Then Kwon Jeonghoo hesitated for a moment, and soon handed his necktie into his hands as if he had lost. It was tacit permission. Kwon Jeonghoo muttered as if grumbling.
“You pull all kinds of tricks because you don’t want to get scolded.”
But contrary to his scolding, he even bent his waist so Yeo Dowoon could easily tie the necktie. The distance between their faces naturally narrowed as well.
Kwon Jeonghoo steadily watched the scene of Yeo Dowoon concentrating on adjusting his necktie. His eyes were indifferent as if appreciating a drama with notorious bad reviews, but they held subtle warmth.
“Now you finally look like someone who goes to work at a company.”
Yeo Dowoon seemed satisfied with the result he had produced and withdrew his hands while muttering to himself. Kwon Jeonghoo, who discovered the tie knotted in a fairly decent form, praised him nonchalantly.
“Right. Well done.”
“I’ll untie it again now.”
When Yeo Dowoon, who had become unnecessarily awkward, tried to grab the necktie again, he spoke as if pleased.
“Leave it. It’s been a while.”
“……”
“It brings back old memories and makes me emotional. It feels like just yesterday you used to cling to me every morning saying you’d tie my necktie.”
“Me?”
“You, who else would it be?”
Today too, without fail, Kwon Jeonghoo’s delusions acted up.
“Hyung, shouldn’t you really get counseling? If you can’t distinguish between dreams and reality, get treatment at a hospital.”
“Let’s get group counseling together with you included.”
When Yeo Dowoon wrinkled his face in frustration, he messed up Yeo Dowoon’s hair with rough hand movements. Since he had already disheveled it himself just a moment ago, his hair became even more tousled.
At that, Yeo Dowoon suddenly realized one fact he had forgotten.
Come to think of it, whenever he had worries, Kwon Jeonghoo would always play this prank of messing up his hair like this. The familial love and brotherly affection his hands brought had always made his heart ache.
“……”
Kwon Jeonghoo, who had been carefully observing Yeo Dowoon who had suddenly become silent, asked slowly.
“Did you meet Seohyun?”
Yeo Dowoon didn’t push away or reject him as he naturally placed his arm on his shoulder, leaving it alone. Even though he had been using informal speech just until now, he answered borrowing stiff formal language.
“…Yes. I actually just came from meeting her.”
It was a thoroughly businesslike attitude. He could feel Kwon Jeonghoo’s arm that seemed like it could support him without any problem whenever and wherever he collapsed. As firm and solid as always.
“Seohyun noona became even more impressive.”
So Yeo Dowoon deliberately threw out lighter jokes to break the ice in the conversation. This was because he was worried it would show that his mood had sunk.
“I heard the excellent Director-General even gave orders directly to noona, at this rate won’t Seohyun noona take the Director-General position instead of the Captain?”
Whether that happened or not, it had nothing to do with him, but he probed as if curious. Then Kwon Jeonghoo didn’t delay and moved his chin. He readily agreed.
“If it’s Seohyun, she’s more than qualified.”
It was an answer containing firm trust. Yeo Dowoon felt Kwon Jeonghoo’s fingers tapping his shoulder. Then Kwon Jeonghoo, who slid his fingers smoothly, poked Yeo Dowoon’s forearm and asked.
“What should we do? You skipped training as you pleased and all your muscles disappeared too.”
At those words, Yeo Dowoon made a deflating sound, going “Huh.” He retorted as if he couldn’t accept it.
“It’s still firm, so what do you mean disappeared? Feel it again.”
This was a matter of pride as a man. His forearm was densely surrounded by lean muscles built from crawling through dungeons, an area that received compliments whenever he took off his top.
Moreover, didn’t he mainly use arm strength and wrist strength to wield glaciers? If it wasn’t even more solidly balanced, he wouldn’t be able to save face.
Kwon Jeonghoo, who had been kneading his forearm as Yeo Dowoon requested, muttered gravely for a moment.
“No. It’s definitely gone.”
Then Yeo Dowoon looked at him with a hearty laugh. Kwon Jeonghoo had a serious expression without any sign of joking. Yeo Dowoon counterattacked with plausible logic.
“How could perfectly fine muscles disappear just because I didn’t do training for one day?”
Yeo Dowoon, who instead firmly grabbed Kwon Jeonghoo’s thigh, continued slyly.
“The person who should worry about losing muscle isn’t me but the Captain.”
“……”
“You hardly participate in combat training. At this rate, you’ll drop dead suddenly.”
He was about to bring up age but stopped. Since they were aging together anyway, he thought it would be a cowardly attack. Kwon Jeonghoo, who smiled emptily, took out a cigarette pack from his shirt pocket and said.
