary before?”
“I did, but she’s on maternity leave right now.”
And so Ian came to move around following Hong Seoyoon. Unlike his light appearance, Hong Seoyoon did his work properly. He toured the evacuation areas and received reports on changes to the gate. In the remaining time, he went to wait at a temporary tent set up near the gate. Because it was a new type of gate, they didn’t know when it would burst.
