“What are you two talking about so cheerfully?”
Ryu Taeha, who had just arrived at the lodging, squeezed himself between Dawoon and Yeoul with a brazen look on his face. He must have come straight after finishing the Gate removal, as hot energy radiated from his body.
“What’s this? Are you two secretly dating behind my back?”
His smile widened as he looked over Dawoon and Yeoul standing so close together. Unlike his probing question, his tone was light, as if he didn’t suspect their relationship in the slightest.
Ignoring his teasing, Dawoon turned his gaze away.
“You don’t need to know. We’re talking about a secret.”
“A secret?”
This time, Yeoul answered Ryu Taeha’s questioning tone.
“It’s our secret, so Guild Leader, mind your own business.”
Yeoul’s broad shoulders rose subtly, as if pleased to have a secret just between him and Dawoon. Why was he so happy about being sex partners as if it were some great relationship? Dawoon let out a laugh like a sigh as he watched the excited Yeoul.
Ryu Taeha, who had been quietly watching them, crossed his arms.
“Hmm, guild members leaving out the Guild Leader. Should I start a new guild or something?”
“Would you really?”
Dawoon’s eyes suddenly lit up, genuinely interested. If Sau Guild split up, there would be fewer entanglements with the main characters, which would be welcome news for Dawoon.
“Of course I’m just saying that. I can’t do without you guys.”
Ryu Taeha laughed it off, saying Dawoon was taking it seriously again. It would have been a good opportunity—what a shame. Dawoon let out a light sigh tinged with regret.
As if to swallow up that breath, Yeoul lowered his head and leaned his face in as if to kiss him again.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
Flustered, Dawoon quickly turned his head away. To try to kiss him again when Ryu Taeha was right there. Was this bastard really out of his mind?
“Hyung is watching.”
“Then just let him watch. Why are you leaning in?”
“Because I want to see you up close.”
“Yeah, our Dawoon’s face is fun to look at. Let me watch too.”
Ryu Taeha put his arm around Yeoul’s shoulder and joined in, trying to lean his face in as well. Simultaneously, both the disgusted Dawoon and Yeoul avoided him together.
Ryu Taeha laughed lightly, as if he found the two of them amusing.
“Enough joking around, Yeoul, go to work. Your assigned area is about to have an incident.”
“Don’t want to. Guild Leader, you go.”
Yeoul said he didn’t want to work today and stuck close to Dawoon again. Looking up at Yeoul, Dawoon put on a stern face and threatened him.
“If it’s your assigned area, you should do it. Go finish your work and come back.”
Yeoul drooped his eyebrows and sneakily tried to lean on Dawoon’s shoulder. But Dawoon blocked even this in one stroke, grabbing his thick forearm and straightening him up.
“Quickly.”
“…Okay.”
Yeoul finally nodded and called for a Teleportation Esper. Making it obvious that he was dying from not wanting to work, he finally squeezed Dawoon’s hand tightly one last time.
“When I’m done with work, can I come to your room, hyung?”
“Is that even a question? Of course not.”
Though he asked Dawoon, the answer that came back hard as a rock was from Ryu Taeha.
“Dawoon needs to be careful with his body right now.”
Ryu Taeha reminded them of Dawoon’s physical condition as he was still going through Heat Cycle. Even if he looked fine on the outside, no one knew when heat symptoms might appear again.
“Hyung, I can go, right?”
Yeoul treated Ryu Taeha’s objection like air and waited only for Dawoon’s answer.
Yeoul of course knew that Dawoon’s body wasn’t well. That’s why he was saying he’d go. In his capacity as a sex partner who would help with the Heat Cycle.
“…No, I’m tired today. And I have to take care of the cat.”
Shrugging his shoulders, Dawoon refused while avoiding eye contact. Seeing this, Yeoul slowly stepped back.
“Okay. But if you need me, make sure to call.”
Dawoon nodded in affirmation instead of speaking. After confirming that answer, Yeoul stopped being clingy and disappeared cleanly.
“Seems like Yeoul doesn’t see me at all. How disappointing.”
Ryu Taeha shook his head as he watched Yeoul disappear without even greeting him. Dawoon stared at his face, which showed no sign of actual disappointment, and spoke.
“I heard you two fought.”
“Me and Yeoul?”
Ryu Taeha tilted his head as if hearing this for the first time.
“Yeoul said so. That he attacked Guild Leader first at the annex.”
“Ah, that. Rather than fighting… I scolded him a bit.”
He looked steadily at Dawoon and smiled softly. His long eyes with densely planted eyelashes became even softer along with his gentle voice.
“I’m not of the rank to fight with a kid.”
That was true. Even just considering their ages, not to mention abilities, they weren’t the type to get into a fistfight.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem as serious as he’d worried. Relieved, Dawoon turned his back on Ryu Taeha.
“That’s a relief then. I’ll head upstairs.”
