Jeong Dawoon and Ryu Taeha were in a relationship where they spent heat cycles together. To put it simply, sex partners. Jeong Dawoon, who would come running anytime, anywhere with one phone call, was a very easy target for Ryu Taeha.
“You lost interest in doing it with me.”
Ryu Taeha, leaning back against the sofa, mulled over Dawoon’s words. Dawoon ignored him and tried to leave.
“Sit.”
But it was useless. Dawoon, bound by Ryu Taeha’s telekinesis, was forcibly seated on the sofa. Dawoon glared and clenched his fist with enough force to punch Ryu Taeha’s face. Of course, he didn’t show it.
“Eat first. You’ve been on an empty stomach this whole time.”
“I’ll eat on my own, so let go while I’m asking nicely.”
“If I don’t ask nicely.”
Ryu Taeha smirked and wore that characteristically shameless smile thickly.
“What will you do it with?”
That bastard, really.
When Dawoon openly made a fierce expression, Ryu Taeha laughed playfully and brought food he’d prepared in advance from the kitchen.
“Your stomach won’t feel good, so just eat this much.”
The small bowl on the tray only had steamed eggs and white porridge. Dawoon rolled his eyes, flabbergasted at the menu and amount that wouldn’t even reach his liver.
“Even if you’re not hungry, eat somehow. You need to go to work now.”
Not hungry, my ass. He was starving to the point where his stomach skin was about to stick to his back. As he said, Dawoon had been on an empty stomach since yesterday evening. There was no way he wasn’t hungry.
“What about what I bought? The lunchbox and cup noodles.”
“I threw them away.”
Dawoon, gripping his spoon like a weapon, cursed with his eyes. He’d deliberately bought a large cup noodle and an expensive jumbo lunchbox because he wanted to eat heartily. And he threw them away. Both Go Yeoul and Ryu Taeha—they really don’t know how precious food is.
“Why are you eating things you don’t normally eat? You’ll get sick doing that.”
Dawoon made a face full of things to say, then soon let out a sigh and shoveled down the porridge.
The Jeong Dawoon in the novel ate only half a bowl per meal of food made with organic ingredients to manage his sickly body. His eating habits were too different from Dawoon’s, whose joy in life had been soju and pork belly.
If someone’s eating habits changed overnight, people around would obviously find it strange. Because of that, Dawoon had been secretly raiding convenience stores to fill his stomach.
“Don’t leave any and eat it all.”
What was there to leave in this small bowl anyway? Dawoon scraped up and ate the bland, unsalted steamed eggs and porridge in one go. He’d have to make ramen after work.
* * *
“Dawoon lost more weight.”
Ryu Taeha, who’d placed his lips on Dawoon’s nape, murmured in a gentle voice. He was hugging Dawoon from behind with his arm around his slender waist.
“Your waist is just a handful. It’s going to break at this rate.”
Smack!
Dawoon struck the back of his hand and warned in a dry tone.
“Shut up and let’s go quietly.”
Right now, Dawoon was flying through the high sky in a position held by Ryu Taeha. The sound of slicing through the wind came from the large wings attached to Ryu Taeha’s back.
Ryu Taeha was a multi-ability user. He had over ten officially known abilities. He could teleport too, but he said this method was best for now since they had to deal with monsters here and there along the way.
“If you keep touching me like that, I’m going to report you for sexual harassment.”
Dawoon spoke with sincerity to Ryu Taeha, who ignored his warning and kneaded his waist. Whether that sincerity was conveyed, only then did Ryu Taeha release the strength from his hands.
“Then you hold on. I’ll let go.”
At the same time as those words, the hands that had been gripping his waist released. Without time to say anything, Dawoon’s body sank deeply downward. Dawoon, who’d been floundering for a moment, quickly grabbed Ryu Taeha’s shoulders.
“You fucking bastard, really!”
At the shout that burst out, Ryu Taeha folded his eyes and burst into laughter.
“Our Dawoon knows how to curse?”
The Jeong Dawoon in the novel, who was raised properly, only used pretty words. However, the current Dawoon was not like that.
