“Did you two plan to meet up separately afterward or something?”
“Yes.”
“Looks like you really made an impression on both of them today.”
Min Sanghan muttered to himself as if things had gone well, then turned his gaze toward him.
“Still, do you have any idea how tense I was the whole time? Especially when B32C97 had you pinned… Whew.”
“As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
“If you’d gotten hurt, I would’ve sent you straight to the hospital, you punk.”
Shaking his head in exasperation, Min Sanghan grumbled about how he couldn’t even tell him to take better care of himself.
Feeling a bit sheepish, Suho fell silent.
After the afterparty, he exchanged farewells with the team members and everyone who had worked hard preparing for the demonstration, then exited the research facility. It was already late into the night to be having dinner.
He boarded the train heading toward the residential district and looked out the window. Perhaps because it was the weekend, the streets were bustling with people.
Couples walked hand in hand, leaning into one another; people sat at outdoor tables enjoying each other’s company; parents busied themselves keeping their kids from running too far ahead. Peaceful scenes swept by along the rail line. Though the interior of the train offered no view of the outside, it was brightly lit regardless of the time of day, making all the passing scenery vividly clear.
The contrast between these peaceful sights and the surface below—teeming with monsters under the hovering airships—sometimes evoked a deep sense of dissonance.
Of course, he had never actually seen what the surface looked like firsthand. But given the sheer number of monsters he encountered every day at work, it was clear that no human could possibly live in such an environment.
“……”
When he finally arrived home, dragging his weary body, he was greeted with a beaming smile. With his bleached hair tied back in a short ponytail and his broad-shouldered frame, Min Yugeon—his long-time friend—stood there waiting.
“Welcome back.”
“You’re home too?”
“Yeah, a bit earlier.”
Min Yugeon gently extended his arm toward him. His bulging biceps practically screamed for attention.
“Your bag looks heavy. Here, give it to me.”
“……?”
What the hell is with this creepiness?
Suho instinctively took a small step back, as if about to turn around and walk right back out the door.
“What are you up to?”
“Aw, come on. Don’t be like that. There’s no ‘up to’ here.”
Min Yugeon inevitably snatched the bag from his hands. There was no way Suho could win against the brute force coming from those bear-like paws. With one hand, Min Yugeon caught hold of him as he swayed along with the bag, then opened his mouth again.
“Can’t I do at least this much for the head of the household?”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean…”
“What do you think it means?”
Grinning, Yugeon tapped the device strapped to his wrist—his watch.
Beep. With a tiny mechanical sound, a translucent window popped up in the air.
[Onboard Notification (new)
‘Military Beast Project’ demonstration successfully completed]
Yugeon tapped the watch again. The previous window vanished, replaced by a more detailed news feed.
[A demonstration for the long-term Military Beast Project was held this morning at the research facility.
During the event, a monster raised over several years by the project team shocked attendees by attacking the opponent monster used for the mock battle.
This incident is being interpreted as the monster’s attempt to protect the project team leader, Researcher Seo Suho—whom it usually followed with blind loyalty—marking the first recorded case of a monster going against its instinct not to attack its own kind.]
In the attached photo, he was staring straight into the camera. It must have been taken right after the demonstration—he looked like a complete mess. His hair was soaked with sweat, and the state of his darkly stained protective suit made him feel a bit self-conscious.
[Following the demonstration, the captain and vice-captain commended Researcher Seo Suho for his contributions……]
“To think I didn’t recognize someone this important,”
Yugeon joked with exaggerated flair.
“Even if I end up jobless, as long as our Suho’s around, I guess I’ll still be eating well?”
“……”
Just nonsense to tease him. There’s no way someone as devoted to his job as an engineer would ever quit.
“Move.”
“There’s already an interview video up. Wanna see it?”
“……Watch it yourself.”
Reclaiming his bag from the guy who was clearly enjoying his embarrassment, Suho strode across the living room. A teasing laugh trailed behind him.
“I’ll whip up something quick, so wash up and come eat!”
He turned at the shout from behind.
“At this hour?”
“You didn’t eat dinner, did you?”
Min Yugeon raised one eyebrow knowingly.
There had been snacks set up during the afterparty, but he hadn’t had a chance to touch any of them. He’d been too busy running around. Now that he thought about it, the forgotten hunger was starting to creep back in. He nodded and headed to his room.
Once he undressed and stepped into the bathroom, the mirror immediately reflected his image. Every time he blinked, the dark pupils that disappeared beneath his lids shimmered faintly with a hint of gold—barely noticeable unless you looked closely. Under the lights, it was easy to mistake it for a trick of illumination.
Back when his parents were alive, they had told him he’d had this eye-glint from birth. Just one of many physical traits that differed from person to person, they’d said. Thinking back, maybe they were trying to keep him from feeling self-conscious about such a rare and peculiar feature.