“Before I drop dead, I should at least try to win your heart once.”
Since it was a moment when his guard was completely down, Yeo Dowoon couldn’t give any answer and bit his lips. His gaze remained fixed on his cigarette pack. Kwon Jeonghoo changed the subject and suggested.
“At least go and receive simulation training.”
“……Why?”
Yeo Dowoon asked back somewhat slowly. Kwon Jeonghoo just opened and closed the pure white cigarette pack without ever taking out a cigarette. His fingers impatiently tapped on the lid. Kwon Jeonghoo’s voice continued.
“As you said, you’ll be able to receive the full explanation after training about why we have to go on the operation with Guides who aren’t even combat personnel. Maybe you’ll realize it first.”
“It’s bothersome. Just explain it to me, Captain.”
“No way, man. I’m also bothered.”
Kwon Jeonghoo responded curtly and then spun the cigarette pack in circles. Yeo Dowoon’s pupils also rolled along following that direction. Kwon Jeonghoo suddenly pulled his nose and nagged.
“You can’t help yourself when it comes to things bad for your body, huh?”
“Ahhh…!”
“And you don’t fix the habit of giving people headaches either.”
Snap, Kwon Jeonghoo, who let go of Yeo Dowoon’s face, looked at his reddened bridge of nose as if amused and said.
“Because of you, hyung’s insides are burning, burning.”
Yeo Dowoon grasped his mercilessly pinched nose with his hand and resented him.
“Just say it with words, why…… Do you have your mouth attached as decoration?”
Harsh words naturally leaked out.
“No matter how many simulations we run…, two people have to die to complete the operation.”
But when Kwon Jeonghoo successively spoke, Yeo Dowoon also became quite serious.
“So after you experience it yourself, confirm it. Why Guides have to be deployed to the Yeongjongdo coastal Gate. Your reluctance toward the operation will probably decrease too.”
With that statement, Kwon Jeonghoo stood up. Yeo Dowoon urgently grabbed his sleeve and asked.
“…Who are those two people?”
“……”
“I’m asking who they are.”
“Go and check yourself.”
Naturally, Kwon Jeonghoo didn’t answer.
***
In the end, Yeo Dowoon fell for Kwon Jeonghoo’s rhetoric and returned to the simulation research center. No matter how much he begged and pleaded, he wouldn’t tell him who those ‘two people’ were, so he had no choice but to walk in on his own feet.
‘Go and check yourself.’
Kwon Jeonghoo only tediously repeated those words. He even headed to the smoking room saying he’d smoke one cigarette and come back. He begged for just one cigarette too but was coolly rejected.
“Dowoon-ssi?”
The researcher who encountered Yeo Dowoon in the first-floor lobby expressed doubt. Since he, who had left about an hour ago, was sitting in the waiting chair with a much more bleak face than before, it was a natural reaction in a way.
Yeo Dowoon immediately got up and ran to the researcher. The researcher stepped back a few steps as if flustered.
“Do you have any open time slots?”
Now that things had come to this, Yeo Dowoon planned to quickly finish what he had to do and obtain the information he wanted.
If all simulation results pointed to the same deaths, that was an abnormal sign that couldn’t be ignored. At least if he knew who died, it seemed his questions and doubts about this operation could be resolved even a little.
Perhaps because the distance was too close, the researcher awkwardly avoided his gaze. Yeo Dowoon appealed again.
“Just put me in any time slot. I’ll finish quickly and come out.”
“……What?”
“I’m going in to look into something. A substitute is fine too.”
He disguised a somewhat kind voice, but the researcher seemed to feel fear instead. He carefully asked with a voice tinged with trembling.
“What are you trying to look into?”
Then Yeo Dowoon looked around roughly in about a 2-meter radius and answered.
“The simulation results. If there’s no open time, you can tell me too, researcher-nim. I heard it’s a simulation that only ends when two people absolutely die….”
Come to think of it, this simple method existed. Since they would be faithfully recording training results, wouldn’t they also know who dies? But the researcher lowered his voice as if troubled.
“That’s……”
The hesitating researcher barely added.
“Team Leader Kwon asked us before leaving. He told us to absolutely not tell you even if Dowoon-ssi pressed….”
“The Captain?”
“Yes. If you want to know, first….”
The researcher swallowed dry saliva. Yeo Dowoon silently waited for the following words. The researcher, who wiped the cold sweat forming on his forehead, exaggeratedly conveyed Kwon Jeonghoo’s order.
“He said to do a handstand for thirty minutes first before entering training.”