Having lived a rough life starting with construction site part-time jobs since childhood, his mouth was quite foul. Usually he somehow endured and lived, but when angered, profanities flowed out like the Lord’s Prayer.
“Sexy. Do it more.”
At the nonsense about being sexy, Dawoon resolved to stop cursing and clamped his mouth shut. Then Ryu Taeha, who’d been giggling, naturally tilted his head. As if to kiss him.
Whack!
Dawoon, whose hand moved instinctively, slapped Ryu Taeha’s muzzle. With his fist, not his palm.
“…Ahem, I told you not to do that.”
Because his fist came out harder than expected, he was surprised himself even after hitting. The expression of Ryu Taeha, who’d taken the fist square on, didn’t change much.
“I thought my teeth were going to break.”
Still, it seemed to hurt. It’s fortunate the hit was worthwhile.
Ryu Taeha, who’d been running his tongue over his even teeth, suddenly smiled brightly.
“It’s dangerous, so hold on tight.”
Whispering right into Dawoon’s ear, he flapped his wings powerfully. The giant wings attached to his broad back, mimicking the beastman race, exuded intimidation as they cut through the wind.
Beastmen. In this novel, not only superhumans called Espers appeared, but beastmen too.
As a minority race, they didn’t mingle with humans and lived by creating their own communities. He’d read that there were also beastmen who weren’t socialized at all due to their strong reclusive tendencies.
One of the main characters in the novel was exactly that kind of beastman.
Baek Suho, a snow leopard beastman.
Though he hadn’t appeared yet, the day he would show up wasn’t far off.
“Do you really not want to do it with me anymore?”
Ryu Taeha, who’d been flying through the sky quietly, suddenly brought it up. Dawoon, who’d been mulling over the novel’s contents, answered without hesitation.
“Yes, I don’t want to.”
I don’t want to. Not just that I don’t want to, but I fucking don’t want to.
It was Dawoon’s principle that cheating bastards should all be gathered up and castrated.
With Dawoon’s way of thinking, he absolutely couldn’t understand Ryu Taeha, who casually played with his lower half even after confessing love to Ryu Jin. Of course, the content of brothers falling in love was unrealistic from the start, but since it was a novel, he’d set that aside for now.
Ryu Taeha blamed it on heat cycles and guiding, but that was ridiculous. Ryu Jin, who was both an omega and a Guide, could solve all of that. This bastard was just wrapping his dirty desire to sleep with multiple people in plausible words.
He was the type one should never get involved with in life. That trash Ryu Taeha.
“Did you get another partner in the meantime?”
Ryu Taeha, wearing a light smile, muttered as if to himself. Dawoon ignored his gaze sticking to his cheek. Instead, he only nodded his head greatly while inwardly admiring. Why didn’t I think of that?
“Yes, you caught me. That’s right.”
It was an excuse he hadn’t even thought of. He should have said this earlier. This kind of excuse seemed like it would work better on Ryu Taeha.
“So from now on, stop paying attention to me.”
After turning his head toward Ryu Taeha, who was staring holes through him, Dawoon spoke as if driving in a wedge.
“I can’t do trashy things like two-timing like someone. It turns my stomach.”
Ryu Taeha, who’d been watching such a Dawoon silently, paused for a few seconds, then answered in his characteristic light tone.
“Okay, I’ll stop paying attention.”
But it didn’t end there.
“Wh-what…!”
He lightly laughed and forcibly dropped Dawoon’s hands that had been gripping his shoulders.
“It seems Dawoon has come to hate me. It’s disappointing, but I’ll let you go.”
“No, wait!”
“How torturous it must be to stick with someone you hate. Sorry for being slow to notice.”
The two were at such a high position that people on the ground looked like dots. Yet that crazy bastard Ryu Taeha let go of Dawoon’s hands from such a high place.
Without a moment’s hesitation.
“Hey, you fucking bastard—!”
Dawoon, a healing ability user, naturally didn’t have any ability to fly through the sky. He didn’t have particularly outstanding physical abilities either. He collapsed at the slightest thing and coughed up blood, so he actually belonged to the weak side.
Knowing that full well, he threw him away. That garbage pervert psycho bastard Ryu Taeha.
“Mmph…!”