“Is the cat okay?”
At the mention of the cat, Dawoon stopped walking and faced Ryu Taeha again.
“Yes, it woke up briefly earlier and went back to sleep. Thank you for moving it to the hospital right away.”
He’d been too out of it to even say thank you earlier. Because Ryu Taeha had left after receiving an emergency call during the examination, there was no opportunity to greet him.
“Why are you being so formal with thanks? I’m the one who’s sorry for not being able to stay with you.”
“No, work comes first, of course.”
Ryu Taeha, who had closed his mouth for a moment, stared at Dawoon intently.
“……”
Dawoon cleared his throat lightly, thinking he’d said something unlike the original Jeong Dawoon from the novel again.
Even so, it couldn’t be helped. He couldn’t live just imitating Jeong Dawoon.
“Well then, I’m tired, so I’ll be going.”
Ryu Taeha suddenly blocked Dawoon’s path toward the stairs.
“…Why?”
“Tell me before you go.”
He suddenly blurted out in a sulky voice.
“Tell you what?”
“The secret talk.”
Then, as if to block even Dawoon’s escape route, he spread both arms wide.
“I’m so curious I won’t be able to sleep. I think a lot, you know.”
“You don’t look like it…”
“I really do. I might stay up all night agonizing over whether the guild members were badmouthing me. Then I won’t be able to work.”
Though Dawoon knew there was no way Ryu Taeha would actually stay up all night over something like that, he hesitated. If by any chance he became unable to work, it would cause damage to numerous guilds.
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big deal.”
“I’ll listen and judge for myself.”
How annoying.
Just as Dawoon was about to run to the stairs with nimble movements to avoid him, Ryu Taeha even used his Clone ability to block the way.
It was too tiring to engage in wasteful physical struggle. Wanting to lie down on the bed quickly, Dawoon bit his lip and opened his mouth as if surrendering.
“Fine, I get it. I’ll tell you.”
Ryu Taeha smiled softly, signaling he was listening.
“But I’ll tell you, so let me go right away. Otherwise, I’ll use my ability too.”
As a threat, Dawoon pretended to take off his gloves. But because of the experience of making him cough up blood, he couldn’t actually take off his gloves.
“Just tell me honestly.”
He had no intention of going so far as to lie to deceive Ryu Taeha anyway. Thinking about it, there was no real need to hide it. Rather, it might help to clarify their relationship even more definitively.
“Yeoul and I.”
Having finished thinking, Dawoon opened his mouth without hesitation.
“Yeah, you and what.”
However, unlike opening his mouth calmly, the rest didn’t come out easily.
Huh? Why is this happening?
“Ahem, so… that is.”
A strange, inexplicable emotion that suddenly welled up in his throat kept filtering out his voice. Even though there was a clear word to convey the situation, he kept looking for other words.
“That… I and…”
“Yeah, Dawoon and.”
After hesitating for unknown reasons, Dawoon closed his eyes tightly and spoke in a roundabout way.
“That kind of, ahem, that kind of relationship.”
Ryu Taeha, who had been leisurely waiting for Dawoon’s answer, paused for a moment.
“That kind of relationship?”
Because his eyes were closed, Dawoon didn’t see Ryu Taeha’s expression change in that instant.
“…Yes. That kind of, relationship.”
Even as he said it himself, he thought it was a terrible answer. With so many types of relationships in the world, was that supposed to be an answer?
“What kind of relationship?”
“That… that kind. That, what Guild Leader and I did.”
Even though he could just announce it clearly and be done with it, strangely the words wouldn’t come out. Something beyond embarrassment was blocking Dawoon’s confession.
He didn’t want to tell Ryu Taeha about his relationship with Yeoul. Why on earth was he feeling this way?
“What did we do again?”
While Dawoon hid his flustered expression, Ryu Taeha subtly urged an answer.
“Tell me in more detail. Hmm?”
At his steady gaze and low voice, all of Dawoon’s senses focused. It wasn’t a conscious effort to pay attention. All his nerves simply turned toward him.
“I don’t really understand when you say it like that. We’ve done so much together.”
At the subtly resonating low tone, Dawoon’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. Gulp—swallowing his saliva, Dawoon shouted loudly, trying to cut off his nerves that were inexplicably leaning toward Ryu Taeha.
“Ah, you know what it is! That, that thing!”
Sex partners. Sex partners!
The words he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud spun loudly only inside. The complex emotions blocking him from uttering these simple words deepened with no way to understand the cause. Though he tried hard to shake it off, it only became clearer.
“…Are you perhaps.”
Ryu Taeha, who had been silent for a moment, slowly began. Then, as if working his brain, he rolled his eyes, and soon tilted his previously straight head to the side.
“Are you saying you’re going to hold Yeoul’s thing?”
At Ryu Taeha’s crude question, Dawoon felt the inexplicable emotions toward him instantly subside. Very fortunately so.