After showering, he changed into comfortable clothes and stepped out of the room. The house was now filled with a mouthwatering aroma that tickled his senses. Standing with his broad back to him, grilling steaks at the stove, Min Yugeon glanced back.
“Have a seat. Almost done.”
“Yeah.”
As he sat at the table, he noticed more than just a knife and fork—the wine bottle and glasses were neatly set out as well. He looked toward Min Yugeon, who was approaching with plates in hand.
“What’s with the alcohol?”
“It’s a good day. You deserve a drink.”
The plate was set in front of him. For something supposedly simple, it was noticeably more polished than usual—the garnish and plating clearly showed extra effort. Even the wine, which they rarely drank…
The thought that Yugeon was celebrating his achievement made his chest warm and tingly.
“……I’ve still got a long way to go.”
“That doesn’t mean today didn’t matter.”
Sitting across from him, Min Yugeon gestured for him to eat before it got cold. Without a word, Suho cut into the steak and took a bite. The lab-grown meat soaked in Yugeon’s homemade sauce was perfectly tender. The taste was sweet and savory, not overwhelming—just right.
“How is it?”
“…….”
He wordlessly gave a thumbs-up.
Min Yugeon hadn’t been a great cook from the beginning. When they first started living together as adults, he hadn’t even known how to cook rice.
But being someone who maintained a disciplined routine, he’d been shocked by Suho’s disorganized eating habits. Rolling up his sleeves, he’d decided to take charge of their meals. Over time, he got better—now even capable of pulling off more complex dishes.
Suho had long grown accustomed to Yugeon’s cooking. At this point, food from outside rarely satisfied him.
“Eat up.”
Yugeon smiled with pride as he uncorked the wine bottle, pouring into Suho’s glass first.
“I really wanted to come watch the demonstration today. There’s no footage of the whole thing, right?”
His voice carried a note of disappointment.
Most of the guests at today’s demonstration were high-ranking officers aboard the ship, including the captain and vice-captain, as well as invited personnel from the research institute. Technically, Suho could’ve gotten Yugeon a guest pass too, but with Yugeon working rotating shifts, even the weekend hadn’t been enough to free him up.
After swallowing a bite, Suho finally answered.
“Yeah. Only the interview clips are being released.”
“I see.”
Yugeon looked a little downcast, and Suho couldn’t help but notice.
“You already skimmed through the article earlier.”
“Watching it in person would’ve felt different.”
“……If you had come, you’d have run into the Director.”
Min Sanghan and Min Yugeon weren’t exactly on good terms—not even for appearance’s sake. Their families had known each other since childhood, so Suho was well aware of how their relationship had gone completely off the rails.
“Yeah.”
Yugeon nodded calmly.
“So what? He’s no different from a stranger.”
Suho watched the way his eyes curved into a smile. Clearly, it didn’t mean nothing.
With a gentle shift, Yugeon changed the topic, lifting his glass for a toast.
“So, what are you doing to relax tomorrow?”
“No particular plans.”
“Hmph. If it were my day off too, I would’ve gone to work out with you.”
“Who said I was going?”
As Suho grimaced instantly, Min Yugeon just shrugged with exaggerated playfulness. Despite the way he talked, he had never actually forced him to do anything he genuinely disliked.
“Our Suho doesn’t eat properly when he’s alone.”
With his chin propped on one hand, Yugeon watched him chewing on steak as he murmured.
“I’ll leave breakfast set on the table, so even if I’m not around, make sure you eat it.”
“Okay.”
“And for lunch, take out a variety of side dishes from the fridge and eat them with rice.”
“Okay.”
Responding automatically, as if conditioned by all the familiar nagging, Suho suddenly froze in place.
“……Min Yugeon.”
He called out in a serious tone. Yugeon, who’d been rotating his wine glass, turned and met his gaze.
“Hm?”
“Don’t you ever date?”
At the abrupt question, Yugeon blinked in blank confusion.
“Date……?”
“Yeah. Date.”
It was just a sudden thought.
The guy was disciplined in self-care, a great cook, had a fairly sensitive and upbeat personality. Without Min Yugeon, Suho’s life would’ve been unbearably bleak by comparison. If he treated a partner with even half the attentiveness he showed Suho, they’d probably be over the moon.
And that wasn’t all. His face…
Perhaps sensing the odd intensity of Suho’s stare, Yugeon blinked again, a hint of confusion flickering in his expression.
His deep chestnut eyes carried a mischievous and lively glint, and when he smiled, the way his eyes curled was almost endearingly cute. Unlike Suho—tall but lean and unimpressive—Yugeon was taller still and had a solidly bulked-up build that drew the eye, even to someone who saw him every day.
One time, he had come home with part of his hair bleached from some spilled fuel at work. As a solution, he’d gone ahead and bleached the rest, and had kept it that way ever since. The color suited him surprisingly well—likely because he had the kind of looks that didn’t depend on hair color to stand out.
In short, there was absolutely no reason someone like Min Yugeon wouldn’t have any experience with dating.