Nausea surged up from inside Dawoon, who was falling at tremendous speed.
“Kheuk!”
Just when he thought he was going to die like this, a cold liquid that appeared in midair wrapped around Dawoon’s body. He could tell who the ability’s owner was without looking.
Ah, I’m saved.
“Dawoon hyung!”
Soon after, Yeoul, who rose from the ground riding water like Poseidon, hugged Dawoon tightly.
“Are you okay? Why are you coming down alone? Did you fall?”
Yeoul poured out questions while carefully landing Dawoon on the ground.
Dawoon couldn’t answer right away, busy calming his churning stomach. While he waited for his stomach to settle with his mouth covered, Ryu Taeha, who leisurely descended from the air, upset Dawoon’s stomach even more.
“I let him go because Dawoon said he wanted to go down alone.”
“What? Dawoon hyung, did you really do that?”
Yeoul scolded him, asking why he’d do such a thing when he couldn’t even fly.
“Do you want to collapse again? Should I really make you lie down for life?”
How does this guy only say such brutal things whenever he opens his mouth? Dawoon barely shook his head while holding back the rising dry heaves.
After that, disappointment appeared on Dawoon’s face as he lightly looked around. Not just Yeoul, but all the Espers who’d come out to the site were watching him and Ryu Taeha.
Dawoon kept swallowing dry saliva while observing people’s expressions. Since Sau Guild drew attention wherever they went, fervent gazes always followed. More people were glancing at Ryu Taeha, who’d suddenly appeared, than at him who’d abruptly dropped from the sky.
Even if he said that crazy bastard let go on his own in this situation, no one would believe him.
Ryu Taeha, who maintained the #1 Esper ranking domestically, was a trusted existence to everyone. Compared to him, Dawoon was a B-rank Esper who couldn’t even make it to the upper rankings.
No matter how prestigious Sau Guild was, as an Esper belonging to it, he couldn’t even be compared to Ryu Taeha.
Whose word people would believe. The answer was decided without needing to think about it.
“Yeoul, come in when Dawoon’s stomach settles.”
Ryu Taeha, who blinked one eye at Dawoon as if winking, entered the barracks for the on-site meeting. Dawoon poured out all sorts of curses with his eyes and sat down heavily on a nearby rock.
“Hyung, want to drink water?”
Yeoul, who’d folded his knees and sat in front of Dawoon, asked with still-worried concern.
“I’m fine.”
Dawoon, who rubbed his lips, tapped the rock. Still, the youngest was the youngest—it was praiseworthy that he worried about his hyung.
“If you’re going to sit, sit properly. Don’t sit on the ground.”
“I like it here. I can see hyung’s face well.”
He faced the guy who was unnecessarily squatting uncomfortably on the ground, then soon turned his head.
Fine, do as you please.
Go Yeoul was stubborn to a pathological level. Usually he had no manners but still listened well to what was said, but once he latched onto something, he was the type who had to see it through to the end even if people around him died before he was satisfied.
“Hyung, don’t turn your head.”
He insisted on incomprehensible stubbornness at strange points, just like right now.
“Look at me.”
“…There, satisfied?”
When he was with Dawoon, he always tried to sit facing him directly or walk side by side. If Dawoon changed his posture or increased his walking speed even slightly, he immediately made a fierce expression.
“Yes, I like it.”
Yeoul’s face brightened immediately. The guy, who clearly had a personality disorder, had his mood fluctuate several times a day. Thanks to that, only Dawoon always felt like he was walking on thin ice.
“You really don’t need to drink water?”
“Yeah, I’m not thirsty.”
Dawoon fiddled with his fingertips for no reason, burdened by Yeoul’s gaze boring holes through his face.
“Hyung, you look thinner.”
At that moment, Yeoul suddenly reached out and touched Dawoon’s sharp jawline. Dawoon reflexively tried to avoid his hand but held back.
If it were Ryu Taeha’s hand, he would have shaken it off immediately, but he let it slide because it was Go Yeoul. So his already twisted mood wouldn’t get more twisted, he endured and accepted most things.
Sau Guild’s youngest, Go Yeoul. He was the guy who would become the villain of this novel in the future.
